Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.5 (Parisamvad)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Transcribed from Parisamvad at The Yoga Institute.

Chapter 2, Sutra 5

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.5

Anitya-Asuci-Dukha-Anatmasu-Nitya-Suci-Sukha-Atma-Khyatih-Avidya

Anitya: impermanent
Asuci: impure
Dukha: misery
Anatmasu: non-self
Nitya: eternal, everlasting
Suci: pure
Sukha: happiness
Atma: soul, Self
Khyatih: taking to be, supposing to be
Avidya: ignorance

Ignorance Is Taking The Non-Eternal, The Impure, The Painful, The Non-Self, As The Eternal, The Pure, The Pleasurable And The Self.

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Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra:

“This is the definition of Avidya and all of us should remember that Avidya is in all of us. Avidya is ignorance or lack of right knowledge. The definition says that we believe something to be permanent when it is not, and we function like that. That is ignorance. Our body, relations, thoughts, our whole life is not permanent. Everything is changing. But we live as if everything is permanent. Something which is not pure, we believe it to be pure. The body is not pure. beauty is skin deep. We wash our hands and believe them to be clean.

Something which can cause pain, we think is very good. For example, sometimes we scratch and think it is a good feeling, but we are creating more problem as that part gets irritated and starts burning and gets wounded. We eat sweets and crib about the taste of food. Anything that we think will give us happiness, will ultimately give us unhappiness. There is a story of a Sufi saint, Rabia, who explained all this but people did not believe that. There is no separate list of things that can give us happiness and unhappiness. What will give us happiness will also give us unhappiness. You want money, you think it will give you only happiness? With more money comes more anxiety, fear and tension. If they get little more money, people stop working hard, they want to be lazy, they want to get the work done by others and not by themselves, so the body deteriorates, etc. So this is something which gives pain.

The fourth point is Unatmasu – what is not mine, believing it to be mine. This body is not mine, the mind also is not mine, it does not behave as I want it to. Even children, business, anything is not mine. What is mine is the consciousness, but we don’t reach that level.

So such a beautiful definition is given. We must all remember that we all have ignorance and we must change our way of thinking and know that because of this, pain is there. So let’s think about how to apply these things into our life.”

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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.