जन्मौषधिमन्त्रतप: समाधिजा: सिद्धय: ।।१।।

जन्म – birth, औषधि – medicine, मन्त्र, तप: – austerity, समाधि, जा: – born, सिद्धय – mystic powers

The various सिद्धि arise due to जन्म, औषधि, मंत्र, तप and समाधि

The various सिद्धि covered till now may arise in people on account of five reasons. First, they can be the results of कर्म done in the previous जन्म which have reached their fruition in this birth. So if one is born as a देवता or a गंधर्व (or a special मनुष्य) who have natural abilities to perform सिद्धि, such a birth happens driven by कर्म done by a योगी in their previous lives. भोजराज adds here (maybe in jest) that even taking birth as a bird affords one the power of travelling through air, which is super normal from human lens 😁. Next, powers like out of body experiences are triggered by drugs which was prevalent centuries back and today also.

Third, chanting of certain मंत्र using the power of sound can also enable attaining of सिद्धि. Fourth, तपस्या is a dedicated disciplined effort to attain special powers (many असुर, राक्षस as well as मनुष्य have adopted this route as recorded in the पुराण to gain सिद्धि ). One must note here that a person doing तपस्या or chanting मंत्र does not make them “religious” if their goal is merely to attain सिद्धि. However, if these are undertaken for ज्ञान as conveyed by योग, one may reach the stage of समाधि which is where access to some सिद्धि may come about. Mark of a योगी is ज्ञान and not access to some सिद्धि – that is the moot point here.

जात्यन्तरपरिणाम: प्रकृत्यापूरात् ।। २।।

जाति – birth, अन्तर – other, परिणाम: – change, प्रकृति, अापूरात् – because of the filling in

The changes (in the bodily forms that take place) in other births is due to the filling in by प्रकृति.

प्रकृति is evolving and never static. It is dynamic and activity-driven. And from a life perspective, what drives प्रकृति into creating life forms of various varieties? Subtle causes of कर्म performed in life keep creating seeds that fructify in future births. Every action of ours may thus be seen as an investment into what we may expect in future – we are literally creating our future every moment of our life 😊. One may imagine प्रकृति standing inside every mind, watching every कर्म and moulding itself on a continuous basis to accommodate to the various कर्म being performed by us.

निमित्तम् अप्रयोजकं प्रकृतिनां वरणभेदस्तु तत: क्षेत्रिकवत् ।। ३।।

निमित्तम् – instrumental or effort cause, अप्रयोजकं – is not the instigator, प्रकृतिनां – of the प्राकृतिक causes, वरण – protective covering, भेद: – piercing, तु – but, तत: – from it, क्षेत्रिक – farmer, वत् – like

The instrumental cause of creation is not its creative cause, but it pierces the covering from creation like a farmer (pierces the barriers between his fields)

This is a profound सूत्र. There are two adjacent fields – one irrigated with water and other one is dry. How does the farmer move water from one field to another? He merely removes the barrier that obstructs and the water flows naturally. How does the farmer ensure that the water flows into the ground below and waters the seeds placed inside? He does not have to take water into the ground but has to merely remove the weeds and the water on its own will seep into the ground. प्रकृति is जड just as water – it does not have opinion or intent of its own. Also, powers of nature are in a uniform state and they neither increase nor decrease. There are no factors outside nature that can change its total power viz always constant.

But प्रकृति pours in where there is space to flow into. We are not to struggle hard to draw energy from nature just as we do not have to struggle to enjoy Sunlight (just come out of the house and enjoy the Sun). Similarly, there are impediments present within me as an individual viz my राजसिक & तामसिक प्रारब्ध.

Principle of रजोगुण is separation and not allowing cooperation with one another which in turn causes division of properties and a separation of individualities which in turn leads to experience of a dividedness of life. For nature taken in its completeness, there is no division but it is one total, comprehensive completeness in which there is no distinction of subject on one side and object on another. So if this impediment of रजस् is diminished through intense concentration of the mind, the integrating power of nature begins to act when सत्व rises in us.

योग is thus an endeavour in the direction of increase in सत्व within oneself. And just as water in a farm, प्रकृति fills in the vacancy fulfilling the line “Empty oneself and I shall fill you”. Once factors that condition our individuality are emptied, universal forces will enter into us. Universe is not inside us or outside us – it is everywhere. But it is not allowed to operate by us by the ego-principle within us but once we allow, it will full us in. सिद्धि acquired by a योगी do not come because he is doing something to gain सिद्धि.

Just as the farmer is merely is निमित्त for water to flow in, similarly, योगी too merely is a निमित्त and सिद्धि come on their own. Similarly, our all experiences of pain, for example, are not part of the nature. By not allowing certain forces of nature to enter into one’s system, we experience a particular situation that we see as pain or pleasure. But once we are aligned with nature via practice of योग, we are in harmony with it.

Says EF Schumaker in his famous9 Nobel Prize winning book “Small is Beautiful” echoes the wisdom of this सूत्र very well – “Nature abhors vacuum and when the available spiritual space is not filled by some higher motivation, then it will necessarily be filled by something lower – by the small, mean, calculating attitude to life which is rationalized in the economic calculus”. This book proposed Buddhist and Gandhian Economics, as a model for Economics giving impetus to Germany to implement his ideas and benefit from it. And while he has referenced work of an Indian economist Joseph Cornelius Kumarappa, who wrote similar ideas more than two decades earlier (he was a nationalist who worked closely with Gandhi), we in India neglected him. The पतंजलि wisdom thus has a unique way to keep getting expressed time and again. But we are free to ignore Him just as modern India ignored Kumarappa 😊.

Present status of existence of a human individual is unnatural and we should not make a mistake of thinking that we are living a normal life. Our present way of life is abnormal in the sense that it does not harmonize with what eternally exists. Temporal features we are manifesting in our personal lives are the opposites of eternal features of प्रकृति. योग is an instrumental agent in bringing about conditions by which there is a spontaneity of entry of eternal laws into our personality. And this brings about eternal character of प्रकृति within us.

निर्माणचित्तान्यस्मितामात्रात् ।। ४।।

निर्माण – created, चित्तानि – minds, अस्मिता – ego, मात्रात् – only

Created minds are made from ego only

निर्माण चित्त means multiple minds here. A योगी reaches a state where he gets access to all कर्म of his past. And he realizes that to exhaust all of them, he will take to take multiple sequential births. So how does one exhaust all past कर्म? One cannot destroy all of them as they are exhausted by experience only. So such a योगी then does संयम on अस्मिता and is then able to create multiple bodies simultaneously. And while each body has a mind of its own, they may be seen as subsidiary minds that are aligned to the main mind of a योगी. In वेदान्तसूत्र, a metaphor of a lamp is provided and just as one lamp can light numerous individual and separate wicks, which then exhibit their own light, the योगी’s चैतन्यम् can animate several bodies. Even if some modern Indians were familiar with their own ancient texts, this सूत्र itself could have triggered a storyline in their minds for multiple movie plots 😊😊.

प्रवृत्तिभेदे प्रयोजकं चित्तम् एकम् अनेकेषाम् ।। ५।।

प्रवृत्ति – activity, भेदे – difference, प्रयोजकं – the instigator, चित्तम् – mind एकम् – one, अनेकेषाम् – of the many

There is one mind among the many (created by the योगी) , which is the director in the different activities (of the different bodies)

What prevents the multiple minds in the various bodies created by the योगी from competing with each other in terms of their desires and degenerating into disharmony and conflict? Asks वाचस्पति. The निर्माण चित्त present in the different bodies are under the control of प्रयोजकं चित्तम्. Just as one mind controls all limbs and senses, similarly, master mind of a योगी controls the subordinate minds inserted in created bodies. Thus, through these multiple bodies the योगी can engage in multiple experiences simultaneously and then can withdraw these bodies into his original form as the Sun withdraws its rays, says वाचस्पति.

तत्र ध्यानजम् अनाशयम् ।। ६।।

तत्र – from these (minds who have attained सिद्धि in IV.1), ध्यानजम् – born from ध्यान, अनाशयम् – is without the storehouse or stock (of कर्म)

From these (five types that attain सिद्धि), the one born of ध्यान is without the storehouse of कर्म.

A real योगी does not use सिद्धि unless it becomes extremely necessary. And those who attain सिद्धि via means like तप, मंत्र, जन्म & औषधि continue to accumulate or add to their कर्म stock. Whatever सुकर्म or दुष्कर्म they may perform, it will have effects in the form of पुण्य & पाप. They will not be free from it and योग therefore states clearly that those who undertake तप, use औषधि, etc to attain सिद्धि but do not resort to ध्यान for attaining ज्ञान, such persons will keep on attaining कर्म.

However, for those who attained सिद्धि as a collateral benefit while doing ध्यान, they will be able to wipe clean their कर्माशय and then attain the highest. Learning for me from this सूत्र is that those who perform उपासना, do पूजा, तपस्या, भजन, कीर्तन, आसन, शास्त्र अध्ययन, chant सहस्रनाम daily or even live a moral life – all of them will accumulate कर्म as long as what drives their day to day agenda are प्राकृतिक goals. But a भक्त is different and he/ she does योग to attain the goal of योग viz unity. And when the goal is unity, कर्म accumulation will not happen. We casually use the word “religious” to people who perform the so-called “religious” activities but कर्म knows to whom it needs to affix itself to and to whom it should leave alone 😊

This distinction is significant. बंदा बहादुर was born in a राजपूत family and was talented in various skills since a young age. Once while hunting, he killed a deer only to realize that she was giving birth to two twins who too got killed in the process. He developed वैराग्य, left home and joined various आश्रम serving various गुरू. Over time, he acquired various सिद्धि and even set up his own आश्रम where he was living as माधोदास and even attracted disciplines who were drawn by some सिद्धि’s he displayed. And using sorcery skills, he used to trouble people by getting into their minds and unsettle them.

Once, गुरू गोविंद सिंह entered the आश्रम and माधोदास tried to do the same mind trick on गुरू to unsettle Him but much to his shock, the गुरू was unmoved. माधोदास realized that गुरू was special. One may here see that while one may acquire सिद्धि through तपस्या, such सिद्धि will not take one to ज्ञान. And equally, a ज्ञानी like the गुरु will not be affected or impacted if such सिद्धि are used on Him by others just as ब्रह्मास्त्र did not impact हनुमान. The गुरू then gives him the name बंदा बहादुर and moulds his capabilities for social benefit – बंदा is then transformed and goes on to wreck havoc to the army of Aurangzeb and was instrumental in weakening the power of Mughals.

Use of तपस्या no doubt will give तपोबल in the form of सिद्धि. रावण is one such person who became exceedingly powerful. And the power was so great that श्रीविष्णु had to take अवतार to get rid of रावण. One may wonder that if श्रीविष्णु was so powerful, why does He have to take birth, suffer, etc., to eventually get rid of रावण? श्रीविष्णु is also bound by the धर्म of the universe – if anyone worked hard and gained तपोबल as an outcome, श्रीविष्णु too does not just do magic and disable the capabilities. Just as Mathematics we learnt via hard work at a young age remains with us throughout life but if we take to wrong lifestyle (alcohol, drugs, etc), such knowledge will depart from us, तपोबल of a योगी too will desert the योगी who takes on to अधर्म BUT after some time has elapsed. So रावण continued to trouble the world, steal women, etc for a long time.

But all सिद्धि used for personal delight will accumulate कर्म – and all उपासना done to शिव or chanting वेद daily will not protect such a person (unless they are done for ज्ञान). And दुष्कर्म will fruition at the appointed time. Stealing Sita was the last straw which removed the तपोबल कवच available to him. No wonder मंदोदरी expressed once रावण died that it is not श्रीराम who killed रावण but his own desires did so which always pushed him did towards दुष्कर्म. She adds that तपस्या of रावण which gave him great सिद्धि was great but this तपस्या was done keeping intense desires suppressed throughout the तपस्या period just as one may be standing on a snake under one’s leg. One तपस्या was over, the suppressed desires took over and eventually bit him just as a snake released will do. This distinction between तपस्या for सिद्धि (which accumulates कर्म) vis a vis तपस्या for समाधि (which does not) needs to be understood for a योगी.

Use of तपस्या no doubt will give तपोबल in the form of सिद्धि. रावण is one such person who became exceedingly powerful. And the power was so great that श्रीविष्णु had to take अवतार to get rid of रावण. One may wonder that if श्रीविष्णु was so powerful, why does He have to take birth, suffer, etc., to eventually get rid of रावण? श्रीविष्णु is also bound by the धर्म of the universe – if anyone worked hard and gained तपोबल as an outcome, श्रीविष्णु too does not just do magic and disable the capabilities. Just as Mathematics we learnt via hard work at a young age remains with us throughout life but if we take to wrong lifestyle (alcohol, drugs, etc), such knowledge will depart from us, तपोबल of a योगी too will desert the योगी who takes on to अधर्म BUT after some time has elapsed.

So रावण continued to trouble the world, steal women, etc for a long time. But all सिद्धि used for personal delight will accumulate कर्म – and all उपासना done to शिव or chanting वेद daily will not protect such a person (unless they are done for ज्ञान). And दुष्कर्म will fruition at the appointed time. Stealing Sita was the last straw which removed the तपोबल कवच available to him. No wonder मंदोदरी expressed once रावण died that it is not श्रीराम who killed रावण but his own desires did so which always pushed him towards दुष्कर्म.

She adds that तपस्या of रावण which gave him great सिद्धि was great but this तपस्या was done keeping intense desires suppressed throughout the तपस्या period just as one may be standing on a snake under one’s leg. One तपस्या was over, the suppressed desires took over and eventually bit him just as a snake released will do. This distinction between तपस्या for सिद्धि (which accumulates कर्म) vis a vis तपस्या for समाधि (which does not) needs to be understood for a योगी.

कर्माशुक्लाकृष्णं योगिनस्त्रिविधम् इतरेषाम् ।। ७।।

कर्म – action and reaction, अशुक्ल – not white, अकृष्णं – not black, योगिन: – of the योगी, त्रिविधम् – three types, इतरेषाम्- of the others

The कर्म of a योगी is neither शुक्ल (white) nor कृष्ण (black); of everyone else, it is of three types

A significant सूत्र that reiterates the nuanced argument on कर्म. For all normal people, all their actions accrue three types of कर्म viz white, black and mixed. This means that one may perform पापकर्म or पुण्यकर्म but both these attract कर्म. Even if one performs the so-called “good deeds”, the drive towards self-preservation and gratification sooner or later will end up causing harm to others at some level. Even an act of tilling the land involves killing of creatures. And pure शुक्ल कर्म, as per व्यास, is internal and not determined by actions towards others in the external world but these too are generative of कर्म (acts like तप:, स्वाध्याय & ध्यान).

And why will all actions generate कर्म? This is because all actions for people emerge from अहंकार viz a क्लेश of अस्मिता. As long as क्लेश underpin actions, as long as there is a false sense of the self underpinning any action, good or bad, as long as one thinks that it is the प्राकृतिक self who is acting, then the results of such कर्म, good or bad, accrue to the person – there is no escape from this. But a true योगी gives up identifying with body and mind. Their क्लेश are fully destroyed. They are in their last birth. Having renounced all fruits of activity, such a person will therefore neither accrue शुक्ल or कृष्ण कर्म (even though they are seemingly acting in the world).

ततस्तद्विपाकानुगुणानाम् एवाभिव्यक्तिर्वासनानाम् ।। ८।।

तत: – from this (three types of कर्म), तत् – those, विपाक – fruition, अनुगुणानाम् – in accordance with, एव – only, अभिव्यक्ति: – manifestation, वासनानाम् – of the वासना

From (these three types of कर्म) the activation of only those वासना that are ready for fruition (in the next life) occurs

We covered this earlier via a workflow representation. Difference between the words वासना and संस्कार is often unclear and both are used interchangeably. वासना may be taken as those संस्कार that remain dormant in this life though they may exert influence indirectly while संस्कार are impressions and thoughts that are being constantly generated in this lifetime. Once a lifetime is over, all existing कर्माशय (accumulated कर्म) will not get activated in the next life. Only specific संस्कार from the वासना stock get activated that are ready for fruition. And of course, unless the entire वासना stock is fully destroyed, मुक्ति (freedom) will not occur.

Question is often raised as to what birth will one manifest into. Precise answers are not available. पुराण & स्मृति texts have many श्लोक which suggest that if one does “x”, पापकर्म, one will manifest as “x1”, if one does “y” पापकर्म, one manifests as “y1”, etc., but the long list of such possibilities can be confusing (and scary and often silly too). श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता says that whosoever thinks of श्रीकृष्ण at their मरणकाल, they will go to Him. गुरू’s state that whatever is the dominant conduct one exhibits in life – hunger, anger, greed, material insecurity, gluttony, ज्ञान or श्रीकृष्ण, one will gain such a body to fulfill or continue such urges. But the moot point is – who are bothered about a response to this question?

For those who take to योग with श्रद्धा, they adopt a lifestyle as if this is their last life. They also know that even if this is not so, they will born in a family where they can continue from where they have left – so no concerns for a योगी. Then there are others who have no श्रद्धा in योग – they are comfortable in their own synthetic प्राकृतिक world-views and thus not bothered about this question. Third represent त्रिशंकु’s (or indecisive “agnostics”) and कर्मी’s like me who are neither here nor there. We have a strong sense of individual identity which we struggle to let go off and this makes us often curious about a precise response to this question. We do not fully invest ourselves either in योग nor are fully happy within प्राकृतिक world-view zone. It is this bunch that engages with this question either positively and worrying about it or “vehemently” rejecting its applicability with arguments but still wondering… 😊😊.

जातिदेशकालव्यवहितानाम् अप्यानन्तर्यं स्मृतिसंस्कारयोर् एकरूपत्वात् ।। ९।।

जाति – type of birth, देश – place, काल – time, व्यवहितानाम् – being separated, अपि – although, आनन्तर्यं – non interval, successive, स्मृति – memory, संस्कारयो: – of the संस्कार, एकरूपत्वात् – because of the oneness of form or identity

Because they are identical, there is an uninterrupted connection between memory and संस्कार, even though they might be separated by birth, time and place.

कर्माशय and स्मृति work in cohesion as a memory bank. Thus, if a person’s कर्म makes him require take the birth of a cat, the relevant चित्त suited to the mind of a cat manifests. This particular mindset manifests partly as a result of the activation of संस्कार lodged in the चित्त in the previous life as a cat. Even if the cat lifetime or cat-like activities in other body (say, human) has occurred many lives ago in a different location, पतंजलि says that these do not matter and whenever appropriate circumstances are triggered, the previous संस्कार reactivate and manifest cat-related memories and thereby produce a cat mentality. Just as at the sight of a meal that contains something tasty like tamarind triggers salivation irrespective of when and where one may have tasted tamarind earlier, so also work the activation of संस्कार.

तासाम् अनादित्वं चाशिषो नित्यत्वात् ।। १०।।

तासाम् – of them (the संस्कार), अनादित्वं -!being without beginning, च – and, आशिष: – desire, नित्यत्वात् – because of being eternal

The संस्कार are beginningless because the desire (for life) is eternal

When did desire begin? One may say – ever since idea of individuality begin, desire was there. And when did individuality begin? When अविद्या took over, desire happened and कर्म also began. But when did अविद्या begin? No one knows. And if a life that is seen as a circle, who can ever identify a point as a starting point. Even a young child shows instinctive fear of death, says वाचस्पति, and if this child starts to slip from mother’s grasp, he will exhibit symptoms of fear and grasp his mother’s necklace. And where did this fear come from? It cannot come from प्रमाण, अनुमान or आगामी since the child is too small to apply these. So the fear must spring from previous संस्कार based on previous death experiences recorded in the चित्त.

And when a body dies, there is no transmigration of a subtle body into a new body, says वाचस्पति. If चित्त is omnipresent, it cannot move from place to place – it is already everywhere. Therefore, at the time of death, the all-pervading चित्त encapsulating the पुरुष adjusts its वृत्ति to fit the contours of a new body (some other schools have a slightly varying view).