Truthofyoga.Com 1 Why Yoga Doesn't Always Mean Union CE Workshop

Why Yoga Doesn’t Always Mean Union CE Workshop with Daniel Simpson

March 10, 2021

QUOTES AND LINKS

What is yoga? https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/?iencoding=iast&q=yoga&lang=sans&action=Search

Sanskrit roots https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/?iencoding=iast&q=yuj&lang=sans&action=Search

Uniting opposites

The Lord said: “The union of apāna and prāṇa... the sun and moon, the individual soul and the supreme soul, and in the same way the union of all dualities, is called yoga.”

Yogabīja 88-90 (trans. Mallinson and Singleton, 2017)

Modern hybrids

Yoga = Yoking, uniting, joining, contacting, union, association, connection, deep meditation, concentration, contemplation on the supreme, union of body, mind and soul, union with God.

B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (1993)

Different objectives

Conjunction between the seer and that which is seen is the cause [of suffering].

Yoga Sūtra 2.17 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

By the removal of ignorance, conjunction is removed. This is the absolute freedom of the seer (kaivalya).

Yoga Sūtra 2.25 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

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Total detachment

Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind. When that is accomplished, the seer abides in its own true nature. Otherwise [the seer] is absorbed in the changing states.

Yoga Sūtra 1.2-4 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

Beyond mind and body

Chart of Sāṃkhya metaphysics from Edwin Bryant’s The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (2009).

The ultimate goal

Liberation is when the guṇas [of material existence] are devoid of any purpose...

Yoga Sūtra 4.34 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

Patañjali’s polarity

That which is knowable has the nature of illumination, activity, and inertia [i.e., sattva, rajas, and tamas]. It includes the senses and the elements, and exists for the purpose of either liberation or experience.

Yoga Sūtra 2.18 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

Back to basics

Suffering that has yet to manifest is to be avoided.

Yoga Sūtra 2.16 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

Yoga amounts to the breaking of the connection with suffering.

Bhagavad Gītā 6.23 (trans. Sutton, 2014)

This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.

Saṃyutta Nikāya V.421 (trans. Gethin, 1998)

truthofyoga.com 2 Healing metaphors

As medical science has four divisions – illness, cause of illness, recovery and therapeutics – so this philosophy of salvation has four parts, viz. cycle of births, its cause, liberation and the means of liberation.

Commentary on Yoga Sūtra 2.15 (trans. Āraṇya / Mukerji, 1983)

Remaining engaged

Yoga is skill (kauśala) in action... The wise should act without attachment, intending to maintain the welfare of the world.

Bhagavad Gītā 2.50, 3.25 (trans. Sargeant, 1984)

The Buddha’s advice

Abandon what is unskilful... because this abandoning of what is unskilful is conducive to benefit and pleasure. [So] develop what is skilful (kusala).

Aṅguttara Nikāya I.58 (trans. Thanissaro)

Skilful means

“Bodily deeds, speech, and thoughts can be distinguished ethically into two broad classes, the unwholesome (akusala) and the wholesome (kusala). The Buddha noted that the unwholesome is a source of misery, the wholesome a source of blessedness. Greed, hatred, and delusion lead to harm and suffering, while their removal brings well-being and happiness. His constant injunction to his disciples, therefore, was to make a determined effort to abandon the unwholesome and to develop the wholesome.”

Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (2012)

Conscious choice

Both the good and the gratifying present themselves...; the wise assess them, note their difference and choose the good over the gratifying; but the fool chooses the gratifying rather than what is beneficial.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2 (trans. Olivelle, 1998)

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Spot the difference

The means to liberation is uninterrupted discriminative discernment...

When the purity of the intellect is equal to that of the puruṣa, kaivalya liberation ensues.

Yoga Sūtra 2.26, 3.55 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

Clear distinctions

The changeless, among the changing... The wise who perceive him within themselves; they alone, not others, enjoy unending peace.

Kaṭha Upaniṣad 5.13 (trans. Olivelle, 1998)

Powerful outcomes

Only for one who discerns the difference between the puruṣa and the intellect (buddhi) do omniscience and omnipotence accrue.

Yoga Sūtra 3.49 (trans. Bryant, 2009)

Human predicaments

Whatever pleases a person constitutes bliss (sukha), whereas that which is unwanted constitutes misery (duḥkha).

Mahābhārata 12.194.10 (trans. Wynne, 2009)

Timeless solutions

It is not the pleasure and pain that a man should seek to apprehend; rather he should get to know the one who [feels]. It is not the mind that a man should seek to apprehend; rather, he should know the one who thinks.

Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad 3.8 (trans. Olivelle, 1998)

truthofyoga.com 4 Between extremes

Fixed in yoga, perform actions, having abandoned attachment, Arjuna, and having become indifferent to success or failure. It is said that evenness of mind is yoga.

Bhagavad Gītā 2.48 (trans. Sargeant, 1984)

Subtle acceptance

From contentment (saṃtoṣa), supreme happiness is attained.

Thus it has been said: “The pleasure that comes from love in this world and the great pleasure there is in the divine realm are not worth the sixteenth part of the happiness [that comes from] the destruction of desire.”

Yoga Sūtra 2.42 and commentary (trans. Mallinson and Singleton, 2017)

Worldly freedom

Detached from desire and aversion, even with the senses moving towards their objects, one whose self is subdued with self-restraints, attains tranquility.

Bhagavad Gītā 2.64 (trans. Slatoff, 2020)

Ascetic restraint / relating to others

From cleanliness comes disgust for one’s own body and non-contact with others.

When there is disgust for one’s own body, one practises cleanliness; seeing the shamefulness of the body, one becomes unattached to it, an ascetic. Moreover, there is no contact with others. Seeing the body’s true nature, he desires to give up his own body. Failing to see purity in [one’s] body even when washing [it], how could one come into contact with the extremely impure bodies of others?

Yoga Sūtra 2.40 and commentary (trans. Mallinson and Singleton, 2017)

“Yoga is frequently translated as ‘union’, [but] ‘union’ suggests two things becoming one, whereas central to the idea of ‘yoking together’ is the fact that the two things remain two things. They are united only in the sense of being linked, and it is in their interaction and relationship that there is yoga, not in them merging together inseparably.”

Ranju Roy and David Charlton, Embodying the Yoga Sūtra (2019)

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Striking a balance

Without doubt, O Arjuna, the mind is unsteady and difficult to restrain; but by practice (abhyāsa), Arjuna, and by indifference to worldly objects (vairāgya), it is restrained.

Bhagavad Gītā 6.35 (trans. Sargeant, 1984)

Bodily foundations / active detachment

Posture should be steady and comfortable [and is attained] by the relaxation of effort and by absorption in the infinite [so] one is not afflicted by the dualities of the opposites.

Yoga Sūtra 2.46-48 (trans. Bryant)

The effort which is directed towards the accomplishment of a certain posture helps to keep the body in position. It is not the cause of the posture which as an accessory of yoga is meant to be taught here. If that were its cause, the teaching would be useless, inasmuch as in that case the posture would be achieved by its own operation... [One] should employ an effort which consists in suppressing the natural efforts of the body. Otherwise the posture taught here will not be accomplished.

Vācaspati Miśra on Yoga Sūtra 2.47 (trans. Rāma Prasāda, 1912)

At one with reality

“What’s important is [the] quality of the attention that we pay to things… We can take loving- kindness as a theme, and then sometimes, what comes up is how irritating the world is. But it doesn’t really matter. How are we holding it? What is actually coming up in the mind, and how are we relating to it? How are we layering our experience? That’s where the kindness is, having that sense of non-contention, letting go: ‘This is what’s coming up? Oh, that can be let go of. I don’t have to contend with that. Back to the breath, back to the walking, back to the continuity of awareness’.”

Not blissing out

One who is able to endure, here in this very world, before liberation from the body, the agitation that arises from desire and anger, is absorbed in yoga. That is a happy person.

Bhagavad Gītā 5.23 (trans. Slatoff, 2020)

truthofyoga.com 6 Focused presence

“If we observe how we feel, without adding to the story of ‘me and my life,’ sources of anguish can slowly dissolve and give way to contentment.”

Daniel Simpson, The Truth of Yoga (2021)

The Truth of Yoga Online Course April 5 – May 2, 2021

Join Daniel Simpson to explore the main themes that shaped yoga’s evolution from its earliest origins to what it is now. Building on ideas from his recent book, The Truth of Yoga, he brings the subject to life in engaging ways without oversimplifying.

If you’ve ever felt confused about yoga philosophy, this course is for you. Even if you’ve studied for years, you’ll still find something new here – an accessible guide to the latest research, and a comprehensive overview of how today’s yoga relates to the past.

We’ll examine the links between philosophy and practice, and see how their threads have been woven together in different ways as contexts change. We’ll also reflect on our role in this process, respecting tradition as well as acknowledging modern priorities.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the history of yoga and feel ready for further study, or to discuss this material with students. http://truthofyoga.com/p/truth-course

Questions

Send an email via: http://danielsimpson.info/contact

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