Yoga as philosophy and religion

Now the assertion that these actions are the causes of the attainment of salvation brings up the question of the exact natures of their operation with regard to this supreme attainment. Bhāshyakara says with respect to this that they are the causes of the separation of the impurities of the mind just as an axe is the cause of the splitting of a piece of wood; and again they are the causes of the attainment of the supreme knowledge just as dhaṛma is the cause of happiness. It must be remembered that according to the Yoga theory causation is viewed as mere transformation of energy; the operation of concomitant causes only removes obstacles impeding the progress of these transformations in a particular direction; no cause can of itself produce any effect, and the only way in which it can help the production of an effect into which the causal state passes out of its own immanent energy by the principles of conservation and transformation of energy, is by removing the intervening obstacles. Thus just as the passage of citta into a happy state is helped by dharma removing the intervening obstacles, so also the passage of the citta into the state of attainment of true knowledge is helped by the removal of obstructions due to the performance of the yogāṅgas; the necessary obstructions being removed, the citta passes naturally of itself into this infinite state of attainment of true knowledge, in which all finitude is merged.

In connection with this, Vyāsa mentions nine kinds of operation of causes: (1) cause of birth; (2) of preservation; (3) of manifestation; (4) of modification; (5) knowledge of a premise leading to a deduction; (6) of otherness; (7) of separation; (8) of attainment; (9) of upholding (Vyāsabhāshya, II. 28.)

Thus, the first aspect as the cause of birth or production is seen when knowledge springs from manas which renders indefinite cognition definite so that mind is called the cause of the birth of knowledge. Here mind is the material cause (upādāna kāraṇa) of the production of knowledge, for knowledge is nothing but manas with its particular modifications as states (Yoga-vārttika, II. 18). The difference of these positive cause from āptikāraṇa, which operates only in a negative way and helps production, in an indirect way by the removal of obstacles, is quite manifest. The sthitikāraṇa or cause through which things are preserved as they are, is the end they serve; thus the serviceability of purusha is the cause of the existence and preservation of the mind as it is, and not only of mind but of all our phenomenal experiences.

The third cause of the abhivyaktikāraṇa or manifestation which is compared to a lamp which manifests things before our view is an epistemological cause, and as such includes all sense activity in connection with material objects which produce cognition.

Then come the fourth and the fifth causes, vikāra (change) and pratyaya (inseparable connection); thus the cause of change (vikāra) is exemplified as that which causes a change; thus the manas suffers a change by the objects presented to it, just as bile changes and digests the food that is eaten; the cause of pratyaya[41] is that in which from inseparable connection, with the knowledge of the premise (e.g. there is smoke in the hill) we can also have inferential knowledge of the other (e.g. there is fire in the hill). The sixth cause as otherness (anyatva) is that which effects changes of form as that brought about by a goldsmith in gold when he makes a bangle from it, and then again a necklace, is regarded as differing from the change spoken of as vikāra. Now the difference between the gold being turned into bangles or necklaces and the raw rice being turned into soft rice is this, that in the former case when bangles are made out of gold, the gold remains the same in each case, whereas in the case of the production of cooked rice from raw by fire, the case is different, for heat changes paddy in a far more definite way; goldsmith and heat are both indeed efficient causes, but the former only effects mechanical changes of shape and form, whereas the latter is the cause of structural and chemical changes.

Of course these are only examples from the physical world, their causal operations in the mental sphere varying in a corresponding manner; thus the change produced in the mind by the presentation of different objects, follows a law which is the same as is found in the physical world, when the same object causes different kinds of feelings in different persons; when ignorance causes forgetfulness in a thing, anger makes it painful and desire makes it pleasurable, but knowledge of its true reality produces indifference; there is thus the same kind of causal change as is found in the external world. Next for consideration is the cause of separation (viyoga) which is only a negative aspect of the positive side of the causes of transformations, as in the gradual extinction of impurities, consequent upon the transformation of the citta towards the attainment of the supreme state of absolute independence through discriminative knowledge. The last cause for consideration is that of upholding (dhṛti); thus the body upholds the senses and supports them for the actualisation of their activities in the body, just as the five gross elements are the upholding causes of organic bodies; the bodies of animals, men, etc., also employ one another for mutual support. Thus the human body lives by eating the bodies of many animals; the bodies of tigers, etc., live on the bodies of men and other animals; many animals live on the bodies of plants, etc. (Tattvavaiśāradī, II. 28).

The yogāṅgas not only remove the impurities of the mind but help it further by removing obstacles in the way of attaining the highest perfection of discriminative knowledge. Thus they are the causes in a double sense (1) of the dissociation of impurities (viyogakāraṇa); (2) of removing obstacles which impede the course of the mind in attaining the highest development (āptikāraṇa).

It must be remembered that abhyāsa and vairāgya and also the five means of attaining Yoga, viz.: śraddhā, vīryya, etc., which are not different from abhyāsa and vairāgya, are by their very nature included within the yogāṅgas mentioned above, and are not to be considered as independent means different from them. The parikarmas or embellishments of the mind spoken of in the first chapter, with which we shall deal later on, are also included under the three yogāṅgas dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. The five means śraddhā, vīryya, smṛti, samādhi and prajñā are said to be included under asceticism (tapaḥ) studies (svādhyāya) and devotion to God of the niyamas and vairāgya in contentment.

V. Pratyāhāra (abstraction). With the control of the mind all the senses become controlled and the senses imitate as it were the vacant state of the mind. Abstraction is that by which the senses do not come in contact with their objects and follow as it were the nature of the mind.

VIII. Samādhi (trance contemplation). The same as above when shining with the light of the object alone, and devoid as it were of itself, is trance. In this state the mind becomes one with its object and there is no difference between the knower and the known.

These are the eight yogāṅgas which a Yogin must adopt for his higher realisation. Of these again we see that some have the mental side more predominant, while others are mostly to be actualised in exterior action. Dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi, which are purely of the samprajñāta type, and also the prāṇāyāma and pratyāhāra, which are accessories to them, serve to cleanse the mind of impurities and make it steady, and can therefore be assimilated with the parikarmas mentioned in Book I. Sūtras 34–39. These samādhis of the samprajñāta type, of course, only serve to steady the mind and to assist attaining discriminative knowledge.

In this connection, it will be well to mention the remaining aids for cleansing the mind as mentioned in Yoga-sūtra I., viz. the cultivation of the habits of friendliness, compassion, complacency and indifference towards happiness, misery, virtue and vice.

This means that we are to cultivate the habit of friendliness towards those who are happy, which will remove all jealous feelings and purify the mind. We must cultivate the habit of compassion towards those who are suffering pain; when the mind shows compassion (which means that it wishes to remove the miseries of others as if they were his own) it becomes cleansed of the stain of desire to do injury to others, for compassion is only another name for sympathy which naturally identifies the compassionate one with the objects of his sympathy. Next comes the habit of complacency, which one should diligently cultivate, for it leads to pleasure in virtuous deeds. This removes the stain of envy from the mind. Next comes the habit of indifference, which we should acquire towards vice in vicious persons. We should acquire the habit of remaining indifferent where we cannot sympathise; we should not on any account get angry with the wicked or with those with whom sympathy is not possible. This will remove the stain of anger. It will be clearly seen here that maītrī, karuṇā, muditā and upekshā are only different aspects of universal sympathy, which should remove all perversities in our nature and unite us with our fellow-beings. This is the positive aspect of the mind with reference to abstinence from injuring ahiṃsā (mentioned under yamas), which will cleanse the mind and make it fit for the application of means of śraddhā, etc. For unless the mind is pure, there is no scope for the application of the means of making it steady.

But it is easy to see that ordinary minds can never commence with these practices. They are naturally so impure that the positive universal sympathy as manifested in maitrī, etc., by which turbidity of mind is removed, is too difficult. It is also difficult for them to keep the mind steady on an object as in dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi, for only those in advanced stages can succeed in this. For ordinary people, therefore, some course of conduct must be discovered by which they can purify their minds and elevate them to such an extent that they may be in a position to avail themselves of the mental parikarmas or purifications just mentioned. Our minds become steady in proportion as their impurities are cleansed. The cleansing of impurities only represents the negative aspect of the positive side of making the mind steady. The grosser impurities being removed, finer ones remain, and these are removed by the mental parikarmas, supplemented by abhyāsa or by śraddhā, etc. As the impurities are gradually more and more attenuated, the last germs of impurity are destroyed by the force of dhyāna or the habit of nirodha samādhi, and kaivalya is attained.

We now deal with yamas, by which the gross impurities of ordinary minds are removed. They are, as we have said before, non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-covetousness; of these non-injury is given such a high place that it is regarded as the root of the other yamas; truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, non-covetousness and the other niyamas mentioned previously only serve to make the non-injury perfect. We have seen before that maitrī, karuṇa, muditā and upekshā serve to strengthen the non-injury since they are only its positive aspects, but we see now that not only they but other yamas and also the other niyamas, purity, contentment, asceticism, studies and devotion to God, only serve to make non-injury more and more perfect. This non-injury when it is performed without being limited or restricted in any way by caste, country, time and circumstances, and is always adhered to, is called mahāvrata or the great duty of abstinence from injury.

It is sometimes limited to castes, as for example injury inflicted by a fisherman, and in this case it is called anuvrata or restricted ahiṃsā of ordinary men as opposed to universal ahiṃsā of the Yogins called mahāvrata; the same non-injury is limited by locality, as in the case of a man who says to himself, “I shall not cause injury at a sacred place”; or by time, when a person says to himself, “I shall not cause injury on the sacred day of Caturdaśī”; or by circumstances, as when a man says to himself, “I shall cause injury for the sake of gods and Brahmans only”; or when injury is caused by warriors in the battle-field alone and nowhere else. This restricted ahiṃsā is only for ordinary men who cannot follow the Yogin’s universal law of ahiṃsā.

Ahiṃsā is a great universal duty which a man should impose on himself in all conditions of life, everywhere, and at all times without restricting or qualifying it with any limitation whatsoever. In Mahābhārata Mokshadharmādhyāya it is said that the Sāṃkhya lays stress upon non-injury, whereas the Yoga lays stress upon samādhi; but here we see that Yoga also holds that ahiṃsā should be the greatest ethical motive for all our conduct. It is by ahiṃsā alone that we can make ourselves fit for the higher type of samādhi. All other virtues of truthfulness, non-stealing only serve to make non-injury more and more perfect. It is not, however, easy to say whether the Sāṃkhyists attached so much importance to non-injury that they believed it to lead to samādhi directly without the intermediate stages of samādhi. We see, however, that the Yoga also attaches great importance to it and holds that a man should refrain from all external acts; for however good they may be they cannot be such as not to lead to some kind of injury or hiṃsā towards beings, for external actions can never be performed without doing some harm to others. We have seen that from this point of view Yoga holds that the only pure works (śuklakarma) are those mental works of good thoughts in which perfection of ahiṃsā is attained. With the growth of good works (śuklakarma) and the perfect realisation of non-injury the mind naturally passes into the state in which its actions are neither good (śukla) nor bad (aśukla); and this state is immediately followed by that of kaivalya.

Veracity consists in word and thought being in accordance with facts. Speech and mind correspond to what has been seen, heard and inferred. Speech is for the purpose of transferring knowledge to another. It is always to be employed for the good of others and not for their injury; for it should not be defective as in the case of Yudhishṭhira, where his motive was bad.[42] If it prove to be injurious to living beings, even though uttered as truth, it is not truth; it is sin only. Though outwardly such a truthful course may be considered virtuous, yet since by his truth he has caused injury to another person, he has in reality violated the true standard of non-injury (ahiṃsā). Therefore let everyone first examine well and then utter truth for the benefit of all living beings. All truths should be tested by the canon of non-injury (ahiṃsā).

If, in performing the great duty of non-injury and the other virtues auxiliary to it, a man be troubled by thoughts of sin, he should try to remove sinful ideas by habituating himself to those which are contrary to them. Thus if the old habit of sins opposed to virtues tend to drive him along the wrong path, he should in order to banish them entertain ideas such as the following:—“Being burnt up as I am in the fires of the world, I have taken refuge in the practice of Yoga which gives protection to all living beings. Were I to resume the sins which I have abandoned, I should certainly be behaving like a dog, which eats its own vomit. As the dog takes up his own vomit, so should I be acting if I were to take up again what I have once given up.” This is called the practice of pratipaksha bhāvān, meditating on the opposites of the temptations.

A classification of sins of non-injury, etc., may be made according as they are actually done, or caused to be done, or permitted to be done; and these again may be further divided according as they are preceded by desire, anger or ignorance; these are again mild, middling or intense. Thus we see that there may be twenty-seven kinds of such sins. Mild, middling and intense are each again threefold, mild-mild, mild-middling and mild-intense; middling-mild, middling-middling and middling-intense; also intense-mild, intense-middling and intense-intense. Thus there are eighty-one kinds of sins. But they become infinite on account of rules of restriction, option and conjunction.

The contrary tendency consists in the notion that these immoral tendencies cause an infinity of pains and untrue knowledge. Pain and unwisdom are the unending fruits of these immoral tendencies, and in this idea lies the power which produces the habit of giving a contrary trend to our thoughts.

These yamas, together with the niyamas about to be described, are called kriyāyoga, by the performance of which men become fit to rise gradually to the state of jñānayoga by samādhi and to attain kaivalya. This course thus represents the first stage with which ordinary people should begin their Yoga work.

Thus it is said that some may begin with the niyamas, asceticism, svādhyāya and devotion to God; it is for this reason that, though mentioned under the niyamas, they are also specially selected and spoken of as the kriyāyoga in the very first rule of the second Book. Asceticism means the strength of remaining unchanged in changes like that of heat and cold, hunger and thirst, standing and sitting, absence of speech and absence of all indications by gesture, etc.