41st sutra of the sādhanapāda deals with the mānasika śaucam, antaḥ śauca, the internal śauca of the practice of yoga. The sutra is:
स॒त्त्वशु॒द्धिसौ॒मनस्यै॒काग्र्येन्॒द्रियजया॒त्मदर्शनयोग्य॑त्वानि॒ च ॥ २.४१॥
Sattva-śuddhi saumanasyaikāgrendriyajayātmadarśanayogyatvāni ca
These are the various words:
Sattva — to be, the beingness, the basic personality, the root personality of us or everything, that is sattva. Śuddhi is the cleanliness, purity. Sattva-śuddhi — purity of the inner being. Saumanasa — peaceful mind, calm mind, serene mind, cheerful mind. Ekāgra — one-pointedness. Indriyajaya — mastery over the indriyas, control over the senses. Ātma — the self, one's own self. Darśana — vision. Yogyatva — eligibility, fitness, to be fit, Yogyatvāni is plural. Ca is and.
So sattva-śuddhi saumanasyaikāgrendriyajayātmadarśanayogyatvāni ca that is the sutra. So the mental purification is—what is mental purification? The qualities have been given. The qualities of mental purification are: Sattva-śuddhi, Saumanasya, Ekāgratā, Indriyajaya, Ātma-darśana-yogyatā - five qualities have been given, five results, five fruits of the practice of antaḥ-śauca, in another way, these are the five components, constituents, aṅgas or qualities of internal purification. What is internal purification? To be pure inside, what do we mean by that ? To be pure inside - what does it mean ? these are the qualities - Saumanasya — cheerfulness, smiling face, peaceful mind, unagitated, serene, joyful. Then ekāgratā — one-pointed mind, undisturbed mind, focused thought, focused thinking, single-direction thought - that is the Ekāgratā. We are trying to understand clean mind, pure mind - what the qualities of internal cleanliness - this is also that and these are also methods for cleaning both ways. Then indriyajayatva — mastery over the senses, Jitendriyatva it is called and control over the indriyas. We know that the indriyas will be running like horses, but they are controlled—speed and direction guided by mind and buddhi - indriyajayatva. The purpose of the indriyas, the powers of the indriyas, the direction of the indriyas, they have been calibrated, navigated, they are under the spell of the buddhi, it is like a rider on a horse, he is the handling the vehicle, —the horse goes where the rider takes it - it is not where the rider goes where the horse takes it. The horse goes where the rider directs it -indriyajayatva,jitendriyatvam - mastery about the senses. Then ātma-darśanam — One understands what he is? About ourself. Who am I really? What I am made of ? What is my source ? The contents of me, the real of me, who am I? Kah ham? - Koham? This thinking, this contemplation, this understanding, this knowledge - ātma-darśanam. Yogyatā - ātma-darśanam yogyatā — we become fit, we become eligible for that. Yogyatvāni - that is plural - āni is plural, ca is end - all that and ātma-darśanam yogyatvāni.
So the body purification and the mind purification. So the śauca - the physical purification results into sattva śuddhi. And sattva śuddhi - itself has wonderful meaning because the triguṇas sattva, rajas and tamas, the triguṇas with which we are made of we have seen in earlier sutras the pañcabhūtam and the indriyas they are the constituents of the body and the world. So sattva śuddhi is the purification of the basic personality of our self and that is the guṇa śuddhi, the triguṇas - sattva, rajas and the tamas. So the purification or reduction in the activities, reduction in the expressions, reduction in the qualities and the intensity, of the rajas and the tamas. That allows sattva to dominate, that gets purification, the general dullness, the turbulence of the rajas and the dullness of the tamas and that will be reduced and the sattva rises becomes dominant, predominantly dominant and that is how sattva śuddhi comes. And from sattva śuddhi All these saumanasya, cheerfulness and then ekāgratā, indriyajaya - ātma darśana yogyatā - they all come. And this is how the sutra is to be understood traditionally. The interpretations are by the purification of the body alone this mānasika śuddhi comes, manas śauca comes. So śārīrika śauca or bāhya śauca is a preliminary or the first step or without which antaḥ śauca mānasika śauca is not possible. This is a traditionally people interpret it but it is not necessary to follow or to understand in that dimension. Because sattva śuddhi qualities of sattva śuddhi is given and from the śauca all this results will be expressed, manifested, projected, rise in the sādhaka, in the practitioner and this is how beautifully the Sutra concludes about the śauca and we should remember that śauca has very important dimension in our day to day regular life keeping things clean and neat maintaining its purity yoga practitioner cannot afford to look dirty and yoga practitioner cannot afford to keep his surroundings, the place where he stays, his circumstances, his surroundings place of stay his things ,what are all the things he uses should be maintained in a clean, neat and that is a very important practical dimension and suggestion from the Yoga Sutra. Let us go for the further understanding of the Sutras.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/zzClg-7pYKo?si=psr6LLYB7DjVGsdt
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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
