Abstract

The Intent of Yoga

Yogas chitta vritti nirodha
Yoga is restraining the mind from taking various forms[1]

The modern mind is a constantly chattering entity. In our dealings with other people, a voice is constantly active telling us what to focus on, be it the negative attributes of another or the sensory pleasures of an activity in front of us. In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle goes into great detail deconstructing the chattering of the mind and encouraging the reader to enter zones of mindlessness, where the chattering no longer controls us. In The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma mentions that 95% of our thoughts are old reruns. Considering the vast psychological and medical evidence[2], it behooves us to turn to an age-old science that focuses on mind-control.

Being able to control the mind is an important goal of Yoga, and is a stepping-stone to the ultimate goal of Asamprajnata Samadhi:

Viram pratya yabhyasa poorva sanskaar sheshonyaha
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.[3]

This samadhi is defined as state of perfect superconsciousness. However, Patanjali warns us in the very next aphorism:

Bhava pratyayo videha prakritilayaanaam
(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.[4]

This is an important explanation of the position of Gods in the Hindu pantheon, in that, they represent elevated souls who have had the ultimate experience of Asamprajnata Samadhi but have not yet relinquished “unmanifested impressions,” or their power. Swami Vivekananda explains this form of samadhi using the analogy of a seed. In a lower state of mind-control, quelling the waves in the mind (chitta) would not eradicate them and they continue as seeds to arise at a later time. Asamprajnata samadhi is, however, of a seedless form. There is nothing to quell. All the seeds have been destroyed, and the mind is almost destroyed.

The Seedless Samadhi and Self-Realization

The following two verses explain the mechanics of this samadhi:

tajjah sanskaaro anyasanskaar pratibandhi
tasyapi nirodhey sarva nirodhaa nirbeejah samadhi

The resulting impression from this samadhi obstructs all other impressions.
By the restraint of even this, all being restrained, comes the “seedless Samadhi.” [5]

The notion explained here is that, when we try to control our mind, unwanted thoughts leap up and distract us. The recommended way to tackle this is not by fighting each thought and tiring ourselves, but by holding on to the one thought that matters the most and letting the others collapse from the sheer intensity of this one thought. Once we have entered the zone of the one (thought), the final stage is that of the zero, renouncing the one thought that has helped us so far. For this to happen, the “I” has to be uprooted. One has to relinquish the ego, and then one has nothing left to relinquish. It is then that we transcend the domain of thought and enter a zone where the mind is no longer active. We can connect this to a famous verse from the Upanishads:

purnamadah purnam idam purnaat purnam udachyate
purnasya purnamaadaya purnam eva avasishyate[6]

Although “purna” stands for “complete,” both “purna” and “shunya” (blank/zero) are two sides of the same coin. The above sloka then translates to:

This is zero, that is zero, from zero comes zero,
When zero is subtracted from zero, what remains is zero.

As there are no thoughts left in the “no mind” zone, there is nothing to control at this stage, and hence this stage is considered to be the stage of true freedom. This realization of our true nature is termed “self-realization.”

The Mind as a Friend

According to him, if a student of Raja Yoga follows the experiments accurately, the knowledge is bound to come and is measurable internally. He writes, “The powers of the mind are like rays of light dissipated; when they are concentrated, they illumine.”

The Mystical Approach

Consider the following aphorisms:

External Transformations
Unto him does not come disease, nor old age, nor death,
Who has got a body made up of the fire of Yoga.
The first signs of entering Yoga are lightness, health, non-covetousness, clearness of complexion, a beautiful voice, an agreeable odor in the body, and scantiness of excretions.[7]

Vanishing Yogis
By making Samyama[8] on the form of the body, the perceptibility of the form being obstructed and the power of manifestation in the eye being separated, the Yogi’s body becomes unseen.[9]

Mind Reading
By making Samyama on the signs in another’s body, knowledge of his mind comes. But not its contents, that not being the object of the Samyama.[10]

Conquering Hunger
By making Samyama on the hollow of the throat, (comes) cessation of hunger.[11]

It is now understandable why the yogis have often been viewed through a mystical lens. However, Swami Vivekananda severely criticizes a mystical view of the process. In his introduction to Raja Yoga, he offers a thumb-rule: reject anything that appears mysterious and is not open to reason.

He further highlights Patanjali’s opinion on these powers:

These are obstacles to Samadhi; but they are powers in the worldly state.[12]

These powers have to be seen as a statement of fact. There are certain laws of nature that we are still in the process of discovering , and there may come a time when knowledge such as those in the aphorisms is considered routine. It is important to note that such knowledge will inhibit our progress toward the ultimate goal of Asamprajnata Samadhi, as it still involves the mind. Yogis like Patanjali and Swami Vivekananda recommend totally ignoring these powers and focus on the ultimate goal.

Conclusion

In particular, what struck me as revealing was the clarity of thought and reason in the aphorisms. Swami Vivekananda notes that as a general trend, the more modern the text, the more mistakes it has, and the more ancient, the more open-minded and rational it appears. This is a most disturbing trend, to say the least. Be that as it may, a wealth of knowledge awaits us in Patanjali’s contribution to the world, and Swami Vivekananda’s translation and excellent commentary may help answer some fundamental questions about our nature and existence in an intellectual manner.