2.15:Parinama tapa samskara duhkhair guna vritti virodha cha duhkham eva sarvam vivekinah, To one of discrimination, everything is painful indeed, due to its consequences: the anxiety and fear over losing what is gained; the resulting impressions left in the mind to create renewed cravings; and the conflict among the activities of the gunas, which control the mind.
At first view this sutra may seem to paint a depressing picture of life as we know it. Carrera in his commentary points out the similarity of this sutra to the first two of Buddha's Four Noble Truths (1. Life is suffering 2. Suffering is caused by attachment 3. The cessation of suffering is attainable 4. Following the eight-fold path is the way to eliminate suffering). The next sutra is similar to the third noble truth and sutras 2.26 and 2.28 are similar to the fourth noble truth.
Let's take a look at the three ways in which life is suffering:
"Anxiety and fear over losing what is gained"-this is another way of looking at the fact that external things don't give lasting happiness. When we gain something of value to us, Patanjali points out that this leads to anxiety and fear over losing this valuable item or thing. Whether we will lose it is not the question only how and when. This leads back to the idea of nonattachment (vairagya) which was discussed in l.15 and 1.16. When our happiness is attached to an item or thing then it is very tenuous. Nonattachment is the outcome of self mastery (sutra 1.15). If our peace of mind is cultivated in a yogic practice or other spiritual practice then losing something will not be our undoing. This idea that things cause pain is misunderstood and can justify a life of poverty, or a lack of emphasis on "progress" as has been India's history. On the other hand if we are working on filling ourselves up on the inside, i.e. a spiritual practice,then a comfortable house and good food etc. could be helpful in our quest to become Self Realized. If there are unhealthy relationships with our things, i.e. too much emphasis on the external, then they are probably more of a hindrance to inner happiness.
"the resulting impressions left in the mind to create renewed cravings"-impressions or samskaras in sanskrit are memories left behind of experiences. This is a patterning of the mind to what has been done before. Acting out of spiritual ignorance one tries to fill the void in any number of ways and each time this is done there is a samskara left behind making it more likely to repeat this pattern in the future. The same applies to avoidance of pain (see sutras 2.7 and 2.8-the third and fourth klesas). Once again neither Patanjali nor Buddha are saying that it has to end like this.
"the conflict among the activities of the gunas, which control the mind." Here I believe Patanjali is mainly talking about change. The gunas, sattva (the quality of purity and balance), rajas (the quality of activity and restlessness) and tamas (the quality of inertia and dullness) are the yin and yang of yoga. They are terms for describing the changing and opposite values of prakriti (nature, creation). One can't be completely separated from the others and at any given time there is a preponderance of one of the three. The mind is still considered part of the manifest and changing universe and therefore is subject to constant change. Therefore we are advised to quiet the mind and let the unchanging nature of the Purusha or inner Self shine through.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Yoga Sutras 2.13 and 2.14
2.13:Sati mule tad vipakah jati ayuh bhogah, With the existence of the root, there will also be fruits: the births of different species of life, their life spans, and experiences.
"With the existence of the root" refers to the connection between karma and the klesas (afflictions of which spiritual ignorance or avidya is primary). As long as an individual soul operates from a level of spiritual ignorance then it is subject to the laws of karma which determine the birth, life span and experiences. As I explained in the previous sutra (see 2.12) there are three types of karma. Sanchit is the storehouse of all past actions including present and past lives, pralabdha is the karma that is put into play from sanchit in the current incarnation. These are out of the control of the individual's free will and are what is referred to in sutra 2.13. Kriyaman or the karma that is being accrued at the present moment is that which can be influenced by free will though as determinists will argue this is influenced strongly by our station in life and past conditioning. This is one of the realizations of a meditating yogi/yogini, we are not totally free to act the way we really want since our actions are so influenced by the klesas. This is why Patanjali recommends the yogic life style which culminates in kaivalya or liberation.
2.14: Te hlada paritapa palah punya apunya hetutvat, The karmas bear fruits of pleasure and pain caused by merit and demerit.
This is the law of cause and effect that most people associate with karma. As we sow so shall we reap. If we ad to this the concept of reincarnation then we have a broader base on which to draw. Most people don't remember past lives. Edgar Cayce said the reason we don't have easy access to past life experiences is similar to the diver with the old system of oxygen support-a suit with a hose that is feeding air to the diver-this diver doesn't have awareness of what goes on above since it would only impede his performance down below. We need all the focus we can muster to function as well as we can in our current circumstances. He also says that we have enough trouble dealing with the guilt from the present life let alone the guilt we would have if we recalled all the actions of many previous lives. This sutra helps explain the reason for such diverse conditions that we are born into. Though the ultimate goal isn't just to have pleasurable circumstances to live in but to learn from our mistakes and ultimately merge with God.
There are several reasons we are told not to judge others (Matthew 7.1). First since we are judging from our current state of consciousness which is like looking through colored lenses-the color of which is based on our experiences and realizations-in other words we are judging ourselves when judging others. Another is that since we are only living out a small portion of our karma in this present life (pralabdha karma) we can't judge one's past demerit or merit based on one's current circumstances. For example a person such as a street person who seemingly has difficult life circumstances might be an evolved soul that has chosen to work out his/her last bit of karma before enlightenment, while an influential person such as a surgeon with comfortable circumstances might be a relatively unenlightened being that has chosen a small amount of karma to work out in his/her current incarnation.
Finally this law of cause and effect is similar to Newtonian physics which explains most circumstances. Just like Einsteinian physics accounts for matter as it approaches the speed of light, immersion of the individual into samadhi (higher states of awareness) accounts for a yogi/yogini removing the root of further suffering by removing spiritual ignorance and circumventing this normal cause and effect continuum.
"With the existence of the root" refers to the connection between karma and the klesas (afflictions of which spiritual ignorance or avidya is primary). As long as an individual soul operates from a level of spiritual ignorance then it is subject to the laws of karma which determine the birth, life span and experiences. As I explained in the previous sutra (see 2.12) there are three types of karma. Sanchit is the storehouse of all past actions including present and past lives, pralabdha is the karma that is put into play from sanchit in the current incarnation. These are out of the control of the individual's free will and are what is referred to in sutra 2.13. Kriyaman or the karma that is being accrued at the present moment is that which can be influenced by free will though as determinists will argue this is influenced strongly by our station in life and past conditioning. This is one of the realizations of a meditating yogi/yogini, we are not totally free to act the way we really want since our actions are so influenced by the klesas. This is why Patanjali recommends the yogic life style which culminates in kaivalya or liberation.
2.14: Te hlada paritapa palah punya apunya hetutvat, The karmas bear fruits of pleasure and pain caused by merit and demerit.
This is the law of cause and effect that most people associate with karma. As we sow so shall we reap. If we ad to this the concept of reincarnation then we have a broader base on which to draw. Most people don't remember past lives. Edgar Cayce said the reason we don't have easy access to past life experiences is similar to the diver with the old system of oxygen support-a suit with a hose that is feeding air to the diver-this diver doesn't have awareness of what goes on above since it would only impede his performance down below. We need all the focus we can muster to function as well as we can in our current circumstances. He also says that we have enough trouble dealing with the guilt from the present life let alone the guilt we would have if we recalled all the actions of many previous lives. This sutra helps explain the reason for such diverse conditions that we are born into. Though the ultimate goal isn't just to have pleasurable circumstances to live in but to learn from our mistakes and ultimately merge with God.
There are several reasons we are told not to judge others (Matthew 7.1). First since we are judging from our current state of consciousness which is like looking through colored lenses-the color of which is based on our experiences and realizations-in other words we are judging ourselves when judging others. Another is that since we are only living out a small portion of our karma in this present life (pralabdha karma) we can't judge one's past demerit or merit based on one's current circumstances. For example a person such as a street person who seemingly has difficult life circumstances might be an evolved soul that has chosen to work out his/her last bit of karma before enlightenment, while an influential person such as a surgeon with comfortable circumstances might be a relatively unenlightened being that has chosen a small amount of karma to work out in his/her current incarnation.
Finally this law of cause and effect is similar to Newtonian physics which explains most circumstances. Just like Einsteinian physics accounts for matter as it approaches the speed of light, immersion of the individual into samadhi (higher states of awareness) accounts for a yogi/yogini removing the root of further suffering by removing spiritual ignorance and circumventing this normal cause and effect continuum.
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