Yoga Sutras, Meditation and Obstacles

Yoga Sutra 1.29:Tatah pratyak chetana adhigamah api antaraya abhavah cha, From this practice (meditation on Om), the awareness turns inward, and the distracting obstacles vanish.

Yoga Sutra 1.30:Vyadhi, styana, samsaya, pramada, alasya, avirati, bhrantidarsana, alabdhabhumikatva, anavasthitatvani, chittavikshepah, te antarayah, Disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensuality, false perception, failure to reach firm ground, and slipping from the ground gained--these distractions of the mind-stuff are the obstacles.

Yoga Sutra 1.31:Duhkha,daurmanasya, angamejayatva, svasa, prasvasa, vikshepa, sahabhuvah, Accompaniments to the mental distractions include distress, despair, trembling of the body, and disturbed breathing.

What a tool to have in the shed! A practice that removes disease. A practice that makes dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensuality, false perception, etc. vanish. This whole chapter is about inward turning of awareness (pratyak chetana)and experiencing samadhi (meditative absorption). Here is a practical explanation of what can happen as the awareness is turned inward. Some schools of yoga feel the eight limbs of yoga are to be practiced as rungs to a ladder-master one step before you move to the next. Here is validation for practicing all the limbs simultaneously as one limb compliments the others (inward turning of awareness is entered into from the fifth to the eighth limbs). Earlier in the Y.S. it was pointed out that if we quiet the mind, happiness is already there, sutra 1.3: then the Self abides in its own true nature. Here author of the Y.S. Pantajali points out by turning the awareness inward with meditation on OM the obstacles will vanish. Technique for quieting the mind and removing the clutter that obscures the Self! This is wholistic health at its most refined level.

In sutra 1.30, B.K.S. Iyengar from his commentary on the Y.S. lists 'disease and dullness' as physical, 'doubt, carelessness, laziness and sensuality' as mental(manas-lower mind), 'false perception' as intellectual, and 'failure to reach firm ground and slipping from the ground gained' as spiritual. We as humans all have work to do. Richard Bach in his book Illusions says, "Here's the test to see if your mission on earth is done or not, if you're alive it isn't." In yoga philosophy if you're not in yoga (union with God) you have work to do. Some of us have more trouble on the physical plane, others mental (emotional-manas), still others more on the intellectual plane, yet others mostly spiritual. Most of us know people who "have it all together" in every socially acceptable manner but need to go on anti-depressants or just aren't happy. Yoga is a positive application of as Shri says, "trickle down economics". A regular meditation practice takes us to the source of happiness (spiritual level) and this trickles down to affect the intellectual, mental and physical levels.

In sutra 1.31, 'distress, despair, trembling of the body, and disturbed breathing' are the symptoms that accompany the distracted state. Carrera's commentary is nice, [In life, the obstacles don't necessarily appear to us as presented in the previous sutra. Not many practitioners have felt, "I am experiencing false perception these days." The obstacles are like viruses. We can't directly perceive their presence in our systems. We need to learn to recognize the symptoms. This sutra presents the main symptoms of the obstacles.]