Patanjali Yoga Sutras : Samadhi Pada 06 & 07
Katha Vivekananda Kendra
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So after understanding vṛttis and in the previous sutra Patanjali expounded that Vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭā’kliṣṭāḥ. But the vṛttis are of five kinds, and then there are kliṣṭā and akliṣṭā. They are kliṣṭā because they rise from the kleshas, painful and akliṣṭā, they are not painful. But both are to be removed, nirodhah. So each vṛtti has kliṣṭā and akliṣṭā though they fall under the five kinds. So what are these vṛttis ? Patanjali names them or in fact a detailed description, exposition comes from the next sutra which we shall take up.
The five vṛttis are
प्र॒मा॒णवि॒प॒र्ययवि॒क॒ल्पनि॒द्रास्मृ॒तयः॑ ॥ १.६॥
Pramāṇa-viparyaya-vikalpa-nidrā-smṛtayaḥ ॥ 1.6 ॥
Pramāṇa, true, right, correct knowledge, right knowledge and acceptable knowledge, that is Pramāṇa. viparyaya, wrong or incorrect information or knowledge. Vikalpa is a fantasy, imagination. Nidrā, sleep of course without dream, a dreamless sleep. Smṛtayaḥ is, smriti is memory. Smṛtayaḥ, memories plural for smriti. So Pramāṇa the right knowledge, correct knowledge, viparyaya the wrong or the incorrect knowledge. It can be knowledge or information, both for Pramāṇa and for viparyaya. Vikalpa is fantasies, imaginations. Nidrā is a sound sleep. In vedanta we hear the name sushupti. But the definition of sushupti and nidra as per Maharishi Patanjali is slightly different. Smriti is memory, smṛtayaḥ is all the memories. So this is the sixth sutra of the samadhipada where the vṛttis have been named. You should slightly understand, vṛttis have been classified, their qualities was given in the earlier sutra. And now the vṛttis have been named. So naming of the vṛttis, classification of the vṛttis and their qualities. This is how Maharishi Patanjali is very very systematic, very scientific and very practical and very clear exposition guides the sadhaka into a proper direction. In fact it is as if a mother holds the hand of a child and takes care of the child's growth, Patanjali does the same.
And the seventh sutra (5:05) also we shall take up,which says, which defines and gives various dimensions clarification on the Pramāṇa. The seventh sutra is
प्र॒त्यक्षा॒नु॒माना॒ग॒माः प्र॑माणा॒नि ॥ १.७॥
Pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgamāḥ pramāṇāni ॥ 1.7 ॥
Very simple words in Sanskrit Pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgamāḥ pramāṇāni. So in the previous sutra, in the sixth sutra the vṛttis have been named. And now Patanjali takes up describing, expounding each of those vṛtti. And the first vṛtti was pratyakṣa, anumāna, āgamāḥ is called Pramāṇāni. So what is Pramāṇa? Pramāṇa, in Sanskrit, of course it is a very beautiful word प्रमीयते इति प्रमा - Pramīyate iti pramā.and प्रमायाः करणं प्रमाणम् - Pramāyāḥ karaṇaṁ pramāṇam. Pramīyate iti pramā (6:35) Pramī is destroying and pramāṇā - pramāyāḥ karaṇaṁ pramāṇam. That which destroys is called as pramā, comes from the word pramī, destroys ignorance, removes illusions or gives correct knowledge, that is pramā. That which gives that pramāyāḥ karaṇaṁ pramāṇam. So that is how pramāṇa has been defined, right, correct clear knowledge without any errors. The experience, the knowledge and the information has no errors, error free knowledge. And pramāṇa vṛtti it is. You should remember it is pramāṇa vṛtti. Similarly it was viparyaya vṛtti, vikalpa vṛtti, all are vṛttis and all these are having kliṣṭā and akliṣṭā. So pramāṇa vṛtti also has kliṣṭā and akliṣṭā. Viparyaya vṛtti also has kliṣṭā and akliṣṭā. Similarly vikalpa, nidrā and smriti. And all these five vṛttis they rise from the citta. They are not citta itself, they rise from they originate from the citta. Pramāṇa vṛtti originates from citta, viparyaya vṛtti originates from citta, vikalpa vṛtti originates from citta. So pramāṇa defined described in the 7th sutra as we just read Pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgamāḥ pramāṇāni. Pratyakṣa very beautiful word prati aksha, it is called. Aksha is eye, prati is in front of or just opposite, so pratyaksha is that which is in front of the eye. Just for understanding what is seen, pratyakṣa is what is seen, directly cognized, directly seen. You should remember pratyakṣa is the knowledge or the information from the jnanendriya. It is from the eye. Just for our understanding jnanendriyas rise from manaha and karmendriyas rise from the ahankara. So jnanendriyas rising from the manas, aksha is the eye, the jnanendriya and what is seen or presented or what is observed through the eye is pratyakṣa. And it is a pramāṇā - Pratyakṣa pramāṇā. But Pratyakṣa pramāṇā is not always correct because it is a vṛtti and this vṛtti has to be removed and vṛtti has to be eliminated, because it can be kliṣṭā and akliṣṭā. That is why pramāṇā though it is authenticated authoritative but still it is a vṛtti. But as it is said that Pratyakṣa is direct contact to the eye, but still came in direct contact with eye but it is still not direct. Because after seeing through the eye there can be interpretations within inside. And Pratyakṣa is called as direct because the other jnanendriyas, the knowledge comes from, the other jnanendriyas are not directly in touch with it. Because we may listen a sound sound of a dog barking. We have only heard the sound of dog but we cannot come to the conclusion that the dog is there. Dog may not be there. But sound is heard. But just because sound is heard we cannot come to the conclusion the dog is there. That is why the information and the knowledge through the other jnanendriyas are not Pratyakṣa. It is only through the eye. It is Pratyakṣa, that is why the aksha is important. And after pratyakṣa, the second pramāṇā is the anumāna inference, you infer that is when we heard that there is a sound of the dog barking, we may infer that the dog is there but as we saw earlier it can be wrong. That is why anumāna can be right, can be wrong. It is like a smoke and a fire, this is a traditional example given for the anumāna. Anumāna following, what is seen and you conclude after seeing or after you get the information you come to the conclusion. And this coming to the conclusion is based on what is seen or what is heard or what is information you got it, we got it and it is something like a deduction. Deduction on the knowledge already we have. That is called anumāna. We know that fire generates smoke. If you do not know that the fire generates smoke, even if you see the smoke or if we smell the smoke, we cannot come to the conclusion that there was fire. So anumāna depends on previous knowledge, anumāna depends on prior experience, anumāna is based on an experience, an information, a knowledge which was already we have it. So that is why anumāna so pratyakṣa anumāna and the third is (15:06) the āgamāḥ, āgamāḥ is a traditional knowledge. An established flow of knowledge and the āgamāḥ comes through a Śāstra, a text book, āgamāḥ can come through a guru vakhyam, āgamāḥ can come through a apta vakhyam, an information and the knowledge from a reliable person, a reliable source that is called as āgamāḥ. A knowledge and information say in bhagavad gita, a knowledge and information say we received from an early person, a knowledge and information, we received from our own teacher, a guru, an instructor is taken as pramāṇa. But it is āgamāḥ pramāṇa like pratyakṣa pramāṇa, like anumana pramāṇa, this is āgamāḥ pramāṇa. A knowledge which comes through an experience or through a traditional established source, a reliable source and that is how pramāṇa has been defined and discussed. Agamāḥ pramāṇa, anumana pramana and pratyakṣa pramāṇa, in these three things anumana and āgamāḥ are not direct, as we have seen, they both depend on some other experience, some other information or we have to refer to something else. They are deducted coming to a conclusion and a blind person can never have a pratyakṣa, literally speaking because there is no aksha, if a blind person has not seen water at all, he cannot project a mirage in a desert and that is how pratyakṣa pramāṇa, anumana pramāṇa and āgamāḥ pramana have to be understood. Nowadays we find so much of information and knowledge is flowing through our mobiles, whatsapps, tv channels. We do not know what is right, what is correct, what is deducted. And many times we find social disturbances, social violence and within ourselves, among our own relationships, human relations gets disturbed, human relations gets torn, human relations gets violent. Because we are not clear of the information, of the knowledge. And we take it granted as it is pramāṇa, its right, but we don't refer it as right or wrong. So this sutra has a tremendous most important practical dimension also. What is seen, even what is seen directly may not be correct and what is taken for granted as an āgamāḥ may not be correct.Even the information which comes to the conclusions may prove to be wrong at the later stage, because of all these inaccuracies, because of all these complications built within that. You should remember it is a vṛtti it creates kliṣṭā, so it is to be removed. Entire pramāṇa has to be negated and that is how first sutra conveys that Maharishi Patanjali direction, exposition that pramāṇa vṛtti has to be eliminated, suppressed and removed, nirodha. It is so pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgamāḥ pramāṇāni. The knowledge comes from direct experience, inference and through authentic reliable sources is termed as pramāṇā, but we shall conclude by saying even that is to be eliminated and suppressed.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued..
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These are transcriptions of sessions delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26