Patanjali Yoga Sutra Transcribed from Parisamvad at The Yoga Institute.
Chapter 2, Sutra 4
Avidya-Ksetram-Uttaresam-Prasupta-Tanu-Vicchinna-Udaranam
Avidya: ignorance, nescience
Ksetram: place, field, the origin
Uttaresam: followed by, subsequent
Prasupta: dormant
Tanu: attenuated
Vicchinna: hidden
Udaranam: fully operative
Ignorance Is The Field For The Others, Whether They Are Dormant, Minimized, Suppressed Or Fully Operative.
Listen to the audio:
Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra:
“In the Yoga Sutras, we are discussing about overcoming pain and ignorance and the beginning is ignorance. We are ignorant about ourselves, about the universe and we carry on mistakes all our life and survive. Then to overcome this, means yoga and yoga requires hard discipline. So this is the way the sutras have been introduced and we have to carry on understanding it bit by bit.”
Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra:
“Today’s sutra is on the first Klesha, i.e. Avidya. They say that ignorance prevails. Ignorance remains in little forms, little bigger forms, confused state, etc. In different proportions, but ignorance remains, we are all born with ignorance. And with ignorance, all the other four Kleshas come. The beginning is ignorance, then after ignorance comes ego. An egoistic person is an ignorant person. Raga, i.e. attachment, Dvesha, i.e. Hatred and Abhinivesha, i.e. love of your own safe, all stem from ignorance.
Ignorance is seen in various proportions. One is Prasupta state where it cannot be seen but it is there. For example, when a person goes through some calamity, you don’t see any Kleshas there, the person is there and is helpless. Tanu is when we work very hard on the path of yoga, we try to remove ignorance to a great extent, in all the Sadhakas and Yogis, there we see that ignorance is in a very Tanu state, very small state. It really takes a lot of hard work to remove all these things like ego, attachment, hatred, selfishness, but with hard work and full focus on removing our weaknesses, going beyond pain and suffering, Kleshas can be reduced to a very minute form; but they are there.
Vicchinna is a state where one Klesha is very strong, for example, you love someone very much, i.e. attachment is very strong, then other Kleshas are not seen. One Klesha is overpowering other Kleshas. They are there, but are not seen.
The fourth state is Udara, i.e. seen very strongly. So all the Kleshas are seen at a very high state. The point is that ignorance prevails and because of it, we have all other Kleshas. All Kleshas are there in some or the other proportion and we have to continuously watch ourselves, see which Klesha is prevailing. The formula to recognize this is that whenever we are in an unhappy state, where peace is gone, somewhere, some Klesha is working on us.”
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About Parisamvad
On every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, The Yoga Institute, Santacruz holds Parisamvad sessions – Free interactive sessions that are open to all. These session begin at 7:20 am and end around 7:45 am.
The Friday Parisamvad is dedicated to explanation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by our esteemed Gurus, Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji.
All are welcome to attend.