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The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light. - Matthew Arnold This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.56 सत्त्वपुरुषयोः शुद्धिसाम्ये कैवल्यमिति sattva purusayoh suddhi samye kaivalyam iti Thus, the tranquil and purified mind becomes equal to the pure Self and spiritual integration is perfected. In this final post of the year and of pada three of The Yoga Sutras, the image of perfection in yoga is revealed by Patanjali. In essence, by samyama the spiritual aspirant refines their mind to the point wherein vivekajam jnanam (discriminative spiritual knowledge) is achieved and all is intuitively understood by the yogi.
This knowledge purifies the aspirant’s mind. When a person’s mind is strengthened enough that their intuition can grasp the subtlest of distinguishing details between similar things, that mind becomes incredibly perceptive and will be able to understand the difference between what is real and what is unreal. The mind and the soul find harmony.
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 Photo by Simon Wilkes on Unsplash Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge - Khalil Gibran This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.55 तारकं सर्वविषयं सर्वथाविषयमक्रमं चेति विवेकजं ज्ञानम् tarakam sarva visayam sarvatha visayam akramam cha iti vivekajam jnanam Discriminative spiritual knowledge transcends temporality and comprehends all things in all conditions simultaneously. In Yoga Sutras 3.53-3.55, Patanjali addresses the importance of living in the present moment to the spiritual aspirant. Sutra 3.53 explains how to accomplish this. By samyama on the smallest unit of time (in other words, a moment) and the sequence of these moments in time, one unravels time and gains understanding of it.
Like all other siddhis produced through meditation on specific objects or concepts, this makes logical sense to me. When we concentrate upon something, its mysteries are revealed to us.  Photo by Felipe Bastias on Unsplash " Calmness is the cradle of power." - Josiah Gilbert Holland This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.38 ते समाधावुपसर्गा व्युत्थाने सिद्धयः te samādhāvupasargā vyutthāne siddhayaḥ These accomplishments are obstacles to samadhi but powers in worldly life. Sutra 3.38 is so simple and easily missed among the great siddhis or powers listed in Pada Three of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, but is the most important Sutra in this set. As I referenced at the beginning of the year, Patanjali cautions us here that these siddhis can derail our spiritual progress.
When we get caught up in these “superphysical senses” (Satchidananda, 237) we are thrust back into the material world. We may become so enamored with our newfound abilities that we lose sight of the spiritual progress that exists beyond their attainment. Patanjali catalogues these potential accomplishments through samyama so that yoga practitioners can spot them and overcome them if and when they arise.  Photo by Buddha Elemental on Unsplash "Once you have seen, you cannot fool yourself. " - Sadguru This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.4 त्रयमेकत्र संयमः trayam ekatra saṃyamaḥ When working together, these three are called samyama. Patanjali explains that when dharana, dhyana and samadhi flow into one another while using one object of focus, it is called samyama. This is actually quite a simple sutra. Patanjali is simply saying that “samyama is just another name for the three practices of concentration, meditation and absorption applied together.” (Bhakt, 133) In samyama, “the three are a single thread” (Iyengar, 182) and therefore, integrated.
 Photo by Omkar Jadhav on Unsplash Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing yourself is enlightenment. - Lao Tzu This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.3 तदेवार्थमात्रनिर्भासं स्वरूपशून्यमिव समाधिः tadevārthamātranirbhāsaṃ svarūpaśūnyamiva samādhiḥ Enlightenment (or Samadhi) is when through meditation the essence of the object shines forth in its own essence, without form. Now Patanjali reaches the final and eighth limb of Raja Yoga, which is Samadhi or the state of enlightenment. As difficult as meditation is to describe in words, enlightenment is even harder. Patanjali tries to explain it here so practitioners will have an idea of what it is like to experience enlightenment and understand when they have reached that goal.
 Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash The mind that is alone is not only innocent but young...only such a mind can see that which is truth and that which is not measurable by words. - Jiddu Krishnamurti This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.2 तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम् tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam Built upon the foundation of concentration, meditation is the uninterrupted flow of attention toward the object of concentration. Patanjali distinguishes between concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana) within the eight limbs of Raja Yoga he lists. This is a key distinction for practitioners because while we often describe what we are doing as “meditating,” in fact the only action we can actually take is to concentrate.
Concentration is the key that opens up to the child the latent treasures within him. - Maria Montessori This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 3.1 देशबन्धश्चित्तस्य धारणा deśabandhaścittasya dhāraṇā Concentration is fixing the mind to one point. If we followed just this one sutra, we would learn to meditate and eventually reach enlightenment. How often I hear some variation of “I can’t meditate, my mind is too busy!” But this is exactly what the practice is designed to do: reduce the busyness of the mind.
 Photo by Harli Marten on Unsplash Silence is a true friend that never betrays. - Confucius This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 2.55 ततः परमा वश्यतेन्द्रियाणाम् tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām Then one achieves perfect mastery over the senses. One of the main reasons people start practicing yoga is to learn how to become calmer. With all that is going on outside ourselves, it can be really difficult to learn how to be calm.
That is why yoga’s process is one of involution, or one of leading the practitioner within and un-layering the conditioning that leads a person to feel stress, overwhelm and fear.  Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash The highest revelation is that God is in every man. - Ralph Waldo Emerson This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 2.52 ततः क्षीयते प्रकाशावरणम् tataḥ kṣīyate prakāśāvaraṇam As a result, the veil covering the light of the Supreme Self is dissolved. The final four Sutras within Book Two both summarize and hint at what Patanjali will spend the next two books covering. This process starts with the fifth limb of Raja Yoga, pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses). I find this limb so important that I will spend this month and next discussing the four Sutras which explain pratyahara.
 Photo by Valeriia Bugaiova on Unsplash Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure... Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. - Shunryu Suzuki Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 2.49 तस्मिन्सति श्वासप्रश्वासयोर्गतिविच्छेदः प्राणायामः tasminsati śvāsapraśvāsayorgativicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ Having mastered a steady, comfortable position, inhalations and exhalations should be regulated. This is pranayama. Patanjali spends a little more time on pranayama in the Yoga Sutras than asana but compared to his discussion of "The Witness" and the constituents of nature (the gunas), pranayama is explained quite simply over five Sutras, which we will cover this month and next. This month, we’ll discuss what pranayama is and how to practice it. Next month, we’ll discuss the benefits of pranayama.
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