Article 1

The YogaSutrasare the classic text on yoga, explaining the whole of the practical philosophy and psychology that yoga students at differing stages of their development need to progress along their path towards peace, love and happiness.

They were written by Lord Patanjali, the Hindu God serving Lord Vishnu, teaching in about 500 BC, and consist of four chapters. The first gives the mental disciplines and the second gives the physical disciplines required for yoga. The third chapter discusses the effects of practice and the fourth considers the result, liberation.

This, the first of 6 articles, comments on the first 13 verses of the first chapter.

Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the consciousness. When there are no fluctuations of the mind, instead of you being disturbed by the energy of Prakriti (Mother Nature), you bask in the light of the Soul or of God.

Fluctuations of the consciousness involve suffering or not. The experience of not suffering is either one of happiness or one of peace, or of both combined. Fluctuations which involve suffering are the cause of the five afflictions of mankind referred to in II.3. For the yogi, however, all fluctuations are undesirable, because he wants to be in a state of permanent union with his love: the Soul or God ("liberation").

Fluctuations of consciousness create tendencies towards good or evil which in turn lead to happiness or misery. Good or evil result from compliance with or breaches of the codes of Yama and Niyama (ethics and religious discipline).

There are five states of consciousness: experienced knowledge, misconception, imagination, deep or dreamless sleep and memory.

The purpose of the world around us (prakriti) is for us to experience and draw correct conclusions, and for liberation. These experiences include what we hear, see, touch, feel and taste. In particular, it includes the written word of the Hindu scriptures and texts, the voice and wisdom communicated by one's Guru, the love given by one's spouse, the love given by one's mother, and the food one eats. Such experience can most directly help one on a path to liberation.

Experiences are real, but one can draw false conclusions, e.g. by thinking that the scriptures are false. However, even false conclusions are useful, because if we believed in all our experiences we would be overwhelmed. Imagination too has positive and negative aspects - positive when used for artistic purposes, negative when used to give a false sense of security for example. Deep sleep is necessary, but too much deep sleep prevents one from doing one's duty and makes one sluggish.

Experienced right knowledge comes from three sources: sensory experiences, inference and reliable testimony. Your senses do not lie, if you are physically well. Your ability to correctly infer (i.e. use logic) is infallible, if you are (perfectly mentally) sane. Reliable testimony is one that comes from God. Since Lord Patanjali is an aspect of God, the Yoga Sutra is reliable testimony and everything contained in it is true.

There are three types of yoga practitioner: searchers after material wealth and happiness (Guru is Mother Nature), after one's Soul (usually this is a feminine principle, because most ascetics are male), or after God. A person who is in search of His/Her Self is not qualified for yoga practice, because yoga is not intended for selfish purposes. Seeking material wealth and happiness is a legitimate aim of life and therefore is not classed as a selfish activity.

The five states of fluctuation of consciousness are restrained by practice and by non-attachment to results.

Practice involves steadfast effort to still or maintain stillness in the fluctuations of the consciousness. It involves consistent persistent dedicated effort to still the mind, since the mind is well known as being exceedingly difficult to tame. It does not mean practice of postures. The first four limbs of Yoga are a support for the practice of stilling the mind. The precise practices to be followed depend on one's stage of development in yoga and are specified throughout all four chapters of the yoga sutras.

Such practice is required in all aspects of your life, constantly, day in day out. Every thought needs to be analysed for usefulness (since they are all given by God). Practice needs to be undertaken with all one's faculties engaged - with energy and commitment and joy. This steadfast effort is required for all the practices referred to in the Yoga Sutras.

For non-attachment, one's sexual energy field needs to be perfected, i.e. satisfied. Once satisfied there is an absence of passion, i.e. dispassion, in all matters, not just sexual. Dispassion in turn leads to desirelessness, which automatically generates non-attachment to results. Sexual satisfaction is mostly obtained through marriage, but occasionally someone is born with a perfected sexual energy field and is then ready to lead the life of an ascetic or hermit (monk or nun in the Christian tradition). Marriage then is the most important pre-requisite and helpful factor for most people in fulfilling the condition of non-attachment to results. In addition, the yoga practitioner needs to want and strive for non-attachment to results.

Practice leads towards happiness, non-attachment leads towards peace, and practice combined with non-attachment lead towards happiness and peace. A person who is seeking material things, pleasure, happiness or health will need to focus on practice rather than non-attachment. A spiritual seeker will need to focus on non-attachment whilst a seeker after God will develop both practice and non-attachment.

Usually, the desire for stilling the mind comes mainly from the experience of deep sorrow or pain, with the attendant turbulence that results to one's emotional and love energy fields, and perhaps also to one's physical and mental or other energy fields. Human birth is therefore necessary for developing an appetite for yoga. Most often one does not know what one's true goals are. For this reason it is safest to use and develop both practice and non-attachment.

These two, practice and non-attachment to results, are the core of yoga and are required in order to achieve a still aware mind. This still but aware state of consciousness is one of the yogic states of Samadhi, the eighth and last stage of yoga.

Article 2

This, the second of 6 articles, comments on the last 38 verses of the first chapter of The Yoga Sutras. The first 13 verses noted that Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the consciousness, and explained what the fluctuations are and the principles required to still them.

This practice of stilling the consciousness, when rooted, results in a transformation of one's personality and behaviour. You need to practice with devotion, without any distraction and over many lifetimes. However, the Yoga Sutra discusses two means to still the mind: the traditional step by step approach and the fast easy track obtained through the procedure of surrendering your body, mind and heart to God ("Ishvara Pranidhana"). The Yoga Sutra was written 2500 years ago when the first route was still possible because obstacles to religious devotion were less and the world was a tranquil place with mankind having patience. Which person today is prepared to sit and meditate for decade after decade, and which person will have an active peaceful happy and intelligent mind at the end of this period? Nowadays only by enlisting God's help will you succeed in the objectives of yoga practice as outlined in the Yoga Sutra.

With the traditional path one needs to be or become non-attached to worldly things, pleasures, happiness and health. With the alternative path discussed in the Yoga Sutra, you need to become attached to God (which in turn means that you become less attached to the world).

The end experience of Yoga is Samadhi, Yogic trance. One whilst conscious departs from the world of dream and ordinary reality and gains an understanding of the ultimate reality (God or God's laws) through one of four methods: analysis, meditation, joy and feeling at one with oneself. Followers of the traditional path have direct perception of their Soul but will not see God. Followers ofIshvara Pranidhana experience a fifth type of Samadhi.

With yogic experiences, one develops deep faith in yoga. Experience of God and the laws of God bring total faith in yoga.

What does surrender of oneself to God mean? It means doing everything that He/She wants you to do. The yoga sutra states that if you surrender to God, He/She will grant you an ability to voluntarily experience Samadhi. It is only the one Ultimate God, not any God, who has the power to confer this boon on you.

It should perhaps be noted here that of the six classical systems of Indian philosophy, only yoga philosophy incorporates God. Indian philosophers since the beginning of the Kali yug age around 2500 BC have become increasingly atheistic in outlook. This trend has of course now been followed into modern society. Few, if any, human beings have absolute faith in God, nor perfect lack of faith, as noted in the second chapter.

The Yoga Sutra then proceeds to define God. He is a distinct Soul un-affected by afflictions, actions, their results and the various impressions resulting from actions. God, as the ultimate creator of all, naturally suffers when He/She sees Selves and Souls suffering. He has unsurpassed omniscience and is the ultimate cause of everything in the universe. In comparison to God there are no other sacred teachers. His teaching does not vary with time, other teachers teach according to their age, development etc. The Hindu scriptures describe in detail the characteristics of God.

God is heard and can sometimes be seen by His sign 'Om' (pronounced AUM). Om has a soothing effect and a magical effect on you.

Lord Patanjali next gives those students of yoga who have peace of mind a mental discipline with which to progress along their path. This is constant repetition of Om with feeling (i.e. contemplation on God) (not mechanical chanting). He notes that all the fundamental impediments to yoga practice (disease, sluggishness, doubt, carelessness, idleness, sense gratification, living in illusion, lack of perseverance, and inability to maintain the achieved progress) disappear with chanting of Om. The four accompanying distractions of pain and sorrow, despair and dejection, tremor of body and shakiness, and laboured breathing also disappear.

Aside from the chanting of Om, Lord Patanjali also gives the student a number of supplementary religious practices:

Cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy and indifference concerning the happiness, misery, virtues and the vices of your fellow man.

By exhalation and retention, rather than inhalation (part of "Pranayama", the fourth stage of yoga)

Contemplation of the perceptions of the sense organs.

Seeing the sorrowless white Light of the Supreme (i.e. God).

Practicing consciousness of a sense object, but remaining devoid of desires for this object.

By gaining knowledge of and holding attention on the changeover from a state of dreaming to a state of sleep. (Whereas for most of us the task of being aware of the changeover from dreaming to wakening might be manageable, this sutra asks us to move to a next level. In other words, becoming aware (and much more than aware) of the changeover from the dream state to the state of deep sleep. Only someone who has mastered Pranayama is able to do this).

Meditating on anything as per one's desire. It should be noted that a person who is qualified to be practising yoga in accordance with the method of this first chapter will not have strange meditation desires.

The first step needed before the fluctuations of the consciousness can be stilled is for the mind to become stable and these practices help you to achieve that.

The Yoga Sutras then proceed to talk about different types of yogic trance. Yogic trance leads not to dullness but to truth and perfect wisdom. 
 

Article 3

This, the third of 6 articles, comments on the first 24 verses of the second chapter of The Yoga Sutras. In the first chapter it was noted that Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the consciousness, and that in the modern world, the only practical route to achieving yoga is by dedicating all your actions to God. The whole universe is God and so your actions need to be focussed on helping your fellow man and Mother Nature.

The second chapter describes the physical actions needed to achieve yoga and in the first verse these are summarised as:

• Performance of moderate austerities (Tapas)
• Self-study (Svadhyaya)
• Surrender (of one's self) to God (Ishvara Pranidhana)

Tapas (that I have loosely described as moderate austerities) means practices required to generate (spiritual) heat, i.e. in preparation for perception of one's soul or God. The practices are as required to give one a healthy, strong and pure body and mind.

Svadhyaya means practice to study one's Self. There are three routes to correct knowledge: experience, inference and reliable testimony. For a beginner, general (theoretical) knowledge of the nature of one's self will come from a study of the sacred texts - this is reliable testimony. One's ability to infer properties of the self will be enhanced by reading Indian philosophical works (these should not be taken as being reliable as they are not the word of God). Direct experience of the nature of one's self comes in Samadhi, yogic trance: the last and highest stage of yoga.

Ishvara Pranidhana means surrender of all to God. However, the world about you, including 'your' possessions and your body, mind and heart, do not truly belong to you, they belong to God. Thus yoga involves a gradual surrendering of body, mind and heart, actions and thoughts, as well as the results of actions and thoughts, to God. In practice, surrendering involves loss (of various property that you previously believed to be yours) and putting in its place love of God: it is too painful to give up all without receiving something in exchange and God in His/Her love for you gives you love in exchange.

Yoga is not for the closed minded since it opens up a whole raft of new experiences. This means that an aspiring yoga practitioner who for instance thinks that they do not believe in God should keep an open mind and ask themselves questions as to where this lack of belief came from, the certainty with which they hold this belief, how important this non belief is to them, whether there are circumstances in which they would change their mind, etc. The point here is that without one of the three routes to gain perfect knowledge listed above you cannot be sure of your knowledge. By definition, sensory experience will not have proven to you that there is no God and clearly testimony from God will not either. This leaves the second method of inference and so the beginner who does not believe in God needs to ask questions about in what way they have used inference to prove the non-existence of God. Proceeding along these lines will show that one's belief is not as fixed as it may seem at first. On the other hand, we have much testimony, including the Yoga sutras and also the Hindu scriptures, the Bible, Koran, etc. proclaiming the existence of God. Then there is the word of the many sages and saints across the world who have entered into yogic states and experienced God. Who can one believe if not the word of a sage and saint? Any disbelief on your part as to the existence of God will not be as certain as it seems at first sight if you are open-minded.

The conclusion of all this is not that I want you to believe in God, but that the very first verse of the second chapter of the Yoga Sutrastates that all yoga practitioners need to perform moderate austerities, self-study and surrender to God. This is the yoga of action.

In the rest of these few sutras, Lord Patanjali describes the psychology of mankind. He explains that there are five fundamental afflictions: worldly or erroneous knowledge (Avidya), sense of I (ness), desire and attachment, dislike, and attachment to life and fear of death. He describes what each of these is, that they are caused by mankind making bad choices in their lives (see Chapter 1). He explains how these afflictions drive one to action and their relationship to happiness and to pain and sorrow.

The deposits of one's actions (i.e. a type of memory of these) through the law of cause and effect causes one to have different types of birth in the future along with specific life spans and types of future experiences. Since at the time of death one will have a stock of deposits of actions that have not yet given rise to experience as demanded in order to fulfil the law of cause and effect, one will need to experience another life, and so forth. This next life is characterised by type of birth (human, animal, etc, type of parents...), length of life, and the types of experience that you will experience.

Of the five afflictions stated above, Patanjali singles out pain and sorrow (cause of the state of mind called dislike) for special treatment. The yogi is advised to specifically prevent unknown future pains and sorrows. Pain and sorrow arise from bad choices which in turn lead to the cycle of life and death, and hence to contact with the world (rather than with one's Soul or God). The immediate cause of this junction is worldly and erroneous knowledge. Such knowledge is destroyed through unfluctuating discriminative intelligence which is attained through the eightfold divisions of yoga listed later.

Yoga philosophy states that man has five sense organs (ears, skin, eyes, tongue, and nose), five organs of action (speech, hands, legs, generative and excretory) and the mind (consisting of lower mind, ego and intellect). Sensual joys are required so that the self can fully appreciate the joy of being with God if and when ultimate liberation arises. Conjunction of the seen with the seer is the cause of distress as noted previously and therefore the seen acts as a spur for the self to seek liberation.

Yoga philosophy sets out how the universe evolved, with the three qualities of nature (satwa, rajas and tamas) starting out in complete equilibrium. As the universe evolved, there was ever more differentiation, particularising and marking, until we reach the stage today when life has fully evolved with its five sense organs, five organs of action and the mind. The order of evolution is noted by the yogi as a guide to yoga practice which is to reverse the process of evolution, i.e. to involute and draw the mind and senses back towards an equilibrium state.

The entire universe was created entirely for living beings to move towards the ultimate happiness of living with God. The science behind how to do this is set out in The Yoga Sutras.

Article 4

This, the fourth of 6 articles, comments on the last 31 verses of the second chapter of The Yoga Sutras. In the first chapter it was noted that Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the consciousness, and that in the modern world, the only practical route to achieving yoga is by dedicating all your actions to God (Ishvara Pranidhana). The whole universe is God and so your actions need to be focussed on helping your fellow man and Mother Nature. The first sutra of the second chapter states that yoga practice consists of moderate austerities (careful diet, etc, aimed at generating spiritual heat), study of one's self (both through reading of scriptures and yoga practice) and Ishvara Pranidhana. The chapter then proceeds to examine the psychology of man.

The Yoga Sutras state that unfluctuating discriminative intelligence is the means to remove the deficiency of worldly or erroneous knowledge.

In turn they state that the means to get such discriminative knowledge is by devoted practice of yoga.

The eight limbs of yoga are then listed as yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, and Samadhi. The second chapter sutras deal with the first five and in relation to yama and niyama state:

• Yama is non-injury, truthfulness, non-misappropriation, celibacy, non-acceptance of gifts (beyond one's immediate needs). The restraints comprising yama are for everyone (not just for yoga practitioners), irrespective of the type of life you have, the place or time or your circumstances.

• Niyama consists of religious observances: cleanliness and purity, contentment, (moderate) austerity, study of oneself and the spiritual scriptures and surrender of oneself to God.

Thoughts which cause one to act contrary to the principles of yama and niyama are to be tackled by good thoughts and actions.

Breaches of yama and niyama are caused by greed, anger and lack of spiritual understanding. The effect of these breaches is pain and sorrow (not necessarily in this life). Another effect is infinite non-spiritual knowledge, because of the enormous tendency for one breach to be followed by another, for one bad deed to another to cause a cycle of bad deeds in another person (who in turn when victimised in this way lashes out at another) which cycle continues indefinitely into many future lives of many people. This whole round and spreading of bad deeds is attributable to just one initial bad deed from yourself. In other words, one small white lie leads to many more, possibly bigger, lies not just by yourself but by the people who you influence directly (e.g. spouse and children) as well as the person who you have lied to and his/her circle of acquaintances. For this reason a single bad deed leads to infinite non-spiritual knowledge. Further, one breach of yama and niyama leads to a weakening of your ability to understand the rationale for ethical behaviour and of the arguments against such behaviour.

The sutras then discuss the powerful effects of maintaining ethical discipline and religious observances. It again notes that from surrender of oneself to God (Ishvara Pranidhana) comes the attainment of Samadhi, the last stage of yoga.

Next the Yoga Sutra describes the characteristics of a yoga posture (asana): that it is firm and held with joy. Asanas when mastered change from needing great effort, to having infinite ease. Many of the postures are very difficult and it needs great attention and effort over many years to be able to do them with ease. Great mental and intellectual effort is required even if sometimes the amount of physical effort is less. Infinite ease is needed in the meditative poses such as padmasana or virasana because it is necessary to hold these for long periods of time during pranayama and higher practices, and it is disruptive to have to shuffle from one position to another on account of lack of comfort. Such ease is also required for more difficult poses because usually you cannot stay in the pose without pain if you have not practiced over an extended period.

Once the great effort involved with correct asana practice has turned to great ease, the body which influences the mind is toned to the highest level possible. You remain untroubled by all the pairs of opposites such as heat and cold and pleasure and pain. All desire, sexual or other stops. For this reason, married people and single people wishing to marry in the future should not in general practice yoga postures as these damage their chances for a happy marriage. Yoga asanas are extremely powerful tools as an aid to yoga. They are also useful as a therapy, to tackle specific health issues faced by mankind.

This issue of the effect of practising yoga postures will no doubt be controversial amongst the many in the yoga community who practice and teach asanas. Well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I hope the reader keeps an open mind, considers the logic and follows his or her heart. Inevitably when people's livelihoods are at stake there will be some who will not like to listen. Yoga is a practical subject and academic debate is not useful. If necessary, one should simply agree to differ. As usual you need to read the Sutras and determine for yourself what you should do, or find a teacher whom you believe in and who loves you.

Once one is free from all desire, the Yoga Sutras state that one can proceed to the practice of Pranayama. This relates to holding the breath, to inhalation and to exhalation aimed at increasing the life-force flowing in your body. The life force is very intricate, underlying as it does all aspects of a human being, and therefore Pranayama too is extraordinarily intricate. Specifically, the sutra refers to increasing one's life force. Whereas the main purport of asana practice is to manipulate the gross elements (of earth, water, fire, air and ether), the main purpose of Pranayama is to manipulate the three gunas of satwa, rajas and tamas, as these govern the makeup of the mind. It is inevitable that a yoga practitioner who experiments with Pranayama before being ready will damage his or her mind. The other classic text on yoga, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, refers to Pranayama as like taming a lion. Would you do this before being ready? Your breath should be natural, and any problems to do with breathing should be dealt with at source rather than by, for example trying to prolong one's breath or by holding it. Natural living is the foremost means to cure many issues.

After you become accomplished in Pranayama the mind becomes ready for yogic concentration (i.e. experience of the next but one limb of yoga, dharana).

The fifth stage of yoga is Pratyahara. Pratyahara involves a detachment of the mind from the five sense organs. You do not know whether it is light or dark, whether a mosquito is biting you etc. Your mind is free to dwell on any matter without the distraction of external noise, etc. Thinking becomes much more efficient. Asana practice is required before Pratyahara is possible.

Without God's will not even a blade of grass will move during the fiercest storm. The sincere follower of The Yoga Sutra will focus his or her attention on helping mankind become happy, the true meaning of Ishvara Pranidhana in the modern world. You should know that any or all of the benefits of 'traditional' yoga practice will be given to you without much effort as and when you are in need of these. The discriminative knowledge given one by traditional yoga practice, the purpose of such practice, is given one by God when He sees fit.