one of them indicates that the sadhaka has followed methods appropriate to his evolution. But he should not mistake these powers for the goal of his search. For onlookers they may seem to be great accomplishments, but for the sadhaka they are hindrances to samadhi. Even celestial beings try to seduce the sadhaka. If he succumbs to these temptations, misfortunes overwhelm him.
If a yogi gets carried away by supernatural powers and uses them for fame, he fails in his sadhana. He is like a man who tries to save himself from the wind only to get caught up in a whirlwind. A yogi who attains certain powers and misconstrues them for his goal is caught in their effects and exposes himself to their afflictions. Therefore, Patañjali warns the sadhaka to renounce these accomplishments, so that the gates of everlasting bliss may open for him. He is counselled to develop non-attachment which destroys pride, a cardinal pitfall for those who acquire powers.
Adherence to the practice of yama and niyama, as described in sadhana pada, will ensure that the sadhaka does not get caught up in these powers, or misuse them.
Moment and movement
Moment is subjective and movement is objective. Patañjali explains that the moment is the present and the present is the eternal now: it is timeless, and real. When it slips from attention, it becomes movement, and movement is time. As moment rolls into movement, the past and the future appear and the moment disappears. Going with the movements of moments is the future; retraction of this is the past. The moment alone is the present.
Past and future create changes; the present is changeless. The fluctuations of consciousness into the past and future create time. If the mind, intelligence and consciousness are kept steady, and aware of moments without being caught in movements, the state of no-mind and no-time is experienced. This state is amanaskatva. The seer sees directly, independent of the workings of the mind. The yogi becomes the mind’s master, not its slave. He lives in a mind-free, time-free state. This is known as vivekaja jñanam: vivid, true knowledge.
Pure intelligence
Exalted intelligence is pure and true, untainted and uncontaminated. It distinguishes, clearly and instantly, the difference between similar entities, without analysing them according to rank, creed, quality and place.
This intelligence is true, pure and clean, as is the very soul. The yogi who possesses it is free from pride and prejudice. His intelligence and consciousness now rise to the level of the soul. As honey tastes the same from whichever side of the honeycomb it is taken, so, in the yogi, the body cells, senses, mind, intelligence, consciousness and conscience equally reflect the light of the soul. All parts of the seer appear as the soul. This is kaivalya. It comes when the powers which attract the misguided, but distract the yogi’s consciousness, are renounced.
Kaivalya means exclusiveness, or eternal emancipation. It is release from karma: the consequences and obligations of our actions. Kaivalya is an absolute, indivisible state of existence. In it, the yogi is stripped of thoughts, mind, intellect and ego, and freed from the play of the gunas of nature, sattva, rajas and tamas. He becomes a gunatitan, a pure, flawless person.
In vibhuti pada, Patañjali describes the supernatural powers that attend such exalted yogis and how the renunciation of these powers results in kaivalya: the crowning end of the yogic sadhana, a state of fullness of the soul and of unique aloneness.
This chapter, Kaivalya pada, is impressive and exhaustive. One of its main themes is that the content of consciousness is pure, absolute and divine, provided it is unsullied by action, be it white (sattvic), grey (rajasic) or black (tamasic). The absolute nature of consciousness is to be realized by propitious birth, spiritual fervour and meditation. The cleansing transformation of consciousness liberates life-energy which accelerates the process of self-evolution. Progressively, one disentangles oneself from life’s preoccupations with dharma, duty; artha, means of livelihood; and kama, worldly enjoyment. This transcendence leads to freedom, or moksa. Consciousness, released from the attributes of nature, dissolves in the soul, purusa.
This chapter deals with the necessary rejection by yogis of the supernatural powers which attend their spiritual ascent, and indicates how such men and women, who have in a sense left the world behind, may then serve the world.
Five types of Yogis
Kaivalya pada opens with the contention that prodigious yogic powers may be inborn, acquired by merit accumulated through practice in former lives. They may also be attained through use of herbs (ausadhi), incantation (mantra), devoted discipline (tapas), meditation (dhyana) and total absorption (samadhi).
In these five types of yogis, nature’s energy, which later becomes known as kundalini, flows with ever-increasing abundance, preparing them to receive the infinite light of the soul. If misused, this energetic current will vanish, after destroying its user. This is why tapas and samadhi are held to be the best of the five: they provide a firm foundation for stable growth, which prevents the yogi from misusing the energy built up through his practices.
The yogi’s judicious use of natural forces can be compared to the farmer who floods his fields one by one within their earthen banks, letting the water thoroughly drench the soil before breaking open a new channel into another. For safety’s sake, the yogi employs method and restraint so as to use nature’s energy (sakti) intelligently to gain wisdom.
Talent
It takes talent to grasp nature’s potential and measure its use. The danger is that power leads to pride and builds ego, eclipsing one’s essential divinity. The root of the ego is the same pure consciousness; it is its contact with external phenomena that generates desire, the seed of impurity. Purity is humility. When sullied by cleverness it becomes pride, which causes consciousness to dissipate itself in the fluctuations of thought. Tapas and samadhi are the most reliable means to acquire yogic talent.
Actions
Actions are of four types. They are black, white, grey, or without these attributes. The last is beyond the gunas of rajas, tamas and sattva, free from intention, motivation and desire, pure and sourceless, and outside the law of cause and effect that governs all other actions. Motivated action leads eventually to pride, affliction and unhappiness; the genuine yogi performs only actions which are motiveless: free of desire, pride and effect.
The chain of cause and effect is like a ball endlessly rebounding from the walls and floor of a squash court. Memory, conscious or sublimated, links this chain, even across many lives. This is because every action of the first three types leaves behind a residual impression, encoded in our deepest memory, which thereafter continues to turn the karmic wheel, provoking reaction and further action. The consequences of action may take effect instantaneously, or lie in abeyance for years, even through several lives. Tamasic action is considered to give rise to pain and sorrow, rajasic to mixed results, and sattvic to more agreeable ones. Depending on their provenance, the fruits of action may either tie us to lust, anger and greed, or turn us towards the spiritual quest. These residual impressions are called samskaras: they build the cycles of our existence and decide the station, time and place of our birth. The yogi’s actions, being pure, leave no impressions
