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2.1
Purification, self-inquiry,
and surrender to God
are the practices that lead to Unity.
2.2
These practices cultivate awareness
and remove the afflictions
that obstruct realization of Truth.
2.3
The obstructing afflictions are ignorance,
false sense of self, desire, aversion,
and a tenacious clinging to life.
2.4
Ignorance is the origin of all other afflictions—
the pre-emergent and the vestigial,
the nearly-overcome and the fully operational.
2.5
Ignorance regards the impermanent
as permanent, the impure as pure,
the bad as good, the ego self as true Self.
2.6
The false ego self is born
when the instrument of seeing
is mis-identified
as being separate from the One who sees.
2.7
Desire is attachment to pleasure.
2.8
Aversion is attachment to the absence of suffering.
2.9
Tenacious clinging to life is inherent in all beings,
from the most ignorant to the most wise.
Life after life, it is sustained by its own momentum.
2.10
When these five afflictions have become subtle,
vestigial, they can be destroyed by abiding in their opposites.
2.11
When they are fully operational,
they must be overcome through meditation.
2.12
Mental and physical actions rooted in these afflictions
bear fruit as experiences in this and future lifetimes.
2.13
For so long as the roots exist, they bear fruit as fortune of birth,
length of life, and the experience of pleasure or suffering.
2.14
The pleasure or suffering you experience
is the fruit of your good or bad actions.
2.15
One who is spiritually aware sees that all experience is suffering,
due to constant change, anxiety, forces of nature,
and imprints of subliminal processes.
2.16
Suffering yet to come can be avoided.
2.17
Suffering is caused by the illusion that there is an experiencer
to whom an experience is happening.
From the Yoga Sutras
The Sayings of Patanjani
Chapter 2 - Practice
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali were written around the time of Jesus,
give or take 200 years. The practice of yoga began in India as early
as 1000 years prior, but the Yoga Sutras are the most important
compendium of this ancient oral tradition, and virtually all
later schools of yoga begin with Patanjali.
Little is known about him, but there is evidence
he was an educated philosopher, grammarian, and physician—
a long-lost medical work
is attributed to him. No doubt he received oral instruction in yoga
and probably lived in remote caves, forests, and river banks,
which were the most frequent practicing grounds of the time.
At some point, enlightenment happened.
Why he committed an oral tradition to written text is unknown,
but as the remote meditative havens of the yogis
receded and dedicated aspirants dwindled,
he may have feared that yoga would become forgotten,
lost, or corrupted. Regardless, we are the beneficiaries of his efforts.
