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[Note: For simplicity I have used the common English convention of writing the key term as Ishvara.\u00a0 Sanskritists often use different accents or diacritical marks, but the \u201cIshvara\u201d spelling is also common and easier on English keyboards. Most sutras use the Edwin Bryant translation, but BKS Iyengar’s <\/em>Light on the Yoga Sutras and\u00a0 other commentators have been consulted.]<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGod\u201d (Ishvara) Sutras in Patanjali\u2019s Sutras<\/strong><\/p>\n Sutras in Patanjali, and in other traditions (including Buddhism) are cryptic aphorisms that need decoding and elucidation from a teacher or commentator.\u00a0 Reading them on your own for the first time is difficult and not the way they were intended.\u00a0 They are typically the codification or condensation of some teaching, strung together like beads on a thread.\u00a0 This metaphor is a common one, because some grammarians suggest that sutra is related to the word “suture” and means a thread\u00a0 along which beads or pearls (aphorisms) are strung. Whether this is literally true, the metaphor does point to the cryptic nature of the sutras and the need for commentary and discussion\u00a0 It also reminds us that there is enormous room for dispute and different interpretations. As if that were not enough, there are various translations that might be made from a given sutra — words and meanings typically have to be elaborated to make an intelligible sentence.\u00a0 This gives an idea of the richness of the centuries-long discussion around this classic codification of yoga.\u00a0\u00a0 It is also a reason that any commentary (let alone a few superficial ones such as mine) is a selection of meanings that are open to discussion.<\/em><\/p>\n Commentaries and debates about Patanjali\u2019s “theism” have extended for over 2000 years.\u00a0 Part of their importance for today\u2019s practitioners is that they show that yogis of many different theological beliefs have for centuries found an acceptable position that allowed them to benefit from the path of the sutra<\/em>s.\u00a0 Furthermore, if the goal of the sutras is to chart a path of practice toward Samadhi<\/em>, then a theological commitment may advantageous for some, but it is not a requirement for a fruitful practice in yoga. This is important when considering when the 2000-year-old sutras concerning Ishvara (God, Lord, Higher Power) are examined.<\/p>\n There are ten specific mentions of Ishvara<\/em> in the Sutras of Patanjali<\/em>.\u00a0 Most of them mention Ishvara<\/em> as a universal spirit.\u00a0 None specifies Ishvara a particular God or entity, whether in the Vedantic or in any other religious system.<\/p>\n This bears repeating: Ishvara in the sutras is ambiguous and open to interpretation — it does not specify a specific god or theology. Like yogis for many centuries, you are free to define Ishvara in terms of your own heritage tradition, or simply to defer judgment until that concept seems important to you.<\/em><\/p>\n Edwin Bryant meticulously combs the sutras<\/em> and the classic commentaries for evidence of Patanjali\u2019s theism. He points out that Ishvara<\/em> is mentioned often and in critical places, and that the best (but by no means conclusive) evidence is that he may have belonged to the Vishnaivite tradition of worship.\u00a0 Byant finds it unlikely that Patanjali could avoid being influenced by the dominant religious ethos of the time, and finds the worship of Vishnu to be most plausible.\u00a0 However, that is never stated in the sutras<\/em> — they are formally neutral and ecumenical, referring to a God, or Lord without any specificity.<\/p>\n Bryant finds Patanjali “too sophisticated and secular” to get involved in sectarian religious discussion.\u00a0 To specify the exact nature of a Higher Power would be irrelevant and distracting because it would distract practitioners from the main purpose of Patanjali which is to describe the path to Samadhi.<\/p>\n What Bryant does conclude is that the sutras<\/em> are \u201ctheistic\u201d and assume a Higher Power or God (even though that deity is not given a name or connected to a theology).<\/p>\n There are other commentaries that believe Patanjali was neutral, or agnostic.\u00a0 Some even assert the compatibility of the sutras<\/em> with an atheistic position. These debates over Patanjali\u2019s theism have extended for over 2000 years of commentary.\u00a0 Part of their importance for today\u2019s practitioners is diversity of commentary indicates that yogis of many different theological beliefs have for centuries found an acceptable position that allowed them to benefit from the path of the sutras<\/em>.\u00a0 Furthermore, if the goal of the sutras<\/em> is to chart a path of practice toward Samadhi<\/em>, then a theological commitment of any sort is not a requirement to fruitful practice (though its value is emphasized in the final sutra discussed below).<\/p>\n Unfortunately, this leads into some confusing concepts and disagreements that most practical yogis may want to bypass.\u00a0 At any rate, here is a superficial perspective on “dualism:”<\/p>\n A last point is that are a least two dualisms of importance in the sutras. One is (1) in the nature of god, the other (2) in the nature of the \u201csoul.\u201d<\/p>\n In (1) dualistic separation between a universal God and human.\u00a0 One is a universal \u201csoul\u201d or essence, while the other is an individual soul or essence.\u00a0 Humans are not part of God but are separate essences or entities.\u00a0 This is usually identified as a dvaita<\/em> view \u2013 a dualist view of the separate nature of God and humans.\u00a0 There is an alternate historical\/philosophical position known as advaita<\/em> (nondualism) that sees God and humans as part of the same universal essence.\u00a0 There is obviously much more to all this than that, but the most broadly accepted belief is that Patanjali represents a position that is theistic and dualistic (dvaita<\/em>).\u00a0 Also clear is that later commentators have also provided perspectives that are non-dualistic, agnostic or even atheist.\u00a0 Whatever Patanjali might have meant, sutras were reinterpreted in many ways and for many different theological purposes.<\/p>\n The comments here are a fairly conventional interpretation of the “God” sutras as dualistic, theistic, and ecumenical. However, this becomes a bit murky for Westerners as they become aware that Hindu mythology and religion have a multiplicity of gods, demigods, demons and other entities that one worships, fears or struggles against.\u00a0 Some of these entities may take human form for a time and even mate with humans, producing yet another category of semi-divine beings. \u00a0However, all this is irrelevant to Patanjali because God and \u201cgods\u201d are never specified and these entities from religion and myth do not figure in the Sutras. There is no need for any of these entities, and they are not needed for the path of yoga described by Patanjali — theology is only distracting. For this reason, the sutras can be approached in an ecumenical or agnostic or tolerant way.<\/p>\n The other dualism (2) is the identification of something called the Seer<\/em>, sometimes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 described as Atman<\/em> (\u201csoul,\u201d more or less).\u00a0 The Atman<\/em> is an essence that is untouched by the raw material (primordial matter) of the world (prakriti<\/em>).\u00a0 The Seer is is pure and clear perception, the essence of the human; however, it is obscured by contact with the world and its temptations, desires, attachments, pride, anger and greed.\u00a0 These must be tamed or eliminated through practice to reach jivatman<\/em>\u2014the liberated soul.<\/p>\n Translators in the Western tradition often identify Atman<\/em> with the Christian Soul, creating all sorts of theological and doctrinal confusions. \u00a0For most practitioners, it is difficult to conceptualize reaching a soul, of Christian description, through the path of yoga; their own faith prescribes a different path.\u00a0 It is best to avoid altogether the notion of \u201cSoul\u201d when talking about the inner yogic essence because it confounds the unfamiliar (Atman) with something familiar that is not the same.<\/p>\n Another dualism is the 2,500 year-old one between yoga and Buddhism.\u00a0 In Buddhist practice there is a concept that is roughly similar to Atman, but described as the opposite.\u00a0 this is the “Buddha nature” that all people have — yet that nature is obscured by contact with the attachments and fears of the world.\u00a0 In both yoga and buddhism, the person suffers through ignorance and delusion, and uncovering the deeper nature is the goal of practice.\u00a0 Yet in yoga the inner nature is a self (atman), and in buddhism it is one of no-self (anatman).\u00a0 .\u00a0 Most of us practitioners do not expect to solve this difference in our lifetimes, so we can draw some comfort from the Dalai Lama who once told a group of yogis. \u201cAtman, nonatman, no difference.\u201d In other words, he seemed to be saying: \u201clet\u2019s recognize our similarities and get on with our practice.\u201d<\/p>\n Another vital dualism in Patanjali is the distinction between matter (prakriti<\/em>) and spirit (purusa<\/em>).\u00a0 Purusa often refers to the <\/em>Seer or the Soul (the spirit within the individual), but it is sometimes used to mean the ineffable universal level of the cosmos.\u00a0 The various usages and crossed meanings of purusa<\/em> are made more complicated by the historical debate over whether there is one purusa<\/em> (a universal one of which the individuals are all part of God — as in “a cell in the mind of God), or whether there are two sorts of purusa, a universal one and many individual ones (ii.e., the individual atman). Some of this may be a problem of translation in which the English “soul,” “essence,” and “self” are used differently by various translators, but part of it reflects different philosophical positions among commentators.<\/p>\n To simplify this for the moment, we can simply follow Bryant’s definitions: Purusa is Self\/soul; atman also is “self\/essence” (or Seer); and prakriti is primordial matter or “nature.”\u00a0 These words will get us by a reading of the sutras, but the underlying theological debates are a matter for experts and not the average practitioner. In fairness, I think, the last two paragraphs are probably not very important to the average yogi who just wants to master ekapada raj Kapotasana. <\/em>It is more the stuff of theologians, sectarians and philosophers whose distinctions are far finer than those here, and whose arguments are not very interesting in the everyday world of hatha yoga<\/em> practice.\u00a0 However, we can keep some of these thoughts in mind as we take a look at the Ishvara sutras<\/em> in Patanjali.\u00a0 They occur in the first chapter (Samadhi Pad<\/em>a), and the second chapter (Sadhana Pada<\/em>).<\/p>\n God in the Sutras<\/strong><\/p>\n In the first appearance of \u201cIshvara<\/em>\u201d in the sutras:<\/p>\n 1.23 Ishvara pranidhana (worship of the Lord)<\/p>\n This is the first mention of Ishvara<\/em> in the sutras. In the context of this sutra, Ishvara pranidhana<\/em> is given as one option for reaching clarity, Samadhi, or enlightenment.\u00a0 \u00a0Bryant notes that of the six classic darshanas<\/em> \u2013 schools of traditional Indian thought \u2013 five are theistic.\u00a0 This includes yoga and sankhya,<\/em> the philosophical system closely connected with yoga.\u00a0 However, the theism is not dogmatic and sectarian \u2013 it does not name a particular god or higher power but leaves that open for the practitioner.\u00a0 It is not mandatory here, though it is presented in some other literature as the primary way; for example, the Bhagavad Gita contrasts the path of karma yoga<\/em> \u2013 the yoga of action and service \u2013 from that of bhakti yoga<\/em> \u2013 the path of devotion and worship.\u00a0 Karma yoga<\/em> is recommended for the warrior Arjuna as the path for him, but bhakti yoga<\/em> is presented as the supreme path.<\/p>\n 1.24.\u00a0 The Lord is a special soul.\u00a0 He is untouched by the obstacles [to the practice of yoga], karma, the fructification [of karma], and subconscious predispositions.<\/em><\/p>\n Ishvara<\/em> is an essence that is not touched by the limitations of humankind, the law of karma, and the accumulation of human tendencies and habit energies. Whatever this essence is, it represents the qualities that humans hope to achieve through yoga.\u00a0 It is a model of human aspiration — to be free of all the attachments and afflictions that keep us from reaching the Seer, atman, purusa.\u00a0 .<\/p>\n 1.25\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In him, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed<\/em>.<\/p>\n This god is omniscience and not limited by those attachments that afflict humans (and the gods and entities of Hindu mythology).<\/p>\n 1.26\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ishvara was also the teacher of the ancients, because he is not limited by Time.<\/em><\/p>\n In the vast Indian view of time, only one essence is free from its cycles and turmoil.\u00a0 Though Ishvara<\/em> is not personified, it is marked by omniscience and timelessness.<\/p>\n Notice also that Ishvara<\/em> is referred to as masculine, even though the notion of a gendered essence, seems nonsensical.\u00a0 This is partly a translation problem \u2013 rendered as \u201che,\u201d the concept not-so-subtly slips into the masculine gender normativity common in traditional Western discourse.<\/p>\n (Note: For a glimpse of Hindu time, see the post on Kali Yug in this blog.\u00a0 It is filled with incarnations of Vishnu, cosmic battles, and a world of theology and legend that is totally absent in Patanjali).<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1.27\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe name designating him is the mystical syllable om.\u00a0 (Also rendered as \u201cHis word\/syllable is OM.\u201d<\/p>\n In his commentary on Patanjali, Edwin Bryant points out that there is a different om salutation for each of the classic entities.\u00a0 This is a reminder that OM itself does not refer to a specific deity, but is a general salutation and invocation.\u00a0 Therefore, it is only in the pairing of OM with a deity that Ishvara takes on a sectarian identity.\u00a0 This does not happen in Patanjali.<\/p>\n Om namo Narayana (Vishnu\/Narayana, for the Vishnaivite traditions)<\/p>\n Om namah sivaya (for the Shiva\/Shaivite traditions)<\/p>\n Om namo bhagavate Vasudevaya (for the Krishna tradition).<\/p>\n 1.28 Its [OM\u2019s] repetition and the contemplation of its meaning [should be performed]<\/em><\/p>\n Patanjali refers here to necessity of constant practice and reflection.\u00a0 Extended repetition of a mantra is referred to as japa, and in some ways would be familiar to members of other religions that use rosaries, prayer beads and similar objects to guide repetitive prayer and invocation.<\/p>\n 1.29 From this comes the realization of the inner consciousness and freedom from all disturbances<\/em><\/p>\n Patanjali now transitions in the next sutra to enumerate the disturbances that interfere with practice and the reaching Samadhi, the stage of enlightenment. These disturbances are well known in the practice of asana where we repeat them to remind ourselves of the obstacles of our minds that disturb our progress. Repetition of the mantra OM is recommended as a practice to control the disturbances to our practice.<\/p>\n Chapter (Pada) II is well among Western yogis because of its emphasis on the path of action, that of practice rather than enlightenment or special yogic powers.\u00a0 These two sutras are linked, with II.1 acting as a preview to practice described later in II.32, which is an elaboration of desirable elements of personal discipline and practice (niyamas<\/em>):<\/p>\n II.1 \u201cKriya-yoga, the path of action, consists of self-discipline (tapas), study (svadyaya), and dedication to the Lord (ishvara pranidhana).<\/em><\/p>\n This sutra describes \u201cthe path of action,\u201d rather than the path of devotion.\u00a0 What is needed to follow that path is discipline, study, and dedication to a higher power.\u00a0 Here again there is no definition of which Ishvara that might be and theology or specific religious practice is not mentioned.\u00a0 It states only that the path of action requires some concept of a power higher than oneself.\u00a0 In actual daily yoga life, of course, many yogis get along well with tapas and svadyaya, leaving ishvara pranidhana<\/em> for later, if at all.<\/p>\n II.32\u00a0 Ishvara pranidhana<\/em> is listed as one of the six niyamas or personal practices \u2013 along with cleanliness or purity (sauca), contentment (santosha), austerity or determination\/zeal (tapas), and study (or self and teachings) svadyaya.<\/p>\n This restates what is foreshadowed in Sutra II.1, giving the entire list of niyamas of which ishvara pranidhana is one of the six prescribed.<\/p>\n Samadhi returns in Sutra II.45.\u00a0 It is always present as the ultimate goal in classic yoga, and the bhakti path of devotion is central. Here it appears that Samadhi, the ultimate step in the classical yoga path is reached through devotion to Ishvara.<\/p>\n The last of Patanjali\u2019s sutras that mention Ishvara if II.45:<\/p>\n II.45 From submission to God (Ishvara)comes the perfection of Samadhi<\/em>.<\/p>\n Like the Bhagavad Gita<\/em> which was written much later, the sutras of Patanjali offer a variety of paths of yoga.\u00a0 Choice of a path will vary with the predispositions, talents and capabilities of the practitioner.\u00a0 The choice of action, service and practice (karma yoga) was recommended as the starting place for the warrior Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita<\/em>. It may also be the best path, or at least the best beginning, for those who are not warriors but are busy in this mundane world.\u00a0 The path of devotion (bhakt<\/em>i) is revered, but does not suit all temperaments.<\/p>\n The two paths are not entirely separate, however, because meditation, study, and action are usually combined in most of us as we live in the everyday world of family and responsibilities.\u00a0 Each person\u2019s personal practice is likely to be some combination of action\/practice and devotion, but there is here a sense that ultimate self-realization in yoga required a devotion to a higher power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [Note: For simplicity I have used the common English convention of writing the key term as Ishvara.\u00a0 Sanskritists often use different accents or diacritical marks, but the \u201cIshvara\u201d spelling is also common and easier on English keyboards. Most … Continue reading
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