Uniting With the SOurce

Photo by Lucas Doddema on Unsplash

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Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.
​ - Ryunosuke Satoro

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  
​Want to start at the beginning?
Yoga Sutra 4.25
विशेषदर्शिन आत्मभावभावनानिवृत्तिः
Viśeṣa darśina ātmabhāva bhāvanā nivṛttiḥ
Understanding the distinction between the mind and the Self causes a cessation of the perception that the mind is Self.

If you’ve ever wondered why there is consciousness at all if it is distinct from the Seer, Yoga Sutra 4.24 is for you!  Patanjali answers that although the mind is afflicted with innumerable desires and subconscious impressions, it “exists for the sake of another” - that is, the Self - because “consciousness has no existence of its own but is dependent on the seer.” (Iyengar, 272)  

Makunda Stiles calls this existing “solely for the sake of being close to the True Self.” (53)  The Shoshoni Yoga Retreat calls the mind a “close ally” (50) of the Self.  
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So clearly, the mind is subservient but also beneficial to the Self.  Why?  Patanjali has actually already addressed this back in Yoga Sutras 2.21, 2.23 and 2.24. 

The seen exists so that the Seer can have experiences leading the Seer (or Self) to recognize its own essential nature.  That is, so the Self can recognize its own self-luminosity.  (Please read last month’s blog] for more on the self-luminosity of the Self.)

Or as Ram Bhakt puts it in A Seeker’s Guide to the Yoga Sutras, “the mind takes on the goals of the soul.  Every desire and action that you have has at its root some seeking of experience by the soul.” (203)
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Iyengar explains that the goals are not simply sensorial experiences but to transcend the mind and reflect one’s pure spirit.  “[The mind’s] aim is not only  to satisfy the desires of the senses (bhoga) but also to further the emancipation (apavarga) of the soul.” (273)

​In the same way that a lover of God offers food, clothes and comforts as if they were essential to God, consciousness wants to satisfy its Lord with the pleasures of the world.  Once consciousness is cultured through yogic discipline, it becomes ripe and illumined.  It realizes the seer is not interested in objects of pleasure and opts to serve with detachment.  Now that it understands its inner value, it realizes the triviality of nature’s pleasures and turns towards the path of Self-Realization.  Thus transformed, it begins its journey towards emancipation. (274)

So now we reach our titular Yoga Sutra this month, 4.25.  This one had me with three translations all piled on top of each other, studying for quite a while, trying to parse out the meaning for the translation above.  Because there is so much to this one little sutra.

Let’s start with the more classical translations I’m using by Swami Satchidananda and BKS Iyengar.  Satchidananda translates it “to one who sees the distinction between the mind and the Atman (the Self), thoughts of mind as the Atman cease forever.” (267)  Iyengar says “for one who realizes the distinction between citta (consciousness) and atma (the Self), the sense of separation between the two disappears.” (274)

These are pretty well aligned but when you dig into the nitty gritty of each word, lots of variations come into view.  I’ll just list the words and the various meanings I’ve found across the three texts I have with word-for-word translations.

Visesha - distinct, distinction, specific quality, peculiarity

Darsinah - seer, to whom, who sees, of one who sees, the Seer

Atmabhava - mind as Self, the ideas of the seer, the thought of the seer, self-consciousness, self-centeredness

Bhavana - thoughts, feeling, reflection, dwelling upon in the mind

Nivrttih - ceases forever, return, disappearance, emancipation, complete cessation, discontinuation, inactivity

I like laying it out like this for the complicated ones because it allows us to take all the possible nuances and create a translation that feels direct and meaningful for the individual.  That is exactly what we’re about at Five Keys, each individual’s unique relationship with their own practice and deepening their spiritual understanding of themself.

I’ll include some more contemporary translations of Sutra 4.25 from the texts I’m using here as well.

“Dwelling upon self-centeredness completely ceases for one who sees this distinction.” (Stiles, 53)

“When one understands the relationship between the mind and the Self, the colorations of the mind no longer cause difficulties.” (Shoshoni, 50)

“For those who know the distinction between the mind and the soul, questions regarding the nature of the soul come to an end.” (Bhakt, 204)

You pick and choose what resonates with you.

Yoga Sutra 4.26 continues with the thought from 4.25.  Patanjali tells us that once we understand this distinction, “the whole mind may flow unimpeded towards the complete freedom of the Self.” (Shoshoni, 51)

Makunda Stiles translates 4.26 as “then the mind is inclined toward discriminative thinking, which pulls irresistibly toward absolute freedom.” (53)  Iyengar compares this to building a dyke within your mind.  Consciously directing the flow of thoughts so that the force of the mind - consciousness - “does not move again towards the world, but turns and flows towards union with the divine seer.” (267)

Iyengar and Satchidananda both reference gravity in their translations.  Iyengar calling it a “gravitational pull” (274) and Satchidananda saying that the mind “gravitates toward Absoluteness.” (267) Once you have found the path, the pull is natural, irresistible, even gravitational.  Like floating downstream.

Patanjali’s advice turns quite practical in Yoga Sutras 4.27 and 4.28.  Advising us that in the intervals between these discriminative moments, our mind will return to old patterns and thoughts. (4.27)  Patanjali calls this cchidresu, which might be translated as an interval, hole, fissure, defect or opening.  Our mind naturally has moments wherein something glitches and old patterns surface due to habituation.  A crack in the pavement that allows a long dormant seed to surface in just the right conditions.  

When that occurs, use the previous advice given to overcome them. (Yoga Sutra, 4.28)  The translation of Sutra 4.28 is simply “extinction of these afflictions described” (hanam esam klesavat uktam).  Essentially, Patanjali says “I’ve already told you how to get rid of these afflictions.”

Iyengar explains that “as fire is deprived of fuel, the yogi has to remove the latent impressions from the consciousness and extinguish them…ending their power to generate disturbing thoughts.” (277)  In other words, we just have to go through the process of putting out our fires.  “There are no shortcuts on the yoga path,” my long-time teacher is fond of saying.

​There are no shortcuts on the yoga path. 
- Sivakami Sonia Sumar

If you need a starting point on overcoming a recurrence of old thoughts and patterns, Satchidananda recommends reviewing Yoga Sutras 2.1, 2.2, 2.10, 2.11 and 2.26.
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Finally, Ram Bhakt has a very good point we ought to remember.

Even advanced yogis who have practiced constantly experience the return of past impressions and habits if they lose their concentration…Usually, because their practice is so strong, these thoughts are immediately released.  However, there are examples of yogis who achieved great things and then fell back into selfishness, egoism, and attachment.  Although they can point you in the right direction and remove darkness from within you, it is best not to blindly glorify any teacher. (207)

Even the most wise and ethical yogi is still a human.  As Bhakt says later in this section “anyone who is still in a body has karma left to exhaust.” (207)

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Does your sense of self ever fluctuate based on your thoughts?  How does your Self appear when you are able to go beyond your thoughts?  If you have been able to observe your True Self before, does the image stay for long?  What can you do to bring yourself back to that perfect image of your Self?