सदाशिव समारंभाम् शंकराचार्य मध्यमाम् ।।

अस्मदाचार्य पर्यन्ताम् वन्दे गुरु परंपराम्।।

Above श्लोक is chanted by गुरू’s aligned to अद्वैत. Depending on the आश्रम परम्परा the गुरू is aligned to, सदाशिव may become नारायण or any other expression of ईश्वर. Key idea is that original विद्या started from ईश्वर Himself and another गुरू like आदिशंकराचार्य (or रामानुज, etc ) conveyed the wisdom of ईश्वर in a big way and thus the current गुरू is aligned to the teachings of both the original and other गुरू who came in the middle. And the last line prays homage to all the multiple गुरूs who have done hard work time and again to disseminate the original ज्ञान by ईश्वर. We thus are seeking blessings of all of them before we begin our own study.

योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां ।मलं शरीरस्य च वैद्यकेन ॥

योऽपाकरोत्तमं प्रवरं मुनीनां ।पतञ्जलिं प्राञ्जलिरानतोऽस्मि ॥

Meaning:

1: (I bow down to him who purifies the impurities) of the Mind (by removing the चित्त वत्ति) by योग, (who purifies the expression of) Speech by पद (Grammar) …

2: … and (who purifies the) impurities of the Body through वैद्य (Medical Science), …

3: … He who is an expert in removing (the impurities of the शरीर, मन and वाच), to that most excellent of मुनि, …

4: … (Who is) पतंजलि, I bow down with folded hands.

Tradition gives an exalted standing to पतंजलि. He is seen as the author of the योगसूत्र, who has given भाष्य on पाणिनी’s अष्टाध्यायी as well as a medical treatise, चरक. पतंजलि is seen as an अवतार of आदिशेष, the platform on which श्रीविष्णु is seated. Other popular अवतार of आदिशेष are बलराम & लक्ष्मण. आदिशेष is also seen as one the rare few who has witnessed शिव doing His तांडव नृत्य.

सूत्र means a thread. Stanza after stanza have been weaved together to add up-to 195 in this text. पद्मपुराण defines a सूत्र as one that has few अक्षर, an unambiguous meaning, full of essence (सारयुक्त). A text attains the level of a सूत्र when only after all arguments given for or against it, the lines are seen as infallible and without blemish. योग is a distinct दर्शन (way of seeing life) within आर्शधर्म (among 14). योग is often expressed as union (of जीवत्मा with परमात्मा) and may also been seen as an effort or discipline. Efforts that one takes to cultivate a lifestyle where one takes on to actions that will enable one to regain connect with his own true nature. While कर्म refers to actions done from the vantage point of belief that we are an entity separate from the other and the world, भोग refers to acts of seeking pleasure while योग refers to actions driven towards attaining self-realization.

पतंजलि is not an author of the योग discipline – He has compiled this from previous works. योगसूत्र as a text is seen by tradition jointly with commentary by व्यास. Both are read together. We are not sure if this व्यास is the same who composed the महाभारत or this was another व्यास. Later, being a popular text, many other great scholars from धर्म tradition including आदि शंकर (8CE), वाचस्पति मिश्र (9CE), भोजराजा (11CE), विज्ञानभिक्षु (16thCE), हरिहरानन्द अरण्य (19thCE) and even recently by स्वामि विवेकानन्द. Beauty is that most commentaries do not depart from the core and have carried forward a consistent meaning across centuries.

योगसूत्र is not a religious text having details of व्रत or स्तुति not a text of reasoning that attempts to use logic to define the ultimate truth or reality. It may be seen more as a guidance manual by a योगी who has discovered experience of Truth for himself (as per some पुराण, father of the original yogic text is a ऋषि who goes by the name हिरण्यगर्भ) and he decided to put together a guidance for benefit of people in the future. For those interested, one may therefore use the process and methods described in this manual to experience the Truth for themselves. The document pre-supposes basic ज्ञान of Indic thought given in texts like तत्वबोध but we will elaborate on these basic concepts during our discussion from tomorrow. Primary source being used here is a translation and commentary on the text by Edwin Bryant – my sincere Namaskaram to him for the good work done in his book. Other sources have also been used here and there where I have had to resort to work by other authors on this wonderful Sutra.

अथ योगानुशासनम् ।।१।।

Now, the teachings of योग (are presented).

अथ meaning “now” is a special word. There are other significant texts that begin with अथ and commentators have given long commentary on this word itself. ब्रह्मसूत्र begins with अथातो ब्रह्म जिज्ञासा while धर्मसूत्र begins अथातो धर्म जिज्ञासा. One way to take this is after all preparatory works have been undertaken, “NOW”, let us go into a more detailed theoretical study of the teachings of योग. The word “now” may also be taken as a break from earlier branch of study that one may have been doing till now. Or “now” means that having cultivated a basic lifestyle of discipline, having a good level of familiarity with basic concepts of अध्यात्म ज्ञान, convinced that our real identity is not this physical structure that we experience daily, ready to work hard to regain our real nature, one is “now” suited to pursue a deeper study of योग – hence अथ.

समाधि is the goal of the text. समाधि is a feature that permeates all five habitual states of mind. व्यास refers to five states of mind 1) क्षिप्त (restless), 2) मूढ (dull), 3) विक्षिप्त (distracted), 4) एकाग्र (one-pointed) and 5) निरुद्ध (arrested or restrained). Of these, only एकाग्र and निरुद्ध states can lead one to समाधि since क्षिप्त state is too restless to find steadiness, मूढ mind is too dull to make effort required for समाधि and विक्षिप्त state is where most spiritual aspirants are in where the mind is inconsistent and moments of clarity & stability come but do not last long. What is therefore required for one is to attain the state of एकाग्र and gradually over time and through discipline, one attains the state of निरुद्ध where the mind ceases to function at all.

The word अनु signifies continuity. Thereby, the discipline or lifestyle that was followed by numerous people from the original ऋषि हिरण्यगर्भ gave many people the road to regain their original state. योगसूत्र thus is not a discovery of ऋषि पतंजलि but the same ज्ञान that helped many in the past is being relayed back so as to continue to benefit people in the future too. As must be seen, in the field of अध्यात्म, “new” is not really seen as good. Anything “new” is risky and untested while योग tradition which has worked well in the past and gone through adequate rigour and thus time-tested. This is why most great Indian thinkers never claimed originality in this space – they merely conveyed what was already known.

योग: चित्तवृत्ति निरोध: ।।२।।

योग is the stilling of the changing states of the mind

This सूत्र gives the definition of योग. वृत्ति refers to fluctuations or modifications in the चित्त. Through योग, the fluctuating aspect of the चित्त is stilled. And once it is stilled, one is able to experience one’s own real self. So what do we mean by चित्त here? चित्त is loosely translated as mind but in this text, it has a much wider coverage. चित्त in various धर्म traditions comes under the domain of unconscious matter that lacks awareness of its own and the term usually used is प्रकृति contrasting this to पुरुष which is expressed as our real identity (people familiar with the Gita will have come across this in much detail in CH13). Overall, I must add here that there are variations in how these terms are used across various schools but given our intent here is to learn these सूत्र as a साधक and not as an academic, I will avoid getting into elaborating on the differences.

चित्त means ‘that which gathers’ and is comprised, as per सांख्य, of 24 तत्व (principles) viz four root तत्व (अहंकार – ego or i-ness that gives a sense of separation from the other, बुद्धि – faculty that discriminates and decides, मनस् – faculty that gathers information collected by the senses and चित्त – refers to faculty of memory), ज्ञानेन्द्रिय (eyes, ears, nose, tongue & skin), कर्मेन्द्रिय (hands, legs, speech, genitals and excretory organs), तन्मात्रा (smell, touch, taste, sound and form), पञ्चभूत (आकाश, वायु अग्नि, आप or जल & पृथ्वी). Apart from 24 तत्व, there is also the idea of त्रिगुण (सत्व, रजस् & तमस्) that forms the fundamental structure of प्रकृति – these three गुण mix in various proportions with the 24 तत्व to create both the visible external universe as well as our own body/mind complex – this aspect is jokingly referred to as “Vedic Physics” and interested people may refer to प्रकरण ग्रंथ like तत्वबोध to get more details.

What are the वृत्ति? वृत् is a root word that means to revolve, turn, proceed, move and underscores the always active, sequential, rambling aspect of the mind. There are five of them – प्रमाण (right knowledge), विपर्यय (wrong knowledge), विकल्प (imagination), निद्रा (sleep) and स्मृति (memory). All these five types of वृत्ति have to be controlled. Only then can the objective of the योगी can be realized. निरोध means complete stoppage of these वृत्ति and once these cease, our pure Self will reveal itself or get illumined in its own glory. More of this will get clarified later.

व्यास states that आत्मा (used inter-changeably with पुरुष) in its pure state is considered to be free of content and changeless – it does not transform or undergo permutations in the way the mind does – then how can it be aware of objects? Awareness of objects is brought about by means of बुद्धि viz the 1st interface of आत्मा with the world. The sense objects provide images received through the senses, sorted by मनस् (thinking & organizing aspect of चित्त) and presented to बुद्धि. Although inanimate, बुद्धि molds itself into the form and shape of these objects of experience, thoughts and ideas. The molding of चित्त into these thoughts and ideas is the वृत्ति referred to by पतंजलि in this सूत्र. More details will come in the following सूत्र

तदा द्रष्टु: स्वरूपsवस्थानम् ।।३।।

Then (when the mind is arrested), the seer is established in its own state.

द्रष्टु is the seer – the one who sees. Who sees? It is the आत्मा or पुरुष. What does it see? Seeing, by its very nature, means seeing something outside of oneself. It implicitly means something external to oneself but the seer is this case is an observer exhibiting awareness. When the external dissolves away, there is nothing to see. This seer then abides in his own nature or state. Thus, when mind and thoughts dissolve, in what manner does this “something” continue? 1) Does आत्मा remain as pure entity that is conscious only of itself? 2) does it become unconscious like a log of wood? 3) does it cease to exist just as a lamp is exhausted when the wick is destroyed? योगसूत्र subscribes to the 1st view. This state is called as असम्प्रज्ञात समाधि (more on this later).

Standard analogy used in the शास्त्र to illustrate difference between आत्मा & चित्त is that of a pure crystal and objects placed before it. If a red flower is placed, crystal appears red while nature of the crystal is not red nor is it affected or changed by the flower in any way nor does it disappear when the flower is taken away. पुरुष is an autonomous entity separable from the वृत्ति of the चित्त placed in its vicinity – since चित्त is “coloured”, पुरुष is also misidentified with the वृत्ति of the चित्त.

Seer abiding in its own nature” is an interesting idea. I share a personal take on this. Let us take a normal person who has innate interests – say cooking, partying, travelling, etc. And at a personal level, let us say that this person was ambitious from a career perspective, always expanding his or her horizons, had some bit of religiosity, compassionate person but had a few issues like anger management and impulsive nature. Let us also add that this person had strong friendships and equally hated a few persons strongly.

And let us suppose this person dies. Suppose this person lands in a place called as heaven in the presence of someone called God – what will this person do there if he still carries memories of family life, remains impulsive, anger management not resolved, keen to take his ambition to the next level, etc? While thanks to minimal religiosity, this person may enjoy presence with God for a while, will the other unfinished agenda in the mind not urge him to move on from God and pursue such an agenda? Basic logic therefore indicates that unless the mind is cleaned up or fully fulfils its urges, one cannot move further up the ladder. And one has to necessarily reach a state where one feels “fulfilled” – only then, the question of getting bored with God will not arise. In that sense, the idea of स्वर्ग being a temporal place makes sense and to abide in one’s own nature, one has to work on the mind does make complete sense.

वृत्ति सारूप्यम् इतरत्र ।। ४।।

इतरत्र – otherwise सारूप्यम् – identification with

Otherwise, at other times, (the seer) is absorbed in the changing states of the mind.

The द्रष्टु or पुरुष is seen as a master and चित्त is its property. चित्त serves its master by bringing objects of experience in the form of वृत्ति to its master. Now, while the पुरुष observes by becoming conscious of these inputs, it becomes mistakenly identified with them by the चित्त and thereby appears affected by them. This misidentification or अविद्या is the root cause of the पुरुष’s apparent bondage in the physical world of matter just as someone looking at a dirty mirror becomes anxious by identifying itself with the image on the dirty mirror. Moon appears clear on clear water but while remaining as a moon, if there are disturbances in the water, moon “appears” warped.

So a question may come – since when has this misidentification happened? Buddha uses an interesting analogy – if a man is shot by an arrow, it is useless to inquire who shot the arrow, its point of origin, etc – what is needed is an उपचार from the current problem. It is fruitless to speculate how or why one fell into a well – it would be more productive to find a means to get out – this means is योग. वाचस्पति मिश्र addresses this question in his commentary and makes the point that अविद्या is an eternal component present at all times and the question of the first impetus for the fall becomes meaningless. This therefore shows the practical orientation of the Indian mind – “do not waste time speculating on the “why” but work to get out and you will know the meaninglessness of the “why” question”. Of course, from an academic sense, this reply may not satisfy the curious minds and while there may be explanations by some commentators on this, पतंजलि & व्यास do not elaborate on this point.

Kamal Geeta: Since the eternal jivas pre exist before the creation of this material world, and manifest alongwith their subtle body (chitta, mind, intelligence and false ego from previous births) at time of new cosmic creation, so it is not possible to assign a particular date to when this misidentification happened. Our conditioned mind is accustomed to assign a date and time to each event, but these instances of misidentification with material nature are beyond the boundaries of material time (काल). So, it makes sense to focus on cure rather than cause of this disease of misidentification as you have rightly said through 2 examples of arrow and well above.

UV: True – the question that is coming in another group where I am parallely sending this Sutra is why did this misidentification happen? There are no clear answers to this question but we are generally told that it is a wrong question 😀

Kamal Geeta: Of course, I would be foolish if I claim to know answer to this question but what I have heard from my higher authorities, I can share here. To understand the root cause of this disease of misidentification, we will have to bring in picture the concept of *Free Will* endowed to us.  Also, we need to acknowledge the presence of Avidya Vritti , which further has 2 modes of binding us–

(a) covering our real identity (b) making us identify with the lower nature of material consciousness. The misuse of Free Will by the Jiva attracts the Jiva to this lower nature which gives birth to the false notion of being the Enjoyer of all that is there.  This unending complex chain entangles the Jiva . It is not possible to fully understand this with the already contaminated tiny brain we have. That is why it is generally said that this is a wrong question like– If God created everything, then who created God or, even modern scientists’ reply to the question — What existed before Big Bang?

UV: Perfect – fully aligned with you here 👍

वृत्तय: पञ्चतय्य: क्लिष्टाक्लिष्टा: ।।५।।

वृत्तय -changing states of mind, पञ्चतय्य – five-fold, क्लिष्ट – harmful, अक्लिष्ट – not harmful

There are five kinds of changing states of mind and they are either क्लिष्ट (harmful) or अक्लिष्ट (beneficial) (to the practice of योग)

वृत्ति, by its very nature, is क्लिष्ट and only on their elimination, one regains their original state – then how can there be अक्लिष्ट वृत्ति? Mind is never static but always active and changing – thus, वृत्ति are constantly generated and take the पुरुष away from Its own pure nature. क्लिष्ट वृत्ति are harmful to the goals of योग and they represent the fertile soil from which seeds of कर्म sprout. These are essentially products of रजस् & तमस्. However, अक्लिष्ट वृत्ति are those that are सात्विक् in nature – they are born of insight and culminate in liberation.

Here, we need to understand the idea of कर्म & संस्कार. कर्म comes from the root word कृ representing work. In our शास्त्र, any type of कर्म (whether पुण्य or पाप) leads to a reaction and even the reaction is labelled as कर्म. This cycle of action & reaction goes on ad-infinitum and thus over time, the storehouse of कर्म becomes unlimited. संस्कार, on the other hand, represent mental imprints wherein every mental thought that has ever been experienced forms a संस्कार on the चित्त. A संस्कार is not a passive imprint but a vibrant latent impulse that can activate under conducive circumstances and exert an influence on a person’s thought and behaviour. Thus, it is a संस्कार that produces a वृत्ति which leads to a कर्म (action) and also generates a reaction (again called as कर्म) which again gets recorded as संस्कार and the cycle goes on and on.

So what is the role of स्मृति (memory) here? स्मृति is nothing else but vivid संस्कार of this lifetime. But beyond स्मृति, there exists a mountain of latent संस्कार within us. It is संस्कार that accounts for things such as personality traits, habits, compulsive and addictive behaviours. सात्विक संस्कार thus represents अक्लिष्ट वृत्ति while रजस् & तमस् संस्कार represents क्लिष्ट वृत्ति. This is why Indic thought places emphasis on सत्संग, performance of नित्य & नैमित्तिक कर्म, स्वाध्याय, etc so that repetitive performance of सात्विक कर्म will generate अक्लिष्ट संस्कार which will eventually lead us towards समाधि अवस्था.

प्रमाण विपर्यय विकल्प निद्रा स्मृतय: ।।६।।

प्रमाण – right knowledge, विपर्यय – error, विकल्प – imagination, निद्रा – sleep and स्मृतय – memory

These five वृत्ति are प्रमाण, विपर्यय, विकल्प, निद्रा & स्मृतय.

All mental states experienced by us can be categorized into these five states and represent their manifestations. Any categories seen as outside these five are not really outside but are a subset of one of these five states only.

प्रत्यक्षानुमानागमा: प्रमाणानि ।।७।।

प्रत्यक्ष – direct perception, अनुमान – inference, आगम: verbal testimony (eg. scriptures), प्रमाणानि – proof or epistemology

Right knowledge (or proof) consists of direct perception, logic (using inferential principles) and testimony (from a trusted source).

What method does one adopt to obtain ज्ञान of Truth that may be seen as valid? This योग texts approves three given here as valid sources of ज्ञान. प्रत्यक्ष प्रमाण represents empirical knowledge based on direct experience. प्रत्यक्ष प्रमाण is a वृत्ति representing a state or condition of the mind that apprehends both specific (विशेष) and general (सामान्य) nature of an external objects through use of five senses. General nature of a dog states that it belongs to the canine species while special nature is that which distinguishes this dog from other members of this general category. Direct experience is seen as the best kind of प्रमाण by व्यास – in modern science too, empirical knowledge is emphasized upon as most reliable. Point to note here is that while normal empiricism relies on proof experienced by senses & mind, empiricism of योग goes beyond the mind since it mistrusts mind itself as a capable instrument beyond a point 😂

Where there is smoke, there must be fire” – this is अनुमान or inference. “If stars are moving away from each others, the universe must be expanding”; to take this further, “if universe is expanding, universe must have arisen from a starting point when entire matter was condensed” – such kind of ज्ञान is logic (since none can physically see how was the universe at the beginning) and comes under the category of अनुमान. The principle here is that there must always be an absolute and invariable relationship (व्याप्ति or concomitant relationship) between the thing inferred (fire) and the reason on which the inference is made, viz presence of smoke. Inference is invalid even if there is one instance of an exception to the rule.

आगमा is verbal testimony from a trusted source. For kids till a certain age, whatever parents say is truth since their trust in parents is complete. From an अध्यात्म lens, a Guru who has experienced Truth will become a trusted source. Similarly, we trust the शास्त्र because they have been conveyed by many a ऋषि who have had a प्रत्यक्ष अनुभव of the Truth. वाचस्पति मिश्र precludes blind acceptance of शास्त्र by qualifying that शास्त्र may be useful means of attaining ज्ञान only if it has a strong foundation, contains no inherent contradictions, is supported by reason and is accepted by people in general.

Overall, प्रत्यक्ष is expressed as best form of ज्ञान while अनुमान & आगम are mediate forms of ज्ञान since the truths of these are indirect. The योग tradition bases its claims to authoritativeness on direct and personal experience.

Kamal Geeta: मान्यवर, यदि हो सके तो कृपया व्यास जी की वो statement शेयर करें जिसमें प्रत्यक्ष को श्रेष्ठ प्रमाण घोषित किया गया है 🙏. There could be some different context why प्रत्यक्ष has been declared to be the best, otherwise all of us know it by own experience that the very tools of प्रत्यक्ष प्रमाण, our senses are imperfect. How can imperfect senses result in acquiring of perfect knowledge. Or, since I am not aware of the system of Patanjali Yog in particular, I might be mixing two different systems. Kindly excuse me for that. Till now, I have always heard and read that of the three sources of knowledge, Agam (hearing from authentic शास्त्र and bona-fide गुरु) is the most reliable.

UV: Legitimate question – You are right to say that for an imperfect mind, शास्त्र प्रमाण is a better guide in the beginning. But even शास्त्र has been expressed by one who has had a प्रत्यक्ष अनुभव. The logic given here is that if given a choice of seeing God for myself or via what is expressed in a book written by another, will I also not want to see God myself. Therefore direct experience is certainly more fulfilling and believable. All other forms of proof are indirect. And योग is all about eventually seeking a direct experience for oneself. And given that the mind is imperfect, we will see further down that the अनुभव that पतंजलि is pushing for is not via the mind but beyond the mind.

UV: Since I am using commentary by Edwin Bryant, he says that in any Shastra, if a list of given, what comes first in the most important one. And then he adds that Vyasa also said that प्रत्यक्ष प्रमाण is the best. After you asked, I referred to another book which has a direct translation of words of Vyasa but in this Sutra, Vyasa does not state this expressly. So maybe this is expressed as a commentary on a later Sutra. I will share this if and when I come across this later. Thanks for making this request – keeps me alert 🙏

Kamal Geeta: Pl. excuse me if I am making it complicated, but my intention is to rather simplify it, though the path to simplification has to pass thru some complications. 😊 There is no doubt that in the beginning stage, Shastra has more significance and later, Pratyaksha is better, but that latter Pratyaksha is our Prayojan ( what we wish to achieve ) , it is not Abhideya ( the process itself ) . And as far as I understand, we all are Sadhakas here, trying to take little steps in the path of God realisation thru Yog. Regarding Shastra being expressed by someone with pratyaksha anubhav, again 2 types of Shastras need to be deliberated upon. Shruti & Smriti. Smriti is an expression after Pratyaksha is realised, but Shruti is self-manifest, so it qualifies to be taken as highest Pramaan ( authority ), even higher than Smriti (in mutually conflicting situations if any). I am doubtful of this statement that in a particular list, what comes first is the most important one. It is not always the case.

Let us take this important verse from Shrimad Bhagavatam ( commentary on Brahma Sutra )

One part of verse goes like this– Brahmeti, Parmatmeti, Bhagwaniti Shabdyate ( this is talking about 3 stages of Absolute Truth ) . Sri Jiva Goswami ( a very reputed scholar on Vedic literature 500 years ago ) commented on this verse establishing the last portion ( Bhagawan ) being the highest aspect of Absolute Truth  , though it comes in the last . In language rules, we also generally study/mention like — (sweet, sweeter, sweetest) — the best coming in last. Please don’t mind, but these foreign authors may not be comfortable with Eastern philosophy’s emphasis on Authority ( Shastra ) more than on Pratyaksha. Their upbringing is in an environment different from ours.🙏

UV: The more complications, the better. Simplicity is over-rated 😂. Besides, I like my weekends to be exciting – so keep them coming 😊. The way I read this – there is nothing like having a direct experience. If someone gives me the experience, that is far better proof than anything else. There is a line in विवेकचूडामणि which says that one can imagine or talk about the beauty of a full moon for years but once one sees it, all the talk and imagination becomes frivolous. Does the Gita also not say that for a योगी, वेद is as useful as well-water in a flooded area (though I know that He may be referring to कर्मकांड aspect there)? If I recollect, in a rare moment when Swami Vivekananda was making fun of Shlokas in our texts, Sri Ramakrishna touches him on his head and Swamiji gets to experience the state in a direct manner. Essentially, श्रुति is someone else’s प्रत्यक्ष and eventually, my goal is to realize the Highest in a प्रत्यक्ष manner. As we go further into this, it will become clear why the stress on experience is emphasized so much by Yoga school.

विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानम् अतद्रूपप्रतिष्टम् प्रतिष्टम् ।।८।।

विपर्यय – error, मिथ्याज्ञानम् – false knowledge, अतद् – not that, incorrect, रूप – form, प्रतिष्टम् – established

Error is false knowledge stemming from the incorrect apprehension (of something)

व्यास defines error as considering something to be what it is not, a state that can be subsequently removed with true knowledge. Thus, a drunken man may see two moons and while sight of two moons is of the प्रत्यक्ष type and thus is a real experience, it is an erroneous one. The famous analogy used in वेदान्त viz seeing a snake where there is a rope is an example of विपर्यय. This, वृत्ति of the विपर्यय type needs to be counteracted by valid sources of knowledge. Thus, when right knowledge is super-imposed by wrong knowledge, विपर्यय happens.

शब्दज्ञानानुपाती वस्तुशून्यो विकल्प: ।।९।।

शब्द – words ज्ञान – knowledge, अनुपाती – resulting from, followed in sequence, वस्तु – actual object, शून्यो – devoid of and विकल्प: – conceptualization, fancy, imagination

Imagination consists of usage of words that are devoid of an actual object

“The Sun rises and sets”, “time flies”, “child of a barren woman”, “Skyflower”, etc are used as metaphors. These lines do not make any sense in a literal manner; however, consensus has evolved among people who speak common language on the meaning of these lines. In that sense, these lines are based on imagination as they do not have any factual existence and hence such a language is called as विकल्प. विकल्प is not to be seen as an विपर्यय (error) since this वृति is not based on error of judgement; it is intelligible to people who use it. This thus paradoxically represents a meaningful expression and yet has no actual reality in the real world

व्यास says that when we use an expression “Consciousness is the essence of पुरुष (चैतन्यम् पुरुषस्य स्वरूपम्), we are strictly making an incorrect statement. “चैतन्यम् of पुरुष” sounds like ‘Cow of चित्रा” but while in the latter, cow is different from चित्रा, in the former case, चैतन्यम् is not an entity separate from पुरुष since चैतन्यम् is पुरुष itself and not something that is “owned by” पुरुष. Similarly, negative predictions such as “पुरुष has a characteristic of not being born”, there is not a factual state of “not being born”; something that does not exist has no sensible existence; yet such statements do bear some meaning. Using language is this way is विकल्प and this is also a वृत्ति.

अभावप्रत्ययालम्बना वृत्तिनिद्रा ।।१०।।

अभाव – absence, प्रत्यय – cause, आलम्बना – support, वृत्ति, निद्रा – sleep

Deep sleep is that state of mind which is based on an absence (of any content)

In deep sleep, तमस् aspect of चित्त densely covers the सत्व aspect of बुद्धि; in dreams, रजस् is more active and this churns up past संस्कार which produce dream experiences. In deep sleep, both सत्व & रजस् is inactive and so the mind is not stimulated to assume the forms of knowledge as it does in waking and dream states, thus पुरुष is conscious of darkness alone. तमस् thus suppresses other वृत्ति in this state. So why is dream state not akin to चित्त वृत्ति निरोध since there is cessation of thought in this state too? The answer is obvious – the goal of योग is समाधि and in this state, सत्व is at its maximum and a योगी is in a state of vibrant wakefulness and complete clarity as to the nature of reality.

It becomes obvious that if deep sleep is classified as a वृत्ति, since पुरुष is expressed as eternal & conscious, one cannot say one has attained to पुरुष state when one is in a state of deep sleep – पुरुष is not to be seen as merely a state when one is “switched off”. It remains fully aware since it is eternally and inherently fully aware but its object of awareness in deep sleep is तमस् and hence there is nothing to recollect when one awakens. Some commentators make the point that if तमस् aspect that covers बुद्धि during deep sleep is accompanied by a measure of सत्व, a person feels fresh and clear after awakening (hence prayers before sleep are recommended), if accompanied by a measure of रजस्, one feels that one has slept restlessly and one is confused or distracted and dominated by तमस् alone, one feels sluggish and tired upon waking up (hence light dinner before sunset is recommended).