pracchardana-vidhāraṇābhyām va prāṇasya The mind is also calmed
(steadied) by expelling and restraining breath through prāṇāyāma. So here, and
also in the next few sūtras, Patañjali is giving various options and methods for
overcoming the mental disturbances which are obstacles to yoga, as he mentioned in
the thirty-second sūtra above. So it is not that these options or various
methods are to be exclusively practiced. They are generally to be incorporated in
the life and practice of a serious sādhaka. So Patañjali previously has
presented, as an object of focused meditation, the form of the
transcendental sound of AUṀ. So Patañjali clearly prioritizes an
Īśvara centered form of meditation, by his placing Īśvara as the first on the
list of available options, and also by dedicating so many sūtras to Him...to
Īśvara. However this, and the next five sūtras, all contain the particle 'vā',
in Sanskrit meaning 'or'. They are therefore all considered
optional alternatives for fixing the mind in order to eliminate the
distractions to yoga, but they do not replace this previous sūtra mentioned
above. Patañjali only briefly refers here to prāṇāyāma, in the context of it being
the alternate methods... or one of the alternate methods to help the mind
become one-pointed. So more detailed references to prāṇāyāma will come much
later in the second pāda, in the forty-ninth to fifty- first śloka as... and it is explained in
the context of being one of the eight limbs of yoga - this ashtanga yoga. And
so we won't go any further with it here, since it will be taken up at a later time.
Thank you.
viṣayavatī vā pravṛttir-utpannā manasaḥ sthiti-nibandhanī
Those forms of concentration that give rise to extra-ordinary sense perceptions
called viṣayavatī, bring about steadiness (tranquility) of the mind.
Here the term utpannā manasaḥ - "arising (produced) in the mind" mentioned by
Patañjali. The mind - manas, and not
citta, are used here because the mind is sometimes referred to as being the sixth
sense, because it is a repository of all sensual experience. And this is also
confirmed in the Bhagavad-gīta - in the fifteenth chapter, the seventh śloka, it
states that: "All living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental
parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses,
which include the mind." So viṣayavatī refers to one who has acquired
extraordinary sense perception. Examples that are given by Vyāsa in his
commentary, would be like concentrating on the tip of the nose, and by doing that
one gets a subtle perception of smell and perceives a different type of
wonderful perfume. So Swami Hariharānanda says that: "Unless such contemplation is
practiced continuously for a day or two, its
effects will not be realized. Practicing this by slow degrees for some
time before practicing it more intensely in a state of fasting or on meager diet
at a place where there is no interruptions and with no other thought,
by holding the mind concentrated on the tip of the nose, the higher sense
perception is developed." And then he goes on to give other examples of this
cultivation; of this extraordinary sensual perception, and he describes that
concentration on the tip of the tongue produces a supersensuous taste on the
palate. It produces supersensuous color, and that's in all likelihood because the
optic nerve is situated just above the palate. Concentration on the tongue, super
sensuous touch is developed. So on the tongue, the sense of touch is considered
most developed - more developed than any of the skin or the fingers. At the
root of the tongue, when one concentrates on that, supersensuous sound is
developed. So the root of the tongue is closely related to the ear for the
purposes of articulation. So therefore, concentration on these
points develops a finer power of perception of these sense organs. So I must
state here, that the awakening of higher perception should not be ever
mistaken as being spiritual or transcendental, because it is not. Vyāsa says that
the awakening of these higher perceptions actually stabilizes the
mind firmly, and it removes doubts which we've spoken on before...the need to
not be experiencing doubt, and it forms the gateway to knowledge acquirable
through concentration. So the reason he states that is, the removal of doubt and
the strengthening of faith - śrāddha, due to the... happens due to the
neophyte acquiring first-hand experience of something which the guru has taught.
And so when one - even in these circumstances where we're not talking of
something inherently spiritual or transcendental - when the guru teaches
a neophyte these methods or techniques, and then they try it and they experience the
reality of it, then it really increases one's faith and everything
else that the guru may be teaching. He says...
Vyāsa says, that if a practitioner can experience one of the claims pertaining
to, for instance, supernormal smell as outlined in this sūtra, then the overall
faith in scriptures or śāstra also becomes strengthened. Vyāsa also states
that such perception of the sun, the moon, planets, jewels, or lamps, are also
regarded as objective perceptions, meaning that one can gaze intently at
these things, then close one's eyes, and continue to see these objects within the
mind. And doing this for an extended period can also allow one to experience
this viṣayavatī. Of course these examples that we're given, are relative...
of importance because, for instance, the idea of holding a very clear vision of
something within the mind - one should develop simultaneously the very clear
and real experience of how the mind is actually a tool separate from me, the
actual perceiver, and that I am now seeing this content being projected
within the mind. And that exercise was considered of relevance because in the
normal conditioned state, the living being is unable to separate themselves from
their mind and thoughts and emotions. As these things arise up in the mind, one
is just taken for a ride - quite often on an emotional roller
coaster, or even just in a state of feeling 'blah'... like you know...nothing, all
because of a complete and utter absorption in the mind, which is the
material condition. And in that state, one cannot experience anything of the
reality of my true spiritual existence and my true spiritual nature, which is
really what one aspires for in this process of self-realization. Thank you
very much.