grahaṇa – sensual grasping; svarūpa – own form; asmitā – identification;
anvaya – connection, association; arthavatva – value, worth; saṁyamāt – from the continuous effortless linkage of the attention; indriyajayaḥ – the mastery of the sensual energy by psychological control.
From the continuous effortless linkage of the attention to sensual grasping, to the form of the sensual energy,
to its identifying powers, to its connection instinct and to its actual worth,
a yogi acquires conquest over his relationship with it.
Commentary:
It is important to understand and to accept for oneself, that these achievements occur after prolonged practice. Those who feel they can achieve these overnight will definitely be frustrated. Yoga practice matures and remains firm only after long practice, and not just for one life but through a succession of lives, until the practice becomes an instinct.
A yogin must study his own sensual energy. He must also take hints from the way others use their sensual powers. It takes time to accomplish this. The sensual energy is subtle and moves at a rapid rate to execute its functions. It is mostly involuntary, which means that it operates on its own. This makes it difficult to track. However, after long practice, a yogin gets a foothold in these achievements described by Śrī Patañjali. One must study how the sensual energy appropriates or grasps subtle phenomena. This is indicated by the term anvaya. One must study how the energy connects with and associates with various types of subtle and gross objects. One must know the form of the sensual energy, its svarūpa. This is its form when it does not assume the identity of other objects. One should understand its nature for identification as well as its worth to the self. When all this is achieved, then the yogi gains mastery over his relationship to that sensual force.
Verse 49
ttae mnaejivTv< ivkr[-av> àxanjyí
tataḥ manojavitvaṁ vikaraṇabhāvaḥ pradhānajayaḥ ca
tataḥ – subsequently; manojavitvaṁ = manah – mind + javitvaṁ – swiftness, rapidity; vikaraṇabhāvaḥ = vi – parting away from, dispersing + karana – creating, making + bhāvaḥ – mento-emotional energy, feeling;
pradhānah – subtle matter; jayaḥ – conquest; ca – and.
Subsequently, there is conquest over the influence of subtle matter and over the parting away or dispersion
of the mento-emotional energy, with the required swiftness of mind.
Commentary:
These aspects are on the mystic plane. This is attained after long practice at dhāraṇā. At first a yogi practices dhāraṇā, feeling that he mastered the pratyāhār sensual restraint. Thereafter he discovers that he only mastered particular phases of such restraint. Under direction of higher yogis, he goes back to his restraint practice. Then he again returns to dhāraṇā. This occurs frequently, until at last his perception of the subtle realities develop fully.
What was subtle becomes gross; what was gross fades away completely. He purifies himself even further and grasps more higher reality which used to affect him in lower stages.
Verse 50
sÅvpué;aNytaOyaitmaÇSy svR-avaixóat&Tv< svR}at&Tv< c
sattva puruṣa anyatā khyātimātrasya sarvabhāva adhiṣṭhātṛtvaṁ sarvajñātṛtvaṁ ca
sattva – clarifying perception of material nature; puruṣa – the spiritual personality; anyatā – other than distinct from; khyātimātrasya = khyāti – the discriminating faculty of the intellect + mātrasya – only; sarva – all;
bhāva – states of feelings and perceptions; adhiṣṭhātṛtvaṁ – authority, complete disaffection; sarvajñātṛtvaṁ = sarva – all + jñātṛtvaṁ – knowledge, intuition; ca – and.
Only when there is distinct discrimination between the clarifying perception of material nature
and the spiritual personality, does the yogi attain complete disaffection
and all-applicative intuition.
Commentary:
Khyati means the well-develop truth-yielding discrimination of the buddhi organ. But this is attained after long practice only. When this is developed, then the yogi sees clearly at all times the distinction between his spiritual
Verses, Translation and Commentary 183
person and the clarifying influences of material nature, influences from which he took assistance all along.
In advanced yoga, or kriyā yoga, one has to maintain the distinction between oneself and the perceiving instruments of the subtle body, even through initially one must take help from those truth-yielding perceptions.
Adhiṣṭhātṛtvaṁ means complete or full disaffection from the subtle influence of material nature, even from the clarifying powers which are so helpful.
Verse 51
tÖEraGyadip dae;vIj]ye kEvLym!
tadvairāgyāt api doṣabījakṣaye kaivalyam
tadvairāgyāt = tad (tat) – that + vairāgyāt – from a lack of interest; api – also, even; doṣabījakṣaye = doṣa – fault, defect + bīja – seed, origin, source + kṣaye – on elimination; kaivalyam – the absolute isolation of the self from what is lower than itself, isolation of the self from the lower psyche of itself.
By a lack of interest, even to that
(discrimination between the clarifying mundane energy and the self) when the cause of that defect is eliminated, the absolute isolation of the self from the lower psyche of itself,
is achieved.
Commentary:
Kaivalyam, which is a popular word in yoga and meditation circles, is greatly mistranslated and misinterpreted. Its meaning is not that the yogi would become one with God. For Patañjali, the master of yoga, never says that in these verses. Kaivalya is the isolation of the self from its lower psyche, such that the subtle mundane instruments of the psyche are separated from the self or atma. The atma becomes freed from it’s reliance to those useful and domineering subtle tools.
Previously Śrī Patañjali described kaivalyam in this way:
tad abhāvāt saṁyogā abhāvaḥ hānaṁ taddṛśeḥ kaivalyam
“The elimination of the conjunction which results from the elimination of that spiritual ignorance is the withdrawal that is the total separation of the perceiver from the mundane psychology.” (Yoga Sūtra 2.25)
It is amazing how so many translators, following the one-ness craze completely distorted Śrī Patañjali by giving so many misleading and totally out-of-context meanings for the term kaivalyam. Vaman Shivram Apte in his practical Sanskrit-English dictionary gives the following plain meaning for these terms; perfect isolation, soleness, exclusiveness, individuality, detachment of the soul from matter, identification with the Supreme Spirit, final emancipation or beatitude.
Verse 52
SwaNyupinmÙ[e s¼Smyakr[< punrinòàs¼at!