Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.13, Parisamvad

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Transcribed from Pa risamvad at The Yoga Institute.

Chapter 2, Sutra 13

Sati-Mule-Tadvipakah-Jati-Ayuh-Bhogah

Sati: being present
Mule: at the root
Tat: that
Vipakah: ripening, maturation
Jati: type of birth
Ayuh: span of life
Bhogah: experiences

As Long As This Root (Deposit) Exists, It Will Ripen Into Life State, Length Of Life And Life Experience (Of Pain And Pleasure)

Listen to the audio:

Check this out on Chirbit

Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra:

“These sutras are very ancient and tell us about the continuity of life. We are not aware. Things go on happening one after the other and as a result, life and death and a continuity. So this is a general broadening that is given at the start.”

Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra:

“These are very important sutras talking about how humans would suffer in life because of Kleshas and their root in ignorance. Under the influence of ignorance we do our actions. Whenever we do actions / Karma, we are not aware of the root of our actions, which are ignorance, attachment, hatred, selfishness. Are these the reasons to do the actions? And if yes, then we are going to face the consequences of our actions. Last time it was explained that we don’t just face the consequences of our actions in this life, because we do so many actions, that we die before all of it comes back to us. So the Karmas collect – Karmashaya. This causes the next birth so birth and death continues. So as they say, you create your own world because you keep doing Karmas and you are continuing your pain and suffering and so forth.

So this sutra shows you from your Karmashaya, three factors of your next birth. One is the type of birth you will have, that is Jati, i.s. will we be humans or dogs, cat, donkey, etc. There are two theories. One says that after a human birth, the next birth can only be human while another theory says that you can go back to being animals. In human birth also there is a Jati. Somebody gets angry very fast, some worry, someone is a clever and cheat type of personality, etc. You are born with these traits because of the Karmas you have done in the past. So that is Jaati.

The second is Ayu, the lifespan, i.e. how much you are going to live is fixed when you are born. Now this is a very strong point. If that is fixed, then in life we are not supposed to worry of our death. And when the time comes, you need not have any disease. Death is not linked with diseases. Diseases are because you are leading a wrong life, or because somewhere you have to suffer it out. That is Bhoga, the third part. So this sutra says not to live in fear- If I have cancer, I will die. There is no need for fear.

The third is Bhoga, what experiences you have to go through in life. If you have done good Karma, you will get good experiences, if bad, then bad experiences. So these experiences are also fixed. So if I have to fall, I will fall, if I have to get some pain, I will get pain and I have to experience it out.

So the point is very clear – all these things are not in our hands at all – the span of life, type of life, personality, but we must know that our actions are very much in our hands. So we have to work very hard to remove that ignorance, Avidhya, the Kleshas. So the kind of Karmas we should do are those which do not lead to suffering.

So in life, we don’t have control over the results but we have control over our actions. And the actions should be such that they remove our Kleshas. So we have to keep that in mind and live life. We have to make our life. We make or break our life, it is totally in our hands.”

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.13 (Parisamvad)