KRIYA YOGA: YOGA SUTRAS BOOK II

tapah-svadhyayeshvara-pranidhanani kriya-yogah

1. Austerity, self-study and devoted self-surrender to the Lord constitute the practice of yoga. (52)

samadhi-bhavanarthah klesha-tanukaranarthash cha

2. This is for the sake of shrinking afflictions and inducing meditative absorption (samadhi). (53)

avidyasmita-raga-dveshabhiniveshah kleshah

3. The afflictions are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and the tenacious clinging to existence. (54)

avidya kshetram uttaresham prasupta-tanu-vichchinnodaranam

4. Ignorance is the originating field for the others, whether they be dormant, tenuous, dispersed or activated. (55)

anityashuchi-duhkhanatmasu nitya-shuchi-sukhatmakhyatir avidya

5. Ignorance is the belief that the impermanent, the impure, the painful, are the permanent, the pure, the pleasurable, that the non-Self is the Self. (56)

drig-darshana-shaktyor ekatmatevasmita

6. Egoism (asmita) is the delusive or apparent identification of the potency of the Seer with the power of sight. (57)

sukhanushayl ragah

7. Attachment accompanies and pursues pleasure. (58)

duhkhanushayi dveshah

8. Aversion accompanies and dwells upon pain. (59)

svarasavahi vidusho "pi tatha rudho "bhiniveshah

9. The tenacious clinging to existence, sustained by its own energy, is so rooted even in the learned. (60)

te pratiprasava-heyah sukshmah

10. These subtle afflictions can be destroyed by inverse propagation (pratiprasava), involution or reabsorption into their causal origins. (61)

dhyana-heyas tad-vrittayah

11. Their mental modifications are destroyed by deep meditation (dhyana). (62)

klesha-mulah karmashayo drishtadrishta-janma-vedaniyah

12. The mental deposits of karma have their roots in the afflictions (kleshas) and their fruitage in experiences seen in this life, or in a future life now unseen. (63)

sati mule tad-vipako jaty-ayur-bhogah

13. So long as the roots remain, there must be their fructification in the form of class, length of life and the experience of pleasures and pains. (64)

te hlada-paritapa-phalah punyapunya-hetutvat

14. They have joy or sorrow as their fruit, by reason of virtue or vice. (65)

parinama-tapa-sanskara-duhkhair guna-vritti-virodhach cha duhkham eva sarvam vivekinah

15. To the discerning, all is sorrowful owing to the miseries brought by change, anxiety and acquired impressions, and also because of the conflict between the propensities (gunas) of Nature and mental modifications (vritti). (66)

heyam duhkham anagatam

16. The misery which has not yet come must be avoided. (67)

drashtri-drishyayoh sanyogo heya-hetuh

17. The conjunction of the Seer and the seen is the cause of that which is to be avoided. (68)

prakasha-kriya-sthiti-shilam bhutendriyatmakam bhogapavargarthem drishyam

18. Having the properties of luminosity, motion and inertia, the objective world of visible Nature consists of the elements and the sense-organs, all for the sake of experience and emancipation. (69)

visheshavishesha-lingamatralingani gunaparvani

19. The states and stages of the propensities (gunas) are the particularized, the archetypal, the distinctly differentiated, and the signless, irresolvable, undifferentiated. (70)

drashta dristhimatrah shuddho "pi pratyayanupashyah

20. The Seer is simply pure vision, and yet, though pure, he perceives ideas seemingly through the mind. (71)

tad-artha eva drishyasyatma

21. The very essence of the visible is that it exists for the sake of the Seer, the Self alone. (72)

kritartham prati nashtam apy anashtam tad-anya-sadharanatvat

22. Although it has vanished for him whose purpose is accomplished, it has not ceased to be for others, owing to its very commonality. (73)

sva-svami-shaktyoh svarupopalabdhi-hetah sanyogah

23. The conjunction of the potencies of the Seer and the seen is the reason for the apprehension of his own form and his experience of the true nature of things seen. (74)

tasya hetur avidya

24. Its effective cause is ignorance. (75)

tad-abhavat sanyogabhavo hanam tad drisheh kaivalyam

25. In its absence, the conjunction disappears, and its avoidance is the real remedy; that is the isolation and liberation, the absolute freedom (kaivalya), of the Seer. (76)

viveka-khyatir aviplava hanopayah

26. Unbroken discriminative cognition is the means of emancipation. (77)

tasya saptadha pranta-bhumih prajna

27. His awakening of perfect cognition is sevenfold, attained in successive stages. (78)

yoganganushthanad ashuddhikshaye jnanadiptir a viveka-khyateh

28. Through the practice of the component parts of yoga, as impurity is gradually destroyed, the light of wisdom shines forth, leading to discriminative cognition of Reality. (79)

yama-niyamasana-pranayama-pratyahara-dharana-dhyana-samadhyayo "shtavangani

29. Restraint (yama), binding observance (niyama), posture (asana), regulation of breath (pranayama), abstraction and sense-withdrawal (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), contemplation (dhyana) and perfect meditative absorption (samadhi) are the eight limbs of yoga. (80)

tatra ahimsa-satyasteya-brahmacharyaparigraha yamah

30. Of these, non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), continence (brahmacharya) and non-possessiveness (aparigraha) are the five forms of restraint (yamas). (81)

ete jati-desha-kala-samayanavachchimah sarvabhauma mahavratam

31. These are not conditioned or qualified by class or country, time or circumstance, and apply to all spheres and stages, thus constituting the Great Vow. (82)

shaucha-santosha-tapah-svadhyayeshvara-pranidhanani niyamah

32. Purity, contentment, austerity, self-study and devoted self-surrender to the Lord are the five observances (niyamas). (83)

vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam

33. When the mind is oppressed by perverse thoughts, it must summon and sustain their opposites. (84)

vitarka himsadayah krita-karitanumodita lobha-krodha-moha-purvaka mridu-madhyadhimatra duhkhajnananantaphala iti pratipaksha-bhavanam

34. Perverse thoughts of a violent and destructive nature, whether enacted, abetted or endorsed, whether induced by avarice, anger or delusion, whether mild, moderately present or intensely indulged, result in endless misery and folly; consequently, their opposites must be nurtured and nourished. (85)

ahimsa-pratishthayam tat-sanniddhau vairatyagah

35. When one is firmly grounded in non-violence (ahimsa), all hostility is given up in one's presence. (86)

satya-pratishthayam kriya-phalashrayatvam

36. When one is firmly grounded in truth (satya), all acts gestated bear fruit dependably. (87)

asteya-pratishthayam sarva-ratnopasthanam

37. When one is firmly grounded in non-stealing (asteya), all sorts of precious jewels present themselves. (88)

brahmacharya-pratishthayam virya-labhah

38. When one is firmly grounded in celibacy in consciousness and conduct (brahmacharya), one gains vigour, vitality and strength. (89)

aparigraha-sthairye janma-kathanta-sanbodhah

39. When one is established in non-possessiveness (aparigraha), one gains luminous insight in relation to the process and purposes, the meaning and significance, of the succession of births. (90)

shauchat svanga-jugupsa parair asansargah

40. Through internal purity and external purification, one gains bodily protection and freedom from pollution in contacts with others. (91)

sattvashuddhi-saumanasyaikagryendriyajayatma-darshana-yogyatvani cha

41. Through the cleansing of consciousness and purity of motivation, one gains mental serenity, one-pointedness, control of the sense-organs, as well as fitness for soul-vision and direct apprehension of the Self. (92)

santoshad anuttamah sukha-labhah

42. Through joyous contentment, one gains supreme happiness. (93)

kayendriya-siddhir ashuddhi-kshayat tapasah

43. Through the elimination of pollution, the practice of penance (tapas) brings about the perfection of the body and the sense-organs. (94)

svadhyayad ishta-devata-sanprayogah

44. Through self-study comes communion with the chosen deity. (95)

samadhi-siddhir ishvara-pranidhanat

45. Through persevering devotion to the Lord comes perfection in meditative absorption (samadhi). (96)

sthira-sukham asanam

46. The posture must be firm and pleasant. (97)

prayatna-shaithilyananta-samapattibhyam

47. This is gained by release of tension and serene contemplation upon the boundless infinite. (98)

tato dvandvanabhighatah

48. Thus arises freedom from assault by the pairs of opposites. (99)

tasmin sati shvasa-prashvasayor gativichchedah pranayamah

49. When this is attained, there comes pranayama, the regulation of breath, the restraint of inhalation and exhalation. (100)

bahyabhyantara-stambha-vrittir deshakala-sankhyabhih paridrishto dirghasukshmah

50. These modifications are external, internal or wholly suspended; they are regulated according to space, time or number, whether protracted or attenuated. (101)

bahyabhyantara-vishayakshepi chaturthah

51. The fourth modification goes beyond the external-internal range. (102)

tatah kshiyate prakashavaranam

52. Thus is worn away the veil which obscures the light. (103)

dharanasu cha yogyata manasah

53. And thus the mind gains fitness for concentration. (104)

sva-vishayasanprayoge chitta-svarupanukara ivendriyanam pratyaharah

54. Pratyahara, abstraction or dissociation, is the disjoining of the sense-organs from their respective objects, assuming, as it were, the nature of the mind itself. (105)

tatah parama vashyatendriyanam

55. Thence comes supreme control of the senses. (106)

Yoga Sutras II
Patanjali

Hermes, June 1987
by Raghavan Iyer