Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras 1.12

1.12 abhyasa-viragyabhyam tan-nirodhah

Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.  (BKS Iyengar)

Here patanjali announces the path to stilling consciousness. It is through this two-fold path that the yogi can reach the goal of yoga.

BKS Iyengar, in his commentary, beautifully compares practice and dispassion as opposites. Sun and Moon (Ha and Ta), positive (practice) and negative (dispassion). And, as he states, they must be paired or the yogi is out of balance. Practice is a building or adding, and in a way, dispassion is a subtracting.

For me this is easy to see. In my experience, the practice is the easier part (while still challenging). For example, this month I have been working on practicing metta all day long; practicing my asana and pranayama; meditating, etc. But pushing away the sensual (which is really at the heart of dispassion) is much more difficult. I am hugely influenced by food (even when not hungry), I am attracted to external stimuli (anything glittery and shiny pulls me in - whether literally or figuratively), and the list goes on. It is my job, then, to pull myself into balance. I cannot spend money using just one half of the coin - it has to be the coin in its entirety.

In his commentary, Edwin Bryant brings up the idea of a person either moving toward liberation or away from liberation. And that path is determined by whether the individual is following this path or not. I have heard other yogis (Swami Tiogonanda comes to mind) who say that we are all moving in the direction of liberation, but our work either speeds up the process or keeps us moving at the regular slow sluggish pace. I like to believe that the latter is true. That we will get there eventually, but we can do our best to do what is right and be unperturbed by the realm of sensual desires.

Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras - 1.6 - 1.11 (the vrttis)

1.6 Pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra smrtayah

They are caused by correct knowledge, illusion, delusion, sleep, and memory.

This sutra shows that all thoughts can create movements of consciousness, although BKS Iyengar and Barbara Miller both state that some can be beneficial to the cause of yoga.

While each of these vrittis are outlined in following sutras, one thing that this sutra can lend us as practitioners is a context in which to bring our thoughts into awareness - a means for classification.

1.7 pratyaksanumanagamah pramanani

Correct knowledge is direct, inferred, or proven as factual. BKS Iyengar

Like other lists in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, I believe that the vrittis are organized with pramana listed first, because correct knowledge is the most aklista (non-tormenting, non-harmful) and therefore the vritti most beneficial to our journey as yoga practitioners. As practitioners, however, we do need to be aware that  while correct knowledge comes from direct, inferred or proven information; direct, inferred, or proven information is not always correct knowledge in our citta. There is one more vital piece to find correct knowledge - buddhi (intelligence).

Correct knowledge invites buddhi (intelligence) into the process of perception. This quality (intelligence), BKS Iyengar describes as dormant - a quality that must be opened up, utilized and honed. When wrapped up in the citta vrittis, those vrittis can easily influence direct, inferred, or proven information.

For example: How often have we taken some piece of information (true or untrue) and heighten it to the uppermost level of truth without thinking or applying intelligence? How often have we been wrong? Like asana is intended to spread awareness throughout our bodies, buddhi is intended to spread awareness into our thought processes - allowing us to view thoughts for what they truly are and act with intelligence.

BKS Iyengar states that direct knowledge can lead man beyond the conscious state (amanaskatva).  

1.8 Viparayayo mithyajnanamatadrupapratistham

Illusory or erroneous knowledge is based on non-fact or the non-real. BKS Iyengar

This sutra, I feel, highlights that any type of vritti can be klista or aklista. Error, here, is a misconception, or mistaking one thing for another. So even a vritti based on direct knowledge can be misconstrued.

Have you ever taken something someone said as having a different meaning?

1.9 Sabadajnananupati vastusunyo vikalpah

Verbal knowledge devoid of substance is fancy or imagination. BKS Iyengar

According to this sutra, if there is no substance, this verbal knowledge is imagination. How many statements do we hear or make throughout the day that are devoid of actual substance. How many large claims, small claims never come to fruition or truth? This is important to note - any verbal testimony can be fancy - as long as it doesn’t have substance.

How many times at work have you heard a coworker say, “If this change happens, I will quit.” How about, “If this policy is enacted by the government, there will be anarchy.” Whether these statements come from fear, concern, or joy does not make a difference - they are all statements made in the heat of emotion. Emotions do not always come from a firm foundation of substance.

1.10 abhavapratyayalambana tamovrttirnidra

Deep sleep is when the mind is overcome with heaviness and no other activities are present. Desikichar

In my mind, the idea that no other activities are present is gigantic. This, as BKS Iyengar explains in his commentary, can be a monumental tool for the sadaka. This same state when awake and aware is samadhi. The main difference here, as Edwin Bryant points out, is tamas (intertia - a heaviness). We are too still and without awareness here to actually experience this samadhi-like state.

1.11 anubhuta-visayasampramosah smirtih

Memory is the retention of [images of] sense objects that have been experienced

Each object we experience creates a pratyaya or imprint. A collection of pratyayas create a samaskara. A memory is a samaskara that does not fall away. Some commentators suggest memories that stay can either be easily accessed or are more difficult to access. Similar to rocks in a pond. If the pond is clear (Satvic mind), those rocks can be easy to retrieve. If the pond is murky, they are not as easy to retrieve. The murkiness is related to tamas - a clouded sensation. (Choppy waters being compared to rajas - between clarity and murkiness).

In addition, memories are influenced by the state of the mind at the time of its entry. A memory can be favorable and clear (sattvic), It can be influenced by aversion (rajasic), or it can be murky and ignorant (tamasic).

BKS Iyengar states in his commentary that these memories can resurface correctly if utilizing discrimination. However, each of these memories is a vritti. So it can be a memory based on correct knowledge, incorrect knowledge, metaphor, etc. And as Desikachar states, “it is not possible to tell if a memory is true, false, incomplete, or imaginary.”

In addition, it is believed that multiple clusters of samaskaras can be combined, therefore influencing memory incorrectly. Yogis believe that dreams are memories. The more vivid the memory, the more likely it will appear in the dream. The combinations of these memories making it possible to dream that you are an elephant with a human head.

This sutra shows us that discrimination must be applied to memory. Not all memory is based on correct knowledge. And our memories could actually be some conglomeration of samaskaras that can be likened to our elephant body with a human head. So discrimination is not just for incoming information and the processing of it, but needs to be applied to the constant churning of our minds and the memories that are lifted to the surface while it is churning.

The above post is a self-unpacking of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I am not a professional historian, I am only sharing my thoughts on the topic. The Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras postings came about as preparation for a weekly study group that I attend at Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts (www.karunayoga.com). Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras - 1.5

vrttaya pancatayyah klistaklistah

The movements of consciousness are fivefold. They may be cognizable or non-cognizable, painful or nonpainful.

I particularly like this translation because of the word “may”. It isn’t until much later that we may find the movements were klista/aklista.

“Whether these activities are beneficial or create problems cannot be immediately seen. Time alone will confirm their effect.” - Desikichar

“It is important to note here that even the most subtle and benign workings of thought are obstructions to freedom of the spirit.” (Miller)

Whether these thoughts are happy or painful, they are all the same, culminating in a cycle of varying thoughts and emotions throughout our life. Even the most happy moments of our life can be surrounded by thoughts or emotions opposing the experience immediately and over time. (births, deaths, marriage, love, etc.)


The above post is a self-unpacking of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I am not a professional historian, I am only sharing my thoughts on the topic. The Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras postings came about as preparation for a weekly study group that I attend at Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts (www.karunayoga.com). Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras: 1.4

At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuating consciousness.

BKS Iyengar uses the word uniting in his commentary. The seer identifies with the fluctuation of consciousness to such a degree that it unites with the objects seen or with consciousness or thought itself. So much so that the seer confuses prakriti (or matter) as the truth.

This sutra explains why the practices outlined in this text are so important - because if we do not move in the direction of the text, we are instead allowing, as BKS Iyengar states, for “objects to act as a provender for the grazing citta, which is attracted to them by its appetite.” It is for this reason why practice is defined later in the sutras as constant and over a long period of time, because it only takes moments for the citta to continue grazing

The above post is a self-unpacking of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I am not a professional historian, I am only sharing my thoughts on the topic. The Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras postings came about as preparation for a weekly study group that I attend at Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts (www.karunayoga.com). Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras: Sutra 1.3

1.3 tada drastuh svarupe vasthanam

Then, the seer dwells in his own true splendor.

“Once the seer is isolated from the turnings of thought” (Miller) “they can no longer distort the true expression of the soul. revealed in his own nature, the radiant seer abides in his own grandeur (BKS Iyengar).”

I often see this reflected in day-to-day life. When I can move beyond my own brain, my own insecurities, my own desires, I can feel a glimmer of a shining experience. It is in this moment that I feel like I am my own true self, or perhaps the best version of myself. This experience, I can only believe, is on the micro level - one short moment in time. The first step in Imagining what it would be like to live in the glory of freedom from our own insecurities and fears.

Think of a moment in time when you were “in the zone.” You were focused and clear. You did not worry about the outcome, you did not worry about what others were thinking, and you were absorbed in the moment. You may have been looking at something beautiful, you may have found a moment of complete quiet, you may have just opened your eyes in the morning. What did it feel like? How did you feel? Did it feel free? Spacious?

Really operating from our true nature - without the suffering of the mind. It is practically impossible to truly imagine. I think it is important to have something to remember, a moment when we are operating without the restrictions, complications, or influence of thought. This thought could potentially be our first step toward understanding.

Desikachar says of this sutra that when we are in our true nature, “The tendency not to be open to a fresh comprehension or the inability to comprehend are overcome.”

The above post is a self-unpacking of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I am not a professional historian, I am only sharing my thoughts on the topic. The Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras postings came about as preparation for a weekly study group that I attend at Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts (www.karunayoga.com). Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras: 1.2

1.2 yogascittavrttinirodhah

Yoga is the ability to direct the mind exclusively towards an object and sustain that direction without any distractions. (TKV Desikachar)

I chose Desikachar’s translation as I find that this translation ties most directly to the 8th petal of yoga - samadhi. Instead of leading the practitioner to the idea of silencing or stopping consciousness, he takes us back (by directing us for the first time) to the idea of samadhi, beyond concentration and beyond meditation, moving through the limbs of yoga.

I feel it is important to notice that this sutra states the goal. This goal is nirodhah (cessation) of thought - stopping the turnings of thought. In this sutra, yoga is a goal - not the practice. The practice is the working of the 8 limbs which bring us to this goal (in that the first 7 limbs lead us to success in reaching the 8th). So this sutra can be seen as the goal - not the practice.

One of my favorite concepts to consider is that one cannot still the mind. One can come to a quiet place to influence the mind, but cannot quiet it directly. That, comes from the practice of coming to a quiet place. We use the tools outlined in the sutras to move closer to nirodhah - there is no nirodhah switch to turn or try.

Miller says, “Insofar as the subtle mental processes are active, the subject or self is necessarily unstable and agitated. The goal of yoga is to stop the thought processes so that the spirit can be free, isolated from the turmoil of thought from which it mistakenly takes its identity.”

The above post is a self-unpacking of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I am not a professional historian, I am only sharing my thoughts on the topic. The Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras postings came about as preparation for a weekly study group that I attend at Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts (www.karunayoga.com). Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras: 1.1

1.1 atta yoganusasanam

"And now, the teachings of yoga"

“the disciplines of integration are here expounded through experience and are given to humanity for the exploration and recognition of that hidden part of man which is beyond the awareness of the senses.”

• BKS Iyengar

Often this sutra is unpacked as an introduction - the announcement of the sutras. “hello, the teachings of yoga.” I have heard many emphasize the word “now,” as though the teachings need to take place in this moment - in the present. This view is not often agreed upon.

Atha does, however “in sanskrit literature, carry the connotation of a prayer both for an auspicious beginning and a successful conclusion to the work which follows.” (TKV Desikachar) For this reason, I do think that the first sutra is beyond an introduction, instead wishing the reader/practitioner success in exploration and recognition of that hidden part of themselves. The use of the word Atha makes the exploration of this the yoga sutras more of a spiritual quest than a topic for discussion - a life path, rather than a philosophy.


The above post is a self-unpacking of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I am not a professional historian, I am only sharing my thoughts on the topic. The Thoughts on the Yoga Sutras postings came about as preparation for a weekly study group that I attend at Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts (www.karunayoga.com). Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.