Patanjali's Yoga Sutras || by Patanjali || Book 1 || Quotes Pin

Book one of The yogasutras of patanjali this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by Kyle James mlan the yogasutras of patanjali by pangali translated by Charles Johnston 1867 to 1931 book one introduction to book one The Yoga sutas of pangali are in themselves exceedingly brief less than 10 pages of large type in the original yet they contain the essence of practical wisdom set forth in admirable order and detail the theme if the present interpreter be right is the great regeneration the birth of the spiritual from the psychical man the same theme which Paul so wisely and eloquently set forth in writing to his disciples in Corinth the theme of all Mystics in all lands we think of ourselves as living a purely physical life in these material bodies of ours in reality we have gone far indeed from purely physical life for ages our life has been psychical we have been centered and immersed in the psychic nature some of the schools of India say that the psychic nature is as it were a Looking Glass wherein are mirrored the things seen by the physical eyes and heard by the physical ears but this is a magic mirror the images remain and take a certain life of their own thus within the psychic realm of our life there grows up an imaged World wherein we dwell a world of the images of things seen and heard and therefore a world of memories a world also of hopes and desires of fears and regrets mental life grows up among these images built on a measuring and comparing on the massing of images together into General ideas on the abstraction of new Notions and images from these till a new world is built up within full of desires and hates ambition Envy longing speculation curiosity self-will self-interest the teaching of the East is that all these are true Powers overlaid by false desires that though in manifestation psychical they are in essence spiritual that the psychical man is the veil and Prophecy of the spiritual man the purpose of life therefore is the realizing of that prophecy the unveiling of the immortal man the birth of the spiritual from the psychical whereby we enter our divine inheritance and come to inhabit eternity this is indeed salvation the purpose of all true religion in all times pangali has in mind the spiritual man to be born from the psychical his purpose is to set in order the Practical means for the unveiling and regeneration and to indicate the fruit the glory and the power of that new birth through the sutras of the first book patanjali is concerned with the first great problem the emergence of the spiritual man from the veils and meshes of the psychic nature the moods and vestures of the mental and emotional man later will come the consideration of the nature and powers of the spiritual man once he stands clear of the psychic veils and tremel and a view of the Realms in which these new spiritual powers are to be revealed at this point may come a word of explanation I have been asked why I use the word sutras for these rules of pangali system when the word aphorism has been connected with them in our minds for a generation the reason is this the name aphorism suggests to me at least a py sentence of very General application a piece of proverbial wisdom that may be quoted in a good many sets of circumstance and which will almost always bear on its face the evidence of its truth but with a Sutra the case is different it comes from the same root as the word so and means indeed a thread suggesting therefore a close-knit consecutive chain of argument not only has each Sutra a definite place in the system but further taken out of this place it will be almost meaningless and will by no means be self-evident so I have thought best to adhere to the original word the sutras of pangali are as closely knit together as dependent on each other as the propositions of uid and can no more be taken out of their proper setting in the second part of the first book the problem of the emergence of the spiritual man is further dealt with we are led to the consideration of the barriers to his emergence of the overcoming of the barriers and of certain steps and stages in the ascent from the ordinary consciousness of practical life to the finer deeper radiant consciousness of the spiritual man book one one om here follows instruction in Union interpretation Union here as always in the scriptures of India means Union of the individual soul with the oversoul of the personal Consciousness with the Divine Consciousness whereby the Mortal becomes Immortal and enters the Eternal therefore salvation is First Freedom from sin and the sorrow which comes from sin and then Divine and eternal well-being wherein the soul partakes of the being the wisdom and glory of God two Union spiritual consciousness is gained through control of the versatile psychic nature interpretation the goal is the full consciousness of the spiritual man illumined by the Divine Light nothing except the obdurate resistance of the psychic nature keeps us back from the goal the psychical powers Are Spiritual Powers run wild perverted drawn from their proper Channel therefore our first task is to regain control of the perverted nature to chasten purify and restore the misplaced Powers three then the SE comes to Consciousness in his proper nature interpretation egotism is but the perversion of spiritual being ambition is the inversion of spiritual power passion is the extion of love the Mortal is the limitation of the immortal when these false images give place to true then the spiritual man stands forth luminous as the sun when the clouds disperse four here to for the sea has been in mesed in the activities of the psychic nature interpretation the power and life which are the heritage of the spiritual man have been caught and in mesed in the psychical activity ities instead of pure being in the Divine there has been fretful combative egotism its hand against every man instead of the light of pure Vision there have been Restless senses and imaginings instead of spiritual Joy the undivided Joy of pure being there has been self-indulgence of body and mind these are all real forces but distorted from their true nature and goal they must be extricated like gems from a matrix like the pith from the Reed steadily without destructive violence spiritual powers are to be drawn forth from the psychic measures five the psychic activities are five they are either subject or not subject to the five hindrances C Book 2 3 interpretation the psychic nature is built up through the imag making power the power which lies behind and dwells in mind pictures the these pictures do not remain quiescent in the mind they are kinetic Restless stimulating to new acts thus the Mind image of an Indulgence suggests and invites to a new Indulgence the picture of past Joy is framed in regrets or hopes and there is the ceaseless play of the desire to know to penetrate to the essence of things to classify this too busies itself ceaselessly with the Mind images so that we may classify the activities of the psychic nature thus six these activities are sound intellection unsound intellection predication sleep memory interpretation we have here a list of mental and emotional powers of powers that picture and observe and of powers that picture and feel but the power to know and feel is spiritual and Immortal what is needed is not to destroy it but to raise it from the psychical to the spiritual realm seven the elements of sound intellection are direct observation inductive reason and trustworthy testimony interpretation each of these is a spiritual power thinly veiled direct observation is the outermost form of the Soul's pure Vision inductive reason rests on the great principles of continuity and correspondence and these on the Supreme truth that all life is of the one trustworthy testimony the sharing of one soul in the wisdom of another rests on the ultimate Oneness of All Souls eight unsound intellection is false understanding not resting on a perception of the true nature of things interpretation when the object is not truly perceived when the observation is inaccurate and faulty thought or reasoning based on that mistaken perception is of necessity false and unsound predication is the attribution of a quality or action to a subject by adding to it a predicate in the sentence the man is wise the man is the subject is wise is the predicate this may be simply an interplay of thoughts without the presence of the object thought of or the things thought of may be imaginary or unreal while observation induction and testimony always go back to an object 10 sleep is the psychic condition which rests on mind States or material things being absent interpretation in Waking Life we have two currents of perception an outer current of physical things seen and heard and perceived an inner current of Mind images and thoughts the outer current ceases in sleep the inner current continues and watching the Mind images float before the field of Consciousness we dream even when there are no dreams there is still a certain Consciousness in sleep so that on waking one says I have slept well or I have slept badly 11 memory is holding to mind images of things perceived without modifying them interpretation here as before the mental power is EXP explained in terms of Mind images which are the material of which the psychic world is built therefore the sages teach that the world of our perception which is indeed a world of Mind images is but The Wraith or shadow of the real and everlasting World in this sense memory is but the psychical inversion of the spiritual everpresent vision that which is ever before the spiritual eye of the Seer needs not to be remembered 12 the control of these psychic activities comes through the right use of the will and through ceasing from self-indulgence interpretation if these psychical powers and energies even such evil things as passion and hate and fear are but spiritual Powers fallen and perverted how are we to bring about their release and restoration two means are presented to us the Awakening of the spiritual will and the purification of mind and thought third The Right Use of the will is the steady effort to stand in spiritual being interpretation we have thought of ourselves perhaps as creatures moving upon this Earth rather than helpless at the mercy of storm and hunger and our enemies we are to think of ourselves as Immortals dwelling in the light encompassed and sustained by spiritual Powers the steady effort to hold this thought will awaken dormant and unrealized Powers which will unveil to us The Nearness of the Eternal 14 this becomes a firm resting place when followed long persistently with eagerness interpretation we must seek spiritual life in Conformity with the laws of spiritual life with earnestness humility gentle charity which is an acknowledgement of the one Soul within us all only through obedience to that shared life through Perpetual remembrance of our one oness with all Divine being our nothingness apart from Divine being we can enter our inheritance 15 ceasing from self-indulgence is conscious Mastery over the thirst for sensuous pleasure here or Hereafter interpretation rightly understood the desire for sensation is the desire of being the Distortion of the Soul's eternal life the lust of sensual stimulus and excitation rests on the longing to feel one's life keenly to gain the sense of being really alive this sense of True Life comes only with the coming of the soul and the Soul comes only in silence after self-indulgence has been courageously and loyally stilled through reverence before the coming Soul 16 the consummation of this is freedom from thirst for any mode of psychical activity through the establishment of the spiritual man interpretation in order to gain a true understanding of this teaching study must be supplemented by devoted practice Faith by works the reading of the words will not Avail there must be a real effort to stand as the soul a real ceasing from self-indulgence with this Awakening of the spiritual will and purification we come at once the growth of the spiritual man and our Awakening Consciousness as the spiritual man and this attained in even a small degree will help us notably in our contest to him that hath shall be given 17 meditation with an object follows these stages first exterior examining then interior judicial action then Joy then realization of individual being interpretation in the practice of meditation a beginning may be made by fixing attention of upon some external object such as a sacred image or picture or a part of a book of devotion in the second stage one passes from the outer object to an inner pondering upon its lessons the third stage is the inspiration the heightening of the spiritual will which results from this pondering the fourth stage is the realization of one's spiritual being as enkindled by this meditation 18 after the exercise of the will has distilled the psychic activities meditation rests only on the fruit of former meditations interpretation in virtue of continued practice and effort the need of an external object on which to rest the meditation is outgrown an interior state of spiritual consciousness is reached which is called The Cloud of things knowable c book 429 19 subjective Consciousness arising from a natural cause is possessed by those who have laid aside their bodies and been absorbed into subjective nature interpretation those who have died entered the paradise between births are in a condition resembling meditation without an external object but in the fullness of time the seeds of desire in them will spring up and they will be born again into this world 20 for the others there is spiritual consciousness led up to by faith Valor right mindfulness one-pointedness perception interpretation It is Well to keep in mind these steps on the path to illumination Faith Valor right mindfulness one-pointedness perception not one can be dispensed with all must be one first faith and then from Faith Valor from Vala right mindfulness from right mindfulness a one-pointed aspiration toward the soul from this perception and finally full vision as the soul 21 spiritual consciousness is nearest to those of keen intense will interpretation the image used is the Swift impetus of the torrent The Kingdom must be taken by force firm will only comes through effort effort is inspired by faith the great secret is this it is not enough to have intuitions we must act on them and we must live them 22 the will may be weak or of middle strength or intense therefore there is a spiritual consciousness higher than this interpretation for those of weak will there is this counsel to be faithful in obedience to live the life and thus to strengthen the will to more perfect obedience the will is not ours but God's and we come into it only through obedience as we enter into the spirit of God we are permitted to share the power of God higher than the three stages of the way is the goal the end of the way 23 our spiritual consciousness may be gained by Ardent service of the master interpretation if we think of Our Lives as tasks laid on us by the master of life if we look on all duties as parts of that Master's work in entrusted to us and forming our life work then if we obey promptly loyally sincerely we shall enter by degrees into the Master's life and share the Master's power thus we shall be initiated into the spiritual will 24 the master is the spiritual man who is free from hindrances bondage to works and the fruition and Seed of Works interpretation the soul of of the master the Lord is of the same nature as the soul in us but we still bear the burden of many evils we are in bondage through our former works we are under the dominance of Sorrow the soul of the master is free from sin and servitude and sorrow 25 in the master is the perfect seed of omniscience interpretation the of the master is in essence one with the overs soul and therefore partaker of the overs Soul's all wisdom and all power all spiritual attainment rests on this and is possible because the soul and the overs Soul are one 26 he is the teacher of all who have gone before since he is not limited by time interpretation from the beginning the oversoul has been the teacher of All Souls which by their entrance into the overol by realizing their Oneness with the overol have inherited the kingdom of the light for the overol is Before Time and Time father of all else is one of his children 27 his word is om interpretation om the symbol of the three in one the three worlds in the soul the three times past present future in eternity the three Divine Powers creation preservation transformation in the one being the three Essences immortality omniscience joy in the one spirit this is the word the symbol of the master and Lord the perfected spiritual man 28 Let There Be soundless repetition of om and meditation thereon interpretation this has many meanings in ascending degrees there is first the potency of the word itself as of all words then there is the manifold significance of the symbol AS suggested above lastly there is the spiritual realization of the high Essences thus symbolized thus We rise step by step to the Eternal 29 then come The Awakening of interior Consciousness and the removal of barriers interpretation here again Faith must be supplemented by works the life must be held as well as studied before the full meaning can be understood the Awakening of spiritual consciousness can only be understood in measure as it is entered it can only be entered where the conditions are present purity of heart and strong aspiration and the Resolute conquest of each sin this however May easily be understood that the recognition of of the three worlds as resting in the soul leads us to realize ourselves and all life as of the soul that as we dwell not in the past present or future but in the Eternal we become more at one with the Eternal that as we view all organization preservation mutation as the work of the Divine one we shall come more into harmony with the one and thus remove the barriers in our path toward the light in the second part of the first book the problem of the emergence of the spiritual man is further dealt with we are led to the consideration of the barriers to his emergence of the overcoming of the barriers and of certain steps and stages in the ascend from the ordinary consciousness of practical life to the finer deeper radiant consciousness of the spiritual man 30 the barriers to Interior Consciousness which Drive the psychic nature this way and that are these sickness inertia doubt light-minded laziness intemperance false Notions inability to reach a stage of meditation or to hold it when reached interpretation we must remember that we are considering the spiritual man as en wrapped and in mesed in the psychic nature the emotional and mental powers and is unable to come to clear Consciousness unable to stand and see clearly because of the psychic veils of the personality it nine of these are enumerated and they go pretty thoroughly into the brute toughness of the psychic nature sickness is included rather for its effect on the emotions and mind since bodily infirmity such as blindness or deafness is no insurable barrier to spiritual life and may sometimes be a help as cutting off distractions it will be well for us to ponder over each of these nine activities thinking of each as a psychic State a barrier to the interior consciousness of the spiritual man 31 grieving despondency bodily restlessness the drawing in and sending forth of the life breath also contribute to drive the psychic nature to and fro interpretation the first two moods are easily understood we can well see how a Soden psychic condition flagrantly opposed to the pure and positive Joy of spiritual life would be a barrier the next body L restlessness is in a special way the fault of our day and generation when it is conquered mental restlessness will be half conquered too the next two terms concerning the life breath offer some difficulty the surface meaning is Harsh and irregular breathing the deeper meaning is a life of harsh and irregular impulses 32 steady application to a principle is the way to put a stop to these interpretation ation the will which in his pristine state was full of vigor has been steadily corrupted by self-indulgence the seeking of moods and Sensations for Sensations sake hence come all the morbid and sickly moods of the Mind the remedy is a return to the pristine state of the will by vigorous positive effort or as we are here told by Steady application to a principle the principle to which we must thus steadily apply High ourselves should be one arising from the reality of spiritual life valorous work for the soul in others as in ourselves 33 by sympathy with the happy compassion for the sorrowful Delight in the Holy disregard of the Unholy the psychic nature moves to gracious peace interpretation when we are wrapped in ourselves shrouded with the cloak of our egotism of absorbed in our pains and bitter thoughts we are not willing to disturb or strain our own sickly Mood by giving kindly sympathy to the Happy thus doubling their Joy or by showing compassion for the sad thus harving their sorrow we refuse to find Delight in holy things and let the Mind brood in sad pessimism on Unholy things all these evil psychic moods must be conquered by strong effort of will this rening of the veils will reveal to us something of the Grace and peace which are of the Interior consciousness of the spiritual man 34 or peace may be reached by the even sending forth and control of the life breath interpretation here again we may look for a double meaning first that even and quiet breathing which is a part of the victory over bodily restlessness then the even and quieter tenor of life without harsh or dissonant impulses which bring still to the heart 35 faithful persistent application to any object if completely attained will bind the mind to steadiness interpretation we are still considering how to overcome the wavering and perturbation of the psychic nature which makes it quite unfit to transmit the inward Consciousness and Stillness we are once more told to use the will and to train it by Steady and persistent work by sit close to our work in the phrase of the original 36 as also will a joyful radiant Spirit interpretation there is no such illusion as gloomy pessimism and it has been truly said that a man's cheerfulness is the measure of his faith Gloom despondency the pale cast of thought are very amable to the will sturdy and courageous effort will bring a clear and valorous mind but it must always be remembered that this is not for Solace to the personal man but is rather an offering to the ideal of spiritual life a contribution to the universal and universally shared treasure in heaven 37 or the purging of self-indulgence from the psychic nature interpretation we must recognize that the fall of Man is a reality exemplified in our own persons we have quite other sins than the animals and far more deleterious and they have all come through self-indulgence with which our psychic Natures are soaked through and through as we climb downhill for our pleasure so must we climb up again for our purification and restoration to our former higher estate the process is painful perhaps yet indispensable 38 or a pondering on the perceptions gained in dreams and dreamless sleep interpretation for the Eastern sages dreams are it is true made up of images of Waking Life reflections of what the eyes have seen and the ears heard but dreams are something more for the images are in a sense real objective in their own plain and the knowledge that there is another world even a dream world lightens the tyranny of material life much of poetry and art is such a Solace from Dreamland but there is more in dream for it may image what is above as well as what is below not only the children of men but also the children by the shore of the immortal sea that brought us hither May throw their images on this magic mirror so too of the secrets of dreamless sleep with its pure Vision in even greater degree 39 or meditative brooding on what is dearest to the heart interpretation here is a thought which our own is beginning to grasp that love is a form of knowledge that we truly know anything or any person by becoming one therewith in love thus love has a wisdom that the Mind cannot claim and by this hearty love this becoming one with what is beyond our personal borders we may take a long step toward Freedom two directions for this may be suggested the pure love of the artist for his work and the earnest compassionate search into the hearts of others 40 thus he Masters all from the atom to the infinite interpretation Newton was asked how he made his discoveries by intending my mind on them he replied this steady pressure this becoming one with what we seek to understand whether it be atom or soul is the one means to know when we become a thing we rarely know it not otherwise therefore live the life to know the doctrine do the will of the father if you would know the father 41 when the perturbations of the psychic nature have all been stilled then the Consciousness like a pure Crystal takes the color of what it rests on whether that be the perceiver perceiving or the thing perceived interpretation this is a fuller expression of the last Sutra and it is so Lucid that comment can hardly add to it every everything is either perceiver perceiving or the thing perceived or as we might say Consciousness force or matter the sage tells us that the one key will unlock the secrets of all three the secrets of Consciousness force and matter alike the thought is that The Cordial sympathy of a gentle heart intuitively understanding the hearts of others is rarely a manifestation of the same power as that penetrating perception whereby divines the secrets of planetary motions or atomic structure 42 when the Consciousness poised in perceiving Blends together the name the object dwelt on and the idea this is perception with exterior consideration interpretation in the first stage of the consideration of an external object the perceiving Mind comes to it preoccupied by the name and idea conventionally associ assciated with that object for example in coming to the study of a book we think of the author his period the school to which he belongs the second stage set forth in the next Sutra goes directly to the spiritual meaning of the book setting its traditional trappings aside and finding its application to our own experience and problems the commentator takes a very simple illustration a cow where one considers in the first stage the name of the cow the animal itself and the idea of a cow in the mind in the second stage one pushes these trappings aside and entering into the inmost being of the cow shares its Consciousness as do some of the artists who paint cows they get at the very life of what they study and paint 43 when the object dwells in the mind clear of memory pictures uncolored by the Mind as a pure luminous idea this is perception without exterior or consideration interpretation we are still considering external visible objects such perception as is here described is of the nature of that penetrating Vision whereby Newton intending his mind on things made his discoveries or that whereby a really great Portrait Painter pierces to the soul of him who he paints and he makes that Soul live on canvas these stages of perception are described in this way to lead the mind to an understanding of the perceiving Soul vision of the spiritual man The Immortal 44 the same two steps when referring to things of finer substance are said to be with or without judicial action of the Mind interpretation we now come to mental or psychical objects to images in the mind it is precisely by comparing arranging and superposing these mind images that we get our general Notions or concepts this process of analysis and synthesis whereby we select certain qualities in a group of Mind images and then range together those of like quality is the judicial action of the Mind spoken of but when we exercise Swift divination upon the Mind images as does a poet or a man of Genius then we use a power higher than the judicial and one nearer to the Keen vision of the spiritual man 45 subtle substance rises in ascending degrees to that pure nature which has no distinguishing Mark interpretation as we ascend from Outer material things which are permeated by separateness and whose Chief characteristic is to be separate just as so many Pebbles are separate from each other as we Ascend first to mind images which overlap laap and coales in both space and time and then to ideas and principles we finally come to purer Essences drawing ever nearer and nearer to Unity or we may illustrate this principle thus our bodily external selves are quite distinct and separate in form name Place substance our mental selves are finer substance meet and part meet and part again In Perpetual concussion and to change our spiritual selves attain true Consciousness through Unity where the partition wall between us and the highest between us and others is broken down and we are all made perfect in the one the highest riches are possessed by All Pure Souls only when United thus we arrive from separation to True individuality in unity 46 the above are the degrees of limited and conditioned spiritual consciousness still containing the seed of separateness interpretation in the four stages of perception above described the spiritual vision is still working through the mental and psychical the inner genius is still expressed through the outer personal man the spiritual man has yet to come completely to Consciousness as himself in his own realm the psychical veils laid aside 47 when pure perception without judicial action of the mind is reached there follows the gracious peace of the inner self interpretation we have instanced certain types of this pure perception the poet's divination whereby he sees the spirit within the symbol likeness in things unlike and beauty in all things the pure Insight of the true philosopher whose Vision rests not in the appearances of life but on its realities or the Saints firm perception of spiritual life and being all these are far Advanced on the way they have drawn near to the secret dwelling of Peace 48 in that piece perception is unfailingly true interpretation the poet the wise philosopher and the saint not only reach a wide and luminous Consciousness but they gain certain knowledge of substantial reality when we know we know that we know for we have come to the stage where we know things by being them and nothing can be more true than being we rest on the Rock and know it to be the rock rooted in the very heart of the world 49 the object of this perception is other than what is learned from the sacred books or by sound inference since this perception is particular interpretation the distinction is a luminous and inspiring one the scriptures teach General truths concerning Universal spiritual life and Broad laws and inference from their teaching is not less General but the spiritual perception of the awakened Seer brings particular truth concerning his own particular life and needs whether these be for himself or others he receives defined precise knowledge exactly applying to what he has at heart 50 the impress on the Consciousness springing from this perception supersedes all previous Impressions interpretation each state or field of the Mind each field of knowledge so to speak which is reached by mental and emotional energies is a psychical State just as the Mind picture of a stage with the actors on it is a psychical state or field when the pure Vision as of the poet the philosopher the saint fills the whole field all lesser views and Visions are crowded out this High Consciousness displaces all lesser consciousnesses yet in a certain sense that which is viewed as part even by the vision of a sage has still an element of Illusion a thin psychical Veil however pure and luminous that Veil may be it is the last and highest psychic State 51 when this impression ceases then since all Impressions have ceased there arises is pure spiritual consciousness with no seed of separateness left interpretation the last psychic Veil is drawn aside and the spiritual man stands with unveiled Vision pure Serene end of book One recording by Kyle James mlan.