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The 34th Sutra of the vibhūti pāda is
हृ॒द॒ये चि॑त्तसं॒वित् ॥ ३.३४॥
Hṛdaye citta saṃvit.
Hṛdaye, on hṛdaya, citta, the mind, the citta, saṃvit, vit is the knowledge, sam is total, complete, total knowledge, complete knowledge, citta saṃvit - complete knowledge of the citta. Hṛdaye, on hṛdaya, samyama on hṛdaya. hṛdaya gives complete knowledge of the citta, complete knowledge of the mind. The hṛdaya is generally understood as heart in english, and of course as we are translating citta as loosely mind, but it is not just mind, it is a citta. Samyama on the hṛdaya, knowledge of the citta, if just loosely, easily understandable, but not completely correct. samyama on the heart gives knowledge of the mind or the brain, but this is not the purport of the meaning, this is not the real meaning or real purpose of the sutra. Hṛdaye, hṛdaya is the core of a thing, the very heart of a thing, the very center of a thing, and citta or the mind generally associated with all the functions, all the activities, all the expressions. If samyama is done on the core and the center and the heart of a thing, all the functionalities and activities of that particular one will be revealed. This is the more suitable and easily understandable meaning of the sutra. Performing samyama on the heart of a thing, the sādhaka, the performer, will be able to understand all the expressions and functionalities and activities of the particular thing, complete gamut of activities, the web of the activities, the web of the functions to their end and the tips, because heart of a thing is the core of a thing, center of a thing, and the mind and citta of a thing is the seat of all expressions, all vṛttis, all functionalities, all modifications. So by samyama on the core of an object, core of a person, core of a subject, entire functionalities, modifications and activities will be revealed. All the systems of the running of the systems, functions of the system, activities of the system will be known, and its knowledge is revealed by samyama on the heart of the particular thing, core of the particular thing. So one is the technical, one is the expressive, practical, and the other is the science and the depth, and this is the purport and the beautiful, wonderful sutra connecting the core of a thing and its expressions, and the samyama on the core, the heart, the hṛdaya, one knows all the activities. And this is the importance of this particular sutra, hṛdaye citta saṃvit, entire knowledge of the citta. And of course we should be very clear that it is not a simple english translation that meditation on the heart one knows the functions of the brain, it is not like that. The suggestive and the symbolic expressions of the words are to be taken to understand the depth and the sūkṣmatā of the sutra.
Let us see the next one. The 35th sutra of the vibhūti pāda. The sutra is a little bit longer but the most important sutra.
स॒त्त्वपु॒रु॒ष॒योर॒त्य॒न्तास॒ङ्कीर्ण॒योः प्र॒त्य॒यावि॒शे॒षो भोगः
प॒रा॒र्थ॒त्वात्स्वा॒र्थसं॒य॒मात्पुरु॑षज्ञा॒नम् ॥ ३.३५॥
Sattva-puruṣayor atyantāsaṅkīrṇayoḥ pratyayāviśeṣo bhogaḥ
parārthatvāt svārtha-saṃyamāt puruṣa-jñānam ॥ 3.35 ॥
So many words, but very simple easy sutra it is. Gives it that samyama on the distinctions between puruṣa and pratyaya and the bhoga gives rise puruṣa jñānam.
You should understand the importance of the sutra and the various words used in this, sattva is the sat tva it is, sattva, the real being, beingness, the being, puruṣa is the principle of puruṣa, atyanta, ati ant extreme, extremely, asaṅkīrṇa, saṅkīrṇa, asaṅkīrṇa, asaṅkīrṇa is separated, not mixed, not mixed, distinctiveness, pratyaya, experience and understanding, aviśeṣa, viśeṣa, aviśeṣa it is, no distinction, aviśeṣa is no distinction, asaṅkīrṇa is not mixed up, distinction, aviśeṣa is no distinction, bhogaḥ is experience, the experience in our life, all the experiences which we have, bhoga. Generally bhoga is generally understood as joyful, enjoyable, luxurious experiences, but bhoga is all experiences, then parārthatva, para arthatva, parārthatva, para is others, artha is the purpose, arthatvāt, for the sake of others, to be usefulness for the others, parārthatva, samyama, svārtha, svārtha it is, for one's sake, for one's usefulness, puruṣa, the principle of puruṣa, knowledge, jñāna, the knowledge. And the general understanding of the sutra is, this particular sutra, the meaning generally is given as, to be understood as: the experience, that is the bhoga, is the result of inability to distinguish between the puruṣa and the sattva, though they are absolutely distinct. Knowledge of the puruṣa comes from samyama on the self interest and the interest of others apart from the prakṛti. This is the sutra wordings put together.
Means experience, that is the bhoga, is the result of inability to distinguish between puruṣa, atyanta, asaṅkīrṇa, aviśeṣa, asaṅkīrṇa, aviśeṣa and atyanta. And the knowledge comes out of samyama on parārtha and svārtha. So the puruṣa jñāna comes out of samyama on parārtha and svārtha. And the experience and bhoga comes by wrong understanding that puruṣa and prakṛti which are atyanta asaṅkīrṇa, completely separate, but we feel that it is the same. So experience or the bhoga is an outcome of the avidyā, ignorance, wrong cognition, wrong understanding of the prakṛti and puruṣa combination. It is of the prakṛti but we think it is of the puruṣa. That is the bhoga. Because both are separate, the experiencer and the experiencing and the experience are separate, atyanta asaṅkīrṇa aviśeṣa it is, and because of that only bhoga comes, that experience, by wrong understanding. And by performing samyama on the self interest svārtha and the interest of the others parārthatvam, you will be able to separate and understand that puruṣa. What a beautiful sutra it is to understand. The first idea we should try to grasp is the puruṣa, the puruṣatva in the yoga sutras is the centre of the ultimate reality, and it transcends all manifestations, parama puruṣa puruṣatva, and all limitations. And this parama puruṣa and that puruṣatvam gets associated with the prakṛti. By association and flowing with the prakṛti, the puruṣa will not undergo any change, but it modifies the prakṛti. And this modification in the prakṛti is by the presence of the puruṣa, but not by the change of the puruṣa, by mere presence. And this is the understanding and the experience of the sat-cit-ānanda experience. So all happiness which we experience, all ānanda, sampūrṇa ānanda, we feel it is coming from the object, but it is not. The source is the puruṣa only. But this wrong understanding that the combination of the puruṣa and the object are more clearly, the object of enjoyment is the source of the joy, this wrong understanding is the source of the bhoga. But if we can separate this, that it is not, and that separation will come by the practice of the samyama. So samyama has to be done on this particular aspect to separate the both, and then the puruṣa is understood, the puruṣa jñānam comes. And this confusion, wrong understanding, is the source of the bhoga.
You should understand the previous sutras, bhoga was understood or mentioned as a pain, duḥkha vṛtti. And of course there is no correct english translation for the puruṣa, we have to use the word puruṣa itself, and the experience comes from this wrong understanding.
So Maharishi patañjali clearly states the our feeling, our normal understanding that the mind coming in touch with the puruṣa, joy or experiences come, that the sattva coming in touch with the prakṛti, the mind, we feel, but it is a wrong understanding. It is wrong understanding is understood by performing the samyama, and which is extremely atyanta, the word is used, asaṅkīrṇa and aviśeṣa it is, completely. And that is how the understanding depth of the samyama goes. Puruṣa jñānam, the real knowledge comes. And the second part is also very important, svārthata and parārthatvam, very very important sutra it is, giving a practical dimension that samyama on understanding what is useful to me and what is useful to others, that which is purposeful to me, that which is purposeful to others, that which gives me joy, that which gives joy to others, what is that which makes others happy, what is that makes others to remove their unhappiness, what is that contribution of mine which helps others to make them happy, and what is that makes me happy, this distinction of svārthata, parārthatvam, yes very important. That samyama really gives the knowledge of the puruṣa. How beautiful and practical dimension when we say selfless service, unselfishness, unselfish work, unselfish service, serving others without any expectations, all these terms are summed up by Maharishi patañjali in the simple word, performing samyama on the parārthatvam and svārthatvam, puruṣa jñānam comes. Entire karma yoga, entire yoga of seva yoga has been explained in this beautiful sutra, that svārthata, understanding svārthata, understanding parārthatvam, the arthatvam of sva and para, and that samyama on that gives the knowledge of the puruṣa, the real sva tattva, sattvatvam, sattvatvam of the puruṣatvam revealed and experienced by the sādhaka. And this is a wonderful sutra, most practical dimension expressed by Maharishi in this 35th sutra of the patañjali yoga sūtra in this vibhūti pāda of the yoga darśana, seva yoga, karma yoga, unselfish service, unselfishness and selfishness, the distinction is to be understood, and performing samyama on that is the puruṣa jñānam. Let us see other sutras.
Om 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/I-2p7O7IANg?si=cwH_aBuKgTtyTW-h
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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
