Yoga Sutra: Contemplation contemplations

one at a time, take the time to become fully aware of what each of the 51 Contemplations means to you - taking how ever much time as needed to answer. many of the "lines" as you may notice do go together, this was done to aid in translation and cohesiveness, so some might need to be re-combined to make more sense.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
The Threads of Union
Translation by BonGiovanni
1. on Contemplations
~

Before beginning any spiritual text it is customary to clear the mind of all distracting thoughts, to calm the breath and to purify the heart.

1.1 Now, instruction in Union.

1.2. Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind.

1.3. Then the seer dwells in his own nature.

1.4. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thought-streams.

1.5. The thought-streams are five-fold, painful and not painful.

1.6. Right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy, sleep and memory.

1.7. Right knowledge is inference, tradition and genuine cognition.

1.8. Wrong knowledge is false, illusory, erroneous beliefs or notions.

1.9. Fancy is following after word-knowledge empty of substance.

1.10. Deep sleep is the modification of the mind which has for its substratum nothingness.

1.11. Memory is not allowing mental impressions to escape.

1.12. These thought-streams are controlled by practice and non-attachment.

1.13. Practice is the effort to secure steadiness.

1.14. This practice becomes well-grounded when continued with reverent devotion and without interruption over a long period of time.

1.15. Desirelessness towards the seen and the unseen gives the consciousness of mastery.

1.16. This is signified by an indifference to the three attributes, due to knowledge of the Indweller.

1.17. Cognitive meditation is accompanied by reasoning, discrimination, bliss and the sense of 'I am.'

1.18. There is another meditation which is attained by the practice of alert mental suspension until only subtle impressions remain.

1.19. For those beings who are formless and for those beings who are merged in unitive consciousness, the world is the cause.

1.20. For others, clarity is preceded by faith, energy, memory and equalminded contemplation.

1.21. Equalminded contemplation is nearest to those whose desire is most ardent.

1.22. There is further distinction on account of the mild, moderate or intense means employed.

1.23. Or by surrender to God.

1.24. God is a particular yet universal indweller, untouched by afflictions, actions, impressions and their results.

1.25. In God, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.

1.26. Not being conditioned by time, God is the teacher of even the ancients.

1.27. God's voice is Om.

1.28. The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning.

1.29. From that is gained introspection and also the disappearance of obstacles.

1.30. Disease, inertia, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, laziness, sensuality, mind-wandering, missing the point, instability- these distractions of the mind are the obstacles.

1.31. Pain, despair, nervousness, and disordered inspiration and expiration are co-existent with these obstacles.

1.32. For the prevention of the obstacles, one truth should be practiced constantly.

1.33. By cultivating friendliness towards happiness and compassion towards misery, gladness towards virtue and indifference towards vice, the mind becomes pure.

1.34. Optionally, mental equanimity may be gained by the even expulsion and retention of energy.

1.35. Or activity of the higher senses causes mental steadiness.

1.36. Or the state of sorrowless Light.

1.37. Or the mind taking as an object of concentration those who are freed of compulsion.

1.38. Or depending on the knowledge of dreams and sleep.

1.39. Or by meditation as desired.

1.40. The mastery of one in Union extends from the finest atomic particle to the greatest infinity.

1.41. When the agitations of the mind are under control, the mind becomes like a transparent crystal and has the power of becoming whatever form is presented. knower, act of knowing, or what is known.

1.42. The argumentative condition is the confused mixing of the word, its right meaning, and knowledge.

1.43. When the memory is purified and the mind shines forth as the object alone, it is called non-argumentative.

1.44. In this way the meditative and the ultra-meditative having the subtle for their objects are also described.

1.45. The province of the subtle terminates with pure matter that has no pattern or distinguishing mark.

1.46. These constitute seeded contemplations.

1.47. On attaining the purity of the ultra-meditative state there is the pure flow of spiritual consciousness.

1.48. Therein is the faculty of supreme wisdom.

1.49. The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.

1.50. The habitual pattern of thought stands in the way of other impressions.

1.51. With the suppression of even that through the suspension of all modifications of the mind, contemplation without seed is attained.

End Part One

 

awesome - took me maybe ten minutes to do the first three, i am going to do the next two and ponder my answers until tonight ...
~

learn, answer and experience your truth
;-)

i tagged my answer to 1-5 bellow

NSFW:

1.1 Now, instruction in Union.

where the past and future meet - the only point of existence where we are capable of mastery of Now and further more our cognitive self

1.2. Union is restraining the thought-streams natural to the mind.

there are many natural thought-streams - i assume our perception of Now, and the information" we are receiving from our 5 senses are thought-streams to be realized as a whole: I

1.3. Then the seer dwells in his own nature.

I am most aware of what i have learned through experience to be truth that is nature to myself, the experiences my senses have had, and are currently having are my dwelling.
~~~
i have the impulse to go back over them now, but feel i should leave them as is, then edit in italics - with what ever explanation, even;
"i dont know how i left this out?!?"
is an answer - haha

1.4. Otherwise he is of the same form as the thought-streams.

we may give in to what we perceive or sense as truth only, we become a 'product of our environment', rather then a part of that can be changed with total relation to the elements and senses that make up our relation and it influence over our thoughts emotions mental and eventual physical wellness.

1.5. The thought-streams are five-fold, painful and not painful.

painful and not painful, i touched on this today in a post.
how we perceive and manage pain, or, firstly understanding how we allow ourselves to be managed by pain - dissemble

five elements and five senses (five of each we think of right away anyway) seems more info on the 'thought streams' is needed here, though!

ill find Patanjali translated by BonGiovanni discussing this principle, and be back soon with that...

 

Dammit! I want to sit down and think on these but I just don't have the time
Perhaps another day I'll remember and do so

 

there is more...

and if anything in your life time, this is one of the few things to do.


the point isnt to think about it -- find a personal understanding of each line and write what it means to you, how the sum of the words become a relation you can see and identify with.

these are more of experiences to be related to one by one, until we eventually reach an optimum realization of each as a whole their-selves; AKA ourselves.

after completing all 51 parts, we have another sum-total, a 1, or, a personal oneness - a greater understanding of ourselves in a "singularity" sense, as we each are amongst all amongst each other, as part of a puzzle or organism - a body of light.


collect-yourself & connect with the collective

 

That was one of my favourite parts of my yoga instruction: discussion of the Sutras. My opinion tended to be different from most, which made for some lively chats!

I must give this a better read when I have a chance; I'm just heading out the door now. Which translation are you going from PIP?

 

i dont understand -
do you mean whos "commentary" on a particular Sutra?
(havent gotten that far yet, but looking forward to reading quiet a few after finishing my own meditations - as to not be influenced)

this translation is of the Yoga Sutra is by Don Giovanni, i chose it only because the language is more modern seeming. i have the Rigveda Hymns as translated by Ralph TH Griffith. TH Griffith uses very formal Early English, i like that because it does pain more of a picture. EME to me is literal and proper, there is little room for error of communication through speech using it - comparing EME to Modern English is almost impossible.

~ Thy doseth use less words, for thou ears ought not strain to hear; Think freely ~

who would you, or anyone reading recommend ?


as far as a particular Vedic text, i feel i should study Rig, the Puranas, and Ayurveda - and begin to see what i navigate towards.

i have the rest of the Yoga Sutra, but after the Yoga Contemplations, as a Blog anyway, i will be doing something similar with the Samkhya - somehow.

~

oh man lol - a class discussing this would be impossible for me! i would have to just keep my mouth shut...for the first three quarters.

 

There was a bit of tongue-biting, for sure. A sceptical empiricist/materialist doesn't always fit in among shiny sky-energy people. But, having experienced some effects from the practise, I can say that they do exist. Explanation: metaphor. An early-technological civilization would not have the knowledge in place to comprehend the nervous system (hence prana/chakras), but they did the best that they could with the best observational tool available to them: introspection. The problem there is the subjectivity, but 4500 years of interpretation has fine-tuned that aspect a bit.

I used Satchidananda's translation, which was contemporary (linguistically) but a bit more hand-wavey with the explanations than I'd like. He did cover the first book rather well, and used metaphor excellently to give a great concept of the vrttis (distortion of the 'mind stuff' or true self, i.e. ego), but his interpretation of svadiyaha (inner study of the self, IMO at least ) and ishvara were a bit too rooted in religion for my liking. He called the former exclusively 'study of religious/holy texts' and the latter just straight up 'god'. While I wasn't the only agnostic in the group, I certainly was the only atheist, which made for some fun conversations about those topics. I was able to reconcile them, and even made a decent presentation on sutra 2.1, but I know that there were a few of my co-students who weren't buying it.

Oh, and upon second reading I see that you referred to Don Giovanni; sorry about that. I had one foot out the door when I commented before, and I wanted as much to make a note for myself to come back and give it a second reading.

Now, when you say early English, you mean like Chauncer, or like Beowulf? Because I'd probably need another translation for the latter

 

Chauncer - except with more modern spelling corrections...but, reading his stuff seems is best appreciated as-is, maybe.

an example of Ralph TH Griffith:
[01-046] HYMN XLVI. Asvins.
5 Ye have regard unto our hymns, Nasatyas, thinking of our words:
Drink boldly of the Soma juice.
6 Vouchsafe to us, O Asvin Pair, such strength as, with attendant light,
May through the darkness carry us.

God or not, you are right, it works...


i see now the 5-fold of the 'thought-streams' i went to look for, is actually the next five points! ive been waiting to "answer" those, waiting to get personal, but only not worrying of any pride issues. not worrying though is part of the point, as you alluded to Dave, the Ego/Pain and Fear Bodies we harbor, and are taught over our life time(s) are here to be understood and dissembled.

Kundalini Yoga is very affective, and endlessly fascinating to me.
i was 10-15 days into a 40 day Kundalini Yoga routine, but then 'released energy' ;-) and felt i should start over...lol

do have any opinion or interest in Ayurveda? or the Mantras and working with a Mala? the Doshas are very interesting, and the more i learn the more clear it becomes that i do instinctively navigate towards Vata associated food etc. i have been incorporating more Vata stuff into my diet knowingly as-well lately, and have since had the easiest time kicking coffee - something i thought would be more difficult then tobacco.

very cool - very effective in every way - down to the DNA/RNA and back up to the Brain Matter and out again..!

 

I'm curious about the nutritional aspect of ayurveda, but get conflicting results on tests of my dominant doshas. Either 50/50 kapha/pitta, or all kapha or all pitta with a smattering of vatta. Still trying to sort that out, but in the meanwhile I'm obviously aiming for a vatta-enhancing diet. Physical practise-wise, I'm all kapha. Slow and steady hatha all the way, anything more brings out the fire, which is counter-productive for me.

The cleansing... I'm on the fence. The neti practise is fine and good, although I'm not crazy about the final form (in the nose, out the mouth). Enemas are okay occasionally, but if done too often they can deplete the natural flora needed for proper and comfortable digestion. The more extreme cleansing, involving nose flossing, stomach cloths, prolapse and washing, and the like, are not for me. Nutritional cleansing is interesting to me, and I'm researching what I should do for my first juice fast-- probably next weekend.

Heh, I did something similar, but from a taoist standpoint. Channeling and re-directing chi for improved creativity and energy (again, metaphorical), but didn't make it very long either. I should give that another look, as I've been pretty worn out lately.

Kudos for quitting caffeine! I've tried that a few times but have always relapsed. I could certainly see you as being strongly vatta, but perhaps a bit more kapha/pitta would bring more balance? Heavy, kaphic foods probably won't go down easy for you right now, but might be beneficial?

Although we can understand and dissemble the vrttis, we are also taught to identify with them, which is the thread that needs to be cut. I suck at that-- my scissors are all rusty.

I really appreciate this conversation, as my practise has really stalled of late. My interest is being re-kindled... I just need to get my ass back into the studio. Until then... philosophy!

 

for now i will say - 2 grams Turmeric 3/4Tbsp Black Pepper, 5 pistols of what ever Saffron - hashOil and Honey in Cream and Soy, or 2 G's Turmeric in 2 cups yogurt at lunch, these are very very good.

i swears it man

this all is astounding really.


ive had some very bizare dreams that continue after waking momentarily, what i see in the dreams is there over laying vividly what is actually" there. usually Ganesha, or murmuring-speaking and purple and black triangles...dont laugh its enough of an occurrence to mention..

 

... thought-streams~ hmmm

this is strange, and im just going to start typing, how can i say it for now IDK

maybe we see spirits, but only often times its all in our heads, actually, a projection of us, our energy and spirit matter casted, or resting or not resting out side of our physical bodies, intense stresses and situational occurrences, self defensive idealistic fancy gathered in the fine feather electrical-esq martix compound of the plasma that makes us and our environment up, the Ether to many/most "mystics" recognize

sounds like typical PTSD induced psychosis?

well what if other people and animals, electrical equipment see, react, experience the same thing?

for instance, at this house im in now, i, she, her friend, her mom the cats my guitar tuners, EMF, computer recording device and EQ input all would too, and camera... but as i was really getting sick, really going into pain there began the 'presence' of a man, that i and others would identify as moving very fast, cycloning at times around the out-side of the house - "he" would usually change directions, very distinctive coloring and appearance - he would seem to want very desperately in side the house - to see/get/find/look for something NOW - i think that was "me" and i didnt give in this time. or maybe not me or my projection, but the most negative "person" that could of been me, the energy that could of been, which i was deflecting.

it also kept away a dream from a dreamer, that dream was here weeping and left, after she left. so i say now that any cries you hear at night, are to be smiled after, they contain what the mother earth doesnt want, but needs, pure emotion the same as she used to create us with, in full return a blessing.


~

 

still contemplating ...

in the mean-time ~
HUH Pranayama
and the Beatles - Harry Pinsker
:-X

 

Careful with that pranayama-- that's some powerful juju there. Krishnamachara flat out refused to teach it to Iyengar until he basically mastered the physical practise, and even then only reluctantly, and not without negative initial effects.

I wish that I had a comment on your prior reply, but I've got nothing. The mind does strange things at times, especially when the ego is under attack or during duress.

 

hehe - no comment expected on that...
:-X

to clarify some, he scared off a life long common of another that i never saw myself - and he wasnt here after it all went down - 2 attuned guests pointed him out on their own, with no mention of him prior...


much stranger things have happened though, alone and not..!
this is why i couldnt stick with the atheism or agnostic plea,;-)i just couldnt rationalize with myself any further about how such things can happen/spirit experiences with out there being a bit more going on.


anyway



i had to train my abdomen to do this essentially, with the rib pain etc.
while meditating i learned right away to use my abdomen/plexus as an "accordion" to chant mantras continuously, and have 2 and sometimes three(periodically) octaves going at once. i would practice this too being silly etc etc...

im curious about how it is a fact that proper meditation will and does build gray brain matter, in the brain, but our spines are covered in gray brain matter also............


standing yoga, i guess its called, i really really am benefiting form dude...you know what the hell bamboo spine is, fuck it, spit the fire!
in baby steps - or with an instructor who would take on an AS auto immune patient. the way i feel though, i am looking forward to telling my doc NO to the BZD's and opioids, he suggested this stuff....and, my next CBC will be very interesting - my last WBC my neutrophils were 27~ way too high, this was a couple of months ago and is my normal range... this time, ATM, i bet i am 13-15, as i was at the start.

im on a honey moon with this, sure you know how that is too - but i just am so astounded, this with the kundi and Vata diet, is shedding skin, rotten ligaments, and draining the endocrine system like OMG!


have you tried Ghee, Dave??
lol

so good, and good for you, seems like it could be Kapha aggravating, but it is a general Vata balancing food(back from Akkadian days), is some of each element, the original anointment oil...lubes the joints and GI, helps us breakdown and utilize what we eat, speeds and or avoids any fermentation process in the GI as well.

 

o wow ...

i googled Krishnamachara, and he is one of the most incredible looking people i have seen! woah!

and Iyengar seems like one of the nicest people you could meet.
in (this) video he inhales and for near 50 seconds, and exhales then after talking some for another 50...total mastery of the body!!!!

these guys knew far more about the workings of the human body then any id guess any veteran surgeon.


i guess people think Yoga is just stretching, as i did.
:-X
____________________
ATtN me:
how could i go smoke a cigarette after watching that???
...
i have never stood next to a fire to breath smoke.
* looks at just harvested bud -
FFS, will this stuff make me actually healthy, and
give me more reason then it is going to kill me
to drop my silly vices?!?

suppose i should keep trying
;-)

 

Yup. Krishnamachara was the reason why any of us have even heard of yoga. Otherwise it would have just been some obscure side discipline within hinduism. I have a demo video of him and Iyengar doing some pretty amazing things-- the source for all of these youtube clips. Motsly asana, but there are some crazy pranayama variations in there too.

Enjoy the honeymoon; if you keep at it, and keep pushing your edge (while still listening to your body), there's no reason for it to stop.

Oh yeah, I've tried ghee. I'm doing the vegan thing right now though, so no ghee for me at the moment. Coconut oil and Udo's oil work nicely as substitutes, but you're right: kaphas have to watch their fat intake. Udo's is safe, and coconut is amazing.

 

Oh, and don't beat yourself up over 'vices'; it takes a while to get past that. I still need caffeine every morning, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Maybe once I'm back at school and can keep a more reasonable schedule.

 

im not "addicted" to caffeine anymore, i just really dont want it in me because it makes me feel beyond words awful almost immediately.


i also believe what he said about the brain, the Breath, the CNS, and the Nose. i dont feel any God looks down on me for that personally(so much).... i just feel crazy feeling the way i do about it all, believing the way i do, having this all strike me more profoundly then anything since February, to then sit around inhaling smoke is just whack - no shit huh??
;-)


and that is a nice interlude back into the thought streams.

 

^ Um, that really doesn't sound good. The bloody semen bit; the mantra was kind of cool. The yoga studio where I practise play a version of that before class. It's sung by someone else though.

 

^it is a powerful Mantra;-)

~ snips
my stream turned into a river...
!!!




Prana Apana Shushumna Hari
Hari Har-Hari Har-Hari Har-Hari