CAPÍTULO XXVIII De la Valuación Catastral

vitarkaḥ – doubts; hiṁsa – violence; ādayaḥ – and related matters; kṛta – done; kārita – cause to be done; anumoditāḥ – endorsed, approved; lobha – greed; krodha – anger; moha – delusion; pūrvakaḥ – caused by, proceeded by; mṛdu – minor; madhya – mediocre; adhimātraḥ – substantial; duḥkha – distress; ajñāna – spiritual ignorance; ananta – endless; phalāḥ – results; iti – thus; pratipakṣa – opposite type; bhāvanam – considerations.

Doubts which produce violence and related actions, which are performed, caused to be done or endorsed,

and which are caused by greed, anger and delusion, even if minor, mediocre or substantial,

cause endless distress and spiritual ignorance as the results.

Therefore, one should consider the opposite features.

Verses, Translation and Commentary 139

Commentary:

Violence and related actions are those which run contrary to the moral restraints of non-violence, realism, non-stealing, sexual non-expressiveness and non-possessiveness. Any ideas which run contrary to morality and which seem to justify such immoral acts are to be abandoned. If a yogin finds that he does not have the power to abandon immoral acts, then he should think deeply of the benefit of morality. This may give him the required detachment and invoke in him sufficient patience so that he restrains from vices until the impulsions pass out of his mind or loose their impulsive force.

If a moral code is to be broken at a certain time, it will be done by someone somehow because if the energy or motivation for that act, finds the yogi to be an unwilling subject, it will move away from him and influence some other person to act. A yogi should understand this. A yogi may be tricked again and again by those compulsions to do immoral acts but then after a time, he will begin to develop a resistance to those forceful motivations, which cause him to deviate. Arjuna questioned Śrī Krishna about this in the Bhagavad-gītā:

balād iva niyojitaḥ arjuna uvāca atha kena prayukto 'yaṃ

pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥ anicchann api vārṣṇeya

Arjuna said: Then explain, O family man of the Vrsnis, by what is a person forced to commit an evil even unwillingly, just as if he were compelled to do so? (Gītā 3.36)

Verse 35

Aih<saàitóaya< tTsiÚxaE vErTyag>

ahiṁsāpratiṣṭhāyāṁ tatsannidhau vairatyāgaḥ

ahiṁsā – non-violence; pratiṣṭhāyāṁ – on being firmly established; tat – his; sannidhau – presence, vicinity; vaira – hostility; tyāgaḥ – abandonment.

On being firmly established in non-violence, the abandonment of hostility occurs in his presence.

Commentary:

This charm over the violent nature of others is sometimes exhibited by great yogins. Sometimes haphazardly it is manifested in the life of student yogins. It begins in human society where people who are normally hostile to each other exhibit undue kindness even to their enemies, when they are in a presence of a yogin.

The force of the non-violent nature of the yogi may disarm and temporarily disintegrate the hostile nature of others. Sometimes this is shown when a eating human being is in the presence of a great yogin. The fish-eater feels as if he cannot eat fish but must eat vegetarian or fruitarian meals.

But that animal nature is again manifested when the person gets out of the range of the yogin. On the contrary however, sometimes it is seen that a great

yogin has no effect on a cannibal, or flesh-eater. This is because the lower tendencies may be so strong as to resist saintly influence or it may be that the yogin assumes a sensual withdrawal attitude, intending not to adjust the life style of others.

Verse 36

sTyàitóaya< i³ya)laïyTvm!

satyapratiṣṭhāyāṁ kriyāphalāśrayatvam

satya – realism; pratiṣṭhāyāṁ – on being established; kriyā – actions;

phalāḥ – results; āśryatvam – what serves as a support for something else.

On being established in realism, his actions serve as a basis for results.

Commentary:

It may be contested that in all cases, a person’s action serve as the basis of the results he will be afforded by providence, either for good or bad, according to what was committed. However the yogi is more conscious of his actions and their potential results than others. This is because of mystic perception in the truths of how this world operates. Thus a yogi’s actions, particularly his mystic actions do confirm with reality and are consistent with realism.

In these verses instead of using the term tiṣṭha, Śrī Patañjali uses pratiṣṭhā which means to be firmly established, not just to be initially or haphazardly established. This comes after sufficient practice or in the case of the divine beings, it is from their superior nature.

Verse 37

ASteyàitóaya< svRrÆaepSwanm!

asteyapratiṣṭhāyāṁ sarvaratnopasthānam

asteya – non-stealing; pratiṣṭhāyāṁ – on firmly establishing; sarva – all;

ratna – gems, precious things; upasthānam – approaching, waiting upon.

On being firmly established in non-stealing, all precious things wait to serve a yogin.

Commentary:

Still, usually a yogin is not concerned about these things. This is because his mind is fixed on the most precious thing, which is his yoga practice. Thus many opportunities for exploitation come to a yogin but he does not take advantage of them. People often wonder why a great yogi wastes his life away, and why he does not exploit all the people and resources which are in a position to be used by him. The answer is that a yogi is too preoccupied with yoga practice. A great yogin is easily discovered if one searches for the person around whom, all sorts of wealth manifest but who does not use any of that wealth and who is indifferent to it, seemingly stupid, seemingly not realizing the worth in valuables and in the cheap labor which could be derived from others.

Verses, Translation and Commentary 141

Verse 38 äücyRàitóaya< vIyRla->

brahmacaryapratiṣṭhāyāṁ vīryalābhaḥ

brahmacarya – sexual non-expressiveness which results in the perception of spirituality; pratiṣṭhāyāṁ – being firmly established; vīrya – vigor;

lābhaḥ – what is gained.

On being firmly established in the sexual non-expressiveness which results in the perception of spirituality,

vigor is gained.

Commentary:

This means dynamic celibacy established by virtue of yoga practice in terms of āsana postures and prāṇāyāma breath nutrition methods which will be mentioned forthwith by Śrī Patañjali.

This is the urdhvareta stage where the yogi masters kuṇḍalini yoga and celibacy yoga.

Verse 39

Apir¢hSwEyeR jNmkwNtasMbaex>

aparigrahasthairye janmakathaṁtā saṁbodhaḥ

aparigraha – non-possessiveness; sthairye – in the consistent; janma – birth; kathaṁtā – how, the reason for; saṁbodhaḥ – full or correct perception regarding something.

In being consistent in non-possessiveness, there is manifested the reason

and the correct perception regarding one’s birth.

Commentary:

When a yogi has mastered the quality of non-possessiveness in relation to this gross level of reality, his energy of appreciation shifts to the subtle reality.

Thus he perceives the reason for the births he recently took. If he develops that clairvoyant skill, he comes to understand why others took up a certain body. He can know his past lives and that of others. However, if realizing that he has this skill, he becomes attracted to popularity and wants to be endearing and beloved, he might abuse himself. Thus, the skill will gradually leave him as he becomes more and more in the habit of appropriating fame in the material world.

Verse 40

zaEcaTSva¼juguPsa prErs<sgR>

śaucāt svāṅgajugupsā paraiḥ asaṁsargaḥ

śaucāt – from purification; svāṅga = sva – oneself + aṅga – limbs; jugupsā – aversion, disgust; parair = pariaḥ – with others; asaṁsargaḥ – non-association, lack of desire to associate.

From purification comes a disgust for one’s own body and a lack of desire to associate with others.

Commentary:

True purification comes after long and hard yoga austerities. Thus the student yogi once he has earned purity of his psyche, develops a disgust for the same material body through which he worked hard to develop that purity. This is because the material body and the subtle one which caused it, has an innate tendency to absorb the pollutions which pull an ascetic down from yoga practice. As soon as a student yogi stops practice, he regresses. Even though the material body is an asset, still it always remains as a liability so long as it exists. Worse still, is the subtle body, because, until one can shed it off and take on a yoga siddha form, one is in danger of being degraded. The subtle body is worse than the gross form when it comes to adaptation and acceptance of vices.

A yogi develops a lack of desire to associate with others, except for his advanced teachers. This is because in such association he or she always runs the risks of degradation, due to susceptibility to the habits of others. People think that a yogi hates them or avoids them. Actually a yogi has no time to hate anyone because he has to attend to his practice and the energy which would be used to hate others is needed to accelerate the progress. But he develops a desire not to associate with others. This happens as a matter of course. It is a result of higher yoga practice.

Verse 41

sÅvzuiÏsaEmnSyEka¢!(eiNÔyjyaTmdzRnyaeGyTvain c

sattvaśuddhi saumanasya ekāgra indriyajaya