Yoga Sutras Book 2: Sutras 1 through 9

In the previous set of sutras (1-4), we learned that Ignorance is the underlying cause of all suffering, of all the kleshas that color our minds and don't let us see clearly.  Now, as we advance towards sutras 4 to 9 we realize what the ignorance is all about.

Ignorance is in confusing the actor with the power behind the curtain, in thinking that I (ego) is IT (the purusha) or the Higher Power.

I have been giving more thought as of how to create the recordings.  Here it is the singing of sutras 1 through 9,  I find it very helpful to sing from the beginning as it reinforces the previous learned sutras.

I am following Jayashree's recording, see why I started with chapter two here, and all the background information on the Yoga Sutras series here.



From Swamiji's page:

2.1 Yoga in the form of action (kriya yoga) has three parts: 1) training and purifying the senses (tapas), 2) self-study in the context of teachings (svadhyaya), and 3) devotion and letting go into the creative source from which we emerged (ishvara pranidhana).

2.2 That Yoga of action (kriya yoga) is practiced to bring about samadhi and to minimize the colored thought patterns (kleshas).

2.3 There are five kinds of coloring (kleshas): 1) forgetting, or ignorance about the true nature of things (avidya), 2) I-ness, individuality, or egoism (asmita), 3) attachment or addiction to mental impressions or objects (raga), 4) aversion to thought patterns or objects (dvesha), and 5) love of these as being life itself, as well as fear of their loss as being death.

2.4 The root forgetting or ignorance of the nature of things (avidya) is the breeding ground for the other of the five colorings (kleshas), and each of these is in one of four states: 1) dormant or inactive, 2) attenuated or weakened, 3) interrupted or separated from temporarily, or 4) active and producing thoughts or actions to varying degrees.

2.5 Ignorance (avidya) is of four types: 1) regarding that which is transient as eternal, 2) mistaking the impure for pure, 3) thinking that which brings misery to bring happiness, and 4) taking that which is not-self to be self.

2.6 The coloring (klesha) of I-ness or egoism (asmita), which arises from the ignorance, occurs due to the mistake of taking the intellect (buddhi, which knows, decides, judges, and discriminates) to itself be pure consciousness (purusha).

2.7 Attachment (raga) is a separate modification of mind, which follows the rising of the memory of pleasure, where the three modifications of attachment, pleasure, and the memory of the object are then associated with one another.

2.8 Aversion (dvesha) is a modification that results from misery associated with some memory, whereby the three modifications of aversion, pain, and the memory of the object or experience are then associated with one another.

2.9 Even for those people who are learned, there is an ever-flowing, firmly established love for continuation and a fear of cessation, or death, of these various colored modifications (kleshas).


Previous in the Series:

First Post Sutra 2.1: Patanjali you optimist! I am starting with chapter 2

Sutras 2.1 through 2.4: Ignorance!

Sutras 2.1 through 2.9

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