Guru Patanjali Preaching in Sadhana Yoga

Part 4
Transliteration of original Sanskrit Scripture: -
Tapah svadhyaya isvara pranidhanani kriyayogah.
Translation: -
A devotional desire that burns all impurities, self-study & meditation and devotional surrender to the inner God essence- these constitute yoga discipline of action.

Insight vision of Step 1.: -

It is by self-discipline to burn all impurities of mind, self-study of inward mind towards the inner self conscious by meditation and devotional surrender to the inner formless God essence that a disciple can enter the foundation stage of the yogic discipline. It is by burning away all the impurities by kindling the inner spiritual fire that a disciple can enter the opening stage of yogic discipline. Yogic discipline necessitates strictness, introspection and meaningful simplicity, devotion and surrender to the omnipresent God essence. Self-discipline, introspection and self-surrender to formless God are the main ingredients which constitute yogic discipline’s preparatory stage.

In order to start and experience self-discipline, a disciple has to become craving free in thoughts from the enjoyment of worldly pleasures and worldly pursuits. The physical enjoyment of worldly pursuits and pleasures is, however, not to be relinquished or abandoned. What is required to be relinquished and abandoned is the thought of craving for the enjoyment of these worldly pleasures. Further, it is essential that attachment or aversion or fear thoughts should be relinquished for the performance of karma actions pertaining to physical worldly pleasures.

It is the thought and craving for enjoyment of action that is to be relinquished in conscious mind. This is a very subtle subject. This subject comes under yogic self- discipline. The yogic discipline of self-punishment is the path of karma action. For treading on this path, personality, performance, senses, body and mind are to be disciplined. Whatever pain or suffering has to be experienced, whatever dispersions and obstacles and impediments have to be faced during the yogic disciplining process – all these have to be borne and undergone and treated knowingly as karma action given by subtlest nature essence that is conscious mind.

Both pleasure and pain are to be borne and undergone consciously as a grace of conscious mind that is integral part of subtlest nature essence. This is the path of karma action. This is the path of self-discipline and this is the path leading to yogic self-discipline. During the state of self-discipline, both the body and the breath are to be made minimum moving and thoughts are to be made craving free with inspired willpower. The matter enjoyment of worldly pleasures is not to be given up or blocked but enjoyed consciously.

Self-concentration and self-meditation also comprise introductory yogic discipline. Self-concentration and self-meditation necessitate introspection. During self-concentration, thoughts of mind, which have been made craving free through self-discipline, are to be experienced, felt and comprehended in a state of introspection. Thereafter, these thoughts are to be restrained and made thought free and mental power free. The mind is to be purged from impurities, guilt and lack of spiritual knowledge about thoughts .The process of self-concentration and meditation leads to the disciplining of lack of spiritual knowledge of thoughts.

The unconscious mind adopts unaware thoughts on various subjects or objects, which have been seen or heard or read. Such unaware thoughts are in imagined forms in unconscious mind. They constitute false thoughts and give rise to false cognition. The unconscious mind that is outer part of conscious mind keeps on repeating a variety of countless thoughts. All these thoughts are to be made craving free. They are also to be restrained only after realizing spiritual knowledge of attachment, aversion and fear embodied in them. This is the path of yogic discipline. This is the path of spiritual knowledge. Concentration in the path of spiritual knowledge means attainment of spiritual knowledge about the lack of spiritual knowledge of thoughts .The thoughts are to be felt and experienced and awareness is to be realized about them. At the end of the yoga exercise, yoga practice is to be made to swim with only one thought at a time. This is the yogic discipline of self-concentration and meditation.

Surrender to inner formless God essence is another constituent of yogic discipline. It involves entry into one reality and one true essence that is non-dual and one. It also involves entry into seedless spiritual union and spiritual knowledge of self-conscious. By making the thoughts of the mind craving free and restraining them and nullifying them, the conscious mind thereafter is to be gathered, collected and focused on the thought of the inner formless god essence. It is only then that effort is to be made to enter into the state of spiritual union. This is called the yogic discipline of self-surrender to the oneness of formless God essence. This is the path of devotion. In this path, thoughts of mind are to be controlled and regulated as per the oneness of formless God’s command and control. The oneness of formless God’s name indication in matter form liked is to be constantly repeated with devotion and awareness.

Yogic discipline comprises gaining entry into inner formless soul and God essence. Merger with God essence is possible only after seedless spiritual union. The insight vision of God essence is felt in the wake of seedless spiritual union. Having insight vision of formless God essence is the goal of all living beings and embodied souls. The insight vision is obtained in the form of grace of God’s kindness and benevolence. It is obtained through inculcation of faith, contentment, patience and a long wait. So long as the insight vision of formless God is not obtained, a disciple is to keep on swimming and floating in the love of formless God essence.

He is to consciously keep on floating in the bliss, serenity and tranquility of this love in a spirit of contentment and in a craving free manner. He is to consciously keep on floating in this bliss, in a pure, clean and in guilt free, thought free and intellect free state of conscious mind. The disciple is to keep on continuing in his practice of swimming and floating in the bliss of God’s love. This is also self-yogic discipline. The practice of yoga is to be undertaken in a disciplined manner. The practice of introductory yogic discipline precedes the practice of non-preparatory yogic discipline.

The Great Sage Patanjali has divided the practice of preparatory yogic discipline into eight limbs. They are YAMA (restraint); NIYAMA (cultivation of culture); ASANA (posture); PRANA (regulation of psychic breath); PRATIHARA (withdrawal of senses); DHARNA (concentration); DHYANA (meditation) and SAMADHI (spiritual union). The Guru has given a detailed exposition of these disciplines in the following steps. The first five limbs of yogic discipline that are YAMA (restraint); NIYAMA (cultivation of culture); ASANA (posture); PRANA (control of psychic breath) and PRATIHARA (withdrawal of senses) are to be disciplined and perfected through the yogic discipline of self-discipline of thoughts and unconscious mind.

This means that unconscious mind and its lack of spiritual knowledge are to be perfected and disciplined through the path of karma action. It is only after disciplining and perfecting the path of karma action that the next two limbs that are DHARNA and DHYANA of yogic ladder of ascension are to be perfected. This is the yogic discipline of concentration of the self-sense. It is also the path of spiritual knowledge. It is only after the perfection of the path of spiritual knowledge that entry is to be made into the eighth limb of yogic discipline that is SAMADHI or spiritual union with self-conscious that is outer part of soul. This is the path of devotion to formless God essence.

The preparatory practice of yoga after the perfection of these eight limbs enters into the state of practice of non-preparatory yoga. The state of non-preparatory yoga is also known as seedless spiritual union. It is beyond the grasp of brain and intellect and thought process of human beings. The Great Guru Patanjali says that first the body, the breath and the mind are to be disciplined through self-discipline of thoughts and unconscious mind. Thereafter, the body, the breath and the conscious mind are to be separated consciously from true self that is self-conscious. The thought of craving for the enjoyment of sensual pleasures is first to be experienced and felt and then relinquished. When the craving for the enjoyment of sensual pleasures appears in the thought, it is there and then that such a craving is to be relinquished with determination. Thoughts are to be restrained when desires in it get restrained and the unconscious mind becomes purified, guilt-free, static, stable and happy. It is then that the thought of inner formless God essence is to be collected, gathered and concentrated in the conscious mind.

The Great Guru says that the final goal of all living beings is merger with inner formless God essence. So long as this final goal does not get attained, all living beings keep taking on new life in living bodies after their death. The kind and the type of body of a living being, its life span and its position of rest in the matter universe, is given by subtlest nature essence that is conscious mind to each living being for the physical enjoyment of the fruit of his karma actions. The path of different kinds of life is endless. Innumerable living beings and lives are moving and perambulating on this life path in subtle and matter world of nature essence.

There are innumerable living beings and so are their kinds, their names, their colors, their individual unconscious minds, their thoughts, their conscious minds and they’re past lingering subliminal karma impressions. On this single path of life, some living beings are moving in a straight line – some at a tangent and some in a crisscross manner. Every living being has his different way of life in universe of true nature essence. There cannot, however, be one way for merger with formless God essence. All living beings cannot be given one definite way or one method for merger with formless God essence.

The Great spiritual leader Patanjali says that the path of life can be divided into three main parts. It can be divided according to nature’s three attributes. These are Sat Vic (serenity and luminosity); Rajas (passion of motion and action) and Tam sic (inactivity and inertia). It can also be divided into the path of worship, the path of knowledge and the path of karma action. The condition of the path of life of an embodied soul and its state keep on manifesting itself in the Nature’s state of its attributes through his natural bent of conscious mind and inclination. The practice if yoga is to be started according to the natural bent of conscious mind and inclination of the disciple.

A disciple whose inclination is towards surrender to formless or any form of God, for him the path of devotion is most suitable. The path of devotion is for those who are inclined towards surrender to Godly forms. Persons who are academic, who are proud and arrogant, for them the path of spiritual knowledge is the most suitable .For those who are after enjoyment of sensual pleasures and are inclined more towards attachment, aversion, fear and carnal pleasures, for them the appropriate path is the path of karma action.

The karma action is to be performed in the yogic discipline, the spiritual knowledge to be attained about the fruits of action and the worship of God essence to be undertaken –all these three are to be consciously undertaken after purging the conscious mind of its impurities. It is through self-discipline that the mind is to be purged and it is by consciously experiencing the spiritual knowledge that an inner oath is to be taken for gaining entry into soul and formless God essence. The pledge in conscious mind, in this regard is to be taken with meditative imagination. The physical enjoyment of the worldly pleasures and pursuits is to be undertaken consciously by getting beyond their auspicious and inauspicious, merit and demerit, action and non-action, good and bad aspects.

The Great Sage Patanjali says that the inner godly path is also spherical. The outer layer of this globular path is the path of karma action. It is with the purification of the path of karma action and through self-discipline, which a disciple undergoes in yogic discipline that entry is gained in the inner layer, which comprises the path of spiritual knowledge. As such the first priority is self-discipline, which has to be undergone. Thereafter, the purification of the path of the path of spiritual knowledge is to be carried out through the yoga of concentration and meditation of the self-sense. It is only after undergoing this procedure that entry is gained into the path of worship of inner God essence

. It is only with the purification of the path of karma action that the final gate of inner formless godly path is reached. Beyond the gate of godly path lies the realm of non-preparatory yoga. This type of yoga is beyond the grasp of words, language and intellect. It is only on experiencing these that awareness is felt after the conscious mind becomes intellect-free. Intellect, as such, cannot comprehend true spiritual knowledge that resides in the inner layers of conscious mind. It is only by constant and sustained practice and by becoming thought free and desire free that a disciple realizes self conscious and spiritual knowledge. It is only by entering into spiritual union and by crossing beyond stage of unconscious mind that is stationary and formless self conscious the true spiritual knowledge is felt.

The great Sage says that thoughts of the unconscious mind are to be totally and completely stopped in Meditation yoga. He says that thoughts about subtle and matter form are also to be stopped and the conscious mind brought to a stand still. When conscious mind become aware of thoughts or become conscious, the self-concentration breaks its outer connection with worldly pleasures, with worldly objects and with worldly pursuits. It also breaks connection with the body, the senses and the unconscious mind. It is only then that the self-conscious is experienced in conscious mind that is formless, stationary and mere a viewer or witnessing.

When the disciple’s conscious mind reaches the state of self-conscious, the disciple gets into seeded spiritual union. This is the last stage of blissful salvation. Such a stage is experienced by cultivating patience and without intellect. It is on the complete purification of this stage that self-realization of self conscious and spiritual knowledge are attained with grace of formless God essence. It is on the attainment of self conscious of merger with formless God essence that liberation is realized from the cycle of life and death. The attainment of liberation from the repeated cycle of life and death is the goal of all embodied souls.

It is for the attainment of this goal that innumerable living beings keep on taking birth in various living forms of different colors and hues and having different names. The final aim of all living beings is merger with formless God and to become one with him. The final aim of all living beings is to become like him and become a doer like him. The final aim of all living beings is to attain God’s attributes that are being fearless, envy less, enmity less, everlasting and immortal and not being subject to birth and death. Undergoing self-discipline, self-meditation and obeisance to formless God essence attains purification of seeded spiritual union. Making the thoughts craving free and mind thought free are basic tools to attain it. The experience of the self-conscious is felt and the perfection of self-conscious that is true one non-dual self is attained through yogic discipline.