The subject of chitta scattered character (chitta-vikshepa) that we have investigated in the previous articles allows returning to a more thorough consideration of the term that Patanjali introduced yet in the third line. Namely, the category of “svarupa” or, making it verbatim, “own form”, “proper form”, “proper inwardness”. Let me remind that the line as… Continue reading Svarupa. Genuine Inwardness, or What Happens After Vrittis Have Been Overcome?
Category: Yoga Sutra
An Aesthetically-Linguistic Note on Yoga and Samadhi
I cannot stop marveling at the way how deeply, almost at the archetypic level those various aspects of ancient Indian views – yoga, philosophy, grammar and medicine – happen to be intertwined. Here is the recent fact that has astonished me. As I have already written in one of my previous articles almost all words… Continue reading An Aesthetically-Linguistic Note on Yoga and Samadhi
Learning From the Universe. The Problem of Yoga Schools Classicality
The next line of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras that we shall today consider continues the theme of Ishvara. स पूर्वेषामपि गुरुः कालेनानवच्छेदात् ॥ २६॥1.26. sa pūrveṣāmapi guruḥ kālenānavacchedāt ॥ sa (m.Nom.sg.) – he; purveshaam (m.Gen. pl) – previous, prior, senior; with Genitive case and plural form considered – “of the previous”, “of the senior”; api (ind.) – also, even,… Continue reading Learning From the Universe. The Problem of Yoga Schools Classicality
Ishvarapranidhana
In the last dozen of my blog posts I have somewhat deviated from the linear and sequential expansion of the Sutra commentary. Many issues required clarification and more detailed consideration, or they were my contemplations that were wandering in such a mysterious way – so far the format of blog allows taking such liberties, unlike… Continue reading Ishvarapranidhana
Coming Back to Nidra. Can Dreams be Referred to as a Form of Vritti?
I hope the reader remembers that in one of previous posts we have considered the category of nidra and explained why nidra had been highlighted by Patanjali as a vritti. However recently I’ve been asked about whether a dream, a night fantasy, can be referred to as a form of vritti. Since I believe the… Continue reading Coming Back to Nidra. Can Dreams be Referred to as a Form of Vritti?
Samprajnya as described by Bertrand Russell
Here is an interesting fact: Bertrand Russell, an outstanding European thinker, has advanced an idea that is almost comparable to Patanjali’s sutra 1.16 (about samprajnya:)): The mystic insight begins with the sense of a mystery unveiled, of a hidden wisdom now suddenly become certain beyond the possibility of a doubt. The sense of certainty and… Continue reading Samprajnya as described by Bertrand Russell
The Rate of Development. Spiritual Flow, Personal Power, Inner Human Core. Sutras 1.21 and 1.22
The following several sutras of Patanjali are dedicated to one’s developmental rate: तीव्रसंवेगानामासन्नः ॥ २१॥ 1.21 tivra-sanveganam asannah tivra – utmost, extreme, ultimate;sanveganam – intention;asannah – near, proximate;that is, taking into account the previous line that says that prajna is preceded by shraddha, virya, smriti and samadhi, this one can be understood and translated in… Continue reading The Rate of Development. Spiritual Flow, Personal Power, Inner Human Core. Sutras 1.21 and 1.22
A Psychophysiological and Philosophic Commentary: the Role of Emotions in the Process of Cognition
I would like to go back for a while to the line 1.16 in which Patanjali exposes the factors that accompany the process of comprehension (samprajnya) listing among them ananda – the delight. This issue is clear from the empiric point of view and it is rather difficult to say something against it, yet here… Continue reading A Psychophysiological and Philosophic Commentary: the Role of Emotions in the Process of Cognition
Vyasa’s Standpoint. The Buddhist Influence upon Yoga
Having set forth my interpretation of the few latest slokas of Yoga Sutras I cannot help but consider the following issue: why and where from there occurred the opinion (that I so much subject to criticizing) about the existence of asamprajnya samadhi as the “superior” samadhithat eliminates contemplations and so on. No matter how strange… Continue reading Vyasa’s Standpoint. The Buddhist Influence upon Yoga
Chitta, Vritti and Psychosomatics
Following the logic I should have inserted this article after those dedicated to vritti and nirodha, but since it has occurred now I shall break the linear succession in developing the ideas and place it here. There’s nothing you can do – thinking and reasoning are non-linear processes, so that when getting deep to the… Continue reading Chitta, Vritti and Psychosomatics
Comprehension and Emotions. Sutra 1.17.
In scope of discussing sloka 1.17 about samprajna and its relation to vritti-nirodhah I’ve been asked a good question about the mechanisms of such relation, that is, about the REASON of this, or rather, about the mechanism of changing one’s emotional attitude to the core of the problem within the process of its comprehension (this… Continue reading Comprehension and Emotions. Sutra 1.17.
Conceptual Mistakes in Understanding the Category of “Dharana”
Conceptual Mistakes in Understanding the Category of “Dharana” by Yogis of Today. A Psychologist’s Opinion Instead of drawing an epigraph I shall cite an anecdote. A man is walking along the city streets and sees a queer picture: two workmen with spades are walking one by one. One is digging a pit, the second one… Continue reading Conceptual Mistakes in Understanding the Category of “Dharana”
Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi: Basic Considerations
Since the next lines of the Yoga Sutras text already contain the category of Samadhi used by Patanjali, at this stage it becomes fairly appropriate to start figuring out the meaning of this term, let alone that this notion probably comes as the most mystified one of all (well, maybe, except for the Chitta J).… Continue reading Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi: Basic Considerations
Abhyasa and Vairagya. Is There a Third Way?
Abhyasa and Vairagya. Is There a Third Way? Some Words about Samskaras and Tantra So here I am again on board the plane, on my way home, reflecting upon Yoga Sutra… The method of keeping control over one’s states (abhyasa) and the method of disengaging with them (vairagya) are the two interrelated and complementary branches… Continue reading Abhyasa and Vairagya. Is There a Third Way?
Abhyasa and Vairagya in Verses
R. Kipling. Letter to the Son If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about,… Continue reading Abhyasa and Vairagya in Verses
Abhyasa and Vairagya. Two Fundamental Approaches in Yoga
I am writing this article on board the plane on my way to India where I shall visit Kumbh Mela. I am here without my favourite and probably unique library, yet it’s been already for three weeks that I’ve been nourishing the article about abhyasa and vairagya in my mind. So I shall rely on… Continue reading Abhyasa and Vairagya. Two Fundamental Approaches in Yoga
Vrittis: Nidra and Smriti
Let us proceed to discussing the two latter Vrittis mentioned by Patanjali: smriti and nidra. In one of the previous sections of our forum we have already considered and slammed the traditional interpretation of these two words as memory and sleep. I shall remind here that in order to preserve the text consistency in terms… Continue reading Vrittis: Nidra and Smriti
Drashtar. The Inner Observer
Now that we have accumulated sufficient resource we can come closer to understanding Patanjali’s definition of Yoga as chitta-vritti-nirodha. However, for complete comprehension of this line we should pay attention to the explanation the author gives to his definition in lines 1.3 and 1.4. Especially that it is in these lines that Patanjali introduces another… Continue reading Drashtar. The Inner Observer
Chitta Vritti Nirodhah
As I have already mentioned earlier, this line of YS has a conceptual significance for the whole subsequent understanding of the text, as well as the practice of yoga in general, so I have decided to dedicate to it not one article (I guess so far there are three J apart from those already written)… Continue reading Chitta Vritti Nirodhah
The Relevance of New Translation and Commentaries on Yoga Sutra
It’s been ca. two thousand years since Yoga Sutras was written. Within this period the work has been translated into a good number of various languages, while the number of commentaries on it is countless. It was India alone – ancient and medieval – that provided for at least a dozen of very detailed (to… Continue reading The Relevance of New Translation and Commentaries on Yoga Sutra