Practice and the Cultivation of Friendliness – Yoga Sutras

Practice and the Cultivation of Friendliness I.33 Maitri karuna mudita upeksanam sukha duhkha punya apunya visayanam bhavanatah cittaprasadanam Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice respectively, the consciousness becomes favorably disposed, serene and benevolent. In the past I have experienced some very challenging situations taking me through stages [...]

Memory – Yoga Sutras

I.11 anubhuta visaya asampramosah smrtih Memory is the unmodified recollection of words and experiences. The movements of consciousness are fivefold (I.5).  They are caused by correct knowledge, illusion, delusion, sleep and memory (I.6).  In sutra I.11 Patanjali describes memory as the unmodified recollection of words and experiences.  The key word of this sutra is unmodified.  [...]

Pleasure, Pain, Desire and Temptation – Yoga Sutras

Pleasure, Pain, Desire and Temptation II.14 te hlada paritapa phatah punya apunya hetutvat According to our good, bad or mixed actions, the quality of our life, its span, and the nature of birth are experienced as being pleasant or painful. I believe this sutra is about perception.  If you perceive the events of your life as generally [...]

True Knowledge and the Soul in Samyama – Yoga Sutras

True knowledge and the Soul through Samyama I.49 sruta anumana prajnabhyam anyavisaya visesarthatvat This truth-bearing knowledge and wisdom is distinct from and beyond the knowledge gleaned from books, testimony, or inference. I think the concept that truth-bearing knowledge does not come from books is a difficult one in the culture we live in.  From as early as [...]

Time and Nature- Yoga Sutras

Time and Nature IV.13 te vyakta suksmah gunamanah The three phases of time intermingle rhythmically and interweave with the qualities of nature.  They change the composition of nature’s properties into gross and subtle. A single moment is pure. As it moves into the next moment, creating a chain of moments reaching into the past and [...]