PATANJALI
YOGASUTRAS
CHAPTER-4
KAIVALYA PAADHA
After studying the first three chapters in depth,
we are now entering the final chapter called Kaivalya Paadha. It is a
comparatively small chapter and throws light on the Kaivalya state of the
attained Yogi.
Vs.4.01
janma - ousadhi -
mantra –
tapah -samadhi - jah
siddhayah
Ø janma = birth
Ø ausadhi = herbs
Ø mantra = sound vibrations
Ø tapah = austerities,
penance
Ø samadhi = deep
concentration (Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi)
Ø jah = born
Ø siddhayah = Achievements, psychic
abilities
How do various SIDDHIS or
attainments come to the Sadhaka? SIDDHI means ATTAINMENT of some special skill
or power. Chapter.3 detailed many such Siddhis which come through the process
of Samyama. From the view point of an ordinary human being, these are
extraordinary and super human attainments. But, for a Sadhaka, who is adept in
Samyama, all these powers are very normal. In fact, their frequent use gets him
away from the best of all Siddhis, namely, Kaivalya. Apart from Samyama, are
there any other methods by which a sadhaka gets various Siddhis? Yes there are.
The first is BY BIRTH! It
is not easily understood how someone gets certain siddhis by birth and others
do not. Here comes in, the theory of Karma. Lord Krishna has told Arjuna in the
GITA that whatever attainments one comes to, in one birth, all these
attainments come along with him into his next birth. They do not go waste. All
of us are thus born with the gift of what we attained in our previous birth. It
is just that it is not easily visible to all. It is purposefully covered by a
veil of secrecy. Someone may seem to have learnt something too very fast in
this birth and is called precocious. But, this precociousness has come to him
from his previous birth, based on his earlier karma and earlier attainments. He
may either start Yogic discipline from a higher level or may learn the lower
levels much faster, or, may exhibit some specialty in respect of Yogic Siddhis.
The second Method is
AUSHADHI or medicinal herbs. There are many special herbs which have rare
siddhis deposited in them. As we know, there are special herbs to stimulate
sexual prowess, unusual physical strength, undefined pleasure peaks and so on.
These are known to us to some extent. But, there are also herbs which can, not only cure many diseases but also give
life to an ALMOST DEAD person. Some herbs are mentioned in ancient classics
which enable one to become very light and fly. One medicine called Sanjeevani
was used on Lakshmana in Ramayana. We have no great scientific knowledge of
ancient herbs in this Kaliyug. But, some yogis do know many such herbs even now.
The third method is Mantra.
Mantra is a sound (Like AUM) which focuses the mind on one particular goal.
We know that one
particular word from a person may please us and another ward may hurt us
deeply. We wait for such pleasing words and hate to receive the hurting words. A
war can happen on the basis of a single spoken or written word. Most of the
wars and enmities today are actually due to this word power on human mind. Suppose
- the spoken and written words are not there, 90 percent of human quarrels
would disappear overnight. But, so will 90 percent of human bonds and human
societies.
If we know what word to
speak / communicate, and when and where, we have the power to create even a war between
two countries. Every war really, really happens this way only – even if it
happens unconsciously. There are many hidden uses of mantra, which are not
available to us today. But, Human mind in Kaliyug is stated to lack the power
to focus the Mantra itself first. Very
few people still can use Mantra as a siddhi.
The fourth method is tapah
or austerities. While Mantra is focusing the sound power, tapah is focusing the
mind waves or thought waves. This is also a powerful method which accomplishes
many supernatural deeds which ordinary persons can never even think of. Russia
was experimenting with a simple power called psycho-kinetics. But, much more
powerful miracles can happen with tapas. In ancient days, every Rishi used to
perform tapas for long years and their word was obeyed by all powers of nature.
The fifth method is Samadhi.
We may actually call it Samyama. What samyama can accomplish, we have seen in
the third chapter.
Actually, all these siddhis go on manifesting
in every Sadhaka in Yoga, all the time. At every step, the Sadhaka will attain have
some siddhi or other. The very control of Chitta, say, to the extent of 20%, is
a great achievement. The Sadhaka knows his achievement. Others may not
understand it. Others may only see that the sadhaka no more craves for power,
money, sex and so on and leads almost a FOOLISH LIFE. But, the Sadhaka knows
how great a Siddhi he has attained.
Vs. 4.2
jaatyantara parinaamah prakriti apooraat
Ø jaatyantara = into another
type of life
Ø parinaamah = transformation
Ø prakriti = nature, the
causal factor of all bodies
Ø apooraat = by filling in
process
A sadhaka can take an altogether different form or
shape, merely by filling in all the natural factors of that form or shape into
him. He can become an ant, a crow, a cobra or a lion, by merely superimposing
their qualities and tendencies into him.
We must understand that in basic structure, there
is no difference between one being and another. We all consist of the Pancha
bhoothas and a particular type of reflected-consciousness, which differentiates
one as man and another as a Rat. This, we call as the qualities and tendencies.
These are readily available to Sadhaka everywhere. He can transform himself
into a Rat or Lion easily, when he is adept in Samyama. One can see the
description of Ashta Siddhis in third chapter on this.
Vs. 4.3
nimittam aprayojakam prakriteenaam
varana bhedastu tatah ksetrikavat
Ø nimittam = incidental/
instrumental cause
Ø aprayojakam = which does not
bring to action
Ø prakriteenaam = nature, material
cause
Ø varana = obstacles
Ø bhedas = breaking through
Ø tu = but
Ø tatah = that
Ø ksetrikavat = like a farmer
Patanjali is explaining the process of all these
miracles with a simple example.
When a farmer applies his plough to the land, he is
merely making the land free of all obstacles for the GOOD SEEDS to sprout
without any obstacles like the bad seeds and weeds already in the land, pests
and so on. The GOOD SEED has all the
information within itself to become the tree that it is destined to be. The
land also has all the qualities within it which can be taken in by the seed to
become that particular type of tree whose total intelligence is already
embedded into it.
A bad seed can take the same land qualities and
strengths but still grow into a bad tree or a weed only. It cannot become a
mango tree, orange tree or an apple tree.
So is the case with the Sadhaka. All strengths are
already available within himself in seed form. But, along with them are certain
obstacles within him and outside him. This Patanjali called in the first
chapter itself as “CHITTA VRITTIH”.
These chitta vrittis create various obstacles to
our sprouting into great Yogis. We only need to remove these obstacles one by
one, process by process. The entire prakriti will help us to grow – only if we
remove all the obstacles within us and a few outside us. Here, prakriti can be
interpreted as our chitta vritti also.
What brings the final effect in the Sadhaka? Two types
of causes are generally identified for any result to occur. One is the material cause. Another is the incidental
cause. Material cause is someone or something that provides the material for
making the thing. Incidental cause is one
who works on it to produce something. A Gold smith is the incidental cause who
works on the Gold, the material cause, to produce a Gold ring.
When the Sadhaka is working on Yoga, he is of
course the incidental cause. But, if the material cause is the prakriti around
him, he attains many siddhis or mastery on prakriti. If the material cause also
is he himself, or his Chitta Vrittis, he attains the best of all siddhis ,that
is, kaivalya. In either case, his Sadhanas only remove
obstacles, and do not create anything new by his efforts. The Siddhis are
already available within.
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