The
Yogasûtra, thread of freedom
Book 1
about the
full awereness
Two translations: one
from sri Hans yoganand, the master of the original yoga, the other
from James Haughton Woods (1864-1935) played a fundamental role in
making the professional study of Asia a possibility at Harvard.
All the book from sri Hans yoganand here: https://treatise-of-yoga.blogspot.fr/
1-1
yoganand
Now
the teaching of the freedom. (or rest)
Woods
Now
the exposition of yoga.
(is
to be made)
1-2
yoganand
The
Freedom ( or the rest)
Is
the indifference to the activities of the mind.
Woods
Yoga
is the restriction
Of
the fluctuations of mind-stuff.
1-3
yoganand
Through
this, the practicer settles
In
the peace of his essential nature.
Woods
Then
the Seer (that is, the Self) abides in himself.
1-4
yoganand
Otherwise
the practicer identify himself with the fluctuations.
Woods
At
other times it (the Self) takes the same form as the fluctuations
(of
mind-stuff).
1-5
yoganand
These
fluctuations are of five sorts, distressing and not distressing.
Woods
The
fluctuations are of five kinds and
are hindered or unhindered.
1-6
yoganand
Which
are the means of the knowledge, the ignorance,
The
interpretation, the contemplation
Without
caesura and the memory.
Woods
Sources-of-valid-ideas
and misconceptions
And
predicate-relations and sleep and memory.
1-7
yoganand
The
direct perception, the deduction
And
the testimony are the means of the Knowledge.
Woods
Sources-of-valid-ideas
are perception and inference
And
verbal-communication.
1-8
yoganand
The
illusion comes from a false perception of the reality.
Woods
Misconception
is an erroneous idea not based on that form
(in
respect of which the misconception is
entertained).
1-9
yoganand
The
concepts are the product of a verbal knowledge
Exempt
from reality.
Woods
The
predicate-relation (vikalpa) is without any
(corresponding
perceptible) objet
And
follows as a result of perception or of words.
1-10
yoganand
The
non-existence* leads
to
the perfect communion
*state
where the thought, the concepts, the mind don’t intervene any more
and where the peaceful vacuity, the bliss
Woods
Sleep
is a fluctuation of (mind-stuff) supported by thge cause
Of
the (transient) negation (of the waking and the dreaming
fluctuations.
1-11
yoganand
The
memory is the print left by the experience.
Woods
Memory
is not-adding-surreptitiously to a once experienced object.
1-12
yoganand
The
Observance of the Agya*, the detachment calm the mind.
*Sadhàna
of the original yoga.
Woods
The
restriction of them is by (means) of practice and passionlessness.
1-13
yoganand
The
Observance is assiduous and continuous.
Woods
Practice
is (repeated) exertion to the end that (the mindstuff)
Shall
have permanence in this (restricted state).
1-14
yoganand
The
constant and enthusiastic Observance gives robust foundations
To
the control of the mind.
Woods
But
this (practice) becomes confirmed
When
it has been cultivated for a long time
And
uninterruptedly and with ernest
attention.
1-15
yoganand
Thanks
to the detachment, you don’t desire any more
The
objects you know or you heard about they exist.
Woods
Passionlessness
is the consciousness
Of
being master on the part of one
Who
has rid himself of thirst for either seen
or
revealed objects.
1-16
yoganand
The
contemplation over the true-self gives the true detachment.
Woods
This
(passionlessness) is highest
When
discernment of the Self results in thirstlessness
for
qualities (and not
merely for objects).
1-17
yoganand
The
practitioner will have various levels of conscience
From
the confusion to the joy until the bliss
Woods
(Concentration
becomes) conscious (of its object)
By
assuming forms either of deliberation (upon coarse objects)
Or
of reflection upon subtile objects or of joy
Or
of the
feeling-of-personality.
1-18
yoganand
At
the highest level of the meditation,
when
the mind is under control with detachment,
there
is still a residue of impressions.
Woods
The
orher (concentration which is not conscious of objects)
Consistes
of subliminalimpressions only (after objects have merged),
And
follows upon that practice which effects
The
cessation (of fluctuations).
1-19
yoganand
The
merge in immaterial original nature makes clear-sighted.
Woods
(Concentration
not conscious of objects) caused by worldly (means)
Is
the one to which the discarnate attain
And
to which those (whose bodies) are resolved
Into
primary-matter attain.
1-20
yoganand
The
samadhi comes after the faith, the courage,
The
memory and
gives a
high perception of the truth.
Woods
(Concentration
not conscious of objects) which follows upon belief
(and)
energy (and)mindfulness (and) concentration (and) insight,
Is
that to which the others (the yogins) attain.
1-21
yoganand
They
attain it those who have an intense desire of Liberation.
Woods
For
the keenly intense, (concentration) is near.
1-22
yoganand
The
intensity of the Observance makes the difference
Woods
Because
(the keenness) is gentle or moderate or keen,
There
is a (concentration) superior even
to this (near kind).
1-23
yoganand
Only
total free fall in God brings to the Kingdom.
Woods
Or
(concentration) is attained by devotion to the îsvara.
1-24
yoganand
God
is different from the human being :
He
is not affected by the causes of the sadness
Nor
by the law of the action-reaction
No
more than by the confusion of the mind.
Woods
Untouched
by hindrances or karmas or fruition or by latent-deposits,
The
îsvara is a special kind of Self.
1-25
yoganand
God
is the supreme Knowledge there is nothing beyond.
Woods
In
this (îsvara) the germ of the omniscient is at its utmost
excellence.
1-26
yoganand
Beyond
time he is the supreme guru, the one of the first masters.
Woods
Teacher
of the Primal (sages) also, forasmuch as (with Him)
There
is no limitation by time.
1-27
yoganand
His
Name is the primordial-sound.
Woods
The
word-expressing Him is the Mystic-syllable.
1-28
yoganand
The
meditation on this sound which is repeated
Is
the meditation on God.
Woods
Repetition
of it and reflection upon ist meaning (should be made).
1-29
yoganand
Consequently,
the obstacles disapear
and
the full Conscience comes up.
Woods
Therafter
comes the right-knowledge of him who thinks in an inverse way,
And
the removal of obstacles.
1-30
yoganand
The
obstacles are the disease the inertia the doubts
The
carelessness the tiredness the indiscipline
The
imagination the lack of perseverance the step backward
The
fluctuations of the mind.
Woods
Sickness
and languor and doubt and heedlessness
Aand
worldlines and erroneous perception
And
failure to attain any stage ( of concentration)
And
instability in the state (when attained)
- these distractions of the mind-stuff are the obstacles.
1-31
yoganand
These
absent-mindedness can
stop the practice
And
pull sorrow despair agitation loss of the breath.
Woods
Pain
and despondency and unsteadiness of the body
And
inspiration and expiration
Are
the accompaniments of the distractions.
1-32
yoganand
The
Observance of the Agya* keep you out of these things.
*The
Sadhàna of the original yoga.
Woods
To
check them (let there be) practice upon a single entity.
1-33
yoganand
You
can keep the spirit in peace by the following behaviors :
Towards
happy people practise the friendship
The
unfortunates, the condolence, the virtuous ones the gaiety
Of
those who act badly, the indifference.
Woods
By
the cultivation of friendliness towards happiness,
And
compassion towards pain, and joy towards merit,
And
indifference towards demerit.
1-34
yoganand
You
can also arrive at this peace by the Meditation on the breath.
Woods
Or
(the yogin attains the undisturbed calm of the mind-stuff)
By
expulsion and retention of breath.
1-35
yoganand
Continuing
this Meditation in the actions
Helps
to stabilize this Peace.
Woods
Or
(he gains stability when) a sense-activity arises
Connected
with an object (and) bringing the central-organ
Into
a relation of stability.
1-36
yoganand
You
can also meditate on the peaceful Inner-Light
Woods
Or
an undistressed (and) luminous (sense-activity
When
arisen brings the centralorgan into a relation of stability).
1-37
yoganand
You
can also release your mind of all attachments
Any
desires and passions*.
*This
verse is ironic, as both following ones. It is easy to say that it is
necessary to release your mind of any attachment, desires and
passions ! But without these techniques of Meditation and the
S\dhana or Agya, how can it be done ? By reading the next two
verses you will understand what is ironic there.
Woods
Or
the mind-stuff (reaches the stable state)
By
having as its object (a mind-stuff) freed from passion.
1-38
yoganand
You
can also look for the Knowledge in the dreams*.
*You
see the irony ! The dreams have of course nothing to do with this
spiritual practice, they can at the very most help for a therapy
involving the psyche, the affect but they don’t enter in the Agya.
The verses 1.37, 1.38 and 1.39 are ironic, the writers of the book
had without doubts a sense of humour.
Woods
Or
(the mind-stuff reaches the stable state)
By
having as the supporting-object a perception in dream or in sleep.
1-39
yoganand
You
can also do as you like.
Woods
Or
(the mind-stuff reaches the stables state)
By
contemplation upon any such an object as is desired.
1-40
yoganand
With
the mastery of the contemplation
The
Conscience penetrates into the essence
Of
the the infinitely small and the infinitely large.
Woods
His
mastery extends from the smallest atom to the greatest magitude.
1-41
yoganand
As
the pure crystal takes the color of objects placed near to it
The
meditator free of the mind's fluctuations leaves the confusion
And
reached the perfect Conscience of the bliss
Absorbed
in One.
Woods
(The
mind-stuff) from which, as from a precious gem,
Fluctuations
have dwindled away, reaches the balanced-state,
Which
in the case of the knower or of the processof-knowing
Or
of the object-to-be-known, is in the state of resting upon (one)
Of
these (three) and in the state of being tinged by (one) of these
(three).
1-42
yoganand
At
this stage, the object and the knowledge
Merge
to become the Knowledge.
Woods
Of
(these balanced-states) the state-balanced with deliberation
Iis
confused by reason of predicate-relations
Between
words and intended-objects and ideas.
1-43
yoganand
When
the mind is without thought, without memories
Nor
conscience of itself, then there is the bliss.
Woods
When
the memory is quite purified, (that balanced-state)
- which is, as it were, empty of itself and which brigtens
(into
conscious knowledge) as the intended-object and nothing more -
Is
super deliberative.
1-44
yoganand
It
happens the same thing in the both following stages of meditation
Whether
with or without fluctuations of the mind
Conscience
of the illusory identity and of space-time.
Woods
By
this same (balanced-state) the reflective
And
the super-reflective (balanced-states) are also explained.
1-45
Yoganand
The
point where peaks this process of meditation is the Unit,
The
vacuity, satçitananda, the All.
Woods
The
subtile object also terminates in unresoluble-primary-matter
(aliñga).
1-46
yoganand
The
stages of meditation described up to here are said « with
seed* ».
*These
states of conscience, these meditations are so called because they
are the result of a diligent practice which progresses step by step.
They are not spontaneous fruits of the Grace. The seeds are the
efforts, the acts, the Observance which we sowed and which gave their
fruits.
Woods
These
same (balanced-states) are the seeded concentration.
1-47
yoganand
The
Conscience of the bliss without thoughts nor distinctions
Being
acquired appears the Light of The Supreme-Being.
Woods
When
there is the clearness of the super-reflective
(balanced-state,
the yogin gains) internal undisturbed calm.
1-48
yoganand
At
this stage, the Knowledge becomes plenitude of the Truth.
Woods
In
this (concentrated mind-stuff) the insight is truth-bearing.
1-49
yoganand
This
Knowledge has nothing to do with
The
bookish knowledge stemming from readings or from learnings.
Woods
Has
another object than the resulting from things heard or from
inferences,
Inasmuch
as its intended-object is a particular.
1-50
yoganand
The
effect of this Knowledge sweeps
All
the residues of the mind.
Woods
The
subliminal-impression produced by this (super-reflective
balanced-state)
Is
hostile to other subliminal-impressions.
1-51
yoganand
When
this state settles down, there is ecstasy
Without
any other medium than the ecstasy.
Woods
When
this (subliminal-impression) also is restricted, since all is
restricte,
(the
yogin gains) seedless concentration.
