Yoga Sutras and the World of the Human Mind

By Vedanta Society, San FranciscoReligion & Spirituality Spirituality

Yoga Sutras and the World of the Human Mind episodes

March 04, 2019 101 – Reaching the Soul: Transcendence of Ritambhara-Prajna | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. With Ritambhara-Prajna, the higher intuitive insight also comes with the confirmation that it is true. This knowledge creates a great Vritti that counters the innumerable conflicting Vrittis in the mental system. This knowledge goes beyond all ordinary tools of knowledge such as direct sensory perception or inference. Swami Vivekananda says that a high ideal is necessary to counter all negative ideals. When this Ritambhara-Prajna comes, all accumulated tendencies react with great force. Finally, when even this Vritti is repressed, one reaches a state where all tendencies, Vrittis, have been burnt. Verses: I.50, I.51
1 hr 4 min
March 03, 2019 100 – Realization is Religion, the Rest is Preparation | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Ritambhara-Prajna is a kind of spiritual intuition filled with infallible truth. It goes beyond all normal human tools of epistemology. A person with this insight is a Rishi, seer. The testimony recorded in the scriptures is the authentic testimony of those endowed with this knowledge. By Guru-Disciple tradition, a line of authentic teachers has preserved this knowledge. Ritam is the harmonizing link we realize in ourselves. The experience of truth is non-remote. Swami Vivekananda says the experience of this truth is religion, the rest is preparation. Verses: I.48, I.49
1 hr 2 min
March 03, 2019 99 – Dehypnotization: Reverse Evolution | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Shabda, Artha, Jnana, sound, meaning, and knowledge are still mixed up in Savitarka-Samadhi. At Nirvitarka-Samadhi, the three are no longer mixed, only the resulting knowledge remains and therefore there are no more conflicting thoughts. Prakriti is the source of material evolution in Sankhya philosophy. All of the created things in the mind can be taken back to their unmanifest form in Prakriti. A Yogi withdraws his identification with different evolutes of material nature. It is a process of dehypnotization. By withdrawal of the senses, we reverse evolution. At this stage of meditation, the seeds of past actions still exist, Sabhija, but they do not trouble us much. Verses: I.42, I.43, I.44, I.45, I.46
1 hr 7 min
March 02, 2019 98 – Sound, Meaning, Knowledge: Together and Separate | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Shabda, Artha, Jnana, sound, meaning, and knowledge are usually mixed up. When we reach Savitarka Samadhi, we are able to gain deep insight into things. At this stage, Shabda, Artha, and Jnana are still mixed up. A Sanskrit verse explains that geniuses are known to have deviations in life if they do not have spirituality. At a higher stage of meditation, Nirvitarka-Samadhi, the three do not mix, memory is purified, and conflicting thoughts subside. Verses: I.42, I.43
1 hr 3 min
March 02, 2019 97 – Crystal Mind and Blessedness | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Deep inner contentment gives us a feeling of being spiritually rich. When the Vrittis have become weakened, a person’s mind becomes like a crystal. It reflects the light of whatever it meditates upon clearly. This concentration with freedom comes only when it is preceded by the practice of Yamas and Niyamas, the 10 fundamental ethical disciplines. When he concentrates on a holy thought or person, he reflects it clearly. St. John wrote the same about the purest divine love. It is a state of blessedness. Verses: I.17, I.33, I.35, I.41, I.39
1 hr 1 min
March 01, 2019 96 – Concentration with Freedom is Samapatti | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. The higher aspiration of Yoga is to reach a state of Nirodha, complete freedom from obsessive likes and dislikes, Vrittis, of the mind. Before reaching that stage, several stages of concentration are classified: restlessness, dullness, swinging between extremes, and one-pointed. Kshina-Vrtti is a state when the mind’s vrittis have been weakened or transcended. The mind then attains a state of Yogic concentration, which is free. Verses: I.1, I.2, I.41
1 hr 6 min
March 01, 2019 95 – Mental System is a Mirror Reflecting Our Spiritual Nature | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Patanjali explains that regulating human relationships, Pranayama, transcendental experiences, and meditation on the heart of a holy person can lead to deep contentment. We take on the characteristics of that which we meditate upon. Some dreams give a feeling of blessedness. They can also be a support. The mental system is a mirror which reflects our spiritual nature, Atman or God. The impurities are our obsessive likings and dislikes. When they are cleaned up we reflect our divinity more clearly. The Vedantic analysis of the three states of consciousness: waking, dreaming, and deep sleep is described. Verses: I.33, I.38, I.34, I.35, I.36, I.37
1 hr 12 min
March 01, 2019 94 – Pravrtti: Transcendental Experience Destroys Doubt | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. The practices of Pranayama and friendliness toward fellow spiritual seekers can help us conquer our obstacles. Intellectual conviction only goes skin deep. Pravrtti, transcendental experience, will reinforce our belief that we are on the right track. There is also a higher type of experience, which is beyond all sorrow and destroys all doubts. You can tell if it is a valid experience by the result. The result should be a deep-rooted contentment and friendliness towards all. Another method is meditation upon the life and mind of a saint who is beyond all desire. This thought purifies the mind. Verses: I.35, I.36, I.37
1 hr 8 min
March 01, 2019 93 – Prana: Cutting New Channels Through the Mental System | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Indifference is a vaccination towards contagious negativity. It is not insensitivity but enlightened sensitivity. Pranayama can lead to peace of mind. The breath is a thin thread linking us to the cosmic energy. Prana cuts new channels through the mental system. When we try to cut new channels, the mind and body may react. The mental system has tendency to run in the same conservative ruts. For this reason, the aspect of religion involving changing the world is always more popular than the aspect of changing ourselves. Verses: I.33, I.34
1 hr 13 min
March 01, 2019 92 – Countering Despair: Four Doors to Peace | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. What makes a Buddha or a Christ is the sense of Atha, the desire for something higher in life. When this higher aspiration comes, obstacles and despair are inevitable. In order to conquer them focusing on one chosen high ideal is recommended. We can conserve our energy resources by a developing an inner filtering mechanism toward negative ideas. The four kinds of relations – friendliness, compassion, admiration, and indifference – are four doors to peace. Proper practice of Pranayama for linking our energy to the infinite cosmic energy can also yield peace when practice with ethical disciplines, Yama and Niyama. Verses: I.30, I.31, I.32, I.33, I.34
1 hr 12 min

About Yoga Sutras and the World of the Human Mind

From the publisher's feed

Swami Tattwamayananda’s exposition of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras was given at the Vedanta Society of Northern California, San Francisco (founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1900) from October 10, 2014 to…

December 21, 2018 in a series of 111 lectures. These lectures include a mixture of philosophy both Eastern and Western, history, psychology, comparative theology, mysticism, classical parables, and simple everyday examples.

Patanjali was a great Indian sage who wrote major treatises on Ayurveda, Sanskrit grammar and Yoga. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali contain 195 sutras organized into four chapters. It gives a complete analysis of the mental system, how to transcend mental conflicts by linking the mind to a transcendental spiritual reality and how to become established in our true nature.

The classes are given from the viewpoint of Vedanta, one of the oldest philosophies of the world, which constitute the universal spiritual essence of the Vedas, the foundational scriptures of Hinduism. During the exposition, the Swami has drawn extensively from authentic Sanskrit commentaries and interpretative works like ‘Yoga-Bhasya’ of Vyasa, ‘Tattwa-Vaisharadi” of Vachaspati Mishra, ‘Yoga-Varttika’ of Vijnana Bhikshu, ‘Raja-Martanda’ of Bhoja Raja, ‘Yoga-Sudhakara’ of Sadashivendra Saraswati, with occasional references from ‘Yoga-Maniprabha’ of Ramananda Yati, ‘Patanjala-Yogashastra-Vivarana’ of Sri Shankara, and interpretations of Yoga-aphorisms by Swami Vivekananda and Swami Hariharananda Aranya.

“By the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times.” “The moral, ethical, and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits, were there before their discovery, and would remain even if we forgot them." (Paper on Hinduism, Swami Vivekananda, World's Parliament of Religions 1893)

According to this series of classes, the Yoga system of Patanjali reaches its ultimate fulfillment in the conclusions of Vedanta, that there is one all-pervading, immanent, eternal spiritual reality, which is our own true nature.

In the original text of Patanjali the order is 1. Samadhipada 2. Sadhanapada 3. Vibhutipada 4. Kaivalyapada. But in this exposition of the Yoga-sutra the speaker has followed a different order, which seems to be more logical from the standpoint of actual Yoga-sadhana, i.e., 1. Sadhanapada 2. Vibhutipada 3. Samadhipada 4. Kaivalyapada. To help beginners in the study of Yoga philosophy, the basic definitions from the first few aphorisms of Samadhipada are explained at the beginning.

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