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Tag: Yoga Sutra 1.25

  • God The First Cause, Yet Not Sankara Yoga Sutra 1.25

    Every thing has a Cause,

    Yoga Sutra 1.25. Patanjali.
    Yoga Sutra 1.25.
    Here Patanjali is reinforcing the notion of a unique original and unsurpassable soul. Apparently God is smarter than all of us put together. Still this brings up and interesting paradox around the issue of infinity. If all souls are purusha, and purusha is pure consciousness, i.e. sat-chit-ananda (eternal-knowing-blissfull), then how can God the Soul be more of anything?

    Events, Actions follow each other.

    An action or event is the reason for another action, event.

    Therefore, Cause may be the result of a Cause and be a Result of another.

    Again a Cause may lead to many results,

    A Result may be due to many Causes.

    If this were to be true, then the First Cause becomes a Logical fallacy.

    It is interesting to the Theory of Causation in Indian Philosophy, Hinduism.

    There are three Vadas or doctrines viz., Parinama Vada of Sankhya Philosophers, e.g., like milk changing into curd, Vivarta Vada of Sri Sankaracharya, e.g., snake in the rope, and Ajati Vada, the theory of non-evolution of the universe of Sri Gaudapada. The first Vada is the lowest. Vivarta is in the middle. Ajati Vada is the highest.

    To understand this we may like this.

    The Effect is different from the Cause as in Parinama Vada,

    This is fallacious as this theory assigns an Object without a Cause, which defeats the Theory of causation which is being defined.

    And an Object comes into being without a cause means we allude to Multitudes of realities.

    This is Philosophically incorrect as the presence of more than One Reality would limit the other or at least interact with the other.

    It it interacts with the other, it would again lead to other Reality.

    If it exists in parallel, it should have an origin either with that of the other Reality that has caused the other Reality.

    In both cases it is fallacious.

    Therefore the Theory that the Effects are different from Causes is untenable.

    The other one is the Effect is contained in the Cause.

    This is The Ajati Vada, the theory of non-evolution of the universe of Sri Gaudapada.

    Though logically correct, this does not explain our experience of the external world of Things.

    Shankaracharya explains this contradiction of both the Theories in his Vivarta Vada.

    The world is Real, yet Illusory.

    He cites the example of a Rope being mistaken for a Snake in poor light.

    Once we flash a light, we know that it was not a Snake but a Rope.

    So the fact that we saw a Snake was real for that limited point of Time when we did not have correct Knowledge.

    That it is a Rope is Real in the Absolute sense.

    Therefore both are Real but differentiated because of our Knowledge/inadequate Knowledge.

    This is Sankara’s Vivarta Vada.

    What does Yoga say on this?

    Definitions 
    Tatra – He (referring to Ishvara)
    Niratishayam – unsurpassable (beyond being bound)
    Sarva – all
    Gya – knowing
    Bijam – seed, primary cause

     

    God Is unsurpassable , this indicates he is The First Cause.

    He is the Root , Seed for Beings.

    Krishna says in The Bhagavad Gita ‘The Prakriti is the Mother and I am the Father, I am The Seed’

    Patanjali though seems to adhere to Parinama vada doctrine of Sankhya, he actually follows Vivarta vada of Shankaracharya, when he declared that the concept of God is necessary,though need not be Real in the Absolute sense of Samadhi

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  • Yoga Can Be Without God, But…. Sutra 1.24.

     

    In Yoga Sutra 1.24, Patanjali describes the special characteristics of Personal God, Ishvara.

    Yoga, one must remember, is a part of Nyaya, a system which does not believe in God.

    However, Patanjali has understood the necessity of God in Self Realization and had put forth the concept of God in Yoga.

    Yoga , by definition is the cessation of the modification of Chitta.

    We have unlimited number of impressions  running through our Mind at any time.

    But the aim of Yoga is to still them, their impressions.

    It is difficult to stop all the impressions at the same time.

    It would be easy and practical to reduce the number of things to be concentrated upon,

    So first, Theism,Monotheism,Dualism and Monism

    You start believing in a single entity, call it God, concentrate on it to the exclusion of other thoughts.

    Once you are stabilized on that, it would be easy to still that thought as well and attain Samadhi.

    But to reach that stage, one needs the concept of God just as one has to study in the LKG before he becomes a Ph.D.

    So the concept of God is essential.

    This stand is from the Thinking Level.

    From the experience level , those who have realized. Samadhi, like Ramana Maharishi, declare that God does Exist.

    This has to be taken into consideration as well.

    So there must be some special characteristics for/of God.

    Yoga Sutra 1.24 explains.

    Yoga Sutra 1.24
    Yoga Sutra 1.24

    Sutra 1.24:

    klesha karma vipaka ashayaih aparamristah purusha-vishesha ishvara

    • klesha = pain, hardship, distress, anguish, colored, painful, inflicted, impure
    • karma = action, actions, work
    • vipaka = maturity, ripening, fruits of, consequence, effect, afterwards, results
    • ashayaih = without companion
    • aparamristah = untouched
    • purusha = original source of Universe, pure consciousness
    • vishesha = special, extraordinary, distinguished, unique
    • ishvara = (ishwara) God, Goddess, Divine, Deity, purusha, pure consciousness, our true nature, pure awareness, Supreme Being

    Translated loosely into English;

    Ishvara is a distinguished supreme consciousness untouched by the colored results of actions or the pain of suffering.  

    In this Sutra, Patanjali is defining the qualities of Ishvara, the Supreme Being. ByPurusha– vishesha, Patanjali draws the student in deeper to this most unique and special form of consciousness.  To understand the qualities clearly I made a chart;

    The Qualities of Ishvara (Ishwara, purusha, the Supreme Being)

    • free from the 5 modes of suffering (Yoga Sutra 1.5); ignorance, desire, aversion, fear, Egoism/I-am-ness
    • free from the results of karma/action whether good or bad
    • free from the anguish of the life-death cycles
    • free from the subconscious impressions of Samkaras (karmas from past, present and future)
    • Supreme intelligence.
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