Samadhi Pad: Chapter 1
Attention Linkage
Verse 1
atha yoganusasanam
atha-now; yoganusasana = yoga- yoga and its practice =
anusasanam- explanation
Now I give the explanation of (the discipline of) yoga and its
practice. Discipline is the basis of meditation and yoga. The word
"Anushasan" also means discipline and regularity absolutely
necessary for success in any human endeavour.
Commentary:
Sri Patanjali began by the term atha which means now or at this
time, I will do something. He took the task of giving the explanation of
yoga and its practice, because before this time such an explanation
was not laid out in an academic way. He gave the syllabus for yoga,
thus breaking the monopoly of all those teachers who mastered yoga
and who taught it to their students bit by bit over the years.
Whatever Sri Patanjali would say would be standard. It cannot be
changed merely by a difference in philosophy. Just as a gasoline
combustion engine manufactured in Japan will be quite similar to
one manufactured in German, so yoga practice will be the same
everywhere, because the human body is the same in each case, and
the way of changing the subtle form which produced that gross one
is also the same.
Paul’s Notation:
Some commentators have said that the word
NOW implies that after some or much
preparation, NOW this information is being
presented.
, Verse 2
yogah cittavrtti nirodhah
yogah- the skill of yoga; cittavritti = citta mento-emotional
energy +vritti-vibrational mode; nirodhah - cessation,
restraint, non operation
The skill of yoga is demonstrated by the conscious non-operation of
the vibrational modes of the mento-emotional energy.
Commentary:
Yoga is something personal and practical. It is not a group
effort. Each student of yoga has to achieve the states all by himself or
herself. Thus in a sense, yoga is an isolated and lonely course. This is
the reason for the poor response of the public to the call to take up
hard-core yoga austerities. People like company but yoga requires the
company of one’s self only. One must work with one’s psyche only to
be successful in yoga.
There were many attempts to translate the word citta. Some say it
is the mind, some say it is the energy in the mind. Some say it is the
consciousness. These terms, though accurate to a degree bring with
them a certain vagueness which covers the meaning even more.
To understand citta we have to consider two aspects, those of
thinking and feeling. Whatever energy is used for thinking is citta,
and whatever is used for feeling is citta. It is citta through which we
think and feel. To understand citta one has to become concerned with
psychological locations. Where does your thinking take place? When
a thought arises in which energy is illustrated in the mind? When you
have an emotional response to something real or imaginary, in which
part of your psyche does that take place? What sort of energy is used
to develop and transmit emotion? Whatever correct answer one
,would give to any of these questions would identify the citta
energy. Chitta is the mento-emotional energy in which our thoughts
are formed and are disintegrated. It is the energy in which our feelings
are formed and in which the same feelings subside to nothingness.
By convention it is discovered that the vibrational energy of the
mind always keeps moving in one way or the other. Thus some
spiritual masters conclude that it would be impossible to comply with
this stipulation of Patanjali for the non-operation of the mento-
emotional force in the psyche. They have dismissed Patanjali as being
an impractical theorist. The solution they say is to engage the mind in
spiritual topics, never giving it the chance to dwell on ordinary
subjects which are apart from the trancendence. However, human
convention is not everything. When a yogin gets experience beyond
the dimension of this world, he can afford to heed Patanjali, and strive
for the non-operation of the mental-emotional force in this dimension
of consciousness. Somehow by his own endeavor and by divine grace,
a yogin’s mento-emotional force becomes stilled. It stalls for a time
and turns into a divine vision which perceives the chit akasha, the sky
of consciousness. The world known otherwise as akshardam, brahma
and vaikuntha. When this happens , the yogi understands what Sri
Patanjali explained in this verse 2 of his sutras.
Srila Yogeshwaranana Yogiraja indicated that Sri Patanjali should
not have suggested that it was possible to completely quiet the mento-
emotional force, for indeed, it is not possible to stop it from vibrating
altogether, but rather one may quiet it in one dimension while it
continues to operate in another. It cannot be quieted in all of it’s
phases because even after the dissolution of the universe, the prana, or
subtle mundane energy keeps shifting quietly for many millions of
years. This slight movement, might in reference , be considered to be
static but does have a vibrational consistency.
Paul’s Notation:
, I cannot help but wonder, when reading these
verses and commentary whether or not the
meanings need to translate into such technical
terms and I don’t mean this in a critical way of
either Sri Patanjali or Sri Madhvachara. Recently
I read a “translation “ of this same verse by Mr.
Alister Shearer, who gave these words: Yoga is
settling the mind in silence”
I thought this interesting in the simplicity of the
words as well as the suggestions that perhaps
words like settling and silence though simple
sounding could when tried to
Illustrate with words become very
complicated. And as we are seeing here, the
complicated and agitated mind prevent Yoga
from happening to the practitioner.
The mind must be made quiet and anyone who
has endeavored to meditate for any length of time
soon discovers that any haphazard effort to quiet
the mind brings on more turbulence in the
mind…and perhaps technically speaking the word
“settling” is
Not literally accurate, but for practical purposes,
settling is what happens when the mind does in
fact become quiet.
Verse 3
tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam
tada- then; drastuh- the perceiver; svarupe- in his own form;
avasthanam- is situated
Then the perceiver is situated in his own form.
Attention Linkage
Verse 1
atha yoganusasanam
atha-now; yoganusasana = yoga- yoga and its practice =
anusasanam- explanation
Now I give the explanation of (the discipline of) yoga and its
practice. Discipline is the basis of meditation and yoga. The word
"Anushasan" also means discipline and regularity absolutely
necessary for success in any human endeavour.
Commentary:
Sri Patanjali began by the term atha which means now or at this
time, I will do something. He took the task of giving the explanation of
yoga and its practice, because before this time such an explanation
was not laid out in an academic way. He gave the syllabus for yoga,
thus breaking the monopoly of all those teachers who mastered yoga
and who taught it to their students bit by bit over the years.
Whatever Sri Patanjali would say would be standard. It cannot be
changed merely by a difference in philosophy. Just as a gasoline
combustion engine manufactured in Japan will be quite similar to
one manufactured in German, so yoga practice will be the same
everywhere, because the human body is the same in each case, and
the way of changing the subtle form which produced that gross one
is also the same.
Paul’s Notation:
Some commentators have said that the word
NOW implies that after some or much
preparation, NOW this information is being
presented.
, Verse 2
yogah cittavrtti nirodhah
yogah- the skill of yoga; cittavritti = citta mento-emotional
energy +vritti-vibrational mode; nirodhah - cessation,
restraint, non operation
The skill of yoga is demonstrated by the conscious non-operation of
the vibrational modes of the mento-emotional energy.
Commentary:
Yoga is something personal and practical. It is not a group
effort. Each student of yoga has to achieve the states all by himself or
herself. Thus in a sense, yoga is an isolated and lonely course. This is
the reason for the poor response of the public to the call to take up
hard-core yoga austerities. People like company but yoga requires the
company of one’s self only. One must work with one’s psyche only to
be successful in yoga.
There were many attempts to translate the word citta. Some say it
is the mind, some say it is the energy in the mind. Some say it is the
consciousness. These terms, though accurate to a degree bring with
them a certain vagueness which covers the meaning even more.
To understand citta we have to consider two aspects, those of
thinking and feeling. Whatever energy is used for thinking is citta,
and whatever is used for feeling is citta. It is citta through which we
think and feel. To understand citta one has to become concerned with
psychological locations. Where does your thinking take place? When
a thought arises in which energy is illustrated in the mind? When you
have an emotional response to something real or imaginary, in which
part of your psyche does that take place? What sort of energy is used
to develop and transmit emotion? Whatever correct answer one
,would give to any of these questions would identify the citta
energy. Chitta is the mento-emotional energy in which our thoughts
are formed and are disintegrated. It is the energy in which our feelings
are formed and in which the same feelings subside to nothingness.
By convention it is discovered that the vibrational energy of the
mind always keeps moving in one way or the other. Thus some
spiritual masters conclude that it would be impossible to comply with
this stipulation of Patanjali for the non-operation of the mento-
emotional force in the psyche. They have dismissed Patanjali as being
an impractical theorist. The solution they say is to engage the mind in
spiritual topics, never giving it the chance to dwell on ordinary
subjects which are apart from the trancendence. However, human
convention is not everything. When a yogin gets experience beyond
the dimension of this world, he can afford to heed Patanjali, and strive
for the non-operation of the mental-emotional force in this dimension
of consciousness. Somehow by his own endeavor and by divine grace,
a yogin’s mento-emotional force becomes stilled. It stalls for a time
and turns into a divine vision which perceives the chit akasha, the sky
of consciousness. The world known otherwise as akshardam, brahma
and vaikuntha. When this happens , the yogi understands what Sri
Patanjali explained in this verse 2 of his sutras.
Srila Yogeshwaranana Yogiraja indicated that Sri Patanjali should
not have suggested that it was possible to completely quiet the mento-
emotional force, for indeed, it is not possible to stop it from vibrating
altogether, but rather one may quiet it in one dimension while it
continues to operate in another. It cannot be quieted in all of it’s
phases because even after the dissolution of the universe, the prana, or
subtle mundane energy keeps shifting quietly for many millions of
years. This slight movement, might in reference , be considered to be
static but does have a vibrational consistency.
Paul’s Notation:
, I cannot help but wonder, when reading these
verses and commentary whether or not the
meanings need to translate into such technical
terms and I don’t mean this in a critical way of
either Sri Patanjali or Sri Madhvachara. Recently
I read a “translation “ of this same verse by Mr.
Alister Shearer, who gave these words: Yoga is
settling the mind in silence”
I thought this interesting in the simplicity of the
words as well as the suggestions that perhaps
words like settling and silence though simple
sounding could when tried to
Illustrate with words become very
complicated. And as we are seeing here, the
complicated and agitated mind prevent Yoga
from happening to the practitioner.
The mind must be made quiet and anyone who
has endeavored to meditate for any length of time
soon discovers that any haphazard effort to quiet
the mind brings on more turbulence in the
mind…and perhaps technically speaking the word
“settling” is
Not literally accurate, but for practical purposes,
settling is what happens when the mind does in
fact become quiet.
Verse 3
tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam
tada- then; drastuh- the perceiver; svarupe- in his own form;
avasthanam- is situated
Then the perceiver is situated in his own form.
