Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

Author(s): Prabhavnanda Swami, Christopher Isherwood
Publisher: Ramkrishna Math Madras

Page 17

YOGA AND ITS AIMS
That is to say, dreamless sleep is not an absence of thoughtwaves in the mind, but a positive experience of nothingness. It cannot therefore be confused with the wave less state of yoga. If there were no thought-waves in the mind during sleep, we should not wake remembering that we knew nothing. As S. Radhakrishnan remarks in his Philosophy, Mr. So-and-So, after a good sleep, goes on being Mr. So-and-So, since his experiences unite themselves to the system which existed at the time when he went to sleep. They link themselves to his thoughts and do not fly to any other's. Such continuity of experience makes it necessary for us to admit a permanent Self underlying all contents of consciousness.
अनुभूतविषयासम्प्रमोषः स्मृतिः ॥ ११ ॥
11. Memory is when perceived objects are not forgotten, but come back to consciousness.
Memory is a kind of secondary thought-wave. A wave of direct perception causes a smaller ripple or series of ripples. The thought-wave of sleep also causes smaller ripples, which we call dreams. Dreaming is remembering in your sleep.
अभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां तन्निरोधः ॥ १२ ॥
12. They are controlled by means of practice and nonattachment.
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13. Practice is the repeated effort to follow the disciplines which give permanent control of the thought-waves of the mind.
स तु दीर्घकालनैरन्तर्यसत्कारासेवितो दृढभूमिः ॥ १४ ॥