Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

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

Page 73

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
nothing to do with fatalism. The fatalist is necessarily slovenly in his work. What does it matter whether he tries hard or not-what must come will come, anyway. Those critics and they are many—who dismiss Hindu philosophy as “fatalistic" show thereby their complete failure to understand the spirit of karma yoga. The fatalist's attitude towards the results of his work is not non-attachment; it is indifference born of weakness, laziness and cowardice. If, by some stroke of luck, he wins a little unearned success, his fatalism will disappear in a flash. He will not thank "fate" for his good fortune. On the contrary, we shall hear him proclaiming to all the world how well he has worked for his objective and how deservedly he has gained it.
समाधि-भावनार्थः क्लेश-तनूकरणार्थश्च ॥२॥ 2. Thus we may cultivate the power of concentration and
remove the obstacles to enlightenment which cause all our sufferings.
suferenfc-2m-cufafaraat: FeaTT: 11311 3. These obstacles-the causes of man's sufferings-are
ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life. अविद्याक्षेत्रमुत्तरेषां प्रसुप्त-तनु
fafossiler MTE 11811 4. Ignorance creates all the other obstacles. They may exist
either in a potential or a vestigial form, or they may have
been temporarily overcome or fully developed. Austerity, study, and the dedication of the fruits of one's work to God are, as we saw in the preceding aphorism, the three preliminary steps toward that power of concentration which makes possible the state of perfect yoga. That is their positive value. But they have a negative value also which is