Yoga Sūtras

(these are a work in progress)

1.01 Now, the teachings of yoga.
1.02 Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.
1.03 Then the seer can abide in its own true nature.
1.04 Otherwise, the Seer identifies with from the mind’s changing states
1.05 The mind’s activities are fivefold, and may be afflicted or free from affliction.
1.06 These five kinds of thought are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, imagination, sleep, and memory.
1.07 Right knowledge consists of sense perception, logic, and reliable experts.
1.08 Wrong knowledge has no objective basis
1.09 Imagination comes from words devoid of substance
1.10 Deep sleep is a mental activity based on the absence of content.
1.12 Fluctuations of the mind are stilled by means of practice and non-attachment
1.13 Practice is the sustained effort to rest in stillness.
1.14 Practice becomes steady when tended with care, over a long time, and without break.
1.15 Dispassion is the mastery of one who no longer craves for pleasures — whether experienced directly or heard about.
1.16 The highest dispassion arises with the clear seeing of the Self, when even the pull of nature’s qualities no longer captivates.
1.20 For others, realization is preceded by faith, effort, mindfulness, absorption, and wisdom.
1.21 Success in yoga comes quickly to those who apply themselves wholeheartedly
1.22 The time necessary for success further depends on whether the practice is mild, medium, or intense
1.23 Or, [samādhi arises] through wholehearted surrender to the inner teacher
1.29 From this practice, awareness turns inward and the usual obstacles fall away
1.30 Disturbances that distract the mind and block the path include sickness, mental laziness, doubt, carelessness, physical laziness, craving, confusion, lack of progress, and lack of consistency
1.31 Suffering, discouragement, physical restlessness, and disturbed breath accompany these distractions.
1.32 The obstacles are overcome by steady practice on a single principle.
1.33 By cultivating friendliness toward those who are happy, compassion toward those who are suffering, joy toward those who live skillfully, and equanimity toward those who cause harm, the mind becomes clear and serene.
1.34 Or the mind becomes calm and steady through gentle attention to the breath, especially through smooth, unforced exhalation
1.35 Or by bringing steady attention to a single sensory experience, such as sound, touch, or the feeling of the breath
1.36 Or by resting attention in the inner light of awareness that is naturally peaceful and free from sorrow
1.37 Or by focusing the mind on thoughts or impressions that are simple, clean, and free from grasping
1.38 Or by resting in the clarity and ease revealed in dreams or deep, dreamless sleep
1.39 Or by meditating on whatever supports steadiness and clarity for you
2.01 Yoga in action consists of self-discipline, study, and surrender
2.03 The afflictions are ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life
2.05 Ignorance is the perception that the self, which is joyful, pure, and eternal, is the nonself, which is painful, impure, and temporary.
2.06 Egotism is to misunderstand the seer to be the power of seeing.
2.15 To a person who sees clearly, all experiences, whether pleasant or unpleasant, carry the seed of suffering, because they are impermanent, driven by craving, shaped by habit, and bound to change.
2.16 The suffering not yet arisen can be avoided.
2.17 The false identification of the seer and that which is seen is the cause of suffering to be avoided.
2.18 The phenomenal world consists of material elements and senses characterized by their illumination, activity, and inertia. This world can serve the goals of sensual experience or spiritual liberation.
2.20 The seer is merely the power of seeing. It appears to take on the changing contents of the mind. In reality, it is unchangeable.
2.24 The cause of this identification is ignorance.
2.25 With the removal of ignorance, our true nature is revealed. This is the absolute freedom of the seer.
2.26 The skillful means for removing ignorance is discriminative discernment.
2.28 The practice of the limbs of yoga leads to the destruction of impurities and discriminative discernment.
2.31 These ethical commitments constitute the Great Vow of yoga: universal, timeless, and unconditional, applicable to everyone in every place at every time regardless of role or situation.
2.33 When troubled by harmful thoughts, cultivate their opposites.
2.34 Negative thoughts are violence, etc. They may be created directly, indirectly, or approved; they may be triggered by greed, hatred, or delusion; and they may be slight, moderate, or extreme in intensity. One must become an opponent to such influences by cultivating the opposite.
2.35 In the presence of someone who is deeply committed to nonviolence, hostility recedes.
2.42 From contentment, a joy beyond comparison arises.
2.45 By surrendering to something greater than the ego, a state of deep absorption is realized.
2.46 The posture should be steady and comfortable
3.01 Concentration is the fixing of the mind in one place.
3.13 By the same process, the transformations of essential nature (dharma), state (lakṣaṇa), and condition (avasthā) in the material elements and sense organs are also explained
3.23 By directing discipline toward loving-kindness and so on, one gains strengths
3.26 By meditating on the sun, knowledge of the world (or the cosmos) arises
3.32 By focusing attention on the light at the crown of the head, one perceives realized beings.
3.44 By integrated concentration on the form, essence, subtlety, interrelation, and purpose of the elements, mastery over them arises.
4.10 The saṁskāras are without beginning, because the desire for life is eternal
4.14 Things seem real to us because their changes follow a consistent pattern
4.15 The same object is constant, yet each mind perceives it differently. This shows that mind and object cannot be the same.
4.21 If the mind were perceived by another mind, then there would be an infinite regress of one intelligence being known by another intelligence. This would cause confusion of memory.
4.22 Although it is unchanging, consciousness becomes aware of its own intelligence by means of pervading the forms assumed by the intelligence.