Patanjali Yoga Sutras : Samadhi Pada 12
Katha Vivekananda Kendra
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The twelfth sutra of the Samadhipada of the Yoga Darshana is the practical dimension or a suggestion how to stop or how to achieve citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ. What are the tools Upakaranas practices and Patanjali suggests in the twelfth sutra the sutra goes like this
अ॒भ्या॒सवै॒रा॒ग्या॒भ्यां त॑न्निरो॒धः ॥ १.१२॥
Abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ ॥ 1.12 ॥
Very simple Abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ. Tan these vṛttis tat, that is tat vṛttis are completely stopped by abhyāsa and vairāgya. Abhyāsa is practice, repetition, repetitive practice,regular repetitive practice. Vairāgya is detachment, a disinterestedness that is vairāgya. And nirodhaḥ we know it is a complete stoppage. And that is how the nirodhaḥ of the vṛttis are to be achieved, can be achieved and it is the one method given by Maharshi Patanjali. And abhyāsa and vairāgya both are needed there is no option in choosing anyone. both are to be opted, both are to be practiced. So vairāgya abhyāsa it is.It should not be vairāgya from abhyāsa. It is abhyāsa of the vairāgya and abhyāsa and vairāgya both.So what is the abhyāsa to be done? The practice is the mind should be made should be habituated to flow towards kaivalyam, to flow towards goodness, to flow towards the flow of the mind is to be made to flow towards desirable things and that is the abhyāsa. And it is nicely said the practice makes perfection. A traditional example is given that, if a water has to flow in one direction it needs to flow between two banks and it has to flow in a downward stream. It is very important because the citta or the mind can flow in any direction towards goodness towards evil or the not goodness, it can flow both ways, both sides. But to make it to flow in one direction, it needs a banks , it needs a downward flow, and that is the importance of abhyāsa. Repetitive, regular practice is needed. Adi Shankaracharya commenting on this, he says beautifully, he says,
समानप्रत्ययवृत्तिश्चित्तस्य - samāna-pratyaya-vṛttiś cittasya. Samāna-pratyaya - same experience is repeated, same experience is repeated, that is samāna-pratyaya-vṛtti, cittasya of the citta. This is abhyāsa.
Swami Vivekananda beautifully, tells nicely that character is repeated habits and repeated habits alone can reform character. I repeat, character is repeated habits. And repeated habits alone can reform character. If habits are formed by abhyāsa, that means by abhyāsa and by habits we can change the character. We can change the habits by habits alone. So good habits, good character, Swamiji says go on doing good, think good, do good and that is the only way to suppress unholy, evil, base impressions. Impressions means samskaras, kusamskara , dusamskara that can be changed, removed by susamskaras. And that is possible only by abhyāsa, a repeated practice. That is called as abhyāsa. And what is vairāgyam ? Vairāgya is desireless. That means absence of hankering for enjoyment, of desirable things. There will be demands, Ichas, desires in the mind, and these desires are temptations. These temptations sometimes are seen visible, expressed some temptations may not be are not seen, unseen temptations within the mind. So seen temptations, unseen temptations, seen desires, unseen desires. But what is Vairagya is these desires whether seen or not seen by understanding their defects and by understanding their defects that hankering is dropped. Hankering for enjoyment very important word hankering for enjoyment a thirst, a craving, a crude hunger and may be a good hunger, it is Raga. Viraga it is. Likes, intense likes and that hankering has to be reduced or removed. How it can be done? By abhyāsa. That's why abhyāsa of vairāgya. Vairāgya abhyāsa but abhyāsa is not to be given up. The (9:37) same point (9:39) beautifully in the Sankhya Yoga the 6th chapter of Bhagavad Gita Krishna tells to Arjuna, wonderfully when Arjuna puts a question about the difficulty in handling the mind and controlling the mind. Krishna gives a very nice beautiful example and says that
असंशयं महाबाहो मनो दुर्निग्रहं चलम् ।
अभ्यासेन तु कौन्तेय वैराग्येण च गृह्यते ॥ ६.३५ ॥
asaṁśayaṁ mahābāho mano durnigrahaṁ calam |
abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa ca gṛhyate ||
Asaṁśayaṁ mahābāho, hey Arjuna, yes it is very difficult, asaṁśayaṁ, no doubt mahābāho mano durnigrahaṁ calam, the wavering of the mind, the flow of the mind is very difficult to control. But you can do it by abhyāsa and vairāgya, by reducing the likes, by thinning down the desires, desirables and by regular practice. That nirodha can be achieved. That nirodha sthithi can be achieved. svarūpe’vasthānam (स्व॒रू॒पेऽ॑वस्था॒नम्) is possible by abhyāsa and vairāgya. Then what is abhyāsa and then what is vairāgya, what are the subtle points in that that will be followed in the further next sutras of the same samadhipada, that we shall see in the coming session.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued..
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These are transcription of session 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