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39th Sutra of the Sadhanapada Patanjali Maharishi's Yoga Sutras of the Yoga Darshan is on the aparigraha. The purpose and the result of the practice of aparigraha. 39th Sutra
अप॒रि॒ग्र॒ह॒स्थै॒र्ये ज॒न्मक॒थ॒न्तासम्बोधः ॥ २.३९॥
aparigrahasthairye janmakathantāsaṃbodhaḥ ||
Aparigraha sthairye janma kathā antaḥ saṃbodhaḥ - Very beautiful Sutra. The benefit of the result produced by the aparigraha practice as a mahāvrata is janmakathantāsaṃbodhaḥ. Aparigraha is we have seen non-possessiveness or non-acceptance, not receiving gifts that is aparigraha. Sthairye stabilized, in the earlier sutras pratiṣṭhāyām was said and here it is sthairye was told, stabilized in aparigraha or when aparigraha is stabilized that means when the practice of aparigraha is stabilized or aparigraha is stabilized in one's life what happens? Janmakathantā, janma is life birth kathantā purposefulness, the reasons the purpose katha antā it is, saṃbodhaḥ - sam is full, bodhaḥ is knowledge - full knowledge. That means stabilized in aparigraha the person, the practitioner, the sādhaka, the yogi gets full knowledge of the purpose of life. What a wonderful sutra it is! The feeling of possessiveness gets disappeared, the belongingness in the more deeper, level more subtlest level, mineness, I-ness, aham, mamatvam that is gone. And we have seen the cause for the birth in the earlier sutras is the karmāśaya and that karmāśayas will vanish. The remnants of the karma is gone. Saṃskāras will be lost because no possessiveness, nothing is possessed.
So the karmas in the karmāśayas, the storehouse is empty and the aparigraha makes a person to recognize those remnants of the karma that is the karmāśaya he will be able to visualize, understand, recognize the karmāśaya. Means he will be able to understand recognize experience the cause of birth janmakathā. Why this birth, what is the purpose of the birth, who am I, who was I, how was I, what is this. So this desire of knowing the nature of his own our own existence in the past the present and the future that is the janmakathāntā. That eagerness aparigraha brings it. And this is earlier seen when we studied the sutras in the first chapter the 12th, the 15th and the 16th about the vairāgyam, vaśīkāra and from that level absolutely free, absolutely non possessiveness, where it was alone and established in that particular state, no there will not be a fall because stabilized in aparigraha, or practice of aparigraha makes the sādhaka to continue in that particular state. And and that is very important dimension. So person may not get pratiṣṭhā name and fame in this life because he doesn't possess anything, he doesn't keep things a lot, he will not be having attachments, so pratiṣṭhā may not be there name and fame may not be there, the recognition in the society may not be there, but sthairyam is there he is stable in the aparigraha.
Vivekananda, Swamiji wonderfully describes this particular sutra in his commentary he says "when the yogi does not receive presence from others, he does not become beholden to others but becomes independent and free and his mind becomes pure because with every gift he receives all the evils of the giver and they come and lay floating after coating on his mind until it is hidden under all sorts of coverings of evil." How beautifully Swami Vivekananda summarizes. We generally give we generally receive gifts and we give a nice coating, a covering that receiving gifts is respecting others, to honor others somebody is giving out of love and affection, he may be hurt, if you refuse to accept the gift. But Vivekananda beautifully puts it here that every gift we receive all the evils of the giver will come coating after coating in our minds. Of course as many people say we should be very practical you receive the gift and don't keep it, you give it away take it from the right hand pass it on to the left hand. But even that slight desire a slight hankering in the mind that I am receiving and giving that ahaṅkāram, that mamatvam should not come up may come up that's why aparigraha not receiving the gifts, not receiving anything, not possessing anything is the injunction from the yoga sutras and the yoga darshan. So let us practice this aparigraha as a yoga sādhakas as a practitioners in the path of yoga especially when the yoga teachers, yoga instructors and when the performance of various techniques in the yoga, in the name of yoga are done people appreciate people give, they give gifts and that may create a sense of possessiveness, and layers coating as Swami Vivekananda was saying a sense of ego, I-ness myness may creep in, let us be watchful and let us intensify our practice of aparigraha.
And by the practice of aparigraha the purpose of this life, the meaning of the life the cause of this life, that will be in full knowledge - janmakathantāsaṃbodhaḥ. And that is the beauty and this concludes the explanation, benefits and the purpose and the results of the upāṅga of the yama - ahiṃsā satya asteya brahmacarya aparigraha. We will see the further sutras of the niyama.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/NEL0t_TQIxY?si=Iro8iTBI5jQgCDbb
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
