In the last essay, I boldly declared that the reason why the authors suggested a new classification of the eight limbs of Patanjali's Yoga was that they wanted readers to look carefully at the more limited meaning of "tapas" - i.e., tolerance of "dualities". Further reading of the other essays, however, suggests that it could be simply that the authors were so in awe of the deeper and wider meaning of the Vedic "agni", the source of heat, light, and therefore, also the essence of any "tapasya", that they felt that "tapa" (literally, heat) should be given the most prominent place in all Vedic discussions, including discussions of Patanjali's yoga! Indeed, even the creation of the universe has been said to have been from the original "tapas" of the Universal One - therefore, how could we ever allow "tapas" to be called only one of the many rules (niyamas) of yoga! While the larger meaning of tapas is the more commonly understood one today (including any austerities done for spiritual purposes), people may not have realized how deep the meaning of this term is in the Vedas. Even the primordial "desire" which led to the creation of the universe is included within the purview of the words "tapas" and "agni" - although that was the tapas of the Almighty One (on it own Self, if we may put it that way). In another essay, therefore, they place "agni" (fire, literally) at the "heart of RigVedic religion". To wit, even Patanjaliji should not have used this great word in a limited sort of way!
Let us look at essays 3-5 of the book today.
3. The Hymn of Creation
(a) The famous "Naasadeeya sukta" has 9 stanzas. According to the authors, commentators who find no real meaning in it merely lack depth of understanding. In the first stanza, when it says "The Unmanifest was not then, or the Manifest", it refers to being and non-being as we know it, not in an absolute sense. It is clear from the other verses that the rishi is not suggesting that there was no life or being of any kind earlier - only that it was not "truth" or "being" as we know it. The line clearly anticipates the Samkhya idea of evolution and involution, as also the ideas regarding the "days" and "nights" of Brahmaa. Describing the impersonal One as "self-moved" and "pulsating" in the second stanza makes it clear that the rishi wanted to convey the idea of a "living being". After all, "breath" is the main characteristic of life, although breath itself may be caused by deeper "movements", expansions and contractions which we may not be able to perceive normally.
(b) In the third stanza, there is mention of "flame-power" bringing into existence that which emerged from the void which enveloped it - a clear indication of what "tapas" meant to the rishis. The larger void has been described as "salilam" (the depths, or the waters) here, clearly showing how the oceans and "waters" in general referred often in the Vedas to space in general, and even more precisely to that original indeterminate material of "nature" into which the germ of life was placed by the Creator. Again, this is by way of explanation - we are not suggeting that the stanza betrays a dualistic viewpoint (of consciousness being different from "inert" nature). In describing how flame-power brought something into existence, the authors mention Sri Aurobindo's explanation - that consciousness, by tapas (penance, meditation, concentration, heat), brings about that which is concealed within itself. They add that such explanations cannot easily be provided by people who are not masters of meditation - therefore, it is quite natural that commentators who never took the help of modern day seers like Sri Aurobindo could never quite interpret this verse well. Similarly, they refer to the Maitrayaniya upanishad, where it is said that the Divine One generated heat, and the heat is a person and the person is the universal fire (agni). The qualification of heat as a person, according to the authors, is simply a way of making clear that the first born (Agni) was / is an intelligent force, not inert matter.
(c) The fourth stanza uses the word "kaama" (desire) for the reason why the Impersonal One started His creation. However, this desire should not be thought of as being as limited as sensual human desires. Desire has been used here in the highest sense - it is the root propelling force, even called the seed of mind (mind being the faculty of discrimination). In the Atharvaveda, the authors say, Agni (fire) has also been called kaama, who is the creative desire and the first born too. Desire here, therefore refers to the expression of the "tapas" of the Universal One, the flame by which "That" brought forth creation from within Itself. (We all do a bit of this in our dreams, but that is at an extremely small scale, relatively, and moreover, our dreams are mostly unconscious too. Therefore, the analogy may not be correct for that reason as well.) The stanza then mentions that the seers, by searching their hearts, found the kinship between the created and the uncreate. The authors explain that matter is energy and energy may ultimately be "mind-stuff". Thus, the manifest is rooted in the unmanifest - it is brought forth in evolutionary cycles and resolved back into the original force(s) in the involutionary cycles.
(d) The fifth stanza introduces some manifest differentiation into the One, mentioning mighty powers and "seed-bearers". There was "energy below, will above". In fact, there was now an above and a below, says a verse. The last two stanzas ask who at all could know this, given that the Gods themselves came into existence after this? Perhaps He who surveys this entire universe may know, or maybe even He may know not! The authors mention that the use of the personal He (as opposed to the impersonal "That") is important, because although "He" is the great surveyor of the manifest universe, the impersonal "That" is even higher. The purpose is to place the "That" at the very highest
levels humans can ever conceive of - even higher than the Almighty of the manifest universe.
4. The Meaning of Suffering in Yoga
(a) As mentioned earlier, this essay talks about the view of suffering in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Tendencies (vrittis) are either conditioned by ignorance (kleshas) or not conditioned by ignorance. The kleshas are themselves of 5 kinds, but with the first one being the root cause of all others. They are - avidya (ignorance), asmita (I-am-ness), raga (attachment), dvesha (aversion) and abhinivesha (thirst-for-life). Action conditioned by ignorance brings about cycles of rebirth and sorrow. Ignorance leads to identification of the seer with the seen, which is the direct cause of suffering. Suffering, according to Patanjali, arises in consequences, heat (mental vibrations which cause suffering) and sub-concious impressions, and also because of the opposite movements of the gunas (primary energies). Therefore, says Patanjali, everything is nothing but sorrow to the one who discrimminates. The grosser aspect of the klishta vrittis (tendencies conditioned by ignorance) are eliminated by meditation (dhyaana), but the subtler aspects are only eliminated by the highest states of samadhi.
(b) The authors add that while the tendencies not conditioned by ignorance (aklishta vrittis) are helpful in countering ignorance, they too lie within the sphere of ignorance. Therefore, in the ultimate endeavour, they too need to be dissolved. Of course, many of these ideas have been found useful in psychotherapy too, although the purpose of yoga is higher.
5. Forerunners of Yoga: The Kesin Hymn
RigVeda X.136 has seven verses, which seem to describe the amazing "long-haired ones". Although the "long--haired one" is term which has also been used for the Sun in the Vedas, that meaning does not apply here. Many of the 7 verses explicitly talk about the "munis" (monks, people who perform austerities), and that meaning applies to the first verse as well. The amazing powers described in some verses are also, thereby, not powers of the Sun God, but powers of these "munis" who have been described here. Even if we allow for some debate about the first verse, the other verses make it clear that the munis were considered exceptionally advanced and remind us of some of the powers that Patanjali too has described in the Yoga Sutras. Comparing the Sun God to munis - if the other meaning of "kesi" is to be taken all the way - itself makes it clear that the munis were considered to be highly advanced in their spiritual achievements and worldly powers.
(a) The first verse says that the long-haired one endures heat (agni), poison and the two worlds. He sees the world and the heavens and is said to be that light. Poison here surely suggests tolerance to the "poison of the world", but could also refer to the ability to physically withstand some amount of actual poison.The use of the term "svar" when talking about their gaze suggests that the verse refers to their wisdom (vision), which was not limited to a worldly kind of wisdom. The second verse adds that they glide with the wind when the gods penetrate them. This gliding probably does not refer to physical gliding, but to the power - mentioned later by Patanjali too - of being able to project the subtle body out of the physical, via meditative techniques. In the third verse, the rishi of the verse confirms the point by saying clearly that the mortals only behold the physical bodies of "us munis".
(b) The fourth verse talks of the muni as traversing the middle region, divinely impelled, and being the friend of every god due to his piety. The "middle region" is a translation of "antariksha", which ordinarily means space or sky. Here, as per Sri Aurobindo, it refers to a middle plane of consciousness which is subtler than the gross consciousness of the material world (the "earth"), yet not as refined and subtle as the consciousness in the highest spiritual worlds (svar-loka). From these middle regions, it is clear how the sage flies, shining down on all forms (on the earth). The next verse seems to confirm this, saying that the muni is the "wind's steed", friend of the Lord of Life and that he dwells within "both oceans, the upper and the lower". Not knowing about yogic methods of control of life energy, some commentators write that this verse refers to the Sun God, who is the "wind's steed". However, other commentators have pointed out that methods of breath control as part of penances (tapas) were well known in the Vedic times - and in fact, other than the rishis (who may have been more "insiders" and householders), at least 3 groups of ascetics were known at that time - the munis, the vraatyas and the brahmachaaris. Thus, it would not be surprising if the term "wind's steed" referred to the munis' knowledge and mastery of the life force, "praana", or "breath", simply. Similarly, when the sixth verse talks of the kesin wandering in the path of nymphs (apsaras) and angels (gandharvas), it seems the rishi is taling of a subtler cosmos in which they muni rode / glided, impelled by the divine force. According to the authors, apsaras and gandharvas are surely not earthly creatures.
(c) The seventh verse mentions how the Lord of Life churned for the kesin, that which was "unbendable", when the kesin drank "from the poison cup" in presence of Rudra. According to the authors, this is hardly about a cult of drinking monks, it rather refers to the yogic practices where the "praana vaayu" pounds the "taamasic" (inertial) element of the body and prepares the for something higher. In Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva is said to have held the poison which came out of the churning of the oceans in his throat. The churning of the ocean is a great symbol for the preparation of body and mind for higher yoga. When the verse talks of the muni drinking with Rudra, it probably refers to the self-mastery of the munis, which made them "one with Rudra", or "godly" in nature. It also clearly symbolizes the muni taking on the suffering of the world upon himself, thereby, sharing the poison of Rudra, so to speak. Although times have changed, sages did - and even now continue to - take upon themselves the sins or sufferings of the world, to alleviate the karma of the world.
Sadanand Tutakne