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

Synopsis: So far...

Yoga is “attention”. The mind which is agitated (rajas) or dull (tamas) cannot be attentive. Yoga Sutra is the authoritative text on Yoga. According to Yoga Sutra the purpose of Yoga is “to avoid/deal with future suffering”. The causes of the suffering are “change” “craving” “conditioning” and “conflicting action of gunas”. These create symptoms which are suffering, negative thinking, body ill-at-ease and difficulty in breathing. These symptoms surface along with the nine interruptions, in the path of Yoga, which are illness, mental stagnation, doubt, lack of foresight, fatigue, over indulgence, delusion, lack of perseverance and regression. Yoga Sutra presents a model –“vyuha” which consists of symptom (suffering) cause (wrong combination of Perceiver and instrument of perception) goal (freedom) and means (eight limbed Yoga...

What is Samyoga

Yoga Sutra 2.17 says “drastrdrsyayogo samyogo heyahetu” which means that “the cause of suffering is the inability to distinguish between the Perceiver and the Perceived. Samyoga generally means “very well together”. What are those which are “very well together” here? The two which are joined very well are the Perceiver (Seer) and the Perceived (Seen).

Who (What) is Perceiver

Yoga Sutra calls the Perceiver “drstr” (pronounced as drastra), which means “the one who sees”. According to the ancient Indian thought, all that are sentient have a part which perceives and is conscious and therefore called in English as “Consciousness”. It is also called as “Self” “Spirit”, etc. In Sanskrit, this Perceiver is called by words such as Purusa which means that which resides inside a town (here it is our body), Cit (conscious) Atma (master), etc. This concept which is handed down from the Vedas gives certain special characteristics to the Perceiver:

• The Perceiver is eternal in nature. That is, it is neither born nor dies. It is known as “Sat”
• The Perceiver does not undergo any change. Therefore, it is called “Aparinami”
• The Perceiver is nothing but consciousness. It is also, therefore, known as “Cit”
• The Perceiver is by its nature, always in a state of bliss. This aspect is called as “Ananda”

This Perceiver needs the instruments of perception to perceive and interact with this Universe. The instruments of perception are the Mind and the Senses. Together they form a team in the act of perception. This team work is Samyoga. How can this be a cause of suffering? Let us understand the nature of the instruments of perception.

(more to come)