The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Charles Johnston, *The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: The Book of the Spiritual Man* (New York: Charles Johnston, 1912). Public domain. · Public domain (pre-1929 English translation). Reproduced for educational and religious commentary.
Book 1
2Union, spiritual consciousness, is gained through control of the versatile psychic nature.
3Then the Seer comes to consciousness in his proper nature.
4Heretofore the Seer has been enmeshed in the activities off the psychic nature.
5The psychic activities are five; they are attended by pleasure or pain.
6These activities are: Sound intellection, unsound intel- lection, phantasy, dream, memory.
7The elements of sound intellection are: direct observa- tion, inductive reason, and trustworthy testimony.
8Unsound intellection is false understanding, not resting on a perception of the true nature of things.
9Phantasy is a fiction of mere words, with no underly- ing reality.
10Dream is the psychic condition which rests on mind states, all material thinge being absent.
12The control of these psychic activities comes through the right use of the will, and through ceasing from self=indulg= ence.
Book 1
13The right use of the will is the steady effort to stand in spiritual being.
14This becomes a firm resting=place, when followed long, persistently, with righteousness.
15Ceasing from self=indugence is conscious mastery over the thirst for sensuous pleasure here or hereafter.
17That spiritual vision which is conditioned and limited takes the form first of exterior reasoning, then of interior judg- ment, then of happiness, then of realisation of individual being.
18Spiritual consciousness unlimited is the final state led up to by the right practice of spiritual Silence.
19The external world still dominates those who have con- quered bodily lusts, but are immersed in the sense of separate- ness.
20For the others, there is spiritual consciousness, led up to by faith, valor, right mindfulness, one-pointedness, perception.
21Spiritual consciousness is nearest to those of keen, intense will.
22The will may be weak, or of middle strength, or in- tense.
23The will may be gained by ardent service of the Master.
24The Master is the spiritual man, who has conquered sorrow, bondage to works, and the accumulation of evils.
25In the Master is the seed of perfect Omniscience.
26He is the Teacher of all who have gone before, since he is not limited by Time.
27His word is OM.
28Let there be soundless repetition of OM and medita= tion thereon.
29Thence come the awakening of interior consciousness, and the removal of barriers.
30The barriers to interior consciousness, which drive the psychic nature this way and that, are these: sickness, inertia, doubt, light-mindedness, laziness, intemperance, false notions, inability to hold the ground gained, unsteadiness.
31Grieving, despondency, bodily restlessness, the draw- ing in and sending forth of the Iife=breath, also contribute to drive the psychic nature to and fro.
32Steady application to a principle is the way to put a stop to these.
34Or peace may be reached by the even sending forth and control of the life-breath.
Book 1
35Faithful, persistent application to any object, if com- pletely attained, will bind the mind to steadiness.
36As also will a joyful, radiant spirit.
37Or the purging of self indulgence from the psychic nature.
38Or a pondering on the perceptions gained in dreams and dreamless sleep.
39Or meditative brooding on what is dearest to the heart.
40Thus he masters all, from the atom to the Infinite.
41When the perturbations of the psychic nature have all been stiiled, then the consciousness, like a pure crystal, takes the color of what it rests on, whether that be the perceiver, per= ceiving, or the thing perceived.
42When the consciousness, in perceiving, is successively occupied by the name, the idea, and the understanding of what it is dwelling on, this is the distributive action of the mind.
43When the object dwells in the mind, clear of memory- pictures, devoid of any form, as a pure luminous idea, this is non- distributive perception.
44The same two steps, when referring to things of finer substance, are said to be with, or without, judicial action of the mind.
Book 1
45Subtle substance rises in ascending degrees, to that pure nature which has no distinguishing mark.
46The above are the degrees of limited and conditioned spiritual consciousness, still containing the seed of separateness.
47When pure perception without judicial action of the mind is reached, there follows the gracious peace of the inner self.
48In that peace, perception is unfailingly true.
49The object of this perception is other than what is learned from the sacred books, or by sound inference, since this perception is particular.
Book 1
50The impress on the consciousness springing from this perception supersedes all previous impressions.
51When this impression ceases, then, since all impres- sions have ceased, there arises pure spiritual consciousness, with no seed of separateness left.
Book 2
2Their aim is, to bring soul°vision, and to wear away barriers.
Book 2
3These are the barriers: the darkness of unwisdom, self- assertion, lust, hate, attachment.
4The darkness of unwisdom is the field of the others. These barriers may be dormant, or worn thin, or suspended, or expanded.
5The darkness of ignorance is: holding that which is unenduring, impure, full of pain, not the soul, to be eternal, pure, full of joy, the soul.
Book 2
6SeIf=assertion comes from thinking of the Seer and the instrument of vision as forming one self.
7Lust is the resting in the sense of enjoyment.
8Hate is the resting in the sense of pain.
9Attachment is the desire toward life, even in the wise, carried forward by its own energy.
10These subtle barriers are to be removed by a counter- current.
11Their active turnings are to be removed by meditation.
Book 2
12The burden of bondage to sorrow has its root in these barriers. It will be felt in this life, or in a life not yet man- ifested.
13From this root there grow and ripen the fruits of birth, of the life-span, of all that is tasted in life.
14These bear fruits of rejoicing or of affliction, as they are sprung from holy or unholy works.
15To him who possesses discernment, all personal life is misery, because it ever waxes and wanes, is ever afflicted with restlessness, makes ever new dynamic impresses in the mind; and because all its activities war with each other.
16This pain is to be warded off, before it has come.
17The cause of what is to be warded off, is the absorp- tion of the Seer in things seen.
Book 2
19The grades or layers of the Three Potencies are the defined, the undefined, that with distinctive mark, that without distinctive mark.
20The Seer is pure vision. Though pure, he looks out through the vesture of the mind.
22Though fallen away from him who has reached the goal, things seen have not altogether fallen away, since they still exist for others.
23The association of the Seer with things seen is the cause of the realizing of the nature of things seen, and also of the realizing of the nature of the Seer.
Book 2
24The cause of this association is the darkness of un- wisdom.
25The bringing of this association to an end, by bringing the darkness of unwisdom to an end, is the great liberation; this is the Seer's attainment of his own pure being.
26A discerning which is carried on perpetually is the means of liberation.
27The soul vision which is the final goal of liberation is sevenfold.
28From steadfastly following after the means of Yoga, until impurity is worn away, there comes the light of wisdom in full discernment.
Book 2
29The eight means of Yoga are: the Commandments, the Rules, right Poise, right Control of the life-force, Withdrawal, Concentration, Meditation, Illumination.
30The Commandments are these: noninjury, truthful- ness, abstaining from stealing, from impurity, from covetousness.
31The Commandments are not limited to any race, place, time or age. They are universal; they are the great obligation.
32The Rules are these: purity, serenity, fervent aspira- tion, spiritual reading, and perfect obedience to the Master.
Book 2
33To conquer transgressions, the weight of the imagina- tion should be thrown on the opposite side.
34Transgressions are injury, falsehood, theft, incon- tinence, envy, whether committed, or caused, or assented to, through greed, wrath, or infatuation; whether faint, or middl ng, or excessive; bearing endless fruit of ignorance and pain. There- fore must the weight be cast on the other side.
35Where non-injury is perfected, all enmity ceases in the presence of him who possesses it.
Book 2
36Where truth is perfected, it brings the reward of all rites.
37Where cessation from theft is perfected, all treasures present themselves to him who possesses it.
38For him who is perfect in continence, the reward is valor and virility.
39Where there is firm conquest of covetousness, he who has conquered it awakes to the how and why of life.
40Through purity comes a withdrawal from one's own bodily life, a ceasing from infatuation with the bodily life of others.
Book 2
41To the pure of heart come also a quiet spirit, one- pointed thought, the victory over sensuality, and fitness to behold the Soul.
42From acceptance, the disciple gains happiness supreme.
43The perfection of the powers of the bodily vesture comes through the wearing away of impurities, and through fervent aspiration.
44Through spiritual reading, the disciple gains communion with the divine Power on which his heart is set.
Book 2
45Soul=vision is perfected through perfect obedience to the Master.
46Right poise must be firm and without strain.
48The fruit of right poise is the strength to resist the shocks of infatuation or sorrow.
Book 2
49When this is gained, there follows the right guidance of the life=currents, the control of the incoming and outgoing breath.
50The life=current is either outward, or inward, or bal= anced; it is regulated according to place, time, number; it is either long or short.
51The fourth degree is concerned with external and in- ternal objects.
52Thereby is worn away the veil which covers up the light.
Book 2
53Thence conies the mind's power to hold itself in the light.
54The right Withdrawal is the disengaging of the powers from entanglement in outer things, and their return to the quality of consciousness.
55Thereupon follows perfect mastery over the powers.
Book 3
2A prolonged holding of the perceiving consciousness in that region is Contemplation (dhyana).
3When the perceiving consciousness, in this contempla- tion, is wholly given to illuminating the essential meaning of the object contemplated, and is freed from the sense of separateness and personality, this is Meditation (samadhi).
Book 3
4When these three, Attention, Contemplation, Medita- tion, are exercised at once, this is perfectly concentrated Medi= tation (sanyama).
5By mastering this perfectly concentrated Meditation, there comes the illumination of the perceiving consciousness.
Book 3
6This power is distributed in ascending degrees.
7This threefold power, of Attention, Contemplation, Meditation, is more interior than the means of growth previously described.
8But this triad is still exterior to the soul vision which is unconditioned, free from the seed of mental analysis.
Book 3
9One of the ascending degrees is the development of Control. First there is the overcoming of the mind-impress of excitation. Then comes the manifestation of the mind*impress of Control. Then the perceiving consciousness follows after the moment of Control. This is the development of Control.
10Through frequent repetition of this process, the mind becomes habituated to it, and there arises an equable flow of perceiving consciousness.
Book 3
12When, following this, the controlled manifold tendency and the aroused one=pointedness are equally balanced parts of the perceiving consciousness, this is the development of one- pointedness.
13Through this, the inherent character, distinctive marks and conditions of being and powers, according to their develop= ment, are made clear.
14Every object has its characteristics which are already quiescent, those which are active, and those which are not yet definable.
15Difference in stage is the cause of difference in de- velopment.
Book 3
17Sound and meaning and the thought called up by a word are confounded because they are all blurred together in the mind. By perfectly concentrated Meditation on each separately, there comes an understanding of the sounds uttered by all beings.
18When the mind=impressions become visible, there comes an understanding of previous births.
Book 3
19By perfectly concentrated Meditation on mi nd=i mages is gained the understanding of the thoughts of others.
20By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the form of the body, by arresting the body's perceptibility, and by inhibiting the eye's power of sight, there comes the power to make the body invisible.
22By perfectly concentrated Meditation on sympathy, compassion and kindness, is gained the power of interior union with others.
23By perfectly concentrated Meditation on power, even such power as that of the elephant may be gained.
24By bending upon them the awakened inner light, there comes a knowledge of things subtle, or obscure, or remote.
Book 3
25By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the sun conies a knowledge of the worlds.
26By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the moon comes a knowledge of the lunar mansions.
27By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the fixed pole- star comes a knowledge of the motions of the stars.
28Perfectly concentrated Meditation on the center of force in the lower trunk brings an understanding of the order of the bodily powers.
Book 3
29By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the center of force in the well of the throat, there conies the cessation of hunger and thirst.
Book 3
30By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the center of force in the channel called the "tortoise-formed," conies stead- fastness.
31Through perfectly concentrated Meditation on the light in the head comes the vision of the Masters who have at- tained.
Book 3
32Or through the divining power of intuition he knows all things.
33By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the heart, the interior being, conies the knowledge of consciousness.
34The personal self seeks to feast on life, through a fail- ure to perceive the distinction between the personal self and the spiritual man. All personal experience really exists for the sake of another: namely, the spiritual man.
Book 3
35Thereupon are born the divine power of intuition, and the hearing, the touch, the vision, the taste and the power of smell of the spiritual man.
36These powers stand in contradistinction to the highest spiritual vision. In manifestation they are called magical powers.
Book 3
37Through the weakening of the causes of bondage, and by learning the method of passing, the consciousness is trans- ferred to the other body.
38Through mastery of the upwards if e comes freedom from the dangers of water, morass, and thorny places, and the power of ascension is gained.
Book 3
39By mastery of the binding-life conies radiance.
40From perfectly concentrated Meditation on the corre- lation of hearing and the ether, comes the power of spiritual hearing.
Book 3
41By perfectly concentrated Meditation on the correla- tion of the body with the ether, and by thinking of it as light as thistle-down, will come the power to traverse the ether.
42When that condition of consciousness is reached, which is far-reaching and not confined to the body, which is out- side the body and not conditioned by it, then the veil which conceals the light is worn away.
43Mastery of the elements comes from perfectly con- centrated Meditation on their five forms: the gross, the elemen- tal, the subtle, the pervading, the essential or objective.
44Thereupon will come the manifestation of the atomic and other powers, which are the endowment of the body, together with its unassailable force.
Book 3
45Shapeliness, beauty, force, the temper of the diamond: these are the endowments of that body.
46Mastery over the powers of perception and action comes through perfectly concentrated Meditation on their five= fold forms; namely, their power to grasp, their distinctive nature, the element of self=consciousness in them, their pervasiveness, and their objectivity.
47Thence come the power swift as thought, independence of instruments, and mastery over matter.
48When the spiritual man is perfectly disentangled from the psychic body, he attains to mastery over all things and to a knowledge of all.
49By absence of all self=indulgence at this point, also, the seeds of bondage to sorrow are destroyed, and pure spiritual being is attained.
Book 3
50There should be complete overcoming of allurement or pride in the invitations of the different regions of life, lest attachment to things evil arise once more.
51From perfectly concentrated Meditation on the divis- ions of time and their succession comes that wisdom which is born of discernment.
52Hence comes discernment between things which are of like nature, not distinguished by difference of kind, character or position.
53The wisdom which is born of discernment is starlike; it discerns all things, and all conditions of things, it discerns without succession: simultaneously.
54When the vesture and the spiritual man are alike pure, then perfect spiritual life is attained.
Book 4
2The transfer of powers from one plane to another conies through the flow of the natural creative forces.
3The apparent, immediate cause is not the true cause of the creative nature=powers; but, like the husbandman in his field, it takes obstacles away.
Book 4
4Vestures of consciousness are built up in conformity with the position of the feeling of selfhood.
5In the different fields of manifestation, the Conscious- ness, though one, is the effective cause of many states of con- sciousness.
6Among states of consciousness, that which is born of Meditation is free from the seed of future sorrow.
Book 4
7The works of followers after Union make neither for bright pleasure nor for dark pain. The works of others make for pleasure or pain, or a mingling of these.
8From the force inherent in works comes the manifesta- tion of those dynamic mind-images which are conformable to the ripening out of each of these works.
Book 4
9Works separated by different births, or place, or time, may be brought together by uniformity of memory or dynamic impression.
10The series of dynamic mind -images is beginningless, because Desire is everlasting.
Book 4
12The difference between that which is past and that which is not yet come, according to their natures, depends on the difference of phase of their properties.
13These properties, whether manifest or latent, are of the nature of the Three Potencies.
14The external manifestation of an object takes place when the transformations are in the same phase.
Book 4
15The paths of material things and of states of conscious** ness are distinct, as is manifest from the fact that the same object may produce different impressions in different minds.
16Nor do material objects depend upon a single mind, for how could they remain objective to others, if that mind ceased to think of them?
17An object is perceived, or not perceived, according as the mind is, or is not, tinged with the color of the object.
Book 4
19The Mind is not self=luminous, since it can be seen as an object.
20Nor could the Mind at the same time know itself and things external to it.
Book 4
11When the pure Spiritual Consciousness, which is free from all succession or change, takes form in the Spiritual Man, then does Consciousness realize its own luminous being.
23The psychic nature, universally adaptive, takes on the color either of things seen, or of the Seer.
Book 4
24The psychic nature, which has been printed with mind- images of innumerable material things, exists now for the Spirit- ual Man, subordinate to him.
25For him who discerns between the Mind and the Spirit- ual Man, there comes perfect fruition of the longing after the real being of the Self.
Book 4
26Thereafter, the whole personal being bends toward illumination, full of the spirit of Eternal Life.
27In the intervals of the battle, other thoughts will arise, through the impressions of the dynamic mind=images.
28These are to be overcome as it was taught that sorrows should be overcome.
29He who, after he has attained, is wholly free from self, is set in a cloud of holiness which is called illumination. This is the true spiritual consciousness.
Book 4
30Thereon comes surcease from sorrow and the burden of toil.
31When all veils are rent, all stains washed away, his knowledge becomes infinite; little remains for him to know.
32Thereafter comes the completion of the series of trans- formations of the three nature-potencies, since their purpose is attained.
33The series of transformations is divided into moments, and is to be regarded as the culmination of nature.
Book 4
34Pure spiritual life is, therefore, the inverse resolution of the potencies of Nature, which have emptied themselves of their value for the Spiritual man; or it is the return of the power of pure Consciousness to its essential form.