Courage to Explore. Wisdom to Know the Way.
Again and again in the literature, the mind is compared to a lake reflecting reality. The smoother the surface is, the more pure the reflection. By analogy, the vritti ruffle the surface with eddies, making it harder to understand ourselves and our place in the universe at any given moment in our brief lives.
Vrttayah Panchatayyah Klishta Aklishtah "There are five kinds of fluctuations in the mind and they can be painful or painless." Vrittayah = modifications/fluctuations (of the mind-stuff); Panchatayyah = five kinds; klishta = painful; aklishta = painless. The precise list of the "five kinds" comes up in Sutra 1.6. For now, though we get the two categories of pain …
Continuing from the sutra 1.3, in which the writer sums up the whole goal of yoga (to abide in one's true nature), we come to 1.4: Vritti Sarupyam Itaratra "At other times, [the Self seems to] identify with the mind's fluctuations" Vritti = "modifications" (of the chitti, mind-stuff, mentioned in sutra 1.2), sarupyam = "assumes the forms …
Tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam Tada = "then", drastuh = "the Seer", svarupe = in one's own nature/form (sva--in one's own, rupe--form/nature) avasthanam = "abides/resides" "Then the seer [Self] abides in its own true nature" Aaaand... we get to our first verb: abides. [Who can hear the word "abide" and not think of the Big Lebowski? Anyone? Dating myself here?] With "abide", …
NOW... The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali start with a simple word: Atha. It's a Sanskrit work meaning "now", and if you read my previous post, you might have noticed the attention to the present moment. Okay, back it up. Yoga Sutras? Formerly known as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, they come from across the centuries like yogic …
January is the perfect time to rediscover the things we often take for granted, to look at them with fresh eyes. Today let's address an old yet enduring question: Q: What differentiates yoga from a stretching class? A: Well, on a purely physical level, yoga incorporates strengthening as well. Follow-up Q: So what differentiates yoga …
