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

February 23, 2019 71 – You Are Never Too Late | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture By Swami Tattwamayananda. We feel complete restfulness in Nidra, deep sleep and in Samadhi because there is no other. The difference is the lack of awareness of that knowledge in deep sleep. Awareness is important to make knowledge functional. Desire is replayed in sleep and in memory. Forgetfulness can free us from negative memories and memory of spiritually helpful experiences will take us forward. The best way to refine the mind is by doing good physical actions. We change the composition of the bag of Vrittis that constitute our character. We have much more freedom at the physical level. Verses: I.10, I.11, I.12
54 min
February 23, 2019 70 – Valid, False, and Imaginary Knowledge All Influence Us | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Patanjali has given us the knowledge to purify and refine the human mind. Mind functions at the level of experiences and reactions. The knowledge of Yoga was transmitted through a succession of teachers and disciples. There are seven major important commentaries in this line. Our mental tendencies, Samskaras, constitute our essential characteristics. The valid tools of knowledge in Yoga are direct perception, inference, and authoritative testimony. Wrong knowledge and imaginary knowledge can also constitute part of our character. Verses: I.5, I.6, I.7, I.8, I.9
1 hr 7 min
February 23, 2019 69 – Yoga: Destroying the Magnetism of the Mind | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. The order of the chapters is explained again. The accomplishments of the three great Yoga sages – Patanjali, Vyasa, Shankaracharya - are reviewed. Vyasa’s description of the mind as a magnet for attracting things is explained. The mind also gets attracted to those things that happen to be around. This magnetic power gives rise to experiences and further vrittis. This accumulation is what prevents us from following through on our sincere desire to lead a good noble spiritual life. Once we are of it, we can link ourselves to our higher dimension. Yoga epistemology is described at the end. Verses: I.2, I.5, I.6, I.7
1 hr 4 min
February 23, 2019 68 – Experiences that We Identify With Form Our Character | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. When we are not identified with a transcendental ideal, every moment becomes an opportunity to identify with a momentary thought current. The tendencies of the mind and the thought currents they generate naturally reveal our true character. In Asamprajnata Samadhi, we transcend this world of Vrittis. The way is through evolving a higher identity. Asmita is the power of internal identification and Samyoga is that of external identification. Whatever actions or thoughts we identify with are deposited in our Karmashaya, which forms our true character. There are five types of vrittis, some helpful and some not helpful. The are five types of Kleshas, which are irrational mental blocks. By becoming extremely clear about this world of Vrittis, Kleshas, Samskaras, and irrational mental blocks, we naturally begin our journey towards freedom. Verses: I.2, I.3, I.4, II.6, II.12, I.5, II.3
1 hr 6 min
February 23, 2019 67- How to Take Life in Its Completeness | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. This lecture begins with a discussion of the verse I.2, the definition of yoga as transcendence of the mind. When this is achieved, we rest in our true nature. Otherwise, we identify with the momentary experiences of the mind. The five Klesas, or distractions of Avidya, ignorance, Asmita, egotism, raga, obsessive attachment, Dvesa, obsessive hatred, and Abhinivesa, fear are reviewed. We continue rotating in a cycle of Karma, action, Vrittis, Impressions, and Samskaras, strong tendencies. The lecture ends with a review of the five kinds of Vrittis, emphasizing the Pramana, valid knowledge. Verses: I.2, I.3, I.4, I.5, I.6, I.7
1 hr 16 min
February 23, 2019 66 – What Is Left is the Buddha | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Atha comes due to the things of life not adding up. The negative movement should be accompanied by a positive progression. The system of vrittis, and the Antahkarana – Manas, Ahamkara, Buddhi, Chittam – is reviewed. It is absolutely to purify the mind of negative desires since “the tiger does come.” You chisel out the unnecessary parts of the rock and what’s left is the Buddha. Our true nature as the witness, aware, non-participating, and self-aware is described. Verses: I.1, I.2, I.3
59 min
February 23, 2019 65 – Atha: The Spiritual Fitness of the Seeker | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Meaning of words can be conventional or can be etymological. Atha means fitness for taking to spiritual life or Yoga. You can take practice Yamas and Niyamas or take refuge in God to gain fitness. At the end of the dark night of the soul comes complete submission to God. The earlier stages of Kshiptam and Vikshiptam, restlessness, can be overcome. By reaching Nirodha, we become free from conflicts, the cycle of Karma and Vrittis and the duality of experience. Verses: I.1, II.2
59 min
February 23, 2019 64 – If You Bring Light, Darkness Goes Away Immediately | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. Swami Vivekananda’s example of a worm crawling out of the way of the train is used to illustrate the way human beings have the choice of freedom from slavery to nature. The philosophy of spiritual evolution in Sankhya philosophy as an ascending set of identities is reviewed. Tarakam is the saving inner wisdom. Akramam means it comes all at once, not gradually as in the four stages of traditional learning. In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, it says that if you switch on the light, the darkness goes away immediately, not stage by stage. All dark corners of the heart get illumined at once. The lecture then starts with Samadipada with the first verse. Atha is the feeling that life is not adding up. Verses: III.55, III.56, I.1
56 min
February 23, 2019 63 – Running Away or Running Towards Something Higher? | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. If we get tempted after reaching a high level of Samyama, we will have to take many more births to get back on the real track. A great king renounced his kingdom but got attached to a baby deer. He had to be reborn as a deer, then as a human being and finally reached liberation. We should always be aware of the dangers. The goal of yoga is not to run away from danger but to run toward something higher: our spiritual ideal. Samyama on individual particles of time leads to an awareness of impermanence. This understanding yields discerning wisdom, Viveka. Verses: III.50, III.51, III.52
1 hr 6 min
February 23, 2019 62 – Renunciation of Powers Opens the Gate to Freedom | Patanjali Yoga Sutras | Swami Tattwamayananda
Lecture by Swami Tattwamayananda. The lecture begins with a review of the three great Indian sages of Yoga: Patanjali, Vyasa, and Shankara. Samyama on good qualities helps us to regulate all external relations. The ultimate goal of yoga is to go beyond all sense enslavement. This is the meaning of Parinama Dukha and Atha. It is a desire for something higher. That is why the first step of Yamas and Niyamas emphasize the ability to restrain the senses. That discipline allows us to naturally renounce all Yogic powers that come to us. Otherwise, downfall comes through attachment, pride, negligence, and complacency. If we renounce all worldly enjoyments coming from powers, then all of the seeds of worldly desire will be roasted completely. Verses: III.51
56 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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