Path to the Awakened Heart: the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

1. Atha Yogānuśānanam.

atha – now

yoga – yoga

anuśāsanam – teaching, exposition

Now the teachings of yoga.

Yoga comes from the ancient spiritual tradition of India. It is a process devised by the ancient seers to help us discover the divine Truth within our own beings. It is also called the path of union with God. The fundamental principles of yoga are at the heart of many spiritual paths and religions. We don’t have to be on an Indian path to experience their benefits, depth, and wisdom. The Yoga Sutras form the basis of Rāja Yoga, the traditional “royal” eight-fold path of yoga, which includes the following “limbs”:

• Yamas, self-restraints: nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, control of one’s sexuality, and non-grasping

• Niyamas, observances: purity, contentment, austerity, recitation and study of scriptural texts, and surrender to God

• Āsanas, yogic postures

• Prāṇāyāma, working with the prāṇā associated with the breath • Pratyāhāra, withdrawal of the senses

• Dhāraṇā, concentration

• Dhyāna, meditation

• Samādhi, the merging of the mind with the Absolute

The Yoga Sutras go into great detail about each of these limbs. Although they are listed sequentially, we practice them in no particular order but together in a complementary way. Their teachings offer an intricate web of practices and understandings that link the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our beings. The Yoga Sutras also indirectly encompass three other traditional paths of yoga: Bhakti Yoga, the heartfelt path of devotion; Jñāna Yoga, the path of understanding; and Karma Yoga, the path of service.

The Indian sage Śaṅkarāchārya wrote in the Viveka Cūḍāmaṇi: Crest Jewel of Discrimination:

It is difficult for any living creature to achieve birth in a human body. It is even harder to obtain a strong body and mind, shaped by pure thoughts and actions. More difficult is to have a desire to live a spiritual life. The most difficult of all is to have an understanding of the Truth of one’s own nature.

Three things are rare and come from God’s grace: human birth, the longing for liberation, and the guidance of an illumined teacher.

The sages of the wisdom traditions tell us we are in a vast process of evolution on earth. Many of us were introduced to this planet in mineral form and slowly evolved into plants and animals. Only after considerable lives were we granted the privilege of a human body and given the opportunity to fully realize the divinity at the heart of our being. As humans, we find ourselves in a world of karma in which we make choices that directly shape the course of our evolution. We are presented with dualities—good and bad, rich and poor, fortunate and unfortunate, pleasurable and painful—and find ourselves in situations where we must choose what we think best for ourselves and others. Will we make choices out of love in the face of fear or pain, or will we default to protective self-interest? Our goal is to learn that our highest self-interest is to apprehend our interconnection with all beings, to love all unconditionally and realize our oneness with humanity and the Divine. Ultimately, we will attain self-realization after many lifetimes of learning.

Once we experience something deeper in life than seeking what is pleasurable, a longing for true knowledge of the human condition arises. As Śaṅkarāchārya says, this longing is rare, not because some souls are intrinsically better than others, but because it takes a great deal of experience to reach this point of evolution. This longing for self-knowledge, in turn, draws a seeker to an illumined teacher, one who has experienced the Truth as it is and is able to teach it in a way that allows us to progress steadily on our spiritual path.

The yogic scriptures of India speak of a divine force within called kuṇḍalinī śakti that persistently draws us toward the inner light so that we can ultimately recognize the divinity at the core of our beings. In all objects, animate or inanimate, this divine energy pulsates, propelling us, in whatever form we are in, to wake up to our divine essence. The first step on a spiritual path comes when we get in touch with the deep desire to experience something more to life, to transcend what seems to be our inherent limitations, our identifications with what is superficial and material. The Indian scriptures call this inner yearning mumukṣutva.

There is a mysterious strength in the divine inner desire that lights our way to the Truth. The Sufi poet Rumi expressed it beautifully:

By the rising moon in my dark nights

I am thirsty for Your light….

My heart cannot bear the pain of separation….

When we contact this longing for transcendent love, for completeness, for union with the Divine, our inner journey begins.