THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI
"The Book of the Spiritual
Man"
An Interpretation By
Charles Johnston
INTRODUCTION TO BOOK I
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are in themselves exceedingly brief, less
than ten 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
We think of ourselves as living a purely physical life, in these material
bodies of ours. In reality, we have gone far indeed from pure physical
life; for ages, our life has been psychical, we have been centred and
immersed in the psychic nature. Some of the
schools of
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.
Patanjali 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 trammels, 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 Patanjali's system, when the
word Aphorism has been connected with them in our minds fora
generation. The reason is this: the name Aphorism suggests, to me at
least, a pithy 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 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 "sew," 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 Patanjali are as closely knit together, as dependent on
each other, as the propositions of
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 I
1.
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 a divine and eternal
well-being, wherein the soul partakes of the being, the wisdom and
glory of God.
2. Union, spiritual consciousness, is
gained through control of the
versatile psychic nature.
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 this perverted nature,
to chasten, purify and restore the misplaced powers.
3. Then the Seer comes to consciousness
in his proper nature.
Egotism is but the perversion of spiritual being. Ambition is the
inversion of spiritual power. Passion is the distortion 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.
4. Heretofore the Seer has been enmeshed
in the activities of the
psychic nature.
The power and life which are the heritage of the spiritual man have
been caught and enmeshed in psychical activities. 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 nave been re 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 the matrix,
like the pith from the reed, steadily, without destructive violence.
Spiritual powers are to be drawn forth from the }'sychic meshes.
5. The psychic activities are five; they
are either subject or not subject
to the five hindrances (Book II, 3).
The psychic nature is built up through the image-making power, the
power which lies behind and dwells in mind- pictures. 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:
6. These activities are: Sound
intellection, unsound intellection,
predication, sleep, memory.
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.
7. The elements of sound intellection
are: direct observation, inductive
reason, and trustworthy testimony.
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.
8. Unsound intellection is false
understanding, not resting on a
perception of the true nature of things.
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.
9. Predication is carried on through
words or thoughts not resting on
an object perceived.
The purpose of this Sutra is, to distinguish between the mental process
of predication, and observation, induction or testimony. 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, all
material things being absent.
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.
Here, as before, the mental power is 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, ever-present 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.
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.
13. The right use of the will is the
steady, effort to stand in spiritual
being.
We have thought of ourselves, perhaps, as creatures moving upon this
earth, rather 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 earnestness.
We must seek spiritual life in conformity with the laws of spiritual life,
with earnestness, humility, gentle charity, which is an acknowledgment
of the One Soul within us all. Only through obedience to that shared
Life, through perpetual remembrance of our oneness with all Divine
Being, our nothingness apart from Divine Being, can we enter our
inheritance.
15. Ceasing from self-indulgence is con-
scious mastery over the thirst
for sensuous pleasure here or hereafter.
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.
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, will 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.
In the practice of meditation, a beginning may be made by fixing the
attention 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
stilled the psychic activities,
meditation rests only on the fruit of
former meditations.
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" (Book IV, 29).
19. Subjective consciousness arising
from a natural cause is possessed
by those who have laid aside their
bodies and been absorbed into
subjective nature.
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,
valour right mindfulness,
one-pointedness, perception.
It is well to keep in mind these steps on the path to illumination: faith,
velour, right mindfulness, one-pointedness, perception. Not one can
be dispensed with; all must be won. First faith; and then from faith,
velour; from va lour, 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.
The image used is the swift impetus of the torrent; the kingdom must
be taken by force. Firm will comes only through effort; effort is
inspired by faith. The great secret is this: it is not enough to have
intuitions; we must act on them; 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. 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. Or spiritual consciousness may be
gained by ardent service of the
Master.
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, 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
s free from hindrances,
bondage to works, and the fruition and
seed of works.
The Soul 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.
The Soul of the Master is in essence one with the Oversoul, and
therefore partaker of the Oversoul's all-wisdom and all-power. All
spiritual attainment rests on this, and is possible because the soul and
the Oversoul are One.
26. He is the Teacher of all who have
gone before, since he is not
limited by Time.
From the beginning, the Oversoul has been the Teacher of all souls,
which, by their entrance into the Oversoul, by realizing their oneness
with the Oversoul, have inherited the kingdom of the Light. For the
Oversoul is before Time, and Time, father of all else, is one of His
children.
27. His word is
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
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. Thence come the awakening of
interior consciousness, and the
removal of barriers.
Here again faith must be supplemented by works, the life must be led
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 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 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 barrier' 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 ascent 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,
lightmindedness, laziness, intemperance,
false notions, inability to
reach a stage of meditation, or to hold
it when reached.
We must remember that we are considering the spiritual man as
enwrapped and enmeshed by the psychic nature, the emotional and
mental powers; and as unable to come to clear consciousness, unable
to stand and see clearly, because of the psychic veils of the
personality. 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 insuperable
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
restless ness, the drawing in and
sending forth of the life-breath also
contribute to drive the psychic
nature to and fro.
The first two moods are easily understood. We can well see bow a
sodden psychic condition, flagrantly opposed to the pure and positive
joy of spiritual life, would be a barrier. The next, bodily 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.
The will, which, in its pristine state, was full of vigour, has been
steadily corrupted by self-indulgence, the seeking of moods and
sensations for sensation's 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 should thus
steadily apply 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.
When we are wrapped up in ourselves, shrouded with the cloak of our
egotism, 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 halving 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
rending 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.
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 quiet tenor of life, without harsh or dissonant
impulses, which brings stillness to the heart.
35. Faithful, persistent application to
any object, if completely
attained, will bind the mind to
steadiness.
We are still considering how to overcome the wavering and
perturbation of the psychic nature, which make 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
"sitting close" to our work, in the phrase of the original.
36. As also will a joyful, radiant
spirit.
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 amenable 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.
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
climbed down hill for our pleasure, so must we climb up again for our
purification and restoration to our former high estate. The process is
painful, perhaps, yet indispensable.
38. Or a pondering on the perceptions
gained in dreams and dreamless
sleep.
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 on their own plane; 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.
Here is a thought which our own day is beginning to grasp: that love
is a form of knowledge; that we truly know any thing 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.
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 really 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 colour of what it
rests on, whether that be the perceiver,
perceiving, or the thing
perceived.
This is a fuller expression of the last Sutra, and is so lucid that
comment can hardly add to it. 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 really a manifestation
of the same power as that penetrating perception whereby one 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.
In the first stage of the consideration of an external object, the
perceiving mind comes to it, preoccupied by the name and idea
conventionally associated 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,
uncoloured by the mind, as a pure
luminous idea, this is perception
without exterior or consideration.
We are still considering external, visible objects. Such perception as
is here described is of the nature of that penetrating vision whereby
whereby a really great portrait painter pierces to the soul of him whom
he paints, and makes that soul live on canvas. These stages of
perception are described in this way, to lead the mind up to an
understanding of the piercing 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.
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.
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 and coalesce 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, of finer substance, meet and part, meet and part again,
in perpetual concussion and interchange; 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 rise 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.
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.
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 on the appearances of life, but on
its realities; or the saint's 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 peace, perception is
unfailingly true.
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 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.
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.
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
consciousness. 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 pure spiritual
consciousness, with no seed of
separateness left.
The last psychic veil is drawn aside, and the spiritual man stands with
unveiled vision, pure serene.
INTRODUCTION TO BOOK II
The first book of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is called the Book of
Spiritual Consciousness. The second book, which we now begin, is
the Book of the Means of Soul Growth. And we must remember that
soul growth here means the growth of the realization of the spiritual
man, or, to put the matter more briefly, the growth of the spiritual
man, and the disentangling of the spiritual man from the wrappings,
the veils, the disguises laid upon him by the mind and the psychical
nature, wherein he is enmeshed, like a bird caught in a net
The question arises: By what means may the spiritual man be freed
from these psychical meshes and disguises, so that he may stand forth
above death, in his radiant eternalness and divine power? And the
second book sets itself to answer this very question, and to detail the
means in a way entirely practical and very lucid, so that he who runs
may read, and he who reads may understand and practise.
The second part of the second book is concerned with practical
spiritual training, that is, with the earlier practical training of the
spiritual man.
The most striking thing in it is the emphasis laid on the
Commandments, which are precisely those of the latter part of the
Decalogue, together with obedience to the Master. Our day and
generation is far too prone to fancy that there can be mystical life and
growth on some other foundation, on the foundation, for example, of
intellectual curiosity or psychical selfishness. In reality, on this latter
foundation the life of the spiritual man can never be built; nor, indeed,
anything but a psychic counterfeit, a dangerous delusion.
Therefore Patanjali, like every great spiritual teacher, meets the
question: What must I do to be saved? with the age- old answer: Keep
the Commandments. Only after the disciple can say, These have I
kept, can there be the further and finer teaching of the spiritual Rules.
It is, therefore, vital for us to realize that the Yoga system, like every
true system of spiritual teaching, rests on this broad and firm
foundation of honesty, truth, cleanness, obedience. Without these,
there is no salvation; and he who practices these, even though
ignorant of spiritual things, is laying up treas- against the time to
come.
BOOK II
1. The practices which make for union
with the Soul are: fervent
aspiration, spiritual reading, and
complete obedience to the Master.
The word which I have rendered "fervent aspiration' means primarily
"fire"; and, in the Eastern teaching, it means the fire which gives life
and light, and at the same time the fire which purifies. We have,
therefore, as our first practice, as the first of the means of spiritual
growth, that fiery quality of the will which enkindles and illumines,
and, at the same time, the steady practice of purification, the burning
away of all known impurities. Spiritual reading is so universally
accepted and understood, that it needs no comment. The very study
of Patanjali's Sutras is an exercise in spiritual reading, and a very
effective one. And so with all other books of the Soul. Obedience to
the Master means, that we shall make the will of the Master our will,
and shall confirm in all wave to the will of the Divine, setting aside the
wills of self, which are but psychic distortions of the one Divine Will.
The constant effort to obey in all the ways we know and understand,
will reveal new ways and new tasks, the evidence of new growth of
the Soul. Nothing will do more for the spiritual man in us than this, for
there is no such regenerating power as the awakening spiritual will.
2. Their aim is, to bring soul-vision,
and to wear away hindrances.
The aim of fervour, spiritual reading and obedience to the Master, is,
to bring soulvision, and to wear away hindrances. Or, to use the
phrase we have already adopted, the aim of these practices is, to help
the spiritual man to open his eyes; to help him also to throw aside the
veils and disguises, the enmeshing psychic nets which surround him,
tying his hands, as it were, and bandaging his eyes. And this, as all
teachers testify, is a long and arduous task, a steady up-hill fight,
demanding fine courage and persistent toil. Fervour, the fire of the
spiritual will, is, as we said, two-fold: it illumines, and so helps the
spiritual man to see; and it also burns up the nets and meshes which
ensnare the spiritual man. So with the other means, spiritual reading
and obedience. Each, in its action, is two-fold, wearing away the
psychical, and upbuilding the spiritual man.
3. These are the hindrances: the
darkness of unwisdom, self-assertion,
lust hate, attachment.
Let us try to translate this into terms of the psychical and spiritual
man. The darkness of unwisdom is, primarily, the self-absorption of
the psychical man, his complete preoccupation with his own hopes and
fears, plans and purposes, sensations and desires; so that he fails to
see, or refuses to see, that there is a spiritual man; and so doggedly
resists all efforts of the spiritual man to cast off his psychic tyrant and
set himself free. This is the real darkness; and all those who deny the
immortality of the soul, or deny the soul's existence, and so lay out
their lives wholly for the psychical, mortal man and his ambitions, are
under this power of darkness. Born of this darkness, this psychic self-
absorption, is the dogged conviction that the psychic, personal man
has separate, exclusive interests, which he can follow for himself
alone; and this conviction, when put into practice in our life, leads to
contest with other personalities, and so to hate. This hate, again,
makes against the spiritual man, since it hinders the revelation of the
high harmony between the spiritual man and his other selves, a
harmony to be revealed only through the practice of love, that perfect
love which casts out fear.
In like manner, lust is the psychic man's craving for the stimulus of
sensation, the din of which smothers the voice of the spiritual man, as,
in Shakespeare's phrase, the cackling geese would drown the song of
the nightingale. And this craving for stimulus is the fruit of weakness,
coming from the failure to find strength in the primal life of the
spiritual man.
Attachment is but another name for psychic self-absorption; for we are
absorbed, not in outward things, but rather in their images within our
minds; our inner eyes are fixed on them; our inner desires brood over
them; and em we blind ourselves to the presence of the prisoner' the
enmeshed and fettered spiritual man.
4. The darkness of unwisdom is the field
of the others. These
hindrances may be dormant, or worn thin,
or suspended, or expanded.
Here we have really two Sutras in one. The first has been explained
already: in the darkness of unwisdom grow the parasites, hate, lust,
attachment. They are all outgrowths of the self-absorption of the
psychical self.
Next, we are told that these barriers may be either dormant, or
suspended, or expanded, or worn thin. Faults which are dormant will
be brought out through the pressure of life, or through the pressure of
strong aspiration. Thus expanded, they must be fought and conquered,
or, as Patanjali quaintly says, they must be worn thin,-as a veil might,
or the links of manacles.
5 The darkness of ignorance is: holding
that which is unenduring,
impure, full of pain, not the Soul, to
be eternal, pure, full of joy, the
Soul.
This we have really considered already. The psychic man is
unenduring, impure, full of pain, not the Soul, not the real Self. The
spiritual man is enduring, pure, full of joy, the real Self. The darkness
of unwisdom is, therefore, the self-absorption of the psychical,
personal man, to the exclusion of the spiritual man. It is the belief,
carried into action, that the personal man is the real man, the man for
whom we should toil, for whom we should build, for whom we should
live. This is that psychical man of whom it is said: he that soweth to
the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.
6. Self -assertion comes from thinking
of the Seer and the instrument
of vision as forming one self.
This is the fundamental idea of the Sankhya philosophy, of which the
Yoga is avowedly the practical side. To translate this into our terms,
we may say that the Seer is the spiritual man; the instrument of vision
is the psychical man, through which the spiritual man gains experience
of the outer world. But we turn the servant into the master. We
attribute to the psychical man, the personal self, a reality which really
belongs to the spiritual man alone; and so, thinking of the quality of
the spiritual man as belonging to the psychical, we merge the spiritual
man in the psychical; or, as the text says, we think of the two as
forming one self.
7. Lust is the resting in the sense of
enjoyment.
This has been explained again and again. Sensation, as, for example,
the sense of taste, is meant to be the guide to action; in this case, the
choice of wholesome food, and the avoidance of poisonous and
hurtful things. But if we rest in the sense of taste, as a pleasure in
itself; rest, that is, in the psychical side of taste, we fall into gluttony,
and live to eat, instead of eating to live. So with the other great
organic power, the power of reproduction. This lust comes into being,
through resting in the sensation, and looking for pleasure from that.
8. Hate is the resting in the sense of
pain.
Pain comes, for the most part, from the strife of personalities, the
jarring discords between psychic selves, each of which deems itself
supreme. A dwelling on this pain breeds hate, which tears the warring
selves yet further asunder, and puts new enmity between them, thus
hindering the harmony of the Real, the reconciliation through the
Soul.
9. Attachment is the desire toward life,
even in the wise, carried
forward by its own energy.
The life here desired is the psychic life, the intensely vibrating life of
the psychical self. This prevails even in those who have attained much
wisdom, so long as it falls short of the wisdom of complete
renunciation, complete obedience to each least behest of the spiritual
man, and of the Master who guards and aids the spiritual man.
The desire of sensation, the desire of psychic life, reproduces itself,
carried on by its own energy and momentum; and hence comes the
circle of death and rebirth, death and rebirth, instead of the liberation
of the spiritual man.
10. These hindrances, when they have
become subtle, are to be
removed by a countercurrent
The darkness of unwisdom is to be removed by the light of wisdom,
pursued through fervour, spiritual reading of holy teachings and of life
itself, and by obedience to the Master.
Lust is to be removed by pure aspiration of spiritual life, which,
bringing true strength and stability, takes away the void of weakness
which we try to fill by the stimulus of sensations.
Hate is to be overcome by love. The fear that arises through the sense
of separate, warring selves is to be stilled by the realization of the One
Self, the one soul in all. This realization is the perfect love that casts
out fear.
The hindrances are said to have become subtle when, by initial efforts,
they have been located and recognized in the psychic nature.
11. Their active turnings are to be
removed by meditation.
Here is, in truth, the whole secret of Yoga, the science of the soul.
The active turnings, the strident vibrations, of selfishness, lust and hate
are to be stilled by meditation, by letting heart and mind dwell in
spiritual life, by lifting up the heart to the strong, silent life above,
which rests in the stillness of eternal love, and needs no harsh
vibration to convince it of true being.
12. The burden of bondage to sorrow has
its root in these hindrances.
It will be felt in this life, or in a
life not yet manifested.
The burden of bondage to sorrow has its root in the darkness of
unwisdom, in selfishness, in lust, in hate, in attachment to sensation.
All these are, in the last analysis, absorption in the psychical self; and
this means sorrow, because it means the sense of separateness, and
this means jarring discord and inevitable death. But the psychical self
will breed a new psychical self, in a new birth, and so new sorrows in
a life not yet manifest.
13. From this root there grow and ripen
the fruits of birth, of the
life-span, of all that is tasted in
life.
Fully to comment on this, would be to write a treatise on Karma and
its practical working in detail, whereby the place and time of the next
birth, its content and duration. are determined; and to do this the
present commentator is in no wise fitted. But this much is clearly
understood: that, through a kind of spiritual gravitation, the
incarnating self is drawn to a home and life-circle which will give it
scope and discipline; and its need of discipline is clearly conditioned
by its character, its standing, its accomplishment.
14. These bear fruits of rejoicing, or
of affliction, as they are sprung
from holy or unholy works.
Since holiness is obedience to divine law, to the law of divine
harmony, and obedience to harmony strengthens that harmony in the
soul, which is the one true joy, therefore joy comes of holiness:
comes, indeed, in no other way. And as unholiness is disobedience,
and therefore discord, therefore unholiness makes for pain; and this
two-fold law is true, whether the cause take effect in this, or in a yet
unmanifested birth.
15. To him who possesses discernment,
all personal life is misery,
because it ever waxes and wanes, is ever
afflicted with restlessness,
makes ever new dynamic impresses in the
mind; and because all its
activities war with each other.
The whole life of the psychic self is misery, because it ever waxes and
wanes; because birth brings inevitable death; because there is no
expectation without its shadow, fear. The life of the psychic self is
misery, because it is afflicted with restlessness; so that he who has
much, finds not satisfaction, but rather the whetted hunger for more.
The fire is not quenched by pouring oil on it; so desire is not quenched
by the satisfaction of desire. Again, the life of the psychic self is
misery, because it makes ever new dynamic impresses in the mind;
because a desire satisfied is but the seed from which springs the desire
to find like satisfaction again. The appetite comes in eating, as the
proverb says, and grows by what it feeds on. And the psychic self,
torn with conflicting desires, is ever the house divided against itself,
which must surely fall.
16. This pain is to be warded off,
before it has come.
In other words, we cannot cure the pains of life by laying on them any
balm. We must cut the root, absorption in the psychical self. So it is
said, there is no cure for the misery of longing, but to fix the heart
upon the eternal.
17. The cause of what is to be warded
off, is the absorption of the
Seer in things seen.
Here again we have the fundamental idea of the Sankhya, which is the
intellectual counterpart of the Yoga system. The cause of what is to
be warded off, the root of misery, is the absorption of consciousness
in the psychical man and the things which beguile the psychical man.
The cure is liberation.
18. Things seen have as their property
manifestation, action, inertia.
They form the basis of the elements and
the sense-powers. They make
for experience and for liberation.
Here is a whole philosophy of life. Things seen, the total of the
phenomena, possess as their property, manifestation, action, inertia:
the qualities of force and matter in combination. These, in their
grosser form, make the material world; in their finer, more subjective
form, they make the psychical world, the world of sense-impressions
and mind-images. And through this totality of the phenomenal, the
soul gains experience, and is prepared for liberation. In other words,
the whole outer world exists for the purposes of the soul, and finds in
this its true reason for being.
19. The grades or layers of the Three
Potencies are the defined, the
undefined, that with distinctive mark,
that without distinctive mark.
Or, as we might say, there are two strata of the physical, and two
strata of the psychical realms. In each, there is the side of form, and
the side of force. The form side of the physical is here called the
defined. The force side of the physical is the undefined, that which has
no boundaries. So in the psychical; there is the form side; that with
distinctive marks, such as the characteristic features of mind-images;
and there is the force side, without distinctive marks, such as the
forces of desire or fear, which may flow now to this mind-image, now
to that.
20. The Seer is pure vision. Though
pure, he looks out through the
vesture of the mind.
The Seer, as always, is the spiritual man whose deepest consciousness
is pure vision, the pure life of the eternal. But the spiritual man, as yet
unseeing in his proper person, looks out on the world through the eyes
of the psychical man, by whom he is enfolded and enmeshed. The task
is, to set this prisoner free, to clear the dust of ages from this buried
temple.
21. The very essence of things seen is,
that they exist for the Seer.
The things of outer life, not only material things, but the psychic man
also, exist in very deed for the purposes of the Seer, the Soul, the
spiritual man Disaster comes, when the psychical man sets up, so to
speak, on his own account, trying to live for himself alone, and taking
material things to solace his loneliness.
22. Though fallen away from him who has
reached the goal, things
seen have not alto fallen away, since
they still exist for others.
When one of us conquers hate, hate does not thereby cease out of the
world, since others still hate and suffer hatred. So with other
delusions, which hold us in bondage to material things, and through
which we look at all material things. When the coloured veil of illusion
is gone, the world which we saw through it is also gone, for now we
see life as it is, in the white radiance of eternity. But for others the
coloured veil remains, and therefore the world thus coloured by it
remains for them, and will remain till they, too, conquer delusion.
23. The association of the Seer with
things seen is the cause of the
realizing of the nature of things seen,
and also of the realizing of the
nature of the Seer.
Life is educative. All life's infinite variety is for discipline, for the
development of the soul. So passing through many lives, the Soul
learns the secrets of the world, the august laws that are written in the
form of the snow-crystal or the majestic order of the stars. Yet all
these laws are but reflections, but projections outward, of the laws of
the soul; therefore in learning these, the soul learns to know itself. All
life is but the mirror wherein the Soul learns to know its own face.
24. The cause of this association is the
darkness of unwisdom.
The darkness of unwisdom is the absorption of consciousness in the
personal life, and in the things seen by the personal life. This is the fall,
through which comes experience, the learning of the lessons of life.
When they are learned, the day of redemption is at hand.
25. The bringing of this association to
an end, by bringing the
darkness of unwisdom to an end, is the
great liberation; this is the
Seer's attainment of his own pure being.
When the spiritual man has, through the psychical, learned all life's
lessons, the time has come for him to put off the veil and disguise of
the psychical and to stand revealed a King, in the house of the Father.
So shall he enter into his kingdom, and go no more out.
26. A discerning which is carried on
without wavering is the means of
liberation.
Here we come close to the pure Vedanta, with its discernment
between the eternal and the temporal.
and Plato, lays down the same fundamental principle: the things seen
are temporal, the things unseen are eternal.
Patanjali means something more than an intellectual assent, though
this too is vital. He has in view a constant discriminating in act as well
as thought; of the two ways which present themselves for every deed
or choice, always to choose the higher way, that which makes for the
things eternal: honesty rather than roguery, courage and not
cowardice, the things of another rather than one's own, sacrifice and
not indulgence. This true discernment, carried out constantly, makes
for liberation.
27. His illuminations is sevenfold,
rising In successive stages.
Patanjali's text does not tell us what the seven stages of this
illumination are. The commentator thus describes them;
First, the danger to be escaped is recognized; it need not be
recognized a second time. Second, the causes of the danger to be
escaped are worn away; they need not be worn away a second time.
Third, the way of escape is clearly perceived, by the contemplation
which checks psychic perturbation. Fourth, the means of escape, clear
discernment, has been developed. This is the fourfold release
belonging to insight. The final release from the psychic is three-fold:
As fifth of the seven degrees, the dominance of its thinking is ended;
as sixth, its potencies, like rocks from a precipice, fall of themselves;
once dissolved, they do not grow again. Then, as seventh, freed from
these potencies, the spiritual man stands forth in his own nature as
purity and light. Happy is the spiritual man who beholds this
seven-fold illumination in its ascending stages.
28. From steadfastly following after the
means of Yoga, until impurity
is worn away, there comes the
illumination of thought up to full
discernment.
Here, we enter on the more detailed practical teaching of Patanjali,
with its sound and luminous good sense. And when we come to detail
the means of Yoga, we may well be astonished at their simplicity.
There is little in them that is mysterious. They are very familiar. The
essence of the matter lies in carrying them out.
29. The eight means of Yoga are: the
Commandments, the Rules,
right Poise, right Control of the
life-force, Withdrawal, Attention,
Meditation, Contemplation.
These eight means are to be followed in their order, in the sense which
will immediately be made clear. We can get a ready understanding of