Espejo Sideral

The second and third pādas of the Yoga-Sūtra allude to a process of attaining kaivalya through progressive subtilization that is deeply connected to sāṃkhya metaphysics (Chapple, 104-5). Before referring to the five-step process to kaivalya, it is important to understand its connection to the eight-limb path described in the second pāda of the Yoga-Sūtra. The perfection of the practice of the last three limbs (dhārāṇa, dhyāna, samādhi), called saṃyama, allows the yogi to cultivate enough meditative absorption to develop viveka-khyāti, an extraordinary kind of knowledge that brings about liberation. This is clearly expressed in sūtra 2.28, where it is said that following the limbs of yoga destroys impurities and allows the light of knowledge to arise, “leading to discriminative discernment” (viveka-khyāti) (Chapple, 172). With this context in mind, we now turn to sūtras 3.44 to 3.55, the final segment of the vibhūtipāda. 

According to sūtra 3.44, performing saṃyama on five progressively subtler levels of prakṛti leads to mastery over the elements (bhūta jaya) (Bryant, 379-83). The first of these levels is “gross” (sthūla), related to the five gross elements that are also found in the sāṃkhya model (pañca-mahābhūtas) and their specific qualities in gross form. Vyāsa points them out in the following sequence from gross to subtle: earth (pṛthvī) and smell, water (jala) and taste, fire (agni) and sight, air (vāyu) and touch, and space (akaśa) and sound. The second level of prakṛti mentioned in the sūtra is translated by Bryant as “essential” (svarūpa), connected to the universal or general properties of the five elements. According to Vyāsa, earth is associated with form, water with liquidity, fire with heat, air with movement, and space with all-pervadingness. The third level is the subtle aspect of an object (sūkṣma), related to the tanmātras, a subtler level of prakṛti also explained in sāṃkhya philosophy. Bryant describes them as a set of generic and undifferentiated vibrational energies that underlie the capabilities of the senses (Bryant, 380-2). Commentators associate the fourth level, constitution (anvaya), to the action of the guṇas (sattva, rajas, and tamas), even more basic components of the world than the tanmātras (Bryant, 382). The fifth and final level is the “purpose” (arthavattva) of the object, which in terms of sāṃkhya is twofold: enjoyment and liberation to puruṣa (Bryant, 382). 

Mastery over the elements (bhūta jaya) has three effects, according to sūtras 3.45-6: (i) the removal of “limitations on account of the body’s natural abilities”; (ii) the acquisition of eight siddhis; and (iii) the perfection of the body (kāya sampat) (Bryant, 384).

The second step in the process (sūtra 3.47) begins with the performance of saṃyama on five progressively more rarefied modes of perceiving existence, with the aim of attaining mastery over the senses (indriya-jaya) (Bryant, 386). The outcome of this process is that the senses will no longer hinder the yogi in the path to kaivalya. Vyāsa “deconstructs” the senses in a similar way to sūtra 3.44: from gross to subtle constituent parts: (i) function of acquiring knowledge of the sense-organs; (ii) “their sattvic constitution” or essence (svarūpa); (iii) their nature “as evolutes of ahaṅkāra”; (iv) their aspect as expressions of buddhi, which is in turn a product of the guṇas; and (v) their purpose (to provide experience or liberation to puruṣa) (Bryant, 386-7). Taimni points out the parallel to sūtra 3.45 and highlights the fact that the final arthavattva state is shared by both the indriyas and the bhūtas. Taimni concludes that the two streams of combinations in the form of the guṇas and of the indriyas is the basis of the “subjective objective play of manifestation” (Taimni, 361).

Sūtra 3.48 lists three effects of indriya-jaya: (i) ability to move at the speed of mind; (ii) capacity to act and gain knowledge even without the need for the body and its organs of perception; and (iii) mastery over “the primordial prākṛtic matrix” (Bryant, 388-9), or the unmanifested prakṛti (pradhāna).

Sūtra 3.49 describes a third step in the process, where the yogi discerns (khyāti) the difference between the purely sattvic buddhi that has been cultivated through yoga, and puruṣa itself (Bryant, 389). This attainment is said to grant the yogi complete control over manifest reality at the most fundamental level of the guṇas. Bryant explains that the omniscience and omnipotence promised as fruits of this discernment sound miraculous but are consistent with sāṃkhyā metaphysics (391). All material and psychic phenomena “unfolded” from buddhi in the process of pariṇāma and, conversely, the individual buddhi may transcend the limitations that separate it from the universal buddhi (Bryant, 391). At this point, the yogi gains complete knowledge and control over the totality of the phenomenal world (Bryant, 391). Sūtra 3.50 shows that even though this is a very subtle state, its pure sattvic quality is still in the field of prakṛti. Therefore, the yogi must then cultivate detachment from pure sattva and the associated siddhis of omniscience and omnipotence (Bryant, 393). Bryant aptly describes this process: “Since the insight into the need to do this is itself a product of sattva, in a sense sattva is channeling its own discrimination towards deconstructing itself –toward terminating its own functions” (393).

The fourth milestone is explained in sūtras as knowledge born of discrimination (viveka-jam jñānam), cultivated through samyama on the moment (kṣaṇa), and on their succession (krama) (Bryant, 398). This grants the yogi the deepest kind of insight into the subatomic space-time nature of the phenomenal world (Bryant, 401). Sūtra 3.54 refers to knowledge born of discrimination (viveka-jam jñānam) as “liberator” (tāraka). According to Vyāsa, this means that a sudden flash of insight brings liberation (Bryant, 402).

In this five-step model of the path to kaivalya, discriminative discernment (viveka-khyāti) would conclude the process by making the difference between puruṣa and prakṛti known experientially. The perfect knowledge of viveka-khyāti is the direct cause of kaivalya: it frees the yogi from all suffering by destroying the ignorance (avidyā) that is the root of all afflictions (kleśas). In a sense, it could be said that viveka-khyāti is the ultimate yogic power. The yogi can acquire other siddhis intentionally or unintentionally, as seen in the third pāda, but viveka-khyāti is a precondition for attaining the state of kaivalya. Concerning the other siddhis, the Yoga-Sūtra simply recommends not to indulge in them as it may cause attachment and obstruct the final goal of discriminating between puruṣa and prakṛti (Bryant, 404). Upon attaining kaivalya, all afflictions end and the mind dissolves into the prākṛtic matrix from where it arose (Bryant, 393). This state is called kaivalya because the action of the guṇas –even sattva– has ceased distracting puruṣa, which then rests in the pure consciousness (citi-śakti) of aloneness (kaivalya) (Bryant, 393–4).

 

Bibliography

Bryant, Edwin F. The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. North Point Press, 2009. 

Chapple, Christopher. Yoga and the Luminous. State University of New York Press, 2008.

Taimni, I. K. The Science of Yoga. TPH, 1961.