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Now Sutra number 20, 21 and 22 are the explanations how to attain samādhi. What are the various tools, methods, qualities required for the attainment of the samādhi. So the 20th Sutra, Samādhipāda, is a very beautiful Sutra listing out the required qualities. The Sutra is
श्र॒द्धावी॒र्यस्मृ॒तिस॒मा॒धिप्र॒ज्ञापूर्वक इ॑तरे॒षाम् ॥ १.२०॥
Śraddhā-vīrya-smṛti-samādhi-prajñā-pūrvaka itareṣām ॥ 1.20 ॥
Śraddhā-vīrya-smṛti-samādhi-prajñā-pūrvaka itareṣām, Śraddhā-vīrya-smṛti-samādhi-prajñā-pūrvaka itareṣām - So the qualities needed for the inner journey, establishing in the samādhi, yoga-sthiti, citta-vṛtti-nirodha sthiti is the four important qualities - śraddhā, vīrya, smṛti, samādhi-prajñā.
The translation the word, the Sutra goes like this that by the help of śraddhā, firm faith, vīrya vigor, smṛti a reminder or a memory and samādhi-prajñā - the ability to understand samādhi, one gets into the state of inner sthiti, the yoga-sthiti. Pūrvaka is accompanied by these four. Itareṣām is the other. Other means other than what was told in the Sutra 19. So samādhi-sthiti other than the Sutra told in the 19th is accompanied by these four qualities. Śraddhā is very much important, necessary for every sādhaka, a firm faith, a deep belief, unquestionable faith, unquestionable belief.
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya describing the word śraddhā, he says that śāstra-vākyam, guru-vākyam. Faith and belief on what śāstra says faith and belief in what the guru says. Many of us, we question we doubt the śāstra-vākyam and the guru-vākyam but unquestioning faith and belief that is the śraddhā. And śraddhā is also to be understood as the faith and the belief coming after an experience though it is to be taken as a mere faith and belief but established in śraddhā a firm faith is absolutely convinced. In the words of the śāstra and the guru are absolutely convinced of an experience and that is the śraddhā. It is not just a mere believing, it is absolutely convinced that the word of the guru, absolutely convinced that the word of the śāstra is true and having that absolute convincing faith takes up the practice and that is the śraddhā.
And vīrya and smṛti. Vīrya is the energy, vigor in the practice of yoga-sādhana yoga-abhyāsa. vīrya and smṛti are very much necessary and contributory factors. Vīrya is energetic it is not just dynamism, that vigor needed for the practice, a vigorous practice, an energetic practice that is very much needed and that contributes for the practice in deepening the practice, strengthening the practice, stabilizing the practice and systematizing the practice and that is how a wonderful quality is suggested by Patanjali.
Smṛti is another important word in this particular Sutra, earlier we have seen the word smṛti, that part of the vṛtti. But here smṛti is a little bit needed to remember the experiences one undergoes, to remember the scriptural injunctions the needed memory, the required memory the memory of the scriptural knowledge that is how the word smṛti has to be taken.
So śraddhā, vīrya and smṛti, what the guru said what the scripture has said, the śāstra has said, what was my experience and this memory also helps to correct ourself, to judge ourself by remembering what will happen and what is going to happen in a particular direction of the practice and that is how smṛti is needed.
So śraddhā, vīrya and smṛti and the fourth one is called as samādhi-prajñā. samādhi-prajñā, the knowledge of the samādhi an intellectual capacity to comprehend the states of the samādhi. When the mind is becoming quieter, when the citta is getting into the state of the nirodha, what are all the various experiences come, what are the various dimensions the body and the mind undergoes and that ability to understand, compare and intellectual capacity to comprehend it, without doubt and without losing faith that ability of the intellect that is the prajñā and samādhi-prajñā of the samādhi.
So these are the important four important qualities Patanjali prescribes, suggests and needed for the practice and that important dimension is these four qualities which is needed. And the methods which are followed, the qualities which are needed and the states of the mind which it enters and the experience which we feel will be more systematic, more organized, more clear and in fact it's more on the right correct path because the word śraddhā is a word which gives conviction, confidence in the path which we have chosen. It cannot take us into a wrong way, it cannot lead us into a wrong way, no deviations and that chosen path taken as śraddhā and there is a vigor in the practice and the smṛti will be supporting and the samādhi-prajñā the overall intellectual capacity. These are the accompaniments needed for the itareṣām. The samādhi which is not of what was spoken in the earlier Sutra.
So these four qualities are most and best suitable for all the sādhakas. Sure equipped with these four qualities our practice of yoga and various dimensions of the abhyāsa definitely surely takes us leads us on the right correct path towards the citta-vṛtti-nirodha. So this is an important Sutra.
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ ||ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued..
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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/RBJOfIu1Q4Y?si=PShaHpXyyypWu9JnRead n Get Articles, Magazines, Books @ http://prakashan.vivekanandakendra.org
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
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