So the practice of yama-niyama and the importance of the various suggestions, pointers in the Patañjali Yoga Sūtra that continues in this 33rd Sutra. The Sutra is
वि॒त॒र्कबा॒ध॒ने प्रतिपक्ष॑भाव॒नम् ॥ २.३३॥
Vitarka-bādhane pratipakṣa-bhāvanam
Vitarka is vitarka—evil tendencies, wrong ideas, evil actions, not suitable thoughts, non-congenial actions, not congenial thoughts and tendencies—that is all vitarka. So vitarka is evil tendencies. Bādhane is disturbances. Pratipakṣa—opposite. Bhāvanam—tendencies. So pratipakṣa-bhāvanā is opposite tendencies, opposite thoughts. So vitarka-bādhane is evil tendencies and disturbances. Pratipakṣa-bhāvanam is the opposite tendencies.
So what is to be done is very clear. In case of bādhane, that is disturbances because of vitarka, pratipakṣa-bhāvanam is to be done. So the disturbances because of vitarka can be countered by opposite tendencies. So cultivating opposite tendencies, opposite ideas, opposite actions, opposite thoughts against the disturbing evil tendencies. So vitarka-bādhane can be come out. We can come out of vitarka-bādhane by pratipakṣa-bhāvanā.
A beautiful Sutra. Many times we have a doubt that so many habits are there, tendencies are there, thoughts are there and various emotions and ideas in the mind which will interfere in our practice of yama and niyama. Ahiṁsā, satya, asteya, brahmacarya, aparigraha - śauca, santoṣa, tapaḥ, svādhyāya, īśvara-praṇidhāna - in while practicing, lot of ideas, disturbances in the mind, deviations in the mind and so many thoughts, emotions which are not congenial for the practice of this yama and niyama and so many habits. How to handle this? This rush and pouncing.
Patañjali, the Maharṣi, so nicely suggests it to counter these disturbances which are not suitable for the practice. The ideas and the thoughts and the tendencies which are not congenial for the practice—all these vitarka-bādhana can be overcome by cultivating pratipakṣa-bhāvanā. Opposite ideas, opposite tendencies. So the root has to be attached. In fact, this is the best way of character making, character building, a perfect personality chiselling, self-culturing method. There may not be, there cannot be any other way out of it. If the mind is getting disturbed, getting filled up with all the dirt and drainage and to build up the character, character making, building up a character, self-culturing, chiselling the personality, finishing man—and all this can be done only by correcting at the root, at the thought level, at the tendencies level, at the deep inner base of the thought level. And that is to be countered. All external actions, behaviours, talking, speaking, emotions, all our external expressions, all our external involvements—they have a root, seeds inside the thought. Thought is the power, action is the expression. Thought is the seed, action is the tree. So to correct the actions, we have to go down to the root, the thought level. Correction has to be done there.
So undesirable habits, undesirable tendencies, they can be changed only by a mental habit of exactly opposite kind. That is a hatred by love, dishonesty by uprightness. It may look like artificial in the beginning, but there is no other way. Because spontaneity is once upon a time—we have to say it is artificial. What is spontaneous, effortless, was once upon a time an effort. By the continuity of the effort, we become effortless.
Swami Vivekananda writes beautifully for this particular sutra— "this is the only way to practice all these virtues that have been stated, by holding thoughts of an opposite character in the mind. When the idea of stealing comes, non-stealing should be thought of. When the idea of receiving gifts comes, replace it by a contrary thought."
So vitarka-bādhane is to be countered by pratipakṣa-bhāvanam. Anger—counter it by love and affection. Hatred and jealousy—counter it by love, affection. And what are these vitarkas? And that is listed in the 34th Sutra, very very important Sutra, which defines, lists what are the vitarkas.
वि॒त॒र्का हिं॒सादयः कृ॒तका॒रि॒ता॒नु॒मो॒दि॒ता लो॒भक्रो॒धमो॒हपू॒र्व॒का मृ॒दुम॒ध्या॒धि॒मा॒त्रा दुः॒खा॒ज्ञा॒ना॒न॒न्तफ॒ला इति प्र॒तिपक्ष॑भाव॒नम् ॥ २.३४॥
So what are the vitarkas and what are the pratipakṣa-bhāvanam? That is listed in the 34th Sutra:
Vitarkā hiṁsādayaḥ kṛta-kāritānumoditā lobha-krodha-moha-pūrvakā mṛdu-madhyādhimātrā duḥkhājñānānantaphalā iti pratipakṣa-bhāvanam
The beautiful sutra seems to be quite long, but there are actually various dimensions of expressing and describing what are the vitarkas and what are the pratipakṣa-bhāvanam.
Vitarkas are hiṁsādayaḥ - hiṁsā and others—hiṁsā, asatya, steya, etc. Kṛta is done by oneself. Kārita—got done by others. Anumodita—approved, sympathized. Lobha is greed. Krodha is anger. Moha is infatuation. Pūrvaka—is preceded by mṛdu (mild), madhya (medium), adhimātra (extreme). Duḥkha—misery. Ajñāna—ignorance, not having right knowledge. Ananta- Infinite. Phala—endresult. Iti—therefore. Prati - opposite. Pakṣa - side. Pratipakṣabhāvanam—cultivation of opposite tendencies.
So this is the long sutra, but words are very clear - Vitarkā hiṁsādayaḥ kṛta-kāritānumoditā lobha-krodha-moha-pūrvakā mṛdu-madhyādhimātrā duḥkhājñānānantaphalā iti pratipakṣa-bhāvanam. Vitarkas—hiṁsā and other things, Kṛta - done by oneself, kāritā - got done by others, Anumodita—approved it, sympathies it, lobha is greed, krodha is anger, Moha is infatuation Pūrvaka—is preceded by mṛdu is mild, madhya is medium, adhimātra is extreme, Duḥkha—misery, Ajñāna—ignorance and then Ananta- Infinite - endless, Phala is result, And therefore, iti, pratipakṣa, opposite side, bhāvanam is to be done. So, the vitarkas are the causing of injury to others and other things. And if these vitarkas are done by oneself, or got it done by others, or permitted to be done by others, and they are followed by greed, anger, etc., that means, if hiṁsā is done by me, done by us, or not done by us, but we become a kāraṇa for the hiṁsā to be done. We inspire others to do it. We become cause for others to do it. We are not directly involved in that, but we are responsible for that. That is kāraṇa. Anumodita is, we are not responsible, and we have not done it, but when a hiṁsā has been done, we sympathize for the hiṁsā. We approve it. See how subtle it is? Approving a hiṁsā. And this may be out of greed, this may be out of anger, and this may be out of infatuation. And it may be very mild, a little bit. It may be a little grave, or it may be very extreme. And all these gradations, what it will become? The end result is what? The end result, ananta phala is duḥkha and ajñāna.
And what is the solution? pratipakṣa bhāvanam. So, duḥkha and ajñāna, misery and ignorance, are the inevitable results. Because of not following yama - niyamas, and all these undesirable tendencies in our character, and the end result, ananta phalam, the end result is misery, duḥkha, bondage. That identification of a draṣṭā, dṛśya, and all those points. And the practice of yama and niyamas, that's why, are interrelated. They are interdependent, and they are interconnected. It is not that each practice is separate, the watertight compartments. All the ten yama-niyamas, five yamas and five niyamas, pañca-upāṅgas of the yama and the pañca-upāṅgas of the niyama, they are very deeply connected, related, and dependent. And extreme practice should not hamper the idea of the other practice. Because the underlying principle of oneness, the unity, the life principle, that is to be guarded, that is to be upheld. And that is why, all these vitarkas, whether we are responsible, or whether we become a cause for it, we don't, we may not, we may not utter an untruth, but we become responsible for somebody to say a lie. And if somebody says a lie, you sympathize with it. And it can be out of greed, my own greed, our own anger, our own infatuation, and it can be in gradations, very mild, very little, madhyama, little grave, and intensity, which we have seen earlier sutras, mṛdu madhyama udārānām, like that. And let us remember, and the end result is always duḥkha and ajñāna.
Swami Vivekananda wonderfully concludes his commentary on this particular sutra. It's worth to read and to know. He says, " if I tell a lie, or cause another to tell a lie, or approve of another doing so, it is equally sinful. If it is very mild lie, it is still a lie, every vicious thought will rebound, every thought of hatred, which you have thought in a cave even, is stored up, and will one day come back to you with tremendous power, in the form of some misery here. If you project all sorts of hatred and jealousy, they will rebound on you, with compound interest. No power can ever to them, when once you have put them in motion, you will have to bear them. Remembering this, will prevent you from doing wicked things. And that is pratipakṣa bhāvanā." Let us fashion our life, chisel our character, build our self-culture, in the line of yama-niyamas, so that we will be happy, not duḥkha, and we will be jñānīs, not ajñāna. And this is how the 34 and 35 sutras beautifully explains the importance of yama-niyamas. Let us see the other 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/NwB3BoDr7wM?si=egWCj7Q7pYIsGgiY
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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
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