The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali 30-39: Focuses Of Meditation

In this episode, we first speak about the obstacles of the mind in the course of practicing yoga. Then we move on to discussing different things we can focus our mind on as alternatives to the Isvara-pranidhana of the previous section.

Transcript

Hello Yogi,

Welcome to my podcast.

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

And here we are again.

Welcome.

Thank you.

So last time we spoke about Sutras 23 to 29 and today we're going to speak about the Sutras from 30 to 39 and maybe would you like to give a very short recap about the previous section we talked about?

Yes,

So last time we were talking about abiding in Ishvara as an alternative to the very kind of difficult path of just trying to control your mind on your own strength.

So to instead of kind of find the strength to control the mind,

Kind of draw on the strength of Ishvara,

Which is,

We could say,

God,

Is defined in the same way as the soul,

As us,

But with the difference that God has never been in ignorance and is kind of the ultimate limit of omniscience.

And Ishvara is denoted by the word Om.

So when you meditate on this syllable Om,

Then you're connecting with this Ishvara and also by extension you're connecting with your own self because it's an extension of Ishvara.

It was a very beautiful section.

I liked it very much,

Also because it spoke about bhakti,

Yoga.

And now we're going to speak about the obstacles that someone can face in order to connect with this Ishvara.

And the next section we will also speak about the state of meditation.

So all the obstacles,

Because it's so easy to speak about it,

But then when you try to do it yourself,

To meditate on the syllable Om,

Then it's not that easy anymore.

So yeah,

Let's go ahead with the Sutra number 30.

Yes,

The Sanskrit goes like this.

It's a very long sutra.

Usually sutras are just a few words,

But this one is Vyadhi,

Styana,

Sanksaya,

Brahmadalasya,

Virati,

Brantidarsana,

Labhadha,

Bhumikatvanavastitatvanichita,

Vikshepastentaraya.

And the translation of that goes like this.

These disturbances are disease,

Idleness,

Doubt,

Carelessness,

Sloth,

Lack of detachment,

Disapprehension,

Failure to attain a base for concentration,

And instability.

They are distractions for the mind.

Yeah,

So in this sutra he really gives a clear kind of full vision of what are the obstacles that one can find.

So when you're not focused,

Some of these obstacles can arise.

And I'm sure,

At least I am very familiar with most of them,

Just in different times of my life or the year.

Some of them are always rising up.

Yes.

I believe they will be familiar to pretty much any listener.

And one way to speak about them by some commentators of the Yoga Sutras has been to see them as a progression,

Starting from the kind of most basic obstacle and then going to more and more subtle obstacles.

And of course,

As you say,

They can come also.

It's not that you always have them in a neat ladder like that.

They can come,

You can ascend some steps on the path and then something from a previous step will arise again,

For example.

Yeah,

And also I think it's important to say that it's normal to have all those obstacles.

Otherwise we would all be saints and liberated right now,

But it's not the case.

So yeah,

Actually by reading these sutras also forward,

We're going to see how it's normal to have those obstacles and how we can slowly overcome them with practice.

Yes,

And it's also inspiring to see that others have tried to tread this path before us and they have kind of charted the territory,

Figured out what the obstacles are,

Kind of shared their experience so that we have some kind of reference.

It's not that we are just lost in our path.

But just for the sake of conceptualization,

It's nice to have this kind of vision of these obstacles as a progression.

So first we have disease,

So to have just physical illness and instability and it's the kind of very first basic thing.

And it's like the previous verse was saying that the focusing on this mantra Aum is going to take us through all these obstacles.

But it doesn't necessarily mean that we will become physically healthy simply by reciting Aum.

So one kind of interpretation is that Aum kind of enlightens our intellect so that we understand,

We kind of get the understanding that we should keep our body healthy and we figure out how.

It's kind of showing us the way.

Yeah.

And then the next step,

Idleness.

So like we may have a physically healthy body,

But we may just like not have the mental capacity to engage in yoga.

It may be due to depression or just kind of feeling down.

But then we may have a physically healthy body,

We may be kind of ready mentally,

But we still have some kind of doubt that like is it really worth all the effort that it takes.

Then there is carelessness,

Which is if like doubt is one side,

That we are doubting whether it's worth it,

Then carelessness is kind of going ahead,

But carelessly.

Then there is,

It's translated as sloth here,

And that is not as deep as this kind of idleness that we described earlier in the progression.

But it's kind of like a later state of that,

Like we're not so lazy that we don't practice at all,

But there's still some kind of laziness in the practice,

You can say.

Then lack of detachment,

Like difficulty giving up things that are not good for our practice may still be there,

Even though we have started to practice.

Then misapprehension,

It is that we have kind of a faulty idea of what the goal is of our practice.

So now like we may be practicing,

We may have given up things,

But we still don't have a clear vision of where we're going.

And then there's failure to attain a base for concentration,

Like we fail to kind of come into kind of an absorbed mental state.

And then finally instability,

And that's when we actually are able to get into that state,

But we're not able to keep it for a very long time.

So these are the distractions for the mind described in Sutra 30.

Hrvoje Kociza Thank you for the very detailed and nice explanation.

So now the other sutras here are going to just mention them,

Right?

So how goes the next one?

31 goes,

Duka dormana syangam,

Ejayatva svasa prasvasa viksye pasah bhuvaha.

And the translation for that one goes like this,

Suffering,

Dejection,

Trembling,

Inhalation and exhalation accompany the distractions.

Then Sutra 32 reads,

Tat pratished dhartam eka tatva bhiyasah,

Translation,

Practice of fixing the mind on one object should be performed in order to eliminate these disturbances.

Sutra 33 reads,

Maitri karuna mudhito pekshanam sukha dukha punya punya visayanam bhavanatas citta prasadanam.

The translation is,

By cultivating an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy,

Compassion toward those in distress,

Joy toward those who are virtuous,

And equanimity toward those who are non-virtuous,

Lucidity arises in the mind.

Sutra 34 reads,

Prachardhana vidharanapyam va pranasya,

Translation,

Or stability of mind is gained by exhaling and retaining the breath.

And here one may wonder why inhalation is not mentioned,

Only exhalation and holding the breath,

But it is to kind of emphasize that when you exhale,

That's when you can empty the mind.

And this is very much like used into meditations and also the previous sutra where it was saying about focusing,

Putting your attention in one point.

This is actually what most of the guided meditation do.

You focus on your breath.

So you focus on your breath and your mind obviously sometimes start wandering around,

But then you're not judging the thoughts,

You just bring it back,

Focus to your breath.

And slowly you will be able to focus on your breath,

Like for longer times.

And this can be something else.

It can be the mantra OM,

It can be just your nose,

The sensation of your nose,

Your ears or whatever,

But it's a very key point of meditation,

Just learning to focus on one point and bring it back.

And then your focus will become stronger and stronger.

Yes.

Yeah,

There were some interesting things in the commentaries about like if you focus on your nose and if you kind of achieve perfection in that sort of,

I mean,

As a practice,

Like not perfection of the path,

But I mean if you're able to focus perfectly on your nose,

You'll be able to smell a kind of divine scent.

And if you focus on your ears,

You will hear like divine sound,

For example.

So that was mentioned,

Like when you focus on one of the kind of senses.

It's very beautiful.

It's something to try.

Yes,

It may be kind of,

You know,

It may inspire you to try it out,

Like there's the curiosity of what that's going to be like.

So next is Sutra 35.

Yes,

It reads,

Visaya vati va pravritir utpana manasa sthiti nibbandhani Translation,

Or else,

A focus on a sense object arises,

And this causes steadiness of the mind.

36 reads,

Visoka va jyotishmati,

Or steadiness of mind is gained when the mind is pain-free and luminous.

Sutra 37 reads,

Vittaraga visayam vacittam,

Or the mind becomes steady when it has one who is free from desire as its object.

So this means you can meditate on someone who has achieved some sort of perfection in yoga.

It's,

Of course,

Especially the most powerful if you actually know such a person and you have met them,

And they just have this kind of calming effect on you,

That you can think of them.

So if you think of how peaceful they are,

Then your mind will also become peaceful.

Sutra 38,

Svapna nidra jnana lambanam va,

Or the mind can become steady when it has the knowledge attained from dreams and sleep as its support.

And here I have a question.

Like this sutra,

It's kind of not fully clear to me.

Like I can understand,

Because like if you really go deep into like the interpretations of dreams,

Actually there is so much that can speak about,

But it's so easy to misunderstand.

So what do you think this sutra really means?

Yeah,

Like dream interpretation can be one way to think about it.

I hadn't thought about it like that,

But if you think about it like if you interpret your dreams in a way that is inspiring for your practice,

Like,

Oh now I had this dream,

This indicates that I should focus in this way,

Or something like that.

But what I heard from the commentaries was that sometimes you can have very lucid and clear visions in your dreams,

Something very,

Like you can have a very beautiful vision of Shiva,

For example,

It was one example that came up.

You may like see Shiva in a dream,

And in your dreams things can be more like vivid.

So then like in your waking life you can remember that something beautiful,

Divine that you saw in a dream.

And if you kind of spend your days trying to remember Ishwar,

Or just kind of absorb in your practice,

Or like I said in the previous verse,

To kind of think of someone who is more advanced than yourself on the path of yoga,

Someone who is inspiring to you,

Then you know,

Something like that,

Like they may appear to you in a dream,

And you can recall that dream in your meditation,

And that can help you to calm your mind also.

Thank you.

Then text 39,

The last one for this session,

Reads,

Yatha bhimata dhyanadva,

Or,

Steadiness of the mind is attained from meditation upon anything of one's inclination.

So this is a classic kind of device in holy texts like this one,

That they kind of begin with something ideal,

And then it says,

If you can't do that,

Then you can do this,

And if you can't do that,

Then you can try this,

And it kind of goes until you come to something like this.

Like,

You know,

If nothing of that works,

Then just try whatever works for you.

It said earlier,

Though,

In one text,

That carelessness is one of the kind of obstacles for the mind,

And this kind of carelessness can also mean that you don't kind of care about the instructions given to you by those who are more advanced,

And you just kind of try to do it like your own way as you wish.

So that shouldn't be confused with this one here.

This one is like you acknowledge that there are maybe more… Options that you can't really perform.

Yeah,

Like you may not be able to perform yoga the way that's like ideal,

But… Not yet,

Let's say.

Yeah,

Not yet,

But there's always something you can do,

And the important thing is that you try to practice.

In the most sincere way you can,

And then slowly the things will come.

Yeah.

Wonderful.

So,

Next section will be from Sutra 40 to 50,

And we will talk about more deeper states of meditation.

Yes,

Looking forward to that,

Both talking about it and attaining them one day also.

Okay,

Thank you,

And see you next time.

See you.

Bye.

I hope this episode fulfilled its purpose of inspiring you.

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