Daily Katha: March 2026

Monday, 2 March 2026

Patanjali Yoga Sutras Sadhana Pada - 13

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The 13th Sutra is a continuation of the same philosophy of the karma siddhānta and the punar janma, the law of action and the law of reincarnation.

स॑ति मू॒ले त॑द्विपा॒को जात्या॑युर्भो॒गाः ॥ २.१३॥

sati mūle tad-vipāko jātyāyur-bhogāḥ ॥ 2.13 ॥

Sati mūle tad-vipāko jāti-āyu-bhogāḥ. Jāti-āyu-bhogāḥ, bhogāḥ, bhogāḥ is plural, sati mūle tad-vipāko jātyāyur-bhogāḥ that is the sutrah, sati is being, mūla is a root, satīmūle, tad vipāka, that results into or its result, jāti, there is a birth, class, āyu, span of life, bhogāḥ, the experiences.

So if the root exists, it ripens into state of life, experience of life and time of life. Three things have been presented by Maharshi Patanjali, jāti, āyu, bhogāḥ. So the karmāśaya being the root, satīmūle, that is being the root. What is being the root? Karmāśaya. Because karmāśaya is the root, what is its result? Tad vipāka, it results, is birth, janma and āyu, span of life and bhogāḥ, experience.

So here we should remember, jāti is not generally nowadays we understand as caste system, it is not caste. Jāti is a class, manuṣya jāti, vṛkṣa jāti, paśu jāti, vihaṅga jāti, class of trees, class of human beings, class of birds, vāhana jāti, class of vehicles, car jāti, class of cars, train jāti, class of trains. So jāti is a class, a group. How wrongly we have interpreted nowadays in the modern days and made a mess of this word in our society and a horrible situation is created. So jāti is the class. So a human being, that is the birth. So being born as a human being will be born as a human being and he will be born as a human being because of karmāśaya as a mūla root.

The karmāśaya is there, karma is there. Unexhausted karma or to be exhausted karma are still there in the mūla. See the wonder of presentation by Maharishi Patanjali. We are born, it means there is some karma, there is some action which is to be exhausted. That's why the result of the karma is this birth or this birth is a resultant of the karmas which are already there. That is why the law of karma and law of reincarnation, they go together. Karma siddhānta and the punar janma siddhānta, they go together.

And being born as a human being, jāti, because it is the tad vipāka, the result is jāti. And not only jāti, āyu, span of life, how many years I will be alive, that is the āyu. And it is also the vipāka of the karmāśaya, satīmūle. That means we will be alive in this body till the karmas get exhausted. Once they are exhausted, we will give up this body. The body drops and the lifespan is over. That is the āyu.

Not only that, bhoga, what type of life we lead, experiences in this life, whether it is pleasurable life or miserable life, whether it is a combination of good and bad, whether it is a combination of sukha and dukkha, which is more, this decision, these happenings, the bhoga is as per the karmāśayas rooted, satīmūle. And this is only tad vipāka, fructification of that. See how beautifully Maharshi Patanjali is presenting that jāti, āyu and bhoga are decided or pre-decided, already programmed. It is not already programmed. It was already decided. It will be as per the storehouse of the karma, satīmūle. So this birth and the age, the lifespan and also the experiences we come across, they are all the exhaustion of the stored karmas in karmāśaya.

So Patanjali has classified this under three heads. So the jāti is the class, it determines the environment of an individual and our opportunities and the type of life which we will live and will be able to lead. The opportunities which come to us, the environment which comes to us, in which we grow, this is as per the karmāśayas.

So the kind of life a person lives is determined first and that is by the jāti. And the second important factor is the span of life, the length of life, the total number of experiences, that is the āyu. And the last one is the quality of experiences. The quantity is āyu and the quality is the bhoga. All these three are decided by the karmāśaya and because they are rooted, satīmūle.

Again, Vivekananda wonderfully summarizes this particular sutra in a classical way. The roots, the causes, the saṁskāras being there, they again manifest and form the effects. The cause dying down becomes the effect and the effect becomes more subtle and becomes the cause of the next effect, the cause and effect relationship. The tree bears a seed and becomes the cause of the next tree and so on. All our works now are the effects of past saṁskāras. Again, these saṁskāras become the cause of future actions and thus we go on.

So, this sutra, aphorism says that the cause being there, the fruit must come in the form of species. One will be a man, another an angel, another an animal, another a demon. Then there are different effects in life. One man lives 50 years, another 100 and another dies in 2 years and never attains maturity. All these differences in life are regulated by these past actions.

One man is born, as it were, for pleasure. If he buries himself in a forest, pleasure will follow him there. Another man, wherever he goes, pain will follow him. Everything becomes painful. It is all the result of their own past.

According to the philosophy of the yoga, all virtuous actions bring pleasure and all vicious actions bring pain. Any man who does wicked deeds is sure to reap the fruit of them in the form of pain. That is an important dimension.

Swami Vivekananda explains this particular sutra and this also summarizes the law of karma and the law of reincarnations. So the pleasures and pains which we have to bear are not entirely dependent on our jāti and it is based on our environment. And under the bhoga, all experiences in relation to their potentiality to bring pain or pleasure to an individual and all these are expressions, manifestations of the karmaśayas - sati mūle tad-vipāko jātyāyur-bhogāḥ. That is the importance of this particular sutra. And let us understand clearly that jāti is not a caste. Caste is a class.

Let us conclude this sutra here and let us try to understand the further future sutras.
Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ. 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/2Qlk61_pyrw?si=trBXWLN-xsQ8Ar4g

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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

Sunday, 1 March 2026

Patanjali Yoga Sutras Sadhana Pada - 12

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From 12th Sutra to the 27th Sutra are the philosophical dimensions of Yoga Darshana of Maharshi Patanjali. We see that the tradition speaks that Yoga Darshana has its connection or follows, or almost rooted, takes help from the Sankhya, Sankhya Darshana. But as a practice, the philosophy of the Yoga Darshana Yoga Sutras are very clearly presented and very sharply explained in these particular Sutras from the Sutra number 12 to the 27th.

These Sutras are highly philosophical. They give the philosophical background of the Yoga Darshana, which is very much necessary to understand that Yoga is not just concerned with only the physical, bodily exercises. And these important Sutras are the stand-alone points, cornerstones of the Yoga Darshana, Yoga philosophy of Maharshi Patanjali. Let us see the Sutra number 12.

क्ले॒शमू॒लः क॒र्मा॒श॒यो दृ॒ष्टादृष्टजन्मवे॑दनी॒यः ॥ २.१२॥

kleśa-mūlaḥ karmāśayo dṛṣṭādṛṣṭa-janma-vedanīyaḥ

These are the words used in this particular Sutra. Kleśa is Kleśas. Mūlaḥ is the roots. Kleśa Mūlaḥ - Roots of Kleśas are rooted in Kleśas. Roots of Kleśa are Kleśas rooted in Kleśa. So Kleśa Mūlaḥ is rooted in Kleśa.Karmāśaya - Storehouse of Karmas, Saṃskāras. Vehicles of Action. Āśaya is that beautiful word. We have seen the word earlier about the Karmāśaya. So Karmāśaya is the vehicle of Karma, storehouse of Karma generally referred as Saṃskāras, Saṃskāras. So Kleśa Mūlaḥ, Karmāśaya, Dṛṣṭa is visible - Adṛṣṭa not visible, invisible. Janma is birth, the life. Vedanīyaḥ to be experienced. Vedanīyaḥ There is a Vedanā in that. So Vedanīyaḥ, to be experienced.

So kleśa-mūlaḥ karmāśayo dṛṣṭādṛṣṭa-janma-vedanīyaḥ. Kleśa Mūlaḥ is rooted in Kleśa. Karmāśaya, Karmāśaya is the storehouse of Karmas. Dṛṣṭa visible. Adṛṣṭa invisible. Janma is the life. Vedanīyaḥ to be experienced.

So Kleśas are the root cause of Karmāśaya to be experienced in present life and also which are not being experienced at present. Dṛṣṭa and Adṛṣṭa. The vehicle of actions that is the Karmāśaya has the origin in Kleśas, rooted in Kleśas. So Karmāśaya is rooted in Kleśas.

All the instincts, all the roots of actions, yes, they are rooted in where? In Kleśas. All the Saṃskāras, imprints, tendencies, they all have their roots in Kleśas. And that origin in the Kleśas and is experienced in the visible and invisible birth. That is this birth and the birth which may come.

It's a very important sutra or an important philosophical sutra in Patanjali Yoga Sutra where he is presenting an important dimension of Bhāratīya Saṃskṛti, Sanatan Dharma. The concept of Karma-siddhānta, Punarjanma-siddhānta, the law of karma and the law of incarnation. Karmāśayāḥ, the reservoirs of karma are rooted in Kleśas, Kleśa-mūlāḥ, and this brings out all kinds of experiences, Vedanīyāḥ in the present Dṛṣṭa and in the future Adṛṣṭa lives.

That's how Dṛṣṭa Janma, Adṛṣṭa Janma. Dṛṣṭa Anubhava, Adṛṣṭa Anubhava. We use the word Adṛṣṭam. Adṛṣṭam is not luck. Adṛṣṭam is that which is not seen, not visible or to be seen, to be yet to be seen, yet to be experienced. It is there, but yet to be experienced.

So Adṛṣṭa generally we translate, we understand as luck. It's not luck. In fact, what is luck? What is not seen? What was not expected? What was not experienced? That was experienced, that is experienced. It was there. Adṛṣṭa, not seen, not visible. The invisible came to visible form. That which is to be experienced is experienced. Adṛṣṭa Anubhava became a Dṛṣṭa Anubhava.

So this important sutra proposes that the roots of actions, all our actions, physical, mental, emotional, all our actions, they are all rooted in the Kleśas and that expression, that rolling out, that manifestation, that presentation in this and in the future Janma is done because of that.

So this is an important sutra. However, to know that Maharshi Patanjali Yoga Darshana has a specific philosophical dimension, philosophical presentation and a very important philosophical application, it's not out of the point to refer that Patanjali Yoga Darshana or the entire yoga system of philosophy is rooted in Sanātana Dharma, in Hindu Dharma.

Normally nowadays we listen, we hear that yoga philosophy is secular, but these sutras will show, will reiterate that it is specific and peculiar to the philosophy of the Hindu Dharma, philosophy of the Sanātana Dharma, and that is important connotation that all the experiences which we have in this life and all the experiences which we may have in future lives, Dṛṣṭa Janma and Adṛṣṭa Janma is because of the Karma-āśayas, the storehouse of karmas which are rooted in the Kleśas.

Swami Vivekananda again beautifully explains this particular sutra in his Rāja Yoga commentary on the Patanjali Yoga sutras.

"He says if you are the arranger you can arrange that body in one way or another, who makes up this body but you, who eats the food, if another ate the food for you, you would not live long, who makes the blood out of it, you certainly, who assimilates the blood and sends it to the veins, you, who creates the nerves and makes all the muscles, you are the manufacturer out of your own substance, you are the manufacturer of the body and you live in it, only we have lost the knowledge of how to make it, we have become automatic, degenerate, we have forgotten the process of manufacturing, so what we do automatically has again to be regulated.

This is very important dimension, Swami Vivekananda talks about the sutra of Maharshi. So Karmāśaya is literally a reservoir, a sleeping place, a dormant place, a potential place of karmas, and Karmāśaya obviously refers to the vehicle in our inner constitution, it is not outside our body mind complex, it is within ourselves, in the form of receptacles, residual Saṃskāras, impressions, tendencies.

In fact just to understand clearly Karmāśaya is something like or is like or is Kāraṇa Śarīra. Now the important point to note here is that though this is a Kāraṇa vehicle, Kāraṇa Āśaya, Karmāśaya, but the Kleśas which are responsible for the continuous generation of karmas and this Kāraṇa, the causal, the cause, the reason is to be adjusted, it is to be eliminated and that is the important dimension of yoga philosophy.

So the sutra is so important in presenting the style of the yoga philosophy - kleśa-mūlaḥ karmāśayo dṛṣṭādṛṣṭa-janma-vedanīyaḥ.

Let us see the further sutras.

Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||