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| Yoga and Awakening | ||||||||
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center for Arlington, MA 02474
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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 Yoga Sutras are about the practice of yoga, which, through fruition, brings both transcendent clarity and the capacity to act in the world with both wisdom and compassion. Patanjali presents in detail various types of practices to refine and integrate the qualities of mind and emotion that underlie human experience. He also articulated many obstacles or impediments to practice, and describes the living experience of the results of the practices. As such, it is an amazing map and tour guide for an awakening consciousness. The fundamental truth unfolded in all mature spiritual traditions is that of the unity or oneness of what may appear to be two very different realities. This Non-Dual vision sees the world of constantly changing time, and impermanent forms, or what we call everyday reality, as just a point of view. It's complimentary point of view is that of unchanging timelessness, unboundedness, formlessness, or what can be called God, Brahman, The Absolute, Buddha Nature etc. Both points of view are always present and inextricably intertwined in an integral, non-dual reality. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali presents a dualistic point of view in the form of the Samkhya school of philosophy's premise that the Absolute, known as Purusha, and the world of forms, known as Prakriti, are two totally separate entities that can come together and then separate. This is a useful teaching tool when attempting to help students differentiate and articulate these two radically differing points of view. The Yoga Sutras end with the full realization of self as Purusha by dissolving all attachments and entanglements to prakriti, in what is called kaivalya or total freedom. From Patanjali's point of view, this ends the yogic quest and there is no longer participation in the world of forms. The non-dual schools honor this stage, but then proceed to go to another level by bring full self-realiztion back into the world. Being in the world , but not of the world, as Jesus has said. In Buddhism it is the great bodhisattva vow of returning to the world with an integral understanding, to help with others and their suffering. It can also be seen as an integration of the masculine urge for transcendence with the feminine urge for immanence. Because of the social climate at the time it was written, Patanjali's work heavily favors the masculine transcendence, and many of the sutras are less than subtle in naming the feminine creative principle as an obstacle to transcendence. This is similar to the Adam and Eve story of how it is Eve consorting with the serpent (devil?) to corrupt poor Adam and get them both booted out of heaven. Fortunately we have a much deeper understanding of the interrealtionship between the Absolute and Relative realities that we need not fear creation, but must come to undertand its functioning in either revealing or obscuring the wholeness of the Absolute. To do this is to begin the quest of seeing how we make sense of the world. What is the true nature of this "I sense"? The dilemma of most humans is that our sense of what is "real", and even more importantly, our self-sense, or "I am-ness", are both totally dominated by the relative world of forms. As an inevitable aspect in the developing and maturing of the nervous system, we create a self-sense, a sense of "I am", based in thought and experience, and hope in time it becomes stable enough to allow us to function in the world. Unfortunately, this "I sense" is solely composed of selected slices of the world of transitory forms, including our body, our thoughts, memories, and emotional connections. Freom this melange we can often find temporary stability, but sooner or later this breaks down. We somehow forget, or lose contact with, the Absolute point of view, which is by nature stable and unchanging, and is always available as the ultimate self-reference, as the home of "I am". Patanjali's definition of yoga gets to this right away in Sutra I-2,3. The Buddha called this fruitless quest of finding a self in the world of impermanence dukha or suffering. The Vedantins and yogis call it avidya, or not seeing. The middle eastern religions used derivatives of the word sin, meaning to miss the mark, to refer to this confusion. Spiritual teachings are an attempt to re-orient the human, to point out the ever present, ever accessible Absolute as the true nature of the "I am", and to help the student intelligently navigate the world of impermanent forms as they go about the activities of day to day living. This shift in perspective is not always easy or obvious, as the human mind easily becomes enthralled in its own activities and forgets that there is an alternative. Thus the need for very carefully articulated instruction to help disentangle the confusion. The Structure of the Yoga Sutras 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 presents the final three practices as a unified whole, samyama, gives a more detailed description of the process of the advanced mind training of samyama, and then discusses 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 ties together the first three chapters in a detailed articulation of the deepest levels of integration leading to full realization of the transcendent and the end of the yogic quest. Glossary 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. (see below) The Sanskrit root 'yuj' means to contemplate and this is the fundamental definition we will see in the sutras. Yuj also means to yoke or join together and thus indicates the integrative quality of yoga, linking various aspects of mind, as well as the recognition of the unity of small self and True Self.
samadhi, is the key word in the Sutras. Vyasa, the foremost commentator on the Sutras, and held with the same level of esteem as Patanjali, defines yoga as samadhi in his commentary on Patanjali's very first sutra. Vyasa goes on to say that samadhi is a natural state of the mind, not something esoteric or exotic. It is a state of mind where one's 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 chapters 2, 3 and 4 Patanjali returns to samadhi again and again with more detailed descriptions of the process and its evolution through stages of deeper and deeper refinement. In his description of samadhi, Vyasa's commentary to sutra I-1 goes on to describe 5 major mind states which we can experience. These are: mudha: a state of extreme dullness or stupification, which may come from alcohol, drugs, illness or acute stress kshipta: a state of intense 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 is the word used most by Patanjali. It 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 with the 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 differing combinations, 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, always in movement, but one of the three 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 effortlessly stablely present, samadhi begins. The various practices given in the sutras are all based upon attenuating the rajasic and tamasic tendencies, transforming the energies contained there to the harmony of sattva and stabilizing the samadhi state. Samadhi itself has levels, with the deeper practices diving into the unconsciousness to root out the latent tendencies lurking there, bringing more depth and stability. Stability is a key principle in yoga. The fundamental obstacles to yoga, to samadhi, are called kleshas (the major impediments, or citta-vikshepas, (minor disturbances). They fundamentally arise from inadequacy-evoking traumatic responses to life experiences that get encoded in the brain as part of the self-sense. If my self sense is fundamentally inadequate, if I do not know that I am wholeness, the Absolute, then I have to constantly find ways to feel adequate, with no respite. I create a multi-layered personality that constantly needs to acquire or get rid of something. For me to be whole, I need this, I need to get rid of that. For me to be happy, something has to change. These are thoughts that are the root of suffering. This is the mind of suffering and the realization of this is the starting point of the spiritual quest.
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