S Sridharan was until recently the Managing Trustee, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai.  During his long association with KYM, he had the privilege of learning the nuances of Yoga Sastra directly under  Yogi TKV Desikachar.  Sridharan is now an expert Yogi and a Yogic teacher.  In this series on Yogasutra, Yogi S Sridharan elucidates every aspect of YOGA.

So far:

The aim of Yoga is to deal with/remove the Suffering (Duhkham) which is yet to come. The cause of the Suffering is the union (Samyoga) of the Perceiver (Drstr) and the Perceived (Drsyam).  Every one of us has two distinct entities in us, which consists of the Perceiver and the instruments of Perception. Perceiver also known as Soul, Spirit, Atma, and Purusa, is permanent, never changes, can perceive correctly and is full of bliss.  The Instruments of Perception, which is a part of Prakruti (matter) is subject to changes and is not permanent.  They are made out of the three Gunas.  The Universe which is perceived by the Perceiver is also made up of the three gunas, the basic elements (Panchabhutas-Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth).

The activity of perception needs three entities which work as under:

The instruments of perception and the objects of perception both are called as Drsyam, because they share the common characteristics, even though they are different.   Thus the Perceiver uses the mind and senses in perceiving the objects outside.  This is true for every one of us. A simple example can explain this process.  When we want to see an object which is very far away from us, we use a binocular which shows the object closely.  There are numerous such examples.  Eventhough the Perceiver (Drstr) in us has the potential to perceive things correctly; it has to use the Instruments of Perception to perceive the objects. What is the problem in this order? Why this can be a cause of Suffering.

(more to come)