Theos-Talk Archives (July 2005 Message tt00167)

Friday, July 22, 2005

Dear Gerry:

Here is the 2nd Book of PATANJALI


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20	PATANJALI'S YOGA APHORISMS




BOOK II.


MEANS OF CONCENTRATION


1. The practical part of Concentration is, Mortification, Muttering, and
Resignation to the Supreme Soul. 

What is here meant by "mortification" is the practice laid down in other
books, such as the Dharma Shastra, which includes penances and fastings;
"muttering" is the semi-audible repetition of formulae also laid down,
preceded by the mystic name of the Supreme Being given in Aphorism 27, Book
I; "resignation to the Supreme Soul," is the consigning to the Divine, or
the Supreme Soul, all one's works, without interest in their results. 

2. This practical part of concentration is for the purpose of establishing
meditation and eliminating afflictions.

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3. The afflictions which arise in the disciple are Ignorance, Egoism,
Desire, Aversion, and a tenacious wish for existence upon the earth. 

4. Ignorance is the field of origin of the others named, whether they be
dormant, extenuated, intercepted, or simple. 

5. Ignorance is the notion that the non-eternal, the impure, the evil, and
that which is not soul are, severally, eternal, pure, good, and soul. 

6. Egoism is the identifying of the power that sees with the power of
seeing. 

i.e. it is the confounding of the soul, which really sees, with the tool it
uses to enable it to see, viz. the mind, or-to a still greater degree of
error-with those organs of sense which are in turn the tools of the mind;
as, for instance, when an uncultured person thinks that it is his eye which
sees, when in fact it is his mind that uses the eye as a tool for seeing. 

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7. Desire is the dwelling upon pleasure. 

8. Aversion is the dwelling upon pain. 

9. The tenacious wish for existence upon earth is inherent in all sentient
beings, and continues through all incarnations, because it has
self-reproductive power. It is felt as well by the wise as the unwise. 

There is in the spirit a natural tendency, throughout a Manvantara, to
manifestation on the material plane, on and through which only, the
spiritual monads can attain their development; and this tendency, acting
through the physical basis common to all sentient beings, is extremely
powerful and continues through all incarnations, helping to cause them, in
fact, and re-producing itself in each incarnation. 

10. The foregoing five afflictions, when subtile, are to be evaded by the
production of an antagonistic mental state.

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11. When these afflictions modify the mind by pressing themselves upon the
attention, they are to be got rid of by meditation. 

12. Such afflictions are the root of, and produce, results in both physical
and mental actions or works, and they, being our merits or demerits, have
their fruitage either in the visible state or in that which is unseen. 

13. While that root of merit and demerit exists, there is a fructification
during each succeeding life upon earth in rank, years, pleasure, or pain. 

14. Happiness or suffering results, as the fruit of merit and demerit,
accordingly as the cause is virtue or vice. 

15. But to that man who has attained to the perfection of spiritual
cultivation,

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all mundane things are alike vexatious, since the modifications of the mind
due to the natural qualities are adverse to the attainment of the highest
condition; because, until that is reached, the occupation of any form of
body is a hindrance, and anxiety and impressions of various kinds
ceaselessly continue. 

16. That which is to be shunned by the disciple is pain not yet come. 

The past cannot be changed or amended; that which belongs to the experiences
of the present cannot, and should not, be shunned; but alike to be shunned
are disturbing anticipations or fears of the future, and every act or
impulse that may cause present or future pain to ourselves or others. 

17. From the fact that the soul is conjoined in the body with the organ of
thought, and thus with the whole of nature, lack of discrimination follows,
producing misconceptions

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of duties and responsibilities. This misconception leads to wrongful acts,
which will inevitably bring about pain in the future. 

18. The Universe, including the visible and the invisible, the essential
nature of which is compounded of purity, action, and rest, and which
consists of the elements and the organs of action, exists for the sake of
the soul's experience and emancipation. 

19. The divisions of the qualities are the diverse, the non-diverse, those
which may be resolved once but no farther, and the irresolvable. 

The "diverse " are such as the gross elements and the organs of sense; the
"non-diverse," the subtile elements and the mind; the "once resolvable," the
intellect, which can be resolved into undifferentiated matter but no
farther; and the "irresolvable," indiscrete matter. 

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20. The soul is the Perceiver; is assuredly vision itself pure and simple;
unmodified; and looks directly upon ideas. 

21. For the sake of the soul alone, the Universe exists. 

The commentator adds: "Nature in energizing does not do so with a view to
any purpose of her own, but with the design, as it were, expressed in the
words 'let me bring about the soul's experience.'" 

22. Although the Universe in its objective state has ceased to be, in
respect to that man who has attained to the perfection of spiritual
cultivation, it has not ceased in respect to all others, because it is
common to others besides him. 

23. The conjuncture of the soul with the organ of thought, and thus with
nature, is the cause of its apprehension of the actual condition of

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the nature of the Universe and of the soul itself. 

24. The cause of this conjuncture is what is to be quitted, and that cause
is ignorance. 

25. The quitting consists in the ceasing of the conjuncture, upon which
ignorance disappears, and this is the Isolation of the soul. 

That which is meant in this and in the preceding two aphorisms is that the
conjuncture of soul and body, through repeated reincarnations, is due to its
absence of discriminative knowledge of the nature of the soul and its
environment, and when this discriminative knowledge has been attained, the
conjuncture, which was due to the absence of discrimination, ceases of its
own accord. 

26. The means of quitting the state of bondage to matter is perfect
discriminative knowledge, continuously maintained. 

The import of this-among other things-is

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that the man who has attained to the perfection of spiritual cultivation
maintains his consciousness, alike while in the body, at the moment of
quitting it, and when he has passed into higher spheres; and likewise when
returning continues it unbroken while quitting higher spheres, when
re-entering his body, and in resuming action on the material plane. 

27. This perfect discriminative knowledge possessed by the man who has
attained to the perfection of spiritual cultivation, is of seven kinds, up
to the limit of meditation. 

28. Until this perfect discriminative knowledge is attained, there results
from those practices which are conducive to concentration, an illumination
more or less brilliant which is effective for the removal of impurity. 

29. The practices which are conducive to concentration are eight in number:
Forbearance, Religious Ob-

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servances, Postures, Suppression of the breath, Restraint, Attention,
Contemplation, and Meditation. 

30. Forbearance consists in not killing, veracity, not stealing, continence,
and not coveting. 

31. These, without respect to rank, place, time, or compact, are the
universal great duties. 

32. Religious Observances are purification of both mind and body,
contentment, austerity, inaudible mutterings, and persevering devotion to
the Supreme Soul. 

33. In order to exclude from the mind questionable things, the mental
calling up of those things that are opposite is efficacious for their
removal. 

34. Questionable things, whether done, caused to be done, or approved of;
whether resulting from covetous-

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ness, anger, or delusion; whether slight, or of intermediate character, or
beyond measure; are productive of very many fruits in the shape of pain and
ignorance; hence, the "calling up of those things that are opposite" is in
every way advisable. 

35. When harmlessness and kindness are fully developed in the Yogee [he who
has attained to cultivated enlightenment of the soul], there is a complete
absence of enmity, both in men and animals, among all that are near to him. 

36. When veracity is complete, the Yogee becomes the focus for the Karma
resulting from all works good or bad. 

37. When abstinence from theft, in mind and act, is complete in the

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Yogee, he has the power to obtain all material wealth. 

38. When continence is complete, there is a gain of strength, in body and
mind. 

It is not meant here that a student practising continence solely, and
neglecting the other practices enjoined, will gain strength. All parts of
the system must be pursued concurrently, on the mental, moral, and physical
planes. 

39. When covetousness is eliminated, there comes to the Yogee a knowledge of
everything relating to, or which has taken place in, former states of
existence. 

"Covetousness" here applies not only to coveting any object, but also to the
desire for enjoyable conditions of mundane existence, or even for mundane
existence itself. 

40. From purification of the mind and body there arises in the Yogee a
thorough discernment of the cause and nature of the body, whereupon

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he loses that regard which others have for the bodily form; and he also
ceases to feel the desire of, or necessity for, association with his
fellow-beings that is common among other men. 

41. From purification of the mind and body also ensure to the Yogee a
complete predominance of the quality of goodness, complacency, intentness,
subjugation of the senses, and fitness for contemplation and comprehension
of the soul as distinct from nature. 

42. From contentment in its perfection the Yogee acquires superlative
felicity. 

43. When austerity is thoroughly practised by the Yogee, the result thereof
is a perfecting and heightening of the bodily senses by the removal of
impurity.

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44. Through inaudible muttering there is a meeting with one's favorite
Deity. 

By properly uttered invocations-here referred to in the significant phrase
"inaudible mutterings," the higher powers in nature, ordinarily unseen by
man, are caused to reveal themselves to the sight of the Yogee; and inasmuch
as all the powers in nature cannot be evoked at once, the mind must be
directed to some particular force, or power in nature-hence the use of the
term "with one's favorite Deity." 

45. Perfection in meditation comes from persevering devotion to the Supreme
Soul. 

46. A posture assumed by a Yogi must be steady and pleasant. 

For the clearing up of the mind of the student it is to be observed that the
"postures" laid down in various systems of "Yoga" are not absolutely
essential to the successful pursuit of the practice of concentration and
attainment of its ultimate fruits. All such "postures," as prescribed by
Hindu writers, are based upon an accurate knowledge of the 

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physiological effects produced by them, but at the present day they are only
possible for Hindus, who from their earliest years are accustomed to
assuming them. 

47. When command over the postures has been thoroughly attained, the effort
to assume them is easy; and when the mind has become thoroughly identified
with the boundlessness of space, the posture becomes steady and pleasant. 

48. When this condition has been attained, the Yogee feels no assaults from
the pairs of opposites. 

By "pairs of opposites" reference is made to the conjoined classification,
all through the Hindu philosophical and metaphysical systems, of the opposed
qualities, conditions, and states of being, which are eternal sources of
pleasure or pain in mundane existence, such as cold and heat, hunger and
satiety, day and night, poverty and riches, liberty and despotism. 

49. Also, when this condition has been

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attained, there should succeed regulation of the breath, in exhalation,
inhalation, and retention. 

50. This regulation of the breath, which is in exhalation, inhalation, and
retention, is further restricted by conditions of time, place, and number,
each of which may be long or short. 

51. There is a special variety of breath regulation which has reference to
both that described in the last preceding aphorism and the inner sphere of
breathing. 

Aphorisms 49, 50, 51 allude to regulation of the breath as a portion of the
physical exercises referred to in the note upon Aphorism 46, acquaintance
with the rules and prescriptions for which, on the part of the student, is
inferred by Patanjali. Aphorism 50 refers merely to the regulation of the
several periods, degrees of force; and number of alternating recurrences of
the three divisions of breathing-exhalation, inhalation, and

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retention of the breath. But Aphorism 51 alludes to another regulation of
the breath, which is its governance by the mind so as to control its
direction to and consequent influence upon certain centers of nerve
perception within the human body for the production of physiological,
followed by psychic effects. 

52. By means of this regulation of the breath, the obscuration of the mind
resulting from the influence of the body is removed. 

53. And thus the mind becomes prepared for acts of attention. 

54. Restraint is the accommodation of the senses to the nature of the mind,
with an absence on the part of the senses of their sensibility to direct
impression from objects. 

55. Therefrom results a complete subjugation of the senses. 


END OF THE SECOND BOOK.


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Best wishes,


Dallas