Showing posts with label Abhyãsa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abhyãsa. Show all posts
Friday, August 24, 2018
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Divide and Conquer, Unite and Transcend (Yoga Sutras 3.49-55)
The time has come. The pathway has been laid out before us, the pitfalls and obstacles identified, we have been given the key to release the shackles of ignorance, the maps have been drawn and the warnings given. There is only one choice to be made at this juncture.
Continue with this challenge, or return to status quo, the familiar.
We now close in on Book 3 with this daunting, and it is daunting, challenge when we arrive at the following sutras. The well has been fully primed, and it should be no surprise what lies behind the veil, and yet, it is...so let us continue.
3.49-50 then reveal:
sattva-purusha-anyatã-khyãti-mãtrasya sarvabhãva-adhishthãnritvam sarva-jñãtritvam 3.49
tad-vairãgyãd-api dosha-bîja-kshaye kaivalyam 3.50
Giving us:
Only for the one who recognizes the difference between sattva (reason/Mind) and purusha (consciousness/true awareness/Soul) is there the intelligence of all and supremacy over all beings. 3.49
However, even from vairãgyam (detachment) from that state comes kaivalyam (absolute singularity) in the destruction of the affliction of the seed concept (for samãdhi). 3.50
Bam. The sutra heard around the Yoga world...duality is only apparently the final step...non-duality is the ultimate one.
I cannot stress how influential it has been for centuries that this turn at 3.50 has been ignored or simply denied.
The message here is quite clear: Duality brings us omniscience and omnipotence; Non-Duality brings us freedom, because the former is the highest form of bondage ever.
To restate.
What we have been building up for the entire Yoga Sutras thus far are the tools to refine our sense of discretion, or viveka, in order to recognize the difference between sattva (pure reason) and purusha (pure intelligence) through the 8-limb path of Yoga and through diligent, long-lasting practice (abhyãsa) and ultimate detachment (vairãgyam) from the fruits of our actions. It is what we do when the Bee stings.
That is to stand at the abyss. 3.50 dares us to jump. And, this is when we falter, we hesitate, we freeze, or we turn around.
We fear Kaivalyam above all else. It is the most primal fear of all. It drives us to act when we should not or not to act when we should. It paralyzes and it enervates us to even think about it. It is the monster in the closet, the fear of turning off the lights.
Krishnamurti often spoke about the difference between being lonely and being alone. Being lonely gives us a perverse comfort because we can feel sorry for ourselves, we can play the victim to an audience of one, thus creating two. From the singularity comes duality. To be alone is the opposite, it is to extract yourself from the continuum of the flow, and to still the thoughts, the vrittis in the mind, because at that moment, you are no longer distracted by the buzzing of technology, the chatter of inane conversations around you, the to-do lists in your head, the frets and anxieties of what "might" happen, the text messages that barrage you on your Smart phone...and the list goes on. To be alone is to detach from all of that. To un-plug, unconditionally. To actually see and to listen to your own heartbeat and breath. To be as primal as the original, first element of the Universe. And, it is terrifying. But, it is the ultimate liberation.
Kaivalyam is: To be utterly alone.
And, we balk. We hesitate. We turn back to the familiar.
Or, we go forward.
3.51-53 give us some final tools of advice before we leap. One final samyama to perform...
sthãnyupanimantrane sangasmayãkaranam punar-anisththaprasangãt 3.51
ksana-tat-kramayoh samyamãd-vivekajam jñãnam 3.52
jãti-lakshana-deshair-anyatãnavacchedãt-tulyayos-tatah pratipattih 3.53
Upon the enticement of divine beings, one should shun being/acting in awe, lest falling prey to attachment/desire again. 3.51
By performing samyama on the absolute present and its progression, knowledge born from discretion (viveka) occurs. 3.52
At that time, the discernment of two identical essences can be determined, though they are not distinct in species/type, quality or location. 3.53
3.51 gives us the final warning...the warning of the Midas Touch. The Temptation of Christ. The apple to Adam and Eve.
If the Yogi/ni has reached such a level of progression upon his or her 8-limb path that the deities themselves are enticing them, beware because that is merely seduction. When Buddha was nearing his ultimate Enlightenment, to become the Buddha, the Awakened One, he was first seduced by Mara (the agent of Death), the demon who tries to seduce Guatama with the most prevalent human temptation of all: sex and power...
The Buddha saw that this too was seduction for attachment and was not to be his path. He touched the Earth as his witness as testimony that even the divine and demonic could not sway him and that he was grounded in being alone. Kaivalyam.
3.52 and 3.53 then return to the concept of setting up discretion (viveka) as the ultimate tool, one that soon too will be discarded. However, like Picasso learning the rules of Realism first, he could then break the rules to create Cubism. John Cage had to know the meaning of sound before presenting silence. The Yogi/ni has to refine discretion/discernment before abandoning even that. For, if we have not truly looked, truly seen and experienced, then it is false. It becomes bumper-sticker slogans: "All is One" "Be One with the Universe" "Love and Light" that eventually mean No-thing if one has not truly experienced them.
In 12-step programs, one saying is "One day at a Time." A bumper sticker. A wall poster. If you have not lived it. 3.52 calls upon us to live it. To perform samyama on the immediate NOW. It is very trendy for people to spout out "Live in the Moment" and some people have made millions of dollars saying what Patañjali and others have said for thousands of years. Nothing new under the sun. It is mere psycho-babble, a palliative for the masses, and it sells.
To buy it is one thing, to live it another.
3.52 challenges us to live in the ever-present now, that kshana (which like the original Greek meaning of a-tom, means that which cannot be divided/cut further) is the smallest, infinitesimal description of Time, meaning, no Time. And yet, things change. There is a krama, a progression form one kshana to the next, that is imperceptible to one who is casually living, but for the Yogi/ni who is aware and hyper-observant, there is discretion, but that too, is not the bigger picture. It is the forest for the trees once again.
3.53 is resonant with a concept in Physics that has fascinated me for some time now. Entanglement. It is the process in which two essences become entangled at the quantum level, the absolute fundamental level in such a way that they can be on opposite sides of the Universe and still be linked by communication that supersedes even the speed of Light. They are linked identically and simultaneously, irrespective of Time and Place, and once entangled, it is permanent.
3.53 says then that even the Yogi/ni can discern between the Entanglement, despite to all other observers, there is no difference.
And, yet, that again, is just parlor tricks. 3.54-55 lead us beyond that Rabbit Hole that we entered at the beginning of Book 3. We are on the other side of the Black Hole now.
tãrakam sarvavishayam sarvathã-vishayam akramam ceti vivekajam jñãnam 3.54
sattva-purushayoh shuddhi-sãmye kaivalyam iti 3.55
Leaving us to conclude Book 3 with:
Knowledge born of discretion is the liberator of all objects, everywhere and is a singularity in Time. 3.54
Kavilayam occurs then in the absolute equality of the pureness of sattva (reason) and purusha (consciousness). 3.55
We divide by discretion. We recognize the difference between pure reason and pure consciousness, only to then see that they are merely two sides of the same coin, Kaivalyam, so we then unite, and transcend.
And, so, the curtain has been pulled back, the veil removed, the apo-calpyse begins, and what do we find behind?
A mirror.
With the reflection of ourselves, ... alone.
Book 4 awaits.
Continue with this challenge, or return to status quo, the familiar.
We now close in on Book 3 with this daunting, and it is daunting, challenge when we arrive at the following sutras. The well has been fully primed, and it should be no surprise what lies behind the veil, and yet, it is...so let us continue.
3.49-50 then reveal:
sattva-purusha-anyatã-khyãti-mãtrasya sarvabhãva-adhishthãnritvam sarva-jñãtritvam 3.49
tad-vairãgyãd-api dosha-bîja-kshaye kaivalyam 3.50
Giving us:
Only for the one who recognizes the difference between sattva (reason/Mind) and purusha (consciousness/true awareness/Soul) is there the intelligence of all and supremacy over all beings. 3.49
However, even from vairãgyam (detachment) from that state comes kaivalyam (absolute singularity) in the destruction of the affliction of the seed concept (for samãdhi). 3.50
Bam. The sutra heard around the Yoga world...duality is only apparently the final step...non-duality is the ultimate one.
I cannot stress how influential it has been for centuries that this turn at 3.50 has been ignored or simply denied.
The message here is quite clear: Duality brings us omniscience and omnipotence; Non-Duality brings us freedom, because the former is the highest form of bondage ever.
To restate.
What we have been building up for the entire Yoga Sutras thus far are the tools to refine our sense of discretion, or viveka, in order to recognize the difference between sattva (pure reason) and purusha (pure intelligence) through the 8-limb path of Yoga and through diligent, long-lasting practice (abhyãsa) and ultimate detachment (vairãgyam) from the fruits of our actions. It is what we do when the Bee stings.
That is to stand at the abyss. 3.50 dares us to jump. And, this is when we falter, we hesitate, we freeze, or we turn around.
We fear Kaivalyam above all else. It is the most primal fear of all. It drives us to act when we should not or not to act when we should. It paralyzes and it enervates us to even think about it. It is the monster in the closet, the fear of turning off the lights.
Krishnamurti often spoke about the difference between being lonely and being alone. Being lonely gives us a perverse comfort because we can feel sorry for ourselves, we can play the victim to an audience of one, thus creating two. From the singularity comes duality. To be alone is the opposite, it is to extract yourself from the continuum of the flow, and to still the thoughts, the vrittis in the mind, because at that moment, you are no longer distracted by the buzzing of technology, the chatter of inane conversations around you, the to-do lists in your head, the frets and anxieties of what "might" happen, the text messages that barrage you on your Smart phone...and the list goes on. To be alone is to detach from all of that. To un-plug, unconditionally. To actually see and to listen to your own heartbeat and breath. To be as primal as the original, first element of the Universe. And, it is terrifying. But, it is the ultimate liberation.
Kaivalyam is: To be utterly alone.
And, we balk. We hesitate. We turn back to the familiar.
Or, we go forward.
3.51-53 give us some final tools of advice before we leap. One final samyama to perform...
sthãnyupanimantrane sangasmayãkaranam punar-anisththaprasangãt 3.51
ksana-tat-kramayoh samyamãd-vivekajam jñãnam 3.52
jãti-lakshana-deshair-anyatãnavacchedãt-tulyayos-tatah pratipattih 3.53
Upon the enticement of divine beings, one should shun being/acting in awe, lest falling prey to attachment/desire again. 3.51
By performing samyama on the absolute present and its progression, knowledge born from discretion (viveka) occurs. 3.52
At that time, the discernment of two identical essences can be determined, though they are not distinct in species/type, quality or location. 3.53
3.51 gives us the final warning...the warning of the Midas Touch. The Temptation of Christ. The apple to Adam and Eve.
If the Yogi/ni has reached such a level of progression upon his or her 8-limb path that the deities themselves are enticing them, beware because that is merely seduction. When Buddha was nearing his ultimate Enlightenment, to become the Buddha, the Awakened One, he was first seduced by Mara (the agent of Death), the demon who tries to seduce Guatama with the most prevalent human temptation of all: sex and power...
The Buddha saw that this too was seduction for attachment and was not to be his path. He touched the Earth as his witness as testimony that even the divine and demonic could not sway him and that he was grounded in being alone. Kaivalyam.
3.52 and 3.53 then return to the concept of setting up discretion (viveka) as the ultimate tool, one that soon too will be discarded. However, like Picasso learning the rules of Realism first, he could then break the rules to create Cubism. John Cage had to know the meaning of sound before presenting silence. The Yogi/ni has to refine discretion/discernment before abandoning even that. For, if we have not truly looked, truly seen and experienced, then it is false. It becomes bumper-sticker slogans: "All is One" "Be One with the Universe" "Love and Light" that eventually mean No-thing if one has not truly experienced them.
In 12-step programs, one saying is "One day at a Time." A bumper sticker. A wall poster. If you have not lived it. 3.52 calls upon us to live it. To perform samyama on the immediate NOW. It is very trendy for people to spout out "Live in the Moment" and some people have made millions of dollars saying what Patañjali and others have said for thousands of years. Nothing new under the sun. It is mere psycho-babble, a palliative for the masses, and it sells.
To buy it is one thing, to live it another.
3.52 challenges us to live in the ever-present now, that kshana (which like the original Greek meaning of a-tom, means that which cannot be divided/cut further) is the smallest, infinitesimal description of Time, meaning, no Time. And yet, things change. There is a krama, a progression form one kshana to the next, that is imperceptible to one who is casually living, but for the Yogi/ni who is aware and hyper-observant, there is discretion, but that too, is not the bigger picture. It is the forest for the trees once again.
3.53 is resonant with a concept in Physics that has fascinated me for some time now. Entanglement. It is the process in which two essences become entangled at the quantum level, the absolute fundamental level in such a way that they can be on opposite sides of the Universe and still be linked by communication that supersedes even the speed of Light. They are linked identically and simultaneously, irrespective of Time and Place, and once entangled, it is permanent.
3.53 says then that even the Yogi/ni can discern between the Entanglement, despite to all other observers, there is no difference.
And, yet, that again, is just parlor tricks. 3.54-55 lead us beyond that Rabbit Hole that we entered at the beginning of Book 3. We are on the other side of the Black Hole now.
tãrakam sarvavishayam sarvathã-vishayam akramam ceti vivekajam jñãnam 3.54
sattva-purushayoh shuddhi-sãmye kaivalyam iti 3.55
Leaving us to conclude Book 3 with:
Knowledge born of discretion is the liberator of all objects, everywhere and is a singularity in Time. 3.54
Kavilayam occurs then in the absolute equality of the pureness of sattva (reason) and purusha (consciousness). 3.55
We divide by discretion. We recognize the difference between pure reason and pure consciousness, only to then see that they are merely two sides of the same coin, Kaivalyam, so we then unite, and transcend.
And, so, the curtain has been pulled back, the veil removed, the apo-calpyse begins, and what do we find behind?
A mirror.
With the reflection of ourselves, ... alone.
Book 4 awaits.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Turn and Face the Strange...(ch-ch-ch-changes...Yoga Sutras 3.8-13)
In our last post, we began our descent into the tricky Black Rabbit (W)hole-y Trinity of Dhãranã-Dhyãna-Samãdhi, which for all intents and purposes becomes the collective Samyama from this point onwards in the Sutras. These final three limbs of the asthanga path for Patañjali are inherently different and thus treated separately than the previous 5 (Yama, Ni-Yama, Ãsana, Prãnãyãma and Pratyãhãra). As Patañjali tells us in 3.7, these three are more internal than the other five, meaning that once arrive at this stage, we are transcending the physical and entering the meta-physical. However, even the triumvirate of the Samyama is merely a tool, a skill an upãya for us to go even further, deeper and more profoundly as is hinted in 3.8:
Tadapi bahir-angam nirbijasya 3.8
Even this (trinity-->Samyama) is an
external limb of nirbija (samãdhi) 3.8
Grammatically, the Samyama is taken as a
singular unit (tad angam) of nirbija (samãdhi), which as we
saw at the end of Book I, is the ultimate goal of Yoga.
To achieve nirbija samãdhi, we will have to transcend even the
fundamental concept of duality that is the root of our perception of
reality. Nirbija, to put it simply, is beyond the pale of even
thought itself. It is the moment before the Big Bang, the ultimate Shunyata,
or Void. The Rabbit Hole par excellence. And, as we shall see,
echoing the advice Peter Parker receives from his uncle, "with great power
comes great responsibility" and ostensibly, most of the remainder of Book
III is about the powers that one can achieve with the use of Samyama at
its fullest potential, but all of it encapsulated in a heavy warning that power
deceives and the ultimate power corrupts ultimately.
Before delving into the supernatural world
of the siddhis, or powers of Yoga via Samyama, we first
need to do a familiar take two steps backwards before taking a step forward
with Patañjali. Stepping back then all the way to our primal definition of Yoga
in 1.2, namely the uber-cited, Yogas'citta-vritti-nirodhah, we now deal
with nirodah in detail because that is the key to
attaining nirbija samãdhi. Unlike the 8 limbs which are means,
or upãya, nirodhah is the result of these means.
Unfortunately, 3.9, which is the
elaboration of nirodhah, is a bit of a tar baby. It is not easy to
get a handle on, and to be honest, I am still wrestling with this one (hence
the lacuna of posts of late...). So, this is a working translation so that we
can move along. And, trust me, in all of the many translations of this Sutra,
there is very little consensus except that nirodhah is what is
at stake here...
Vyutthãna-nirodha-samskãrayor-abhibhava-prãdurbhãvau
nirodha-kshana-cittãnvayo nirodha-parinãmah
3.9
The cultivation/evolution (parinãmah) of restraint/temperance (nirodha) is connected to the mind at the moment of nirodhah at the emergence of the mental impression (samskãra) of restraint and the suppression of the transient impressions. 3.9
Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Okay, this is messy, and is uncharacteristically tautological for Patañjali in that he uses nirodhah to define nirodhah, leaving us a bit none the wiser about what nirodhah is.
To paraphrase 3.9 a bit then, we can tease out the following:
When the fleeting impressions of the mind that cause us to pre-judge something subside and the control of the mind yields clarity of thought with the absence of these impressions, then we are cultivating temperance of the mind.
In layman's terms...When we declutter the mind with our prejudices from experience, things become clearer in the mind.
Again, this is a bit murky, but the gist is there. Experience is a good thing, until it clouds the mind about how we perceive the reality before us. Samyama then becomes the scrubbing element to clean our files and to provide us with clear vision without pre-conceived ideas caused by the samskãras, or mental impressions that both allow us to function in reality, but also cause us to be conditioned by our thoughts. The moksha, or liberation, that Yoga promises is the release from the bondage of those pre-conditioned thoughts, which ultimately lead to desire and thus suffering (duhkham) as they are based upon ignorance (avidyã), such as mistaking a piece of rope on the pathway for a snake.
Moving on then to 3.10, we see:
Tasya
prashãnta-vãhitã samskãrãt 3.10
The peaceful flow
of nirodha-parinãmah comes from mental imprinting (samskãra). 3.10
Tasya, or "of it/its" should refer to nirodha-parinãmah (cultivation/evolution of restraint) as that was the subject of the previous sutra. As such, the emergent samskãra (mental impression) of nirodha then is what drives the evolution/cultivation of nirodha. So, still a bit clumsy and tautological by using the same term to define itself. What seems to be the case is that by practice then of restraint, restraint evolves, or changes. In other words, we are back to the concept of abhyãsa, or practice that is sustained over a long period of time with reverence. Once again, this is not a quick fix. Patience is the core of Yoga.
From the parinãma (change/evolution/cultivation) of nirodha, we move onto that of samãdhi in 3.11:
Sarva-arthataikãgrataho
kshaya-udayau cittasya samãdhi-parinãmah
3.11
The
cultivation/evolution (parinãmah) of samãdhi of the mind is in the rise of singularity of
thought and destruction of the multiplicity of goals/aims. 3.11
Take-home message here then is: Keep it Simple, Stupid, or KISS...sage advice. The mind is awash with a multitude of things to do. We praise multi-tasking, but ultimately that leads to a fractured mind, whereas a singularity of attention or focus in the mind leads to deliverance. This singularity, which culminates in Kaivalyam, is the result of the profundity of the Samyama, with practice. As we shall soon see, the singularity of the object itself can be many, and thus yield many siddhis (powers), but these too shall prove to be illusory and deceptions caused by desire, which ultimately again lead to suffering...So, it is not merely the singularity, but what that singularity is that shall become the driving force of Kaivalya, produced by the abhyãsa and vairagyam we saw at the beginning of the Sutras so long ago when our Bee woke us up...
Moving along then to the next change that is important, that of the singularity of the mind's eye, we arrive at 3.12:
Tatah punah
shãntoditau tulya-pratyayau cittasyaikãgratãparinãmah 3.12
At that time
again, the evolution of the singularity of the mind is in the equality of
thought with the emergent present and the subdued past. 3.12
Or, at the moment of the singularity of the mind, past and present melt into each other and Time become irrelevant. The Rabbit Hole no longer even exists...for, as the Black Hole in physics devours its own light and energy, so too does the singularity of the mind with respect to Time and Space.
And, in this state of singularity, the "truth of the matter" begins to be revealed as we see in 3.13...
Etena
bhutendriyeshu dharma-lakshanãvastha-parinãmã vyãkhyãtãh 3.13
With this
singularity of the mind, the evolutions of dharma, quality and state of being
are explained within the innate senses. 3.13
In other words, when the mind has shed itself of the noise, it can finally "see" things properly with the unclouded mind's eye.
But, as with all promises of divine insight, we must tread lightly and be careful of what we ask for. For, like the prisoner who escapes the allegorical Cave in Plato's Republic, once you "see the Light," it is impossible to go back, and furthermore, others may not be so keen upon hearing about your new-found discovery of liberation (moksha) and bliss (ananda)...
To be continued.
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