by Carole Pepe
Sutra 1.2: YOGAS CITTA VRITTI NIRODAH
as I feel it is the source of my yoga practice. When asked to refer to a previous Sutra assignment, lo and behold, I finally found that I selected the same sutra to discuss in my initial teacher training program. Although 10 years have elapsed, the Sutra maintains its importance in my practice. For me, it is the basis of my Yoga practice and it is always best to return to the beginning, as we are always beginners. It is the same as always returning to the breath. It is simple, it is fundamental.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are considered the "Bible of Yoga". Consisting of 4 chapters, it outlines all the components of a complete Yoga practice as we study it at Yoga Loka. There have been many translations of the Sutras since compiled thousands of years ago. The translations differ slightly dependent on the tradition of the author. All, however, attempt to guide the reader on the path to achieve samadhi, the blissful state of Union with All.
Let us begin, then with a typical translation of the Sanskrit to English.
YOGAS= UNION ; CITTA = MINDSTUFF/THOUGHTS/PERCEPTIONS ; VRITTI =VACILLATIONS/ FLUCTUATIONS ; NIRODAH = RESTRAINT.
to mean: "The restraint of the fluctuations of the mind-stuff is Yoga". (Sri Swami Satchidananda, p.3 ). A simple interpretation by Alberto Villodo translates: "Yoga is vigilance, awareness, and stillness of the mind." It would seem a simple task to still the mind, but it's nature is to be active and the goal, maybe is not to stop the mind from its function, but bring vigilance and awareness to its function. The goal of Yoga is to be the master of the mind, rather than its servant. Mukunda Stile's translation: "Yoga is experienced in that mind which has ceased to identify with its vacillating waves of perception. " (p.2 ) seems to allow the mind to move with the understanding that Bliss/Union/Yoga is achieved when the individual is able to see him/her self a a being not merely comprised of thoughts, emotions, body, breath, but rather, seeing the self as witness, as from above. Non-judgment, non-attachment, vigilance, and awareness to the mind draws it toward stillness and the experience of Bliss. Marshall Govindan's (p. 2) translation: "Yoga is the cessation of identifying with the fluctuations arising within consciousness. " is aligned with the concept that the mind may vacillate, but as we come to the realization that we are so much more that of the mind, we will achieve Yoga/Union/Bliss. Swami Rama's discussion of this sutra describes the Sanskrit word, nirodah, as untranslatable to English and suggests the use of the term self-training as opposed to cessation/restraint.
When originally working with this sutra, 10 years ago, I focused on Satchidananda's translation, and my attempts were to still the mind.The focus was on the word "restraint" with an implication of "stopping", the activity of the mind. My pitta mind being very active, always plannning, always busy, I found respite calling this sutra to mind. Often times, as I began a sentence: "I was just thinking..." other would finish: "I bet you were!" Hah! I eagerly grasped the metaphor of the mind as a horse running wild, directionless, and found the challenge of being its charioteer appealing. "Whoa" - "Stop", grab those reins and rein in the mind. When I was diagnosed with cancer 6 years ago (nearly to this day) everything changed. Suddenly, sitting on my meditation cushion telling myself to still the mind wasn't happening. Was I too weak to control the reins? And the vacillations that I previously tried to quell, well, they were nothing, in retrospect. These vacillations registered high on the Richter Scale and attempted to bury me under! Those horses were running wild and I felt I had not the strength to rein them in.
My Yoga practice began anew at that time. I looked with new eyes. I could no longer identify with my self, because the self as I knew began to disappear. No more "teacher", no more "athlete"; no more "fit", no more "active", no more "healthy", no more "attractive", no more "slim". One by one the identities fell away and I came face to face with the question of "who am I ?" I experienced "suffering" as I had not before. My mantra through these challenges became " I am not this body," repeated over and over again after each humbling moment. Nonetheless, I continued to suffer. Because I was no longer "this body" what was I? My mind knows that we are pure energy, but what if this energy, these pranic systems, are mal-functioning? How to re-store the all the energetic bodies and relieve the many levels of suffering became my quest. How to abide in my own, new, nature?
This brings me to the selection of a second sutra to discuss within the confines of this paper. Sutra 1.30 and 1.31 discusses the obstacles and their symptoms to attaining Samadhi/Union. I was experiencing all of them, disease, anxiety, fear, depression, etc. Some were related to the cancer itself, some related to my prognosis, and some related to the physical side effects of the treatment, and so much more. The second Book of the Sutras describes the practices or Sadhanas to address suffering and thereby achieve Yoga. sutra 2.3 states (M.S., p.16) "There are 5 primal causes of suffering: ignorance of your True Self and the value of spirituality; egoism and its self-centeredness; attachment to pleasure; aversion to pain; and clinging to life out of fear of death." Certainly, since my cancer diganosis, I have investigated and done much self- inquiry regarding death, especially my own. I realized that all the losses of identities as described earlier were deaths that I grieved. Continuing onward in the second book, the sutras further discuss this pain and suffering, spirituality and egoism and the means toward resolution of suffering.
Sutra 2.17: DRASTR DRSYAYOH SAMYOGO HEYA HETU
is translated DRASHTI=THE SEER;DRISYOYOH = THE SEEN; SAMYOGAH =UNION; HEYA = AVOIDABLE; HETUH = CAUSE (S.S.S., p. 103) Translated as: "The cause of suffering to be eliminated is the union of the Seer and the seen." ( M.G., p. 81) This is quite a valuable concept, that of the the self as witness or observer. The practice of Yoga Nidra enables one to develop skill in non-attachment/vairagyabhyam from sutra 1.12. The ability to act as the witness, and develop the disconnect between Seer and the seen is cultivated. This sutra reminds the reader that the world is an illusion, maya; a play, lila. Suffering is eliminated when we realize that we are observers, of this, the seen. Samadhi is realized when we identify with the True Self, not identifying the self as that which is seen, tangible, of this world.
The second book continues to describe what the True Self really is, and how to be in the world with all its dualities, able to accept them all with non-attachment, whether they be previously associated with pain or pleasure. A poem by Rumi encourages this acceptance of all that comes to us:
This being human is a guest house,
every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they'e a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house empty of its funiture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
These messages seem simple enough when read at the intellectual level, but all of our accumulated samskaras create further obstacles. Sutra 1.12 reminds us that abyhyasa/practice is required. Patience and discipline in one's practice in necessary to overcome obtacles to suffering and often its acompanying question: "Why me?" Return to the thought of letting go of the me/ego. Separate from that which is seen and abide in the space of the Seer.
The word sutra means thread. The words continue and guide the reader toward Self-realization. The unraveling of the mysteries of the sutras and samadhi continues as our practice continues without beginning or end. I always return with the thread to Sutra 1.2. Our practice invites us to keep the cycle of unraveling and weaving simultaneusly. The lessons of the sutras I have chosen are each dependent on the individual's ability to let go of identification with form. Exploring energy and worlds beyond that which is seen. Connecting to Cosmic Energy is the greatest Union. I have been blessed that my karma is such that has allowed me to remain in bodily form and develop new identities, for however long they will exist, knowing all the while of their impermanence. Let us all work together in peace to create an evermore glorious tapestry with the threads we have received from the Yoga Sutras and everywhere else.
NAMASTE
Govindan, Marshall, Kriya yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Siddhas. 2000.
Sri Swami Satchidanada, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, 1990.
Stiles, Mukunda, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. 2002.
Villold, Alberto, Yoga, Power, and Spirit. 2007.