SAMADHI PADA

I-1  Now begin the teachings of Yoga

I-2  Yoga is the resolution of the (dysfunctional) mind states.

I-3  Then the identity of the Self (I am) with pure Awareness becomes stable.

I-4  (At other times, i.e., in dysfunctional mind states) mind activity is mistaken for the Self.

I-5  Mind activity has five basic categories. These (types of activities) can perpetuate delusion, or not.

I-6  (the 5 basic categories of mind activity are) correct or valid knowledge, incorrect knowledge, imagination, sleep and memory

I-7 Correct or valid knowledge (arises through) direct perception, inference, and testimony

I-8  Wrong understanding arises through misperception, misconception, (or some combination of both)

I-9  Imagination is when conception is not based on the perception of a real object

I-10  Sleep is a state of mind activity accompanied by the absence of cognition

I-11  Memory is the retention of experience

I-12  Practice and dispassion lead to the resolution (of the dysfunctional mind states).

I-13  Practice leads to stable healthy mind states and stillness.

I-14  Stability of mind requires continuous practice, over a long period of time, without interruption, and with an attitude of devotion and love.

I-15  The control over craving after any experience, whether sensual, psychological or spiritual, is known as dispassion.

I-16  The more advanced form of dispassion involves the full realization of Self as the absolute and the dropping away of the most subtle forms of craving and attachment.

I-17  In samadhi with wisdom, refined focal attention (samadhi) can be sustained on the forms of the gross level of reality, forms of the subtle level, the sense of limitlessness, and the sense of “I-am-ness”.

I-18  In the other samadhi,  focal attention is on the radical emptiness or absence of mind activity, with only unconscious traces remaining.

I-19  Samadhi can occur spontaneously at rebirth to those who have in previous lives been practicing samadhi at death.

I-20 The samadhi of others (one’s who achieve samadhi in this life) is accompanied by faith, strength, memory, meditation and wisdom.

I-21 Awakening is near for those whose practice and desire for liberation is intense.

I-22  Even in the serious students there are mild, moderate and intense levels of practice

I-23  Or by practicing the presence of God (Ishvara)

I-24   Isvara is a special ‘purusha’, untouched by the afflictions, actions and the results of actions, or previous impressions.

I-25  In him, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.

I-26 (Ishvara) is also the teacher of the ancients, because he is unlimited by time.

I-27  He is designated by Om

1-28  Repeating (OM) and contemplating the meaning (lead to awakening)

1-29  From this comes freedom from obstacles and an inward directing of awareness.

I-30  The obstacles are disease, mental laziness, doubt, carelessness, physical laziness, attachment, mistaken perception, failure to reach stability, and failure to sustain stability. They are distractions to the mind.

I-31  Suffering, sour-mindedness, unsteadiness, (disturbed) inhalation and (disturbed) exhalation accompany the distractions.

I-32  Constantly creating one-point attention will eliminate these disturbances.

I-33  (The mind becomes purified by) friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference (equanimity) (respectively) towards those who are successful, suffering, virtuous and unvirtuous.

I-34  Or, by sustaining the state experienced during soft relaxed exhalation and the natural pause after exhalation has finished.

I-35  Or, focusing on a subtle sensation brings steadiness of the mind

I-36  Or, (by focusing on) the sorrowless luminous (sattvic qualities of mind)

I-37  Or, (by contemplating) one who is beyond worldly desires

I- 38 Or (the mind acquires stability by) taking support from knowledge arising in sleep and dreams.

I-39 Or (the mind acquires stability by) meditating on anything that works for you.

I-40 Mastery (of one who has refined the mind) extends from the smallest particle to the totality of creation

I-41 Absorption of the mind that is free of the fluctuation is like a transparent jewel reflecting the object before it, whether that object be the knower, the instruments of knowing, or the object to be known.

I-42 Samadhi of gross forms intermingles words, meanings and concepts.

I-43  Emptying the mind of concepts and memory and leaving only the object itself shining forth is called nirvitarka samapatti

I-44  Samadhi of subtle forms is explained in a similar manner.

I-45  The subtle levels, the layers of creation (explored in the levels of samadhi) extend to unmodified prakriti itself, (the substratum of all forms, before distinct forms emerge.)

I-46 They (the four levels of samadhi just discussed) are known as “samadhi with seed”

I-47 As nirvichara samadhi becomes clarified, spiritual clarity or lucidity arises.

I-48  There (in the state of nirvichara samapatti) is truth bearing wisdom

I-49  (Truth bearing wisdom) is different from wisdom gained through scriptures or logic and inference because it deals with specifics.

I-50 Samskaras produced by that (truth bearing wisdom, rtam-bhara-prajna) inhibit other samskaras from emerging.

I-51  Upon the cessation of even those (truth-bearing samskaras) seedless samadhi is attained.

SADHANA PADA

II-1 Kriya yoga (path of action) consists of self-discipline, self-study, and surrender to the Divine.

II-2  (Kriya yoga) brings about samadhi and the weakening of the
afflictions.

II-3 (These afflictions are): spiritual ignorance, ie, not seeing the true nature of reality, confusion of self, attachment, aversion, and fear of death.

II-4 Spiritual ignorance is the breeding ground of the others, which can be in dormant, weak, intermittent or fully activated states.

II-5  Spiritual ignorance is mistaking the self to be of the painful, impure, transcient world of form ( prakriti) and not the eternal, joyful, pure Absolute/Formless (Purusha).
(*** Note masculine bias denigrating the feminine !!)

II-6 Self confusion involves mistaking the vehicles of knowing (forms subject to change) for the knower (the unchanging absolute, the Seer).

II-7 (The memory of) pleasure leads to attachment.

II-8 (The memory of) pain leads to aversion.

II-9 Fear of death affects even the wise; it is an inherent tendency.

II-10  These (the 5 kleshas) are subtle and are eliminated when the mind dissolves back into its original form.

II-11 Meditation eliminates the changing mind states (created by the kleshas).

II-12 Afflicted actions create a storehouse of momentum (karma) which will be experienced in the present or future lives.

II – 13 When the root (of karma) is present, it is expressed as species, life span and life experiences.

II –14 Those (the expressions of karma) can be delightful and pleasant or painful because of merits and demerits (from previous karmic actions).

II-15 One who has attained discriminative awareness experiences all (aspects of mis-identification) as suffering, due to the latent impressions (from previous lives),  pain itself, and the fluctuating mind states caused by the gunas.

II-16  Suffering that has yet to come is to be avoided.

II-17 The con-fusion of seer (Purusha) and seen (Prakriti) is the cause (of suffering) to be avoided.

II-18  The seen (prakriti, the world of form) has the nature of illumination, activity and inertia (sattva, rajas and tamas). It consists of the elements and the senses and exists for experience and liberation.

II-19 The basic stages of evolutionary unfoldment (gunas) are the gross, the subtle, the buddhi and the undifferentiated (state of Prakriti).

II -20  The Seer is only the power of seeing, and, although pure, witnesses the images of the mind.

II-21 The essential nature of the seen is only for the seer.

II – 22 Although the seen ceases to exist for the liberated seer, it continues as it is common to others. (*** Note masculine bias denigrating the feminine !!)

II -23 The coming together (of Purusha and Prakriti) is the means to understand the powers (of Purusha and prakriti).

II – 24  The cause of confusion is ignorance.

II – 25 By removing ignorance, confusion is removed. This is liberation, (drashtuh svarupe avasthanam from I-3).

II – 26  The means to liberation is uninterrupted discriminative awareness.

II – 27 True insight has seven stages.

II-28  With the destruction of the impurities (of mind) from the practice of the limbs of yoga, the light of knowledge arises. This culminates in discriminative discernment.

II-29  The 8 limbs are abstentions, observances, posture, breathing control, disengagement of the senses, concentration, meditation and absorption.

II-30 The abstentions are non-violence, truthfulness, non stealing, not abusing the sexual energies and non-hoarding.

II-31 (These yamas) are considered a great vow. They are not exempted by class, place, time or circumstance.

II-32 The observances are cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study, and devotion to the Divine.

II-33  When bothered by negative thoughts, cultivate counteracting thoughts.

II-34  Negative thoughts/emotions (lead to acts) such as violence and so forth, that may be done (by oneself), may be induced in another, or may be condoned. They are triggered by greed, anger or delusion and may be mild, moderate or extreme in intensity. As the end results (of these actions) are endless suffering, the cultivation of opposing (positive thoughts and emotions) (is encouraged)

II-35 In the presence of one who is established in non-violence, hostility is given up.

II-36  When one is established in truthfulness, the fruits of one’s actions are supported by (truthfulness and are thus always virtuous).

II-37 As one becomes established in non-theft, all jewels appear.

II-38  When one is established in celibacy, vital energy and power is
attained.

II-39  When restraint from all levels of grasping is established, the understanding of incarnation (arises).

II-40  By cleanliness, one develops an aversion for one’s own body and for contact with others. (*** Note masculine bias denigrating the feminine !!)

II – 41  Upon purification of the mind cheerfulness, one-pointedness, sense control, and fitness to perceive the self (arise).

II – 42   From contentment the highest happiness is attained.

II – 43  From austerity, through the removal of impurities, brings perfection of body and senses.

II- 44  By study of the Self, connection to one’s chosen deity (arises)

II – 45  Surrender to the divine brings perfection in samaadhi.

II- 46 Posture is (both) stable and harmonious.

II-47 With the release of effort and absorption in the limitless (posture is mastered).

II- 48  Then one is no longer entangled in duality.

II- 49  The mastery of asana allows the exploration of more subtle life energies through regulating the natural flow of inhalation and exhalation.

II- 50  The movements of breath are outward, inward and restrained. Practice involves allowing the stages of the breath to become longer and more subtle as you explore where the breath is felt inside the body, how long the movements take, and how many cycles you can perform safely.

II- 51 The fourth (in addition to outward, inward and restrained) surpasses the limits of outward and inward.

II- 52  Then the covering of illumination is weakened.

II- 53  And the mind becomes fit for concentration

II – 54  Withdrawing the senses from contact with external objects and allowing, as it were, the natural state of the mind  is known as pratyaahaara.

II – 55  From this comes the highest control of the senses

Vibhuti Pada

III – 1  Concentration is holding the attention in one place

III – 2  Meditation is sustaining the attention to one place over time.

III – 3  Samadhi is the effortless sustaining of attention, such that the self sense dissolves and the object (attended to) alone shines forth.

III – 4 These three together (dharana-dhyana-samadhi) is samyama.

III – 5  From that (samyama) comes light and wisdom

III – 6  (Samyama) is applied on the (various) stages (of Samadhi)

III-7   These three (dharana, dhyana, Samadhi) are internal limbs, compared to the others. (the first five limbs from chapter 2 )

III – 8  Even these (dharana/dhyana/samadhi – samyama) are external to seedless samadhi.

III – 9 Restraint is the disappearing of the outgoing mental tendencies and the appearance of restraining tendencies at the moment between the dissolving of an old image and the arising of a new image.

III – 1The (mind’s) undisturbed flow occurs due to samskaras.

III – 11  The elimination of ‘all pointedness (wandering mind) and the rising of one-pointedness is the transformation to Samadhi.

III – 12   One-pointedness arises when the previous image subsiding and the current image arising are the same.

III – 13   By these (referring to III-10 – 12) the transformation of the characteristics, state and condition, of the objects and senses is explained.

III – 14   The substratum underlies past, present and future

III – 15  The change in sequence is the cause in the change in transformations

III – 16   When samyama is performed on the three transformations, knowledge of past and future ensues.

III – 17   Confusion arises from the superposition of words,  ideas and meaning. By performing samyama on the distinction among them, knowledge of the speech of all creatures arises.

III – 18 Bringing previous mental impressions into direct perception leads to knowledge of previous births.

III – 19 From the ideas of others comes knowledge of their minds.

III – 20  That (knowledge) is not supported by the object (of the other’s mind.)

III – 21   Samyama on the subtle form of the body leads to invisibility as the light emanating is blocked from other’s eyes.

III – 22 In the same way, other senses are controlled.

III – 23  Karma (results of our actions) can manifest quickly or slowly. Samyama on karma or omens can reveal the time and circumstances of one’s death.

III – 24  (Samyama) on friendliness and other such virtues brings strength

III – 25   (Samyama) on strength brings the strength of an elephant

III – 26  Directing the inner light brings knowledge of things, subtle, concealed or remote

III – 27 Samyama on the sun brings knowledge of the different realms of the universe.

III – 28  Samyama) on the moon brings knowledge of the solar systems.

III – 29  (Samyama) on the pole star brings knowledge of the movement of the stars

III – 30  (Samyama) on the navel center comes knowledge of the organization of the body.

III – 31 (Samyama) on the pit of the throat brings the cessation of hunger and thirst.

III – 32 (Samyama) on the “tortoise nadi” brings stability.

III – 33 (Samyama) on the “light in the skull ” brings a vision of the perfected beings.

III – 34 Or, by intuition everything becomes known.

III – 35 (Samyama) on the heart brings knowledge of the mind.

III – 36 The intelligence and the Self are confused (in the average person). Intelligence is dependent upon another. Samyama on that which is independent brings knowledge of Purusha (Self).

III – 37 From this (see III-36) intuition and the arising of highly refined hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell.

III – 38  These ‘siddhis“, or super-normal yogic powers are accomplishments for the outgoing mind, but obstacles to samadhi.

III – 39 By loosening the causes of bondage (the kleshas) and by knowledge of the pathways of the mind, the mind can enter the bodies of others.

III – 40 With mastery over the udana vayu one attains levitation and the avoidance of water, mud and thorns.

III – 41 Mastery over the samana vayu brings radiance.

III – 42  Samyama on the organ of hearing and the substratum of sound brings awareness of divine sounds.

III – 43   Samyama on the relationship between the body and akasa and meditation on the lightness of cotton brings the power of moving through space.

III – 44  (Samyama on) the maha-videha (great out-of-body) state destroys the covering of the light.

III – 45 Samyama on the gross form, (and their) essential character, subtle nature and purpose, brings mastery over the elements.

III – 46 Then, all limitations (of the body) are transcended, mystic powers such as the ability to become minute appear and the body attains perfection.

III-47  The perfection of the body consists of beautiful form,  grace, strength, solidity and the brilliance of a diamond.

III – 48  Samyama on the process of knowing, on the fundamental form, on the ego, and on the inner qualities and purpose (of the gunas),  brings control over the senses.

III–49  From this (mastery over perception) comes instantaneous knowing independent of the senses and mastery over nature.

III- 50  Only one who discriminates between the intelligence and the Seer (Purusha) realizes omniscience and omnipotence.

III- 51  By renouncing even these powers and destroying the seeds of bondage,  liberation arises

III – 52  One should  be wary of being tempted by celestial  beings as one can fall from grace.

III- 53  By samyama on the movement of moments known as time one gains the deepest understanding of reality.

III – 54 As a result of this, there is discrimination between two objects normally indistinguishable by class, characteritics, or position in space.

III – 55   This knowledge born of this awareness of reality is liberating, embracing all forms, across past present and future, in the timeless.

III – 56  Perfection is yoga is when the purity of sattva equals the purity of Purusha.

Kaivalya Pada

IV.1  Mystic powers arise due to birth, herbs, sacred chanting, austerity, and meditative absorption (samadhi).

IV.2  The changes in other births is due to the pouring in of prakriti

IV.3  The instrumental cause of creation is not the creative cause, but it pierces the covering from creation like a farmer (uses irrigation to grow his crops).

IV.4  Created minds are made from ego only

IV.5  There is one mind among many which is the director of the different activities.

IV.6 From these (refers back to IV-1) the one born of meditation is without the storehouse of karma.

IV.7  The karma of a yogi is neither white not black: of everyone else, it is of three types.

IV.8 From these, (black, white and grey karma), the activation of only those subliminal impressions that are ready for fruition occurs.

IV.9 Because they are of the same form, there is an uninterrupted connection between memory and samskara, even if they are separated by birth, time, or place.

IV.10  Of them (samskaras) are eternal because desire (for life) is eternal

IV.11  As (samskaras) are sustained by an immediate cause, motive, stored memories of the mind, and a supporting object, they (samskaras) cease when they ( the 4 aspects just mentioned) cease.

IV.12  The past and future are real as they differ (from the present) only by the time the characteristics (appear).

IV.13 They (past, present and future) have the gunas as their essence and are either latent or manifest.

IV.14  The transformations of the forms (creation, the movements of the gunas) are a single unity

IV.15  Because there are many minds to each experience an object differently, there is a difference in object and mind.

IV.16  An object is not dependent upon a single mind.  If that were the case, what if that mind does not perceive it?

IV.17  An object is either known or not known by the mind, depending upon whether or not it is noticed.

IV.18  The changes of the mind are always known to the master, purusha, because of its unchanging nature.

IV. 19  Nor is the mind self illuminating, because it can be perceived.

IV.20  There cannot be the discernment of both the seer and the mind at the same time.

IV. 21  If the seer notices the mind and the mind notices the seer, you get an infinite regression (like a hall of mirrors).  Also memory would become confused for the same reason.

IV. 22 Although it is unchanging,  purusha’s self awareness arises as it’s illumination is reflected by the buddhi and its assumption of various forms.

IV. 23  The mind, (citta) affected by both seer (Purusha) and the objects of creation, (Prakriti) knows all.

IV. 24  That mind, with its countless subconscious impressions, exists for Purusha, as it operates in cooperation with other (instruments).

IV. 25 For one who sees the distinction (between mind and Self) reflecting on the nature of the self ceases.

IV. 26  Then the mind, inclined toward discrimination, pursues full realization.

IV. 27  There can be breaks in the flow of discriminative awareness because of latent tendencies still to be unfolded.

IV. 28  The removal of these (latent tendencies) is like the removal of the kleshas.

IV. 29 For one who has no interest in meditative wisdom (siddhis) because of the most refined discrimination, the samadhi known as cloud of virtue arises.

IV. 30  From this (dharma megha samadhi) comes the cessation of the afflictions and karma.

IV. 31  From this ( the cessation of trauma and dysfunctional activity) knowlege becomes limitless and that which remains to be known is insignificant.

IV. 32  From that comes the cessation the permutations of the gunas, their goal now accomplished.

IV. 33  The progression of an object through time is discontinuous. It is perceivable at the last moment of change.

IV. 34. Liberation is when the gunas, devoid of purpose, return to there original state and the consciousness (Purusha) is situated in its own essential nature.