“Yogas citta vritti nirodhah” The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali

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The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
Patanjali, the great ancient exponent of Raja Yoga, wrote that the path to enlightenment embraces eight stages. His teaching is also known as Ashtanga, or “Eight-limbed,” Yoga.

In just 196 aphorisms Patajnali spells out succintly how the mind works, and how it is possible to use the mind to attain liberation. The book is a road map of human consciousness and a true guide to the mind states one encounters in meditation, yoga and other spiritual practices (living life ;-)). It answers questions like 'How do we know what we know?' 'Why do we suffer?'And it offers us a way out of suffering.

Timeless wisdom written down 400 years BC
This classic work of Indian philospophy was written by Sage Patanjali 400 years B.C. As the printing technology was not available at that time, the text has been transferred through generations by oral recitations (Shruti). That is why the whole knowledge of yoga is very concisely packed in total 196 lines or Sanskrit Sutras by Patanjali so that students can easily remember these sutras. The  text consists of 4 chapters: Integration (51), the Path to Realization (55), Extraordinary Powers (56) and Freedom (34). 

The eight stages of Ashtanga or “Eight-limbed” Yoga

1. Yamas: external disciplines
2. Niyamas: internal disciplines
3. Asana: sitting posture
4. Pranayama: breath regulation
5. Pratyahara: withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana: concentration
7. Dhyana: absorption
8. Samadhi: integration

 

1. Yamas: external disciplines

The first two stages of Patanjali’s eightfold path are known as Yama and Niyama. Yama means control; Niyama, non-control. Literally, these two stages mean the don'ts and the do’s on the spiritual path.

Their essential purpose is to permit the milk of inner peace to be gathered in the pail of the mind by plugging holes that have been caused by restlessness, wrong attachments, desires, and various forms of inharmonious living. (Swami Kryanda)

5 rules of Yama (the don’ts):

• Non-violence
• Truthfulness
• Non-stealing
• Impeccable behavior, including sexual
• Non-greed or not being acquisitive

It is interesting to note that all of these virtues are listed in negative terms. The implication is that when we remove our delusions, we cannot but be benevolent, truthful, respectful of others’ property, etc., because it is our nature to be good. We act otherwise not because it is natural for us to do so, but because we have embraced an unnatural state of egoistical inharmony.

2. Niyamas: internal disciplines
5 rules of Niyama (the Do’s):

• Purification
• Contentment
• Intense discipline
• Self-study or Introspection
• Dedication to the ideal of pure awareness

3. Asana - sitting posture
The third stage on the eightfold path is known as Asana, which means, posture. Posture means no particular set of postures, but only the ability to hold the body still as a prerequisite for deep meditation. Any comfortable posture will do, as long as the spine is kept erect and the body relaxed.

A sign of perfection in Asana is said to be the ability to sit still, without moving a muscle, for three hours. Many people meditate for years without achieving any notable results, simply because they have never trained their bodies to sit still. Until the body can be mastered, higher perceptions, so subtle that they blossom only in perfect quiet, can never be achieved.

It is good to practice some of the yoga postures before meditation. These postures help one to attain Asana, or firm posture. The postures are only an aid, though a very great one, to meditation.

4. Pranayama—energy control

The fourth stage of Patanjali’s path is Pranayama … Prana does mean breath, but only because of the close connection that exists between the breath and the causative flow of energy in the body. The word, prana, refers primarily to the energy itself. Pranayama, then, means energy control.

This energy control is often effected with the aid of breathing exercises. Hence, breathing exercises have also come to be known as pranayamas.

Patanjali's reference is to the energy control that is achieved as a result of various techniques, and not to the techniques themselves.

His word signifies a state in which the energy in the body is harmonized to the point where its flow is reversed—no longer outward toward the senses, but inward toward the Divine Self that lies in the hearts of all beings. Only when all the energy in the body can be directed toward this Self can one’s awareness be intense enough to penetrate the veils of delusion and enter super-consciousness.

The very energy with which we think is the same energy that we use to digest our food. To test this claim, consider how difficult it is, after a heavy meal, to think about weighty problems, and how clear the mind becomes after a fast. To divert all the energy from the body to the brain can't but intensify one's awareness, and the keenness of one’s understanding. To direct this energy inwardly is the first step in divine contemplation.

5. Pratyahara—the interiorization of the mind

The fifth stage on Patanjali’s journey is known as Pratyahara, the interiorization of the mind. Once the energy has been redirected towards its source in the brain, one must then interiorize one’s consciousness, so that his thoughts, too, will not wander in endless bypaths of restlessness and delusion, but will be focused one-pointedly on the deeper mysteries of the indwelling soul.

A thread must be gathered to one point before it can be put through the eye of a needle. Similarly with the mind: It is necessary to concentrate one’s thoughts as well as one’s energies, if he would hope to penetrate the narrow tunnel that leads to divine awakening.

6. Dharana—contemplation

Patanjali’s sixth stage is known as Dharana, contemplation, or fixed inner awareness. One may have been aware of inner spiritual realities—the inner light, for instance, or the inner sound, or deep mystical feelings—before reaching this stage, but it is only after reaching it that one can give himself completely to deep concentration on those realities.