The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

1.1

Context The first sutra names its subject the way a teacher opens a course of study. In Sanskrit it reads atha yogānuśāsanam: now, the teaching of yoga. Commentators take atha as marking the formal start of the work, and the prefix of anuśāsana is often read as teaching handed on rather than newly invented. Johnston places OM, the sacred syllable that 1.27 names as the word of the Master, before the sutra. His commentary then describes the goal in words his readers of the 1910s knew: “salvation,” “sin,” “God,” and Emerson’s “Oversoul.” The sutras themselves do not speak of sin or salvation. The goal they name at the close of Book IV is kaivalya, the freedom or aloneness of the seer. Johnston’s vocabulary is one way of carrying that goal across.

In plain words (our paraphrase, not the text) Here begins the teaching on yoga, which Johnston calls Union. He explains that in India’s scriptures this means the joining of the individual soul with the universal soul, of personal awareness with divine awareness, so that what is mortal enters the eternal. Salvation, for him, comes in two steps: first release from sin and the sorrow it brings, then a lasting well-being in which the soul shares in God’s being, wisdom and glory.

Key terms yoga (YOH-guh), “Union”: From a root meaning to yoke or join. Johnston reads it as the union of the individual soul with the divine; 1.2 gives the sutras’ own definition. atha (UH-tuh), “Here follows”: Now: the first word of the sutras, which commentators read as marking the formal beginning of the teaching. anuśāsana (uh-noo-SHAH-suh-nuh), “Instruction”: Teaching or instruction. The prefix anu- is often read as teaching that follows on and passes along what came before. OM (OHM): The sacred syllable, which Johnston sets at the head of the first sutra. The sutras name it as the word of Īśvara at 1.27. Oversoul: Emerson’s word for the universal divine Self. Johnston uses it for the goal of Union. It is not a term of the sutras themselves.

1.2

Context This is the sutra most readers remember: yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ, the definition of the whole practice in four words. Modern translators render it in several ways, among them the stilling, or cessation, of the fluctuations of the mind. Johnston’s “control of the versatile psychic nature” carries the same three ideas. Citta, the mind, is his “psychic nature”; vṛtti, its restless movements, lives in the adjective “versatile”; and nirodha becomes “control.” His commentary introduces the idea he returns to throughout the book: the mind’s powers are not evil in themselves but “spiritual powers run wild,” to be taken in hand and purified rather than destroyed.

In plain words Yoga, which Johnston also calls spiritual consciousness, comes about by bringing the restless, shifting mind under control. In his reading the goal is the full awareness of the spiritual self, lit by divine light, and the only thing holding us back is the stubborn resistance of the mind’s own workings. Those workings are spiritual powers that have strayed from their proper channel. So the first task is to take them in hand, to discipline and purify them, and to return them to their right use.

Key terms citta (CHIT-tuh), “psychic nature”: The mind as a whole: thought, feeling and perception together. Modern translators usually say mind or consciousness. vṛtti (VRIT-tee), “versatile”: A movement or fluctuation of the mind. Johnston gives no separate noun for it here and folds the idea into the adjective versatile. nirodha (nih-ROH-duh), “control”: Stilling, restraint or cessation. The same word returns at 1.51 for the final stilling of every impression. yoga (YOH-guh), “Union”: Defined here as the stilling of the mind’s movements. Johnston adds spiritual consciousness as a second name for it.

Connections Compare 1.1: The Union announced in the first sutra is defined here.

To reflect on Notice today one moment when your attention jumps from one thing to another without your choosing. Johnston calls the mind’s powers “spiritual powers run wild”: what might it mean to take such a moment in hand rather than fight it?

1.3–1.4

Context The definition of yoga is followed by two sutras on what it achieves. 1.3, tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe ’vasthānam, says that the seer then rests in its own nature. 1.4 describes the alternative: at other times the seer seems to take on the form of the mind’s movements. Johnston’s “the Seer” is draṣṭṛ, the witnessing consciousness he elsewhere calls “the spiritual man.” He turns the pair into a story of entanglement and patient release. His image of drawing forth “like the pith from the reed, steadily” recalls a passage of the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, which speaks of drawing the inner self out of the body steadily, as a stalk is drawn from a reed. Tradition holds that the seer is never actually changed by what it witnesses, only apparently caught.

In plain words When the mind is stilled, the seer becomes aware of itself as it truly is. Johnston explains that egotism, ambition and passion are twisted forms of spiritual being, power and love. When these false images give way, the true self shines out like the sun from behind clouds. Until then the seer has been caught up in the mind’s activities: quarrelsome self-assertion, restless senses and imaginings, indulgence of body and mind. These are real forces, only misdirected, and they are to be drawn out patiently and without violence, like a gem from rock or the pith from a reed.

Key terms draṣṭṛ (DRUSH-tree), “Seer”: The one who sees: pure witnessing consciousness, which 1.3 says rests in its own nature once the mind is still. svarūpa (svuh-ROO-puh), “proper nature”: Own form or true nature: what the seer is in itself, apart from the mind’s movements. puruṣa (POO-roo-shuh), “spiritual man”: Pure consciousness, the witness. Johnston’s commentary uses “the spiritual man” for it throughout. vṛtti (VRIT-tee), “activities”: The mind’s movements, in which 1.4 says the seer is otherwise caught up.

Connections Compare 1.2: 1.3 gives the result of the stilling defined in 1.2; 1.4 gives what happens without it.

1.5–1.6

Context Having said that yoga stills the mind’s movements, the text now counts them. There are five, and each is either kliṣṭa or akliṣṭa, afflicted or not afflicted. Johnston renders this “subject or not subject to the five hindrances” and points ahead to his Book II, 3, where the afflictions are listed. His commentary builds on a picture of his own: the mind as a world of restless “mind-images” that prompt new desires and an endless urge to classify. The five kinds follow in 1.6. Johnston’s names for them are “Sound intellection, unsound intellection, predication, sleep, memory.” Common modern renderings are valid knowledge, error, imagination, sleep and memory. The sutras go on to define each in turn (1.7–1.11).

In plain words The mind’s activities are of five kinds, and each may either be bound up with the five hindrances or be free of them. Johnston describes the mind as built of pictures that never lie still: they prompt new acts, stir regret or hope, and feed a ceaseless urge to know and classify. The five are sound knowing, mistaken knowing, predication, sleep and memory. The power to know and feel that lies behind them is spiritual. It needs to be lifted to a higher level, not destroyed.

Key terms vṛtti (VRIT-tee), “psychic activities”: The movements of the mind, here counted as five kinds. kleśa (KLAY-shuh), “hindrances”: The afflictions that bind the mind to suffering, listed in Book II. Here they mark each activity as afflicted or not. pramāṇa (pruh-MAH-nuh), “Sound intellection”: Valid knowledge, the first of the five activities. viparyaya (vih-PUR-yuh-yuh), “unsound intellection”: Error: knowing that does not match its object. vikalpa (vih-KUL-puh), “predication”: Thought that follows words with no real object behind them. Modern renderings include imagination and fancy. smṛti (SMRIT-ee), “memory”: Memory, the last of the five activities, defined at 1.11.

Connections Compare 1.2: These are the movements whose stilling 1.2 calls yoga.

To reflect on Sometime today, pause and ask of whatever is passing through your mind which of the five it is: knowing, a mistake, a thought made only of words, drowsiness, or memory. Notice how quickly one gives way to the next.

1.7–1.9

Context Three definitions follow in quick succession. The three sources of valid knowledge in 1.7 are perception, inference and reliable testimony. The Sāṃkhya school accepts the same three, and other schools of Indian philosophy work with lists that include them. Johnston’s “inductive reason” stands for anumāna, which modern translators usually call inference. For him each source is “a spiritual power, thinly veiled.” 1.8 defines error as knowing that does not rest on the real form of its object. 1.9 defines vikalpa. Johnston reads it through grammar, as “predication,” with his sentence “the man is wise.” It is often rendered imagination or fancy: knowledge that follows words while no real thing stands behind them.

In plain words Valid knowledge has three sources: seeing for oneself, reasoning, and the word of someone trustworthy. Johnston sees each as a spiritual power lightly veiled. Observation is the outer edge of the soul’s own vision; reasoning rests on the unity of all life; testimony rests on the oneness of souls. Mistaken knowing is understanding built on a faulty perception of what a thing really is, so whatever reasoning follows from it is unsound too. Predication works with words or thoughts that have no perceived object behind them. It attaches a quality to a subject, as in saying a man is wise, and may be a mere play of ideas about things absent or unreal, whereas the three sources of sound knowing always go back to an object.

Key terms pramāṇa (pruh-MAH-nuh), “sound intellection”: Valid knowledge, with its three sources set out in 1.7. pratyakṣa (prut-YUK-shuh), “direct observation”: Direct perception through the senses, the first source of valid knowledge. anumāna (uh-noo-MAH-nuh), “inductive reason”: Inference: reasoning from what is known to what is not directly seen. āgama (AH-guh-muh), “trustworthy testimony”: Reliable testimony from a trustworthy person or scripture. viparyaya (vih-PUR-yuh-yuh), “Unsound intellection”: Error: an understanding that does not match the real nature of its object. vikalpa (vih-KUL-puh), “Predication”: Knowledge that follows words with no real object behind them. Johnston treats it as attaching a predicate to a subject.

Connections Compare 1.6: These sutras define the first three of the five activities listed there.

1.10–1.11

Context Counting sleep as an activity of the mind may surprise a modern reader. The sutra’s point is that even deep sleep is a kind of cognition, one whose content is absence. Johnston’s argument, that on waking we can say we slept well or badly, matches a point made in the traditional commentary: we could not remember a state of which we were not in some way aware. Memory, in 1.11, is not letting go of what has been experienced. Johnston goes further and calls the perceived world “the wraith or shadow of the real and everlasting world.” Classical Yoga, like Sāṃkhya, generally treats nature as real rather than as illusion. His phrasing leans toward other schools of thought and is best taken as his reading.

In plain words Sleep is a state of mind resting on the absence of outer things. Johnston notes two streams in waking life, one of outer impressions and one of inner pictures and thoughts. In sleep the outer stream stops and the inner one goes on as dreaming. Even dreamless sleep keeps enough awareness for us to say on waking that we slept well or badly. Memory is keeping hold of the pictures of what we have experienced without changing them. Because the world we perceive is itself made of such pictures, he writes, it is only a shadow of the real world. In this sense memory is the seer’s ever-present spiritual vision turned upside down at the level of the mind: what is always before the seer’s eye needs no remembering.

Key terms nidrā (NID-rah), “Sleep”: Sleep, counted as a mental activity because even dreamless sleep holds a trace of awareness. smṛti (SMRIT-ee), “Memory”: Memory: holding on to what has been experienced without adding to it.

Connections Compare 1.6: The last two of the five activities listed at 1.6.

1.12–1.14

Context After mapping the mind’s activities, the text gives the means of stilling them: abhyāsa and vairāgya. Modern translators usually render these as practice and non-attachment, or dispassion. Johnston’s moral phrases, “the right use of the will” and “ceasing from self-indulgence,” show the earnest tone of his day. 1.13 defines practice as effort toward steadiness. Johnston makes this a steady effort “to stand in spiritual being.” 1.14 names three conditions under which practice becomes firm ground: a long time, without interruption, and with care or devotion. Johnston gives these as “long, persistently, with earnestness.” His commentary widens them into a whole way of living: humility, charity, and remembrance of one shared Life.

In plain words The mind’s activities are brought under control by the right use of the will and by giving up self-indulgence. Johnston asks how even passion, hatred and fear, which he sees as fallen spiritual powers, can be freed. His answer is by waking the spiritual will and by purifying mind and thought. Using the will rightly means a steady effort to stand in one’s spiritual being. We are to think of ourselves not as helpless creatures at the mercy of storm, hunger and enemies, but as immortals held in the Light, a thought he says will awaken unused powers. Kept up long, without a break and in earnest, this effort becomes firm ground. It must follow the laws of spiritual life: humility, gentle charity, and constant remembrance that we share one Life and are nothing apart from it.

Key terms abhyāsa (ub-YAH-suh), “right use of the will”: Practice: steady, long-continued effort toward stillness, defined in 1.13. vairāgya (vy-RAHG-yuh), “ceasing from self-indulgence”: Non-attachment or dispassion, the second of the two means, defined in 1.15. dṛḍha-bhūmi (DRIH-duh BOO-mee), “firm resting-place”: Firm ground: the settled state that practice becomes when kept up long, without interruption and with devotion.

Connections Compare 1.2: These are the two means of the stilling that 1.2 calls yoga.

To reflect on Johnston names three conditions for practice to become firm ground: long, persistent, earnest. Think of one thing in your life you have kept up in this way. What helped it last?

1.15–1.16

Context These two sutras describe two levels of letting go. The first is mastery over craving for objects, both those that are seen and those only heard of. Tradition takes the second kind as the pleasures promised in scripture, such as heaven, and Johnston’s “here or hereafter” captures that. The higher level in 1.16 is freedom from thirst for the guṇas, the strands of which all nature, mind included, is woven. It comes through clear knowledge of puruṣa. Johnston’s “any mode of psychical activity” stands for the guṇas. His commentary leans on scripture: his pairing of faith with works recalls the Epistle of James (2:18), and “To him that hath, shall be given” echoes a saying of Jesus in the Gospels, for example Matthew 25:29.

In plain words Giving up self-indulgence means consciously mastering the thirst for pleasures of the senses, whether in this life or in one hoped for afterward. Johnston reads the craving for sensation as a distorted longing to feel truly alive. That longing is met only when the soul comes, and it comes in silence, once indulgence has been bravely stilled. The highest form of this letting go is freedom from thirst for any form of the mind’s activity at all, which comes as the spiritual self is established. Reading is not enough, he insists: there must be real effort. Even a little progress helps, since those who have will be given more.

Key terms vairāgya (vy-RAHG-yuh), “Ceasing from self-indulgence”: Non-attachment, defined in 1.15 as mastery over craving for things seen and things heard of. guṇa (GOO-nuh), “mode of psychical activity”: One of the three strands of nature. Higher non-attachment is freedom from thirst for all of them. puruṣa (POO-roo-shuh), “spiritual man”: Pure consciousness. Its clear recognition brings the higher non-attachment of 1.16.

Connections Compare 1.12: These sutras define the second of the two means named there.

1.17

Context The first map of absorption appears here. Samprajñāta samādhi, absorption with an object, passes through four stages: vitarka, vicāra, ānanda and asmitā. In this companion they are glossed as coarse reflection, subtle reflection, joy and the bare sense of I-am. The traditional commentary reads the stages as a movement from coarse objects to finer ones and then to joy and bare self-awareness. The first two return in more detail at 1.42–1.44. Johnston’s renderings, “exterior examining,” “interior judicial action,” “joy” and “realization of individual being,” follow that outline. His commentary then turns it into a devotional method for beginners, starting from “a sacred image or picture, or a part of a book of devotion.”

In plain words Meditation that rests on an object passes through four stages: examining it from outside, weighing it inwardly, joy, and awareness of one’s own being. Johnston suggests beginning with something outward, such as a sacred image or picture or a passage from a devotional book. Next comes pondering its lessons inwardly, then the lift of the spiritual will that this pondering brings. Last comes a realization of one’s own spiritual being, kindled by the meditation.

Key terms samprajñāta (sum-pruj-NYAH-tuh), “Meditation with an object”: Absorption that still rests on an object, passing through the four stages named here. vitarka (vih-TUR-kuh), “exterior examining”: Gross reflection on an outward object, the first stage. vicāra (vih-CHAH-ruh), “interior judicial action”: Subtle reflection on finer, inward objects, the second stage. ānanda (ah-NUN-duh), “joy”: Joy or bliss, the third stage. asmitā (US-mih-tah), “realization of individual being”: The bare sense of I-am, the subtlest stage of absorption with an object.

Connections Compare 1.12: The practice and letting go of 1.12 lead into these stages of absorption.

To practice If you wish, choose a short passage you value, perhaps one of these sutras. Read it slowly and look at the words themselves. Then set the page down and turn over what it says to you. There is no goal to reach; stop whenever you like. Safety: Sit in any position that is comfortable for you and breathe naturally.

1.18–1.19

Context 1.18 describes a further absorption without naming it: the Sanskrit calls it simply anyaḥ, the other. Tradition calls it asamprajñāta, absorption without an object. It is preceded by practice of the idea of cessation, and only latent impressions remain in it. Johnston reads it as meditation that “rests only on the fruit of former meditations.” He points ahead to “the cloud of things knowable” in his Book IV, 29. 1.19 says that a similar state can arise by birth rather than practice for the bodiless and for those merged in nature. Readings differ here. The traditional commentary takes the bodiless as a class of divine beings whose state is not final. Johnston takes them as the dead between births, who will return when their seeds of desire sprout.

In plain words Once the will has stilled the mind’s activity, meditation needs no outside object and rests only on what earlier meditations have left behind. Johnston says steady practice outgrows the need for an object and reaches an inner state he connects with the cloud of things knowable in Book IV. An inward-turned consciousness can also arise from a natural cause, without practice, in those who have laid aside the body and been absorbed into nature. He takes these to be the dead resting between births. In time the seeds of their desires will sprout, and they will be born again.

Key terms asamprajñāta (uh-sum-pruj-NYAH-tuh): The traditional name for the absorption of 1.18, which no longer rests on any object. saṃskāra (sum-SKAH-ruh), “fruit of former meditations”: Latent impressions left by experience. In this absorption only such impressions remain. dharmamegha (dur-muh-MAY-guh), “cloud of things knowable”: The highest absorption, treated in Book IV, to which Johnston links the state of 1.18. prakṛti (PRUK-rih-tee), “subjective nature”: Nature, both material and mental. 1.19 speaks of those who are absorbed into it.

Connections Compare 1.17: Absorption without an object follows the four stages of absorption with one.

1.20–1.22

Context “For the others” means those who do not come to absorption by birth, as in 1.19, and must reach it by effort. The sutra names five supports: śraddhā, vīrya, smṛti, samādhi and prajñā. Johnston renders samādhi here as “one-pointedness.” The same five appear in Buddhist texts as the five faculties (in Pali saddhā, viriya, sati, samādhi, paññā), a parallel that bears on the long discussion of how the two traditions relate. 1.21 says the goal is near for those whose ardor is intense. Johnston’s “the kingdom must be taken by force” echoes Matthew 11:12. 1.22 notes that intensity itself has degrees.

In plain words For those not born into that state, spiritual consciousness comes by way of faith, courage, right mindfulness, one-pointedness and perception. Johnston says none can be skipped: each grows out of the one before and leads at last to full vision as the soul. It comes nearest to those whose will is keen and intense, like a rushing stream. The lesson, he says, is that intuitions must be acted on and lived. The will may be weak, middling or intense, so there are degrees even here. To the weak he counsels faithful obedience, since the will is God’s and we enter into it by obeying. Beyond all three degrees lies the goal itself.

Key terms śraddhā (SHRUD-dah), “faith”: Faith or trust, the first of the five supports. vīrya (VEER-yuh), “valour”: Energy or vigor, the second support. smṛti (SMRIT-ee), “right mindfulness”: Here mindfulness, keeping the aim in mind; the same word means memory at 1.11. samādhi (suh-MAH-dee), “one-pointedness”: Absorption. In this list Johnston renders it one-pointedness. prajñā (PRUJ-nyah), “perception”: Insight or wisdom, the last of the five supports. saṃvega (sum-VAY-guh), “keen, intense will”: Ardor or urgency. The sutra speaks of those in whom it is intense.

Connections Compare 1.19: “The others” are contrasted with those whose state arises by birth. Compare 1.13: Johnston’s stress on will continues his reading of practice as the right use of the will.

To reflect on Johnston writes that “it is not enough to have intuitions; we must act on them.” Is there one small intuition you have had lately and not yet acted on?

1.23–1.24

Context A single word, vā, “or,” opens another way: īśvara-praṇidhāna. Modern translators render it devotion, surrender or dedication to Īśvara, the Lord. Johnston’s “ardent service of the Master” becomes, in his commentary, the offering of every daily duty as work entrusted by “the Master of Life.” His word “Master” also carried a particular charge for Theosophists of his day, who spoke of spiritual Masters. 1.24 defines Īśvara as a special puruṣa untouched by afflictions, by action, by its ripening and by its stored traces. The sutras do not call Īśvara the creator of the world. How Īśvara fits the rest of the system has been discussed by commentators and modern scholars alike.

In plain words Or spiritual consciousness may be reached by devoted service of the Master. Johnston describes this as treating life as tasks laid on us by the Master of Life, with every duty part of that work. If we obey promptly and sincerely, we gradually enter the Master’s life and share its power. The Master is the spiritual self untouched by the hindrances, by bondage to past action, and by action’s fruit and seed. That soul is of the same nature as ours, Johnston says. The difference is that we still carry evils, the weight of our past deeds, and sorrow, and the Master does not.

Key terms īśvara-praṇidhāna (EESH-vuh-ruh pruh-nih-DAH-nuh), “ardent service of the Master”: Devotion or surrender to Īśvara, offered here as a path to absorption. Īśvara (EESH-vuh-ruh), “Master”: The Lord: in 1.24 a special puruṣa untouched by affliction and action. kleśa (KLAY-shuh), “hindrances”: The afflictions from which Īśvara is free. karma (KAR-muh), “works”: Action and its binding consequences. Johnston speaks of bondage to works. vipāka (vih-PAH-kuh), “fruition”: The ripening of action into experience: birth, span of life and pleasure or pain. āśaya (AH-shuh-yuh), “seed of works”: The store of latent traces left by action, from which future results grow.

Connections Compare 1.12: Devotion is offered as a further way beside practice and letting go. Compare 1.5: The hindrances that color the mind’s activities do not touch Īśvara.

To reflect on Choose one ordinary task today and do it as Johnston suggests, as work entrusted to you rather than a chore. Afterward, notice whether anything about the task felt different to you.

1.25–1.27

Context These three short sutras complete the portrait of Īśvara. In him the seed of all-knowing is unsurpassed. The traditional commentary argues that knowledge which admits degrees must reach a highest point somewhere. Not being limited by time, he is the teacher even of the ancient teachers. His word is the praṇava, OM. Johnston’s commentary moves freely from “the Master” to “the Oversoul,” reading Īśvara as one with the universal Self; in the sutras Īśvara is a special puruṣa. His reading of OM as three in one draws on tradition. OM is analyzed into three sounds, a, u and m. The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad links these with waking, dreaming and deep sleep, and creation, preservation and dissolution are traditionally linked with Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva.

In plain words In the Master the seed of all-knowing is complete. Johnston explains that the Master’s soul is one with the Oversoul and so shares its wisdom and power. All spiritual growth rests on this oneness of soul and Oversoul. Because he is not bound by time, he is the teacher even of the earliest teachers. From the beginning, Johnston writes, the Oversoul has taught every soul that has come to know its oneness with it, for it stands before Time itself. The Master’s word is OM. Johnston reads it as a symbol of three in one: three worlds in the soul; past, present and future in eternity; creating, preserving and transforming in one Being; and immortality, all-knowing and joy in one Spirit.

Key terms OM (OHM): The sacred syllable, named here as the word that expresses Īśvara. praṇava (PRUH-nuh-vuh), “OM”: The sutra’s own name for OM, often taken to mean the sound that praises or resounds. guru (GOO-roo), “Teacher”: Teacher. 1.26 calls Īśvara the teacher even of the ancients, since he is not limited by time. Oversoul: Emerson’s word, which Johnston uses here for the universal Self he identifies with the Master.

Connections Compare 1.24: These sutras continue the definition of Īśvara begun there. Compare 1.1: The OM that opens the book is here named as the Master’s word.

1.28–1.29

Context The sutra asks for japa of OM together with reflection on its meaning. It says only repetition; Johnston’s “soundless” is his own emphasis. 1.29 names two results: attainment of inward-turned consciousness and the falling away of obstacles. That word “barriers” leads straight into the list at 1.30. Johnston’s closing paragraph is a signpost of his own. The sutras mark no division here, but he announces “the second part of the first book,” on the barriers to the emergence of the spiritual man and their overcoming.

In plain words Let OM be repeated without sound, with meditation on it. Johnston finds rising levels of meaning here: the power of the word itself, the many things it stands for, and finally the inner realization of what those symbols point to. From this come the awakening of inner consciousness and the clearing away of barriers. Such awakening, he says, is understood only by entering it, and it asks for a pure heart, strong aspiration and the steady conquest of each fault. What can be grasped now is this: seeing all worlds as resting in the Soul, living in the eternal rather than in past or future, and seeing all change as the work of the One bring us into harmony with it and clear the way. He then marks the start of the Book’s second part, on the barriers to the spiritual self’s emergence and how they are overcome.

Key terms japa (JUP-uh), “repetition”: Repetition of a sacred word, here OM, joined with reflection on its meaning. OM (OHM): The syllable whose repetition and meaning are the subject of 1.28. pratyakcetanā (prut-yuk-CHAY-tuh-nah), “interior consciousness”: Inward-turned consciousness: awareness turned back toward the seer rather than out toward objects. antarāya (un-tuh-RAH-yuh), “barriers”: Obstacles, which 1.29 says fall away. The next sutra lists nine of them.

Connections Compare 1.27: The OM named as the Master’s word is here repeated and meditated on.

1.30–1.31

Context This is the text’s list of what goes wrong. Nine obstacles scatter the mind: vyādhi, styāna, saṃśaya, pramāda, ālasya, avirati, bhrānti-darśana, failing to reach a stage, and failing to hold it. Johnston renders these “sickness, inertia, doubt, lightmindedness, laziness, intemperance, false notions” and the last two as “inability to reach a stage of meditation, or to hold it when reached.” Modern translators often say dullness for the second and carelessness for the fourth. 1.31 adds what accompanies the scattering: pain or grief, dejection, unsteadiness of the body, and uneven in-breath and out-breath. Johnston’s remark on sickness deserves notice. He counts it chiefly for its effect on feeling and thought, and says bodily infirmity is “no insuperable barrier to spiritual life.” He reads the breath twice over, as breathing and as a life of “harsh and irregular impulses.”

In plain words The barriers that scatter the mind and keep inner consciousness from arising are these: sickness, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, lack of restraint, mistaken ideas, failing to reach a stage of meditation, and failing to hold it once reached. Johnston stresses that these are veils of the personality wrapped around the spiritual self. Sickness counts mainly for its effect on feeling and thought: a bodily infirmity such as blindness or deafness is no insurmountable barrier to spiritual life, and may sometimes help by cutting off distractions. Grief, low spirits, restlessness of body, and the drawing in and sending out of breath also toss the mind about. He calls bodily restlessness a particular fault of his own time. He reads the breath both as harsh, uneven breathing and as a life of harsh, uneven impulses.

Key terms antarāya (un-tuh-RAH-yuh), “barriers”: The nine obstacles that interrupt practice and scatter the mind. vikṣepa (vik-SHAY-puh), “drive the psychic nature this way and that”: Distraction or scattering of the mind, the common character of the nine obstacles and their companions. prāṇa (PRAH-nuh), “life-breath”: Breath or life-force. 1.31 names uneven in- and out-breathing (śvāsa-praśvāsa) among the signs of a scattered mind.

Connections Compare 1.29: These are the barriers whose removal 1.29 promised.

To reflect on Johnston suggests pondering each of the nine barriers as a state of mind. Choose one, perhaps doubt or lightmindedness, and over a day simply notice when it shows up in you, without judging it.

1.32

Context Against the scattering, the text now offers ways of steadying the mind, beginning with eka-tattva-abhyāsa: practice on one principle, or one reality. Commentators have asked what that one principle is. Vācaspati Miśra, for one, takes it as Īśvara, reading it in the light of the sutras just before. Johnston gives it a moral turn: the principle should be “valorous work for the soul, in others as in ourselves.” This sutra opens a run of alternatives through 1.39, several introduced by “Or.” Together they suggest that the text offers many ways in rather than a single prescribed method.

In plain words The way to put a stop to these disturbances is steady application to one principle. Johnston traces the troubling moods of the mind to a will that was once strong but has been worn down by seeking sensations for their own sake. The way back is a return to the will’s first vigor through positive effort. That effort is applied steadily to a principle drawn from the reality of spiritual life: brave work for the soul, in others as in oneself.

Key terms eka-tattva (AY-kuh TUT-tvuh), “a principle”: One principle or one reality. Some commentators, following the context, take it as Īśvara. abhyāsa (ub-YAH-suh), “Steady application”: Practice, the same word as in 1.12, here directed to one principle.

Connections Compare 1.30: This is the first way offered against the barriers listed there. Compare 1.12: The same word for practice, now aimed at the obstacles.

1.33

Context This is one of the best-loved sutras. It names four attitudes, each matched to its object. Friendliness is for the happy, compassion for those who suffer, gladness for the virtuous, and upekṣā for the non-virtuous. The same four appear in Buddhist teaching as the four immeasurable states (in Pali mettā, karuṇā, muditā, upekkhā). Johnston’s “disregard of the unholy” renders upekṣā, which modern translators usually call equanimity or indifference: not dwelling on others’ wrongdoing rather than opposing them. The result is citta-prasādana, a clearing and settling of the mind, which Johnston calls “gracious peace.”

In plain words Sympathy with the happy, compassion for those in sorrow, delight in the good and disregard of the wicked bring the mind to a gracious peace. Johnston observes that when we are wrapped in ourselves and our bitter thoughts, we will not disturb our mood to share others’ joy, which would double it, or their sorrow, which would halve it. We refuse to delight in holy things and brood on unholy ones. These moods must be overcome by a strong effort of will. Tearing through these veils gives a glimpse of the grace and peace of the inner self.

Key terms maitrī (MY-tree), “sympathy”: Friendliness or goodwill, the attitude toward those who are happy. karuṇā (KUH-roo-nah), “compassion”: Compassion, the attitude toward those who suffer. muditā (MOO-dih-tah), “delight”: Gladness in others’ goodness, the attitude toward the virtuous. upekṣā (oo-PAKE-shah), “disregard”: Equanimity: not dwelling on others’ wrongdoing. Johnston’s word for it is disregard. prasāda (pruh-SAH-duh), “gracious peace”: Clarity or serenity of mind, the settling these four attitudes bring.

Connections Compare 1.32: A second way to steady the scattered mind, this time through our attitudes toward others.

To reflect on Notice today one person who is happy, one who is struggling, one doing something good, and one behaving badly. Which of the four attitudes comes easily to you, and which does not?

1.34–1.35

Context 1.34 speaks of the outflow and the holding of breath as another way to steady the mind. The traditional commentary treats it as a practice with the breath; Book II returns to breath at length in its account of the eight limbs. This companion describes the sutra and does not teach it as a technique. Johnston softens it to “even sending forth and control” and reads it twice, as quiet breathing and as “the even and quiet tenor of life.” 1.35 speaks of an activity tied to objects that binds the mind to steadiness. The traditional commentary takes this as unusually fine sense experience arising from focused attention, which strengthens confidence in practice. Johnston reads it as persistent application to one’s work, “sitting close” to it.

In plain words Or peace may come through the even outflow and control of the breath. Johnston sees two meanings: quiet, even breathing, which is part of overcoming bodily restlessness, and a quiet, even course of life, free of jarring impulses, which he says brings stillness to the heart. Faithful, persistent attention to any object, once fully achieved, will also bind the mind to steadiness. Here again, he says, we are told to train the will by steady work, keeping close to the task.

Key terms prāṇa (PRAH-nuh), “life-breath”: Breath or life-force. 1.34 speaks of its outflow and holding, which Johnston reads as quiet breathing and an even life.

Connections Compare 1.31: Uneven breath appeared among the signs of scattering; here even breath becomes a way to steadiness. Compare 1.32: More of the alternative ways to steady the mind.

To reflect on Johnston’s second meaning is “the even and quiet tenor of life.” Think back over yesterday: was there one harsh or jarring impulse that set the tone for what followed?

1.36–1.37

Context Two more alternatives follow. 1.36 speaks of a state that is sorrowless and luminous. The traditional commentary connects it with meditation on an inner light in the heart. Johnston reads it as a cheerful, courageous spirit, borrowing “the pale cast of thought” from Hamlet, and insists it is an offering rather than personal comfort. 1.37 is traditionally read as the mind taking for its object someone free of passion, such as a great sage. Johnston instead reads it as purging one’s own mind of self-indulgence. His commentary brings in the Christian doctrine of the fall: “the fall of man is a reality, exemplified in our own persons.”

In plain words A joyful, radiant spirit will also steady the mind. Johnston calls gloomy pessimism the greatest of illusions and holds that gloom yields readily to the will: courageous effort brings a clear, brave mind. This is meant not as comfort for the personal self but as an offering to the ideal of spiritual life, a share in a treasure common to all. Or the mind may be steadied by clearing it of self-indulgence. Johnston treats the fall of man as real in each of us. Our faults, worse than any animal’s, all come from indulgence, and as we climbed down for pleasure we must climb back up, painfully perhaps, but necessarily.

Key terms jyotiṣmatī (jyoh-TISH-muh-tee), “radiant”: Luminous: the sorrowless, shining state of 1.36, traditionally linked with an inner light. rāga (RAH-guh), “self-indulgence”: Passion or attachment. 1.37 speaks of a mind free of it; Book II counts it among the afflictions.

Connections Compare 1.33: Further alternatives in the same series of ways to steady the mind. Compare 1.15: Johnston’s self-indulgence here echoes his rendering of non-attachment.

1.38–1.39

Context 1.38 offers as a support for the mind what is known in dream and in deep sleep. Commentators read this in several ways, among them taking a dream experience or the stillness of dreamless sleep as the object of attention. Johnston’s phrase “the children by the shore of the immortal sea that brought us hither” echoes Wordsworth’s Intimations Ode. 1.39 is remarkably open: meditation on whatever one finds dear. After many specific methods, the text leaves the choice to the practitioner. Johnston reads it as love, which he calls “a form of knowledge.”

In plain words Or the mind may be steadied by reflecting on what is perceived in dreams and in dreamless sleep. Johnston grants that dreams are made of waking images but holds that they are real on their own level. Knowing there is another world lightens the tyranny of material life, and much poetry and art comes from there. Dreams may reflect higher things as well as lower, and dreamless sleep holds a purer vision still. Or the mind may be steadied by meditating on what is dearest to the heart. Love is a kind of knowledge, he writes: we truly know a thing or a person by becoming one with it in love. He suggests two directions for this: an artist’s pure love of the work, and an earnest, compassionate search into the hearts of others.

Key terms svapna (SVUP-nuh), “dreams”: Dream. 1.38 takes what is known in dreams as a possible support for the mind. nidrā (NID-rah), “dreamless sleep”: Sleep, here the stillness of dreamless sleep as a support for attention. dhyāna (DYAH-nuh), “meditative brooding”: Meditation: sustained attention on an object, here whatever one holds dear.

Connections Compare 1.10: Sleep, counted there as a movement of the mind, becomes here a support for steadiness.

To reflect on The sutra leaves the choice open. What is dearest to your heart? Spend a few quiet minutes simply holding it in mind, with something of what Johnston calls “the pure love of the artist for his work.”

1.40–1.41

Context 1.40 sums up the steadied mind’s range, from the smallest particle to the greatest magnitude. Johnston renders this “from the atom to the Infinite” and illustrates it with a story about Newton. “Live the life, to know the doctrine” echoes John 7:17. 1.41 gives one of the text’s central images. When the mind’s movements have dwindled, it is like a fine clear jewel that takes the color of what it rests on, whether knower, knowing or known. The sutra calls this samāpatti, the mind’s taking on the form of its object. Johnston renders the jewel as “like a pure crystal” and maps the three onto consciousness, force and matter, an equation that is his own.

In plain words So the practitioner comes to master everything, from the atom to the infinite. Johnston recalls Newton saying he made his discoveries by keeping his mind bent on them. We truly know a thing only by becoming one with it, so the life must be lived if the teaching is to be known. When the mind’s disturbances are stilled, consciousness becomes like a pure crystal and takes the color of whatever it rests on: the knower, the act of knowing, or the thing known. Johnston equates these with consciousness, force and matter. He holds that the same power runs through a gentle heart’s understanding of others and a scientist’s insight into planets or atoms.

Key terms samāpatti (suh-mah-PUT-tee): The stilled mind taking on the form of its object, like a clear jewel colored by what lies beside it. grahītṛ (gruh-HEE-tree), “perceiver”: The one who grasps or knows: the first of the three things the stilled mind can rest on. grahaṇa (GRUH-huh-nuh), “perceiving”: The act or instrument of knowing, the second of the three. grāhya (GRAH-hyuh), “thing perceived”: What is grasped or known, the third of the three.

Connections Compare 1.2: The crystal image shows what the mind is like once the stilling of 1.2 is reached. Compare 1.39: Johnston’s knowing by becoming one continues his reading of love as knowledge.

1.42–1.43

Context The text now refines the stages first mapped at 1.17, starting with coarse, outward objects. In savitarka samāpatti the mind blends the word, the thing and the idea of it; this blending is the vikalpa of 1.9. In nirvitarka samāpatti, memory has been cleared and the object alone shines, as if the mind were empty of its own form. “The commentator takes a very simple illustration: a cow” refers to the traditional commentary attributed to Vyāsa, which uses that example. Johnston adds his own examples: coming to a book burdened with its author and period, painters of cows, Newton, and the portrait painter.

In plain words When the mind, resting in perception, blends together a thing’s name, the thing itself and the idea of it, this is perception with outward consideration. Johnston compares approaching a book with our heads full of its author, its period and its school; the next stage goes straight to its spiritual meaning and its bearing on our own lives. He cites the commentator’s example of a cow. First comes its name, the animal and the idea of it; then, setting these aside, one enters into the cow’s own life, as some painters of cows do. When the object stands in the mind free of memory’s pictures and uncolored by the mind, as a pure, shining idea, this is perception without outward consideration. It is the piercing sight by which Newton made his discoveries, or by which a great portrait painter makes a soul live on canvas. These stages, Johnston says, lead the mind toward the soul-vision of the spiritual self.

Key terms vitarka (vih-TUR-kuh), “exterior consideration”: Gross reflection. With it (savitarka) word, thing and idea are blended; without it (nirvitarka) the object alone shines. vikalpa (vih-KUL-puh): The blending of word, thing and idea that marks the first of these two stages. Vyāsa (VYAH-suh), “commentator”: The sage to whom tradition attributes the oldest commentary, the source of the cow example.

Connections Compare 1.17: This refines the first stage of absorption named there. Compare 1.9: The blending of word, thing and idea is the vikalpa defined there. Compare 1.41: These are the first forms of the crystal-like state just described.

1.44–1.46

Context 1.44 applies the same pair to subtle objects, giving savicāra and nirvicāra. 1.45 says subtlety rises until it ends in aliṅga, the unmarked. In the Sāṃkhya and Yoga account of nature this is the unmanifest root of prakṛti, which Johnston renders “that pure nature which has no distinguishing mark.” His commentary turns the ascent into a movement from separateness to unity. It echoes Ephesians 2:14 on the broken-down “partition wall” and John 17:23 on being “made perfect in the One.” 1.46 calls all these stages sabīja, with seed. Johnston speaks of them as four stages of perception.

In plain words The same two steps, applied to finer objects, are said to be with or without the mind’s weighing. Johnston explains that we form general ideas by comparing and sorting the images in the mind, which is that weighing. A poet’s or a genius’s swift insight into them rises above it, closer to the sight of the spiritual self. Finer objects rise by degrees to a pure nature with no distinguishing mark. As we move from separate outer things like pebbles, to overlapping mind-images, to ideas, and to purer essences, we draw near to unity. Bodies stand apart and minds meet and part, but spirits know through unity, where the wall between us, others and the Highest falls. These are the stages of spiritual consciousness that are still limited and still hold the seed of separateness. The spiritual self is still working through the mind and has yet to wake in its own realm.

Key terms vicāra (vih-CHAH-ruh), “judicial action of the mind”: Subtle reflection. With it (savicāra) or without it (nirvicāra), the mind rests on finer objects. sūkṣma (SOOK-shmuh), “finer substance”: Subtle: objects finer than outward things, such as mind-images and their elements. aliṅga (uh-LING-guh), “no distinguishing mark”: The unmarked: in Sāṃkhya and Yoga, the unmanifest root of nature, where subtlety ends. sabīja (suh-BEE-juh), “seed of separateness”: With seed: absorption that still holds a seed of further mental activity. Johnston’s word separateness is his reading.

Connections Compare 1.42: The pair of stages for coarse objects is here extended to subtle ones. Compare 1.17: This fills out the second stage of the earlier map of absorption.

1.47–1.49

Context Now the text describes the fruit of these stages. When nirvicāra becomes lucid, there is adhyātma-prasāda, clarity of the inner self (1.47). In it insight is ṛtambharā, truth-bearing (1.48). Its object differs from that of scripture and inference because it concerns the particular (1.49). The traditional commentary explains that scripture and inference grasp things only in general, while this insight grasps the particular thing itself. Johnston draws a more personal conclusion: the awakened seer receives precise knowledge of “his own particular life and needs.” His three figures, the poet, the philosopher and the saint, are his own examples.

In plain words When perception without the mind’s weighing becomes pure, the inner self comes to a gracious peace. Johnston’s examples are the poet who sees spirit within symbol and beauty in all things, the philosopher who looks past appearances to realities, and the saint’s firm sense of spiritual life. All have come near the dwelling place of peace. In that peace, perception is always true. Such people gain sure knowledge of what is real and know that they know, because they know things by being them; they stand on rock and know it for rock. What this perception grasps differs from what the sacred books or sound reasoning teach, because it is particular. Scripture and inferences from it give general truths, while the awakened seer receives exact knowledge bearing on his own life and needs, or on the needs of others.

Key terms prasāda (pruh-SAH-duh), “gracious peace”: Clarity or serenity. Here the clarity of the inner self (adhyātma-prasāda). ṛtambharā (rih-TUM-buh-rah), “unfailingly true”: Truth-bearing: the insight that arises in the clarity of the highest reflective absorption. prajñā (PRUJ-nyah), “perception”: Insight or wisdom, here the truth-bearing insight of 1.48. śruta (SHROO-tuh), “sacred books”: What is heard: scripture and teaching, which give knowledge in general terms. anumāna (uh-noo-MAH-nuh), “sound inference”: Inference, which like scripture reaches only the general. viśeṣa (vih-SHAY-shuh), “particular”: The particular: the specific thing itself, which this insight grasps directly.

Connections Compare 1.33: The same word for clarity or peace, now of the inner self. Compare 1.7: The sources of valid knowledge are here set beside a knowing that goes beyond them.

1.50–1.51

Context The Book closes on its last two steps. The impression born of truth-bearing insight blocks all other impressions (1.50). When even that impression is stilled, everything is stilled, and absorption is nirbīja, without seed (1.51). The word for stilling is nirodha, the same word as in the definition of yoga at 1.2, so the Book ends where it began. Johnston’s “with no seed of separateness left” brings in separateness, an idea that runs through his commentary; the Sanskrit says only nirbīja, without seed. His comment on 1.51 is very brief. The final freedom the text names, kaivalya, is described in Book IV.

In plain words The impression this perception leaves on consciousness overrides all earlier impressions. Johnston describes each field the mind reaches as a mental state, like the mental picture of a stage with actors on it. When the pure vision of poet, philosopher or saint fills the whole field, everything lesser is crowded out. Yet even a sage’s vision keeps a thin veil of illusion, the last and highest mental state. When this impression too ceases, then, since every impression has ceased, pure spiritual consciousness arises with no seed of separateness left. The last veil is drawn aside, and the spiritual self stands with unveiled sight, pure and serene.

Key terms saṃskāra (sum-SKAH-ruh), “impress”: A latent impression. The one left by truth-bearing insight blocks all others until it too is stilled. nirodha (nih-ROH-duh), “ceases”: Stilling or cessation, the word of 1.2, returning here for the final stilling of every impression. nirbīja (nir-BEE-juh), “no seed of separateness”: Without seed: the final absorption, in which nothing remains to sprout into further mental activity. kaivalya (ky-VUL-yuh): Aloneness or freedom: the goal the text names in Book IV, which Johnston reads as the full emergence of the spiritual man.

Connections Compare 1.2: The stilling that defines yoga returns as the stilling of every impression. Compare 1.46: Absorption with seed gives way to absorption without seed. Compare 1.18: The absorption in which only impressions remain reaches its end here.

To reflect on Read 1.2 and 1.51 side by side. The Book begins and ends with stilling. After everything in between, what do you now take “control of the versatile psychic nature” to mean?