Definitions

Tat – those [disturbances listed in previous two verses]

Pratiṣedha – keeping back, warding off, prevention, repulsion (of a disease)

Artham – for the sake of, on account of, in behalf of, for

Eka – 0ne, single:

Tattva – true or real state, truth, reality, the actual nature of things, also an object

Abhyāsaḥ – to practice

Translation
“Practice [of focusing the mind] on a singular truth or reality for the sake of preventing these disturbances”

Commentary

In the long gone tradition of mystical meditation or Raja Yoga, this verse was both an instruction and a standard. If the aspirant was unable to curb the symptoms of a disturbed and scattered mind (suffering, depression, a restless body, and uneven or ineffective breath) then progress in meditation was impossible. There was no point in retiring to a cave or the woods if you are going to spend the time pining for material life.

For the modern yogi this means that we must strive for a grounded and centered state of mind. By focusing on a greater truth or transcendent reality we are not controlled by materialistically preconceived notions, habits of mind, or assumptions.  Instead we have an internal stability that is not tied to the material world or any of the ways in which our ego would have us identify with it. This allows us to remain moored and unmoored at the same time.

The trick to remaining moored and unmoored is how to remain focused on something that is non-material or spiritual in essence. To do this we must practice living through the fear conjured by the mind anytime it is presented with the idea of letting go of an attachment. For example if you realize you are identifying with your lover as part of who you are then you must consider yourself without that identity. The mind will try to dissuade you with fear threatening you with the emotional pain associated with an assault on your identity. If, however, you are willing to face that threat head-on and do not resist that pain, with practice you will discover that not only can you tolerate and purposely choose to endure/feel the pain, but you will also discover that the pain is a material fiction; meaning it is only real to the mind-body complex. The real you, the experiencer of the mind-body, is never influenced by pain. This is because the real you is made of pure consciousness; which can never be harmed.

Tapping into the perspective of pure consciousness only comes with a continual practice in which you step by step increase your ability to be the experiencer versus the mind-body. So on a daily basis you must learn to use the attachments and identification of the false ego as fuel for the journey into the fictitious or illusory darkness suggested by the ego. This darkness is real like a movie is real, but on closer inspection is just colored lights on a wall.

Definitions

Duḥkha -  difficulty, suffering – from dus and kha; as in difficult (dus) to attain, or reach, or access spirit-Brahma (kha) – contrast to sukha or happiness that is to impel, incite, go to Bramha (God, or Pure Consciousness)

Daurmanasya – depression, dejection, despair from daur (dur & dus) meaning bad, very difficult and manasya: pertaining to mind

Aṇgam-ejayatva – trembling of the body from: aìga meaning limbs or body and ejaya: causing to shake or tremble

ßvåsa – praßvåsåḥ – labored breathing; from śvāsa, breathing and praśvāsā, inhaling

vikṣepa – throw away, cast aside, scatter, disperse, disturb

saha-bhuvaḥ – a sign or indication, accompanied by, from saha, near, at hand, and bhuva associated with… so something that accompanies or is associated with something, as in a symptom

Translation

The symptoms of a disturbed and scattered mind are

suffering

depression

restless body

uneven (or ineffective) breath

Commentary

After describing the nine behaviors that scatter and disturb the mind Pataïjali goes on to list an additional four symptoms that indicate the mind is in a disturbed or out of control state.

Interestingly the first one on the list is often translated as suffering. This does not referring to objective suffering (the encountering of uncontrollable difficulties) but rather to subjective suffering, which is a matter of perspective. For example you grieve for someone bitterly when you think death is final; but when you realize no one dies then grief although sad can become beautiful and even a celebration of the physically departed.

According to Sanskrit philosophy any soul trapped in a body (you or I) will experience uncontrollable difficulties from three sources: ādhyātmika, ādibhautika, and ādi-daivika. The prefix ādhi in this context means pain, anxiety, or more specifically, mental agony as in a perceived distress. So this distress (or the perception of it will come from three sources over which the entity has no control:

1. ātmika – material self: the body, mind complex which is designed to degrade and be limited
2. bhautika – all others: the aggregate of material beings (including the disembodied)
3. daivika – mother nature (all of the controlling demi-gods of the material universe)

Of course it takes an extraordinary level of consciousness to not experience these various difficulties as physical pain. But with practice the experiencer of the body/mind gains increasing subjectivity and consequently distance from the influence of the pains (and pleasures) of the material world.

A major pitfall is when out of ambition (or anxiousness) to reach this state of freedom from the influence of matter people (aka brahma bhuta) use mental tactics of repression and rationalization to imagine that they have attained this elevated status. It’s an understandable impulse because getting to that state requires titikṣava, which means the willingness to feel everything and embrace all the experiences of the body/mind with equal willingness. That is a challenging process that requires courage. Shortcuts are tempting but they are very inefficient and sometimes even create more problems.

So if you are suffering then you know you are still identifying with the body/mind and your task is to become the willing experiencer of the body/mind rather than the victim; which is identifying as the body-mind.

If depression is present then it is even clearer that you are the victim of identifying as a body/mind being instead of as a spirit based experiencer. Depression, depending on its depth, can be very difficult to overcome. Ultimately both forgiveness of tormentors, or past enablers and the ability to take total accountability for your circumstances is required. This is not easy but with sufficient determination (as in a burning desire) to get to the bottom of the issue at all costs it is possible. Whether it is persons or circumstances that led to your depression the key to escaping their influence is forgiveness and accountability. These can create a powerful shift in perception.

A restless body is an indicator of over-stimulation within the body/mind complex. This can range from the inability to sit still, to constant motion of the limbs. To overcome this restlessness requires a willingness to face the internal afflictions that are driving what is basically an avoidance mechanism. What is being avoided is some subconscious disturbance or pain. This can manifest as grief, abandonment issues, or parentally inflicted narcissism; i.e. receiving love based on performance and needing ‘always having to be on, not realizing who you are because you are nurtured based on what you do as opposed to who you are. These issues require self-honesty (acknowledging the issues) combined with deep and real forgiveness.

Disturbed or irregular breathing is another clear indicator of a disturbed nervous system. Improper breathing leads to gross inefficiencies in the way your body regulates itself. One example is paradoxical breathing in which the individual inhales and depresses the chest or draws in the diaphragm and then upon exhalation expands the chest. These are exactly the opposite movements of what should be happening. The resulting distress it puts on the nervous system exacerbates an increasing state of over stimulation and anxiety. Left unchanged bad breathing can lead to restlessness, depression, anxiety attacks, and facilitate disease.

The correct way to breath is in balanced, smooth, uninterrupted breaths that only engage the diaphragmatic muscle.

Of course all of these conditions can be expected if you fail to hold in check the behaviors listed in the previous verse.

Definitions -

Vyadhi – disease, disorder

Styana – stiff, bland, gross, dense, apathetic, idle

Samshaya – doubt, uncertainty, indecision

Pramada – madness, negligence, error, careless

Alasya – lazy, slothful

Avirati – uncontrolled senses, intemperance, addiction, unhealthy habits

Bhranti- confusion, error, mistaken

Darshana – impression, to see, perceive

Alabdha – failure to obtain

Bhumikatva – a distinct state of (yoga meditation)

Anavasthitatvani – unstable or unsteady in

Cittavikshepaha- scatter brained (citta = mind, vikñepah = scattered, inattentive, moving to and fro) also the mind’s tendency to be distracted (thrown about, led hither and thither)

Te – these

Antarayaha – obstacle or interferences – that which comes between something (referring to the impediments described in the last verse)

Translation -
“The disturbances that scatter the mind and inhibit maintaining a state of deep meditation (samadhi) are:
1. disease
2. being dense, apathetic
3. uncertainty, indecisiveness
4. being lackadaisical
5. laziness
6. uncontrolled senses
7. misperception
8. inability to become absorbed in meditation (lack of focus)
9. unable to hold the mind steady”

Commentary -

Herein Patanjali is making clear those behaviors that lead to failure in a yoga meditation practice, and more specifically to a japa (mantra repetition) practice. Meditation begins with controlled attention. This leads to states of absorption. Japa practice provides the object of attention. Focused attention on mantra slowly alters mental activity (vrrtis) by undoing the attachments, fixations, and habits of the mind. As the mind lets go of previous fixations new ones, to non-material designations, form.

In order for the enhanced or expanded (i.e. more conscious) fixations or habits to take hold the aspirant must move away from those behaviors that will impede the process. (Remember that before the meditation process can become spontaneous, it must be cultivated through discipline and practice.)

This verse gives a preview of the yamas and niyamas by laying out some of the fundamental issues the would-be yogi must overcome or avoid. The characteristic of all of these disturbances is a predominance of the guna tama (darkness, density, sloth, inertia, ignorance) and unhealthy raja (passion, frenetic, moving). Here we can see that raja colored by tama can become very different and increasingly dysfunctional as opposed to raja colored by sattva in which case raja becomes more about creativity and dynamics and enthusiasm.

So the starting points for becoming successful in meditation are:

1. Live a healthy lifestyle. That includes eating whole foods, regulating sleep, avoiding animal flesh, staying hydrated and limiting other foods that imbalance the system including alcohol, sugar, caffeine.

2. Be enthusiastic about work and practice and give your best effort to all your responsibilities, maintaining a lifestyle that keeps you mentally alert and clear-headed

3. Now that you are thinking clearly, be decisive about the action you take. Follow an iterative approach to action: act, analyze, and adjust.

4. Be diligent in your approach to practice and the regulation of lifestyle. Free will is evidenced by doing those things the body doesn’t want to do.

5. Continue this trend toward free will by challenging your body to remain physically active and involved in ways that utilize your determination and practice discipline.

6. Additionally, develop your discipline by overcoming unwanted addictions, or even just strong attachments, i.e. bad habits. (This can be all sorts of unhealthy lifestyle choices, e.g. trans-fats, sugar, alcohol, TV, social media, coffee, etc…) Most of the time this doesn’t mean giving it up altogether but rather regulating these activities so that you control them and they don’t control you.

7. Seek out clear instruction about the yoga path. It is important to apply intelligence and discrimination to this process

8. Gradually increase the amount of time you can remain fixed on the mantra. This is a gradual process that requires patience and practice

9. Learn to be grounded in experience. Let the experiential reality of each moment become your touchstone. Constantly coming back to whatever level of absorption you have access to, through weight, breath, emotion, mantra…

Remember that the yoga path is a journey and there is no destination. In yoga practice does not make perfect, practice is perfect.

Definitions

Tat – those [disturbances listed in previous two verses]

Pratiṣedha – keeping back, warding off, prevention, repulsion (of a disease)

Artham – for the sake of, on account of, in behalf of, for

Eka – 0ne, single:

Tattva – true or real state, truth, reality, the actual nature of things, also an object

Abhyāsaḥ – to practice

Translation
“Practice [of focusing the mind] on a singular truth or reality for the sake of preventing these disturbances”

Commentary

In the long gone tradition of mystical meditation or Raja Yoga, this verse was both an instruction and a standard. If the aspirant was unable to curb the symptoms of a disturbed and scattered mind (suffering, depression, a restless body, and uneven or ineffective breath) then progress in meditation was impossible. There was no point in retiring to a cave or the woods if you are going to spend the time pining for material life.

For the modern yogi this means that we must strive for a grounded and centered state of mind. By focusing on a greater truth or transcendent reality we are not controlled by materialistically preconceived notions, habits of mind, or assumptions.  Instead we have an internal stability that is not tied to the material world or any of the ways in which our ego would have us identify with it. This allows us to remain moored and unmoored at the same time.

The trick to remaining moored and unmoored is how to remain focused on something that is non-material or spiritual in essence. To do this we must practice living through the fear conjured by the mind anytime it is presented with the idea of letting go of an attachment. For example if you realize you are identifying with your lover as part of who you are then you must consider yourself without that identity. The mind will try to dissuade you with fear threatening you with the emotional pain associated with an assault on your identity. If, however, you are willing to face that threat head-on and do not resist that pain, with practice you will discover that not only can you tolerate and purposely choose to endure/feel the pain, but you will also discover that the pain is a material fiction; meaning it is only real to the mind-body complex. The real you, the experiencer of the mind-body, is never influenced by pain. This is because the real you is made of pure consciousness; which can never be harmed.

Tapping into the perspective of pure consciousness only comes with a continual practice in which you step by step increase your ability to be the experiencer versus the mind-body. So on a daily basis you must learn to use the attachments and identification of the false ego as fuel for the journey into the fictitious or illusory darkness suggested by the ego. This darkness is real like a movie is real, but on closer inspection is just colored lights on a wall.

Definitions

Taj – that [AUM]

Japah – quiet repetition

Tat – that [AUM]

Artha – goal, purpose

Bhavanam – beauty experienced with humility and reverence (bha = splendor, va=reverence, nam=humility

Translation
“Repeat it [AUM] and meditate on its purpose”

Commentary

Herein we have one of the most import verses of the yoga sutra and one of the universal notions upon which almost all the ancient yogis and gurus agree: Mantra repetition is a principal practice of yoga.

The purport is the mind requires something that is not mind as an object of focus. By focusing on the sound vibrations that are not material but rather anti-material the mind is slowly liberated (man-tra: manas=mind and trayate=liberate).

How do we know that a mantra like AUM is non-material and not just a nice sound being foisted upon us from someone’s well intended imagination? We don’t.

At least in western scientific terms there is no real way to prove that AUM is a primordial sound that existed before the creation of this universe and was somehow involved in its inception.  We can, however, consider it a hypothesis. But even then a hypothesis should have some basis for being proposed.

One basis for the supposition of AUM as other than material is the mathematical elegance of it. As String Theory physicists are draw to the mathematical elegance of thread like vibrations that exist in an invisible to the human eye multi dimensional space, so could we be drawn to the notion of a super symmetrical vibration of anti-matter that preceded the (still unproven – but oh so attractive) big bang theory.

Ultimately whether or not the sound AUM is really what the yogis say is not a matter of belief or scientific e evidence.  Either it is real or it is not. And the suggestion to experiment with it, is at best an inspired idea. But unlike a single person’s inspired idea, the idea of the mantra AUM comes from a diverse number of sources. That is significant.  It is hard to find ideas in circulation that have such a distinguished pedigree. The syllable AUM is described in multiple Sanskrit text from differing time periods, and with a remarkable degree of consistency. That would not be surprising if the Vedas were one book like certain religious texts. But the Vedas are a collection of non-sequential texts that have disparate origins in time and place. In addition, the Vedas have always been held to a high standard of peer approval as well as the need for its promulgators to maintain the strictest standards of comportment to insure non-envy and eliminate the possibility of personal agendas. These factors, taken together, place an idea like the mantra AUM in a unique category of circulating knowledge.

Consequently, it does merit consideration as a hypothesis, one that deserves at least a personal endeavor to experiment and explore.

Test it out, repeat AUM over and over again quietly, and then try a nonsense sound like ‘glurck’, and then try an English word like wagon or Pepsi. See how your mind reacts to each; see which is sustainable.

If it seems like AUM has some distinction from the other sounds, then begin setting up a time, or times, during each day to practice repeating the mantra quietly and to contemplate what the mantra’s goal might be for you.

The secret to making the practice of japa easier and increasingly automatic is to approach the mantra with real humility as the representative of all the splendor you cannot conceive; an amount that is constantly increasing and is simultaneously becoming more compelling.

Definitions
Sa – He (Ishvara)
Eshaha –  for these
Purvesham –  all the ancients,  from purva (those from before)
Api – also
Guru – teacher   from gu to sound, resound, proclaim and, ru a loud noise, sound, also to cut up (as in the sound that cuts ignorance)
Kalena – time (from kal to calculate or enumerate)
Anavacchedat – from anavacchinna – without boundry, hence without limit or unlimited by…

Translation

“Because he is unbound by time this Original Supreme Soul was also the teacher of all the ancients.”

Commentary

Here Patanjali gives a further sense of the difference between us and the Original Soul. When the Original Soul or God participates in the material realm he remains unaffected by it. When ordinary souls such as ourselves come on contact with the material energy we are bound by it. For example we cannot master or overcome the influence of time. Even the soul given the task of creating or building out the universe, Lord Brahma, cannot overcome the uni-directional flow of time. This is denoted in the story of King Kakudmi.

Taking his own daughter, Revati, Kakudmi went to Lord Brahma in Brahmaloka, and inquired about a husband for her. When Kakudmi arrived there, Lord Brahma was engaged in hearing musical performances by the Gandharvas and had not a moment to talk with him. Therefore Kakudmi waited, and at the end of the musical performances he offered his obeisance to Lord Brahma and thus submitted his long-standing inquiry.

After hearing his words, Lord Brahma, laughed loudly and said to Kakudmi, “O King, all those whom you may have decided within the core of your heart to accept as your son-in-law have passed away in the course of time. Twenty-seven catur-yugas have already passed. (27 times 4,320,000 earth years.). Those upon whom you may have decided are now gone, and so are their sons, grandsons, and other descendants. You cannot even hear about their names.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 9.3.28-32)

If we do the math we find that in Brahma’s time King Kakudmi’s visit lasted 3,456 seconds, or just under an hour. But time further down the dilation spectrum passed extremely fast. Yet all Kakudmi could do is go back to a world that had long ago passed him by. Nothing could turn back the clock of time.

In Sankya philosophy (an important tributary of Yoga philosophy) time is the inexorable force that drives each cycle of creation to its conclusion. In the Bhagavad Gita Ishvara, Krishna states, “kalo ‘smi loka-kshaya-kat pravaddho”, = “Time, am I, the great destroyer of worlds.”

In his commentary Mr. Bryant points out that this verse  also reinforce the often overlooked tenant of Yoga Philosophy and most Sanskrit philosophy as a whole that the soul is eternally an individual. Although, according to Vedantic philosophy, it is possible to merge with the energy of God. That is considered to be a temporary refuge only. In the Bhakti tradition, the idea of merging into the effulgence or energy of God is thought of as a hellish disposition because it negates the possibility of being in relationship with the divine and having loving adventures with the divine.

Definitions
Tasya – His (God’s) [name]
Vacakaha –sounds like or is expressed by
Pranavaha– the syllable AUM

Translation
God (Ishvara) can be expressed through the sound AUM

Commentary
Here Patanjali bring in a host of important ideas. The first of which is that he is a practical tool for the practice of meditation namely, japa. Japa means the repetition of mantra. It is literally the whispering or muttering of sacred sounds and is related to the Sanskrit word karëe, which means to whisper into the ear. On the importance of japa almost all yogi’s and guru’s are unanimous. The question of how to make japa most effective requires looking deeper into the situation. I will discuss that in a moment.

Another significant idea that Patanjali is bringing into the conversation is the idea of transcendental sounds versus mundane sounds. The difference between the two is whether a sound had inherent properties (to be intrinsically connected or simultaneously not the same and not different from something) or conventional properties (an arbitrary or externally imposed relationship). In order for a sound to authentically express or signify God it has to be transcendental, this is, not of material or human origin. Such is the case with conventional words that are ultimately agreed upon convention that have no real or experiential ability to represent the object it signifies. Take the word cup for instance. It is an arbitrary sound for the thing you pour tea into. It could easily be the word tasso, which it is in Spanish, or udriebl which it isn’t in any language, (unless we agree amongst ourselves to include it.) In addition the word offers none of its real world properties if I offer you tea in the conventional sound for the thing we pour tea into, I will give you a nasty burn.

So the hypothesis that is being presented here, (and I call it a hypothesis because we do not have a scientific way to prove the notion of mantras and other than conventional sounds, yet) is that mantras like the sound AUM are inherently spiritual. And that some aspect of the Divine is contained within the mantra or the experience of the mantra.  One way to think of this is to consider the concept of a seed versus say a picture of a tree. The seed, like the mantra is inherent in the related experience of the tree. Although they are not the same thing they are not completely different either. The seed contains within it not just the potential for the tree but is in a very real way an expansion or extension of the tree. The mundane version of tree’s signifier, like the picture or the word may effectively communicate the idea of the tree, but neither has an inherent relationship with the tree, only a conventional one.

So a mantra by definition is made of the same stuff that your pure consciousness is. This is why a mantra has the potential to influence you consciousness. The proposal is that your consciousness or your soul is influenced by the hearing (read experiencing) of the mantra. The effect is said to awaken or increase the amount of your pure consciousness that is available to you. According to yoga philosophy we are only using an extremely small amount of our available consciousness.

So what is the best way to practice mantra repetition? And what is the best mantra to practice? While some yoga gurus have instructed students to practice silent meditation I am not convinced this is the most effective use of mantra. While there is nothing wrong with mentally repeating a mantra, it is more effective to engage as much of your physical being in the process as possible. The reason for this is that your tendency to identify with your body as the real you is a huge obstacle to expanding your consciousness. Consequently the more you engage your body and your senses as an instrument of spiritual practice the more rapidly you will be able to distinguish between you and your body. So using your breath, chest, throat, tongue and lips to vibrate the sound, using your whole nervous system to feel or experience the sound, and equally importantly, using your ears to hear the sound, you create a full body feedback loop of the vibrational experience.

As for which mantra is best, it is written that the number of names of God is innumerable. Aum is a powerful mantra, but mantras have degrees of potency and most mantras can be made more potent or effective by including a reference to a particular dimension or expansion, or capacity of the Divine.  One reason this increases the potency of the mantra is that it makes it more personal. After al yoga is about relationships. And mantras are about your relationship with spirit or the totality. But using an abstract notion can be challenging for the human mind. This why most of the mantras recommended in the Sanskrit texta are personal, like om nam bhagavte vasudevaya, or om namah shivaya. My personal favorite is, hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare, hare rama, hare rama, rama, rama, hare hare. This 32 syllable mantra is said to be the mantra AUM unpacked as a celebration of the pure love between the masculine and feminine divine. Sounds good to me.

Definitions
Tatra – He (referring to Ishvara)
Niratishayam – unsurpassable (beyond being bound)
Sarva – all
Gya – knowing
Bijam – seed, primary cause

Translation –
“He (God) is the unsurpassable source of all knowledge”

Commentary
Here Patanjali is reinforcing the notion of a unique original and unsurpassable soul. Apparently God is smarter than all of us put together. Still this brings up and interesting paradox around the issue of infinity. If all souls are purusha, and purusha is pure consciousness, i.e. sat-chit-ananda (eternal-knowing-blissfull), then how can God the Soul be more of anything?

Consider this very important and famous verse

Om Purnam
Om purnam adah purnam idam purnat purnam udachyate purnasya purnam adaya purnam evavashishyate

Literal translation –
Of God: That is infinite, this is infinite;
From That infinite this infinite comes.
From That infinite, this infinite removed or added;
Infinite remains infinite.

Definitions –
oḿ – God (the totality)
pūrṇam – limitless, unbounded, whole, perfect, complete, infinite
adaḥ – that (the totality)
pūrṇam – limitless, unbounded, whole, perfect, complete, infinite (simultanesously personal (with form) and impersonal (formless))
idaḿ – this
pūrṇāt – from He that is… limitless, unbounded, whole, perfect, complete, infinite…
pūrṇam – limitless, unbounded, whole, perfect, complete, infinite
udacyate – from ud-añc – to resound , produce, cause…
pūrṇasya – He who is perfect and limitless
pūrṇam – limitless, unbounded, whole, perfect, complete, infinite
ādāya – taking away (or adding)
pūrṇam – limitless, unbounded, whole, perfect, complete, infinite
evāvaśiṣyate – eva (adds emphasis), vaśiṣa – remains

Deeper Translation
God (the original totality) is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world (and each soul within it), are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

According to this verse, the original soul is more complete (more infinite) than even anything that comes from Him. These emanations (like us) are also perfect and complete. But we came from him and not the other way around. And even though we came from the original soul that soul was not diminished in any way.

So Patanjali (in the yoga sutra verse) is reaffirming this uni-directional relationship. We come from God (and we have similar qualities) but God does not come from us. So there is simultaneous sameness and difference.

Definitions

Klesha – affliction (herein meaning those obstacles that afflict the normal soul cf. the 5 kleshas)

Karma – obligation, rituals, laws of action (physics)

Vipaka – consequences, laws of reactions

Ashayaiha – from ashaya: the subconscious as in the sleeping place of all samskaras

Aparamrshtaha – one who is untouched  (mani touch or maña smeared, polished) ergo: beyond being touched or affected in anyway

Purusha visheshaha – a soul (purusha) unlike any others, the original soul, a consciousness unique (visheshah) from all other consciousness

Ishvaraha – God

Translation

God is a special soul. As the original soul, God is untouched by the obstacles, or afflictions, faced by all other souls. Nor is God affected by the laws of physics or culture. Nor is God affected by a subconscious mind.

Commentary

Here Patanjali begins to layout the powerful dialectic that underlies yoga philosophy as a whole: the idea that even though we come from God, and we are also Purusha, we are nonetheless not the same as God. This leads to the idea of simultaneous oneness and difference. It is in this wonderfully impossible dialectic (pairing of opposites) that we find entrance into the poetic, magical, and heart melting world of prema (spiritual love and affection).

So Patanjali points out here that unlike anyone of us God never suffered from the identity crisis that binds us to the realm of pain and suffering. Nor can anyone of us ever become God, since we are susceptible to the four material influences listed in this verse.

So here Patanjali hints at the idea of a personal God but does not go deeply into the subject because this is a text on meditation and not the nature of existence. But here at least is the bridge to the Vedantic notion of a personal God.

Definitions

Ishvara – The original soul, the controlling agent of consciousness

Pranidanat – to focus upon, to pay attention to, to put something before you, to be devoted

Va – or

Translation

Or [you can exceed even liberation (asampragyata)] though loving attention to God (Bhakti Yoga)

Commentary

Here we begin to see evidence of yoga as a theistic (albeit  agnostic) practice. As in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna identifies himself as the original soul and suggests that of all the ways he has described to Arjuna the fastest yoga practice is focus one’s love and attention on Him, aka éçvara. Patanjali is herein stating that the most efficacious means of attaining the goal of yoga is through surrender to the divine source of all souls. In the following verses he will describe the nature of the original soul.