Patanjali Yoga Sutra Chapter 1, Sutra 24 (Parisamvad)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Transcribed from Parisamvad at The Yoga Institute.

Chapter 1, Sutra 24

Yoga Sutra 1.2 says that, “Klesa Karma Vipaka Asayaih Aparmrstah Purusavisesah Isvarah”

Klesa : painful , afflicted, impure
Karma : actions
Vipaka : fruits of , maturing
Asayaih : resting place , storage of traces , propensities
Aparamrstah : untouched
Purusavisesah : a consciousness , a special or distinct purusa
Isvarah : God

Isvara is a particular Purusa unaffected by affliction, deed , result of action or the latent impressions thereof.

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Dip into the timeless wisdom of the Yoga Sutras with Dr. Jayadev Yogendra and Smt. Hansaji Yogendra.

Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra:

“We are thinking about God. This is a concept. We can never see God face to face, but we can conceive of one who has no kind of Klesa, inherent desire to hurt or to earn or do action. We can’t think of such an individual. Each one has personal interest and is busy, because of that complications start and in the end there is suffering. That is the cycle with most of us. In case of God that concept doesn’t come and so no action also. Not that he does this and he does that, though these statements are made. God doesn’t interfere, the world carries on. There are no results also. Something that was done and as a result there is some effect on the agent – since no action was done with that desire, there is no reaction. So untouched by all this, which are the characteristics of a human. The human has Klesas, strong tendencies, desires, does action, does suffer the consequence and then looks for God. So this would be like a concept, an idea is made into an ideal. If you want to pray, pray to one who has none of these qualities – no Klesas, no Karmas, no Vipaka. Such an individual is ideal. That idea has to be carried on. You don’t attain these ideas, but they can guide you, they can attract you. Humans are not able to reach there, invariably some tendencies are there. Even though sitting still, with a decision not to make any movements – just can’t help. That is the essence of Maharishi Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.2

I will illustrate through a poem by Tennyson, where a woman is cursed to sit near a large window above the main road, but just sit and not get up, not move and she can enjoy life. For some time it was wonderful – she was provided food, all comforts. All she had to do was sit and look out of the window. Then one day appears a young prince on a horseback, looks at this lady, waves his hand, invites her to come and she can’t stay on the window. She to gets up and runs to meet him. That is when the curse operates and she dies. This is just a technical way to say that we just can never control ourselves. Mind is going to make us to act. The actions are not going to make us sit put, they are going to have their reactions and we get involved and that is life.

God is beyond all this – no desire, no actions, no inherent tendencies. This is a kind of description. If you want to conceive of God, he is of that kind. He is not going to help us, he is not going to talk to us. Even in a small way, a man like Madhavdasji , a Yogi, he lived. He didn’t encourage people to come and stay – 700 people lived there. He hardly knew the name of anyone, he hardly did anything for them. His own personal model life inspired and they tried to imitate. Very very occasionally they approached and he, may be in subtle way blessed and later on they find some results have come. That doesn’t come again and again. A very important man in the city of Mumbai was given to opium. His own son, a well known pathologist. Mr Gajjar was interested to get him out of that. He tried all sorts of means and someone told him to go to this great yogi, Madhavdasji. He wanted him to come to his home and stop his father from taking opium. Madhavdasji was not interested to go anywhere. They all managed and forced, so Madhavdasji came to his house. They told him that this man was addicted. He came and saw that man and just told him, ‘stop opium’. That’s all. Then he went away. From that day that man stopped taking opium. What he did, one doesn’t know – no other action. The very presence has a meaning. So, we are talking of one who is beyond desires, thoughts, actions – always, all the time – very difficult to find. So Isvara is one of that kind.”

Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra:

Yoga sutra 1.2 notes that “God is used as Purusha Vishesha. Purusha is within us. We are made up of Purusha and Prakrti, but God is Vishesha Purusha. Isvara was used in earlier Sutra also, so yoga is different from Samkhya. What is Isvara? Isvara is like a model for us. We have to reach towards that. He is free from Klesas. Due to Klesa we do actions and if actions are not done with level-headedness , under the influence of Klesas we have to face the consequence of the actions – Vipaka. Due to the Karmas, we create Samskara – our Samskaras, our Vasanas and our collection of all Karmas – Asayaih. The Sutra is trying to tell us that we who are not God, we would be functioning with all these things – Klesas – Karmas – Vipaka (fructification of Karma) – Asayiah (collection of Samskaras from lives and lives). All that together is what we are – Purusha. God is totally free from all this. We have to function in our life but not under the influence of Klesas. We have to remove all the Klesas from our system. We have to see that Karmas are not done under the influence of Klesa. Whatever consequence, (due to our past Karmas) we have to face. God will not come to help. You are responsible for all your pain and suffering.”

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Ch1 Sutra 24 (Parisamvad)