Sūtra 2.1

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 2.1:

तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः ॥ २.१ ॥

tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ || 2.1 ||

tapaḥ—purificatory action, svādhyāya—study, īśvara-praṇidhāna—worship of God, making God the motive of action, kriyā—of action, yogaḥ—the Yoga.

1. Purificatory action, study and making God the motive of action, IS the Yoga, of action.^[1]—52.

The Sankhya-pravachana commentary of Vyasa

[English translation of the 7th century commentary by Vyāsa called the Sāṅkhya-pravacana, Vyāsabhāṣya or Yogabhāṣya]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

The Yoga for him whose mind is already inclined towards trance cognition, has been described. How may one with an out-going mind become also possessed of Yoga, is now considered ‘The Yoga of action is purificatory action, study and the devotion to God and making Him the motive of action.’

Yoga is not attained by one not given to purificatory action. Impurity is variegated by the eternal in-dwelling of the aroma of action and affliction, and is ever in contact with the network of enjoyables. It cannot be dispersed without purificatory action (tapas). For this reason purificatory action has been taken up (as a factor of the Yoga of action). This is considered an action worthy of performance, as it purifies the mind when not impeded.

Study is the repeated utterance of purifying words, like the A U M and others; or, the reading of the teachings about absolute spiritual freedom (Mokṣa).

‘The devotion to God and making Him the motive of all actions’ means the dedicating of all actions to the Highest Teacher, or the renunciation of its fruit.—52.

The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra

[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]

The question is that the fruit of Yoga and the means thereof, having been described in the first chapter along with their sub-heads, what is the necessity of writing a second chapter? The answer is given:—‘The Yoga for him, &c.’

It is only practice and desirelessness that have been mentioned in the first chapter to be the means of Yoga. They are, however, not possible for the out-going mind also at once. The means, therefore, to be taught in the second chapter are necessary in order to achieve the required purity of mental essence. It is only thereafter that the essence of the Will-to-know, becoming strong enough to preserve itself in that state, daily shows forth the powers of practice and desirelessness.

‘Already inclined towards the trance cognition’ means not only occasionally steady. The meaning is how may the out-going mind also become possessed of Yoga by the practice of the means to be taught?

The author of the aphorisms first takes up some of these means as of first rate importance and usefulness, and describes them as the Yoga of action ‘Purificatory action, &c.’

It is the action itself that is the Yoga in the Yoga of action. It is for this reason that in the Viṣṇupurāṇa in the dialogue between Keśidhvaja and Khāṇḍikya it is said:—

‘When the Yogī first comes into contact with the Yoga, he is called the Yuñjamāna, the Neophyte, the Beginner.’ And beginning with this are mentioned purificatory action and study, &c.

Now the comment shows by the canon of difference that purificatory action must be a means of Yoga:—‘Yoga is not attained by one who is not given to purificatory action.’

He shows a subsidiary result of the purificatory action, justifying its nature as a means of Yoga:—‘Impurity, &c.’ The impurity which is variegated by the aroma of eternal action and affliction, and which is for this very reason in contact with, i.e., approached by the network of enjoyables, consists in the intensity of disturbing energy (rajas) and inertia (tamas), and cannot come to dispersion without purificatory action. Dispersion means the entire separation of objects in thick cohesion.

But the question is what purificatory action may be inimical to Yoga, inasmuch as being taken up as a means of Yoga, it may become the cause of the disturbance of the physiological equilibrium of the forces of the body. How’ then can it be a means of Yoga? For this reason the commentator says:—‘This is considered an action, &c.’ The meaning is that so much of a purificatory action only is to be performed as does not cause the disturbance of the equilibrium of physiological forces.

The words AUM, &c. include such portions of the Veda as the Puruṣa Sukta, the Rudra Maṇḍala and the Brāhmaṇas, &c., as also the portions of the Purāṇas such as the

Brahmapara, &c. The Highest Teacher is Īśvara. To him are actions to be dedicated. It is on this subject that the following has been said Whatever I am doing, beautiful or ugly, with desire or without desire, I renounce all that on thy account; I do all things with submission to thee.’

The renunciation of fruit means the doing of an action without thinking in connection with it of the fruit to be obtained thereby. The following has been said in this connection:—It is in the doing of action alone that thy duty lies, never in its fruits. Never make the fruit of action its motive; never become attached to inaction.—1.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The word ‘tapas’ has been translated as purificatory action, because ‘tapas’ means that which burns up impurities.

The word ‘Īśvarapraṇidhāna’ has been translated as the devotion to God being the motive of action. The same word in the first chapter (I. 23) has been translated as feeling the omnipresence of the Lord. The root meaning of the word ‘pranidhāna’ is the placing of anything under another to the fullest extent (Pra = fullness, Ni = under and Dhāna = placing). In the chapter on trance the word can only mean the contemplation of Him as the substratum of all phenomena. Hence ‘Īśvarapraṇidhāna’ as a means of achieving trance can only mean the habituating of the mind to feel the omnipresence of the divine principle. In a chapter on the Yoga of action however the word cannot be interpreted as carrying the same meaning. As a branch of the Yoga of action ‘praṇidhāna’ must have special reference to action which would be out of place in contemplation. It has, therefore, been translated here as above. The root meaning, it is easy to see, runs through both these meanings.