Monday, December 4, 2017

The Yogasûtra first book

 
 


The Yogasûtra, thread of freedom



Book 1

about the full awereness





Two translations: one from sri Hans yoganand, the master of the original yoga, the other from James Haughton Woods (1864-1935) played a fundamental role in making the professional study of Asia a possibility at Harvard.

All the book from sri Hans yoganand here: https://treatise-of-yoga.blogspot.fr/





1-1

yoganand

Now the teaching of the freedom. (or rest)

Woods

Now the exposition of yoga.
(is to be made)
 

1-2


yoganand


The Freedom ( or the rest)
Is the indifference to the activities of the mind.

Woods

Yoga is the restriction
Of the fluctuations of mind-stuff.


1-3


yoganand


Through this, the practicer settles
In the peace of his essential nature.

Woods

Then the Seer (that is, the Self) abides in himself.


1-4


yoganand


Otherwise the practicer identify himself with the fluctuations.

Woods

At other times it (the Self) takes the same form as the fluctuations
(of mind-stuff).


1-5


yoganand


These fluctuations are of five sorts, distressing and not distressing.

Woods

The fluctuations are of five kinds and are hindered or unhindered.


1-6

yoganand

Which are the means of the knowledge, the ignorance,
The interpretation, the contemplation
Without caesura and the memory.

Woods

Sources-of-valid-ideas and misconceptions
And predicate-relations and sleep and memory.


1-7


yoganand


The direct perception, the deduction
And the testimony are the means of the Knowledge.

Woods

Sources-of-valid-ideas are perception and inference
And verbal-communication.


1-8


yoganand


The illusion comes from a false perception of the reality.

Woods

Misconception is an erroneous idea not based on that form
(in respect of which the misconception is entertained).


1-9

yoganand

The concepts are the product of a verbal knowledge
Exempt from reality.

Woods

The predicate-relation (vikalpa) is without any
(corresponding perceptible) objet
And follows as a result of perception or of words.


1-10


yoganand


The non-existence* leads
to the perfect communion

*state where the thought, the concepts, the mind don’t intervene any more and where the peaceful vacuity, the bliss

Woods

Sleep is a fluctuation of (mind-stuff) supported by thge cause
Of the (transient) negation (of the waking and the dreaming fluctuations.


1-11


yoganand


The memory is the print left by the experience.

Woods

Memory is not-adding-surreptitiously to a once experienced object.


1-12


yoganand


The Observance of the Agya*, the detachment calm the mind.

*Sadhàna of the original yoga.

Woods

The restriction of them is by (means) of practice and passionlessness.


1-13


yoganand


The Observance is assiduous and continuous.

Woods

Practice is (repeated) exertion to the end that (the mindstuff)
Shall have permanence in this (restricted state).




1-14


yoganand


The constant and enthusiastic Observance gives robust foundations
To the control of the mind.

Woods

But this (practice) becomes confirmed
When it has been cultivated for a long time
And uninterruptedly and with ernest attention.


1-15

yoganand

Thanks to the detachment, you don’t desire any more
The objects you know or you heard about they exist.

Woods

Passionlessness is the consciousness
Of being master on the part of one
Who has rid himself of thirst for either seen
or revealed objects.


1-16


yoganand


The contemplation over the true-self gives the true detachment.

Woods

This (passionlessness) is highest
When discernment of the Self results in thirstlessness
for qualities (and not merely for objects).


1-17

yoganand


The practitioner will have various levels of conscience
From the confusion to the joy until the bliss

Woods

(Concentration becomes) conscious (of its object)
By assuming forms either of deliberation (upon coarse objects)
Or of reflection upon subtile objects or of joy
Or of the feeling-of-personality.


1-18


yoganand


At the highest level of the meditation,
when the mind is under control with detachment,
there is still a residue of impressions.

Woods

The orher (concentration which is not conscious of objects)
Consistes of subliminalimpressions only (after objects have merged),
And follows upon that practice which effects
The cessation (of fluctuations).


1-19


yoganand


The merge in immaterial original nature makes clear-sighted.

Woods

(Concentration not conscious of objects) caused by worldly (means)
Is the one to which the discarnate attain
And to which those (whose bodies) are resolved
Into primary-matter attain.


1-20


yoganand


The samadhi comes after the faith, the courage,
The memory and gives a high perception of the truth.

Woods

(Concentration not conscious of objects) which follows upon belief
(and) energy (and)mindfulness (and) concentration (and) insight,
Is that to which the others (the yogins) attain.


1-21


yoganand


They attain it those who have an intense desire of Liberation.

Woods

For the keenly intense, (concentration) is near.


1-22


yoganand


The intensity of the Observance makes the difference

Woods

Because (the keenness) is gentle or moderate or keen,
There is a (concentration) superior even to this (near kind).


1-23

yoganand

Only total free fall in God brings to the Kingdom.

Woods

Or (concentration) is attained by devotion to the îsvara.


1-24

yoganand

God is different from the human being :
He is not affected by the causes of the sadness
Nor by the law of the action-reaction
No more than by the confusion of the mind.

Woods

Untouched by hindrances or karmas or fruition or by latent-deposits,
The îsvara is a special kind of Self.


1-25

yoganand

God is the supreme Knowledge there is nothing beyond.

Woods

In this (îsvara) the germ of the omniscient is at its utmost excellence.


1-26

yoganand

Beyond time he is the supreme guru, the one of the first masters.

Woods

Teacher of the Primal (sages) also, forasmuch as (with Him)
There is no limitation by time.


1-27

yoganand

His Name is the primordial-sound.

Woods

The word-expressing Him is the Mystic-syllable.


1-28

yoganand

The meditation on this sound which is repeated
Is the meditation on God.

Woods

Repetition of it and reflection upon ist meaning (should be made).


1-29

yoganand

Consequently, the obstacles disapear
and the full Conscience comes up.

Woods

Therafter comes the right-knowledge of him who thinks in an inverse way,
And the removal of obstacles.


1-30

yoganand

The obstacles are the disease the inertia the doubts
The carelessness the tiredness the indiscipline
The imagination the lack of perseverance the step backward
The fluctuations of the mind.

Woods

Sickness and languor and doubt and heedlessness
Aand worldlines and erroneous perception
And failure to attain any stage ( of concentration)
And instability in the state (when attained)
  • these distractions of the mind-stuff are the obstacles.

1-31

yoganand

These absent-mindedness can stop the practice
And pull sorrow despair agitation loss of the breath.

Woods

Pain and despondency and unsteadiness of the body
And inspiration and expiration
Are the accompaniments of the distractions.


1-32

yoganand

The Observance of the Agya* keep you out of these things.

*The Sadhàna of the original yoga.

Woods

To check them (let there be) practice upon a single entity.


1-33

yoganand

You can keep the spirit in peace by the following behaviors :
Towards happy people practise the friendship
The unfortunates, the condolence, the virtuous ones the gaiety
Of those who act badly, the indifference.

Woods

By the cultivation of friendliness towards happiness,
And compassion towards pain, and joy towards merit,
And indifference towards demerit.


1-34

yoganand

You can also arrive at this peace by the Meditation on the breath.

Woods

Or (the yogin attains the undisturbed calm of the mind-stuff)
By expulsion and retention of breath.


1-35

yoganand

Continuing this Meditation in the actions
Helps to stabilize this Peace.

Woods

Or (he gains stability when) a sense-activity arises
Connected with an object (and) bringing the central-organ
Into a relation of stability.


1-36

yoganand

You can also meditate on the peaceful Inner-Light

Woods

Or an undistressed (and) luminous (sense-activity
When arisen brings the centralorgan into a relation of stability).


1-37

yoganand

You can also release your mind of all attachments
Any desires and passions*.

*This verse is ironic, as both following ones. It is easy to say that it is necessary to release your mind of any attachment, desires and passions ! But without these techniques of Meditation and the S\dhana or Agya, how can it be done ? By reading the next two verses you will understand what is ironic there.

Woods

Or the mind-stuff (reaches the stable state)
By having as its object (a mind-stuff) freed from passion.


1-38

yoganand

You can also look for the Knowledge in the dreams*.

*You see the irony ! The dreams have of course nothing to do with this spiritual practice, they can at the very most help for a therapy involving the psyche, the affect but they don’t enter in the Agya. The verses 1.37, 1.38 and 1.39 are ironic, the writers of the book had without doubts a sense of humour.

Woods

Or (the mind-stuff reaches the stable state)
By having as the supporting-object a perception in dream or in sleep.


1-39

yoganand

You can also do as you like.

Woods

Or (the mind-stuff reaches the stables state)
By contemplation upon any such an object as is desired.


1-40

yoganand

With the mastery of the contemplation
The Conscience penetrates into the essence
Of the the infinitely small and the infinitely large.

Woods

His mastery extends from the smallest atom to the greatest magitude.


1-41

yoganand

As the pure crystal takes the color of objects placed near to it
The meditator free of the mind's fluctuations leaves the confusion
And reached the perfect Conscience of the bliss
Absorbed in One.

Woods

(The mind-stuff) from which, as from a precious gem,
Fluctuations have dwindled away, reaches the balanced-state,
Which in the case of the knower or of the processof-knowing
Or of the object-to-be-known, is in the state of resting upon (one)
Of these (three) and in the state of being tinged by (one) of these (three).


1-42

yoganand

At this stage, the object and the knowledge
Merge to become the Knowledge.

Woods

Of (these balanced-states) the state-balanced with deliberation
Iis confused by reason of predicate-relations
Between words and intended-objects and ideas.


1-43

yoganand

When the mind is without thought, without memories
Nor conscience of itself, then there is the bliss.

Woods

When the memory is quite purified, (that balanced-state)
  • which is, as it were, empty of itself and which brigtens
(into conscious knowledge) as the intended-object and nothing more -
Is super deliberative.


1-44

yoganand

It happens the same thing in the both following stages of meditation
Whether with or without fluctuations of the mind
Conscience of the illusory identity and of space-time.

Woods

By this same (balanced-state) the reflective
And the super-reflective (balanced-states) are also explained.


1-45

Yoganand
The point where peaks this process of meditation is the Unit,
The vacuity, satçitananda, the All.

Woods

The subtile object also terminates in unresoluble-primary-matter (aliñga).


1-46

yoganand

The stages of meditation described up to here are said « with seed* ».

*These states of conscience, these meditations are so called because they are the result of a diligent practice which progresses step by step. They are not spontaneous fruits of the Grace. The seeds are the efforts, the acts, the Observance which we sowed and which gave their fruits.

Woods

These same (balanced-states) are the seeded concentration.


1-47

yoganand

The Conscience of the bliss without thoughts nor distinctions
Being acquired appears the Light of The Supreme-Being.

Woods

When there is the clearness of the super-reflective
(balanced-state, the yogin gains) internal undisturbed calm.


1-48

yoganand

At this stage, the Knowledge becomes plenitude of the Truth.

Woods

In this (concentrated mind-stuff) the insight is truth-bearing.


1-49

yoganand

This Knowledge has nothing to do with
The bookish knowledge stemming from readings or from learnings.

Woods

Has another object than the resulting from things heard or from inferences,
Inasmuch as its intended-object is a particular.


1-50

yoganand

The effect of this Knowledge sweeps
All the residues of the mind.

Woods

The subliminal-impression produced by this (super-reflective balanced-state)
Is hostile to other subliminal-impressions.


1-51

yoganand

When this state settles down, there is ecstasy
Without any other medium than the ecstasy.

Woods

When this (subliminal-impression) also is restricted, since all is restricte,
(the yogin gains) seedless concentration.