Part 3d - Āstika Darśana (4): Yoga Darśana of Patañjali

1. About Patañjali:

The Indian culture is believed to be over 5000 years old. However as is well known, we in India have not been able to methodically compile our history due to several reasons. Therefore, any discussion about time periods of our History, Culture, Literature and Scriptures has often proved to be contentious with historians.

Yoga darśana of Patañjali is generally believed to have been compiled around 150 BC^[1] . There are divergent views as to the birth place of Patañjali. Some say that he was born at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu whereas some others say his birth place is Gonarda near Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. However, Patañjali is not considered to be the original inventor of Yoga. It is generally accepted that Yoga is around 5000 years old. Sage Yājñavalkya -disciple of Hiraṇyagarbha, first enunciated major Yogic Percepts. Patañjali undertook the first systematic compilation of Yoga in the form of sūtras (aphorisms). The ultimate aim of Yogadarśana is nirbīja (seedless) samādhi, in which the aspirant becomes one with the universal consciousness. Yogasūtras of Patañjali seek to only establish its own tenets and not to refute the views of other systems.

The bhāṣya (commentary) on the Yogasūtra is accepted as the first known written commentary authored by one Vyāsa, who is not to be confused with Vyāsa, the author of Mahābhārata.

yogena cittasya padenavācām malaṃ śarīrasya ca vaidaykena |
yo'pākarottaṃ prakaraṃ munīnāṃ patañjaliṃ prāñjalirānato'smi || Bhartṛhari^[2]

I salute Patañjali, who has given Yoga to us for cleansing of the citta, Grammar for cleansing the diction and Ayurveda for removal of diseases of the body. He therefore is triune of Sciences of Language, Health and Mind.

Rajneesh says about Patañjali’s Yoga^[3] -

Yoga is a perfect science. It does not teach to believe; it teaches to know. It does not say to you, ‘Become blind followers’; it says, ‘Open your eyes’, and it gives you the method how to open your eyes. It does not say anything about the truth. It simply says everything about your vision; how to attain the vision, the capacity to see, the eyes, so that whatsoever there is, is revealed to you. And it is tremendous even to conceive that one man has put the whole science together. Nothing is lacking, but the science is waiting for humanity to come close so that the science can be understood.

2. Concept of sūtras -

alpākṣaramasandigdhaṃ sāravat viśvatomukham |
astobhamanavadyaṃ ca sūtraṃ sūtravido viduḥ || ^[4]

According to the knowers of sūtra, the sūtra composition essentially should be precise, not giving rise to any doubt, presenting essence of many thoughts, cohererant and blemishless.

In the time when the Vedic Literature came into being, the written languages were not evolved. In the guru-śiṣya-paramparā (Teacher-Student tradition) therefore, the knowledge and wisdom were passed on to the succeeding generations verbally. It was essential for the students to memorize the verses, ṛks and sūtras. In particular, sūtras (aphorisms) were very concise and to the point.

They meant to convey very accurate and vast meaning in least number of words. Another purpose of adopting least number of words was, they would then be easy to remember and could be transmitted through generations without any loss of words in transit.

ardhamātrālāghavena putrotsavaṃ manyante vaiyākaraṇāḥ |

It is believed that, if any grammarian could save even one punctuation mark or letter while composing a sūtra, the joy that he would feel, would be comparable to if he would have been blessed with a Son.

Osho has beautifully likened the concept of sūtras to that of a Telegram. As in telegram, one cuts out all superfluous words and retains only the essential ones, and still the meaning is more than complete. So also in sūtras.

Yogadarśana goes hand in hand with Sāṅkhyadarśana since Yogadarśana has accepted the Sāṅkhya doctrines almost in its entirety save for a few exceptions/additions. It does not have metaphysics of its own. The main difference between the two schools of Philosophies is that Yogadarśana has introduced concept of Īśvara which is symbolized by OM.

The study of Yogadarśana of Patañjali in itself is a sādhanā. This is so since it is an experiential science. Study of Yogadarśana merely from the curiosity aspect may not be of much use to an aspirant unless the Philosophies espoused are put to use by him as a life style.

Patañjali is believed to have given three very important gifts to Mankind.

1) For obtaining the liberation, he provided Yogadarśana

2) For removing the diseases of the body, he wrote Ayurveda and

3) For correcting the Speech and Language he gave vyākaraṇaśāstra or the Grammatical Science. Patañjali was a rare genius combining Sciences of Language, Health and Spirituality. The present research work limits itself to the study of Yogadarśana of Patañjali.

It was a practice in the days the Yogadarśana was originated, that the benefits (phalaśruti) of the treatise is described at the beginning itself. The first chapter is titled as samādhipāda meaning that the object of the Yogadarśana is to lead the aspirant to samādhi verily we know as Liberation, Salvation or Emancipation. The subsequent three chapters or pādas describe the ways and means to attain samādhi. The Yogadarśana of Patañjali is a beautiful combination of theory and practical aspects or the Science and Technology of process of ending misery and attainment of samādhi.

Concept of Kaivalya According to Yogadarśana -

Sāṅkhya and Yoga are considered as twin systems in Indian Philosophy. Sāṅkhya provide a basic theoretical exposition of human nature, enumerating and defining its elements, analyzing their manner of cooperation in a state of bondage (bandha), and describing their separation in release (mokṣa), while Yoga treats specifically of the dynamics of the process for the separation, and outlines practical techniques for the obtainment of release, or kaivalya. In Bhagvadgītā ^[5] , Lord Kṛṣṇa has also said that Sāṅkhya and Yoga are not different from each other.

In Yogadarśana, when the vṛttis of the citta are brought to a complete standstill, the seer (pure soul) is rest abolished in its pure form, which is called as the state of kaivalya.

tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe'vasthānam ||3||

In Yogadarśana, avidyā is the cause of bondage. Avidyā is understanding permanent, pure, pleasure and soul as (respectively) the impermanent, impure, pain and non-soul.

anityāśuciduḥkhānātmasu nityaśucisukhātmakhyātiravidyā ||5||

Because of avidyā, union of draṣṭā (the seer) and dṛṣya (seen) creates the pain. Through the destruction of avidyā, this union also gets destroyed, which is called as hāna. It is the liberated state of puruṣa.

Way to attain kaivalya -

Through repeated daily practice of 8 yogāṅgas, diminution and consequent disappearance of impurities, there arises the illumination of knowledge, which develops up to the stage of vivekakhyāti (the ultimate realization of the discrimination between puruṣa and prakṛti). In subsequent chapters in this thesis, the details of the Yogic practices have been discussed.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

S.N. Dasgupta, Yoga Philosophy and Religion, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co, Ltd., London, 1924 p. vii

[2]:

Vinoba Sahitya, vol. VII, p. 304

[3]:

Osho, Yoga the Alpha and the Omega, Vol. VII, Rajneesh Foundation, 1977, introduction page

[4]:

Panini, Laghusisshanta Kaumudi,Geetapress,Gorakhpur,Saṅdyna prakaran,p11

[5]:

Bhagavadgītā - V-4 — [...] ||