Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

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Sutra 1.41: Kṣīṇa vr̥tter abhijātasy-eva maṇer grahītr̥ grahaṇa grāhyeṣu tad-stha tad-añjanatā-samāpattiḥ

Literal translation: “Dissipating/decreasing whirlpools giving full birth to what is like a flawless crystal that is knower, knowing, and known: that abiding, that anointing = consummated assumption of its original form, a falling back into its oneness samadhi”

Meaning: “Dissolving your mind-forms, you can experience a state of pure, clear Awareness that is at once you as knower, the act of knowing, and the object of your knowing. That state of being, that blessing, is your joining with Original Contemplation.”

A chant: “Clear your mind and invert your consciousness upon itself, Awareness aware of itself.”

Definition: The wording of this sutra is complex. That is because, though the meaning is clear once you’ve experienced it, using words to describe it is difficult, whether in Sanskrit or English. Again, once you’ve seen and felt it yourself, the meaning becomes clear.

One interpretation of this sutra is that you can keep turning your awareness upon your awareness, or that you otherwise clear your mind so all that remains is awareness itself. This in no way suggests that you use your memory to think of your personality or history; neither do you use organized thinking to count the ways in which you exist, think, or live. Rather, your awareness, itself, has no other object other than itself. Your consciousness turns itself on itself. Your awareness looks at your awareness: your person who is the knower stares into your person who is the knower.

You can get a similar experience by looking into a person’s eyes and searching for their basic essence or Self–their awareness that is looking at you. Another similar experience is to stare at your eyes in a mirror to see yourself seeing yourself. If you have a different dominant sense, such as hearing or touch, then you can practice hearing yourself hear, or feeling yourself feel.

A different interpretation given by some translators is that as your mind clears, it becomes transparent, showing or reflecting exactly whatever you are perceiving. Thus if you are looking at a river, your mind will not think about a river, remember one, or feel emotion or desire about a river. Rather, it will just simply see nothing else but the river.

It is possible that both interpretations apply. Patanjali might be saying, simply, that you as an Awareness become, in this state, a Consciousness that sees or perceives only itself and the raw reality around it.

Comment: Being aware of being aware is one of the more difficult methods or levels of meditation. Learning to hold it even briefly, for just one instant, and then for a second or two, is a special accomplishment for beginning meditators. Typically, each time you manage it, you will be thrown out of the center of this point or circle and find yourself spinning away into thinking, feeling, or remembering something else–which are busy whirlpools or swirls in the mind, the emotions, and the body.

However, this activity can be, for your meditating, at the heart of your finding Being: of discovering Awareness, Ultimate Consciousness, the Place of Peace, Joy, and Strength, or whatever else you may name it. Finding the middle or point of this experience will center and balance you, and help you advance toward whatever your deeper or higher meditation goals are.

This “knower, knowing, and known” experience, as Patanjali calls it, is one reason for Zen Buddhist koans. Koans, of certain fame among Zen meditators, began among Zen priests in China in the twelfth through thirteen centuries. They are brief riddles or questions meant to break you away from logical thinking so that you can see the deeper truth of Being. For example, three modern versions are:

In trying to solve these, you realize there is no logical answer, not, at least, one that is satisfactory. And in that moment, hopefully, you turn inward toward a deeper, living/experienced knowing beyond (without) mere thinking.

“That abiding, that knowing,” as Patanjali calls it, also is at the heart of all other one-pointed meditation objects/subjects that you might choose. This is because whichever method you choose among the many options Patanjali offers, you are (ideally) choosing one that takes you, an individual, into the midst of the center of Being. As a result, turning Awareness upon Awareness, as this sutra describes, is another significant method you may choose, says Patanjali, as a one-pointed object or subject for meditation.

If you learn to sustain this state, your mind becomes a clear, transparent jewel that shows only Itself and the objects around you that you perceive in raw reality. It is a pure, lower form of samadhi, satori, or nirvana.

Sutra 1.42: Tatra śabdārtha jñāna vikalpaiḥ saṁkīrṇā savitarkā samāpattiḥ

Literal translation: “There, word-forming knowledge constructions mixing reflectively: oneness samadhi”

Meaning: “There or then, verbal-concepts thinking mixes in deep contemplation.”

A chant: “Into your pure crystal mind will come new understandings of Original Awareness.”

Definition: In the crystal clarity described in Sutra 41, conceptual thinking–new processing of ideas–mixes with the clarity. These new ideas provide reflective understandings–labels–for your experience of Original Consciousness. This is not an outcome of a logical process of thinking. Nor is it the type of yoga called jnana, in which you hold an idea or memory in mind and allow related thoughts and impressions to swirl into or out from it. Rather, the experience in this sutra involves directly being in Awareness of Awareness and then finding, mixed with it or after it, new words for it. Another possible meaning of Patanjali’s also is that from your knowing your knowing, you may have new, surprising conceptual insights.

For example, after coming out of Awareness of Awareness, or as you continue to experience it, you might suddenly have a crystal-clear, bell-like realization of one or more of the words used to label this experience. Words for it may occur to you such as “knowing,” “Awareness,” “consciousness,” “Being,” “gnosis,” “samadhi,” or many others.

Or, regarding the second definition–“verbal-concepts thinking mixes in deep contemplation”–you suddenly may conceive of a solution to a problem that has perplexed you for days, even years. Or you may suddenly see a completely different view of a complex relationship between two people, or within your own self. Such concepts coming from your experience of samadhi, however brief, usually feel like inspirations rather than logical deductions.

Comment: This special thinking is perhaps normal for many people. When you come out of Awareness of Awareness, whether after an instant or after seconds or minutes–you may have a special insight into some idea, memory, or other thought. Feuerstein, for example, calls such incidences “flashes of understanding,...which, although grounded in the concepts derived from ordinary experiencing, have a different quality or feel about them.”

Patanjali himself, near the end of the Yoga Sutras, also mentions that you can suddenly perceive, mentally, entirely new patterns of how life works as you attain ever deeper levels of meditation. In fact, having such inspirations or realizations is one sign of your success in meditating upon Awareness of Awareness. This–a signpost on the road to success–may be why Patanjali wrote this sutra.

Unfortunately, some people brush the true source of the inspiration–the experience of knowing your knowing–so briefly that they may not see this experience for what it is. Rather, they grasp the result of the experience, their intuitive inspirational thought, and consider that intuition as their ultimate inner experience. Instead, you should look to the source, not the results: the knower-knowing-known experience is what to pursue in meditation, not the resulting intuitions. The latter–intuitions–will come, and even arrive more quickly and often, if you just pursue the aware-of-awareness source.

Sutra 1.43: Smr̥ti pariśuddhau svarūpa śūnya-eva-artha mātra nirbhāsā nirvitarkā

Literal translation: “Memory unused; in its own natural state empty, as it were, an object just shining contemplation without thoughts”

Meaning: “When you are not using your memory, then a natural object can just shine, without thoughts, empty of all else.”

A chant: “Or watch an object shine in your crystal Awareness, with no swirling thoughts in the way.”

Definition: In the crystal clarity described in Sutra 41, a further step (beyond Sutra 42) can occur. In this step, when you look at an object, you simply see it just as it is, as if it shines purely in its own true nature–no thinking attached. This does not mean that you observe an object while mentally dissecting it, nor can you–in this state–observe an object and let meditative thoughts about it, or anything else, occur. Rather, your mind is completely clear of all but the presence of the object itself. For example, if you observe someone’s face with no thoughts, no memories, no listening to what they’re saying, then you are observing the person’s face purely as described in this sutra.

Comment: An interesting occurrence when in this state is that sometimes (not always) the object becomes numinous. This means that if the object is visual, it may literally shine by being brighter or acquiring a light around it like a halo. If the object is a sound, the hearing of it may appear to swell in intensity or acquire a joyous, loving, or especially peaceful feeling. This also can happen with an object that you are touching, tasting, or smelling.

It is worth noting that this “shining object” experience is common among those using psychedelics (and some other drugs) for spiritual growth. The drugs often make the event especially intense. However, you don’t need psychedelics to make it happen. Part of what makes psychedelics appear special is that they create greater intensity. However, meditation usually will bring about the same experiences, if less intently.

If you are using psychedelics for such growth, you may also find that another unique attribute is that meditation experiences seem to happen more easily. However, the more accurate reasoning is that you may be paying better attention to inner experiences. Or you may be devoting more time for meditation by using drugs. In one 8-hour LSD trip, for example–in which you have eight hours of inner-generated experiences–you are yielding what would be the equivalent of sixteen 30-minute meditation sessions, normally spread (by beginning meditators) over a period of sixteen days or weeks.

In addition, the intensity of meditation during drug use increases dramatically: you are literally forced to pay closer attention to what is happening to you. Because of this intensity, your mind does not stray and wander away from your meditative focus, as is typical for most meditators. In other words, psychedelics literally force you to be constantly mindful. Because your mind is not straying, one 8-hour LSD trip might yield the equivalent of thirty, forty, or even fifty 30-minute meditation sessions during weeks or months.

This comparison is not meant to suggest that LSD or any other drug is a shortcut, but rather that many people may have the same results in drug-free meditation over time as during a psychedelic trip. In addition, though psychedelic drugs may create faster results, in many people they may not create better results.

Meditation using drugs also offers both a greater temptation toward–and higher chance of derailment into–some of the false and difficult experiences that meditators occasionally find. This is why for psychedelic drug meditation–just as for some of the more difficult or dangerous traditional forms of meditation in the Far East–a master or experienced guide is needed. Normal meditation–without drugs and by concentrating on higher mental powers and forces–is safer for your normal life and existing personality, and it doesn’t require a psychologist or yoga master to get you through it safely. Drugless meditation may seem slower, but even that is arguable: just as the tortoise reaches the finish line before the quick but sidetracked hare, so, too, the steady way of meditation can yield quieter but equal results compared to the more uneven way of drugs.

However, having noted the above, you may find that in some circumstances, psychedelic drugs–if you use them with an experienced counselor or meditation master in a therapeutic setting–can accomplish changes that a similar amount of meditation cannot. The intensity of the experience itself may make a difference. This is not a recommendation for the general meditator, especially because a licensed psychologist or similar person should be present to help when you “trip” on a psychedelic for inner exploration. Under those careful conditions, though, some research suggests psychedelic drugs may be helpful.

For example, Sarah Scoles reports in November 2020’s Popular Science on recent studies that such drugs and resulting spiritual experiences sometimes can affect mental health positively. She describes in particular the work of scientists Roland Griffiths and William Richards (author of the 2015 book Sacred Knowledge), who work with thirty others in their university’s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. Their first study was funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse. They alternately dosed 36 participants with either psilocybin (a psychedelic mushroom) or a placebo. The research was double blind: neither participants nor researchers knew who was using which. Of participants receiving the active drug, 61% reported a full mystical experience, and a year later, two-thirds said their trips were among the top five spiritual moments in their lives. The placebo-receiving subjects had few such experiences.

Again, though, it is important to emphasize that this kind of spiritual growth may not be needed or even desired by most people. Such “trips” for spiritual or psychological growth also require, for both safety and effectiveness, the presence of a calm, experienced, and trusted counselor, guide, or meditation master.

Sutra 1.44: Etayā-iva savicārā nirvicārā ca sūkṣma-viṣayā vyākhyātā

Literal translation: “Likewise, indeed, awareness–with and without mental thoughts–of subtle objects explained”

Meaning: “In the same way as in Sutra 1.43, having a clear awareness–with or without mental thoughts–of subtle-energy forms also is explained.”

Definition: As in Sutra 43’s natural objects standing alone and ultra-clear, you also may become aware of subtle-energy shapes–i.e. psychic objects. They often look in meditation (or from a very clear mind) like small bundles, threads, strings, or whisps around you. They are not realized or obvious forms of thought that already have arrived in your head as memories, images, sounds, or in other mentally complete forms. Rather, they are like the “burnt seeds” in Sutra 1.18. For example, when your mind space is mostly or completely clear, you may see a darkish dust ball, or perhaps a swirl of wispy or thick energy swirling outside of your inner awareness. These are some of the “subtle objects” of which Patanjali speaks.

Comment: Patanjali’s references throughout the Sutras regarding psychic objects, “burnt seeds,” etc. are part of the ancient belief common in many cultures that thought forms, emotion forms, and desire forms (to name a few) come from external sources, whether they are swirling close to you or they arrive from other people or events nearby or far away.

Again, it is worth noting, as in Sutra 1.23, that at the least, when humans are within several feet of each other, scientists are able to demonstrate people can sense each other’s heart-energy signals. Patanjali is saying that patterns of energy forms do exist outside of the human body and can be perceived by those who are sensitive to them. In addition, he is saying that thoughts, emotions, desires, and feelings (our own and others’) can have residence outside of us at times, and that your nervous system can act as a sensory receiver and broadcaster of such energy forms.

In short, your brain is not just a photographic or computer-byte file system as in Western psychology, but also (or instead, according to ancient Hindu psychology) a sensory tool like your eyes, ears, and other sensory organs. In this way the brain is more like a phone or computer that can send and receive information through the airwaves.

In this regard–the brain as receiver-sender, as opposed to a storage vault of memories–neuroscientists cannot yet identify cells where specific memories are stored. Nor can they explain how the brain interacts with finer or more subtle forms of energy such as radio waves and light waves, much less subatomic dark matter. For these reasons and because of new evidence of the brain sensing heart and brainwaves, the ancient Hindu model of the brain as an energy-wave receptor remains an interesting hypothesis.

In addition, there is a large body of evidence for psychic phenomena that has not been disproved. For example, former Harvard professor Diane H. Powell speaks in The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena about how Abraham Lincoln had a clear predictive dream of his death ten days before it happened. She adds that everyone potentially is psychic. She argues that modern scientists generally conduct experiments to help prove or disprove what they already believe–and then ignore evidence that doesn’t support their belief. Instead, she suggests, they should look at all the raw data and gradually construct an understanding of what that data might be telling them.

She also says that famous nineteen-century psychologist William James argued for viewing the mind as being like a prism (very much like Patanjali’s “crystal-clear mind”). James explained this “prism model” as the mind filtering differing shades of light through it, which are the different shades of thoughts and feelings, but also, said James, the mind is capable of seeing all of these “colors” at one time–seeing their combination as the color white.

Hundreds of scientific studies have validated that psychic phenomena exist. They are too numerous to list here, but a good introduction to them is “Do Psychic Phenomena Exist?” in Psychology Today by Steve Taylor, PhD., a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University in the United Kingdom. Taylor explains a different model of the brain, one which considers the brain to be an additional type of sense, much like the five senses: “some theorists...propose what might be described as the ‘radio model’” of the brain in which people "receive" what “exists outside of us.” He also discusses significant experiments helping to prove that psychic perceptions exist and even describes how physicists’ quantum mechanics may help prove, theoretically, how such perceptions happen.

All these brain-as-receptor models are how the ancient Hindus viewed the human nervous system. Patanjali assumes his readers already understand that the brain is a sensory organ, just like our other five senses.

Literal translation: “Psychic objects, also, unattached to matter, originating in”

Meaning: “You may also experience subtle objects not part of matter, from what you can sense to what is the purest of forms.”

A chant: “Look for immaterial things from strong energy to the most subtle of all forms.”

Definition: Patanjali here states that psychic objects you might see can run the gamut from the most obvious to the most subtle–from large to tiny. He also suggests that some of them have existed since before the beginning of time and space. Note that he is not saying you can perceive God of the highest spiritual states because they are objects. He says in other sutras of his that God and such states are beyond the existence of objects, whether in material nature or in subtle, psychic form. Rather, in this sutra, Patanjali is suggesting that you might even perceive something so fine that it is the basic material from which the cosmos in made. Ancient Hindu mystics named it, in Sanskrit, prakrti or prakriti.

Comment: Again, as in Sutras 1.42-44, Patanjali is telling you what you might see as your crystal-clear mind begins to develop in meditation. In Sutra 1.45, he explains that you might begin having experiences of any of a number of levels of subtle or normally invisible forms, from the most obvious or gross to the most subtle or finest. These may include, as well as the usual panoply of whirlpools or swirls of thoughts and feelings around you, smaller or more perfected particles or energies.

These finer subtle energies in and around you might even include the original substances of the universe from which, says Patanjali, the cosmos itself was made, such as prakriti, sometimes visible as vibrations, sometimes as fine white-gold particles of original fire, as original vibrational sounds, as feelings of water or rain within you, and as similar sensory events. They perhaps may be the same as or similar to the tiny, invisible, sub-subatomic “threads” that physicists now describe in “string theory” in defining the smallest subatomic particles in atoms.

In the more immediate world of your life, it is easy to assume that your own mind, emotions, and physical feelings produce some of these psychic or subtle objects: if we feel anger, for example, the assumption we make is that it is “our” anger: we made it. But this is not necessarily so.

It may be worth remembering the story John Travolta tells in the movie Phenomenon about the rabbit. The rabbit, he says, was eating his garden plants every time he was not looking. Travolta explains that he built a fence, but that didn’t work. Next, he installed the fence several inches deep so the rabbit wouldn’t go under it. That didn’t work. Then he dug a long ditch a few feet deep and sunk the fence into that hole. His vegetables still were being eaten. Then one day, figuring he might as well let the rabbit have his fill, he left the garden gate open. Several minutes later, he saw the rabbit hop out. All that time, the rabbit was trapped inside.

Similarly, you may find that all you need to do–in order to rid yourself of some of your own troubling thoughts, emotions, and physical feelings–is just open your psychic gate and let them out. You may find you have been trapping them inside your own fence, but that you can release them or even throw them out. Once they’re out, close your psychic gate, the borders of your mind, and don’t let them back in. If they return, throw them out or dissipate them again. This is part of what Patanjali proposes to teach you how to do in the Yoga Sutras.

Sanskrit Text: Patanjali, c. 400 BCE-400 CE

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See also Meditationary.org, a Meditation Dictionary; and BodyMeditation.org, Introducing Yoga Meditation.

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