THE YOGA SUTRAS
❤
SUTRA 4💫
VRTTI SARUPYAM ITARATRA
AT OTHER TIMES (WHEN NOT TRANQUIL AND THEREFORE NOT ESTABLISHED IN ITS ORIGINAL STATE OF THE SEER ) THE BRAIN TAKES THE FORM OF FLUCTUATIONS, CONFLICT AND AGITATION.
SUTRA 5💫
VRTTAYAH PANCATAYYAH KLISTAKLISTAH
THERE RE FIVE-FOLD FLUCTUATIONS, THOSE THAT ARE PAINFUL AND TORMENTING AND THOSE THAT ARE PLEASURABLE, BUT ALL THE SAME, FLUCTUATIONS.
PATANJALI THEN GOES ON TO ENUMERATE THE FIVE TYPES OF FLUCTUATIONS.
1. VALID KNOWLEDGE (PRAMANA)
2. MISCONCEPTIONS OR ILLUSIONS (VIPARYAYA)
3. DELUSION CONSISTING OF MERE WORDS (VIKALPA)
4 . SLEEP (NIDRA)
5. MEMORY (SMRITI)
TO SUM UP, OUTWARD AS WELL AS INWARD ACTIVITIES KEEP THE BRAIN ENGAGED AND CONSTANTLY IN MOTION. VALID KNOWLEDGE MEANS KNOWLEDGE ARRIVED AT BY PROCESSING THE DATE GATHERED BY THE SENSE ORGANS OF SIGHT, HEARING, TASTE, SMELL AND TOUCH.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE INSTRUMENTS OF PERCEPTION HAVE A LIMITED RANGE AND MANY-A-TIME PROVIDE INCORRECT DATA AS IN THE CASE OF OPTICAL ILLUSIONS. THE SO-CALLED VALID KNOWLEDGE ARRIVED BY, BASED ON THESE INPUTS, IS NOT RELIABLE, BUT THE BRAIN TENDS TO ACCEPT IT AT FACE VALUE, AND THE CONSEQUENT PLEASURE OR PAIN CAUSES TERRIBLE FLUCTUATIONS, WHICH PREVENT THE BRAIN FROM SETTLING DOWN.
THOSE MISCONCEPTIONS, WHICH ARE BASED AGAIN ON THE LIMITED CAPACITY OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF PERCEPTION AGAIN ON THE LIMITED CAPACITY OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF PERCEPTION WHEREIN AN ILLUSION IS SEEN AS A REALITY OR THE REALITY IS SEEN AS AN ILLUSION, IS THE SECOND CATEGORY, VIPARYAYA. A ROPE IN THE DARK, MISTAKEN AS A SNAKE WITH THE CONSEQUENT REACTION OF PANIC, IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THE SECOND CATEGORY USED BY THE BUDDHISTS AS WELL AS BY VEDANTINS.
VERBAL DELUSION IS THE ONE CAUSED BY USING WORDS TO EXAGGERATE FEELINGS. THE LITERATURE OF ROMANIC AND DEVOTIONAL POETRY, WHERE HYPERBOIC EXPRESSIONS ARE USED TO HEIGHTEN EMOTION, IS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF VERBAL DELUSION. EVEN COMMERCIAL CINEMA FALLS IN THIS CATEGORY. SEEING THE EXAGGERATION DELIBERATELY CREATED BY DIALOGUES, SONGS, MUSIC AND SPECIAL EFFECTS, THE VIEWER TENDS TO IMITATE THE DRAMA IN REAL LIFE AND OFTEN LIVES IN A WORLD OF DELUSION.
SLEEP IS A CATEGORY OF FLUCTUATIONS, WHICH FORMS PART OF LETHARGY. WHILE SLEEP IS NEEDED TO REJUVENATE ONE DAILY, THE YOGI TRANSCENDS THE NEED FOR TOO MUCH SLEEP. FREE OF THE TAMO GUNA, HIS BRAIN SETTLES DOWN INTO CONSCIOUS TRANQUILLITY, WHICH IS IN CONTRAST TO THE REST, FELT DUE TO THE ABSENSE OF CONSCIOUS AWARENESS IN SLEEP.
MEMORY, TOO, IS A CAUSE OF FLUCTUATIONS. THERE IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO AVOID BITTER MEMORIES AND HOLD ON TO PLEASANT ONES, FORGETTING THAT BOTH ARE MEMORIES, WHICH ARE MERE RECORDINGS IN THE BRAIN AND NOT THE REALITY THAT IS HERE AND NOW.
THE YOGI TREATS PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT MEMORIES AS JUST MEMORIES AND TANSCENDS THE NEED TO EITHER HOLD ON TO ONE OR AVOID THE OTHER. IN A YOGIC STATE, FLUCTUATIONS CAUSED BY MEMORY CEASE.
❤
MANY OF THE SUTRAS UP TO THE ELEVENTH ONE ARE EXPLANATIONS AND ELABORATIONS OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FLUCTUATIONS.
SUTRA 12💫
ABHYASA-VAIRAGYA-ABHYAM TAN-NIRODHAH
THROUGH PRACTISE AND DISPASSION ARISES RESTRAINT.
DISPASSION, SIMPLY PUT, MEANS NOT BEING AT THE MERCY OF PASSIONS. A DISPASSIONATE PERSON IS ONE WHO HAS LEARNT TO RESTRAIN HIMSELF FROM ACTIONS, WHICH IN THE LONG RUN, CAUSE PAIN, THOUGH THEY MAY SEEM PLEASURABLE AT FIRST.
WHEN ONE IS FIRMLY SITUATED IN A DISPASSIONATE SPACE, THE BRAIN INSTEAD OF MOVING TOWARDS BECOMING, LEARNS TO BE. WHEN THIS IS UNINTERRUPTED THE REAL IDENTITY CALLED THE PURUSHA COMES TO THE FORE.
YOGA PRACTIONERS ARE CATEGORISED AS MILD, MEDIUM AND INTENSE.
