a center for
personal and planetary
awakening

Mystic River Yoga
214 Crosby St.

Arlington, MA 02474

781 643-0117
info@MysticRiverYoga.com

Introduction

12 Principles of Awakening

Spiritual Foundation

Scientific Foundation

Embodying the Practice

Collective Awakening

                      Yoga Sutras Studies

                                    Introduction:

   "Nowhere on earth has the impulse toward transcendence found more consistent and creative expression than on the Indian subcontinent."  Georg Feuerstein, "The Yoga Tradition"

     The Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali are summation of the teachings of yoga as they were being explored in the early centuries of the modern era. At this time Buddhism, Vedanta and other philosophical schools abounded and there was much competition and debate over how to articulate the principles and practices of the awakening process. Patanjali, writing for the school of Yoga* and including Samkha, distilled the spiritual teachings into 196 succinct statements knows as sutras. Like the English word suture, a sutra is a thread in a tapestry of work, a concise and multilayered statement woven together with other threads to present a body of teaching.

  The Sutra's are divided into 4 sections or padas, each with a primary topic. The first section, the Samadhi Pada, is written for advanced students and introduces the definition of yoga, detailed instruction in the basic practice known as samadhi, and some upayas, or skillful means to help facilitate the samadhi state. The second chapter, the Sadhana Pada is for a more beginning level and introduces some preparatory practices, including the first five limbs (angas) of the well known 8 limbed (astanga) yoga series. Section 3, The Vibhuti Pada concerns some of the skills and powers that accrue to one who practices with diligence. They are presented as a way to assess a certain level of progress, but also with a warning not to confuse these achievements with the goal of yoga which is complete freedom from suffering. The dualistic mind can attach itself to the most subtle aspects and thus remain in delusion. Section 4, the Kaivalya Pada is about the realization of the transcendent and the end of the yogic quest.

   The sutras and commentaries contain many Sanskrit terms that have no English equivalent and to understand the deeper meanings of the sutras, we need to find a 'felt sense' of what these terms are hinting at. An English translation follows as a starting point.

yoga: According to Vyassa, in his commentary to sutra I-1, yoga is samadhi.

samadhi, a natural state of the mind where attention is clear, focused, unwavering and relaxed simultaneuosly. Later in chapter 1, Patanjali describes several levels of samadhi which relate to the level of subtlety of the forms that hold your attention. In his commentary, Vyassa goes on to describe 5 major mind states which will be helpful to recognize in our own internal exploration. These are:

mudha: a state of extreme dullness, stupified, which may come from alcohol, drugs or acute stress

kshipta: a state of agitation, disturbance or emotional dysregulation.

vikshipta; a state of distraction. Some clarity is present, but dullness or distraction are also still present disturbing the clarity. This is the typical mind state of the average human, and as the clarity increases, the urge for deeper realization often arises, beginning the path of spiritual enquiry.

ekagra: one point focus, a higher order of clarity without division or distraction. Mindful awareness. Samadhi begins here and has various evolving stages as more of the mental processes are integrated into the focused awareness.

niruddha: controlled: In this samadhi, the unconscious disturbances which lie latent in the previous levels of samadhi have been transformed and integrated.

citta is the general term for the elusive English word mind and has three components; manas, ahamkara and buddhi

manas or lower mind, which includes mediating perception, memory and the application of previously learned 'autopilot' functions, which we can call habit or conditioning.

ahamkara is the aspect that builds a sense of self from experiences. It is sometimes equated witht he word ego, but that is not a perfect match.

buddhi is the intelligence that spontaneously arises in the present moment and can observe, analyze, ponder, wonder over what it notices. The buddhi also performs the integrating function, uniting diverse mental processes to create more complex operations. Mindfulness practice is based on developing the buddhi. (The Buddha, the awakened one, the one whose buddhi is fully awake.)

   Although the all important terms purusha, prakriti and guna do not appear until later, they are implicated in these beginning sutras and an understanding of them is crucial to unfold the deeper meaning of the teachings.

Purusha refers to the absolute, the unchanging, infinite consciousness, the Seer.

Prakriti refers to creation, the relative world of forms, of change, the seen

   In the Samkhya philosophical system, Purusha and Prakriti are said to be ultimately separate entities that come together to create the evolutionary process and separate again upon the dissolution of the evolutionary cycle. This makes Samkhya a 'Dualistic" school of philosophy.

    In the Non-Dual teaching of Advaita Vedanta (advaita= not 2), or Vedanta (the advaita seems redundant), Purusha is called Sattyam and Prakriti is called Mithyam. Mithyam is said to be wholly dependent upon Sattyam for its existence, whereas sattyam is wholly independent. They are not 2 separate entities, not are the exactly the same, but 2 layers of a single reality.

Guna refers to the three fundamental attributes or expressions of prakriti, which in combination, manifest as all forms. These are:

tamas: the tendency to remain the same, inertia of rest, stability or stagnation.

rajas: the tendency to change, to keep moving, inertia of motion, action, dyamism, disturbance, chaos

sattva: balance, harmony, transparency.

   In the world of form, these three gunas are always present, but one dominates the other two. When tamas is dominant, stagnation sets in. Change and growth are resisted. Mudha is the state when the mind is totally dominanted by tamas. When rajas dominates, there is movement, but instabilty or chaos often ensues. A mind totally dominated by rajas is called kshipta or disturbed. When sattva is dominant, it balances rajas and tamas. Tamas becomes the stability of form and rajas provides the energy for growth and transformation.

   Aviksipta mind has moments when sattva dominates, but rajas and tamas also assert themselves so the sattvic state is unstable. Again, this is the average mind-state of the human. When sattva remains effortless stablly present, samadhi begins. The various practices given in the sutras are all based upon attenuating the rajasic and tamasic tendencies to subvert sattva and to stabilize the samadhi state. Then, in samadhi, the deeper practices dive into the unconsciousness to root out the latent tendencies lurking there, bringing more depth and stability. Stability is a key principle in yoga.