{"id":592,"date":"2019-03-29T01:03:28","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T01:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/?p=592"},"modified":"2019-05-31T15:52:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T15:52:26","slug":"ekatattva-principle-of-patanjali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/?p=592","title":{"rendered":"Ekatattva principle of Pata\u00f1jali"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">This is one of the most interesting sutras, let\u2019s try to examine it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u0924\u0924\u094d\u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u0924\u0937\u0947\u0927\u093e\u0925\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0947\u0915\u0924\u0924\u094d\u0924\u094d\u0935\u093e\u092d\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0938\u0903\u0965\u0969\u0968\u0965 <em>tatprati\u1e63edh\u0101rthamekatattv\u0101bhy\u0101sa\u1e25 || 32 || <\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u0924\u0924\u094d tat &#8211; that;<br \/>\n\u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u0924\u0937\u0947\u0927\u094d prati\u1e63edh (\u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u0924 &#8211; backwards, \u0937\u0947\u0927\u094d \u043e\u0442\u00a0\u0938\u093f\u0927\u094d &#8211; taking away) &#8211; holding up;<br \/>\n\u0905\u0924\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094d artam &#8211; goal;<br \/>\n\u090f\u0915, eka &#8211; one;<br \/>\n\u0924\u0924\u094d\u0924\u094d\u0935, tattva &#8211; essence (thatness) \u0905\u092d\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0938\u0903,<br \/>\nabhy\u0101sa\u1e25 (\u0905\u092d\u0940 &#8211; in the direction + \u0906\u0938 &#8211; to the goal) &#8211; practise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In order to control (hold up) them, one must practice concentrating on single entity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2018Controlling them\u2019 or \u2018holding them up\u2019 means what was discussed in the last <em>s\u016btra<\/em>: suffering &#8211; \u2018<em>du\u1e25kha<\/em>\u2019, depression &#8211; &#8220;<em>daumanasya<\/em>&#8220;, body trembling &#8211; &#8220;<em>a\u1e45gamejayatva<\/em>&#8220;, shortness or irregularity of breath &#8220;<em>\u015bv\u0101sa-pra\u015bv\u0101sa<\/em>&#8221; and absent-mindedness or mind-wandering &#8211; \u2018<em>vik\u1e63epa<\/em>\u2019. Before the sutra we are examining, there was a description of obstacles in the practice of mind control, followed by a\u00a0<em>s\u016btra<\/em>, describing what helps to control it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Many controversial comments have been written by modern <em>yoga<\/em> teachers. And many of them are not without sound arguments, and it is clear that some authors have tried well to investigate the subject, but not all of them, and many generate more questions. However, there are quite a few classic commentaries on it; there is even a huge commentary by <em>\u015aankar\u0101c\u0101rya<\/em>. For instance, he has a controversy with an anonymous opponent, where the Buddhist terminology is used, and it is also found in the comments of\u00a0<em>Vy\u0101sa<\/em> and other <em>gurus<\/em>.\u00a0<em>Vy\u0101sa<\/em> uses the term <em>k\u1e63a\u1e47ika<\/em> (instantaneousness, fragmentariness) in the description of absent-minded perception. Hence the obvious parallels with the Buddhist doctrine\u00a0 \u2018<em>k\u1e63a\u1e47ikav\u0101da<\/em>\u2019, especially developed in <em>yog\u0101cara<\/em>. I will only describe it in general terms, since this doctrine is also very important for understanding <em>N\u0101tha-yoga<\/em>. The idea of the variability of all phenomena, and therefore their emptiness, is also at the heart of whole Buddhism. Its essence is that not a single phenomenon in this world has an independent entity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">All phenomena appear and disappear, each phenomenon can be disassembled according to all its various components, and finally, you will not find anything that exists. I.e. at the end &#8211; everything is emptiness. Buddhists say that if you are talking about Atman, then it is a kind of independent entity, because Atman is something that contradicts their theory of emptiness. But as I see it, it is not always an attempt to use this point as the basis of practice for them, but often &#8211; how to reduce the understanding of Atman to a level lower than it actually is. After all, these empty disputes may well be endless &#8211; with the same success the ideologists and political figures of their <em>samprad\u0101yas<\/em> may contradict themselves. For example, by the mere fact that they say \u2019we are not those, or these\u2019 &#8211; in this way, they already isolate themselves, because everything that is separate is closed. Something which is closed also corresponds to the principle of form, and therefore it can also be interpreted as mundane. In any case, if we return to <em>Pata\u00f1jali<\/em> and classic, famous commentaries on him by Indian <em>gurus<\/em> &#8211; he generally speaks of <em>\u0101tman<\/em> in connection with \u2018<em>ekatattva<\/em>\u2019 (single entity).<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Whatever we study, be it external objects on which we focus our senses, or a content of \u201c<em>karm\u0101\u015baya<\/em>\u201d &#8211; the causal realm, where our \u201c<em>karmas<\/em>\u201d are contained (analogy to which is <em>alaya-vij\u00f1\u0101na<\/em> in Buddhism) &#8211; in any case, no matter how different or subtle the objects of our awareness are, even to the degree of realising their emptiness, there is someone who is aware of it. So <em>\u015aankara<\/em> speaks of\u00a0<em>\u0101tman<\/em>, which illuminates them with its light, and\u00a0<em>Vy\u0101sa<\/em> speaks about the same. If you look at the Buddhist tantric practices, there are many Deities there, however, by practicing with them, you simultaneously realise their emptiness. And here, personally, I do not see any contradictions with the fact that you would realise them as one with\u00a0<em>\u0101tman<\/em>. In his comments, Satyananda Saraswati reasonably condemns many <em>tantrics<\/em>, who give a lot of initiations with various practices. He says that it is better to practice one thing, otherwise a person will be confused. I agree that for a Westerner, loaded with the duality of the Abrahamic religions, the confusion is 99% guaranteed, except in the rarest cases. These are the cases when a person not only understood Hindu <em>San\u0101tana Dharma<\/em>, but became extremely sincere in their commitment to it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">But more often we see imitations instead of true commitment to it, even where people wear <em>rudr\u0101k\u1e63a<\/em>, put <em>tilak<\/em> on them, install <em>m\u016brtis<\/em> of Hindu Devatas to show off etc. Frequently it is only business, where precisely that part is showy and artificial and a soul which believes in the same old duality and other values of the West. There are so many reasons why it\u2019s extremely difficult to sincerely accept it, that\u2019s why it is very good to have the guts to admit your own ignorance and even better &#8211; to confess to your <em>guru<\/em>. Only after that a discipleship and sincere communication start. But to admit it not in the sense of \u201cthat is who I am and I can do nothing about it and I will never try\u2019 &#8211; the light of desire to change shouldn\u2019t fade out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Only then contradictions will constantly disappear in the process of continuous revolution in your own consciousness, and there will be no problem on what your mind is focused: <em>Ga\u1e47e\u015ba<\/em>, <em>\u015aiva<\/em>, Goddess or all their forms. I would like to draw your attention to a term in that sutra which, generally speaking, points out to <em>\u0101tman<\/em> as the basis of recollection and concentration of consciousness. The term is \u2019<em>tattva<\/em>\u2019 and it is often translated as an &#8216;entity\u2019, which means very little for the most of people))). Very many practices become clear if you understand it properly. The term <em>tattva<\/em> consist of <em>tat<\/em> (that) and suffix <em>tva<\/em>, which in English is indicated by the ending \u2018-ness\u2019, so it can be translated as \u2018thatness\u2019. And here, when you see my examples, you will probably remember Buddhist \u2018<em>k\u1e63a\u1e47ikav\u0101da<\/em>\u2019. For instance, when I hear about the elements of earth, water, fire, etc., I have different associations. Earth is like black soil, mountains, rocks, etc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">There is a general characteristic of it, for example firmness, but ordinary people do not perceive it as such, but rather \u2018look out\u2019 upon something. A person, for example, hears about the theory of five <em>mah\u0101bh\u016btas<\/em>, saying that water manifests from fire, earth from water, then earth dissolves into water, water in fire, or that fire manifests itself from water, and thinks &#8211; how is that possible? How, for example, can fire appear from water? Probably from alcohol, or petroleum, or oil. He begins to think through the prism of the time he lives in and the values of this time, of all the discoveries and inventions made during this period. He starts thinking about cars that use fuel. And this is only one example of a human perception, conditioned by the time frames &#8211; the consciousness of the utilitarian consumer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Unfortunately, all modern &#8220;<em>yogis<\/em>&#8221; also think in that way, not realising that traditionally <em>yogis<\/em> moved away from such perception, that they are yogis precisely because they are far away from being conditioned by temporary factors. That the goal of <em>yoga<\/em> is clearly not in &#8220;sticking&#8221; in phenomenality, as for example, in creating a beautiful body. The body which acquired perfection by itself is rather a side effect of the <em>s\u0101dhana<\/em> as a whole. Another example: when you look at the Dancing <em>\u015aiva<\/em> statue, you think that <em>\u015aiva<\/em> has four hands and he is dancing, or maybe he carries a skull, or lying dead and <em>K\u0101l\u012b<\/em> stands on him. Then you think: but who is <em>K\u0101l\u012b<\/em>, and who is their son\u00a0<em>Ga\u1e47e\u015ba<\/em>, who suppose to have a head of an elephant, but there are temples where he has a human head.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">You think and think: who they are, \u2018who is\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em>?\u2019, sometimes you think he has one head, sometimes he has five, and sometimes nine. So who is\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em>? Is he five-faced? Sort of yes, but also he is not.\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em> is\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em>. To understand who\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em> is you need to stop projecting your limited patterns on him, you need to look at him with an empty mind. Instead of silence and contemplation, people have so much noise in their heads. It blocks perception, people want to impose, not perceive. There are so many <em>gurus<\/em> around and almost no disciples. A disciple and a <em>yogin<\/em> are the same, that\u2019s why\u00a0<em>Gorak\u015ban\u0101tha<\/em> calls <em>yogins<\/em> \u2018<em>avadh\u016b<\/em>\u2019 &#8211; the one who is a <em>yogin<\/em>, the one who is a <em>yoga<\/em> practitioner and the one who is a disciple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">When a person decides that they \u2018know\u2019, their learning and perception process stops. Thatness means that you, for example, look at\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em> and see through your sensitive perception that it is not just some attributes, but that any attribute and his representation in general &#8211; is a gateway to another dimension. And the more you see this thatness, the more this dimension becomes all-encompassing, that\u2019s what <em>tattva<\/em>&#8211;<em>anusandh\u0101na<\/em>\u00a0(study of <em>tattva<\/em>) is. To tell the truth, <em>yogins<\/em> are people who have the spirit of scientists, researchers, with the difference that they are independent from social institutions. Institutionalism with its frames means very little for <em>yogins<\/em> due to their spiritual evolution, because they understand the limitations of this system. After all, who are scientists? They are individuals, who made some discoveries, but it doesn\u2019t mean that discovered processes never existed before. Thus, <em>yogin<\/em> is a kind of a \u2018free scientist\u2019, discovering something not discovered by others, and that explains some miracles done by those who achieved a huge success in <em>s\u0101dhana<\/em>. In fact, there are no miracles, there is just something that is understandable and explainable for some, but not for others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Concluding my explanation of this <em>s\u016btra<\/em>, I want to point out a very important moment: in fact, all phenomena exist within one single spiritual entity, a higher, all pervading consciousness that some see as <em>\u0101tman<\/em>, some as Brahman, some as\u00a0<em>\u015aiva<\/em> or <em>Vi\u1e63\u1e47u<\/em>. Every person has this experience to one degree or another; therefore, when we look at an object, it somehow reveals this experience within us. I would say this: the stability of your concentration does not contradict the vividness of perception, and the vividness of perception is connected with sincerity of what you are doing. There is always a certain awe and humility in sincerity, there is no learning, no research spirit, no discipleship and no spiritual process without it. That is why your sincerity, honesty with all the other qualities listed above help to achieve good concentration, and if it is deep, doesn\u2019t matter what object you are concentrated on, you will gain wisdom from everything. This is probably why the next\u00a0<em>s\u016btra<\/em> lists the qualities important for the practice of pure and stable consciousness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is one of the most interesting sutras, let\u2019s try to examine it. \u0924\u0924\u094d\u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u0924\u0937\u0947\u0927\u093e\u0925\u0930\u094d\u092e\u0947\u0915\u0924\u0924\u094d\u0924\u094d\u0935\u093e\u092d\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0938\u0903\u0965\u0969\u0968\u0965 tatprati\u1e63edh\u0101rthamekatattv\u0101bhy\u0101sa\u1e25 || 32 || \u0924\u0924\u094d tat &#8211; that; \u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u0924\u0937\u0947\u0927\u094d prati\u1e63edh (\u092a\u094d\u0930\u093f\u0924 &#8211; backwards, \u0937\u0947\u0927\u094d \u043e\u0442\u00a0\u0938\u093f\u0927\u094d &#8211; taking away) &#8211; holding up; \u0905\u0924\u0930\u094d\u092e\u094d artam &#8211; goal; \u090f\u0915, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/?p=592\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[81,80],"class_list":["post-592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-texts","tag-patanjali","tag-yoga-sutras"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=592"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":615,"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592\/revisions\/615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matsyendranatha.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}