Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

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

Page 31

YOGA AND ITS ADS I.
occult powers, just as a medical writer nasto give mtormation about all kinds of drugs, even those which are dangerous. But he warns us at the same time that if we are drawn to these occult powers, we shall miss the supreme goal. If therefore, we do not heed his warning, we have only ourselves to blame.
विरामप्रत्ययाभ्यासपूर्वः संस्कारशेषोऽन्यः ॥१८॥ 18. The other kind of concentration is that in which the
consciousness contains no object-only subsconscious impressions, which are like burnt seeds. It is attained by constantly checking the thought-waves through the
· practice of non-attachment. When the spiritual aspirant has achieved the highest degree of concentration upon a single object, he is ready to attempt the supreme feat-concentration upon consciousness itself. This is the state of perfect yoga, in which one passes beyond Prakriti, beyond all object knowledge, into union with the Atman—the undifferentiated universal consciousness. The state of perfect yoga can only be entered into when the thoughtwaves have been stilled and the mind has been cleared of all its samskaras, both the evil and the good—when Patanjali has ceased to believe that he is Patanjali and knows that he is none other than the Atman.
Yoga philosophy teaches us that it is the samskaras that drive us from birth to birth-just as strongly rooted addiction drives a man to take a drug, over and over again, even in spite of his conscious disinclination and the efforts of his moral will. We may say, and sincerely believe, that we are weary of the world with its interrelated pleasures and pains-"the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree”—but, in fact, we are not, as long as these subconscious tendencies remain. Our desire to return and plunge once more into sense-experience is far deeper than we realize. Beside it, our physical and spiritual hangovers, our temporary fits of disgust and repentance, count for nothing.