Patanjali Yoga Sutra by Swami Vivekananda
Date: 0101-01-01 00:00:00+00:00

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Sanskrit text with Transliteration, Translation & Commentary

Commentary By

Swami Vivekananda

ऩातञ्जरमोगसूत्राणि

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS

Sanskrit text with Translation and Commentary

By

Swami Vivekananda

Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Contents

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 3

CHAPTER I - SAMADHI PADA............................................................. 9

CHAPTER II - SADHANA PADA ......................................................... 54

CHAPTER III – VIBHOOTI PADA ........................................................ 98

CHAPTER IV – KAIVALYA PADA ..................................................... 123

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INTRODUCTION

BEFORE going into the Yoga Aphorisms I will try to discuss
one great question, upon which the whole theory of religion
rests, for the Yogis. It seems the consensus of opinion of the
great minds of the world, and it has been nearly demonstrated
by researchers into physical nature, that we are the outcome
and manifestation of an absolute condition, back of our
present relative condition, and are going forward, to return
again to that absolute. This being granted, the question is,
which is better, the absolute or this state? There are not
wanting people who think that this manifested state is the
highest state of man. Thinkers of great calibre are of the
opinion that we are manifested specimens of undifferentiated
being, and this differentiated state is higher than the absolute.

Because in the absolute there cannot be any quality they
imagine that it must be insensate, dull, and lifeless, that only
this life can be enjoyed, and therefore we must cling to it. First
of all we want to inquire into other solutions of life. There was
an old solution that man after death remained the same, that
all his good sides, minus his evil sides, remained forever.

Logically stated this means that man’s goal is the world; this
world carried a stage higher, and with elimination of its evils
is the state they call heaven. This theory, on the face of it, is
absurd and puerile, because it cannot be. There cannot be
good without evil, or evil without good. To live in a world
where all is good and no evil is what Sanskrit logicians call a

“dream in the air.” Another theory in modern times has been
presented by several schools, that man’s destiny is to go on
always improving, always struggling towards, and never

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reaching, the goal. This statement, though, apparently, very
nice, is also absurd, because there is no such thing as motion
in a straight line. Every motion is in a circle. If you could take
up a stone, and project it into space, and then live long
enough, that stone would come back exactly to your hand. A
straight line, infinitely projected, must end in a circle.

Therefore, this idea that the destiny of man is progression ever
forward and forward, and never stopping, is absurd. Although
extraneous to the subject, I may remark that this idea explains
the ethical theory that you must not hate, and must love,
because, just as in the case of electricity, or any other force,
the modern theory is that the power leaves the dynamo and
completes the circle back to the dynamo. So with all forces in
nature; they must come back to the source. Therefore do not
hate anybody, because that force, that hatred, which comes
out from you, must, in the long run, come back to you. If you
love, that love will come back to you, completing the circuit.

It is as certain as can be, that every bit of hatred that goes out
of the heart of man comes back to him full force; nothing can
stop it, and every impulse of love comes back to him. On
other and practical grounds we see that the theory of eternal
progression is untenable, for destruction is the goal of
everything earthly. All our struggles and hopes and fears and
joys, what will they lead to? We will all end in death. Nothing
is so certain as this. Where, then, is this motion in a straight
line? This infinite progression? It is only going out to a
distance, and again coming back to the centre from which it
started. See how, from nebulæ, the sun, moon, and stars, are
produced; then they dissolve, and go back to nebulæ. The
same is being done everywhere. The plant takes material from
the earth, dissolves, and gives it back. Every form in this

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world is taken out of corresponding atoms and goes back to
those atoms.

It cannot be that the same law acts differently in different
places. Law is uniform. Nothing is more certain than that. If
this is the law of nature, so it is with thought; it will dissolve
and come back to its origin; whether we will it or not we shall
have to return to the origin, which is called God or Absolute.

We all came from God, and we are all bound to go to God, call
that God by any name you like; call Him God, or Absolute or

Nature, or by any hundred names you like, the fact remains
the same. “From whom all this universe comes out, in whom
all that is born lives, and to whom all returns.” This is one fact
that is certain. Nature works on the same plan; what is being
worked out in one sphere is being worked out in millions of
spheres. What you see with the planets, the same will it be
with this earth, with men and with the stars. The huge wave is
a mighty compound of small waves, it may be of millions; the
life of the whole world is a compound of millions of little
lives, and the death of the whole world is the compound of the
deaths of those millions of little beings.

Now the question arises, is going back to God the higher state,
or is it not? The philosophers of the Yoga school answer
emphatically that it is. They say that man’s present state is a
degeneration; that there is no one religion on the face of the
earth which says that man is an improvement. The idea idea as
that his beginning is perfect and pure, that he degenerates
until he cannot degenerate further, and that there must come a
time when he shoots upward again to complete the circle; the
circle must be there. However low he goes, he must ultimately

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take the upward bend again, and go back to the original
source, which is God. Man comes from God in the
beginning, in the middle he becomes man, and in the end he
goes back to God. This is the method of putting it in the

Dualistic form. In the Monistic form you say that man is God,
and goes back to Him again. If our present state is the higher
one, then why is there so much horror and misery, and why is
there an end to it? If this is the higher state, why does it end?

That which corrupts and degenerates cannot be the highest
state. Why should it be so diabolical, so unsatisfying? It is
only excusable, inasmuch as, through it, we are taking a
higher groove; we have to pass through it in order to become
regenerate again. Put a seed into the ground and it
disintegrates, dissolves after a time, and out of that dissolution
comes the splendid tree. Every seed must degenerate to
become the stately tree. So it follows that the sooner we get
out of this state we call “man” the better for us. Is it by
commtting suicide that we get out of this state? Not at all.

That will be making it all the worse. Torturing ourselves, or
condemning the world, is not the way to get out. We have to
pass through the “Slough of Despond,” and the sooner we are
through the better. But it must always be remembered that this
is not the highest state.

The really difficult part to understand is that this state, the

Absolute, which has been called the highest, is not, as some
fear, that of the zoophite, or of the stone. That would be a
dangerous thing to think. According to these thinkers there
are only two states of existence, one of the stone, and the other
of thought. What right have they to limit existence to these
two. Is there not something infinitely superior to thought? The

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vibrations of light, when they are very low, we do not see;
when they become a little more intense they become light to
us; when they become still more intense we do not see them; it
is dark to us. Is the darkness in the end the same as in the
beginning? Certainly not; it is the difference of the two poles.

Is the thoughtlessness of the stone the same as the
thoughtlessness of God? Certainly not. God does not think;

He does not reason; why should He? Is anything unknown to

Him, that He should reason? The stone cannot reason; God
does not. Such is the difference. These philosophers think it is
awful if we go beyond thought; they find nothing beyond
thought.

There are much higher states of existence beyond reasoning.

It is really beyond the intellect that the first stage of religious
life is to be found. When you step beyond thought and
intellect and all reasoning, then you have made the first step
towards God; and that is the beginning of life. This that is
commonly called life is but an embryo state.

The next question will be, what proof is there that this state
beyond thought and reasoning is the highest state? In the first
place, all the great men of the world, much greater than those
that only talk, men who moved the world, men who never
thought of any selfish ends whatever, have declared that this
is but a little stage on the way, that the Infinite is beyond. In
the second place, they not only say so, but lay it open to
everyone, they leave their methods, and all can follow in their
steps. In the third place, there is no other way left. There is no
other explanation. Taking for granted that there is no higher
state, why are we going through this circle all the time; what

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reason can explain the world? The sensible will be the limit to
our knowledge if we cannot go farther, if we must not ask for
anything more. This is what is called agnosticism. But what
reason is there to believe in the testimony of the senses? I
would call that man a true agnostic who would stand still in
the street and die. If reason is all in all it leaves us no place to
stand on this side of nihilism. If a man is agnostic of
everything but money, fame and name, he is only a fraud.

Kant has proved beyond all doubt that we cannot penetrate
beyond the tremendous dead wall called reason. But that is the
very first idea upon which all Indian thought takes its stand,
and dares to seek, and succeeds in finding something higher
than reason, where alone the explanation of the present state is
to be found. This is the value of the study of something that
will take us beyond the world. “Thou art our Father, and wilt
take us to the other shore of this ocean of ignorance;” that is
the science of religion; nothing else can be.

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CHAPTER I - SAMADHI PADA

CONCENTRATION: ITS SPIRITUAL USES

॥ प्रथभ् सभाणधऩाद् ॥

1. अथ मोगानुशासनभ ्॥ १॥
atha yoganushasanam

Now concentration is explained.

2. मोगणित्तवृणत्तणनयोध् ॥ २॥
yogashchittavrittinirodhah

Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from
taking various forms (Vrttis)

A good deal of explanation is necessary here. We have to
understand what Chitta is, and what are these Vrttis. I have
this eye. Eyes do not see. Take away the brain centre which is
in the head, the eyes will still be there, the retinæ complete,
and also the picture, and yet the eyes will not see. So the eyes
are only a secondary instrument, not the organ of vision. The
organ of vision is in the nerve centre of the brain. The two
eyes will not be sufficient alone. Sometimes a man is asleep
with his eyes open. The light is there and the picture is there,
but a third thing is necessary; mind must be joined to the
organ. The eye is the external instrument, we need also the
brain centre and the agency of the mind. Carriages roll down a

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street and you do not hear them. Why? Because your mind has
not attached itself to the organ of hearing. First there is the
instrument, then there is the organ, and third, the mind
attachment to these two. The mind takes the impression
farther
in,
and
presents
it
to
the
determinative
faculty— Buddhi—which reacts. Along with this reaction
flashes the idea of egoism. Then this mixture of action and
reaction is presented to the Purusa, the real Soul, who
perceives an object in this mixture. The organs ( Indriyas),
together with the mind ( Manas), the determinative faculty

( Buddhi) and egoism ( Ahamkara), form the group called the

Antahkarana (the internal instrument). They are but various
processes in the mind-stuff, called Chitta. The waves of
thought in the Chitta are called Vrtti (“the whirlpool” is the
literal translation). What is thought? Thought is a force, as is
gravitation or repulsion. It is absorbed from the infinite
storehouse of force in nature; the instrument called Chitta
takes hold of that force, and, when it passes out at the other
end it is called thought. This force is supplied to us through
food, and out of that food the body obtains the power of
motion, etc. Others, the finer forces, it throws out in what we
call thought. Naturally we see that the mind is not
intelligent; yet it appears to be intelligent. Why? Because the
intelligent soul is behind it. You are the only sentient being;
mind is only the instrument through which you catch the
external world. Take this book; as a book it does not exist
outside, what exists outside is unknown and unknowable. It is
the suggestion that gives a blow to the mind, and the mind
gives out the reaction. If a stone is thrown into the water the
water is thrown against it in the form of waves. The real
universe is the occasion of the reaction of the mind. A book

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form, or an elephant form, or a man form, is not outside; all
that we know is our mental reaction from the outer
suggestion. Matter is the “permanent possibility of
sensation,” said John Stuart Mill. It is only the suggestion that
is outside. Take an oyster for example. You know how pearls
are made. A grain of sand or something gets inside and begins
to irritate it, and the oyster throws a sort of enameling around
the sand, and this makes the pearl. This whole universe is our
own enamel, so to say, and the real universe is the grain of
sand. The ordinary man will never understand it, because,
when he tries to, he throws out an enamel, and sees only his
own enamel. Now we understand what is meant by these

Vrttis. The real man is behind the mind, and the mind is the
instrument in his hands, and it is his intelligence that is
percolating through it. It is only when you stand behind it that
it becomes intelligent. When man gives it up it falls to pieces,
and is nothing. So you understand what is meant by Chitta. It
is the mind-stuff, and Vrttis are the waves and ripples rising in
it when external causes impinge on it. These Vrttis are our
whole universe.

The bottom of the lake we cannot see, because its surface is
covered with ripples. It is only possible when the rippled have
subsided, and the water is calm, for us to catch a glimpse of
the bottom. If the water is muddy, the bottom will not be seen;
if the water is agitated all the time, the bottom will not be
seen. If the water is clear, and there are no waves, we shall see
the bottom. That bottom of the lake is our own true Self; the
lake is the Chitta, and the waves are the Vrttis. Again, this
mind is in three states; one is darkness, which is called Tamas,

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just as in brutes and idiots; it only acts to injure others. No
other idea comes into that state of mind. Then there is the
active state of mind, Rajas, whose chief motives are power
and enjoyment. “I will be powerful and rule others.” Then,
at last, when the waves cease, and the water of the lake
becomes clear, there is the state called Sattva, serenity,
calmness. It is not inactive, but rather intensely active. It is the
greatest manifestation of power to be calm. It is easy to be
active. Let the reins go, and the horses will drag you down.

Anyone can do that, but he who can stop the plunging horses
is the strong man. Which requires the greater strength, letting
go, or restraining? The calm man is not the man who is dull.

You must not mistake Sattva for dullness, or laziness. The
calm man is the one who has restraint of these waves. Activity
is the manifestation of the lower strength, calmness of the
superior strength.

This Chitta is always trying to get back to its natural pure
state, but the organs draw it out. To restrain it, and to check
this outward tendency, and to start it on the return journey to
that essence of intelligence is the first step in Yoga, because
only in this way can the Chitta get into its proper course.

Although this Chitta is in every animal, from the lowest to the
highest, it is only in the human form that we find intellect, and
until the mind-stuff can take the form of intellect it is not
possible for it to return through all these steps, and liberate the
soul. Immediate salvation is impossible for the cow and the
dog, although they have mind, because their Chitta cannot as
yet take that form which we call intellect.

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Chitta manifests itself in all these different forms - scattering,
darkening, weakening, and concentrating. These are the four
states in which the mind-stuff manifests itself. First a
scattered form, is activity. Its tendency is to manifest in the
form of pleasure or of pain. Then the dull form is darkness,
the only tendency of which is to injure others. The
commentator says the first form is natural to the Devas, the
angels, and the second is the demoniacal form. The Ekagra,
the concentrated form of the Chitta, is what brings us to

Samadhi.

3. तदा द्रष्टु् स्वरूऩेऽवस्थानभ ्॥ ३॥
tada drashtuh svaroope avasthanam

At that time (the time of concentration) the seer (the

Purasa) rests in his own (unmodified) state.

As soon as the waves have stopped, and the lake has become
quiet, we see the ground below the lake. So with the mind;
when it is calm, we see what our own nature is; we do not mix
ourself but remain our own selves.

4. वृणत्तसारूप्यभ ्इतयत्र ॥ ४॥
vrittisaroopyam itaratra

At other times (other than that of concentration) the
seer is identified with the modifications.

For instance, I am in a state of sorrow; someone blames me;
this is a modification, Vrtti, and I identify myself with it, and

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the result is misery.

5. वृत्तम् ऩञ्चतय्य् णिष्टा अणिष्टा्॥ ५॥
vrittayah pangchatayyah klishta aklishtah

There are five classes of modification, painful and not
painful.

6. प्रभािणवऩमयमणवकल्पणनद्रास्मृतम् ॥ ६॥
pramannaviparyayavikalpanidrasmritayah

(These are) right knowledge, indiscrimination, verbal
delusion, sleep, and memory.

7. प्रत्यऺानुभानागभा् प्रभािाणन ॥ ७॥
pratyakshanumanagamah pramanani

Direct
perception,
inference,
and
competent
evidence, are proofs.

When two of our perceptions do not contradict each other we
call it proof. I hear something, and, if it contradicts something
already perceived, I begin to fight it out, and do not believe it.

There are also three kinds of proof. Direct perception,

Pratyaksham, whatever we see and feel, is proof, if there has
been nothing to delude the senses. I see the world; that is
sufficient proof that it exists. Secondly, Anumana, inference;
you see a sign, and from the sign you come to the thing
signified. Thirdly, Aptavakyam, the direct perception of the

Yogi, of those who have seen the truth. We are all of us

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struggling towards knowledge, but you and I have to struggle
hard, and come to knowledge through a long tedious process
of reasoning, but the Yogi, the pure one, has gone beyond all
this. Before his mind, the past, the present, and the future, are
alike one book for him to read; he does not require to go
through all this tedious process, and his words are proofs,
because he sees knowledge in himself; he is the Omniscient

One. These, for instance, are the authors of the Sacred

Scriptures; therefore the Scriptures are proof, and, if any such
persons are living now, their words will be proof. Other
philosophers go into long discussions about this Apta, and
they say, what is the proof that this is truth? The proof is
because they see it; because whatever I see is proof, and
whatever you see is proof, if it does not contradict any past
knowledge. There is knowledge beyond the senses, and
whenever it does not contradict reason and past human
experience, that knowledge is proof. Any madman may come
into this room and say that he sees angels around him, that
would not be proof. In the first place it must be true
knowledge, and, secondly, it must not contradict knowledge
of the past, and thirdly, it must depend upon the character of
the man. I hear it said that the character of the man is not of so
much importance as what he may say; we must first hear what
he says. This may be true in other things; a man may be
wicked, and yet make an astronomical discovery, but in
religion it is different, because no impure man will ever have
the power to reach the truths of religion. Therefore, we have
first of all to see that the man who declares himself to be an

Apta is a perfectly unselfish and holy person; secondly that he
has reached beyond the senses, and thirdly that what he says
does not contradict the past knowledge of humanity. Any new

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discovery of truth does not contradict the past truth, but fits
into it. And, fourthly, that truth must have a possibility of
verification. If a man says “I have seen a vision,” and tells me
that I have no right to see it, I believe him not. Everyone must
have the power to see it for himself. No one who sells his
knowledge is an Apta. All these conditions must be fulfilled;
you must first see that the man is pure, and that he has no
selfish motive; that he has no thirst for gain or fame.

Secondly, he must show that he is super-conscious. Thirdly,
he must have given us something that we cannot get from our
senses, and which is for benefit of the world. And we must see
that it does not contradict other truths; if it contradicts other
scientific truths reject it at once. Fourthly, the man should
never be singular; he should only represent what all men can
attain. The three sorts of proof, are, then, direct sense
perception, inference, and the words of an Apta. I cannot
translate this word into English. It is not the word inspired,
because that comes from outside, while this comes from
himself. The literal meaning is “attained.”

8. णवऩमयमो णभथ्याऻानभ ्अतद्रूऩप्रणतष्ठभ ्॥ ८॥
viparyayo mithyajnanam atadroopapratishtham

Indiscrimination is false knowledge not established in
real nature.

The next class of Vrttis that arise is mistaking the one thing for
another, as a piece of mother-of-pearl is taken for a piece of
silver.

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9. शब्दऻानानुऩाती वस्तुशून्यो णवकल्प् ॥ ९॥
shabdajnaananupati vastushoonyo vikalpah

Verbal delusion follows from words having no

(corresponding) reality.

There is another class of Vrttis called Vikalpa. A word is
uttered, and we do not wait to consider its meaning; we jump
to a conclusion immediately. It is the sign of weakness of the

Chitta. Now you can understand the theory of restraint. The
weaker the man the less he has of restraint. Consider
yourselves always in that way. When you are going to be
angry or miserable, reason it out, how it is that some news that
has come to you is throwing your mind into Vrttis.

10. अबावप्रत्यमारम्बना वृणत्तणनयद्रा ॥ १०॥
abhavapratyayalambana vrittirnidra

Sleep is a Vrtti which embraces the feeling of
voidness.

The next class of Vrttis is called sleep and dream. When we
awake we know that we have been sleeping; we can only have
memory of perception. That which we do not perceive we
never can have any memory of. Every reaction is a wave in
the lake. Now, if, during sleep, the mind has no waves, it
would have no perceptions, positive or negative, and,
therefore, we would not remember them. The very reason of
our remembering sleep is that during sleep there was a certain
class of waves in the mind. Memory is another class of Vrttis,

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which is called Smrti.

11. अनुबूतणवषमासंप्रभोष् स्मृणत् ॥ ११॥
anubhootavishayasanpramoshah smritih

Memory is when the (Vrttis of) perceived subjects do
not slip away (and through impressions come back to
consciousness).

Memory can be caused by the previous three. For instance,
you hear a word. That word is like a stone thrown into the lake
of the Chitta; it causes a ripple, and that ripple rouses a series
of ripples; this is memory. So in sleep. When the peculiar
kind of ripple called sleep throws the Chitta into a ripple of
memory it is called a dream. Dream is another form of the
ripple which in the waking state is called memory.

12. अभ्यासवैयाग्माभ्यां तणियोध् ॥ १२॥
abhyasavairagyabhyan tannirodhah

Their control is by practice and non-attachment.

The mind, to have this non-attachment, must be clear, good
and rational. Why should we practice? Because each action is
like the pulsations quivering over the surface of the lake. The
vibration dies out, and what is left? The Samsharas, the
impressions. When a large number of these impressions is left
on the mind they coalesce, and become a habit. It is said

“habit is second nature;” it is first nature also, and the whole
nature of man; everything that we are, is the result of habit.

That gives us consolation, because, if it is only habit, we can

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make and unmake it at any time. The Samshara is left by
these vibrations passing out of our mind, each one of them
leaving its result. Our character is the sum-total of these
marks, and according as some particular wave prevails one
takes that tone. If good prevail one becomes good, if
wickedness one wicked, if joyfulness one becomes happy.

The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits; all the bad
habits that have left their impressions are to be controlled by
good habits. Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts
continuously; that is the only way to suppress base
impressions. Never say any man is hopeless, because he only
represents a character, a bundle of habits, and these can be
checked by new and better ones. Character is repeated habits,
and repeated habits alone can reform character.

13. तत्र णस्थतौ मत्नोऽभ्यास् ॥ १३॥
tatra sthitau yatno abhyasah

Continuous struggle to keep them (the Vrttis)

perfectly restrained is practice.

What is this practice? The attempt to restrain the mind in the

Chitta form, to prevent its going out into waves.

14. स तु दीघयकारनैयन्तमयसत्कायासेणवतो दृढबूणभ् ॥ १४॥
sa tu dirghakalanairantaryasatkarasevito dridha

-bhoomih

Its ground becomes firm by long, constant efforts
with great love (for the end to be attained).

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Restraint does not come in one day, but by long continued
practice.

15. दृष्टानुश्रणवकणवषमणवतृष्णस्य वशीकायसंऻा वैयाग्मभ ्॥ १५॥
drishtanushravikavishayavitrishnnasy
vashikara
samjna vairagyam

That effort, which comes to those who have given up
their thirst after objects either seen or heard, and
which wills to control the objects, is non-attachment.

Two motives of our actions are (1) What we see ourselves; (2)

The experience of others. These two forces are throwing the
mind, the lake, into various waves. Renunciation is the power
of battling against these, and holding the mind in check.

Renunciation of these two motives is what we want. I am
passing through a street, and a man comes and takes my
watch. That is my own experience. I see it myself, and it
immediately throws my Chitta into a wave, taking the form of
anger. Allow that not to come. If you cannot prevent that, you
are nothing; if you can, you have Vairagyam. Similarly, the
experience of the worldly-minded teaches us that sense
enjoyments are the highest ideal. These are tremendous
temptations. To deny them, and not allow the mind to come
into a wave form with regard to them is renunciation; to
control the twofold motive powers arising from my own
experience, and from the experience of others, and thus
prevent the Chitta from being governed by them, is

Vairagyam. These should be controlled by me, and not I by
them. This sort of mental strength is called renunciation. This

Vairagyam is the only way to freedom.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

16. तत्पयं ऩुरुषख्यातेगयुिवैतृष्ण्यभ ्॥ १६॥
tatparan purushakhyatergunnavaitrishnyam

That extreme non-attachment, giving up even the
qualities, shows (the real nature of) the Purusa.

It is the highest manifestation of power when it takes away
even our attraction towards the qualities. We have first to
understand what the Purusa, the Self, is, and what are the
qualities. According to Yoga philosophy the whole of nature
consists of three qualities; one is called Tamas, another Rajas
and the third Sattva. These three qualities manifest
themselves in the physical world as attraction, repulsion, and
control. Everything that is in nature, all these manifestations,
are combinations and recombinations of these three forces.

This nature has been divided into various categories by the

Sankhyas; the Self of man is beyond all these, beyond nature,
is effulgent by Its very nature. It is pure and perfect.

Whatever of intelligence we see in nature is but the reflection
from this Self upon nature. Nature itself is insentient. You
must remember that the word nature also includes the mind;
mind is in nature; thought is in nature; from thought, down to
the grossest form of matter, everything is in nature, the
manifestation of nature. This nature has covered the Self of
man, and when nature takes away the covering the Self
becomes unveiled, and appears in Its own glory. This
non-attachment, as it is described in Aphorism 15 (as being
control of nature) is the greatest help towards manifesting the

Self. The next aphorism defines Samadhi, perfect
concentration, which is the goal of the Yogi.

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17. णवतकयणवचायानन्दाणस्मतारूऩानुगभात ्संप्रऻात् ॥ १७॥
vitarkavicharanandasmitaroopanugamat
sanprajnatah

The concentration called right know-ledge is that
which is followed by reasoning, discrimination, bliss,
unqualified ego.

This Samadhi is divided into two varieties. One is called the

Samprajnata, and the other the Asamprajnata. The

Samprajnata is of four varieites. In this Samadhi come all the
powers of controlling nature. The first variety is called the

Savitarka, when the mind meditates upon an object again and
again, by isolating it from other objects. There are two sorts of
objects for meditation, the categories of nature, and the

Purusa. Again, the categories are of two varieties; the
twenty-four categories are insentient, and the one sentient is
the Purusa. When the mind thinks of the elements of nature
by thinking of their beginning and their end, this is one sort of

Savitarka. The words require explanation. This part of Yoga is
based entirely on Sankhya Philosophy, about which I have
already told you. As you will remember, egoism and will, and
mind, have a common basis, and that common basis is called
the Chitta, the mind-stuff, out of which they are all
manufactured. This mind-stuff takes in the forces of nature,
and projects them as thought. There must be something,
again, where both force and matter are one. This is called

Avyaktam, the unmanifested state of nature, before creation,
and two which, after the end of a cycle, the whole of nature
returns, to again come out after another period. Beyond that is

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

the Purusa, the essence of intelligence. There is no liberation
in getting powers. It is a worldly search after enjoyment in
this life; all search for enjoyment is vain; this is the old, old
lesson which man finds it so hard to learn. When he does learn
it, he gets out of the universe and becomes free. The
possession of what are called occult powers is only
intensifying the world, and in the end intensifying suffering.

Though, as a scientist, Patanjali is bound to point out the
possibilities of this science, he never misses an opportunity to
warn us against these powers. Knowledge is power, and as
soon as we begin to know a thing we get power over it; so
also, when the mind begins to meditate on the different
elements it gains power over them. That sort of meditation
where the external gross elements are the objects is called

Savitarka. Tarka means question, Savitarka with-question.

Questioning the elements, as it were, that they may give up
their truths and their powers to the man who meditates upon
them. Again, in the very same meditation, when one struggles
to take the elements out of time and space, and think of them
as they are, it is called Nirvitarka, without-question. When
the meditation goes a step higher, and takes the Tanmatras as
its object, and thinks of them as in time and space, it is called

Savichara, with-discrimination, and when the same
meditation gets beyond time and space, and thinks of the fine
elements
as
they
are,
it
is
called

Nirvichara,
without-discrimination. The next step is when the elements
are given up, either as gross or as fine, and the object of
meditation is the interior organ, the thinking organ, and when
the thinking organ is thought of as bereft of the qualities of
activity, and of dullness, it is then called Sanandam, the
blissful Samadhi. In that Samadhi, when we are thinking of

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

the mind as the object of meditation, before we have reached
the state which takes us beyond the mind even, when it has
become very ripe and concentrated, when all ideas of the
gross materials, or fine materials, have been given up, and the
only object is the mind as it is, when the Sattva state only of
the Ego remains, but differentiated from all other objects, this
is called Asmita Samadhi, and the man who has attained to
this has attained to what is called in the Vedas “bereft of
body.” He can think of himself as without his gross body; but
he will have to think of himself as with a fine body. Those that
in this state get merged in nature without attaining the goal are
called Prakrtilayas, but those who do not even stop at any
enjoyments, reach the goal, which is freedom.

18. णवयाभप्रत्यमाभ्यासऩूवय् संस्कायशेषोऽन्य् ॥ १८॥
viramapratyayabhyasapoorvah
sanskarashesho
anyah

There is another Samadhi which is attained by the
constant practice of cessation of all mental activity, in
which the Chitta retains only the unmanifested
impressions.

This is the perfect superconscious Asamprajnata Samadhi,
the state which gives us freedom. The first state does not
give us freedom, does not liberate the soul. A man may attain
to all powers, and yet fall again. There is no safeguard until
the soul goes beyond nature, and beyond conscious
concentration. It is very difficult to attain, although its method
seems very easy. Its method is to hold the mind as the object,
and whenever through comes, to strike it down, allowing no

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

thought to come into the mind, thus making it an entire
vacuum. When we can really do this, in that moment we shall
attain liberation. When persons without training and
preparation try to make their minds vacant they are likely to
succeed only in covering themselves with Tamas, material of
ignorance, which makes the mind dull and stupid, and leads
them to think that they are making a vacuum of the mind. To
be able to really do that is a manifestation of the greatest
strength, of the highest control. When this state,

Asamprajnata, super-consciousness, is reached, the Samadhi
becomes seedless. What is meant by that? In that sort of
concentration when there is consciousness, where the mind
has succeeded only in quelling the waves in the Chitta and
holding them down, they are still there in the form of
tendencies, and these tendencies (or seeds) will become
waves again, when the time comes. But when you have
destroyed all these tendencies, almost destroyed the mind,
then it has become seedless, there are no more seeds in the
mind out of which to manufacture again and again this plant
of life, this ceaseless round of birth and death. You may ask,
what state would that be, in which we should have no
knowledge? What we call knowledge is a lower state than the
one beyond knowledge. You must always bear in mind that
the extremes look very much the same. The low vibration of
light is darkness, and the very high vibration of light is
darkness also, but one is real darkness, and the other is really
intense light; yet their appearance is the same. So, ignorance
is the lowest state, knowledge is the middle state, and beyond
knowledge is a still higher state. Knowledge itself is a
manufactured something, a combination; it is not reality.

What will be the result of constant practice of this higher

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

concentration? All old tendencies of restlessness, and
dullness, will be destroyed, as well as the tendencies of
goodness too. It is just the same as with the metals that are
used with gold to take off the dirt and alloy. When the ore is
smelted down, the dross is burnt along with the alloy. So this
constant controlling power will stop the previous bad
tendencies and, eventually, the good ones also. Those good
and evil tendencies will suppress each other, and there will
remain the Soul, in all its glorious splendour, untrammelled
by either good or bad, and that Soul is omnipresent,
omnipotent, and omniscient. By giving up all powers it has
become omnipotent, by giving up all life it is beyond
mortality; it has become life itself. Then the Soul will know It
neither had birth nor death, neither want of heaven nor of
earth. It will know that It neither came nor went; it was nature
which was moving, and that movement was reflected upon
the Soul. The form of the light is moving, it is reflected and
cast by the camera upon the wall, and the wall foolishly thinks
it is moving. So with all of us: it is the Chitta constantly
moving, manipulating itself into various forms, and we think
that we are these various forms. All these delusions will
vanish. When that free Soul will command—not pray or beg,
but command—then whatever It desires will be immediately
fulfilled; whatever It wants It will be able to do. According to
the Sankhya Philosophy there is no God. It says that there
cannot be any God of this universe, because if there were He
must be a Soul, and a Soul must be one of two things, either
bound or free. How can the soul that is bound by nature, or
controlled by nature, create? It is itself a slave. On the other
hand, what business has the soul that is free to create and
manipulate all these things? It has no desires, so cannot have

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

any need to create. Secondly, it says the theory of God is an
unnecessary one; nature explains all. What is the use of any

God? But Kapila teaches that there are many souls, who,
through nearly attaining perfection, fall short because they
cannot perfectly renounce all powers. Their minds for a time
merge in nature, to re-emerge as its masters. We shall all
become such gods, and, according to the Sankhyas, the God
spoken of in the Vedas really means one of these free souls.

Beyond them there is not an eternally free and blessed Creator
of the universe. On the other hand the Yogis say, “Not so,
there is a God; there is one Soul separate from all other souls,
and He is the eternal Master of all creation, the Ever Free, the

Teacher of all teachers.” The Yogis admit that those the

Sankhyas called “merged in nature” also exist. They are Yogis
who have fallen short of perfection, and though, for a time
debarred from attaining the goal, remain as rulers of parts of
the universe.

19. बवप्रत्यमो णवदेहप्रकृणतरमानाभ ्॥ १९॥
bhavapratyayo videhaprakritilayanam

(This Samadhi, when not followed by extreme
non-attachment) becomes the cause of the
re-manifestation of the gods and of those that become
merged in nature.

The gods in the Indian systems represent certain high offices
which are being filled successively by various souls. But
none of them is perfect.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

20. श्रद्धावीमयस्मृणतसभाणधप्रऻाऩूवयक इतयेषाभ ्॥ २०॥
shraddhaviryasmritisamadhiprajnapoorvaka
itaresham

To others (this Samadhi) comes through faith,
energy, memory, concentration, and discrimination
of the real.

These are they who do not want the position of gods, or even
that of rulers of cycles. They attain to liberation.

21. तीव्रसंवेगानाभ ्आसि् ॥ २१॥
tivrasanveganam aasannah

Success is speeded for the extremely energetic.

22. भृदुभध्याणधभात्रत्वात ्ततोऽणऩ णवशेष् ॥ २२॥
mridumadhyadhimatratvat tatopi visheshah

They again differ according as the means are mild,
medium or supreme.

23. ईश्वयप्रणिधानाद ् वा ॥ २३॥
eeshvarapranidhanad va

Or by devotion to Isvara.

24. िेशकभयणवऩाकाशमैयऩयाभृष्ट् ऩुरुषणवशेष ईश्वय् ॥ २४॥
kleshakarmavipakashayairaparamrishtah
purushavishesh eeshvarah

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Isvara (the Supreme Ruler) is a special Purusa,
untouched by misery, the results of actions, or
desires.

We must again remember that this Patanjali Yoga Philosophy
is based upon that of the Sankhyas, only that in the latter there
is no place for God, while with the Yogis God has a place. The

Yogis, however, avoid many ideas about God, such as
creating. God as the Creator of the Universe is not meant by
the Isvara of the Yogis, although, according to the Vedas,

Isvara is the Creator of the universe. Seeing that the universe
is harmonious, it must be the manifestation of one will. The

Yogis and Sankhyas both avoid the question of creation. The

Yogis want to establish a God, but carefully avoid this
question; they do not raise it at all. Yet you will find that they
arrive at God in a peculiar fashion of their own. They say:

25. तत्र णनयणतशमं सवयऻत्वफीजभ ्॥ २५॥
tatra niratishayan sarvajntvabijam

In Him becomes infinite that all-knowing-ness which
in others is (only) a germ.

The mind must always travel between two extremes. You can
think of limited space, but the very idea of that gives you also
unlimited space. Close your eyes and think of a little space,
and at the same time that you perceive the little circle, you
have a circle round it of unlimited dimensions. It is the same
with time. Try to think of a second, you will have, with the
same act of perception, to think of time which is unlimited.

So with knowledge. Knowledge is only a germ in man, but

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

you will have to think of infinite knowledge around it, so that
the very nature of your constitution shows us that there is
unlimited knowledge, and the Yogis call that unlimited
knowledge God.

26. स ऩूवेषाभ ् अणऩ गुरु् कारेनानवच्छेदात ्॥ २६॥
sa poorvesham api guruh kalenanavachchhedat

He is the Teacher of even the ancient teachers, being
not limited by time.

It is true that all knowledge is within ourselves, but this has to
be called forth by another knowledge. Although the capacity
to know is inside us, it must be called out, and that calling out
of knowledge can only be got, a Yogi maintains, through
another knowledge. Dead, insentient matter, never calls out
knowledge. It is the action of knowledge that brings out
knowledge. Knowing beings must be with us to call forth
what is in us, so these teachers were always necessary. The
world was never without them, and no knowledge can come
without them. God is the Teacher of all teachers, because
these teachers, however great they may have been—gods or
angels—were all bound and limited by time, and God is not
limited by time. These are the two peculiar distinctions of the

Yogis. The first is that in thinking of the limited, the mind
must think of the unlimited, and that if one part of the
perception is true the other must be, for the reason that their
value as perceptions of the mind is equal. The very fact that
man has a little knowledge, shows that God has unlimited
knowledge. If I am to take one, why not the other? Reason
forces me to take both or reject both. It I believe that there is a

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

man with a little knowledge, I must also admit that there is
someone behind him with unlimited knowledge. The second
deduction is that no knowledge can come without a teacher. It
is true as the modern philosophers say, that there is something
in man which evolves out of him; all knowledge is in man, but
certain environments are necessary to call it out. We cannot
find any knowledge without teacher, if there are men teachers,
god teachers, or angel teachers, they are all limited; who was
the teacher before them? We are forced to admit, as a last
conclusion, One Teacher, Who is not limited by time, and that

One Teacher or infinite knowledge, without beginning or end,
is called God.

27. तस्य वाचक् प्रिव् ॥ २७॥
tasya vachakah prannavah

His manifesting word is Om.

Every idea that you have in the mind has a counterpart in a
word; the word and the thought are inseparable. The external
part of the thought is what we call word, and the internal part
is what we call thought. No man can, by analysis, separate
thought from word. The idea that language was created by
men—certain men sitting together and deciding on words, has
been proved to be wrong. So long as things have existed there
have been words and language. What is the connection
between an idea and a word? Although we see that there must
always be a word with a thought, it is not necessary that the
same thought requires the same word. The thought may be the
same in twenty different countries, yet the language is
different. We must have a word to express each thought, but

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

these words need not necessarily have the same sound.

Sounds will vary in different nations. Our commentator says

“Although the relation between thought and word is perfectly
natural, yet it does not mean a rigid connection between one
sound and one idea.” These sounds vary, yet the relation
between the sounds and the thoughts is a natural one. The
connection between thoughts and sounds is good only if there
be a real connection between the thing signified and the
symbol, and until then that symbol will never come into
general use. Symbol is the manifestor of the thing signified,
and if the thing signified has already existence, and if, by
experience, we know that the symbol has expressed that thing
many times, then we are sure that there is the real relation
between them. Even if the things are not present, there will be
thousands who will know them by their symbols. There must
be a natural connection between the symbol and the thing
signified; then, when that symbol is pronounced, it recalled
the thing signified. The commentator says the manifesting
word of God is Om. Why does he emphasise this? There are
hundreds of words for God. One thought is connected with a
thousand words; the idea, God, is connected with hundreds of
words, and each one stands as a symbol for God. Very good.

But there must be a generalisation among all these words,
some substratum, some common ground of all these symbols,
and that symbol which is the common symbol will be the best,
and will really be the symbol of all. In making a sound we use
the larynx, and the palate as a sounding board. Is there any
material sound of which all other sounds must be
manifestations, one which is the most natural sound? Om

( Aum) is such a sound, the basis of all sounds. The first letter,

A, is the root sound, the key, pronounced without touching

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

any part of the tongue or palate; M represents the last sound in
the series, being produced by the closed lip, and the U rolls
from the very root to the end of the sounding board of the
mouth. Thus, Om represents the whole phenomena of sound
producing. As such, it must be the natural symbol, the
matrix of all the variant sounds. It denotes the whole range
and possibility of all the words that can be made. Apart from
these speculations we see that around this word Om are
centred all the different religious ideas in India; all the various
religious ideas of the Vedas have gathered themselves round
this word Om. What has that to do with America and England,
or any other country? Simply that the word has been retained
at every stage of religious growth in India, and it has been
manipulated to mean all the various ideas about God.

Monists, Dualists, Mono-Dualists, Separatists, and even

Atheists, took up this Om. Om has become the one symbol for
the religious aspiration of the vast majority of human beings.

Take, for instance, the English word God. It conveys only a
limited function, and if you go beyond it, you have to add
adjectives, to make it Personal, or Impersonal, or Absolute

God. So with the words for God in every other language; their
signification is very small. This word Om, however, has
around it all the various significances. As such it should be
accepted by everyone.

28. तज्जऩस्तदथयबावनभ ्॥ २८॥
tajjapastadarthabhavanam

The repetition of this (Om) and meditating on its
meaning (is the way).

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Why should there be repetition? We have not forgotten that
theory of Samskaras, that the sum-total of impressions lives
in the mind. Impressions live in the mind, the sum-total of
impressions, and they become more and more latent, but
remain there, and as soon as they get the right stimulus they
come out. Molecular vibration will never cease. When this
universe is destroyed all the massive vibrations disappear, the
sun, moon, stars, and earth, will melt down, but the vibrations
must remain in the atoms. Each atom will perform the same
function as the big worlds do. So the vibrations of this Chitta
will subside, but will go on like molecular vibrations, and
when they get the impulse will come out again. We can now
understand what is meant by repetition. It is the greatest
stimulus that can be given to the spiritual Samskaras. “One
moment of company with the Holy makes a ship to cross this
ocean of life.” Such is the power of association. So this
repetition of Om, and thinking of its meaning, is keeping good
company in your own mind. Study, and then meditate and
meditate, when you have studied. The light will come to you,
the Self will become manifest.

But one must think of this Om, and of its meaning too. Avoid
evil company, because the scars of old wounds are in you, and
this evil company is just the heat that is necessary ot call them
out. In the same way we are told that good company will call
out the good impressions that are in us, but which have
become latent. There is nothing holier in this world than to
keep good company, because the good impressions will have
this same tendency to come to the surface.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

29. तत् प्रत्यक्चेतनाणधगभोऽप्यन्तयामाबावि ॥ २९॥
tatah pratyakchetanadhigamopyantarayabhavashch

From that is gain (the knowledge of) introspection,
and the destruction of obstacles.

The first manifestation of this repetition and thinking of Om
will be that the introspective power will be manifested more
and more, and all the mental and physical obstacles will begin
to vanish. What are the obstacles to the Yogi?

30. व्याणधस्त्यानसंशमप्रभादारस्याणवयणतभ्राणन्तदशयनारब्धबूणभक -

त्वानवणस्थतत्वाणन णचत्तणवऺेऩास्तेऽन्तयामा् ॥ ३०॥
vyadhistyanasanshayapramadalasyaviratibhrantidar
shanalabdhabhoomikatvanavasthitatvani
chittavikshepastentarayah

Disease, mental laziness, doubt, calmness, cessation,
false perception, non-attaining concentration, and
falling away from the state when obtained, are the
obstructing distractions.

Disease. This body is the boat which will carry us to the other
shore of the ocean of life. It must be taken care of. Unhealthy
persons cannot be Yogis. Mental laziness makes us lose all
lively interest in the subject, without which there will neither
be the will nor the energy to practice. Doubts will arise in the
mind about the truth of the science, however strong one’s
intellectual conviction may be, until certain peculiar psychic
experiences come, as hearing, or seeing, at a distance, etc.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

These glimpses strengthen the mind and make the student
persevere. Falling away when attained. Some says or weeks
when you are practising the mind will be calm and easily
concentrated, and you will find yourself progressing fast. All
of a sudden the progress will stop one day, and you will find
yourself, as it were, stranded. Persevere. All progress
proceeds by rise and fall.

31. दु्खदौभयनस्याङ्गभेजमत्वश्वासप्रश्वासा णवऺेऩसहबुव् ॥ ३१॥
duhkhadaurmanasyanggamejayatvashvasaprashvaa
vikshepasahabhuvah

Grief, mental distress, tremor of the body and
irregular breathing, accompany non-retention of
concentration.

Concentration will bring perfect repose to mind and body
every time it is practised. When the practice has been
misdirected, or not enough controlled, these disturbances
come. Repetition of Om and self-surrender to the Lord will
strengthen the mind, and bring fresh energy. The nervous
shakings will come to almost everyone. Do not mind them at
all, but keep on practising. Practice will cure them, and make
the seat firm.

32. तत्प्रणतषेधाथयभ ्एकतत्त्वाभ्यास् ॥ ३२॥
tatpratishedhartham ekatattvabhyasah

To remedy this practice of one subject (should be
made).

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Making the mind take the form of one object for some time
will destroy these obstacles. This is general advice. In the
following aphorisms it will be expanded and particularised.

As one practice cannot suit everyone, various methods will be
advanced, and everyone by actual experience will find out
that which helps him most.

33. भैत्रीकरुिाभुणदतोऩेऺिां सुखदु्खऩुण्माऩुण्मणवषमािां

बावनातणित्तप्रसादनभ ्॥ ३३॥
maitreekarunamuditopekshanan
sukhaduhkhapunyapunyavishayanan
bhavanatashchittaprasadanam

Friendship, mercy, gladness, indifference, being
thought of in regard to subjects, happy, unhappy,
good and evil respectively, pacify the Chitta.

We must have these four sorts of ideas. We must have
friendship for all; we must be merciful towards those that are
in misery; when people are happy we ought to be happy, and
to the wicked we must be indifferent. So with all subjects that
come before us. If the subject is a good one, we shall feel
friendly towards it; if the subject of thought is one that is
miserable we must be merciful towards the subject. If it is
good we must be glad, if it is evil we must be indifferent.

These attitudes of the mind towards the different subjects that
come before it will make the mind peaceful. Most of our
difficulties in our daily lives come from being unable to hold
our minds in this way. For instance, if a man does evil to us,

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instantly we want to react evil, and every reaction of evil
shows that we are not able to hold the Chitta down; it comes
out in waves towards the object, and we lose our power. Every
reaction in the form of hatred or evil is so much loss to the
mind, and every evil thought or deed of hatred, or any thought
of reaction, if it is controlled, will be laid in our favour. It is
not that we lose by thus restraining ourselves; we are gaining
infinitely more than we suspect. Each time we suppress
hatred, or a feeling of anger, it is so much good energy stored
up in our favour; that piece of energy will be converting into
the higher powers.

34. प्रच्छदयनणवधायिाभ्यां वा प्रािस्य ॥ ३४॥
prachchhardanavidharanabhyan va prannasya

By throwing out and restraining the Breath.

The word used in Prana. Prana is not exactly breath. It is the
name for the energy that is in the universe. Whatever you
see in the universe, whatever moves or works, or has life, is a
manifestation of this Prana. the sum-total of the energy
displayed in the universe is called Prana. This Prana, before
a cycle begins, remains in an almost motionless state, and
when the cycle begins this Prana begins to manifest itself. It
is this Prana that is manifested as motion, as the nervous
motion in human beings or animals, and the same Prana is
manifesting as thought, and so on. The whole universe is a
combination of Prana and Akasa; so is the human body. Out
of Akasa you get the different materials that you feel, and
see, and out of Prana all the various forces. Now this
throwing out and restraining the Prana is what is called

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Pranayama. Patanjali, the father of the Yoga Philosophy,
does not give many particular directions about Pranayama,
but later on other Yogis found out various things about this

Pranayama, and made of it a great science. With Patanjali ist
is one of the many ways, but he does not lay much stress on it.

He means that you simply throw the air out, and draw it in,
and hold it for some time, that is all, and by that, the mind will
become a little calmner. But, later on, you will find that out of
this is evolved a particular science called Pranayama. We
will hear a little of what thoese later Yogis have to say. Some
of this I have told you before, but a little repetition will serve
to fix it in your minds. First, you must remember that this

Prana is not the breath. But that which causes the motion of
the breath, that which is the vitality of the breath is the Prana.

Again, the word Prana is used of all the senses; they are all
called Prana, the mind is called Prana; and so we see that

Prana is the name of a certain force. And yet we cannot call
it force, because force is only the manifestation of it. It is that
which manifests itself as force and everything else in the way
of motion. The Chitta, the mind-stuff, is the engine which
draws in the Prana from the surroundings, and manufactures
out of this Prana the various vital forces. First of all the
forces that keep the body in preservation, and lastly thought,
will, and all other powers. By this process of breathing we can
control all the various motions in the body, and the various
nerve currents that are running through the body. First we
begin to recognise them, and then we slowly get control over
them. Now these later Yogis consider that there are three main
currents of this Prana in the human body. One they call Ida,
another Pingala, and the third Susumna. Pingala, according
to them, is on the right side of the spinal column, and the Ida

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

is on the left side, and in the middle of this spinal column is
the Susumna, a vacant channel. Ida and Pingala, according
to them, are the currents working in every man, and through
these currents, we are performing all the functions of life.

Susumna is present in all, as a possibility; but it works only in
the Yogi. You must remember that the Yogi changes his body;
as you go on practising your body changes; it is not the same
body that you had before the practice. That is very rational,
and can be explained, because every new thought that we
have must make, as it were, a new channel through the brain,
and that explains the tremendous conservatism of human
nature. Human nature likes to run through the ruts that are
already there, because it is easy. If we think, just for
example’s sake, that the mind is like a needle, and the brain
substance a soft lump before it, then each thought that we
have makes a street, as it were, in the brain, and this street
would close up, but that the grey matter comes and makes a
lining to keep it separate. If there were no grey matter there
would be no memory, because memory means going over
these old streets, retracing a thought as it were. Now perhaps
you have remarked that when I talk on subjects that in which I
take a few ideas that are familiar to everyone, and combine,
and recombine them, it is easy to follow, because these
channels are present in everyone’s brain, and it is only
necessary to recur to them. But whenever a new subject
comes new channels have to be made, so it is not understood
so readily. And that is why the brain (it is the brain, and not
the people themselves) refuses unconsciously to be acted
upon by new ideas. It resists. The Prana is trying to make
new channels, and the brain will not allow it. This is the secret
of conservatism. The less channels there have been in the

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

brain, and the less the needle of the Prana has made these
passages, the more conservative will be the brain, the more it
will struggle against new thoughts. The more thoughtful the
mane, the more complicated will be the streets in his brain,
and the more easily he will take to new ideas, and understand
them. So with every fresh idea; we make a new impression in
the brain, cut new channels though the brain-stuff, and that is
why we find that in the practice of Yoga (it being an entirely
new set of thoughts and motives) there is so much physical
resistance at first. That is why we find that the part of
religion which deals with the world side of nature can be so
widely accpeted, while the other part, the Philosophy, or the

Psychology, which deals with the inner nature of man, is so
frequently neglected. We must remember the definition of
this world of ours; it is only the Infinite Existence projected
into the plane of consciousness. A little of the Infinite is
projected into consciousness, and that we call our world. So
there is an Infinite beyond, and religion has to deal with both,
with th elittle lump we call our world, and with the Infinite
beyond. Any religion which deals alone with either one of
these two will be defective. It must deal with both. That part
of religion which deals with this part of the Infinite which has
come into this plane of consciousness, got itself caught, as it
were, in the plane of consciousness, in the case of time, space,
and causation, is quite familiar to us, because we are in that
already, and ideas about this world have been with us almost
from time immemorial. The part of religion which deals with
the Infinite beyond comes entirely new to us, and getting
ideas about it produces new channels in the brain, disturbing
the whole system, and that is why you find in the practice of

Yoga ordinary people are at first turned out of their groove. In

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

order to lesson these disturbances as much as possible all
these methods are devised by Patanjali, that we may practice
any one of them best suited to us.

35. णवषमवती वा प्रवृणत्तरुत्पिा भनस् णस्थणतणनफणिनी ॥ ३५॥
vishayavati
va
pravrittirutpanna
manasah
sthitinibandhini

Those forms of concentration that bring extraordinary
sense perceptions cause perseverance of the mind.

This naturally comes with Dharana, concentration; the Yogis
say, if the mind becomes concentrated on the tip of the nose
one begins to smell, after a few days, wonderful perfumes. If
it becomes concentrated at the root of the tongue one begins to
here sounds; if on the tip of the tongue one begins to taste
wonderful flavours; if on the middle of the tongue, one feels
as if he were coming in contact with something. If one
concentrates his mind on the palate he begins to see peculiar
things. If a man whose mind is disturbed wants to take up
some of these practices of Yoga, yet doubts the truth of them,
he will have his doubts set at rest, when, after a little practice,
these things come to him, and he will persevere.

36. णवशोका वा ज्योणतष्मती ॥ ३६॥
vishoka va jyotishmati

Or (by the meditation on) the Effulgent One which is
beyond all sorrow.

This is another sort of concentration. Think of the lotus of the

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

heart, with petals downwards, and ruunning through it the

Sucumna; take in the breath, and while throwing the breat out
imagine that the lotus is turned with the petals upwards, and
inside that lotus is an effulgent light. Meditate on that.

37. वीतयागणवषमं वा णचत्तभ ्॥ ३७॥
vitaragavishayan va chittam

Or (by meditation on) the heart that has given up all
attachment to sense objects.

Take some holy person, some great person whom you revere,
some saint whom you know to be perfectly non-attached, and
think of his heart. That heart has become non-attached, and
meditate on that heart; it will calm the mind. If you cannot do
that, there is the next way.

38. स्वप्नणनद्राऻानारम्बनं वा ॥ ३८॥
svapnanidrajnanalambanan va

Or by meditating on the knowledge that comes in
sleep.

Sometimes a man dreams that he has seen angels coming to
him and talking to him, that he is in an ecstatic condition, that
he has heard music floating through the air. He is in a
blissful condition in that dream, and when he awakes it makes
a deep impression on him. Think of that dream as real, and
meditate upon it. If you cannot do that, meditate on any holy
thing that pleases you.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

39. मथाणबभतध्यानाद ् वा ॥ ३९॥
yathabhimatadhyanad va

Or by meditation on anything that appeals to one as
good.

This does not mean any wicked subject, but anything good
that you like, any place that you like best, any scenery that
you like best, any idea that you like best, anything that will
concentrate the mind.

40. ऩयभािु ऩयभभहत्त्वान्तोऽस्य वशीकाय् ॥ ४०॥
paramanu paramamahattvantosya vashikarah

The Yogi’s mind thus meditating, becomes
un-obstructed from the atomic to the Infinite.

The mind, by this practice, easily contemplates the most
minute thing, as well as the biggest thing. Thus the mind
waves become fainter.

41. ऺीिवृत्तेयणबजातस्येव भिेर्ग्यहीतृर्ग्हिर्ग्ाह्येषु

तत्स्थतदञ्जनतासभाऩणत्त् ॥ ४१॥
ksheennavritterabhijatasyev
manergrahitrigrahannagrahyeshu
tatsthatadangjanatasamapattih

The Yogi whose Vrttis have thus become powerless

(controlled) obtains in the receiver, receiving, and

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

received (the self, the mind and external objects),
concentratedness and sameness, like the crystal

(before different coloured objects.)

What results from this constant meditation? We must
remember how in a previous aphorism Patanjali went into the
various states of meditation, and how the first will be the
gross, and the second the fine objects, and from them the
advance is to still finer objects of meditation, and how, in all
these meditations, which are only of the first degree, not very
high ones, we get as a result that we can meditate as easily on
the fine as on the grosser objects. Here the Yogi sees the three
things, the receiver, the received, and the receiving,
corresponding to the Soul, the object, and the mind. There are
three objects of meditation given us. Firs the gross things, as
bodies, or material objects, second fine things, as the mind,
the Chitta, and third the Purasa qualified, not the Purasa
itself, but the egoism. By practice, the Yogi gets established in
all these meditations. Whenever he meditates he can keep out
all other thought; he becomes identified with that on which he
mediates; when he meditates he is like a piece of crystal;
before flowers the crystal becomes almost identified with
flowers. If the flower is red, the crystal looks red, or if the
flower is blue, the crystal looks blue.

42. तत्र शब्दाथयऻानणवकल्पै् संकीिाय सणवतकाय सभाऩणत्त् ॥ ४२॥
tatra shabdarthajnanavikalpaih sankeerna savitarka
samapattih

Sound, meaning, and resulting knowledge, being
mixed up, is (called Samadhi) with reasoning.

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Sound here means vibration; meaning, the nerve currents
which conduct it; and knowledge, reaction. All the various
meditations we have had so far, Patanjali calls Savitarka

(meditations with reasoning). Later on he will give us higher
and higher Dhyanas. In these that are called “with reasoning,”

we keep the duality of subject and object, which results from
the mixture of word, meaning, and knowledge. There is first
the external vibration, the word; this, carried inward by the
sense currents, is the meaning. After that there comes a
reactionary wave in the Chitta, which is knowledge, but the
mixture of these three makeup what we call knowledge. In all
the meditations up to this we get this mixture as object of
meditation. The next Samadhi is higher.

43. स्मृणतऩणयशुद्धौ स्वरूऩशून्येवाथयभात्रणनबायसा णनणवयतकाय ॥ ४३॥
smritiparishuddhau
svaroopashoonyevarthamatranirbhasa nirvitarka

The Samadhi called without reasoning (comes) when
the memory is purified, or devoid of qualities,
expressing only the meaning (of the meditated
object).

It is by practice of meditation of these three that we come to
the state where these three do not mix. We can get rid of them.

We will first try to understand what these three are. Here is
the Chitta; you will always remember the simile of the lake,
the mind-stuff, and the vibration, the word, the sound, like a
pulsation coming over it. You have that calm lake in you, and

I pronounce a word, “cow.” As soon as it enters through

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

your ears there is a wave produced in your Chitta along with
it. So that wave represents the idea of the cow, the form or the
meaning as we call it. That apparent cow that you know is
really that wave in the mind-stuff, and that comes as a
reaction to the internal and external sound-vibrations, and
with the sound, the wave dies away; that wave can never exist
without a word. You may ask how it is when we only think of
the cow, and do not hear a sound. You make that sound
yourself. You are saying “cow” faintly in your mind, and
with that comes a wave. There cannot be any wave without
this impulse of sound, and when it is not from outside it is
from inside, and when the sound dies, the wave dies. What
remains? The result of the reaction, and that is knowledge.

These three are so closely combined in our mind that we
cannot separate them. When the sound comes, the senses
vibrate, and the wave rises in reaction; they follow so closely
upon one another that there is no discerning one from the
other; when this meditation has been practiced for a long time,
memory, the receptacle of all impressions, becomes purified,
and wwe are able clearly to distinguish them from one
another. This is called “Nirvitarka,” concentration without
reasoning.

44. एतमैव सणवचाया णनणवयचाया च सूक्ष्मणवषमा व्याख्याता ॥ ४४॥
etayaiva savichara nirvichara cha sookshmavishaya
vyakhyata

By
this
process

(the
concentrations)

with
discrim-ination and without discrimination, whose
objects are finer, are (also) explained.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

A process similar to the preceding is applied again, only, the
objects to be taken up in the former meditations are gross; in
this they are fine.

45. सूक्ष्मणवषमत्वं चाणरङ्गऩमयवसानभ ्॥ ४५॥
sookshmavishayatvan chalinggaparyavasanam

The finer objects end with the Pradhana.

The gross objects are only the elements, and everything
manufactured out of them. The fine objects begin with the

Tanmatras or fine particles. The organs, the mind1, egoism,
the mind-stuff (the cause of all manifestion) the equilibrium
state of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas materials—called Pradhana

(chief), Prakrti (nature), or Avyakta (unmanifest), are all
included within the category of fine objects. The Purusa (the

Soul) alone is excepted from this definition.

46. ता एव सफीज् सभाणध् ॥ ४६॥
ta eva sabijah samadhih

These concentrations are with seed.

These do not destroy the seeds of past actions, thus cannot
give liberation, but what they bring to the Yogi is stated in the
following aphorisms.

47. णनणवयचायवैशायद्येऽध्यात्मप्रसाद् ॥ ४७॥
nirvicharavaisharadye adhyatmaprasadah

1 The mind, or common sensory, the aggregate of all senses

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

The concentration “without reasoning” being
purified, the Chitta becomes firmly fixed.

48. ऋतंबया तत्र प्रऻा ॥ ४८॥
rtanbhara tatr prajna

The knowledge in that is called “filled with Truth.”

The next aphorism will explain this.

49. श्रुतानुभानप्रऻाभ्याभ ्अन्यणवषमा णवशेषाथयत्वात ्॥ ४९॥
shrutanumanaprajnabhyam anyavishayaa
vishesharthatvat

The knowledge that is gained from testimony and
inference is about common objects. That from the

Samadhi just mentioned is of a much higher order,
being able to penetrate where inference and
testimony cannot go.

The idea is that we have to get our knowledge of ordinary
objects by direct perception, and by inference therefrom, and
from testimony of people who are competent. By “people
who are competent,” the Yogis always mean the Rishis, or the

Seers of the thoughts recorded in the Scriptures—the Vedas.

According to them, the only proof of the Scriptures is that
they were the testimony of competent persons, yet they say
the Scriptures cannot take us to realisation. We can read all
the Vedas, and yet will not realise anything, but when we
practise their teachings, then we attain to that state which
realises what the Scriptures say, which penetrates where

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

reason cannot go, and where the testimony of others cannot
avail. This is what is meant by this aphorism, that realisation
is real religion, and all the rest is only preparation—hearing
lectures, or reading books, or reasoning, is merely preparing
the ground; it is not religion. Intellectual assent, and
intellectual dissent are not religion. The central idea of the

Yogis is that just as we come in direct contact with the objects
of the senses, so religion can be directly perceived in a far
more intense sense. The truths of religion, as God and Soul,
cannot be perceived by the external senses. I cannot see God
with my eyes, nor can I touch Him with my hands, and we
also know that neither can we reason beyond the senses.

Reason leaves us at a point quite indecisive; we may reason
all our lives, as the world has been doing for thousands of
years, and the result is that we find we are incompetent to
prove or disprove the facts of religion. What we perceive
directly we take as the basis, and upon that basis we reason.

So it is obvious that reasoning has to run within these bounds
of perception. It can never go beyond: the whole scope of
realisation, therefore, is beyond sense perception. The Yogis
say that man can go beyond his direct sense perception, and
beyond his reason also. Man has in him the faculty, the
power, of transcending his intellect even, and that power is in
every being, every creature. By the practice of Yoga that
power is aroused, and then man transcends the ordinary limits
of reason, and directly perceives things which are beyond all
reason.

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50. तज्ज् संस्कायो न्यसंस्कायप्रणतफिी ॥ ५०॥
tajjah sanskaro nyasanskarapratibandhi

The resulting impression from this Samadhi obstructs
all other impressions.

We have seen in the foregoing aphorism that the only way of
attaining to that super-consciousness is by concentration, and
we have also seen that what hinder the mind from
concentration are the past Samskaras, impressions. All of you
have observed that when you are trying to concentrate your
mind, your thoughts wander. When you are trying to think of

God, that is the very time which all these Samskaras take to
appear. At other times they are not so active, but when you
want them not to be they are sure to be there, trying their best
to crowd inside your mind. Why should that be so? Why
should they be much more potent at the time of
concentration? It is because you are repressing them and they
react with all their force. At other times they do not react.

How countless these old past impressions must be, all lodge
somewhere in the Chitta, ready, waiting like tigers to jump
up. These have to be suppressed that the one idea which we
like may arise, to the exclusion of the others. Instead, they are
all struggling to come up at the same time. These are the
various powers of the Samskaras in hindering concentration
of the mind, so this Samadhi which has just been given is the
best to be practised, on account of its power of suppressing
the Samskaras. The Samskara which will be raised by this
sort of concentration will be so powerful that it will hinder the
action of the others, and hold them in check.

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51. तस्याणऩ णनयोधे सवयणनयोधाणिफीज् सभाणध् ॥ ५१॥
tasyapi nirodhe sarvanirodhannirbijah samadhih

By the restraint of even this (impression, which
obstructs all other impressions), all being restrained,
comes the “seedless” Samadhi.

You remember that our goal is to perceive the Soul iself. We
cannot perceive the Soul because it has got mingled up with
nature, with the mind, with the body. The most ignorant man
thinks his body is the Soul. The more learned man thinks his
mind is the Soul, but both of these are mistaken. What makes
the Soul get mingled up with all this, these different waves in
the Chitta rise and cover the Soul, and we only are a little
reflection of the Soul through these waves, so, if the wave be
one of anger, we see the Soul as angry: “I am angry,” we say.

If the wave is a wave of love we see ourselves reflected in that
wave, and say we are loving. If that wave is one of weakness,
and the Soul is reflected in it, we think we are weak. These
various ideas come from these impressions, these Samskaras
covering the Soul. The real nature of the Soul is not perceived
until all the waves have subsided; so, first, Patanjali teaches
us the meaning of these waves; secondly, the best way to
repress them; and thirdly, how to make one wave so strong as
to suppress all other waves, fire eating fire as it were. When
only one remains, it will be easy to suppress that also, and
when that is gone, this Samadhi of concentration is called
seedless; it leaves nothing, and the Soul is manifested just as

It is, in Its own glory. Then alone we know that the Soul is not
a compound, It is the only eternal simple in the universe, and,

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

as such, It cannot be born, It cannot die, It is immortal,
indestructible, the Ever-living Essence of intelligence.

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

CHAPTER II - SADHANA PADA

CONCENTRATION - ITS PRACTICE

॥ णितीम् साधनऩाद् ॥

1. तऩ्स्वाध्यामेश्वयप्रणिधानाणन णिमामोग् ॥ १॥
tapahsvadhyayeshvarapranidhanani kriyayogah

Mortification, study, and surrendering fruits of work
to God are called Kriya Yoga.

Those Samadhis with which we ended our last chapter are
very difficult to attain; so we must take them up slowly. The
first step, the preliminary step, is called Kriya Yoga. Literally
this means work, working towards Yoga. The organs are the
horses, the mind is the reins, the intellect is the charioteer, the
soul is the rider, and this body is the chariot. The master of the
household, the King, the Self of man, is sitting in this chariot.

If the horses are very strong, and do not obey the reins, if the
charioteer, the intellect, does not know how to control the
horses, then this chariot will come to grief. But if the organs,
the horses, are well controlled, and if the reins, the mind, are
well held in the hands of the charioteer, the intellect, the
chariot, reaches the goal. What is meant, therefore, by
mortification? Holding the reins firmly while guiding this
body and mind: not letting the body do anything it likes, but
keeping them both in proper control. Study. What is meant by
study in this case? Not study of novels, or fiction, or story
books, but study of those books which teach the liberation of
the soul. Then again this study does not mean controversial

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

studies at all. The Yogi is supposed to have finished his period
of controversy. He has had enough of all that, and has become
satisfied. He only studies to intensify his convictions. Vada
and Siddhanta. These are the two sorts of Scriptural
knowledge, Vada (the argumentative) and Siddhanta (the
decisive). When a man is entirely ignorant he takes up the first
part of this, the argumentative fighting, and reasoning, pro
and con.; and when he has finished that he takes up the

Siddhanta, the decisive, arriving at a conclusion. Simply
arriving at this conclusion will not do. It must be intensified.

Books are infinite in number, and time is short; thereofre this
is the secret of knowledge, to take that which is essential.

Take that out, and then try to live up to it. There is an old
simile in India that if you place a cup of milk before a Raja

Hamsa (swan) with plenty of water in it, he will take all the
milk and leave the water. In that way we should take what is
of value in knowledge, and leave the dross. All these
intellectual gymnastics are necessary at first. We must not go
blindly into anything. The Yogi has passed the argumentative
stage, and has come to a conclusion, which is like the rocks,
immovable. The only thing he now seeks to do is to intensify
that conclusion. Do not argue, he say; if one forces
arguments upon you, be silent. Do not answer any argument,
but go away free, because arguments only disturb the mind.

The only thing is to train the intellect, so what is the use of
disturbing it any more. The intellect is but a weak
instrument, and can give only knowledge limited by the
senses; the Yogi wants to go beyond the senses; therefore the
intellect is of no use to him. He is certain of this, and therefore
is silent, and does not argue. Every argument throws his mind
out of balance, creates a disturbance in the Chitta, and this

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disturbance is a drawback. These argumentations and
searchings of the reason are only on the way. There are much
higher things behind them. The whole of life is not for
schoolboy fights and debating societies. By “surrendering
the fruits of work to God” is to take to ourselves neither credit
nor blame, but to give both up to the Lord, and be at peace.

2. सभाणधबावनाथय् िेशतनूकयिाथयि ॥ २॥
samadhibhavanarthah kleshatanookaranarthashch

(They are for) the practice of Samadhi and
minimising the pain-bearing obstructions.

Most of us make our minds like spoiled children, allowing
them to do whatever they want. Therefore it is necessary that
there should be constant practice of the previous
mortifications, in order to gain control of the mind, and bring
it into subjection. The obstructions to Yoga arise from lack of
this control, and cause us pain. They can only be removed by
denything the mind, and holding it in check, through these
various means.

3. अणवद्याणस्मतायागिेषाणबणनवेशा् िेशा् ॥ ३॥
avidyasmitaragadveshabhiniveshah kleshaah

The pain-bearing obstructions are - ignorance,
egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

These are the five pains, the fivefold tie that binds us down.

Of course ignorance is the mother of all the rest. She is the

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only cause of all our misery. What else can make us
miserable? The nature of the Soul is eternal bliss. What can
make it sorrowful except ignorance, hallucination, delusion;
all this pain of the soul is simply delusion.

4. अणवद्या ऺेत्रभ ्उत्तयेषां प्रसुप्ततनुणवणच्छिोदायािाभ ्॥ ४॥
avidya kshetram uttareshan
prasuptatanuvichchhinnodaranam

Ignorance is the productive field of all them that
follow, whether they are dormant, attenuated,
overpowered, or expanded.

Impressions are the cause of these, and these impressions
exist in different degrees. There are the dormant. You often
hear the expression “innocent as a baby,” yet in the baby may
be the state of a demon or of a god which will come out by and
by. In the Yogi these impressions, the Samskaras left by past
actions, are attenuated; that is, in a very fine state, and he can
control them, and not allow them to become manifest.

Overpowered means that sometimes one set of impressions is
held down for a while by those that are stronger, but they will
come out when that repressing cause is removed. The last
state is the expanded, when the Samskaras, having helpful
surroundings, have attained to great activity, either as good or
evil.

5. अणनत्याशुणचदु्खानात्मसु णनत्यशुणचसुखात्मख्याणतयणवद्या ॥ ५॥
anityashuchiduhkhanatmasu
nityashuchisukhatmakhyatiravidya

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Ignorance is taking that which is non-eternal, impure,
painful, and non-Self, for the eternal, pure, happy,

Atman (Self).

All these various sorts of impression have one source:

ignorance. We have first to learn what ignorance is. All of us
think that “I am the body,” and not the Self, the pure, the
effulgent, the ever blissful, and that is ignorance. We think of
man, and see man as body. This is the great delusion.

6. दृग्दशयनशक्त्योयेकात्मतेवाणस्मता ॥ ६॥
drigdarshanashaktyorekatmatevasmita

Egoism is the identification of the seer with the
instrument of seeing.

The seer is really the Self, the pure one, the ever holy, the
infinite, the immortal. That is the Self of man. And what are
the instruments? The Chitta, or mind-stuff, the Buddhi,
determinative faculty, the Manas, or mind, and the Indriyani,
or sense organs. These are the instruments for him to see the
external world, and the identification of the Self with the
instruments is what is called the ignorance of egoism. We say

“I am the mind, I am thought; I am angry, or I am happy.”

How can we be angry, and how can we hate? We should
identify ourselves with the Self; that cannot change. If it is
unchangeable, how can it be one moment happy, and one
moment unhappy? It is formless, infinite, omnipresent. What
can change it? Beyond all law. What can affect it? Nothing in
the universe can produce an effect on it, yet, through
ignorance, we identify ourselves with the mind-stuff, and

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think we feel pleasure or pain.

7. सुखानुशमी याग् ॥ ७॥
sukhanushayi raagah

Attachment is that which dwells on pleasure.

We find pleasure in certain things, and the mind, like a
current, flows towards them, and that, following the pleasure
centre, as it were, is attachment. We are never attached to
anyone in whom we do not find pleasure. We find pleasure in
very queer things sometimes, but the definition is just the
same; wherever we find pleasure, there we are attached.

8. दु्खानुशमी िेष् ॥ ८॥
duhkhanushayi dveshah

Aversion is that which dwells on pain.

That, which gives us pain we immediately seek to get away
from.

9. स्वयसवाही णवदुषोऽणऩ तथारूढोऽणबणनवेश् ॥ ९॥
svarasavahi vidushopi tatharoodho bhiniveshah

Flowing through its own nature, and established even
in the learned, is the clinging to life.

This clinging to life you see manifested in every animal, and
upon it many attempts have been made to build the theory of a
future life, because men like their lives so much that they
desire a future life also. Of course it goes without saying that

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this argument is without much value, but the most curious part
of it is that, in Western Countries, the idea that this clinging to
life indicates a possibility of a future life applies only to men,
but does not include animals. In India this clinging to life has
been one of the arguments to prove past experience and
existence. For instance, if it be true that all our knowledge has
come from experience, then it is sure that that which we never
experienced we cannot imagine, or understand. As soon as
chickens are hatched they begin to pick up food. Many times
it has been seen where ducks have been hatched by hens, that,
as soon as they come out of the eggs, they flew to water, and
the mother thought they would be drowned. If experience be
the only source of knowledge, where did these chickens learn
to pick up food, or the ducklings that the water was their
natural element? If you say it is instinct, it means nothing—it
is simply giving it a word, but is no explanation. What is this
instinct? We have many instincts in ourselves. For instance,
most of you ladies play the piano, and remember, when you
first learned, how carefully you had to put your fingers on the
black and the white keys, one after the other, but now, after
long years of practice, you can talk with your friends, and
your hand goes on just the same. It has become instinct, it
becomes automatic, but so far as we know, all the cases which
we now regard as automatic are degenerated reason. In the
language of the Yogi, instinct is involved reason.

Discrimination becomes involved, and gets to be automatic

Samskaras. Therefore it is perfectly logical to think that all
we call instinct in this world is simply involved reason. As
reason cannot come without experience, all instinct is,
therefore, the result of past experience. Chickens fear the
hawk, and ducklings love the water, and these are both the

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result of past experience, and these are both the result of past
experience. Then the question is whether that experience
belongs to a particular soul, or to the body simply, whether
this experience which comes to the duck is the duck’s
forefather’s experience, or the duck’s own experience.

Modern scientific menhold that it belongs to the body, but the

Yogis hold that it is the experience of the soul, transmitted
through the body. This is called the theory of reincarnation.

We have seen that all of our knowledge, whether we call it
perception or reason, or instinct, must come through that one
channel called experience, and all that we know call instinct is
the result of past experience, degenerated into instinct, and
that instinct regenerates into reason again. So on throughout
the universe, and upon this has been built one of the chief
arguments for reincarnation, in India. The recurring
experiences of various fears, in course of time, produce this
clinging to life. That is why the child is instinctively afraid,
because the past experience of pain is there. Even in the most
learned men, who know that this body will go, and who say

“never mind: we have hundreds of bodies; the soul cannot
die”—even in them, with all their intellectual conviction, we
still find this clinging to life. What is this clinging to life? We
have seen that it has become instinctive. In the psychological
language of Yoga if has become Samskaras. The Samskaras,
fine and hidden, are sleeping in the Chitta. All these past
experiences of death, all that which we call instinct, is
experience become sub-conscious. It lives in the Chitta, and
is not inactive, but is working underneath. These Chitta Vrttis,
these mind-waves, which are gross, we can appreciate and
feel; they can be more easily controlled, but what about these
finer instincts? How can they be controlled? When I am angry

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my whole mind has become a huge wave of anger. feel it, see
it, handle it, can easily manipulate it, can fight with it, but I
shall not succeed perfectly in the fight until I can get down
below. A man says something very harsh to me, and I begin to
feel that I am getting heated, and he goes on until I am
perfectly angry, and forget myself, identify myself with
anger. When he first began to abuse me I still thought “I am
going to be angry.” Anger was one thing and I was another,
but when I became angry, I was anger. These feelings have to
be controlled in the germ, the root, in their fine forms, before
even we have become conscious that they are acting on us.

With the vast majority of mankind the fine states of these
passions are not even known, the state when they are slowly
coming from beneath consciousness. When a bubble is rising
from the bottom of the lake we do not see it, or even when it is
nearly come to the surface; it is only when it bursts and makes
a ripple that we know it is there. We shall only be successful
in grappling with the waves when we can get hold of them in
their fine casues, and until you can get hold of them, and
subdue them before any become gross, there is no hope of
conquering any passion perfectly. To control our passions we
have to control them at their very roots; then alone shall we be
able to burn out their very seed. As fried seeds thrown into the
ground will never come up, so these passions will never arise.

10. ते प्रणतप्रसवहेमा् सूक्ष्मा् ॥ १०॥
te pratiprasavaheyah sookshmah

They, to-be-rejected-by-opposite-modifications, are
fine.

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How are these fine Samskaras to be controlled? We have to
begin with the big waves, and come down and down. For
instance, when a big wave of anger has come into the mind,
how are we to control that? Just by raising a big opposing
wave. Think of love. Sometimes a mother is very angry with
her husband, and while in that state the baby comes in, and
she kisses the baby; the old wave dies out, and a new wave
arises, love for the child. That suppresses the other one. Love
is opposite to anger. So we find that by raising the opposite
waves we can conquer those which we want to reject. Then, if
we can raise in our fine nature those fine opposing waves,
they will check the fine workings of anger beneath the
conscious surface. We have seen now that all these instinctive
actions first began as conscious actions, and became finer and
finer. So, if good waves in the conscious Chitta be constantly
raised, they will go down, become subtle, and oppose the

Samskara forms of evil thoughts.

11. ध्यानहेमास्तिृत्तम् ॥ ११॥
dhyanaheyastadvrittayah

By meditation, their modifications are to be rejected.

Meditation is one of the great means of controlling the rising
of these big waves. By meditation you can make the mind
subdue these waves, and, if you go on practising meditation
for days, and months, and years, until it has become a habit,
until it will come in spite of yourself, anger and hatred will be
controlled and checked.

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12. िेशभूर् कभायशमो दृष्टादृष्टजन्मवेदनीम् ॥ १२॥
kleshamoolah karmashayo
drishtadrishtajanmavedaniyah

The receptacle of works has its root in these
pain-bearing obstructions, and their experience in this
visible life, or in the unseen life.

By the receptacle of works is meant the sum-total of these

Samskaras. Whatever work we do, the mind is thrown into a
wave, and, after the work is finished, we think the wave is
gone. No. It has only become fine, but it is still there. When
we try to remember the thing, it comes up again and becomes
a wave. So it was there; if it had not been there, there would
not have been memory. So, every action, every thought, good
or bad, just goes down and becomes fine, and is there stored
up. They are called pain-bearing obstructions, both happy and
unhappy thoughts, because according to the Yogis, both, in the
long run, bring pain. All happiness which comes from the
senses will, eventually, bring pain. All enjoyment will make
us thirst for more, and that brings pain as its result. There is no
limit to man’s desires; he goes on desring, and when he comes
to a point where desire cannot be fulfilled, the result is pain.

Therefore the Yogis regard the sum-total of the impressions,
good or evil, as pain-bearing obstructions; they obstruct the
way to freedom of the Soul. It is the same with the Samskaras,
the fine roots of all our works: they are the causes which will
again bring effects, either in this life, or in the lives to come.

In exceptional cases, when these Samskaras are very strong,
they bear fruit quickly; exceptional acts of wickedness, or of

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goodness, bring their fruits in this life. The Yogis even hold
that men who are able to acquire a tremendous power of good

Samskaras do not have to die, but, even in this life, can
change their bodies into god-bodies. There are several cases
mentioned by the Yogis in their books. These men change the
very material of their bodies; they re-arrange the molecules in
such fashion that they have no more sickness, and what we
call death does not come to them. Why should not this be?

The physiological meaning of foot is assimilation of energy
from the sun. This energy has reached the plant, the plant is
eaten by an animal, and the animal by us. The science of it is
that we take so much energy from the sun, and make it part of
ourselves. That being the case, why should there be only one
way of assimilating energy? The plant’s way is not the same
as ours; the earth’s process of assimilating energy differs from
our own. But all assimilate energy in some form or other. The

Yogis say that they are able to assimilate energy by the power
of the mind alone, that they can draw in as much as they desire
without recourse to the orindary methods. As a spider makes
his net out of his own substance, and becomes bound in his
net, and cannot go anywhere except along the lines of that net,
so we have projected out of our own substance this net-work
called the nerves, and we cannot work except through the
channels of those nerves. The Yogi says we need not be bound
by that. Similary, we can send electricity to any part of the
world, but we have to send it by means of wires. Nature can
send a vast mass of electricity without any wires at all. Why
cannot we do the same? We can send mental electricity. What
we call mind is very much the same as electricity. It is clear
that this nerve fluid has some amount of electricity, because it
is polarised, and it answers all electrical directions. We can

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only send our electricity through these nerve channels. Why
not send the mental electricity without this aid? The Yogi
says it is perfectly possible and practicable, and that when you
can do that you will work all over the universe. You will be
able to work with anybody anywhere, without the help of any
nervous system. When the soul is acting through these
channels we say a man is living and when those channels die
the man is said to be said. But when a man is able to act either
with or without these channels, birth and death will have no
meaning for him. All the bodies in the universe are made up
of Tanmatras, and it is only in the arrangement of them that
there comes a difference. If you are the arranger you can
arrange that body in one way or another. Who makes up this
body but you? Who eats the food? If another ate the food for
you, you would not live long. Who makes the blood out of
it? You, certainly. Who assimilates the blood, and sends it
through the veins? You. Who creates the nerves, and makes
all the muscles? You are the manufacturer, out of your own
substance. You are the manufacturer of the body, and you live
in it. Only we have lost the knowledge of how to make it. We
have become automatic, degenerate. We have forgotten the
process of manufacture. So, what we do automatically has
again to be regulated. We are the creators and we have to
regulate that creation, and as soon as we can do that we shall
be able to manufacture just as we like, and then we shall have
neither birth nor death, disease, or anything.

13. सणत भूरे तणिऩाको जात्यामुबोगा् ॥ १३॥
sati moole tadvipako jatyayurbhogah

The root being there, the fruition comes (in the form

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of) species, life, and expression of pleasure and pain.

The roots, the causes, the Samskaras being there, they again
manifest, and form the effects. The cause dying down
becomes the effect, and the effect becomes more subtle, and
becomes the cause of the next effect. The tree bears a seed,
and becomes the cause of the next tree, and so on. All our
works now, are the effects of past Samskaras. Again, these

Samskaras become the cause of future actions, and thus we go
on. So this aphorism says that the cause being there, the fruit
must come, in the form of species; one will be a man, another
an angel, another an animal, another a demon. Then there are
different effects in life; one man lives fifty years, another a
hundred, and another dies in two years, and never attains
maturity; all these differences in life are regulated by these
past actions. One man is born, as it were, for pleasure; if he
buries himself in a forest pleasure will follow him there.

Another man, wherever he goes, pain follows him, everything
becomes painful. It is all the result of their own past.

According to the philosophy of the Yogis all virtuous actions
bring pleasure, and all vicious actions bring pain. Any man
who does wicked deeds is sure to reap the fruit of them in the
form of pain.

14. ते ह्लादऩणयताऩपरा् ऩुण्माऩुण्महेतुत्वात ्॥ १४॥
te hladaparitapafalah punyapunyahetutvat

They bear fruit as pleasure or pain, caused by virtue
or vice.

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15. ऩणयिाभताऩसंस्कायदु्खैगयुिवृणत्तणवयोधाच्च दु्खभ ्एव सवं

णववेणकन् ॥ १५॥
parinamatapasanskaraduhkhairgunnavritti -
virodhaccha duhkham eva sarvan vivekinah

To the discriminating, all is, as it were, painful on
account of everything bringing pain, either in the
consequences, or in apprehension, or in attitude
caused by impressions, also on account of the counter
action of qualities.

The Yogis say that the man who has discriminating powers,
the man of good sense, sees through all these various things,
which are called pleasure and pain, and knows that they are
always equally distributed, and that one follows the other, and
melts into the other; he sees that men are following an ignis
fatuus all their lives, and never succeed in fulfilling their
desires. There was never a love in this world which did not
know decay. The great king Yudisthira once said that the
most wonderful thing in life is that every moment we see
people dying around us, and yet we think we shall never die.

Surrounded by fools on every side, we think we are the only
exceptions, the only learned men. Surrounded by all sorts of
experiences of fickleness, we think our love is the only lasting
love. How can that be? Even love is selfish, and the Yogi says
that, in the end, we shall find that even the love of husbands
and wives, and children and friends, slowly decays.

Decadence seizes everything in this life. It is only when
everything, even love, fails, that, with a flash, man finds out

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how vain, how dream-like is this world. Then he catches a
glimpse of Vairagyam (renunciation), catches a glimpse of
the beyond. It is only by giving up this world that the other
comes; never through building on to this one. Never yet was
there a great soul who had not to reject sense pleasures and
enjoyments to become such. The cause of misery is the clash
between difference forces of nature, one dragging one way,
and another dragging another, rendering permanent happiness
impossible.

16. हेमं दु्खभ ्अनागतभ ्॥ १६॥
heyan duhkham anagatam

The misery which is not yet come is to be avoided.

Some Karma we have worked out already, some we are
working out now in the present, and some is waiting to bear
fruit in the future. That which we have worked out already is
past and gone.

That which we are experiencing now we will have to work
out, and it is only that which is waiting to bear fruit in the
future that we can conquer and control, so all our forces
should be directed towards the control of that Karma which
has not yet borne fruit. That is meant in the previous
aphorism, when Patanjali says that these various Samskaras
are to be controlled by counteracting waves.

17. द्रष्टृदृश्ममो् संमोगो हेमहेतु् ॥ १७॥
drashtridrishyayoh sanyogo heyahetuh

The cause of that which is to be avoided is the

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junction of the seer and the seen.

Who is the seer? The Self of Man, the Purusa. What is the
seen? The whole of nature, beginning with the mind, down to
gross matter. All this pleasure and pain arises from the
junction between this Purusa and the mind. The Purusa, you
must remember, according to this philosophy, is pure; it is
when it is joined to nature, and by reflection, that it appears to
feel either pleasure or pain.

18. प्रकाशणिमाणस्थणतशीरं बूतेणिमात्मकं बोगाऩवगायथं दृश्मभ ्॥ १८॥
prakashakriyasthitishilan bhootendriyatmakan
bhogapavargarthan drishyam

The experienced is composed of elements and organs,
is of the nature of illumination, action and intertia,
and is for the purpose of experience and release (of
the experiencer).

The experienced, that is nature, is composed of elements and
organs—the elements gross and fine which compose the
whole of nature, and the organs of the senses, mind, etc., and
is of the nature of illumination, action, and intertia. These are
what in Sanskrit are called Sattva (illumination), Rajas

(action), and Tamas (darkness); each is for the purpose of
experience and relase. What is the purpose of the whole of
nature? That the Purusa may gain experience. The Purusa
has, as it were, forgotten its mighty, godly, nature. There is a
story that the king of the gods, Indra, once became a pig,
wallowing in mire; he had a she pig, and a lot of baby pigs,
and was very happy. Then some other angels saw his plight,

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and came to him, and told him, “You are the king of the gods,
you have all the gods command. Why are you here?” But

Indra said, “Let me be; I am all right here; I do not care for the
heavens, while I have this sow and these little pigs.” The poor
gods were at their wits’ end what to do. After a time they
decided to slowly come and slay one of the little pigs, and
then another, until they had slain all the pigs, and the sow too.

When all were dead Indra began to weep and mourn. Then the
gods ripped his pig body open and he came out of it, and
began to laugh when he realised what a hideous dream he had
had; he, the king of the gods, to have become a pig, and to
think that the pig-life was the only life! Not only so, but to
have wanted the whole universe to come into the pig life! The

Purusa, when it identifies itself with nature, forgets that it is
pure and infinite. The Purusa does not live; it is life itself. It
does not exist; it is existence itself. The Soul does not know;
it is knowledge itself. It is an entire mistake to say that the

Soul lives, or knows, or loves. Love and existence are not the
qualities of the Purusa, but its essence. When they get
reflected upon something you may call them the qualities of
that something. But they are not the qualities of the Purusa,
but the essence of this great Atman, this Infinite Being,
without birth or death, Who is established in His own glory,
but appears as if become degenerate until if you approach to
tell Him, “You are not a pig,” he begins to squeal and bite.

Thus with us all in this Maya, this dream world, where it is all
misery, weeping, and crying, where a few golden balls are
rolled, and the world scrambles after them. You were never
bound by laws, Nature never had a bond for you. That is what
the Yogi tells you; have patience to learn it. And the Yogi
shows how, by junction with this nature, and identifying itself

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with the mind and the world, the Purusa thinks itself
miserable. Then the Yogi goes on to show that the way out is
through experience. You have to get all this experience, but
finish it quickly. We have placed ourselves in this net, and
will have to get out. We have got ourselves caught in the trap,
and we will have to work out our freedom. So get this
experience of husbands and wives, and friends, and little
loves, and you will get through them safely if you never forget
what you really are. Never forget this is only a momentary
state, and that we have to pass through it. Experience is the
one great teacher—experiences of pleasure and pain—but
know they are only experiences, and will all lead, step by step,
to that state when all these things will become small, and the

Purusa will be so great that this whole universe will be as a
drop in the ocean, and will fall off by its own nothingness. We
have to go through these experiences, but let us never forget
the ideal.

19. णवशेषाणवशेषणरङ्गभात्राणरङ्गाणन गुिऩवायणि ॥ १९॥
visheshavisheshalinggamatralinggani
gunnaparvani

The states of the qualities are the defined, the
undefined, the indicated only, and the signless.

The system of Yoga is built entirely on the philosophy of the

Sankhyas, as I told you in some of the previous lectures, and
here again I will remind you of the cosmology of the Sankhya
philosophy. According to the Sankhyas, nature is both the
material and efficient cause of this universe. In this nature
there are three sorts of materials, the Sattva, the Rajas, and the

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Tamas. The Tamas material is all that is dark, all that is
ignorant and heavy; and the Rajas is activity. The Sattvas is
calmness, light. When nature is in the state before creation, it
is called by them Avyaktam, undefined, or indiscrete; that is,
in which there is no distinction of form or name, a state in
which these three materials are held in perfect balance. Then
the balance is disturbed, these different materials begin to
mingle in various fashions, and the result is this universe. In
every man, also, these three materials exist. When the Sattva
material prevails knowledge comes. When the Rajas material
prevails activity comes, and when the Tamas material prevails
darkness comes and lassitude, idleness, ignorance. According
to the Sankhya theory, the highest manifestation of this
nature, consisting of these three materials, is what they call

Mahat, or intelligence, universal intelligence, and each
human mind is a part of that cosmic intelligence. Then out of

Mahat comes the mind. In the Sankhya Psychology there is a
sharp distinction between Manas, the mind function, and the
function of the Buddhi intellect. The mind function is simply
to collect and carry impressions and present them to the

Buddhi, the individual Mahat, and the Buddhi determined
upon it. So, out of Mahat comes mind, and out of mind comes
fine material, and this fine material combines and becomes
the gross material outside—the external universe. The claim
of the Sankhya philosophy is that beginning with the intellect,
and coming down to a block of stone, all has come out of the
same thing, only as finer or grosser states of existence. The

Buddhi is the finest state of existence of the materials, and
then comes Ahamkara, egoism, and next to the mind comes
fine material, which they call Tanmatras, which cannot be
seen, but which are inferred. These Tanmatras combine and

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become grosser, and finally produce this universe. The finer is
the cause, and the grosser is the effect. It begins with the

Buddhi, which is the finest material, and goes on becoming
grosser and grosser, until it becomes this universe. According
to the Sankhya philosophy, beyond the whole of this nature is
the Purusa, which is not material at all. Purusa is not at all
similar to anything else, either Buddhi, or mind, or the

Tanmatras, or the gross material; it is not akin to any one of
these, it is entirely separate, entirely different in its nature, and
from this they argue that the Purusa must be immortal,
because it is not the result of combination. That which is not
the result of combination cannot die, these Purusas or Souls
are infinite in number. Now we shall understand the

Aphorism, that the states of the qualities are defined,
undefined, and signless. By the defined is meant the gross
elements, which we can sense. By the undefined is meant the
very fine materials, the Tanmatras, which cannot be sensed
by ordinary men. If you practice Yoga, however, says

Patanjali, after a while your perception will become so fine
that you will actually see the Tanmatras. For instance, you
have heard how every man has a certain light about him;
every living being is emanating a certain light, and this, he
says, can be seen by the Yogi. We do not all see it, but we are
all throwing out these Tanmatras, just as a flower is
continuously emanating these Tanmatras, which enable us to
smell it. Every day of our lives we are throwing out a mass of
good or evil, and everywhere we go the atmosphere is full of
these materials, and that is how there came to the human
mind, even unconsciously, the idea of building temples and
churches? Why should man build churches in which to
worship God? Why not worship Him anywhere? Even if he

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did not know the reason, man found that that place where
people worshipped God became full of good Tanmatras.

Every day people go there, and the more they go the holier
they get, and the holier that place becomes. If any man who
has not much Sattva in him goes there the place will influence
him, and arouse his Sattva quality. Here, therefore, is the
significance of all temples and holy places, but you must
remember that their holiness depends on holy people
congregating there. The difficulty with mankind is that they
forget the original meaning, and put the cart before the horse.

It was men who made these places holy, and then the effect
became the cause and made men holy. If the wicked only
were to go there it would become as bad as any other place. It
is not the building, but the people, that make a church, and
that is what we always forget. That is why sages and holy
persons, who have so much of this Sattva quality, are
emanating so much of it around them, and exerting a
tremendous influence day and night on their surroundings. A
man may become so pure that his purity will become tangible,
as it were. The body has become pure, and in an intensely
physical sense, no figurative idea, no poetical language, it
emanates that purity wherever it goes. Whosoever comes in
contact with that man becomes pure. Next “the indicated
only” means the Buddhi, the intellect. “The indicated only” is
the first manifestation of nature; from it all other
manifestations proceed. The last is “the signless.” Here there
seems to be a great fight between modern science and all
religion. Every religion has this idea that this universe comes
out of intelligence. Only some religions were more
philosophical, and used scientific language. The very theory
of God, taking it in its psychological significance, and apart

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from all ideas of personal God, is that intelligence is first in
the order of creation, and that out of intelligence comes what
we call gross matter. Modern philosophers say that
intelligence is the last to come. They say that unintelligent
things slowly evolve into animals, and from animals slowly
evolve into men. They claim that instead of everything
coming out of intelligence, intelligence is itself the last to
come. Both the religious and the scientific statement, though
seemingly directly opposed to each other, are true. Take an
infinite series A—B—A—B—A—B, etc. The question is
which is first, A or B. If you take the series as A—, you will
say that A is first, but if you take it as B—A you will say that

B is first. It depends on the way you are looking at it.

Intelligence evolves, and becomes the gross material, and this
again evolves as intelligence, and again evolves as matter
once more. The Sankhyas, and all religionists, put intelligence
first, and the series becomes intelligence then matter,
intelligence then matter. The scientific man puts his finger on
matter, and say matter then intelligence, matter then
intelligence. But they are both indicating the same chain.

Indian philosophy, however, goes beyond both intelligence
and matter, and finds a Purusa, or Self, which is beyond all
intelligence, and of which intelligence is but the borrowed
light.

20. द्रष्टा दृणशभात्र् शुद्धोऽणऩ प्रत्यमानुऩश्म् ॥ २०॥
drashta drishimatrah shuddhopi pratyayanupashyah

The seer is intelligence only, and though pure, seen
through the colouring of the intellect.

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This is again Sankhya philosophy. We have seen from this
philosophy that from the lowest form up to intelligence all is
nature, but beyond nature are Purusas (souls), and these have
no qualities. Then how does the soul appear to be happy or
unhappy? By reflection. Just as if be piece of pure crystal be
put on a table and a red flower be put near it, the crystal
appears to be red, so all these appearances of happiness or
unhappiness are but reflections; the soul itself has no sort of
colouring. The soul is separate from nature; nature is one
thing, soul another, eternally separate. The Sankhyas say that
intelligence is a compounds, that it grows and wanes, that it
changes, just as the body changes, and that its nature is nearly
the same as that of the body. As a fingernail is to the body, so
is body to intelligence. The nail is a part of the body, but it can
be pared off hundreds of times, and the body will still last.

Similarly, the intelligence lasts æons, while this body can be
pared off, thrown off. Yet intelligence cannot be immortal,
because is changes— growing and waning. Anything that
changes cannot be immortal. Certainly intelligence is
manufactured, and that very fact shows us that there must be
something beyond that, because it cannot be free. Everything
connected with matter is in nature, and therefore bound for
ever. Who is free? That free one must certainly be beyond
cause and effect. If you say that the idea of freedom is a
delusion, I will say that the idea of bondage is also a delusion.

Two facts come into our consciousness, and stand or fall by
each other. One is that we are bound. If we want to go through
a wall, and our head bumps against that wall, we are limited
by that wall. At the same time we find will, and think we can
direct our will everywhere. At every step these contradictory
ideas are coming to us. We have to believe that we are free,

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yet at every moment we find we are not free. If one idea is a
delusion, the other is also a delusion, because both stand upon
the same basis—consciousness. The Yogi says both are true;
that we are bound so far as intelligence goes, that we are free
as far as the soul is concerned. It is the real nature of man, the

Soul, the Purusa, which is beyond all law of causation. Its
freedom is percolating through layers and layers of matter, in
various forms of intelligence, and mind, and all these things.

It is its light which is shining through all. Intelligence has no
light of its own. Each organ has a particular centre in the
brain; it is not that all the organs have one centre; each organ
is separate. Why do all these perceptions harmonise, and
where do they get their unity? If it were in the brain there
would be one centre only for the eyes, the nose, the ears,
while we know for certain that there are different centres for
each. But a man can see and hear at the same time, so a unity
must be back of intelligence. Intelligence is eternally
connected with the brain, but behind even intelligence stands
the Purusa, the unit, where all these different sensations and
perceptions join and become one. Soul itself is the centre
where all the different organs converge and become unified,
and that Soul is free, and it is its freedom that tells you every
moment that you are free. But you mistake, and mingle that
freedom every moment with intelligence and mind. You try to
attribute that freedom to the intelligence, and immediately
find that intelligence is not free; you attribute that freedom to
the body, and immediately nature tells you that you are again
mistaken. That is why there is this mingled sense of freedom
and bondage at the same time. The Yogi analyses both what is
free and what is bound, and his ignorance vanishes. He finds
that the Purusa is free, is the essence of that knowledge

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which, coming through the Buddhi, becomes intelligence,
and, as such, is bound.

21. तदथय एव दृश्मस्यात्मा ॥ २१॥
tadarth eva drishyasyatma

The nature of the experience is for him.

Nature has no light of its own. As long as the Purusa is
present in it, it appears light, but the light is borrowed; just as
the moon’s light is reflected. All the manifestations of nature
are caused by this nature itself, according to the Yogis; but
nature has no purpose in view, except to free the Purusa.

22. कृताथं प्रणत नष्टभप्यनष्टं तदन्यसाधायित्वात ्॥ २२॥
kritarthan prati nashtam apyanashtan
tadanyasadharannatvat

Though destroyed for him whose goal has been
gained, yet is not destroyed, being common to others.

The whole idea of this nature is to make the Soul know that it
is entirely separate from nature, and when the Soul knows
this, nature has no more attractions for it. But the whole of
nature vanishes only for that man who has become free. There
will always remain an infinite number of others, for whom
nature will go on working.

23. स्वस्वाणभशक्त्यो् स्वरूऩोऩरणब्धहेतु् संमोग् ॥ २३॥
svasvamishaktyoh svaroopopalabdhihetuh sanyogah

Junction is the cause of the realisation of the nature of

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both the powers, the experienced and its Lord.

According to this aphorism, when this Soul comes into
conjunction with nature, both the power of the Soul and the
power of nature become manifest in this conjunction, and all
these manifestations are thrown out. Ignorance is the cause of
this conjunction. We see every day that the cause of our pain
or pleasure is always our joining ourselves with the body. If I
were perfectly certain that I am not this body, I should take no
notice of heat and cold, or anything of the kind. This body is a
combination. It is only a fiction to say that I have one body,
you another, and the sun another. The whole universe is one
ocean of matter, and you are the name of a little particle, and I
of another, and the sun of another. We know that this matter is
continuously changing, what is forming the sun one day, the
next day may form the matter of our bodies.

24. तस्य हेतुयणवद्या ॥ २४॥
tasya heturavidya

Ignorance is its cause.

Through ignorance we have joined ourselves with a particular
body, and thus opened ourselves to misery. This idea of body
is a simple superstition. It is superstition that makes us
happy or unhappy. It is superstition caused by ignorance that
makes us feel heat and cold, pain and pleasure. It is our
business to rise above this superstition, and the Yogi shows us
how we can do this. It has been demonstrated that, under
certain mental conditions, a man may be burned, yet, while
that condition lasts, he will feel no pain. The difficulty is that

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this sudden upheaval of the mind comes like a whirlwind one
minute, and goes away the next. If, however, we attain it
scientifically, through Yoga, we shall permanently attain to
that separation of Self from the body.

25. तदबावात ्संमोगाबावो हानं तद्दृशे् कैवल्यभ ्॥ २५॥
tadabhavat sanyogabhavo hanan taddrisheh
kaivalyam

There being absence of that (ignorance) there is
absence
of
junction,
which
is
the
thing-to-be-avoided; that is the independence of the
seer.

According to this Yoga philosophy it is through ignorance that
the Soul has been joined with nature and the idea is to get rid
of nature’s control over us. That is the goal of all religions.

Each Soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this

Divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.

Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or by
philosophy, by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This
is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or
books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details. The

Yogi tries to reach this goal through psychic control. Until we
can free ourselves from nature we are slaves; as she dictates
so we must go. The Yogi claims that he who controls mind
controls matter also. The internal nature is much higher that
the external, and much more difficult to grapple with, much
more difficult to control; therefore he who has conquered the
internal nature controls the whole universe; it becomes his
servant. Raja Yoga propounds the methods of gaining this

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control. Higher forces than we know in physical nature will
have to be subdued. This body is just the external crust of the
mind. They are not two different things; they are just as the
oyster and its shell. They are but two aspects of one thing;
the internal substance of the oyster is taking up matter from
outside, and manufacturing the shell. In the same way these
internal fine forces which are called mind take up gross matter
from outside, and from that manufacture this external shell, or
body. If then, we have control of the internal, it is very easy to
have control of the external. Then again, these forces are not
different. It is not that some forces are physical, and some
mental; the physical forces are but the gross manifestations of
the fine forces, just as the physical world is but the gross
manifestation of the fine world.

26. णववेकख्याणतयणवप्लवा हानोऩाम् ॥ २६॥
vivekakhyatiraviplava hanopayah

The means of destruction of ignorance is unbroken
practice of discrimination.

This is the real goal of practice—discrimination between the
real and unreal, knowing that the Purusa is not nature, that it
is neither matter nor mind, and that because it is not nature, it
cannot possibly change. It is only nature which changes,
combining, and recombining, dissolving continually. When
through constant practice we begin to discriminate, ignorance
will vanish, and the Purusa will begin to shine in its real
nature, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent.

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27. तस्य सप्तधा प्रान्तबूणभ् प्रऻा ॥ २७॥
tasya saptadhaa prantabhoomih prajna

His knowledge is of the sevenfold highest ground.

When this knowledge comes, it will come, as it were, in seven
grades, one after the other, and when one of these has begun
we may know that we are getting knowledge. The first to
appear will be that we have known what is to be known. The
mind will cease to be dissatisfied. While we are aware of
thirsting after knowledge we begin to seek here and there,
wherever we think we can get some truth, and, failing to find
it we become dissatisfied and seek in a fresh direction. All
search is vain, until we begin to perceive that knowledge is
within ourselves, that no one can help us, that we must help
ourselves. When we begin to practice the power of
discrimination, the first sign that we are getting near truth will
be that that dissatisfied state will vanish. We shall feel quite
sure that we have found the truth, and that it cannot be
anything else but the truth. Then we may know that the sun is
rising, that the morning is breaking for us, and, taking
courage, we must persevere until the goal is reached. The
second grade will be that all pains will be gone. It will be
impossible for anything in the universe, physical, mental, or
spiritual, to give us pain. The third will be that we shall get
full knowledge, that omniscience will be ours. Next will come
what is called freedom of the Chitta. We shall realise that all
these difficulties and struggles have fallen off from us. All
these vacillations of the mind, when the mind cannot be
controlled, have falled down, just as a stone falls from the
mountain top into the valley and never comes up again. The

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next will be that this Chitta itself will realise that it melts
away into its causes whenever we so desire. Lastly we shall
find that we are established in our Self, that we have been
alone throughout the universe, neither body nor mind was
ever connected with us, much less joined to us. They were
working their own way, and we, through ignorance, joined
ourselves to them. But we have been alone, omnipotent,
omnipresent, ever blessed; our own Self was so pure and
perfect that we required none else. We required none else to
make us happy, for we are happiness itself. We shall find that
this knowledge does not depend on anything else; throughout
the universe there can be nothing that will not become
effulgent before our knowledge. This will be the last state,
and the Yogi will become peaceful and calm, never to feel any
more pain, never to be again deluded, never to touch misery.

He knows he is ever blessed, ever perfect, almighty.

28. मोगाङ्गानुष्ठानादशुणद्धऺमे ऻानदीणप्तया णववेकख्याते् ॥ २८॥
yogangganushthanad ashuddhikshaye jnanadiptira
vivekakhyateh

By the practice of the different parts of Yoga the
impurities being destroyed knowledge becomes
effulgent, up to discrimination.

Now comes the practical knowledge. What we have just been
speaking about is much higher. It is way above our heads, but
it is the ideal. It is first necessary to obtain physical and
mental control. Then the realisation will become steady in
that ideal. The ideal being known, what remains is to practise
the method of reaching it.

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29. मभणनमभासनप्रािामाभप्रत्याहायधायिाध्यानसभाधमोऽष्टाव

अङ्गाणन ॥ २९॥
yamaniyamasanapranayamapratyaharadharanadhy
anasamadhayo-a-shtava anggani

Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratya hara,

Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, are the limbs of Yoga.

30. अणहंसासत्यास्तेमब्रह्मचमायऩणयर्ग्हा मभा् ॥ ३०॥
ahinsasatyasteyabrahmacharyaparigraha yamah

Non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence,
and non-receiving, are called Yama.

A man who wants to be a perfect Yogi must give up the sex
idea. The Soul has no sex; why should it degrade itself with
sex ideas? Later we shall understand better why these ideas
must be given up. Receiving is just as bad as stealing;
receiving gifts from others. Whoever receives gifts, his mind
is acted on by the mind of the giver, so that the man who
receives gifts becomes degenerated. Receiving gifts destroys
the independence of the mind, and makes us mere slaves.

Therefore, receive nothing.

31. जाणतदेशकारसभमानवणच्छिा् सावयबौभा भहाव्रतभ ्॥ ३१॥
jatideshakalasamayanavachchhinnah
sarvabhauma mahavratam

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Patanjali Yoga Sutras

These, unbroken by time, place, purpose, and caste,
are (universal) great vows.

These practices, non-killing, non-stealing, chastity, and
non-receiving, are to be practiced by every man, woman and
child, by every soul, irrespective of nation, country or
position.

32. शौचसंतोषतऩ्स्वाध्यामेश्वयप्रणिधानाणन णनमभा् ॥ ३२॥
shauchasantoshatapahsvadhyayeshvara-
pranidhanani niyamah

Internal and external purification, contentment,
mortification, study, and worship of God, are the

Niyamas.

External purification is keeping the body pure; a dirty man
will never become a Yogi. There must be internal purification
also. That is obtained by the first-named virtues. Of course
internal purity is of greater value that external, but both are
necessary, and external purity, without internal, is of no good.

33. णवतकयफाधने प्रणतऩऺबावनभ ्॥ ३३॥
vitarkabadhane pratipakshabhavanam

To obstruct thoughts which are inimical to Yoga
contrary thoughts will be brought.

This is the way to practice all these virtues that have been
stated, by holding thoughts of an opposite character in the
mind. When the idea of stealing comes, non-stealing should

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be thought of. When the idea of receiving gifts comes, replace
it by a contrary thought.

34. णवतकाय णहंसादम् कृतकाणयतानुभोणदता रोबिोधभोहऩूवयका

भृदुभध्याणधभात्रा दु्खाऻानानन्तपरा इणत प्रणतऩऺबावनभ ्॥ ३४॥
vitarkaa hinsadayah kritakaritanumodita
lobhakrodhamohapoorvaka
mridumadhyadhimatra duhkhajnananantafala iti
pratipakshabhavanam

The obstructions to Yoga are killing etc. , whether
committed, caused, or approved; either through
avarice, or anger, or ignorance; whether slight,
middling, or great, and result is innumerable
ignorances and miseries. This is (the method of)

thinking the contrary.

If I tell I lie, or cause another to tell a lie, or approve of
another doing so, it is equally sinful. If it is a very mild lie, it is
still a lie. Every vicious thought will rebound, every thought
of hatred which you have thought, in a cave even, is stored up,
and will one day come back to you with tremendous power in
the form of some misery here. If you project all sorts of hatred
and jealousy, they will rebound on you with compound
interest. No power can avert them; when once you have put
them in motion you will have to bear them. Remembering
this, will prevent you from doing wicked things.

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35. अणहंसाप्रणतष्ठामां तत्सणिधौ वैयत्याग् ॥ ३५॥
ahimsapratishthayam tatsannidhau vairatyagah

Non-killing being established, in his presence all
emnities cease (in others).

If a man gets the idea of non-injuring others, before him even
animals which are by their nature ferocious will become
peaceful. The tiger and the lamb will play together before that

Yogi and will not hurt each other. When you have come to
that state, then alone you will understand that you have
become firmly established in non-injuring.

36. सत्यप्रणतष्ठामां णिमापराश्रमत्वभ ्॥ ३६॥
satyapratishthayam kriyafalashrayatvam

By the establishment of truthfulness the Yogi gets the
power of attaining for himself and others the fruits of
work without the works.

When this power of truth will be established with you, then
even in dream you will never tell an untruth, in thought, word
or deed; whatever you say will be truth. You may say to a man

“Be blessed,” and that man will be blessed. If a man is
diseased, and you say to him, “Be thou cured,” he will be
cured immediately.

37. अस्तेमप्रणतष्ठामां सवययत्नोऩस्थानभ ्॥ ३७॥
asteyapratishthayam sarvaratnopasthanam

By the establishment of non-stealing all wealth

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comes to the Yogi.

The more you fly from nature the more she follows you, and if
you do not care for her at all she becomes your slave.

38. ब्रह्मचमयप्रणतष्ठामां वीमयराब् ॥ ३८॥
brahmacharyapratishthayam viryalabhah

By the establishment of continence energy is gained.

The chaste brain has tremendous energy, gigantic will power,
without that there can be no mental strength. All men of
gigantic brains are very continent. It gives wonderful control
over mankind. Leaders of men have been very continent, and
this is what gave them power. Therefore the Yogi must be
continent.

39. अऩणयर्ग्हस्थैमे जन्मकथंतासंफोध् ॥ ३९॥
aparigrahasthairye janmakathantasanbodhah

When he is fixed in non-receiving he gets the
memory of past life.

When the Yogi does not receive presents from others he does
not become beholden to others, but becomes independent and
free, and his mind becomes pure, because with every gift he
receives all the evils of the giver, and they come and lay
coating after coating on his mind, until it is hidden under all
sorts of coverings of evil. If he does not receive the mind
becomes pure, and the first thing it gets is memory of past life.

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Then alone the Yogi becomes perfectly fixed in his ideal,
because he sees that he has been coming and going so many
times, and he becomes determined that this time he will be
free, that he will no more come and go, and be the slave of

Nature.

40. शौचात ्स्वाङ्गजुगुप्सा ऩयैयसंसगय् ॥ ४०॥
shauchat svanggajugupsa parairasansargah

Internal and external cleanliness being established,
arises disgust for one’s own body, and
non-intercourse with other bodies.

When there is real purification of the body, external and
internal, there arises neglect of the body, and all this idea of
keeping it nice will vanish. What others call the most
beautiful face to the Yogi will appear to be an animal’s face, if
there is not intelligence behind it. What the world will call a
very common face he will call heavenly, if that spirit shines
behind it. This thirst after body is the great bane of human life.

So, when this purity is established, the first sign will be that
you do not care to think you are a body. It is only when
purity comes that we get rid of this body idea.

41. सत्त्वशुणद्धसौभनस्यैकाग्र्येणिमजमात्मदशयनमोग्मत्वाणन च ॥ ४१॥
sattvashuddhisaumanasyaikagryendriyajayatmadars
hanayojnatvani cha

There also arises purification of the Sattva,
cheerfulness of the mind, concentration, conquest of

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the organs, and fitness for the realisation of the Self.

By this practice the Sattva material will prevail, and the mind
will become concentrated and cheerful. The first sign that you
are become religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When
a man is gloomy that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion.

A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Everything is
pleasurable to the Sattvika man, and when this comes, know
that you are progressing in Yoga. All pain is caused by Tamas,
so you must get rid of that; moroseness is one of the results of

Tamas. The strong, the well-knit, the young, the healthy, the
daring alone are fit to be Yogis. To the Yogi everything is bliss,
every human face that he sees brings cheerfulness to him.

That is the sign of a virtuous man. Misery is caused by sin,
and by no other cause. What business have you with clouded
faces; it is terrible. If you have a clouded face do not go out
that day, shut yourself up in your room. What right have you
to carry this disease out into the world? When your mind has
become controlled you will have control over the whole body;
instead of being a slave to the machine, the machine will be
your slave. Instead of this machine being able to drag the soul
down it will be its greatest helpmate.

42. संतोषाद ् अनुत्तभ् सुखराब् ॥ ४२॥
santoshad anuttamah sukhalabhah

From contentment comes superlative happiness.

43. कामेणिमणसणद्धयशुणद्धऺमात ्तऩस् ॥ ४३॥
kayendriyasiddhirashuddhikshayat tapasah

The result of mortification is bringing powers to the

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organs and the body, by destroying the impurity.

The results of mortification are seen immediately sometimes
by heightened powers of vision, and so on, hearing things at a
distance, etc.

44. स्वाध्यामाद ् इष्टदेवतासंप्रमोग् ॥ ४४॥
svadhyayad ishtadevatasanprayogah

By repetition of the mantram comes the realisation of
the intended deity.

The higher the beings that you want to get the harder is the
practice.

45. सभाणधणसणद्धयीश्वयप्रणिधानात ्॥ ४५॥
samadhisiddhirishvarapranidhanat

By sacrificing all to Isvara comes Samadhi.

By resignation to the Lord, Samadhi becomes perfect.

46. णस्थयसुखभ ्आसनभ ्॥ ४६॥
sthirasukham aasanam

Posture is that which is firm and pleasant.

Now comes Asana, posture. Until you can get a firm seat you
cannot practice the breathing and other exercises. The seat
being firm means that you do not feel the body at all; then
alone it has become firm. But, in the ordinary way, you will
find that as soon as you sit for a few minutes all sorts of

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disturbances come into the body; but when you have got
beyond the idea of a concrete body you will lose all sense of
the body. You will feel neither pleasure nor pain. And when
you take your body up again it will feel so rested; it is the only
perfect rest that you can give to the body. When you have
succeeded in conquering the body and keeping it firm, your
practice will remain firm, but while you are disturbed by the
body your nerves become disturbed, and you cannot
concentrate the mind. We can make the seat firm by thinking
of the infinite. We cannot think of the Absolute Infinite, but
we can think of the infinite sky.

47. प्रमत्नशैणथल्यानन्तसभाऩणत्तभ्याभ ् ॥ ४७॥
prayatnashaithilyanantasamapattibhyam

By slight effort and meditating on the unlimited

(posture becomes firm and pleasant).

Light and darkness, pleasure and pain, will not then disturb
you.

48. ततो िन्द्वानणबघात् ॥ ४८॥
tato dvandvanabhighatah

Seat being conquered, the dualities do not obstruct.

The dualities are good and bad, heat and cold, and all the pairs
of opposites.

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49. तणस्मन ्सणत श्वासप्रश्वासमोगयणतणवच्छेद् प्रािामाभ् ॥ ४९॥
tasmin
sati
shvasaprashvasayorgativichchhedah
pranayamah

Controlling the motion of the exhalation and the
inhalation follows after this.

When the posture has been conquered, then this motion is to
be broken and controlled, and thus we come to Pranayama;
the controlling of the vital forces of the body. Prana is not
breath, though it is usually so translated. It is the sum-total
of the cosmic energy. It is the energy that is in each obdy, and
its most apparent manifestation is the motion of the lungs.

This motion is caused by Prana drawing in the breath, and is
what we seek to control in Pranayama. We begin by
controlling the breaht, as the easiest way of getting control of
the Prana.

50. फाह्याभ्यन्तयस्तम्भवृणत्त् देशकारसंख्याणब् ऩणयदृष्टो

दीघयसूक्ष्म् ॥ ५०॥
bahyabhyantarastambhavrittih
deshakalasankhyabhih paridrishto dirghasookshmah

Its modifications are either external or internal, or
motionless, regulated by place, time, and number,
either long or short.

The three sorts of motion of this Pranayama are, one by
which we draw the breath in, another by which we throw it

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out, and the third action is when the breath is held in the lungs,
or stopped from entering the lungs. These, again, are varied
by place and time. By place is meant that the Prana is held to
some particular part of the body. By time is meant ho wlong
the Prana should be confined to a certain place, and so we are
told how many seconds to keep on motion, and how many
seconds to keep another. The result of this Pranayama is

Udghata, awakening the Kundalini.

51. फाह्याभ्यन्तयणवषमाऺेऩी चतुथय् ॥ ५१॥
bahyabhyantaravishayakshepi chaturthah

The fourth is restraining the Prana by directing it
either to the external or internal objects.

This is the fourth sort of Pranayama. Prana can be directed
either inside or outside.

52. तत् ऺीमते प्रकाशावयिभ ्॥ ५२॥
dharanasu ch yojnata manasah

From that, the covering to the light of the Chitta is
attenuated.

The Chitta has, by its own nature, all knowledge. It is made of

Sattva particles, but is covered by Rajas and Tamas particles,
and by Pranayama this covering is removed.

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53. धायिासु च मोग्मता भनस् ॥ ५३॥

The mind becomes fit for Dharana.

After this covering has been removed we are able to
concentrate the mind.

54. स्वस्वणवषमासंप्रमोगे णचत्तस्य स्वरूऩानुकाय इवेणिमािां

प्रत्याहाय् ॥ ५४॥
svasvavishayasanprayoge chittasy svaroopanukar
ivendriyanan pratyaharah

The drawing in of the organs is by their giving up
their own objects and taking the form of the
mind-stuff.

These organs are separate states of the mind-stuff. I see a
book; the form is not in the book, it is in the mind. Something
is outside which calls that form up. The real form is in the

Chitta. These organs are identifying themselves with, and
taking the forms of whatever comes to them. If you can
restrain the mind-stuff from taking these forms the mind will
remain calm. This is called Pratyahara. Thence arises
supreme control of the organs.

When the Yogi has succeeded in preventing the organs from
taking the forms of external objects, and in making them
remain one with the mind-stuff, then comes perfect control of
the organs, and when the orgns are perfectly under control,

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every muscle and nerve will be under control, because the
organs are the centres of all the senstations, and of all actions.

These organs are divided into organs of work and organs of
sensation. When the organs are controlled the Yogi can
control all feeling and doing; the whole of the body will be
under his control. Then alone one begins to feel joy in being
born; then one can truthfully say, “Blessed am I that I was
born. “ When that control of the organs is obtained, we feel
how wonderful this body really is2.

2There are 55 sutras in many versions of Patanjali Yoga Sutra. The 55th

Sutra is तत् ऩयभा वश्मतेणिमािाभ ् ॥५५॥ “Pratyahara results in the absolute
control of the sense organs”. Swami Vivekananda has not commented
upon this sutra

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CHAPTER III – VIBHOOTI PADA

THE CHAPTER OF POWERS

॥ तृतीम् णवबूणतऩाद् ॥

We have now come to the chapter which is called the Chapter
of Powers.

1. देशफिणित्तस्य धायिा ॥ १॥
deshabandhashchittasya dharana

Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular
object.

Dharana (concentration) is when the mind holds on to some
object, either in the body, or outside the body, and keeps itself
in that state.

2. तत्र प्रत्यमैकतानता ध्यानभ ्॥ २॥
tatra pratyayaikatanata dhyanam

An unbroken flow of knowledge to that object is

Dhyana.

The mind tries to think of one object, to hold itself to one
particular spot, as the top of the head, the heart, etc., and if the
mind succeeds in receiving the sensations only through that
part of the body, and through no other part, that would be

Dharana, and when the mind succeeds in keeping itself in
that state for some time it is called Dhyana (meditation).

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3. तद ् एवाथयभात्रणनबायसं स्वरूऩशून्यभ ्इव सभाणध् ॥ ३॥
tad evarthamatranirbhasan svaroopashoonyam iva
samadhih

When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the
meaning, it is Samadhi.

That is, when in meditation all forms are given up. Suppose I
were meditating on a book, and that I have gradually
succeeded in concentrating the mind on it, and perceiving
only the internal sensations, the meaning, unexpressed in any
form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.

4. त्रमभ ्एकत्र संमभ् ॥ ४॥
trayam ekatra sanyamah

(These) three (when practised) in regard to one object
is Samyama.

When a man can direct his mind to any particular object and
fix it there, and then keep it there for a long time, separating
the object from the internal part, this is Samyama; or

Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, one following the other,
and making one. The form of the thing has vanished, and only
its meaning remains in the mind.

5. तज्जमात ्प्रऻाऽऽरोक् ॥ ५॥
tajjayat prajnaalokah

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By the conquest of that comes light of knowledge.

When one has succeeded in making this Samyama, all powers
come under his control. This is the great instrument of the

Yogi. The object of knowledge are infinite, and they are
divided into the gross, grosser, grossest, and the fine, finer,
finest, and so on. This Samyama should be first applied to
gross things, when when you begin to get knowledge of the
gross, slowly, by stages, it should be brought to finer things.

6. तस्य बूणभषु णवणनमोग् ॥ ६॥
tasya bhoomishu viniyogah

That should be employed in stages. This is a note of
warning not to attempt to go too fast.

7. त्रमभ ्अन्तयङ्गं ऩूवेभ्य् ॥ ७॥
trayam antaranggan poorvebhyah

These three are nearer than those that precede.

Before these we had the Pranayama, the Asana, the Yama
and Niyama; these are external parts of these three—

Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. Yet these latter even are
external to the seedless Samadhi. When a man has attained to
them he may attain to omniscience and omnipresence, but that
would not be salvation. These three would not make the mind

Nirvikalpa, changeless, but would leave the seeds for getting
bodies again; only when the seeds are, as the Yogi says,

“fried,” do they lose the possibility of producing further
plants. These powers cannot fry the seed.

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8. तदणऩ फणहयङ्गं णनफीजस्य ॥ ८॥
tad api bahiranggan nirbijasy

But even they are external to the seedless ( Samadhi).

Compared with that seedless Samadhi, therefore, even these
are external. We have not yet reached the real Samadhi, the
highest, but to a lower stage, in which this universe still exists
as we see it, and in which are all these power.

9. व्युत्थानणनयोधसंस्कायमोयणबबवप्रादुबायवौ णनयोधऺिणचत्तान्वमो

णनयोधऩणयिाभ् ॥ ९॥
vyutthananirodhasanskarayorabhibhava-
pradurbhavau nirodhakshannachittanvayo
nirodhaparinamah

By the suppression of the disturbed modifications of
the mind, and by the rise of modifications of control,
the mind is said to attain the controlling
modifications - following the controlling powers of
the mind.

That is to say, in this first state of Samadhi, the modifications
of the mind have been controlled, but not perfectly, because if
they were, there would be no modifications. If there is a
modification which impels the mind to rush out through the
senses, and the Yogi tries to control it, that very control itself
will be a modification. One wave will be checked by another
wave, so it will not be real Samadhi, when all the waves have

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subsided, as control itself will be a wave. Yet this lower

Samadhi is very much nearer to the higher Samadhi than
when the mind comes bubbling out.

10. तस्य प्रशान्तवाणहता संस्कायात ्॥ १०॥
tasya prashantavahita sanskarat

Its flow becomes steady by habit.

The flow of this continuous control of the mind becomes
steady when practices day after day and the mind obtains the
faculty of constant concentration.

11. सवायथयतैकार्ग्तमो् ऺमोदमौ णचत्तस्य सभाणधऩणयिाभ् ॥ ११॥
sarvarthataikagratayoh
kshayodayau
chittasya
samadhiparinamah

Taking in all sorts of objects and concentrating upon
one object, these two powers being destroyed and
manifested respectively, the Chitta gets the modifi-
cation called Samadhi.

The mind is taking up various objects, running into all sorts of
things and then there is a higher state of the mind, when it
takes up one object and excludes all others. Samadhi is the
result of that.

12. तत् ऩुन् शान्तोणदतौ तुल्यप्रत्यमौ णचत्तस्यैकार्ग्ताऩणयिाभ्॥१२॥
tatah
punah
shantoditau
tulyapratyayau
chittasyaikagrataparinamah

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The one-pointedness of the Chitta is when it grasps in
one, the past and present.

How are we to know that the mind has become concentrated?

Because time will vanish. The more time vanishes the more
concentrated we are. In common life we see that when were
are interested in a book we do not note the time at all, and
when we leave the book we are often surprised to find how
many hours have passed. All time will have the tendency to
come and stand in the one present. So the definition is given,
when the past and present come and stand in one, the more
concentrated the mind.

13. एतेन बूतेणिमेषु धभयरऺिावस्थाऩणयिाभा व्याख्याता्॥१३॥
etena
bhootendriyeshu
dharmalakshanavastha
parinama vyakhyatah

By this is explained the threefold transformations of
form, time and state, in fine or gross matter, and in the
organs.

By this the threefold changes in the mind-stuff as to form,
time, and state are explained. The mind-stuff is changing into

Vrttis, this is change as to form. To be able to hold the changes
to the present time is change as to time. To be able to make
the mind-stuff go to the past forms giving up the present even,
is change as to state. The concentrations taught in the
preceding aphorisms were to give the Yogi a voluntary control
over the transformations of his mind-stuff which alone will
enable him to make the Samyama before named.

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14. शान्तोणदताव्यऩदेश्मधभायनुऩाती धभी ॥१४॥
shantoditavyapadeshyadharmanupati dharmi

That which is acted upon by transformations, either
past, present or yet to be manifested, is the qualified.

That is to say, the qualified is the substance which is being
acted upon by time and by the Samskaras, and getting
changed and being manifested all the time.

15. िभान्यत्वं ऩणयिाभान्यत्वे हेतु् ॥१५॥
kramanyatvan parinamanyatve hetuh

The succession of changes is the cause of manifold
evolution.

16. ऩणयिाभत्रमसंमभादतीतानागतऻानभ ्॥१६॥
parinamatrayasanyamadatitanagatajnanam

By making Samyama on the three sorts of changes
comes the knowledge of past and future.

We must not lose sight of the first definition of Samyama.

When the mind has attained to that state when it identifies
itself with the internal impression of the object, leaving the
external, and when, by long practice, that is retained by the
mind, and the mind can get into that state in a moment, that is

Samyama. If a man in that state wants to know the past and
future he has to make a Samyama on the changes in the

Samskaras. Some are working now at present, some have
worked out, and some are waiting to work; so by making a

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Samyama on these he knows the past and future.

17. शब्दाथयप्रत्यमानाभ ्इतयेतयाध्यासात ्संकय्तत्प्रणवबागसंमभात ्

सवयबूतरुतऻानभ ्॥१७॥
shabdarthapratyayanam itaretaradhyasat sankarah
tatpravibhagasanyamat sarvabhootarutajnanam

By making Samyama on word, meaning, and
knowledge, which are ordinarily confused, comes the
knowledge of all animal sounds.

The word represents the external cause, the meaning
represents the internal vibration that travels to the brain
through the channels of the Indriyas, conveying the external
impression to the mind, and knowledge represents the
reaction of the mind, with which comes perception. These
three confused, make our sense objects. Suppose I hear a
word; there is first the external vibration, next the internal
sensation carried to the mind by the organ of hearing, then the
mind reacts, and I know the word. The word I know is a
mixture of the three, vibration, sensation, and reaction.

Ordinarily these three are inseperable; but by practice the

Yogi can separate them. When a man has attained to this, if he
makes a Samyama on any sound, he understands the meaning
which that sound was intended to express, whether it was
made by man or by any other animal.

18. संस्कायसाऺत्कयिात ्ऩूवयजाणतऻानभ ्॥१८॥
sanskarasakshatkaranat poorvajatijnanam

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By perceiving the impressions, knowledge of past
life.

Each experience that we have comes in the form of a wave in
the Chitta, and this subsides and becomes finer and finer, but
is never lost. It remains there in minute form, and if we can
bring this wave up again, it becomes memory. So, if the Yogi
can make a Samyama on these past impressions in the mind,
he will begin to remember all his past lives.

19. प्रत्यमस्य ऩयणचत्तऻानभ ्॥१९॥
pratyayasy parachittajnanam

By making Samyama on the signs in another’s both
knowledge of that mind comes.

Suppose each man has particular signs on his body, which
differentiate him from others; when the Yogi makes a

Samyama on these signs peculiar to a certain man he knows
the nature of the mind of that person.

20. न च तत ्सारम्बनं,तस्याणवषमीबूतत्वात ्॥२०॥
na cha tat salambanan,tasyavishayibhootatvat

But not its contents, that not being the object of the

Samyama.

He would not know the contents of the mind by making a

Samyama on the body. There would be required a twofold

Samyama, first on the signs in the body, and then on the mind
itself. The Yogi would then know everything that is in that

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mind, past, present, and future.

21. कामरूऩसंमभात ्तद्ग्राह्यशणिस्तम्भे

चऺु्प्रकाशासंप्रमोगेऽन्तधायनभ ्॥२१॥
kayaroopasanyamat tadgrahyashaktistambhe
chakshuhprakashasanprayogentardhanam

By making Samyama on the form of the body the
power of perceiving forms being obstructed, the
power of manifestation in the eye being separated, the

Yogi’s body becomes unseen.

A Yogi standing in the midst of this room can apparently
vanish. He does not really vanish, but he will not be seen by
anyone. The form and the body are, as it were, separated. You
must remember that this can only be done when the Yogi has
attained to that power of concentration when form and the
thing formed have been separated. Then he makes a Samyama
on that, and the power to perceive forms is obstructed,
because the power of perceiving forms comes from the
junction of form and the thing formed.

22. एतेन शब्दाद्यन्तधायनभुिभ ्॥२२॥
etena shabdadyantardhanamuktam

By this the disappearance or concealment of words
which are being spoken is also explained.

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23. सोऩिभं णनरुऩिभं च कभय तत्संमभाद ् अऩयान्तऻानभ ्,

अणयष्टेभ्यो वा ॥२३॥
sopakraman nirupakraman cha karma tatsanyamad
aparantajnanam,arishtebhyo va

Karma is of two kinds, soon to be fructified, and late
to be fructified. By making Samyama on that, or by
the signs called Aristha, portents, the Yogis know the
exact time of separation from their bodies.

When the Yogi makes a Samyama on his own Karma, upon
those impressions in his mind which are now working, and
those which are just waiting to work, he knows exactly by
those that are waiting when his body will fall. He knows when
he will die, at what hour, even at what minute. The Hindus
think very much of that knowledge or consciousness of the
nearness of death, because it is taught in the Gita that the
thoughts at the moment of departure are great powers in
determining the next life.

24. भैत्र्याणदष ु फराणन ॥२४॥
maitryadishu balani

By making Samyama on friendship, etc., various
strength comes.

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25. फरेषु हणस्तफरादीणन ॥२५॥
baleshu hastibaladini

By making Samyama on the strength of the elephant,
etc . , that strength comes to the Yogi.

When a Yogi has attained to this Samyama and wants strength,
he makes a Samyama on the strength of the elephant, and gets
it. Infinite energy is at the disposal of everyone, if he only
knows how to get it. The Yogi has discovered the science of
getting it.

26. प्रवृत्त्यारोकन्यासात ्सूक्ष्मव्यवणहतणवप्रकृष्टऻानभ ्॥२६॥
pravrittyalokanyasat sookshmavyavahita-
viprakrishtajnanam

By making Samyama on that effulgent light comes
the knowledge of the fine, the obstructed, and the
remote.

When the Yogi makes Samyama on that effulgent light in the
heart he sees things which are very remote, things, for
instance, that are happening in a distant place, and which are
obstructed by mountain barriers and also things which are
very fine.

27. बुवनऻानं सूमे संमभात ्॥२७॥
bhuvanajnanan soorye sanyamat

By making Samyama on the sun, (comes) the

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knowledge of the world.

28. चिे तायाव्यूहऻानभ ्॥२८॥
chandre taravyoohajnanam

On the moon, (comes) the knowledge of the cluster of
stars.

29. ध्रुवे तद्गणतऻानभ ्॥२९॥
dhruve tadgatijnanam

On the pole star (comes) the knowledge of the
motions of the stars.

30. नाणबचिे कामव्यूहऻानभ ्॥३०॥
nabhichakre kayavyoohajnanam

On the navel circle (comes) the knowledge of the
constitution of the body.

31. कण्ठकूऩे ऺुणत्पऩासाणनवृणत्त् ॥३१॥
kanthakoope kshutpipasanivrittih

On the hollow of the throat (comes) cessation of
hunger.

When a man is very hungry, if he can make Samyama on the
pit of the throat hunger ceases.

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32. कूभयनाड्यां स्थैमयभ ्॥३२॥
koormanadyan sthairyam

On the nerve called Kurma (comes) fixity of the
body.

When he is practising the body is not disturbed.

33. भूधयज्योणतणष णसद्धदशयनभ ्॥३३॥
moordhajyotishi siddhadarshanam

On the light emanating from the top of the head sight
of the Siddhas.

The Siddhas are beings who are a little above ghosts. When
the Yogi concentrates his mind on the sop of his head he will
see these Siddhas. The word Siddha does not refer to those
men who have become free—a sense in which it is often used.

34. प्राणतबाद ् वा सवयभ ्॥३४॥
pratibhad va sarvam

Or by the power of Pratibha all knowledge.

All these can come without any Samyama to the man who has
the power of Pratibha (enlightenment from purity). This is
when a man has risen to a high state of Pratibha; then he has
that great light. All things are apparent to him. Everything
comes to him naturally, without making Samyama on
anything.

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35. हृदमे णचत्तसंणवत ्॥३५॥
hridaye chittasanvit

In the heart, knowledge of minds.

36. सत्त्वऩुरुषमोयत्यन्तासंकीियमो् प्रत्यमाणवशेषो बोग्

ऩयाथयत्वात ्स्वाथयसंमभात ् ऩुरुषऻानभ ्॥३६॥
sattvapurushayoratyantasankeernnayoh
pratyayavishesho bhogah pararthatvat
svarthasanyamat purushajnanam

Enjoyment comes by the non-discrimination of the
very distant soul and Sattva. Its actions are for
another; Samyama on this gives knowledge of the

Purusa.

This power of non-attachment acquired through purity gives
the Yogi the enlightenment called Pratibha.

37. तत् प्राणतबश्राविवेदनादशायस्वादवाताय जामन्ते ॥३७॥
tatah
pratibhashravannavedanadarshasvadavarta
jayante

From that arises the knowledge of hearing, touching,
seeing, tasting, and smelling, belonging to Pratibha.

38. ते सभाधावुऩसगाय व्युत्थाने णसद्धम् ॥३८॥
te samadhavupasargaa vyutthane siddhayah

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These are obstacles to Samadhi; but they are powers
in the worldly state.

If the Yogi knows all these enjoyments of the world it comes
by the junction of the Purusa and the mind. If he wants to
make Samyama on this, that they are two different things,
nature and soul, he gets knowledge of the Purusa. From that
arises discrimination. When he has got that discrimination he
gets the Pratibha, the light of supreme genius. These
powers, however, are obstructions to the attainment of the
highest goal, the knowledge of the pure Self, and freedom;
these are, as it were, to be met in the way, and if the Yogi
rejects them, he attains the highest. If he is tempted to acquire
these, his farther progress is barred.

39. फिकायिशैणथल्यात ्प्रचायसंवेदनाच्च णचत्तस्य ऩयशयीयावेश् ॥३९॥
bandhakarannashaithilyat pracharasanvedanach ch
chittasya parashariraveshah

When the cause of bondage has become loosened, the

Yogi, by his knowledge of manifestation through the
organs, enters another’s body.

The Yogi can enter a dead body, and make it get up and move,
even while he himself is working in another body. Or he can
enter a living body, and hold that man’s mind and organs in
check, and for the time being act through the body of that
man. That is done by the Yogi coming to this discrimination of

Purusa and nature. If he wants to enter another’s body he
makes a Samyama on that body and enters it, because, not
only is his Soul omnipresent, but his mind also, according to

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the Yogi. It is one bit of the universal mind. Now, however, it
can only work through the nerve currents in this body, but
when the Yogi has loosened himself from these nerve
currents, he will be able to work through other things.

40. उदानजमाज्जरऩङ्ककण्टकाणदष्वसङ्ग उत्क्राणन्ति ॥४०॥
udanajayajjalapangkakantakadishvasangg
utkrantishch

By conquering the current called Udana the Yogi
does not sink in water, or in swamps, and he can walk
on thorns.

Udana is the name of the nerve current that governs the lungs,
and all the upper parts of the body, and when he is master of it
he becomes light in weight. He cannot sink in water; he can
walk on thorns and sword baldes, and stand in fire, and so on.

41. सभानजमात ्प्रज्वरनभ ् ॥४१॥
samanajayat prajvalanam

By the conquest of the current Samana he is
surrounded by blaze.

Whenever he likes light flashes from his body.

42. श्रोत्राकाशमो् संफिसंमभाद ् णदव्यं श्रोत्रभ ्॥४२॥
shrotrakashayoh
sanbandhasanyamad
divyan
shrotram

By making Samyama on the relation between the ear

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and the Akasa comes divine hearing.

There is the Akasa, the ether, and the instrument, the ear. By
making Samyama on them the Yogi gets divine hearing; he
hears everything. Anything spoken or sounded miles away he
can here.

43. कामाकाशमो् संफिसंमभार ् रघुतूरसभाऩत्तेिाकाशगभनभ ्॥४३॥
kayakashayoh sanbandhasanyamal
aghutoolasamapatteshchakashagamanam

By making Samyama on the relation between the

Akasa and the body the Yogi becoming light as cotton
wool goes through the skies.

This Akasa is the material of this body; it is only Akasa in a
certain form that has become the body. If the Yogi makes

Samyama on this Akasa material of his body, it acquires the
lightness of Akasa, and can go anywhere through the air.

44. फणहयकणल्पता वृणत्तभयहाणवदेहा . तत् प्रकाशावयिऺम् ॥४४॥
bahirakalpita vrittirmahavideha tatah
prakashavarannakshayah

By making Samyama on the real modifications of the
mind, which are outside, called great disembodiness,
comes disappearance of the covering to light.

The mind in its foolishness thinks that it is working in this
body. Why should I be bound by one system of nerves, and
put the Ego only in one body, if the mind is omnipresent?

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There is no reason why I should. The Yogi wants to feel the

Ego wherever he likes. When he has succeeded in that all
covering to light goes away, and all darkness and ignorance
vanish. Everything appear to him to be full of knowledge.

45. स्थूरस्वरूऩसूक्ष्मान्वमाथयवत्त्वसंमभाद्भूतजम् ॥४५॥
sthoolasvaroopasookshmanvayarthavattva
samyamadbhootajayah

By making Samyama on the elements, beginning with
the gross, and ending with the superfine, comes
mastery of the elements.

The Yogi make Samyama on the elements, first on the gross,
and then on the finer states. This Samyama is taken up more
by a sect of the Buddhists. They take a lump of clay, and make

Samyama on that, and gradually they begin to see the fine
materials of which is is composed, and when they have known
all the fine materials in it, they get power over that element.

So with all the elements, the Yogi can conquer them all.

46. ततोऽणिभाणदप्रादुबायव् कामसंऩत ्तद्धभायनणबघाति ॥४६॥
tatoanimadipradurbhavah kayasanpat
taddharmanabhighatashch

From that comes minuteness, and the rest of the
powers, “glorification of the body,” and
indestructibleness of the bodily qualities.

This means that the Yogi has attained the eight powers. He can

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make himsef as light as a particle, he can make himself huge,
as heavy as the earth, or as light as the air; he will rule
everything he wants, he will conquer everything he wants,
alion will sit at his feet like a lamb, and all his desires be
fulfilled at will.

47. रूऩरावण्मफरवज्रसंहननत्वाणन कामसंऩत ्॥४७॥
roopalavanyabalavajrasanhananatvani kayasanpat

The glorifications of the body are beauty,
complexion, strength, adamantine hardness.

The body becomes indestructible; fire cannot injure it.

Nothing can injure it. Nothing can destroy it until the Yogi
wishes. “Breaking the rod of time he lives in this universe
with his body.” In the Vedas it is written that for that man
there is no more disease, death or pain.

48. र्ग्हिस्वरूऩाणस्मतान्वमाथयवत्त्वसंमभाद ् इणिमजम् ॥४८॥
grahannasvaroopasmitanvayarthavattvasanyamad
indriyajayah

By making Samyama on the objectivity, knowledge
and egoism of the organs, by gradation comes the
conquest of the organs.

In perception of external objects the organs leave their place
in the mind and go towards the object; that is followed by
knowledge and egoism. When the Yogi makes Samyama on
these by gradation he conquers the organs. Take up anything
that you see or feel, a book, for instance, and first concentrate

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the mind on the thing itself. Then on the knowledge that it is
in the form of a book, and then the Ego that sees the book. By
that practice all the organs will be conquers.

49. ततो भनोजणवत्वं णवकयिबाव् प्रधानजमि ॥४९॥
tato manojavitvan vikarannabhavah
pradhanajayashch

From that comes glorified mind, power of the organs
independently of the body, and conquest of nature.

Just as by the conquest of the elements comes glorified body,
so from the conquest of the mind will come glorified mind.

50. सत्त्वऩुरुषान्यताख्याणतभात्रस्य सवयबावाणधष्ठातृत्वं सवयऻातृत्वं च॥५०॥
sattvapurushanyatakhyatimatrasy
sarvabhavadhishthatritvam sarvajnatritvan cha

By making Samyama on the Sattva, to him who has
discriminated between the intellect and the Purusa
comes omnipresence and omniscience.

When we have conquered nature, and realised the difference
between the Purusa and nature, that the Purusa is
indestructible, pure and perfect, when the Yogi has realised
this, then comes omnipotence and omniscience.

51. तिैयाग्मादणऩ दोषफीजऺमे कैवल्यभ ्॥५१॥
tadvairajnadapi doshabijakshaye kaivalyam

By giving up even these comes the destruction of the
very seed of evil; he attains Kaivalya.

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He attains aloneness, independence. Then that man is free.

When he gives up even the ideas of omnipotence and
omniscience, there will be entire rejection of enjoyment, of
the temptations from celestial beings. When the Yogi has seen
all these wonderful powers, and rejected them, he reaches the
goal. What are all these powers? Simply manifestations. They
areno better than dreams. Even omnipotence is a dream. It
depends on the mind. So long as there is a mind it can be
understood, but the goal is beyond even the mind.

52. स्थान्युऩणनभन्त्रिे सङ्गस्ममाकयिं ऩुन् अणनष्टप्रसङ्गात ्॥५२॥
sthanyupanimantrane sanggasmayakarannan
punah anishtaprasanggat

The Yogi should not feel allured or flattered by the
overtures of celestial beings, for fear of evil again.

There are other dangers too; gods and other beings come to
tempt the Yogi. They do not want anyone to be perfectly free.

They are jealous, just as we are, and worse than we
sometimes. They are very much afraid of losing their places.

Those Yogis who do not reach perfection die and become
gods; leaving the direct road they go into one of the side
streets, and get these powers. Then again they have to be born;
but he who is strong enough to withstand these temptations,
and go straight to the goal, becomes free.

53. ऺितत्क्रभमो् संमभादणववेकजं ऻानभ ्॥५३॥
kshannatatkramayoh sanyamadavivekajam jnanam

By making Samyama on a particle of time and its

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multiples comes discrimination.

How are we to avoid all these things, these Devas, and
heavens, and powers? By discrimination, by knowing good
from evil. Therefore a Samyama is given by which the
power of discrimination can be strengthened. This is by
making Samyama on a particle of time.

54. जाणतरऺिदेशैयन्यताऽनवच्छेदात ्तुल्यमोस्तत् प्रणतऩणत्त्॥५४॥
jatilakshannadeshairanyataanavachchhedat
tulyayostatah pratipattih

Those which cannot be differentiated by species, sign
and place, even they will be discriminated by the
above Samyama.

The misery that we suffer comes from ignorance, from non-
discrimination between the real and the unreal. We all take the
bad for the good, the dream for the reality. Soul is the only
reality, and we have forgotten it. Body is an unreal dream, and
we think we are all bodies. This non-discrimination is the
cause of misery, and it is caused by ignorance. When
discrimination comes it brings strength, and then alone can
we avoid all these various ideas of body, heavens, and gods
and Devas. This ignorance arises through differentiating by
species, sign or place. For instance, take a cow. The cow is
differentiated from the dog, as species. Even with the cows
alone how do we make the distinction between one cow and
another? By signs. If two objects are exactly similar they can
be distinguished if they are in different places. When objects
are so mixed up that even these differentiæ will not help us,

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the power of discrimination acquired by the above-mentioned
practice will give us the ability to distinguish them. The
highest philosophy of the Yogi is based upon this fact, that the

Purusa is pure and perfect, and is the only “simple” that
exists in this universe. The body and mind are compounds,
and yet we are ever identifying ourselves with them. That is
the great mistake that the distinction has been lost. When this
power of discrimination has been attained, man sees that
everything in this world, mental and physical, is a compound,
and, as such, cannot be the Purusa.

55. तायकं सवयणवषमं सवयथाणवषमभ ्अिभं चेणत णववेकजं ऻानभ ्॥५५॥
tarakan sarvavishayan sarvathavishayam akraman
cheti vivekajan jnanam

The saving knowledge is that knowledge of
discrimination which covers all objects, all means.

Saving, because the knowledge takes the Yogi across the
ocean of birth and death. The whole of Prakriti in all its states,
subtle and gross, is within the grasp of this knowledge. There
is no succession in perfection by this knowledge: it takes in all
things simultaneously, at a glance.

56. सत्त्वऩुरुषमो् शुणद्धसाम्ये कैवल्यभ ्इणत ॥५६॥
sattvapurushayoh shuddhisamye kaivalyam iti

By the similarity of purity between the Sattva and the

Purusa comes Kaivalya.

When the soul realises that it depends on nothing in the

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universe, from gods to the lowest atom, that it is called

Kaivalya (isolation) and perfection. It is attained when this
mixture of purity and impurity called mind has been made as
pure as the Purusa Itself; then the Sattva, the mind, reflects
only the unqualified essence of purity, which is the Purusa

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CHAPTER IV – KAIVALYA PADA

INDEPENDENCE

॥ चतुथय् कैवल्यऩाद् ॥

1. जन्मौषणधभन्त्रतऩ्सभाणधजा् णसद्धम् ॥ १॥
janmaushadhimantratapahsamadhijah siddhayah

The Siddhis (powers) are attained by birth, chemical
means,
power
of
words,
mortification
or
concentration.

Sometimes a man is born with the Siddhis, powers, of course
from the exercise of powers he had in his previous birth. In
this birth he is born, as it were, to enjoy the fruits of them. It is
said of Kapila, the great father of the Sankhya Philosophy,
that he was a born Siddha, which means, literally, a man who
has attained to success.

The Yogis claim that these powers can be gained by chemical
means. All of you know that chemistry originally began as
alchemy; men went in search of the philsopher’s stone, and
elixirs of life, and so forth. In Inidia there was a sect called the

Rasayanas. Their idea was that ideality, knowledge,
spirituality and religion, were all very right, but that the body
was the only instrument by which to attain to all these. If the
body broke now and then it would take so much more time to
attain to the goal. For instance, a man wants to practice

Yoga, or wants to become spiritual. Before he has advanced
very far he dies. Then he takes another body and begins again,

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then dies, and so on, and in this way much time will be lost in
dying and in being born again. If the body could be made
strong and perfect, so that it would get rid of birth and death,
we should have so much more time to become spiritual. So
these Rasayanas say, first make the body very strong, and
they claim that this body can be made immortal. The idea is
that if the mind is manufacturing the body, and if it be true
that each mind is only one particular outlet to that infinite
energy, and that there is no limit to each particular outlet
getting any amount of power from outside, why is it
impossible that we should keep our bodies all the time? We
shall have to manufacture all the bodies that we shall ever
have. As soon as this body dies we shall have to manufacture
another. If we can do that why cannot we do it just here and
no, without getting out? The theory is perfectly correct. If it is
possible that we live after death, and make other bodies, why
is it impossible that we should have the power of making
bodies here, without entirely dissolving this body, simply
changing it continually? They also thought that in mercury
and in sulphur was hidden the most wonderful power, and that
by certain preparations of these a man could keep the body as
long as he liked. Others believed that certain drugs could
bring powers, such as flying through the air, etc. Many of
the most wonderful medicines of the present day we owe to
the Rasayamas, notably the use of metals in medicine.

Certain sects of Yogis claim that many of their principal
teachers are still living in their old bodies. Patanjali, the great
authority on Yoga, does not deny this.

The power of words. There are certain sacred words called

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Mantrams, which have power, when repeated under proper
conditions, to produce these extraordinary powers. We are
living in the midst of such a mass of miracles, day and night,
that we do not think anything of them. There is no limit to
man’s power, the power of words and the power of mind.

Mortification. You will find that in every religion
mortifications and asceticisms have been practised. In these
religious conceptions the Hindus always go to the extremes.

You will find men standing with their hands up all their lives,
until their hands wither and die. Men sleep standing, day and
night, until their feet swell, and, if they live, the legs become
so stiff in this position that they can no more bend them, but
have to stand all their lives. I once saw a man who had raised
his hands in this way, and I asked him how it felt when he did
it first. He said it was awful torture. It was such torture that he
had to go to a river and put himself in water, and that allayed
the pain for a little. After a month he did not suffer much.

Through such practices powers ( Siddhis) can be attained.

Concentration. The concentration is Samadhi, and that is

Yoga proper; that is the principle theme of this science, and it
is the highest means. The preceding ones are only secondary,
and we cannot attain to the highest through them. Samadhi is
the means through which we can gain anything and
everything, mental, moral or spiritual.

2. जात्यन्तयऩणयिाभ् प्रकृत्याऩूयात ्॥ २॥
jatyantaraparinamah prakrityapoorat

The change into another species is by the filling in of

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nature.

Patanjali has advanced the proposition that these powers
come by first, sometimes by chemical means, or they may be
got by mortification and he has admitted that this body can be
kept for any length of time. Now he goes on to state what is
the cause of the change of the body into another species,
which he says is by the filling in of nature. In the next
aphorism he will explain this.

3. णनणभत्तभ ्अप्रमोजकं प्रकृतीनां वयिबेदस्तु तत् ऺेणत्रकवत ्॥३॥
nimittam aprayojakan prakritinan varannabhedastu
tatah kshetrikavat

Good deeds, etc., are not the direct causes in the
transformation of nature, but they act as breakers of
obstacles to the evolutions of nature, as a farmer
breaks the obstacles to the course of water, which
then runs down by its own nature.

When a farmer is irrigating his field the water is already in the
canals, only there are gates which keep the water in. The
farmer opens these gates, and the water flows in by itself, by
the law of gravitation. So, all human progress and power are
already in everything; this perfection is every man’s nature,
only it is barred in and prevented from taking its proper
course. If anyone can take the bar off in rushes nature. Then
the man attains the powers which are his already. Those we
called wicked become saints, as soon as the bar is broken and
nature rushes in. It is nature that is driving us towards
perfection, and eventually she will bring everyone there. All

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these practices and struggles to become religious are only
negative work to take off the bars, and open the doors to that
perfection which is our birthright, our nature.

To-day the evolution theories of the Yogis will be better
understood in the light of modern research. And yet the theory
of the Yogis is a better explanation. The two causes of
evolution advanced by the moderns, viz., sexual selection and
survival of the fittest, are inadequate. Suppose human
knowledge to have advanced too much as to eliminate
competition, both from the function of acquiring physical
sustenance and of acquiring a mate. Then, according to the
moderns, human progress will stop and the race will die. And
the result of this theory is to furnish every oppressor with an
argument to calm the qualms of conscience, and men are not
lacking, who, posing as philosophers, want to kill out all
wicked and incompetent persons (they are, of course, the only
judges of competency), and thus preserve the human race!

But the great ancient evolutionist, Patanjali, declares that the
true secret of evolution is the manifestation of the perfection
which is already in every being; that this perfection has been
barred, and the infinite tide behind it is struggling to express
itself. These struggles and competitions are but the results of
our ignorance, because we do not know the proper way to
unlock the gate and let the water in. This infinite tide behind
must express itself, and it is the cause of all manifestation, not
competition for life, or sex gratification, which are only
momentary, unnecessary, extraneous effects, caused by
ignorance. Even when all competition has ceased this perfect
nature behind will make us go forward until everyone has
become perfect. Therefore there is no reason to believe that

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competition is necessary to progress. In the animal the man
was suppressed, but, as soon as the door was opened, out
rushed man. So, in man there is the potential god, kept in by
the locks and bars of ignorance. When knowledge breaks
these bars the god becomes manifest.

4. णनभायिणचत्तान्यणस्मताभात्रात ्॥ ४॥
nirmannachittanyasmitamatrat

From egoism alone proceed the created minds.

The theory of Karma is that we suffer for our good or bad
deeds, and the whole scope of philosophy is to approach the
glory of man. All the Scriptures sing the glory of man, of the
soul, and then, with the same breath, they preach this Karma.

A good deed brings such a result, and a bad deed such a result,
but, if the soul can be acted upon by a good or a bad deed it
amounts to nothing. Bad deeds put a bart to the manifestation
of our nature, of the Purusa, and good deeds take the
obstacles off, and its glory becomes manifest. But the Purusa
itself is never changed. Whatever you do never destroys
your own glory, your own nature, because the soul cannot be
acted upon by anything, only a veil is spread before it, hiding
its perfection.

5. प्रवृणत्तबेदे प्रमोजकं णचत्तभ ्एकभ ्अनेकेषाभ ्॥ ५॥
pravrittibhede prayojakam chittam ekam anekesham

Though the activities of the different created minds
are various, the one original mind is the controller of
them all.

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These different minds, which will act in these different
bodies, are called made-minds, and the bodies made-bodies;
that is, manufactured bodies and minds. Matter and mind are
like two inexhaustible storehouses. When you have become a

Yogi you have learned the secret of their control. It was yours
all the time, but you had forgotten it. When you become a

Yogi you recollect it. Then you can do anything with it,
manipulate it any way you like. The material out of which that
manufactured mind is created is the very same material which
is used as the macrocosm. It is not that mind is one thing and
matter another, but they are different existences of the same
thing. Asmita, egoism, is the material, the fine state of
existence out of which these made-minds and made-bodies of
the Yogi will be manufactured. Therefore, when the Yogi has
found the secret of these energies of nautre he can
manufacture any number of bodies, or minds, but they will all
be manufactures out of the substance known as egoism.

6. तत्र ध्यानजभ ्अनाशमभ ्॥ ६॥
tatra dhyanajam anashayam

Among the various Chittas that which is attained by

Samadhi is desireless.

Among all the various minds that we see in various men, only
that mind which has attained to Samadhi, perfect
concentration, is the highest. A man who has attained certain
powers through medicines, or through words, or through
mortifications, still has desires, but that man who has attained
to Samadhi through concentration is alone free from all
desires.

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7. कभायशुिाकृष्णं मोणगन् णत्रणवधभ ्इतयेषाभ ्॥ ७॥
karmashuklakrishnnam yoginah trividham itaresham

Works are neither black nor white for the Yogis; for
others they are threefold, black, white, and mixed.

When the Yogi has attained to that state of perfection, the
actions of that man, and the Karma produced by those actions,
will not bind him, because he did not desire them. He just
works on: he works to do good, and he does good, but does
not care for the result, and it will not come to him. But for
ordinary men, who have not attained to that highest state,
works are of three kind, black (evil actions), white (good
actions), and mixed.

8. ततस्तणिऩाकानुगुिानाभ ्एवाणबव्यणिवायसनानाभ ्॥ ८॥
tatastadvipakanugunanam evabhivyaktirvasananam

From these threefold works are manifested in each
state only those desires (which are) fitting to that state
alone. (The others are held in abeyance for the time
being.)

Suppose I have made the three kinds of Karma, good, bad,
and mixed; and suppose I die and become a god in heaven; the
desires in a god body are not the same as the desires in a
human body. The god body neither eats nor drinks; what
becomes of my past unworked Karmas, which produce as
their effect the desire to eat and drink? Where would these

Karmas go when I became a god? The answer is that desires

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can only manifest themselves in proper environments. Only
those desires will come out for which the environment is
fitted; the rest will remain stored up. In this life we have many
godly desires, many human desires, many animal desires. If I
take a god body, only the god desires will come up, because
for them the environments are suitable. And if I take an
animal body, only the animal desires will come up, and the
god desires will wait. What does that show? That by means
of environment we can check these desires. Only that Karma
which is suited to and fitted for the environments will come
out. These proves that the power of environment is the great
check to control even Karma itself.

9. जाणतदेशकारव्यवणहतानाभ ्अप्यानन्तमं, स्मृणतसंस्कायमो्

एकरूऩत्वात ्॥ ९॥
jatideshakalavyavahitanam apyanantaryam
smritisanskarayoh ekaroopatvat

There is connectiveness in desire, even though
separated by speices, space and time, there being
identifi-cation of memory and impressions.

Experiences becoming fine become impressions; impressions
revivified become memory. The word memory here includes
unconscious co-ordination of past experience, reduced to
impressions, with present conscious action. In each body the
group of impressions acquired in a similar body only will
become the cause of action in that body. The experiences of
dissimilar bodies will be held in abeyance. Each body will act
as if it were a descendant of a series of bodies of that species

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only; thus, consecutiveness of desires will not be broken.

10. तासाभ ्अनाणदत्वं चाणशषो णनत्यत्वात ्॥१०॥
tasam anaditvam chashisho nityatvat

Thirst for happiness being eternal, desires are without
beginning.

All experience is preceded by desire for becoming happy.

There was no beginning of experience, as each fresh
experience is built upon the tendency generated by past
experience; therefore desire is without beginning.

11. हेतुपराश्रमारम्बनै् संगृहीतत्वाद ् एषाभ ्अबावे तदबाव् ॥११॥
hetufalashrayalambanaih sangrihitatvad esham
abhave tadabhavah

Being held together by cause, effect, support, and
objects, in the absence of these is its absence.

These desires are held together by cause and effect; if a desire
has been raised it does not die without producing its effect.

Then again, the mind-stuff is the great storehouse, the support
of all past desires, reduced to Samskara form; until they have
worked themselves out they will not die. Moreover, so long as
the senses receive the external objects fresh desires will arise.

If it be possible to get rid of these, then alone desires will
vanish.

12. अतीतानागतं स्वरूऩतोऽस्त्यध्वबेदाद ् धभायिाभ ्॥१२॥
atitanagatan svaroopatostyadhvabhedad

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dharmanam

The past and future exist in their own nature, qualities
having different ways.

13. ते व्यिसूक्ष्मा गुिात्मान् ॥१३॥
te vyaktasookshma gunatmanah

They are manifested or fine, being of the nature of the

Gunas.

The Gunas are the three substances, Sattva, Rajas, and

Tamas, whose gross state is the sensible universe. Past and
future arise from the different modes of manifestation of these

Gunas.

14. ऩणयिाभैकत्वाद ् वस्तुतत्त्वभ ्॥१४॥
parinamaikatvad vastutattvam

The unity in things is from the unity in changes.

Though there are three substances their changes
being co-ordinated all objects have their unity.

15. वस्तुसाम्ये णचत्तबेदात ्तमोणवयबि् ऩन्था्॥१५॥
vastusamye chittabhedat tayorvibhaktah panthah

The object being the same, perception and desire vary
according to the various minds.

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16. तदुऩयागाऩेऺत्वात ्णचत्तस्य वस्तु ऻाताऻातभ ्॥१६॥3
taduparagapekshatvat chittasya vastu jnatajnatam

Things are known or unknown to the mind, being
de-pendent on the colouring which they give to the
mind.

17. सदा ऻाताणित्तवृत्तमस्तत्प्रबो् ऩुरुषस्याऩणयिाणभत्वात ्॥१७॥
sada jnatashchittavrittayastatprabhoh
purushasyaparinamitvat

The states of the mind are always known because the
lord of the mind is unchangeable.

The whole gist of this theory is that the universe is both
mental and material. And both the mental and material worlds
are in a continuous state of flux. What is this book?

It is a combination of molecules in constant change. One lot is
going out, and another coming in; it is a whirlpool, but what
makes the unity? What makes it the same book? The changes
are rhythmical; in harmonious order they are sending
impressions to my mind, and these pieced together make a
continuous picture, although they parts are continuously

3 Swami Vivekananda does not comment on the sutra which is 16th sutra
in most versions of Patanjali Yoga Sutra. This sutra is: न चैकणचत्ततन्त्रं वस्तु

तदप्रभािकं तदा णकं स्यात ्॥ “An object exists independent of its cognizance by
any one consciousness. What happens to it when that consciousness is
not there to perceive it?”

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changing. Mind itself is continuously changing. The mind and
body are like two layers in the same substance, moving at
different rates of speed. Relatively, one being slower and the
other quicker, we can distinguish between the two motions.

For instance, a train is moving, and another carriage is
moving slowly alongside it. It is possible to find the motion of
both these, to a certain extent. But still something else is
necessary. Motion can only be perceived when there is
something else which is not moving. But when two or three
things are relatively moving, we first perceive the motion of
the faster one, and then that of the slower ones. How is the
mind to perceive? It is also in a flux. Therefore another thing
is necessary which moves more slowly, then you must get to
something in which the motion is still slower, and so on, and
you will find no end. Therefore logic compels you to stop
somewhere. You must complete the series by knowing
something which never changes. Behind this never ending
chain of motion is the Purusa, the changeless, the colourless,
the pure. All these impressions are merely reflected upon it, as
rays of light from a camera are reflected upon a white sheet,
painting hundreds of pictures on it, without in any way
tarnishing the sheet.

18. न तत ्स्वाबासंदृश्मत्वात ्॥१८॥
na tat svabhasandrishyatvat

Mind is not self-luminous, being an object.

Tremendous power is manifested everywhere in nature, but
yet something tells us that it is not self-luminous, not
essentially intelligent. The Purusa alone is self-luminous, and

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gives its light to everything. It is its power that is percolating
through all matter and force.

19. एकसभमे चोबमानवधायिभ ्॥१९॥
ekasamaye chobhayanavadharannam

From its being unable to cognise two things at the
same time.

If the mind were self-luminous it would be able to cognise
everything at the same time, which it cannot. If you pay deep
attention to one thing you lose another. If the mind were
self-luminous there would be no limit to the impressions it
could receive. The Purusa can cognise all in one moment;
therefore the Purusa is self-luminous, and the mind is not.

20. णचत्तान्तयदृश्मे फुणद्धफुद्धेयणतप्रसङ्ग् स्मृणतसंकयि ॥२०॥
chittantaradrishye buddhibuddheratiprasanggah
smritisankarashcha

Another cognising mind being assumed there will be
no end to such assumptions and confusion of
memory.

Let us suppose that there is another mind which cognises the
first, there will have to be something which cognises that, and
so there will be no end to it. It will result in confusion of
memory, there will be no storehouse of memory.

21. णचतेयप्रणतसंिभामास्तदाकायाऩत्तौ स्वफुणद्धसंवेदनभ ्॥२१॥

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chiterapratisankramayastadakarapattau
svabuddhisanvedanam

The essence of knowledge (the Purusa) being
un-changeable, when the mind takes its form, it
becomes conscious.

Patanjali says this to make it more clear that knowledge is not
a quality of the Purusa. When the mind comes near the

Purusa it is reflected, as it were, upon the mind, and the mind,
for the time being, becomes knowing and seems as if it were
itself the Purusa.

22. द्रष्टृदृश्मोऩयिं णचत्तं सवायथयभ ्॥२२॥
drashtridrishyoparaktan chittan sarvartham

Coloured by the seer and the seen the mind is able to
understand everything.

On the one side the external world, the seen, is being
reflected, and on the other, the seer is being reflected; thus
comes the power of all knowledge to the mind.

23. तदसंख्येमवासनाणचत्रभ ्अणऩ ऩयाथं संहत्यकाणयत्वात ्॥२३॥
tadasankhyeyavasanachitram api pararthan
sanhatyakaritvat

The mind through its innumerable desires acts for
another (the Purusa), being combinations.

The mind is a compound of various things, and therefore it
cannot work for itself. Everything that is a combination in this

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world has some object for that combination, some third thing
for which this combination is going on. So this combination
of the mind is for the Purusa.

24. णवशेषदणशयन आत्मबावबावनाणवणनवृणत्त् ॥२४॥
visheshadarshin aatmabhavabhavanavinivrittih

For the discriminating the perception of the mind as

Atman ceases.

Through discrimination the Yogi knows that the Purusa is not
mind.

25. तदा णववेकणनम्नं कैवल्यप्राग्भायं णचत्तभ ्॥२५॥
tada vivekanimnan kaivalyapragbharan chittam

Then bent on discriminating the mind attains the
previous state of Kaivalya (isolation).

Thus the practice of Yoga leads to discriminating power, to
clearness of vision. The veil drops from the eyes, and we see
things as they are. We find that this nature is a compound, and
is showing the panorama for the Purusa, who is the witness;
that this nature is not the Lord, that the whole of these
combinations of nature are simply for the sake of showing
these phenomena to the Purusa, the enthroned king within.

When discrimination comes by long practice fear ceases, and
the mind attains isolation.

26. तणच्छद्रेषु प्रत्यमान्तयाणि संस्कायेभ्य् ॥२६॥
tachchhidreshu pratyayantarani sanskarebhyah

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The thoughts that arise as obstructions to that are
from impressions.

All the various ideas that arise making us belive that we
require something external to make us happy are obstructions
to that perfection. The Purusa is happiness and blessedness
by its own nature. But that knowledge is covered over by past
impressions. These impressions have to work themselves out.

27. हानभ ्एषां िेशवदुिभ ्॥२७॥
hanam esham kleshavaduktam

Their destruction is in the same manner as of
ignorance, etc., as said before.

28. प्रसंख्यानेऽप्यकुसीदस्य सवयथाणववेकख्यातेधयभयभेघ् सभाणध्॥२८॥
prasankhyanepyakusidasy sarvathavivekakhyater
dharmameghah samadhih

Even when arriving at the right discriminating
knowledge of the senses, he who gives up the fruits,
unto him comes as the result of perfect
discrimination, the Samadhi called the cloud of
virtue.

When the Yogi has attained to this discrimination, all these
powers will come that were mentioned in the last chapter, but
the true Yogi rejects them all. Unto him comes a peculiar
knowledge, a particular light called the Dharma Megha, the
cloud of virtue. All the great prophets of the world whom
history has recorded had this. They had found the whole

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foundation of knowledge within themselves. Truth to them
had become real. Peace and calmness, and perfect purity
became their own nature, after they had given up all these
vanities of powers.

29. तत् िेशकभयणनवृणत्त् ॥२९॥
tatah kleshakarmanivrittih

From that comes cessation of pains and works.

When that cloud of virtue has come, then no more is there fear
of falling, nothing can drag the Yogi down. No more will there
be evils for him. No more pains.

30. तदा सवायवयिभराऩेतस्य ऻानस्याऽनन्त्याज्ज्ञेमभ ्अल्पभ ्॥३०॥
tada sarvavarannamalapetasy
jnanasyaanantyajgyeyam alpam

Then knowledge, bereft of covering and impurities,
becoming infinite, the knowable becomes small.

Knowledge itself is there; its covering is gone. One of the

Buddhistic scriptures sums up what is meant by the Buddha

(which is the name of a state). It defines it as infinite
knowledge, infinite as the sky. Jesus attained to that state and
became the Christ. All of you will attain to that state, and
knowledge becoming infinite, the knowable becomes small.

This whole universe, with all its knowable, becomes as
nothing before the Purusa. the ordinary man thinks himself
very small, because to him the knowable seems to be so
infinite.

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31. तत् कृताथायनां ऩणयिाभिभऩणयसभाणप्तगयुिानाभ ्॥३१॥
tatah kritarthanan parinamakramapari
samaptirgunanam

Then are finished the successive transformations of
the qualities, they having attained the end.

Then all these various transformations of the qualities, which change
from species to species, cease forever.

32. ऺिप्रणतमोगी ऩणयिाभाऩयान्तणनर्ग्ाह्यय् िभ् ॥३२॥
kshannapratiyogi parinamaparantanigrarhyah
kramah

The changes that exist in relation to moments, and
which are perceived at the other end (at the end of a
series) are succession.

Patanjali here defines the word succession, the changes that
exist in relation to moments. While I am thinking, many
moments pass, and with each moment there is a change of
idea, but we only perceive these changes at the end of a series.

So, perception of time is always in the memory. This is called
succession, but for the mind that has realised omnipresence
all these have finished. Everything has become present for
it; the present alone exists, the past and future are lost. This
stands controlled, and all knowledge is there in one second.

Everything is known like a flash.

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33. ऩ ुरुषाथयशून्यानां गुिानां प्रणतप्रसव् कैवल्यं , स्वरूऩप्रणतष्ठा वा

णचणतशणियेणत ॥३३॥
purusharthashoonyanan
gunanan
pratiprasavah
kaivalyan, svaroopapratishtha va chitishaktireti

The resolution in the inverse order of the qualities,
berfect of any motive of action for the Purusa, is

Kaivalya, or it is the establishment of the power of
knowledge in its own nature.

Nature’s task is done, this unselfish task which our sweet
nurse Nature had imposed upon herself. As it were, she
gently took the self-forgetting soul by the hand, and showed
him all the experiences in the universe, all manifestations,
bringing him higher and higher through various bodies, till his
glory came back, and he remembered his own nature. Then
the kind mother went back the way she came, for others who
have also lost their way in the trackless desert of life. And
thus she is working, without beginning and without end. And
thus through pleasure and pain, through good and evil, the
infinite river of souls is flowing into the ocean of perfection,
of self-realisation.

Glory unto those who have realised their own nature! May
their blessings be on us all!

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