Discussion September 29, 2011

How can the practice of yoga explained?

It is the restraining of the mind-stuff from taking certain forms.

Samadhi, yoga is the restraining of the fluctuations which normally occur in the mind. It implies stilling the mind.

‘Be still and know that I am God’.

    Psalm 46:10

The psalm refers to the inner stillness of the mind.

What disturbs our mind? Is it primarily a reaction to external events triggered by circumstances and desires?

How do major events influence the mind?

We may not be able to control circumstances; we can control how we think about them.

Causes of mental pain? Explain –

i)                  Attachment of the mind to the outcomes of events

ii)               Attachment to desire or aversion

iii)            Our unrealistic expectations

What are coping mechanisms?

i)                  Knowledge

ii)               Experience

iii)            Prayer

iv)            Believe

v)               Faith

Yoga states that he, who has succeeded in attaching or detaching his mind from events at will, has gained control over his mind.

What does this imply?  - Being active rather than reactive.

How can control over the mind be achieved?

i)                  We sit still for some time and let the mind run wherever it wants; we simply wait and watch until the mind becomes calm. This should be done on an ongoing basis.

ii)               The next step is to focus the mind on a certain external or internal object and exclude all other thoughts from penetrating the mind.

iii)            Super-conscious meditation.

iv)            By the realization and or acceptance that one’s true nature is Spiritual and that the mind is under the control of the spirit within.

What would be the result a controlled mind?

i)                  The determining faculty of the mind would merge into the Self or one’s essence.

A look at how the undisciplined  mind works.

i)                  On the conscious level all activity is accompanied by the feeling of I.

ii)               On the unconscious level, as in dreamless sleep, there is no feeling of I, no ego.

iii)            There is yet still a higher state on which the mind can work, which is the super- conscious level.

iv)            However, just as there is no I, or ego on the unconscious level, there is no I on the super-conscious level either.

The question then arises how does one know whether he functions on the unconscious or super-conscious level?

The answer is by its effects.

When in deep sleep one enters a state inferior to that of super-consciousness. The body functions, it does breathe, but it is unaware of the I, the ego. When one awakens, he does so with the same personality is the same that he had before he went to sleep. Nothing changes, except the feeling of having had a good rest.

However, when coming out of the super-conscious or samadhi state, one appears different, even enlightened.One’s personality undergoes changes.

This in short, explains the idea of samadhi.

So what’s the big deal?

Ordinarily our field of reasoning or the conscious working of the mind is limited. It is as if moving within a box or in a circle, one cannot really move beyond its borders. The boarders may expand or contract, but they are still remain boarders into which we may collect more information, but often only to support our already excising limited points of view.

Yet it is beyond this circle that there lies all that humanity holds most dear.

It is here where we can realize, that all the questions whether we are an immortal soul, whether there is a God, or a Supreme intelligence guiding the universes, are revealed.

All our ethical theories, our moral attitudes, all that are good and great in human nature, have been moulded by answers that have come from beyond the circle.

It is here where we realize that actual knowing lies beyond reason and until one attains to that state of consciousness, he has to accept ultimate truth or reality by faith alone. This is what many religions teach.

The purpose of yoga is Self and God realization. This is ultimate freedom, liberation, perfection while still in the body.

‘Be ye therefore perfect as thy Father in heaven is perfect’.

      Matthew 5:48

Yoga Sutras IV - Liberation

1)   The psychic powers may be obtained either by birth, or by means of drugs, or by the power of words, or by the practice of austerities, or by concentration.

Some are born with psychic powers as a result of their previous lives and others as saints who are filled with the knowledge of the love of God even in childhood. They often grow up untouched by the temptation of worldliness.

Certain drugs may produce visions, but these are invariably psychic, not spiritual. Furthermore they may cause prolonged spiritual dryness and even permanent damage to the brain.

The repetition of sacred words or mantras is an invaluable aid to spiritual progress.

The practice of austerity enormously strengthens will power.

Concentration is the surest of all means of obtaining psychic powers.

1)   The transformation of one species into another is caused by the inflowing of nature.

2)   Good and bad deeds are not the direct cause of the transformation. They only act as breakers of the obstacles; just as a farmer brakes down the obstacles of a water course, so that water flow through by its own nature.

Here Patanjali explains the Sankhya theory of evolution by using agriculture means as an example. The farmer who irrigates one field from a reservoir does not have to fetch water. The water is there already. All he has to do is open the flood gates and the water will flow.

The water is the flow of evolution which according to Patanjali, each one of us carries within himself, only to be released.

Vivekananda says:”All, progress and power, are already in every person. Perfection is in every person’s nature it is however often blocked from taking expression. If the block is removed, perfection rushes in.”

There is a radical difference between Eastern and Western ideas of evolution.

As an example, the West would put forth the idea that sexual selection and survival of the fittest are adequate, but suppose, humanity decides to eliminate competition and the acquiring of a mate, then according to the theory put forth, human progress would stop and the race could die. Patanjali on the other hand, declares that the true secret of evolution is the manifestation of the perfection which is already within every human being, but has been barred from expression. When man realizes his true nature as a spiritual being, he will open the obstructing barrier and his perfection will manifest.

 Accordingly, there is no reason to believe, that competition is necessary to progress.

3)   The ego sense alone can create minds.

4)   Though the activities of the different created minds are various, the one original mind controls them all.

The different minds, which act in different bodies, are called created minds and bodies. Mind and matter are like two inexhaustible storehouses. A yogi learns the secret of their control. The material, out of which a created mind is made, is the very same material which is used for the macrocosm. It is not, that the mind is one thing and matter another, they are only different aspects of the same thing.

5)   Of the various types of mind, only that which is purified by samadhi is freed from all latent impressions of karma and from all craving.

Karma can only be exhausted by spiritual realization; never by mere experience.

6)   The karma of the yogi is neither white nor black. The karma of others is of three kinds: white, black or mixed.

When the yogi has attained perfection, his actions and the results produce by those actions, do not bind him, because he is free from desire. He just works on. He works to do good and does good, but he does not care for the results of his actions. The ordinary men who have not attained to that highest state, works are of three kinds: black, or evil, white or good and mixed.

7)   Of the tendencies produced by these three kinds of karma, only those are manifested for which the conditions are favourable.

In any particular incarnation, a person’s condition is determined by the balance of his karma. Suppose that balance is favourable and he is born to become a monk and a spiritual teacher, he may still have some bad karma which under less favourable conditions would produce negative tendencies. But, because he has to live up to his vocation and set a good example, these tendencies are kept in abeyance, and only his positive tendencies would manifest. This Sutra stresses the importance of the right environment in which one can unfold his positive tendencies.

8)   Because of our memory of past tendencies, the chain of cause and effect is not broken by change of species, space or time.

By memory Patanjali does not imply conscious remembering, but unconscious impressions received in past lives with the actions and thoughts of our present life. Karma, the chain of cause and effect is continuous. Only tendencies appropriate to the species will be manifested in one life.

9)   Since the desire to exist has always been present, our tendencies cannot have had any beginning.

We have learned that yoga philosophy regards creation and dissolution as a continuous process. Karma has always operated and created tendencies. There was no primal act. It is only as individuals that we can set ourselves free from karma by unlearning this desire to exist on the phenomenal level and realizing the Self, our eternal nature.

10)                      Our subconscious tendencies depend upon cause and effect. They have their basis in the mind and they are stimulated by sense objects. If all these are removed, the tendencies are destroyed.

Karma can only operate and produce tendencies as long as certain causes are present. These causes are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life.

The effects of these causes are re-birth, a long or short life and the experience of pleasure and pain. Basically, karma is routed in ignorance of the Self. Remove the ignorance and you destroy karma.

11)                      There is the form and expression we call past and the form and expression we call future; both exist within the object at all times. Form and expression vary according to, past, present and future.

12)                      They are either manifest or subtle according to the nature of the gunas.

13)                      Since the gunas work together within every change of form and expression, there is a unity in all things.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches that which is nonexistent can never come into being and that which is can never cease to exist and will continue to exist potentially within the object. Past and future exist within the object in an un-manifested subtle form. Nevertheless, they are there. Nothing in the universe is lost.

All objects are compounds of the gunas. The gunas may project a gross manifestation i.e. visible and tangible object. Or they may project a subtle manifestation which is not apparent to the senses. They may also alter their interrelationship so that rajas may become dominant in place of sattva in which case the form of the object may change entirely. But since the gunas never cease to be present in one form or another combination, the object preserves an essential unity, even in the diversity of its forms and expressions.

If we accept reincarnation, we can see that the same mind exists essentially throughout the rebirths of an individual. It is only the interplay of the gunas that makes the mind alter its form and expression in different incarnations; now seeming predominantly evil, or predominantly good.

In the mind of a good person, the past evil impressions still exist in subtle form and possible future impressions, whatever they are to be, also exist.

How then is liberation possible? Patanjali has already answered the question several times and he has restated his answer in sutra 11.

Our subconscious tendencies, he says, have their basis in the mind. Therefore, a person must cease to identify himself with the mind in order to gain liberation. When he knows beyond doubt, that he is the Self and not the mind, he is made free from karma.

The mind of a liberated soul, with all its past, present and future impressions, has no longer any existence as a phenomenal object, but it is not lost.

14)                      The same object is perceived in different ways by different minds. Therefore the mind must be other that the object.

15)                      The object cannot be said to be dependent on the perception of a single mind. For if it were the case, the object could be said to be non-existent when the single mind was not perceiving it.

In these two sutras, Patanjali refutes the philosophy of subjective idealism. Following Sankhya philosophy, he admits the reality of an objective world which is independent of our mental perception.

16)                      An object is known or unknown, depending upon the mood of the mind.

17)                      Because the Self, the lord of the mind, is unchangeable, the mind’s fluctuations are always known to it.

18)                      The mind is not self-luminous, since it is an object of perception.

19)                      And since it cannot perceive both subject and object simultaneously.

As we have become aware, the mind is not the seer, but the instrument of the Self which is eternally conscious. The mind is only intermittently conscious of objects and its perceptions of them vary according to its own fluctuations. The mind is changing all the time and so is the object of perception. The Self alone by remaining unchanged provides a standard by which all perception can be measured.

20)                      If one postulates a second mind to perceive the first, then one would have to postulate an infinite number of minds and this would cause confusion of memory.

If a philosopher in order to avoid admitting the existence of the Self were to suggest that the mind is really two minds, a knower and an object of knowledge, then he would find himself in difficulty. For if mind A is known by mind B, then one must postulate a mind C and so forth. There would be an infinite number of progressions causing nothing but confusion.

21)                      The pure consciousness of the Self is unchangeable. As the reflection of its consciousness falls upon the mind, the mind takes the form of the Self and appears to be conscious.

22)                      The mind is able to perceive because it reflects both the Self and the object of perception.

The mind stands midway between the Self and external objects. Its power to perceive the object is only borrowed from the Self.

23)                      Though the mind has innumerable impressions and desires, it acts only to serve another, the Self; for, being a compound substance, it cannot act independently and for its own sake.

Every combination of individuals or forces in this world has to have purpose for its action or existence; otherwise it would be just a meaningless, functionless collection of objects brought together haphazardly.

24)                      The man of discrimination ceases to regard the mind as the Self.

25)                      When the mind is bent on the practice of discrimination, it moves toward liberation.

26)                      Distraction due to past impressions may arise if the mind relaxes its discrimination even a little.

27)                      They may be overcome in the same manner as the obstacles to enlightenment.

That is, by meditation and by resolving the mind back into its primal cause. (See Chapter 2, Sutra 10 and 11).

28)                      He, who remains un-distracted even when he is in possession of all the psychic powers, achieves as a result of perfect discrimination, that samadhi which is called the cloud of virtue.

29)                      Thence come cessation of ignorance, the cause of suffering and freedom from the power of karma.

When the yogi cannot be turned aside from the path of discrimination even when he is faced by the temptation of psychic powers, then knowledge is said to shower down upon him like a rain cloud, a “cloud of virtue,” pouring down liberation and bliss of God.

30)                      When the whole universe, with all its objects of sense knowledge becomes as nothing in comparison to that infinite knowledge which is free from all obstructions and impurities.

To people in ordinary sense consciousness, the universe seems full of secrets. There seems so infinitely much to be discovered and known. Every object is an invitation to study. He is overcome by a sense of his own ignorance. But to the illumined yogi the universe does not seem at all mysterious. It is said that if one knows clay, one knows the nature of everything that is made of clay. Therefore when one knows the Self, one knows the nature of everything in the universe.

31)                      Then the sequence of mutations of the gunas comes to an end, for they have fulfilled their purpose.

32)                      This is the sequence of the mutations which take place at every moment, but which are only perceived at the end of a series.

The gunas as mentioned in chapter II, 18, form the universe in order that the experiencer may experience it, and thus become liberated. When liberation is achieved, the gunas have fulfilled their purpose.

Time is a sequence of moments and therefore a sequence of mutations of the gunas which take place at every moment. We only become aware of these moment-changes at intervals, when a whole series of them has resulted in a mutation and becomes apparent to our senses.

For example, we are not aware from moment to moment that a bud of a rose is opening, but in time, we see its flower. The same thing happens at the end of a series of mental impressions and thoughts leading to a decision of an idea.

However, to the illumined soul, time has no reality. There is no sequence of thought patterns. He controls time, as it were and knows past, present and future like a flash in the eternal now.

33)                      Since the gunas no longer have any purpose to serve for the Self, they resolve themselves into prakriti (nature). This is liberation. The Self shines forth in its own pristine nature, as pure consciousness.

 Nature’s task is done. This unselfish task which nature has imposed on itself comes to an end as she gently takes the forgetting soul by the hand and shows it all the experiences in the universe, all manifestations, bringing it higher and higher through various realms until at last it remembers its true nature. Then, the kind Mother Nature goes back the same way she came, for others who also have lost their way and thus, she works without beginning and without end, through pleasure and pain, through good and evil until all souls are floating in the river of perfection, of Self Realization.

Yoga Sutra III - Powers

Sutra 1) Concentration (Dharana) is holding the mind within a centre of spiritual consciousness in the body, or fixing it on some divine form, either within the body or outside it.

The first five limbs of yoga have been discussed in the preceding chapter. Three remain: concentration (Dharana), meditation (dhyana), and absorption (samadhi).

The centres of spiritual consciousness will be referred to as seven lotuses rather than chakras. In order to concentrate some teachers instruct the student to fix the mind on the inner light within the lotus. However, one may also concentrate on a form of one’s chosen ideal. Concentration here implies the fixing of the mind on one object or subject at a time to the exclusion of any other.

Sutra 2) Meditation (dhyana) is the unbroken flow of thought toward the object of concentration.

Meditation is prolonged concentration. We have seen (1, 2) that Patanjali defines thought as a wave (vritti) in the mind. Ordinarily a thought wave arises, remains in the mind for moment, and then subsides to be succeeded by another wave. In the practice of meditation, a succession of ‘identical’ waves is raised in the mind; this is done so quickly, that no one wave is allowed to subside before another rises to take its place. The effect is one of perfect continuity. Example: Om, Om, Om....

It can be seen from this definition of Patanjali, dhyana does not exactly correspond to the usual understanding of meditation. By meditation one commonly understands the operation of the mind around a central idea, as for example meditating on Christ. One would not only focus on the form of Christ, but also his teachings; should any thought other than a though on Christ enter the mind, it would be gently directed back to the central theme.

Sutra 3) When in meditation the true nature of the object shines forth, not distorted by the mind of the perceiver, that is absorption (samadhi).

Ordinary sense perception is distorted by the mind of the perceiver. One decides in advance what it is he wants to see, and this pre-conception interferes with one’s vision. Great painters have at times been criticized because they paint what they see and not necessarily what people think it ought to look like.

Sutra 4) When these three concentrations, meditation and absorption are brought to bear on one subject, they are called Samyama.

Samyama is a term which describes the threefold process by which the true nature of an object is known.

Sutra 5) Through mastery of Samyama comes the light of knowledge.

Sutra 6) It must be applied stage by stage.

Patanjali cautions us not to go too fast. It is not wise attempting meditation before we have mastered concentration. We should also first concentrate on gross objects before we attempt concentration on subtle ones.

Sutra 7) These three are more direct aids to experience than the five limbs previously described.

The first five limbs of yoga are a form of training in preparation for the practice of Samyama. The mind and the senses have to be purified by the cultivation of ethical virtues and the whole organism has to strengthen in order that it may be able to withstand the ensuing higher vibrations. We need to be reminded, that Spiritual life begins after samadhi.

Sutra 8) But even these are not direct aids to the seedless samadhi.

The practice of Samyama leads to the lower samadhi where the universe still exists in our mind.  The seedless, (nirvikalpa) samadhi demands a further effort.

Sutra 9) When the vision of the lower samadhi is suppressed by an act of conscious control so that there are no longer any thoughts or visions in the mind, that is the achievement of control of the thought waves of the mind.

Sutra 10) When this suppression of thought waves becomes continuous, the mind’s flow is calm.

Sutra 11) When all mental distractions disappear, and the mind becomes one pointed, it enters the state called samadhi.

Sutra 12) The mind becomes one pointed when similar thought waves arise in succession without any gapes in between them.

It has been said, that if the mind can be made to flow uninterruptedly toward the same object for twelve seconds, this may be called concentration. If the concentration can be held for twelve times twelve seconds, or two minutes and twenty-four seconds, this is called meditation. If the mind can continue in meditation for twelve times two minutes and twenty-four seconds (i.e. twenty-eight minutes and forty-six seconds) this is lower samadhi. Higher nirvikalpa samadhi would last for five hours and forty-five minutes.

Sutra 13) In this state it passes beyond the three kinds of changes which take place in the subtle or gross matter and in the organs: change of form, change of time and change of condition.

Vivekananda takes as an example a lump of gold.

Change of form occurs when the gold is made first into a bracelet and then into an earring.

Change of time occurs as it get older.

Change of condition occurs when the bright gold becomes dull, or wears thin.

Similar changes occur in subtle matter and in thought the waves of the mind. The thought waves may be of different kind, may refer to different periods of time and may vary in intensity. But the mind in a state of samadhi, is beyond all three kinds of changes.

Sutra 14) A compound object has attributes and is subject to change, either past, present or yet to be manifested.

Sutra 15) The succession of these changes is the cause of manifest evolution.

Every object in the realm of differentiated matter has attributes and is a compound object, since it is made of three gunas in varying combinations as described in chapter one. The attributes of an object vary and change according to the action of the gunas and the constitution of the samskaras. Any object can change into any other object. Therefore the enlightened yogi sees no essential difference between a piece of gold and a lump of mud. In this manner he acquires complete dispassion toward the objects of the phenomenal world.

Sutra 16) By making Samyama on the three kinds of changes, one obtains knowledge of the past and the future.

We must not lose sight of the definition of Samyama. When the mind has attained that state in which it identifies itself with the internal impressions of the object, leaving the external, and when by long practice that impression is retained by the mind and the mind is able to get into the state of the moment that is Samyama.

If in that state one wants to know past and future, he has to practice Samyama on the changes of the samskaras. Some are working themselves out at present, some have already worked themselves out and some are waiting to work themselves out.

By practicing Samyama on the samskaras he knows the past and future.

Sutra 17) By making samyama on the sound of a word, one’s perception of its meaning  and one’s reaction to it – three things are ordinarily confused – one obtains understanding of all sounds uttered by living beings.

Word refers to the external object that stimulates a mental state. The mental sensation it causes represents the reaction of the mind which results in the perception of the object.

The three confused perceptions make up our sense objects.

Suppose we hear a word. There is first the external vibration, next the internal sensation is carried to the mind by the organ of hearing; then the mind reacts and we hear the word. The word we hear is a mixture of these three: vibration, sensation and reaction. Ordinarily they are inseparable, but by practice the yogi can separate them.

When a person has attained this stage of development, if he practices samyama on any sound, he understands the meaning which that sound was intented to express , whether it is made by a human or an animal.

Sutra 18) By samyama on previous thought waves one obtains knowledge of one’s previous life.

When a thought wave subsides it remains within the mind, in a minute subtle form. Therefore, it can be revived as memory, and this memory can be made to extend backward into previous incarnations.

Sutra 19) By making samyama on the distinguishing marks of another man’s body, one obtains of the nature of his mind.

Each person has particular signs on his body, which differentiate him from others. When the yogi practices samyama on the signs peculiar to a certain person, he knows the nature of that man’s mind.

Sutra 20) But not on its contents, because that is not the object of samyama.

By practicing samyama on the body, he would not know the content of the mind. That would require a twofold samyama: first on the signs of the body and then on the mind itself. The yogi would then know everything in that mind.

Sutra 21) Through the practice of samyama on the form of the body, the power of perceiving forms being obstructed and the power of manifestation in the eye being separated (from the form), the yogi’s body becomes unseen.

The yogi standing in the middle of the room can apparently vanish. He does not really vanish, but he will not be seen by anyone. The form and the body are, as it were, separated. One must remember that this can only be done when the yogi has attained that power of concentration where the form and the thing formed can be separated.

Sutra 22) In this manner the disappearance or concealment of words which are being spoken and other such things, are explained.

Sutra 23) By making samyama on two kinds of karma, on that which will bear fruit and that which will nor bear fruit until later, or by recognizing the portents (forewarning) of death, a yogi may know the exact time of his separation from the body.

Portents of death include various physical and psychic phenomena, together with super-natural beings. (It is better not to be too explicit here, because the reader may become unduly alarmed). Yogis believe that it is important to know the hour of one’s death in advance, because the thoughts one thinks at that moment have an influence on one’s after life.

Sutra 24) By making samyama on friendliness, compassion etc., one develops the power of these qualities.

Sutra 25) Making samyama on any kind of strength such as that of the elephant, one obtains that strength.

Sutra 26 By making samyama on the inner light, one obtains knowledge of what is subtle, hidden, or far distant.

The inner light is the light of the lotus within the heart. Refer to Sutra 36 chapter I.

Sutra 27) By making samyama on the sun, one gains knowledge of cosmic spaces.

Sutra 28) By making samyama on the moon, one gains knowledge of the arrangement of the stars.

Sutra 29) By making samyama on the polestar, one gains knowledge of the motion of the stars.

It has already been mentioned that there is a strong resemblance between the cosmology of Patanjali and the theories of modern atomic physics. Yet the ancient had as far as we know no scientific apparatus of any accuracy. This fact alone would offer some proof of the validity of psychic powers.

Sutra 30) By making samyama on the naval, one gains knowledge of the constitution of the body.

Sutra 31) By making samyama on the hollow of the throat, one stills hunger and thirst.

Sutra 32) By making samyama on the tube within the chest, one acquires absolute motionlessness.

An example would be making samyama on the motionlessness of a snake or a lizard. This enables to yogi to meditate undisturbed by the involuntary movements of his body.

Sutra 33) By making samyama on the radiance within the back of the head, one becomes able to see celestial beings.

The radiance within the back of the head is not to be confused with the radiance of the seventh lotus on the of the head.

Sutra 34) All these powers of knowledge may also come to one whose mind is spontaneously enlightened through purity.

When the mind has reached a very high state of purification, the psychic powers may come to it spontaneously without samyama.

Sutra 35) By making samyama on the heart, one gains knowledge of the content of the mind.

Sutra 36) The power of enjoyment arises from the failure to discriminate between the Self and the sattva (buddhi) guna, which are totally different. The sattva guna is merely the agent of the Self, which is independent, existing only for its own sake. By making samyama on the independence of the Self, one gains knowledge of the Self.

In the ordinary state of consciousness, the highest enjoyment we can know is the jot inspired by the sattva guna. This seems to us, in our ignorance identical to the joy of the pure Self, but it is not. Sattva even in its purest state , is still a guna and Sattvic joy still contains a measure of ego. Gunas are only agents of the Self.

In the ordinary state of consciousness the highest enjoyment we can know is the joy inspired by the guna of sattva. This seems to us, in our ignorance identical with the joy of the pure Self, but it is not. Sattva even in its purest state is still a guna and sattvic joy still contains a measure of egotism. What we have to understand is that the gunas are only agents of the Self and that sattvic jot is only a pale reflection of the joy of the Self, which is without egotism and entirely independent of the gunas.

By making this samyama and discriminating between Self and sattva, the yogi passes beyond earthly enjoyment into the joy of the Self.

Sutra 37) Hence one gains the knowledge due to spontaneous enlightenment, and obtains super-natural powers of hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell.

Sutra 38) they are powers of the worldly state, but they are obstacles to samadhi.

Sutra 39) When the bonds of the mind caused by karma have been loosened, the yogi can enter into the body of another by knowledge of the operation of its nerve currents.

Swami Vivekananda:”The yogi can enter a dead body and make it get up and move, even while he himself is working in his own body. Or he can enter into a living body and hold that person’s mind and organs in check, and for the time being act through the body of that person. This the yogi does by discriminating between purusha (Self) and nature. If he wants to enter another body he practices samyama on that body and enters it, because not only is his Self omnipresent, but also his mind which is a part of universal mind. At first it can work only work through the nerve currents of his own body, but when the yogi has loosened himself from these nerve currents, his mind can work through other bodies”.

Sutra 40) By controlling the nerve currents that govern the lungs and the upper part of the body, the yogi can walk on water and swamps, or on thorns and similar objects, and he can die at will.

The udana is the nerve current that governs the lungs and all the upper parts of the body. When the yogi has mastered it, he becomes light in weight. He does not think in water, he can walk on thorns and he can depart from life whenever he wants.

Sutra 41) By controlling the forces which control the prana, he can control himself with a blaze of light.

Whenever he wishes, light flashes from his body.

Sutra 42) By making samyama on the relation between the ear and the ether, one obtains supernatural powers of hearing.

Sutra 43) By making samyama on the relation between the body and ether, or by acquiring through meditation the lightness of cotton fiber, the yogi can fly through the air.

Sutra 44) By making samyama on the thought waves, of the mind when it is separated from the body, the state known as great dis incarnation from the body, all coverings can be removed from the light of knowledge.

Sutra 45) By making samyama on the gross and subtle forms of the elements on their essential characteristics and the inherence of the gunas in them, and on the experience they provide for the individual, one gains mastery of the elements.

Sutra 46) Hence one gains the power of becoming as tiny as an atom and all similar powers; also perfection of the body, which is no longer subject to the obstructions of the elements.

Sutra 47) Perfection of the body includes beauty, grace, strength and the hardness of a thunderbolt.

Sutra 48) By making samyama on the transformation that the sense organs undergo when they contact objects, on the power of illumination of the sense organs, on the ego sense, on the gunas, which constitute the organs and on the experience they provide for the individual, one obtains mastery over the organs.

Sutra 49) Hence the body gains the power of movement as rapid as that of the mind, the power of using the sense organs outside of the confines of the body

and mastery of prakriti.

Mastery of prakriti, the primal cause, gives the yogi control of all the effects evolved from prakriti, in other words, control over nature.

Sutra 50) By making samyama on the discrimination between the sattva guna and the Self, one gains omnipotence and omniscience.

Sutra 51) By giving up even these powers, the seed of evil is destroyed and liberation follows.

The seed of evil is ignorance. Because of ignorance man forgets that he is the Self.

Sutra 52) When tempted by the invisible beings in high places, let the yogi feel neither allured nor flattered; for he is in danger of being caught one more by ignorance.

Sutra 53) By making samyama on single moments and on their sequence in time, one gains discriminative knowledge.

Sutra 54) Thus one is able to distinguish between two exactly different objects which cannot be distinguished by their species, characteristic marks, or position in space.

Sutra 55) The discriminative knowledge delivers a man from the bondage of ignorance. It comprehends all objects simultaneously at ever moment of their existence and in all their modifications.

Sutra 56) Perfection is attained when the mind becomes as pure as the Self itself.