And, so it begins.
Having built up both a goal of liberation (moksha) from the suffering (duhkha) of life's challenges and our reactions to them, Patañjali then gets down to the nuts and bolts of his 8 limbs of Yoga, (which could be considered 7-steps + Samãdhi in one reading) and for the next 25+ sutras, things are pretty straight forward. The esoteric nature of Book 1 and the philosophical arguments of the beginning of Book 2 are quickly forgotten as we look into just what the 8 limbs (ashtanga) of Yoga are, and why should we care in the 21st century.
Let's begin then with identifying the first and second limbs, that of the Yamas and the Niyamas in sutras 2.30-33:
ahimsã-satya-asteya-brahmacarya-aparigrahãh yamãh 2.30
jãti-desha-kãla-samaya-anavicchannãh sãrva-bhaumã mahãvratam 2.31
shauca-santosha-tapah-svãdhyãya-ishvara-pranidhãnãni niyamãh 2.32
giving us:
The Yamas are: ahimsã (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (disciplined conduct) and aparigrahah (lack of avarice). 2.30
Unconditioned by one's birthright, location and time, they are universal, and known as the great vow. 2.31
The Ni-Yamas are: shauca (good hygiene/clean), santosha (contentment), tapah (discipline/austerity), svãdhyãya (self-study) and Ishvara-pranidhãna (reverence for a higher power). 2.32
Starting with the Yamas, then, we are off and running. Yamah and Ni-Yamah are often pitted against each other as being personal versus societal restraints and observances. As such, the pesky concept of morality comes into the picture, which is completely absent in the text. So, with respect to staying true to the words, I do not support that division, much less that there is an ethics to this. These are practical words of advice. Following the Golden Rule that Kant loved so much, if we do unto others as we would do unto ourselves, we get pretty close to the overall meaning of Yamah and Ni-Yamah as a complemental unit.
We will take the Yamas and Ni-Yamas one-by-one in a forthcoming post, so it is suffice to say that both 2.30 and 2.32 are merely lists.
However, ..., we cannot gloss over 2.31 so quickly.
Taken quite literally, 2.31 is the shot heard across India...Most texts, and especially "philosophical" and/or "religious" texts from India are highly male and caste orientated. Either they are expressly for male Brahmins (Vedas and so forth), or they are of second-highest caste, the Warrior caste (to which the Buddha belonged as well as Arjuna from the Bhagavad Gita). Yet, in 2.31, if we are to take Patañjali at face value, the Yamas are beyond gender, class and are timeless. Again, the Golden Rule or Kant springs to mind, or better yet, the age-old chestnut of sensus communis, or what we more or less know as: common sense. In other words, the Yamas, as we shall see, just make SENSE! It is not whether they are good or not, but to quote Louis Armstrong, "what a wonderful world it would be" if we all lived our lives with these in mind.
Here, in the Sutras, then they are called "the Great Vow," which sounds rather ominous, but since this word/phrase does not get repeated, nor elaborated upon further, it again merely reinforces the reading of the Yamas (and ultimately the Ni-Yamas) as just being a good idea...We shall soon see how we can apply each of the 5 Yamas and 5 Ni-Yamas to our daily lives and Yoga practice, but first, we need to deal with one (with a very important caveat) more aspect of them in sutras 2.33-2.34 (which looks daunting, but is actually quite tame):
vitarka-bãdhane pratipaksha-bhãvanam 2.33
vitarkã himsãdayah krita-kãrita-anumoditã lobha-krodha-moha-purvakã mridu-madhya-adhimãtrã duhkha-ajñãna-ananta-phalã iti pratipaksha-bhãvanam 2.34
Or,
WHEN the mind is disturbed by improper/negative thoughts, opposite thoughts are to be cultivated. 2.33
"Violence and so forth are such negative thoughts, and they can be done, made to be done, or allowed to be done, guided by greed/avarice, anger or delusion and being mild, moderate or severe, they yield the fruits of endless suffering and ignorance", such is the way to cultivate opposite thoughts. 2.34
In 2.33, the reason I have put "WHEN" in all caps is for the emphasis of the grammar. This is a locative absolute, which does not imply "IF", but "WHEN" we are plagued by negative thoughts, this is our solution. That is to say, we WILL have negative thoughts at times, so instead of throwing in the towel and giving up to Pessimism, Patañjali uses a variation on a very well-known Indian philosophical trick. If you cannot define something, then you define what it is not...this is known as Neti, Neti, which is actually na+iti, na+iti, which means, neither this, nor that. And, we shall see what the Neti that we need to be aware of when those plaguing thoughts come at us as we learn in 2.34.
Violence, or himsã and the like are such negative thoughts. This is important to pause upon as this is setting up the next 10 sutras, beginning with a-himsã, which means "absence of violence/harm" with the short "a" in front of himsã. So, instead of thinking I should not harm, we need to think about what would happen if we do harm/violence to ourselves or others, and how that can happen. It can be done by us, through an agent, or we can allow it to happen (such as watching someone suffer without helping), and it can be mild, moderate or severe and it can be caused by greed, anger or delusion. So, there are many permutations to the level and kind of himsã and so forth. It is not merely black and white, but many shades are considered. And, what happens then if we do not adhere to the Yamas and Ni-Yamas? Then, the fruits of such actions are eternal suffering (duhkha) and ignorance (a-jñãna, synonym of a-vidyã). In other words, the two things that the Yoga Sutras are trying to eradicate, suffering and ignorance, will come back at us in spades if we do not pay attention to the first two limbs, the Yamas and the Ni-Yamas.
But, again, they are not obligatory, but they are simply concepts of good advice and common sense as we shall see next...
So, stay tuned!
Having built up both a goal of liberation (moksha) from the suffering (duhkha) of life's challenges and our reactions to them, Patañjali then gets down to the nuts and bolts of his 8 limbs of Yoga, (which could be considered 7-steps + Samãdhi in one reading) and for the next 25+ sutras, things are pretty straight forward. The esoteric nature of Book 1 and the philosophical arguments of the beginning of Book 2 are quickly forgotten as we look into just what the 8 limbs (ashtanga) of Yoga are, and why should we care in the 21st century.
Let's begin then with identifying the first and second limbs, that of the Yamas and the Niyamas in sutras 2.30-33:
ahimsã-satya-asteya-brahmacarya-aparigrahãh yamãh 2.30
jãti-desha-kãla-samaya-anavicchannãh sãrva-bhaumã mahãvratam 2.31
shauca-santosha-tapah-svãdhyãya-ishvara-pranidhãnãni niyamãh 2.32
giving us:
The Yamas are: ahimsã (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (disciplined conduct) and aparigrahah (lack of avarice). 2.30
Unconditioned by one's birthright, location and time, they are universal, and known as the great vow. 2.31
The Ni-Yamas are: shauca (good hygiene/clean), santosha (contentment), tapah (discipline/austerity), svãdhyãya (self-study) and Ishvara-pranidhãna (reverence for a higher power). 2.32
Starting with the Yamas, then, we are off and running. Yamah and Ni-Yamah are often pitted against each other as being personal versus societal restraints and observances. As such, the pesky concept of morality comes into the picture, which is completely absent in the text. So, with respect to staying true to the words, I do not support that division, much less that there is an ethics to this. These are practical words of advice. Following the Golden Rule that Kant loved so much, if we do unto others as we would do unto ourselves, we get pretty close to the overall meaning of Yamah and Ni-Yamah as a complemental unit.
We will take the Yamas and Ni-Yamas one-by-one in a forthcoming post, so it is suffice to say that both 2.30 and 2.32 are merely lists.
However, ..., we cannot gloss over 2.31 so quickly.
Taken quite literally, 2.31 is the shot heard across India...Most texts, and especially "philosophical" and/or "religious" texts from India are highly male and caste orientated. Either they are expressly for male Brahmins (Vedas and so forth), or they are of second-highest caste, the Warrior caste (to which the Buddha belonged as well as Arjuna from the Bhagavad Gita). Yet, in 2.31, if we are to take Patañjali at face value, the Yamas are beyond gender, class and are timeless. Again, the Golden Rule or Kant springs to mind, or better yet, the age-old chestnut of sensus communis, or what we more or less know as: common sense. In other words, the Yamas, as we shall see, just make SENSE! It is not whether they are good or not, but to quote Louis Armstrong, "what a wonderful world it would be" if we all lived our lives with these in mind.
Here, in the Sutras, then they are called "the Great Vow," which sounds rather ominous, but since this word/phrase does not get repeated, nor elaborated upon further, it again merely reinforces the reading of the Yamas (and ultimately the Ni-Yamas) as just being a good idea...We shall soon see how we can apply each of the 5 Yamas and 5 Ni-Yamas to our daily lives and Yoga practice, but first, we need to deal with one (with a very important caveat) more aspect of them in sutras 2.33-2.34 (which looks daunting, but is actually quite tame):
vitarka-bãdhane pratipaksha-bhãvanam 2.33
vitarkã himsãdayah krita-kãrita-anumoditã lobha-krodha-moha-purvakã mridu-madhya-adhimãtrã duhkha-ajñãna-ananta-phalã iti pratipaksha-bhãvanam 2.34
Or,
WHEN the mind is disturbed by improper/negative thoughts, opposite thoughts are to be cultivated. 2.33
"Violence and so forth are such negative thoughts, and they can be done, made to be done, or allowed to be done, guided by greed/avarice, anger or delusion and being mild, moderate or severe, they yield the fruits of endless suffering and ignorance", such is the way to cultivate opposite thoughts. 2.34
In 2.33, the reason I have put "WHEN" in all caps is for the emphasis of the grammar. This is a locative absolute, which does not imply "IF", but "WHEN" we are plagued by negative thoughts, this is our solution. That is to say, we WILL have negative thoughts at times, so instead of throwing in the towel and giving up to Pessimism, Patañjali uses a variation on a very well-known Indian philosophical trick. If you cannot define something, then you define what it is not...this is known as Neti, Neti, which is actually na+iti, na+iti, which means, neither this, nor that. And, we shall see what the Neti that we need to be aware of when those plaguing thoughts come at us as we learn in 2.34.
Violence, or himsã and the like are such negative thoughts. This is important to pause upon as this is setting up the next 10 sutras, beginning with a-himsã, which means "absence of violence/harm" with the short "a" in front of himsã. So, instead of thinking I should not harm, we need to think about what would happen if we do harm/violence to ourselves or others, and how that can happen. It can be done by us, through an agent, or we can allow it to happen (such as watching someone suffer without helping), and it can be mild, moderate or severe and it can be caused by greed, anger or delusion. So, there are many permutations to the level and kind of himsã and so forth. It is not merely black and white, but many shades are considered. And, what happens then if we do not adhere to the Yamas and Ni-Yamas? Then, the fruits of such actions are eternal suffering (duhkha) and ignorance (a-jñãna, synonym of a-vidyã). In other words, the two things that the Yoga Sutras are trying to eradicate, suffering and ignorance, will come back at us in spades if we do not pay attention to the first two limbs, the Yamas and the Ni-Yamas.
But, again, they are not obligatory, but they are simply concepts of good advice and common sense as we shall see next...
So, stay tuned!
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