Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

Endnotes Appendix Bibliog. Downloadable PDF

How can you practice the 1^st of the five Niyamas, Sauca or
“Pure golden radiance—cleanliness, a shining inside and out”?

Literal translation: “Cleanliness a golden shining in one’s own limb, detachment from others’ not-blessed emittings”

Meaning: “Keep your own limb (body and soul) shining with clean radiance, and detach yourself from emittings that are not blessed (pure).”

A chant in English: “Be clear in body and soul; don’t muddy yourself with others’ muddy swirls.”

Definition: As Sutra 2.32 explains, the most ancient roots of saucat mean a “pure radiance.” Sauca gradually came to mean cleanliness. In this sutra, keeping yourself “clean” means doing so not just outside your body, but also within.

As part of this cleanliness, the phrase svanga-jugupsa (“limb-protected” or “-detached”) also is defined as accepting one’s own body but not being controlled by its desires and those of others. Unfortunately, medieval and older modern translations use another definition, “body disgust.” They call for a yogi to fight and get rid of all physical desire, his/her own and those of others they can sense, and suggest that the yogi should become a hermit or recluse.

The more ancient roots don’t suggest rejection, say Feuerstein and several other contemporary translators. Instead, the original meaning simply implies that you keep your own body clean inside and out, physically and psychically, and protect or detach yourself from others’ negative impulses. A desire to eat, to sleep, or, for example, to avoid violence are natural and useful as long as they do not rule you.

Let raw cravings, driving desires, and impulsive hungers diminish. The body gradually will become more attracted to healthy physical needs and wishes.

In addition, says this sutra in its ancient meaning, a life of “pure radiance” protects you from unwanted desires and impulses. An inner shining light gradually takes over, dissolving or “eating” negative impulses that may come from your depths, swirl around you, or transfer from others. Both Eastern and Western mystics long have taught that maintaining the body as a temple of the good, open to the divine, also makes it a house of greater safety.

Comment: In Vedic or proto-Vedic languages, there is no previous record before the writing of the Yoga Sutras of a reference to uncleanly “disgust with” or “detachment from” from the body. For this reason, some translators argue that this sutra is an invention made by Patanjali himself. However, this seems unlikely. It is out of character for him. Elsewhere in the Sutras, he shows more openness to the human body. If it is an invention placed here, it likely comes from a different author, added later.

An interesting note is that this sutra refers to “your own anga” or “limb,” which usually is translated as one’s body. However, the word also can mean the male genital member or its “stirring” (and, one would assume or hope, the equivalent in a female). “Emittings” then would be translated as sexual releases that are pure in substance or intent, as opposed to impure. The idea of “pure emittings” once again calls up questions about sexuality and yoga in ancient times, contrasting with the medieval ages in East and West, when religions and ascetic withdrawal so often became inextricably linked and only people thought hermits were holy.

Sacred sexuality was, in fact, practiced for well over a thousand years, perhaps more, in yoga and Buddhist meditation and in Western earth religion. These practices often were secretive in medieval and modern times; in ancient eons, less so. In the East, Hindu and Buddhist tantric practices arose. In the West, especially in pre-Christian centuries, rituals existed in which human priests and priestesses joined as representatives of God and Goddess energies, or they individually merged with these energies. Such joining generally was performed alone as a type of sexual prayer or, at most, as joint meditation with a sacred partner.

How does Sattva or “Rising-light Peace”
add to the 1^st of the five Niyamas?

Literal translation: “Rising-light peace, benevolent thinking, one-pointed concentration, body-instruments’ winning-ness, True Self’s direct-seeing capacity—in addition (added to the results from the previous sutra)”

Meaning: “Your rising awareness of peace, cheerfulness, attention, sensory control, and a Self that sees clearly—all these are further results from following Sutra 2.40.”

A chant in English: “Gaining clear radiance brings peace, kindness, focus, sense control, and the True Self.”

A second cleanliness or purity is a tendency to become more heartfelt. You find yourself becoming more benevolent, loving, and kind.

A third is greater ability to focus with better one-pointed concentration. This is very important in meditation, and it is a penultimate mental goal in Astanga yoga.

A fourth is to gain greater control of the body’s sensory instruments, both of the five senses and of the inner mental and “feeling” senses. This means not letting them control you with their habits and desires.

The fifth is more frequent and clearer discovery of and living within the Atman. It is the True Self or spark of the divine within, comparable to Brahman or the Ultimate Presence outside of you. The Atman-Brahman experience is the ultimate state in Astanga yoga, through which all changes toeward ever greater spirituality are accomplished over years of practice.

Comment: This sutra’s positive personality traits and the next sutra’s “content-ment” and “joy” are Astanga yoga’s version of the Judaic and Christian scriptures’ “gifts” and “fruits” of the spirit. Many other religions describe such fruits, as well. They are the positive internal qualities that gradually come to define you when you follow a path of clarity and spirit. The Jewish Tanakh promises wisdom, good sense, guidance, strength, knowledge, and honor of God; justice, peace, quietude, and security (Isaiah 11.2-3 and 32.16-17).* The Christian New Testament names the fruits as affection, exuberance, serenity, consistency, compassion, awareness of holiness, loyalty, non-pushiness, and life balance (Galatians 5.22-23).* See the “Endnotes” for more details.

How can you practice the 2^nd of the five
Niyamas, Samtosa or “Not seeking more materially”?

Literal translation: “Contentment unexcelled = a wheeling flow of delight gained”

Meaning: “From your contentment with Sutra 2.32’s golden radiance that is unsurpassed, your chariot-car of your body will obtain joy.”

Definition: This sutra simply explains that if you can learn inner contentment, you’ll gain joy. Contentment is not nonresistance: it does not mean you give yourself up to whatever or whoever makes demands on you. Contentment also is not a complacency in which you are unwilling to change. Rather, you simply learn to rest at peace within yourself even as you decide what is best to do or not. In such inner peace lies the path to joy if you but let it bloom.

Comment: Hariharananda says in his translation of the previous sutra, “Without such a feeling of gladness, one-pointedness of mind is not possible, without which it is not possible to realise the Soul beyond the senses.” He means, simply, that if you cannot learn at least some contentment—so you can settle your thoughts and emotions into a more neutral state for at least a short time for meditation—you will find meditating difficult. And you especially may have difficulty finding or sustaining the experience of the True Self or the Ultimate Presence.

Contentment, even if temporary—setting aside the troubles of the world and your own self for a few precious moments—thus is needed. The more you can cultivate such quietude and inner comfort, the more easily your meditation will flow.

How can you practice the 3^rd of
the five Niyamas, Tapas or “Fiery/heated will”?

Literal translation: “Body’s perfected-senses successful, from dwindling of the not-pure using burning”

Meaning: “Your material body’s perfection of its sensory receivers is successful when you remove incoming impurities, doing this through burning them away.”

A chant in English: “Burn your inner impurities to find the wind and rain of the pure.”

Definition: The most common interpretation of this sutra from medieval times is that you must have tapasah or a “burning” of your impurities through ascetic practices. However, there are problems with this interpretation. First, it does not mean that “burning” must involve pain or flame: a false belief spread by fakirs—those who display yogic powers for personal gain. Rather, “burning” means you must, in meditative practice, dissolve or dissipate mental and emotional imperfections.

In fact, sometimes in the Sutras, this particular word, tapasah, refers to “warming or heating exercise” as a way of burning your troubles. It is one of Patanjali’s nineteen suggestions in Chapter 1 for finding the clear mind. In this sutra, it may also be a metaphor developed from ancient Hindu home life: thoroughly cooking your food to remove bad bacteria, or to use India’s hot curries, which have antimicrobial properties. This kind of tapasah means properly “cooking” your inner spiritual self’s “food” so it is clean.

Medieval translations also often assume this sutra requires an ascetic life of denial: give away all that you have, go live in a cave, avoid most people, sleep on the hard ground in rough wool clothes, or similar acts. Some medieval ascetics even have whipped and cut themselves, like the founder of one of the largest Christian Catholic sects, the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola. Thankfully, even those who try this approach to mysticism modify it as they reach success and discover a more middle path works better.

Yet another medieval misinterpretation is that this sutra’s tapasyah or burning austerities are the road to discovering great yogic powers. They are called siddhis (here in this sutra, “siddhih”), and are described in detail in Chapter 3-B. The siddhis often are called the psychic or occult results of yoga. Just three examples are, as it was said in medieval times, that you can become bigger than the universe, control any person, or learn all of the future.

However, true mystics and advanced yogis will tell you that these powers are only side products of real yoga and should be paid little attention. Patanjali himself warns in Chapter 3-B that they are side attractions that should be ignored as you grow ever more in the spiritual life.

Fortunately, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, more translations have stated that tapasyah or “burning” can be a heating or warming exercise as above, or an inner yogic experience. In meditation practice, an inner “fire” that can feel like a flowing warm heat or a pleasant rain or fountain spreads through the body and the brain, dissolving negative emotional, mental, and sometimes even psychologically-induced physical bonds that previously have trapped you in their spiders’ webs.

This experience is well supported both in ancient literature and in Western psychological literature. Ancient scriptures from many cultures speak of an inner fire or of inner waters that spring within, purifying. In Buddhism, for example, as previously mentioned, they are the jhanas; in Buddhism and Hinduism, dharma megha (see “Appendix E” and “Appendix F.”) In twenty-first century psychology, therapy helps you learn to observe your negative thoughts and feelings without reacting to them, and then you let them melt away, watching them disappear gradually under the gaze of your calm observation.

Comment: Noteworthy, too, is how some translators long have argued that a meditation practitioner must keep returning to all eight limbs of Astanga throughout life. Regarding tapasyah or burning of impurities, this is very sensible. Each stage or level of advancement in meditation has its own swirling clouds and muddy waters that will trouble you. The need exists for dissolving or dissipating them at every step. Jesus of Nazareth, for example, on his cross, did not calmly wait for death. Rather, he called out to God, “Why have you forsaken me?” What was he waiting for or expecting? At every stage of meditation there is opportunity for more cleansing and growth.

For this sutra, yet another interpretation also is available, perhaps the most ancient. The second word, indriya or “body senses,” derives originally from the name of an ancient, major god, Indra. This symbolic god, according to the Vedas, was golden and rode on a rain cloud. Both the color and the cloud may refer to the state of dharma megha (Buddhist jhanas) mentioned above.

In the ancient Vedas, the god-force Indra, a symbol for inner meditation experience, is dharma megha riding a cloud of rain spreading throughout you as you meditate. In the West long ago, mystery cults celebrated it as the ecstasy of the Goddess or the God. In Christianity and Islam, it was known as ecstatic contemplation or union.

How can you practice the 4^th of the
five Niyamas, Svadhyaya or “Study going near to Self ”?

Literal translation: “Study of Self (through) Truth (in revealed-scripture readings, bringing) desired shining one—a blessed joining forth together”

Meaning: “Your studying of your True Self (as in Sutra 2.32) through Truth (in readings and sayings) will bring you to your desired blessed state of Self/Presence in yoga union.”

A chant in English: “Study the revealed truths for union with Self and/or Presence.”

Definition: This sutra, like others, has been understood in a variety of ways through the centuries. One common mistranslation that comes to us from medieval Hinduism is that istadevata (“desired shining one”) means you should desire or decide upon a Hindu god of your choice. Medieval Hinduism lists dozens of gods and demigods from which to choose.

However, many scholars and mystics now consider this translation limiting. Sri Aurobindo, for example, one of India’s most respected translators of the Rig Veda into English, reminds readers that the ancient Hindu gods were symbols for spiritual energies and states of being, not actual deities.* Thus what comes to you as a “desired shining one” is not a “god” but rather a spiritual energy or experience.

A second point relates to “the expectation from ancient times to read or listen to the “Truth” through revealed scriptures or chants from them. In ancient times, about the only way of transmitting “Truth” was through sayings and recorded scriptures. Perhaps just 1-2% of the population could read, and everyone else depended on listening to oral sayings repeated through many centuries.

Now in contemporary times, most translators understand that “Truth” is available not only from writings and audiotapes describing spiritual experiences, but also directly from mystical and spiritual experiences themselves. In other words, “Truth” is just scriptural. It also can come non-scriptural books, articles, and other methods of learning. The ways to find Self/Presence are like hundreds of paths surrounding a great mountain, twisting about and joining each other, the higher you climb. Millions of people each day throughout the world are padding upward along one trail or another, working their way toward the peak.

Comment: Patanjali points out time and again in Chapter 1 that you should find your own personal way—your point of focus or experience—that takes you toward the True Self or Ultimate Presence. This sutra emphasizes the message when it suggests you discover your own istadevata: your “desired shining one” or “blessed state.”

A final point about this sutra is that it may be a follow up to the mention of the god-force Indra in the previous one. In Sutra 2.43, Indra is the “shining one.” Now here in 2.44, he may be the “desired shining one” with his mystical raincloud of golden essence.

How can you practice the 5^th of the five
Niyamas, Isvara pranidhana or “Full Openness to God”?

Literal translation: “Samadhi a power perfected or attained by God-dedication”

Meaning: “Samadhi (a blessed paired union of pure Awareness) becomes a power that is refined or strengthened by merging into the Ultimate Presence.”

A chant in English: “The clear mind, Samadhi, will lead you to the power of knowing the Presence.”

Definition: This sutra concludes the five Niyamas and, with them, the second limb of Astanga yoga. Like the other four Niyamas, this final one is part of developing personal control of your inner life. To follow it, you are not required to retreat from life and become a monk or nun (though you may, if you wish). Rather, this sutra is saying that applying yourself and/or giving your devotion or surrender to Isvara (Ishvara), the “Lord of Yoga,” can lead to experiencing the pure awareness that is called samadhi (see Sutra 1.20).

Who or what is the “Lord of Yoga”? There are many interpretations, but in general, most translators consider Isvara to be a mystic, unembodied, ultimate God, or an “arm” or aspect of the Godhead that is accessible by mystical experience. In this respect, Isvara refers to a real power of a deity, the same one that the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) call Yahweh/Elohim, God, and Allah.

The ancient messages of the Niyamas likely were important teachings long before Patanjali. Their lesson is that you can experience ultimate Awareness and have union with God by becoming devoted, surrendering, or applying yourself to Self/Presence.

This sutra also calls samadhi a siddhi or “spiritual power.” This is quite different from other parts of Patanjali’s book, in which the siddhis are more akin to supernatural, psychic, or occult powers. However, in this sutra, the meaning clearly is that during meditation, when you learn to give your Awareness to the Ultimate Presence, you experience a type of samadhi that becomes a very strong experience. In the Niyamas, this samadhi power is similar to other pure spiritual experiences such as a great Peace or Bliss/Joy, an inner event that clears away lesser thoughts, memories, and feelings.

Comment: Regarding Isvara, does this sutra imply you must join with God to reach samadhi? Many traditional interpretations say “yes.” However, some contemporary translators, working with a variety of ancient sources, are beginning to realize that a yogic joining with God is just one path to finding samadhi—not an absolute necessity. The reverse can happen—first you find samadhi, without Knowing God, and that leads to finding the Self/Presence.

In fact, Patanajali’s intent in Chapter 1 seems to be this very progression of discoveries—the clear mind and samadhi first; then this leads inevitably, sooner or later, to mystical experience. In this regard, well worth remembering is that Patanjali lists such simple physical activities as “hot” or “warming” exercise, a practice of deep breathing, a focus upon a “white light” that may appear, and several other activities (among his nineteen methods) that can lead to the clear mind and samadhi without yet finding God. Perhaps Patanjali wrote it when he was much younger, or someone else added it.

However, in another way, this sutra almost seems like a beginning historical point for Patanjali to decide to write the Yoga Sutras. Why? Because its four words are keys to the meaning of the entire book.

First is samadhi, the ultimate state of pure awareness, the famous goal of the Sutras. Second is siddhih, meaning a supernatural or psychic power, one of many that dominate the siddhi section of the Sutras, which is most of Chapter 3. Third is Isvara, referring to Patanjali’s idea of God or the Godhead. And fourth is pranidhanat, which Patanjali uses several times in the Yoga Sutras to indicate devotion or surrender. These four words are four of the great themes spread throughout the rest of the book.

Historical and cultural research and close reading of the Yoga Sutras suggests Patanjali was a mystic who used many ideas from the Vedas as his guideposts in understanding and explaining himself. Perhaps here is an intrinsic psychological high point in his studies—a single Niyama that helped him bring his thinking together. Thus are masterpieces of world literature created.

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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