The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali 2.1-12

In this episode, we discuss the first 12 sutras of the second chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Here we are backing up a little bit from where we were in the first chapter.

You could say that the climbing rope is extended from the same place but this time it’s extended further down so that more people can grab and hang on to it.

Transcript

Hello,

Yogi.

Welcome to my podcast.

I'm Aiko and on this show we explore ways to put spiritual theory into sustainable practice.

Hey,

Sham.

Welcome.

Finally,

We are chapter two of the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.

Yes,

It's been a few months,

But yeah,

Now we're onto the Kriya Yoga.

So should we make just a brief recap of what we said in chapter one?

Sure.

Chapter one is called the Samadhipada.

So it's about the different levels of Samadhi,

Of the final goal of yoga,

Of absorption.

There we had some section and the first section from one to four,

Sutra one to four,

Was explaining what is yoga and why we should be engaged and follow these yoga principles.

Then from Sutra five to eleven,

It was explaining the five compulsive states called Cittavritti.

Those are the states that are gone when you have achieved the goal of yoga,

Because that's the definition,

Cittavritta-Nirodha.

It's like,

I believe,

The first sutra of the Yoga Sutras.

Maybe the second one,

Actually.

Yes,

The first one just says,

Now we're going to talk about yoga.

And the second one says,

Yoga is this Cittavritti-Nirodha.

Yeah.

So then we spoke from Sutra twelve to sixteen about the various means of pacifying and controlling the Cittavritti.

Then we went ahead from seventeen to twenty-two,

Where we spoke about the different states of meditation.

And we said that there are different kinds of Samadhis,

Those states of meditation.

So we introduced the Samadhi and the different depths of meditative experience.

Then we went ahead defining the word Ishvara,

What is the nature and how do we approach it.

Yeah,

That was given as an alternative to attaining Samadhi.

Because it was said,

Samadhi can be attained by self-control and this and that.

But then it said,

Or by Ishvara Pranidhana.

So by meditating on Ishvara,

Who is kind of the primordial yogi,

You could say.

So you meditate on him and by that you yourself attain Samadhi.

And then we went ahead from thirty to thirty-nine Sutras and we saw the different ways of calming down the mind.

Because during the meditation our mind can trigger us and we can lose the focus of the meditation.

Then they explained more deeper states of Samadhi from the forty to the fifty.

And then the fifty-first Sutra,

Which is connected now with what we are going to read in chapter two,

Explained the Nirbhija Samadhi.

So we spoke about the meaning of Bhija,

The seed and how these seeds can affect and agitate our mind during this meditation.

Yes,

Bhijas could go either way.

They could distract you,

But if you are a well-practiced practitioner and at a very high level,

Then these seeds can become the seed of Samadhi.

Like Sabhija Samadhi.

So anything that comes to your mind just becomes a seed of Samadhi if you see it the right way,

Instead of a seed of distraction.

But then finally,

In Nirbhija Samadhi,

You don't need anything to trigger you into Samadhi.

You're just in constant Samadhi.

And it was saying also that this is spiritual,

Meaning like everything that was before,

Of course you can consider it spiritual because it brings you there,

But you reach spirituality when you reach that state.

Yes,

Like spirituality proper,

We can say.

Okay,

So now we are in chapter two,

Which speaks about the practice of yoga.

Yes,

And some commentators have said that the first chapter is kind of for those who are kind of ready for Samadhi.

And well,

The second chapter goes down a little bit more down to earth,

Like for someone who's interested in that but may have a long way to go,

Then there's more like kind of practical day-to-day things one can do.

So here are like the three things,

This Kriya Yoga consists of three things that will be mentioned here in the first sutras of the second chapter.

Okay,

You want to read the sutras and say something about it?

Yes,

So the first sutra reads,

Tapah svadhyayeshvara pranidhanani kriya yogah.

Kriya yoga,

The path of action,

Consists of self-discipline,

Study,

And dedication to the Lord.

Yeah,

And I think this kind of gives the methods of how to reach this Nirbhaya Samadhi that we just spoke about in chapter one,

Isn't it?

Yes,

So like here we are going in the same direction,

But starting at an earlier point.

So it's kind of,

Yeah,

Just kind of backing up a little bit.

Yeah,

Because before we spoke a little bit more quote-unquote in theory,

And now we're spoken like in practice,

What we're going to do to reach everything we just talked about.

Exactly,

And here I noted that the commentators have pointed out about this Ishvara pranidhana that was also mentioned in the first chapter,

But here it's mentioned again.

But as we said,

Here we have backed up,

So here it's talked about in a different sense.

So in the first chapter,

Ishvara pranidhana,

There it was all about meditating on the name of Ishvara,

Which was the syllable om,

And contemplating the meaning of this,

Of like who Ishvara is.

But here it's kriya yoga,

So it's action-oriented,

And also in the first chapter it was something like an alternative.

It says,

Or you can do Ishvara pranidhana,

But here it's a kind of sort of mandatory part if you want to call it kriya yoga,

Then this Ishvara pranidhana is actually a part of it,

Not just like an alternative.

So this means that for Patanjali,

This kind of approach,

Ishvara in your practice was an important part,

Meaning turning to our source,

To God or whatever you want to call it.

Yeah,

And also the meaning of kriya yoga means what we just said,

Like yoga of internal action,

Which means that in order to do this kind of yoga,

You don't need anything external.

You don't need a mat,

Fancy clothes,

Or anything,

A bowl or elastic bands.

You just need yourself and you work internally,

But you act,

You do something.

Yeah,

It's an interesting concept,

Like internal work,

Because the previous chapter was about these internal states,

And here we're talking about internal work,

But it means action in the world,

But of course not just acting as anyone would act,

But acting with these things in mind.

So that is what makes it an internal action,

But you also activate the body.

Samadhi bhavanarta klesa tanukaranartas ca.

The yoga of action is for bringing about samadhi and for weakening the afflictions to yoga,

Meaning relieving those things that are disturbing our yoga practice.

Then Patanjali moves on to describe what are these afflictions to yoga,

These things that are disturbing our yoga practice.

Yeah,

And here it starts another section,

Like from Sutras 3,

Chapter 2,

3 to 11,

We have the section that speaks about the obstacles to samadhi.

So,

They are as follows.

Avidyasmitah raga dvesa bhinivesa panca klesah.

The impediments to samadhi are nescience,

Ego,

Desire,

Aversion,

And clinging to life.

Can you explain a little bit the meaning of clinging?

Yeah,

So here it's going to be talked about a little bit later here in the section,

But in short,

It's kind of holding on to something that is not worth holding on to,

That you will not be able to keep anyway.

Well,

We can't keep anything in life,

Because we are going to die.

So,

Yeah,

Maybe,

I guess only thing that comes with us once we die is consciousness.

So,

Everything that doesn't help us grow in consciousness,

Does it make sense?

Yeah,

There is this nice saying that the only thing,

You can only keep what you give.

So,

It's a kind of a paradox,

But it means it's the giving,

It's like the evolution of your consciousness that happens when you give,

When you're not trying to kind of keep and grab and hold on to,

But you kind of keep this flow of giving.

So,

That will stay with you,

That kind of flow,

That will develop and stay with you.

Yeah,

That's very beautiful to think like that.

Like I receive it and I just want to give it to the world.

Yeah.

So,

Then we go into each of these five,

And here comes the kind of most important one in a sense,

Because it's the one that's always there,

And it's kind of,

It says here,

It's the breeding ground for the other ones.

So the Sutra reads,

Avidya ksetram uttaresam prasubhyatano vicinodharanam Ignorance is the breeding ground of the other kleshas.

Kleshas meaning here the obstacles.

Whether they are in a dormant,

Weak,

Intermittent,

Or fully activated state.

So here,

Ignorance,

Nescience,

Is separated out from the other ones,

And this is the most important one.

And this one is always active,

So it's not like the others here that are,

That can be in a dormant state,

In a weak state,

In an intermittent state,

Or fully activated.

I mean,

Yeah,

The last one is true for ignorance.

It's always in a fully activated state,

I mean,

Until it's gone.

Yeah,

Because we don't have to think of ignorance as an offensive or bad thing.

Like,

We are technically ignorant in not knowing something.

So I'm ignorant in not knowing,

I don't know,

Swedish language,

Or Finnish language,

Or whatever I don't know,

Which is a lot out there.

Doesn't mean I'm a lower person than someone else.

I simply never studied that in that specific field.

So I think it's important because often ignorance is used to offend people.

Oh,

This is it.

He's just ignorant.

But in this case,

It's not offensive.

It's just like what you don't know.

Yeah,

You don't know what you don't know.

Yeah,

Exactly.

And it can cause troubles to things that you want to pursue.

And in this case,

Samadhi.

So your ignorance can be in the way of that,

And it's causing other obstacles to happen.

This I think shows very much how important it is to be humble and kind of be aware that we are not arrived and there is always something to learn.

And I mean,

I'm very well aware that I didn't reach any kind of super higher state of level of mind.

So it's important to keep that in mind and stay humble and just keep learning.

So now ignorance is going to be defined further,

And then the other obstacles are going to be described.

So Sutra 5 reads,

Anitya-succi dukkha-natmasu nitya-succi sukhatma khyatir avidyah Ignorance is the notion that the self,

Which is joyful,

Pure,

And eternal,

To be the non-self,

Which is painful,

Unclean,

And temporary.

So basically meaning that the kind of inner self is the same as the body.

So the inner self is joyful,

Pure,

And eternal,

Whereas the body is painful,

Unclean,

And temporary.

So some examples are given like our body may seem clean right after we cleaned it,

But it very quickly gets dirty.

We sweat,

This and that.

The soul,

However,

Is always pure.

And then the next obstacle,

A very close one,

It's almost hard to make a difference,

But there is some subtle distinction.

Sutra number 6,

Drig darshana shaktor ekatma te vasmitah Ego is to consider the nature of the seer and the nature of the instrumental power of seeing to be the same thing.

So this is connected with.

.

.

I mean,

This can be illustrated by.

.

.

There's a group of verses from the Upanishads that say that it is not because we have eyes that we can see.

Actually,

The soul can see by itself,

And our eyes are only a filter.

So actually our eyes get in the way of our seeing.

So that's a kind of interesting thing if you meditate and contemplate on that.

You can go through the same thing with the other senses.

It is not because we have a nose that we can smell,

But.

.

.

Yeah,

And so on.

So like first of all,

We consider our inner self to be the same as the body,

And then consequently we also think that all the kind of powers of the inner self are defined by the body.

And Sutra number seven,

Sukhanushai Raghah,

Attachment stems from experiences of happiness.

So this Mons Bru explained by saying that there's nothing wrong in enjoying things,

But the issue is that experiences of happiness makes us want to experience that again,

And we cannot ever really have the same experience twice.

So we are not really open to life.

We are kind of searching for something we have had in the past,

But it's so we can't like really.

.

.

Yeah,

This just reminds me of something I was thinking recently,

That we have this instinct,

Like human instincts,

Like animal instinct,

Like a mother,

For example,

Who has so much love and affection for their kids,

And she could just die for them to protect them,

Like she would give her own body to protect them.

And of course,

Dads also,

I'm just speaking about mothers,

Because I think at the very beginning the relationship is a little bit more tight,

Because they have the kids in their womb,

And then the kids grow,

And they have a natural hormonal rejection towards the parents,

Because by nature,

They're supposed to go out there in life and grow and experience and put in practice what they learned from their parents.

And this happens in nature.

You don't see like generations of family members of the same species going around together.

Of course,

There are herds or flocks,

But it's a little bit different than you serve the community.

You don't suck the breast of your mom when you are 12,

Even though before it was okay to do it,

And it was nourishing,

And it was super beautiful,

But at one point you stop,

Because you grow and there is this detachment.

But often parents,

They try to keep their kids,

To have them.

They want them,

Like they don't understand,

And then there is confusion,

There is fight,

Especially when they are teenagers,

Because kids,

Just by nature,

They have this hormonal rejection towards the parents.

They hate the world,

They hate the parents,

They hate everyone,

But the parents are trying to get back their kids from their childhood.

So this is a kind of like a big example,

Because for me,

It's easy to say that,

Because I don't have kids.

I don't have teenage kids,

I don't have small kids.

But when you are there,

I think it's just like so hard to detach.

It's just something like,

I don't want.

They are my kids,

I want them to be my kids.

So it's kind of like,

I can understand how hard is this step,

Even though it seems like,

Oh yeah,

Just detach from things that not serve the purpose,

Your purpose.

Thank you for sharing this burst of inspiration.

And then on the flip side,

Sutra 8,

Dukkhanu shayid dveshah,

Aversion stems from experiences of pain.

So this is kind of like what drives us in life.

We are looking for what we had before,

And we are trying to avoid things we had before that we didn't like.

Yeah,

And then we live in fear.

And also actually our body reacts in that way.

Our body,

Like our mind automatically is a protective way.

If it sees a danger outside,

It's going to give signals to your body,

You're going to move and react in a way to protect yourself in certain situations.

And unfortunately,

I guess everyone experiences at least one trauma in their life.

So then we start living around that,

And then we have fear.

And fear is the opposite of love,

Of openness.

So also this step,

I think it's very hard in certain situations.

So it's very important to keep that in mind and try to be introspective and talk about emotions and feelings with other people.

Yes,

Certainly community is everything.

Sutra number 9,

Svarasa vahi vidusho pi tatarudho bhiniveshah.

The tendency of clinging to life affects even the wise.

It is an inherent tendency.

So this is what we were discussing briefly before about clinging.

So when it says here that clinging to life is like an obstacle to yoga,

It doesn't mean that we should be suicidal.

It just means that when it's time to go,

It's time to go.

It's just like you said with the parents letting go of the children.

It's similar to letting go of life when we're at the end of life.

Just accepting that that's just the way of nature.

But we are somehow wanting to hold on and then we are kind of missing out on having a beautiful transition into the next life by kind of holding on to the things we can't keep anyway.

Imagine being able to at the moment of death to not have any regrets.

Yeah,

That's so beautiful.

I just thought now about a friend of ours,

Dvalchandra Pabu,

When he learned that he had some heart conditions and other kind of sickness,

He just made peace with it and he settled the life ahead for his wife so she could live nicely when he was gone and that's it.

And then he just passed away very,

Very fast and he decided that,

And now it comes to my mind also,

Mansbrough's dad,

He also got to know he doesn't have a lot to live anymore and he was a very public person.

He was in many associations and he just set up everything for his leaving and then he left very naturally and beautifully,

I would say.

Dignified.

Yeah,

Yeah.

I'm not saying people who tries to hold on are bad people.

I'm not saying that,

Absolutely.

I can understand how hard it is,

Especially when you have affection for other people who will be still alive when you're going to leave.

I'm sure it's hard.

Yes.

Sutra 10.

Te pratiprasava heyah sukshma.

The kleshas,

Meaning the obstacles,

Are subtle and they are destroyed when the mind dissolves back into its original matrix.

And here,

There was a beautiful thing I read in the commentaries.

It is like when the mind has served its purpose,

Then it will just,

This is again like letting go,

This is like when you have used the mind for its actual purpose,

Which is attaining Samadhi,

Then it is like once the wood has burnt,

You can't burn it anymore.

Once you have ground the spices,

There is no need anymore for the mortar.

It's like the job is done,

Sort of.

Then the mind kind of goes back to its,

It's kind of like the same way that a body goes back to the earth after death.

Once the mind has fulfilled its purpose,

It goes back to the kind of totality of mind stuff instead of accompanying the soul.

Then Sutra 11 reads,

Dihana heyas tad vrittayah.

The states of mind produced by the kleshas are eliminated by meditation.

And then finally,

For today,

Number 12,

Klesha mula karma shayo drishtadrishta janma vedaniyah.

The stock of karma has the kleshas as its root.

It is experienced in present or future lives.

So basically our whole life,

Our karma means our whole kind of situation in life and our trajectory like where we are heading unless we change direction,

Let's say.

Our current destiny has these kleshas as the root,

Meaning these things we just talked about like desire,

Aversion,

Clinging,

Ego,

Ignorance.

Yeah,

Very interesting and beautiful.

I really liked,

Enjoyed to study this,

The beginning of the second chapter of the book actually.

But yeah,

Next section actually is going to be a very small section until Sutra 15.

So only three sutras and then from 16th to 28th I think.

So probably next episode is going to be a little longer than usual or maybe we will see,

Maybe we're going to split it up.

Yeah,

We can see how to,

Maybe we will go into depth,

Not on every single point,

But like select some things to highlight.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So thanks a lot and see you next time.

See you.

Bye.

I hope this episode fulfilled its purpose of inspiring you.

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