Part 4.7.2 - Yogic (Spiritual) Remedies

[Full title: The Concept and Content of Patanjali Yogadarsana (7.2): Yogic (Spiritual) Remedies]

1. Kriyayoga

The practice of kriyayoga is for attenuation of klesas (afflictions) and for the purpose of samadhi^[1] according to Yogasutra. The regular and continuous practice thins down all klesas with fire of discrimination (prasamkhyana) and then, renders them infertile as burnt seeds and develops and nurtures samadhi. Kriyayoga is facilitatory for the final goal of astangayoga i.e. samadhi. The role of Isvara-pranidhana towards attainment of ultimate goal is also explained earlier on the basis of sutras -1.23 and 2.45. So, kriyayoga must be practiced with this goal in mind.

All above mentioned klesas are not independent from each other. The doctrine of karma and reincarnation is exceedingly unpalatable to many people because it makes each one of us directly responsible for our present condition. Most of us do not like taking responsibility and start blaming others like fate, parents or God for that. Actually this doctrine implies a profoundly optimistic belief in the justice and order of the universe. If it is we, not the God or parents or others, who have made our present predicament, then it’s we only, who can change it. We have no excuse or reason for despair. All we need is consistent efforts to improve the status and determination not to give up the struggle.

A worldly person immersed in its illusory pursuits of pleasures or power life may appear to consist of a mixture of pleasures and pains, joys and sorrows, but for the wise man (vivekin) endowed with discrimination whose spiritual faculties have been awakened, all the experiences of life are either actively or potentially full of misery. This is because certain conditions like parinama (change), tapa (acute anxiety, suffering), samskara (habituation) and guna-vrtti-virodha (conflicts between functioning of guna and vrttis) are inherent in life, causing misery^[2]. All three attributes or gunas: sattva (prakasa, the principles of illumination), rajas (kriya, activity) and tamas (sthiti, inertia), five modifications (vrttis) always keep on changing. Happiness and misery always follow each other. Unfortunately, we take these transitory things like happiness in our life as ever lasting and then, we suffer when we loose them. Such anxiety or fear is always there with us at our subconscious level. The main cause is avidya.

The change is an instrinsic aetiological factor in the production of duhkha. We need to adjust continuously to the changing surroundings and new circumstances. This continuous necessity for adjustment in life is a source of constant discomfort and pain to each one of us. So, this is also a major affliction of which one would like to get free. The samskaras or habituation act as hindrance and leads to duhkha, when a change in circumstances is to be faced. We can understand from this that parinama; tapa and samskara are different aspects of one and the same thing viz. the chain of birth and death and through this chain dukha (suffering) enters into our lives.

There is one more chain working internally that brings duhkha in our life that is everlasting conflict between the guna-pattern of an individual’s citta and that of vrtti. Guna-vrtti-virodha is a conflict between the functioning of trigunas among themselves and natural tendencies caused by dominance by one of the gunas and state of mind, which is constantly changing. As a remedy, if one tries to meditate and catches the joyful moments being close to the nature with awareness, he experiences a different quality of life. Here Yoga gives solution in the form of awareness.

Each one of us has his own sins and virtues, related to our duties, responsibilities and present spiritual condition. What we can do is to search our own consciences and try to relate our own motives on any particular occasion to the great central motive of our lives. But, unfortunately we seek happiness through gratification of senses. And for this, we spend lots of energy in wrong direction. With less effort, we might easily have found long lasting bliss in the form of samadhi, had we not been misled by our ignorance or the false knowledge.

Values given to things and events in practical life by so called knowledgeable people are wrong from spiritual point of view. All pragmatic knowledge leads to wrong viewpoints. But, unfortunately avidya, as a klesa persists in each individual as one is living a human existence.

As per yogasutra, avidya is the breeding ground for other subsequent afflictions whether they are dormant, attenuated, interrupted or generously active^[3]. Thus, avidya is called mother of other four miseries. This means that other klesas namely asmita, raga, dvesa and abhinivesa are evolutes of and develop on the ground of avidya. If avidya is removed, others automatically will disappear. How much other afflictions will grow on the support of avidya depends upon the functional intensity of these other klesas and each one of them exists in four states . Dormant or prasupta state is normally with Yogis or spiritual personalities, who have got control over senses and desires. Next state is feeble or tanu. True aspirants and spiritual beginners are having this state. Most of us or common laymen have interrupted, separated or vicchina state, where these people intentionally work again and again at intervals. Here, sometimes afflictions are present and sometimes they are absent. Udara state is having afflictions in fully active state. Such persons are hazardous for the society. According to Vyasa and Vacaspati, one has to start in the reverse order (pratiprasava) of handling stages of klesa for extinguishing them. Finally, complete extinction of avidya is possible and we can achieve that ultimate state. Attainment of perfection in Yoga can happen only with kaivalya or liberation.

Normally, we all are interested in worldly life and so carrying all these afflictions in generously active form. With maturity, experiences in life and higher understanding bring changes in the outlook of life and improvement in our approach towards the world and our goal. This new approach along with continuous Yoga practices including kriyayoga weakens the afflictions which become dormant over a period of time.

2. Astangayoga and Dhyana (Meditation)

Patanjali continuously guides us through various practices in the form of sutras. In their fully developed form, these klesas (afflictions) can be overcome through dhyana (meditation)^[4]. This dhyana implies to all those mental processes and exercises which may help the aspirants to reduce the active klesas to passive form. It may include reflection, brooding over the deeper problems of life, changing habits of thoughts and attitudes and progressing towards the ultimate goal of the life.

When the obstacles have been reduced to a vestigial form (Initially by practicing kriyayoga, asana, pranayama and finally by meditation), they can be destroyed by resolving the mind back into prakrti, its primal cause^[5], from which it was projected. All our religions and Indian darsanas came into existence to fulfil the eternal desire to achieve the permanent annihilation of dukha. Patanjal Yoga assures us of prevention of those sufferings which are yet to come through some very practical means or spiritual practices. The pain which is yet to come can and is to be avoided^[6] as it is caused by false identification of the experience with the object of experience^[7]. The experiencer (drastu) is the Self (atman), our real nature and the object of experience (drsya) is the totality of the apparent world including the mind and senses. The union of this knower with the known is the cause of misery which can be avoided or abandoned.

3. Abhyasa-Vairagya

As compared to most orthodox religions of the world, philosophy of Yoga differs fundamentally to make us believe that death no more solves our spiritual problems than night solves a poor-man’s economical problem. If you are poor economically you do not expect to get reach overnight and if you are poor spiritually, bound by illusions and limitations of all kinds, you can not expect to become enlightened in next life^[8]. Yoga makes it possible to make you rich spiritually. So, one has to choose this discipline at earliest to avoid suffering forever.

The karmas which already exist are beyond our control; we can only wait until they have worked themselves out and accept their fruits with courage and patience. But the karma which we are creating now can definitely be avoided not by ceasing to act, but by detachment, by ceasing to desire the fruits of action for oneself. For this, Patanjali gives various techniques that a true aspirant can try. One of those practices as per Yogasutra 2.17 to abolish cause of duhkha is to avoid union of two, drasta (the seer principle) and drsya (seen)^[9]. The purusa-tattva in an individual becomes the perceiver or experiencer i.e. drasta and seems to get related to the things experienced by citta and body (drsya). Thus the samyoga of drasta and drsya (the subjective and objective aspects of the nature) produces duhkha for the drasta purusa, the real self principle.

This drsya or prakrti (seen) is composed of three gunas–sattva, rajas and tamas. From this, the whole universe has evolved together with the elements, mind and senses (bhuta and indriya, instruments of knowledge). If we regard our lives as perpetual search for meaning, an exercise in discrimination between the real and the unreal, then we shall welcome all kinds of experiences, both pleasant and painful. Everything that happens to us, no matter how seemingly trivial, through out the day, offers some tiny clue which could lead us towards wider spiritual knowledge and eventual liberation^[10]. Yogasutra (2.18) has analysed and placed before us the fundamental facts concerning the essential nature of the phenomenal world and its perception and purpose. He has used three words as illumination, activity and inertia in place of sattva, rajas and tamas. They support the entire substratum (maya or prakrti). The Object (knowable) is by nature sentient, mutable and inert. It also consists of elements and senses (indriyas, i.e. jnanendriyas and karmendriyas) and it is for the sake of experience followed by liberation. The common routine activity of each individual is varga as per Vedanta and the ultimate goal of all these is moksa or apavarga. After a prolonged journey of several births, one returns to the original source. Patanjali has termed this journey here as bhoga-apavarga through pratiprasava.

Classical Yoga recognizes four hierarchic levels of existence^[11], whose character is determined by the relative dominance of the three gunas:

1. . The particularized (visesa);
2. The unparticularized (avisesa);
3. The pure differentiated (linga-matra);
4. The undifferentiated (alinga);

The specific (visesa) or definable state of Gunas includes sixteen principles: five mahabhutas, five sense organs, five action organs and the mind. Universal (avisesa) or indefinable state includes six subtle principles. They are five tanmatras and cosmic ego (asmita). Linga-matra (just a symbol, pointer) state of guna includes cosmic intelligence (mahat). The unmanifested (alinga) state without any differentiating characteristics is the main principle called prakrti-drasta.

This isolated prakrti, undifferentiated state is the transcendental core of the nature, which is pure potentiality. It is without any identifyable characteristics or linga. Actually it is the perfect balance of three gunas. From this level, lingamatra (pure differentiated) emerges, the first principle of existence, similar to pure I-am-ness, asmita or ahamkara on the individual human level. From this evolve the five types of fine structures of sensory experiences (tanmatras). This, inturn, gives rise to the eleven types of senses (indriyas) on one side and the five types of material elements (bhutas) on the other. In other words, it is the principle of pure I-am-ness that produces both the sutrachomental and the physical realities.

The seer (drasta) is only a witness and devoid of all gunas and subsequent mutation^[12]. Though he is pure, beholds the mental modifications and appears to get the experience through citta. The enlightened souls^[13] witness the worldly affairs where as the laymen like us get involved in these affairs and suffer.

The very existence of the seen is for the sake of that atmann. The nature of the knowable (drsya) is really the object of that i.e. the knower (purusa). Thus, the whole drama is being played inorder to provide experience for the growth and self-realization of the purusas who are involved in the show.

The very being of the seen (prakrti) is for his (purusa, drasta) sake. Then, once for the Yogi whose purpose has been accomplished, the manifested Universe vanishes. Thus, Prakrti becomes non-existent for purusa, whose purpose has been fulfilled for him, but still exists for others (purusas, who have not attained kaivalya)^[14]. Such Yogi while acting in the world, is always in tune with the reality and does not involve in any action, just observe the action.

The true spiritual aspirant would start knowing the exact difference between seen and seer and then will try to isolate purusa (seer) from its involvement with prakrti (seen), which plays subordinate role, to proceed towards liberation.

Philosophy works through the medium of intellect which has got certain limitations of understanding certain truths and realities of spiritual life. But that does not mean that we should throw away this instrument. Our intellect gives us some support in organizing our effort to know the truth in the only way in which it can be known i.e. by self realization. Hence the wise student of Yoga takes various doctrines of philosophy and religion lightly, as tentative explanations and interpretations of truth beyond the realm of intellect, but uses them as best as he can in his direct discovery of those truths. Thus, we should make proper use of the philosophy while practically using scientific knowledge of Yoga. But, this should not happen at the cost of wasting limited time from our life in discussing non-essential facts of this phenomenal world. Because when we focus our energy in unraveling the mystery of life and finding the Reality, all other problems automatically are understood and get solved without undergoing process of intellectual analysis and reasoning.

Some scholars believe that mind, having the power of concentration and expansion like the light of a lamp placed in a pot is possessed of the form only of the dimension of the body. The whole process of series of experiences of our life is an uninterrupted play of actions and reactions. The “will to live” does not allow all the vasanas to get destroyed inspite of practice of Yoga and niskama karma, though they get more and more refined. As the cause and effect are always bound together, the best remedy to get rid of these vasanas in the form of effect is to eliminate the cause from the root. It was clearly explained earlier that the root cause of all miseries, desires and other afflictions is avidya. Our desire to live also is one form of avidya.

Patanjali clarifies that on disappearance of the cause (hetu or avidya), the effect (phala or vasanas) gets disappeared automatically^[15]. Karma-phala-samskara chain gets broken when the cause is removed. The absence of cause, motive and support results into absence of the residues or vasanas. The remedies for these klesas and desires are extreme detachment (para-vairagya) and kriyayoga as explained by Patanjali at various places.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

samādhibhāvanārthaḥkleśatanūkaraṇārthaśca || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.2, I.K.Taimni, The Science of Yoga, The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai, 2005, p.119

[2]:

pariṇāmatāpasaṃskāraduḥkhairguṇavṛttivirodhācca duḥkhameva sarvaṃ vivekinaḥ || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.15

[3]:

avidyākṣetramuttareṣāṃ prasuptatanuvicchinnodārāṇām || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.4

[4]:

dhyānaheyāstadvṛttayaḥ || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.11, Prabhavananda, Patanjala Yogasutra, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, 2010, p.83

[5]:

te pratiprasavaheyāḥ sūkṣmāḥ || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.10

[6]:

heyaṃ duḥkhamanāgatam || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.16

[7]:

draṣṭṛdṛśyayoḥ saṃyogoheyahetuḥ || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.17

[8]:

I.K.Taimni, The Science of Yoga, The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai, 2005, p.154

[9]:

P.V.Karambelkar, Patanjali Yogasutra, Kaivalyadham, Lonavla, p.?[2]06

[10]:

prakāśakriyāsthitiśīlaṃbhūtendriyātmakaṃ bhogāpavargārthaṃdṛśyam || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.18, Prabhavananda, Patanjala Yogasutra, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, 2010, p. 88-89

[11]:

viśeṣāviśeṣaliṅgamātrāliṅgāniguṇaparvāṇi || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.19

[12]:

draṣṭādṛśimātraḥ śuddho'pipratyayānupaśyaḥ || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.20

[13]:

tadartha eva dṛśyasyātmā || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.21

[14]:

kṛtārthaṃ pratinaṣṭamapyanaṣṭaṃ tadanyasādhāraṇatvāt || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 2.22, I.K.Taimni, The Science of Yoga, The Theosophical Publishing House, Chennai, 2005, p.171

[15]:

hetuphalāśrayālambanaiḥ saṅgṛhītatvādeṣāmabhāve tadabhāvaḥ || Patanjali Yoga Sutra, 4.11