The Prescription: Part I
Singha-Avalokana-Nyaya: The Lion's Backward Glance
Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Salutations to all the teachers.
घोरेषु संसाराङ्गारेषु पच्यमानेन मया जननमरणान्धकारे विपरिवर्त्तमानेन कथंचिदासादितः क्लेशतिमिरविनाशीयोगप्रदीपस्तस्य चैते तृष्णायोनयो विषयवायवः प्रतिपक्षाः।Burned by the hot coals of worldly existence, and rolled around in the darkness of birth and death, I have somehow, with great difficulty, found the light of Yoga - destroyer of the dense darkness of the afflictions.
- Vyasabhashyam on Yoga Sutra, 3.51
Yoga is defined as the mastery over the movements, whirlpools, or ripples in the mind.
The Purusha (aka You - the Real You) - is simply the light of Awareness, shining on the mind, illuminating everything that comes in its way, unaffected by it, just as sunlight is unaffected by whether it falls on a dirty puddle or a pristine Himalayan lake.
Our minds are constantly moving, plagued by whirlpools of incessant thought. When the mind is fluctuating in this way, it becomes unclear where the Self ends and the mind begins. The mind and the Self get mixed up so much that we start to refer to the body and mind sometimes as “me”, but other times as a possession (ie. “my body”, “my mind”).
We are fundamentally confused about what we mean by the word “I”, and so when the body or the mind suffers, we take it personally, saying “I got hurt” or “I feel sad.” What’s more, we take our desires personally too, and so when their fulfilment is affected by the impermanent nature of everything around us, we suffer. This is dangerous because we then bind ourselves to suffering in the hope that it will make us happy.
We have been conditioned to think that running after money, power, or righteousness will lead us to happiness, and so we chase these objects - some physical, some mental - with all of our energy. However, since they are impermanent, they are bound to disappoint.
This condition - the “bumpy ride”, insufficient, unsatisfying nature of life - is known as dukkha, and is the diagnosis of all living beings.
Some of us may begin to think deeply about this condition of incompleteness, insufficiency, and imperfection of the world around us. If we think about it deeply enough, we will find that nothing in this world can lead to satisfaction. Everything is dukkha - through and through.
This feeling of burning existential dread - where the clarity of vision is sufficient to see through the surface of our conditioning - is where Yoga begins.
Over the past few weeks, we have been going over the method of Yoga in the light of the fourfold framework used by doctors in traditional Indian medicine to communicate with their patients:
We have gone over the diagnosis - dukkha. We then discussed the cause - the conjunction between the Seer and the Seen, and the further (final) cause, avidya, or the Primal Ignorance.
We then went over the prognosis - the good news. There is a way out of dukkha, and the state of freedom is known as Kaivalyam - Independence or Freedom.
Now, we will begin a discussion on the prescription - the method of treatment to solve the dukkha.
About 106 weeks ago, we began our discussion on the treatment - the path of Raja Yoga. The next few articles will serve as the singha-avalokana-nyaya - the method of the Lion’s glance.
P: What’s that?
When a lion has walked across a certain distance in the forest, it stops and glances backward, majestically surveying the land it has thus far traversed. In the same way, we have now traversed a great distance in understanding, and so we shall look back and survey what we have covered so far.
For those of us who have joined partway through this journey, there are links to relevant articles in each section. Each article covers the topic in detail, and many have exercises at the bottom of the article, designed for a progressive practice.
If you have any questions, please reach out directly by clicking the button below:
The Purpose of Life: The four Purushaarthas
Whether we know it or not, and no matter what we are doing in our time (apparently) in this body, we are all chasing after the same goal - freedom. Said another way, we all seek the cessation of suffering, and the attainment of fulfilment.
Throughout our lives, we go about attaining this in one or more of four ways - that is, all of our goals in life, stated or unstated, fall into one or more of these four categories:
Dharma (धर्म): Doing the right thing, doing good, etc.
Artha (अर्थ): Wealth, power, material possessions, etc.
Kaam (काम): Pleasure
Moksha (मोक्ष): Freedom from suffering
The first three of these are roundabout methods, and will lead to a bumpy ride, until we finally land upon the fourth. The fourth, Moksha, is the direct path. That is, after sufficient suffering from the first three goals, we ultimately realize that we actually were after Moksha all along.
For example, we realize that we didn’t want wealth or power, we only wanted wealth and power because we thought it would bring us fulfillment. Similarly, we didn’t actually want pleasure, we only wanted it insofar as it would bring us happiness. It is the same with Dharma, although this may be more difficult for many to admit.
The Four Yogas
Once we realise that the first three goals will not lead to ultimate fulfilment, it can lead to a feeling of great despair. The world feels empty, as it becomes clear that old age, disease, and death are looming, and that nothing can really satisfy us.
This feeling - the acknowledgement of dukkha - is the first step to Yoga.
Eventually, we find Yoga - whether or not it is called by this name. Yoga exists in all the great traditions of the world, emergent in society through individuals who have seen through the veil of the illusion that the world can satisfy our hunger. No matter the tradition, there are only four methods. That is, all of the methods in the world’s various soteriological traditions (ie. traditions that lead to liberation from suffering) can be categorised in to one or more of the following four categories:
Bhakti (भक्ति) Yoga: The path of love and faith
Karma (कर्म) Yoga: The path of unselfish action
Raja (राज) Yoga: The path of meditation (aka the “royal Yoga”)
Jnana (ज्ञान) Yoga: The path of knowledge (aka the “direct path”)
In the West, and increasingly in the post-colonial East, the word “religion” and the word “faith” are used synonymously. This indicates the fact that we have been conditioned to believe that Bhakti is the only path.
As a result, for those of us who are not comfortable with faith - believing in God - it can feel as though “religion” - and so Yoga - is not for us.
This framework helps us to see that there are different paths for different mental tendencies. For those who are inclined towards faith, well and good. However, for those who require logical reasoning and argumentation - where no question is beyond scope, and intellectual honesty is a primary concern, Jnana Yoga is perhaps a better fit.
On the other hand, for some, neither faith nor intricate philosophy seem appealing. For such individuals, the mind and body are heavily inclined towards action - it feels good to keep moving, and difficult to remain still. For such people, Karma Yoga may be a better place to start.
Finally, for those who place weight primarily on direct experience - who are not necessarily interested in faith or philosophy, and who are able to sit still and observe for long periods of time, there is the path of Raja Yoga, which we have been discussing thus far in this series.
These paths are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are complementary to one another. However, each is sufficient unto itself as a method to achieve the same goal - Moksha - freedom from suffering, and ultimate fulfilment.
Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.”
- Swami Vivekananda
As an aside, thus far, this series has focused on Raja Yoga. Moving forward, we will shift focus toward Jnana Yoga.
The 25 Tattvas
Raja Yoga uses our powers of observation and attention to Realize the true nature of Self. This begins with an exploration and classification of our experience.
Most often, our minds feel like a tangled web of thoughts, emotions, desires, sensations, perceptions, and identity. Usually, we get sucked into the stories projected by the mind, rather than taking a step back to see what is actually going on.
In order to help with this, Yoga classifies the Universe of our experience into 25 categories, called Tattvas. We see how these Tattvas relate to each other, and this provides us with the clarity of thought required to dive deeper into understanding who we are.
The elements, the tanmaatras, and the senses
The Tattvas go from more obvious or gross (sthoola) to more subtle (sookshma). It begins with the external world - the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space.
At first glance, this may seem archaic in today’s world, but this framework is rather helpful when viewing the world from the vantage point of a human being with five senses - since each element is defined on the basis of which senses it activates, e.g. earth activates all the five senses; fire activates, sound, touch, and sight; space only activates sound, etc.
These sense “activations” - smell, taste, form, texture, and sound - are known as the tanmaatras, or subtle elements. Each of these is connected to one of our sense organs - the powers of smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. These powers are not the external organs, but the powers within the mind that allow us to experience these tanmaatras externally, but also within our minds.
There are also 5 organs of action, known as the karmendriyas - the powers of excretion, procreation, movement, grasping, and speech. Just like the powers of sense, they are not the external organs, but mental powers which allow us to do these activities within the mind, and not just with the body.
The internal instrument (aka “the mind”)
We then arrive at the mind itself, which is categorized into three main functions:
Manas: The lower mind
Ahamkaar: The “I-maker”
Buddhi: The intellect
If the organs of sense and action are like horses, the manas is like the reigns - moving attention between them, and influencing their direction.
The ahamkaar (often simplistically translated as the ego) is the feeling of “I” - the one that takes credit for all the varied movements of the body-mind. There is a common misconception that meditation involves getting rid of the “ego.” This is not true. The ahamkaar is a core function of mind, without which it would be very difficult to function. Meditation simply involves dis-identifying with the ahamkaar, realizing that it is not “me”.
The buddhi is the decision maker. It is the one that knows how to distinguish between different objects - whether gross or subtle - and the one which wills the rest of the body-mind complex into action. It is the most subtle, and the most difficult to disidentify with. In fact, the confusion of “Self” and buddhi is the reason that the question of “free will” arises at all.
These Tattvas evolve from one another just as waves evolve from water. Said another way, more gross tattvas are particular modifications of subtler tattvas. Specifically, buddhi modifies into ahamkaar. The ahamkaar modifies into the manas, the sense organs, the organs of action, as well as the tanmaatras. These tanmaatras then evolve into the elements which comprise the “external” world.
Prakriti: The three gunas
The buddhi itself, and so everything in nature, is ultimately composed of three fundamental threads, or qualities, known as the gunas. These are not some mystical energies or mysterious forces, rather they are directly in front of us all the time. They are sattva, rajas, and tamas.
Sattva is the quality of clarity, lucidity, calmness, intelligence, lightness, and so on.
Rajas is the quality of activity, movement, passion, desire, etc.
Tamas is the quality of dullness, inertia, heaviness, darkness, and so on.
These three threads are present in everything, everywhere, all the time. All things - from rocks to thoughts - are nothing but the gunas, just as a pot of clay is nothing but clay, through and through. What’s more, these three cannot be separated from one another - the only thing that differentiates one object from another is the proportion of the gunas within them.
Together, the gunas are called Prakriti, or nature.
Purusha: The Self
In Yoga, the Self is known as the Purusha. Normally, we feel like “I” am some combination of the body, the mind, and awareness. Through careful observation, however, we can see that the body and mind, as well as the feeling of awareness itself, can all be observed.
The next question then, is, “who is it that observes?”
This final observer is the Purusha - You (denoted with a capital “Y” here). You observe the body and all its changes, You observe the mind and all the thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, and so on. You even observe the feeling of “me.”
Though it is the observer of all things, the Purusha itself cannot be observed. It is the Ultimate Observer - the Knower of, and therefore different from, both the known and the unknown.
Moksha - Ultimate Fulfilment, and freedom from suffering - comes from a clear Realization that “I am the Purusha”, different from this body and mind and everything within it.
P: How?
Jogi: All suffering stems from the confusion of the Purusha and Prakriti. I feel like I am this body and mind, and so I suffer when the body suffers, or when the mind suffers. The moment I Realize that I was never this body or mind to begin with, I Realize that I was free from suffering all along.
The 5 Bhumis: Measuring your baseline
Once we have a method of classifying our experience into categories, we can now return to the reason we came to Yoga in the first place. We suffer, and we can now locate this suffering. We see, through observation, that it is experienced within the mind - the antahakarana.
P: What about suffering of the body?
Jogi: Where is the perception of this bodily suffering?
P: I see - it is also within the mind.
Before beginning any sort of practice, whether within or outside of Yoga, we must first set a baseline. This way, we can measure our progress.
Yoga provides a framework for putting a stake in the ground. This framework is known as the Five Bhumis, or “Grounds.” The goal of this framework is simply to observe and classify our own minds, so that we can later repeat the exercise to see if we are making progress or not.
The five bhumis, in ascending order of progress in Yoga, are as follows:
Kshipta: Wandering, Agitated
Mudha: Confused, Dull
Vikshipta: Scattered
Ekaagra: One-pointed
Niruddha: Controlled, Mastered
Throughout the day, we may experience many of these states. However, the method to use this framework is to carefully observe where the mind tends to rest.
What is the baseline state of your mind? This is your bhumi.
Then, as we practice Yoga, we can repeat this exercise and see if we are moving to the next stage, remaining stagnant at our current stage, or going back to a prior stage.
TL;DR
This week, we began a discussion on the treatment for dukkha - the incomplete, unfulfilling, bumpy ride nature of life. We discussed the four goals that we normally pursue, the Purushaarthas, and how ultimately the desired result of all of these goals is the same - complete fulfillment, and the complete cessation of all dukkha.
We then went over the four methods to achieve this goal, known as the four Yogas. This is not a diktat, but rather an observation. All of the methods, in all of the world’s traditions, fall into one or more of these four categories. Importantly, we discussed how bhakti, or faith, is not the only way, but only one of four different methods designed for different types of mental tendencies. These four are all valid treatments for the same underlying dukkha, and the particular course of treatment we have been discussing over the past 106 weeks is known as Raja Yoga - the “royal Yoga”, or the path of meditation.
On the path of Raja Yoga, we begin by classifying our experience, so that we can observe with clarity. We went over the 25 Tattvas, or categories, into which this Universe can be classified.
Finally, we discussed the framework to classify our current default mental state - the five bhumis. This framework helps us to put a stake in the ground, so that we can measure our progress throughout the course of our practice.
Next, we will continue our singha-avalokana-nyaya (the method of the Lion’s Glance), by reviewing the methods to classify specific mental experiences, the fundamentals of Yoga practice, preliminary techniques, as well as the eight-limbed Yoga.
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Next time: The Prescription: Part II