Yoga Sutras, Patanjali. Chapter 4: Kaivalya Pāda

 


janma auṣadhi mantra tapaḥ samādhijāḥ siddhayaḥ
The mystic skills are produced
through taking birth in particular species,
or by taking drugs, or by reciting special sounds,
or by physical bodily austerities or
by the continuous effortless linkage of the attention
to a higher concentration force, object or person.

jātyantara pariṇāmaḥ prakṛtyāpūrāt
The transformation from one category to another
is by the saturation of the subtle material nature.

nimittaṁ aprayojakaṁ prakṛtīnāṁ
varaṇabhedaḥ tu tataḥ kṣetrikavat
The motivating force of the subtle material energy
is not used except for the disintegration of impediments,
hence it is compared to a farmer.

nirmāṇacittāni asmitāmātrāt
The formation of regions within the mento-emotional energy,
arises only from the sense of identity
which is developed in relation to material nature.

pravṛtti bhede prayojakaṁ cittam ekam anekeṣām
The one mento-emotional energy
is that which is very much used
in numberless different dispersals of energy.

tatra dhyānajam anāśayam
In that case, only subtle activities
which are produced from the effortless linkage of the attention
to a higher reality are without harmful emotions.

karma aśukla akṛṣnaṁ yoginaḥ trividham itareṣām
The cultural activity of the yogis
is neither rewarding nor penalizing,
but others have three types of such action.

tataḥ tadvipāka anuguṇānām
eva abhivyaktiḥ vāsanānām
Subsequently from those cultural activities
there is development according to corresponding features only, bringing about the manifestation of the tendencies
within the mento-emotional energy.

jāti deśa kāla vyavahitānām api ānantaryaṁ smṛti saṁskārayoḥ ekarūpatvāt
Even though circumstances are separated
by status, location and time,
still the impressions which form cultural activities
and the resulting memories, are of one form
and operate on a timeful sequence.

tāsām anāditvaṁ ca āśiṣaḥ nityatvāt
Those memories and impressions are primeval,
without a beginning.
The hope and desire energies are eternal as well.

hetu phala āśraya ālambanaiḥ saṅgṛhītatvāt
eṣām abhāve tad abhāvaḥ
They exist by what holds them together
in terms of cause and effect, supportive base and lifting influence. Otherwise if their causes are not there,
they have no existence whatsoever.

atīta anāgataṁ svarūpataḥ
asti adhvabhedāt dharmāṇām
There is a true form of the past and future,
which is denoted by the different courses of their characteristics.

te vyakta sūkṣmāḥ guṇātmānaḥ
They are gross or subtle, all depending on their inherent nature.

pariṇāma ekatvāt vastutattvam
The actual composition of an object
is based on the uniqueness of the transformation.

vastusāmye cittabhedāt tayoḥ vibhaktaḥ panthāḥ
Because of a difference
in the mento-emotional energy of two persons,
separate prejudices manifest
in their viewing of the very same object.

na ca ekacitta tantraṁ ced vastu
tat apramāṇakaṁ tadā kiṁ syāt
An object is not dependent
on one person’s mento-emotional perception.
Otherwise, what would happen
if it were not being perceived by that person?

taduparāga apekṣitvāt cittasya vastu jñāta ajñātam
An object is known or unknown,
all depending on the mood and expectation
of the particular mento-emotional energy of the person
in reference to it.

sadā jñātāḥ cittavṛttayaḥ tatprabhoḥ
puruṣasya apariṇāmitvāt
The operations of the mento-emotional energy
are always known to that governor
because of the changelessness of that spirit.

na tat svābhāsaṁ dṛśyatvāt
That mento-emotional energy is not self-illuminative
for it is rather only capable of being perceived.

ekasamaye ca ubhaya anavadhāraṇam
It cannot execute the focus of both at the same time.

cittāntaradṛśye buddhibuddheḥ
atiprasaṅgaḥ smṛtisaṅkaraḥ ca
In the perception of mento-emotional energy
by another such energy,
there would be an intellect
perceiving another intellect independently.
That would cause absurdity and confusion of memory.

citeḥ apratisaṁkramāyāḥ tadākārāpattau svabuddhisaṁvedanam
The perception of its own intellect occurs
when it assumes that form in which there is no movement
from one operation to another.

draṣṭṛ dṛśya uparaktaṁ cittaṁ sarvārtham
The mento-emotional energy which is prejudiced by the perceiver and the perceived, is all evaluating.

tat asaṅkhyeya vāsanābhiḥ citram
api parārthaṁ saṁhatyakāritvāt
Although the mento-emotional energy is diverse
by innumerable subtle impressions,
it acts for the sake of another power
because of its proximity to that other force.

viśeṣadarśinaḥ ātmabhāva bhāvanānivṛttiḥ
There is total stopping
of the operations of mento-emotional energy
for the person who perceives the distinction
between feelings and the spirit itself.

tadā hi vivekanimnaṁ kaivalya prāgbhāraṁ cittam
Then, indeed,
the mento-emotional force is inclined towards discrimination
and gravitates towards the total separation
from the mundane psychology.

tat cchidreṣu pratyayāntarāṇi saṁskārebhyaḥ
Besides that, in the relaxation of the focus,
other mind contents arise in the intervals.
These are based on subtle impressions.

hānam eṣāṁ kleśavat uktam
As authoritatively stated, the complete removal of these
is like the elimination of the mento-emotional afflictions.

prasaṁkhyāne api akusīdasya sarvathā
vivekakhyāteḥ dharmameghaḥ samādhiḥ
For one who sees no gains in material nature,
even while perceiving it in abstract meditation,
he has the super discrimination.
He attained the continuous effortless linkage of the attention
to higher reality which is described
as knowing the mento-emotional clouds of energy
which compel a person to perform
according to nature’s way of acting for beneficial results.

tataḥ kleśa karma nivṛttiḥ
Subsequently there is stoppage of the operation
of the mento-emotional energy
in terms of generation of cultural activities
and their resulting afflictions.

tadā sarva āvaraṇa malāpetasya
jñānasya ānantyāt jñeyam alpam
Then, because of the removal of all mental darkness
and psychological impurities,
that which can be known through the mento-emotional energy, seems trivial in comparison to the unlimited knowledge available when separated from it.

tataḥ kṛtārthānāṁ pariṇāmakrama samāptir guṇānām
Thus, the subtle material nature, having fulfilled its purpose,
its progressive alterations end.

kṣaṇa pratiyogī pariṇāma
aparānta nirgrāhyaḥ kramaḥ
The process, of which moments are a counterpart,
and which causes the alterations,
comes to an end and is clearly perceived.

puruṣārtha śūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ
pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ
svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktiḥ iti
Separation of the spirit
from the mento-emotional energy (kaivalyam)
occurs when there is neutrality
in respect to the influence of material nature,
when the yogi’s psyche becomes devoid
of the general aims of a human being.
Thus at last, the spirit is established in its own form
as the force empowering the mento-emotional energy.