KRIYA YOGA: YOGA SUTRAS BOOK IIYOGA SUTRAS KRIYA YOGA BOOK II tapah-svadhyayeshvara-pranidhanani kriya-yogah 1. Austerity, self-study and devoted self-surrender to the Lord constitute the practice of yoga. (52) 2. This is for the sake of shrinking afflictions and inducing meditative absorption (samadhi). (53) 3. The afflictions are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and the tenacious clinging to existence. (54) 4. Ignorance is the originating field for the others, whether they be dormant, tenuous, dispersed or activated. (55) 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) 6. Egoism (asmita) is the delusive or apparent identification of the potency of the Seer with the power of sight. (57) 7. Attachment accompanies and pursues pleasure. (58) 8. Aversion accompanies and dwells upon pain. (59) 9. The tenacious clinging to existence, sustained by its own energy, is so rooted even in the learned. (60) 10. These subtle afflictions can be destroyed by inverse propagation (pratiprasava), involution or reabsorption into their causal origins. (61) 11. Their mental modifications are destroyed by deep meditation (dhyana). (62) 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) 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) 14. They have joy or sorrow as their fruit, by reason of virtue or vice. (65) 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) 16. The misery which has not yet come must be avoided. (67) 17. The conjunction of the Seer and the seen is the cause of that which is to be avoided. (68) 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) 19. The states and stages of the propensities (gunas) are the particularized, the archetypal, the distinctly differentiated, and the signless, irresolvable, undifferentiated. (70) 20. The Seer is simply pure vision, and yet, though pure, he perceives ideas seemingly through the mind. (71) 21. The very essence of the visible is that it exists for the sake of the Seer, the Self alone. (72) 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) 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) 24. Its effective cause is ignorance. (75) 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) 26. Unbroken discriminative cognition is the means of emancipation. (77) 27. His awakening of perfect cognition is sevenfold, attained in successive stages. (78) 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) 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) 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) 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) 32. Purity, contentment, austerity, self-study and devoted self-surrender to the Lord are the five observances (niyamas). (83) 33. When the mind is oppressed by perverse thoughts, it must summon and sustain their opposites. (84) 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) 35. When one is firmly grounded in non-violence (ahimsa), all hostility is given up in one's presence. (86) 36. When one is firmly grounded in truth (satya), all acts gestated bear fruit dependably. (87) 37. When one is firmly grounded in non-stealing (asteya), all sorts of precious jewels present themselves. (88) 38. When one is firmly grounded in celibacy in consciousness and conduct (brahmacharya), one gains vigour, vitality and strength. (89) 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) 40. Through internal purity and external purification, one gains bodily protection and freedom from pollution in contacts with others. (91) 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) 42. Through joyous contentment, one gains supreme happiness. (93) 43. Through the elimination of pollution, the practice of penance (tapas) brings about the perfection of the body and the sense-organs. (94) 44. Through self-study comes communion with the chosen deity. (95) 45. Through persevering devotion to the Lord comes perfection in meditative absorption (samadhi). (96) 46. The posture must be firm and pleasant. (97) 47. This is gained by release of tension and serene contemplation upon the boundless infinite. (98) 48. Thus arises freedom from assault by the pairs of opposites. (99) 49. When this is attained, there comes pranayama, the regulation of breath, the restraint of inhalation and exhalation. (100) 50. These modifications are external, internal or wholly suspended; they are regulated according to space, time or number, whether protracted or attenuated. (101) 51. The fourth modification goes beyond the external-internal range. (102) 52. Thus is worn away the veil which obscures the light. (103) 53. And thus the mind gains fitness for concentration. (104) 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) 55. Thence comes supreme control of the senses. (106) Yoga Sutras II Hermes, June 1987 |