Relevance of the Sutras to contemporary practice
Sama Fabian November 2008
If we agree on 200 BC as the approximate date for the compilation of the Yoga Sutra, we need to understand the context of the time.
This is a time when the ancient world questions its legacy and seeks to redefine itself, in terms of its cultural and spiritual identity, under a new paradigm. This time was for the East what the Renaissance would be for the West, a flowering of new ideas and visions and to articulate them, a new language.
The Sanskrit of the Sutra is of a modern vein, more adapted to conceptualization and more pragmatically descriptive than metaphoric.
The elaboration of lists, as in list of hindrances, list of limbs, list of the different ways in which human psychology can access consciousness is also an important difference in this new turn of mind. Out of the ancient scriptures Patanjali’s Sutra is possibly the most accessible to our post-modern mentality.
It is essential for every serious Yoga Sadhaka to engage in a comprehensive study of the Sutra and realize its acute relevance to today’s practice.
We are in the depth of an evolutionary crisis, where our individual and collective consciousness are challenged to find new ways, new paradigms, to deepen our perception of Self and radiate a new consciousness into the world.
The dynamic psychology mapped out in Patanjali’s Sutra is an essential guide. It offers major land marks for a discerning sadhana and provides the ground for a deeper knowledge and potential embodiment. It also cautions us against the many delusions present on the path.
‘The central aim of knowledge is the recovery of the Self, of our true self-existence (Sri Aurobindo).
The map is not the journey and the Sutra can only be understood in the light of a sustained practice. The next question is how do we understand, what are the mechanisms of our mental comprehension and how do we know we are ready?
Sanskrit distinguishes several levels in the process of understanding: first there is a sense, a feel of what is being articulated, then comes a further apprehension of it, in knowledge: insight, then a full comprehension and the possession of its power, embodiment.
‘Awareness is to know, consciousness is to know and act’ (Sri Aurobindo)
In other words we are fully conscious only when our actions are supported by integrated knowledge, when knowing is to act. Skillfully.
Yoga can only be known by practice, and practice is relevant only if it resonates within the entirety of the life. Here Yoga is no longer something that we do but a state of consciousness that is sustained by an adapted, intelligent practice over a long period of time.
Our Yoga starts here, with the ability to adapt the practice to our evolving consciousness, to gain mental flexibility, to be ready to change our ways and withdraw the obstacles that obscure the Seer. We are a ‘process in formation’ not a fixed form, an ever moving bundle of relationships, a fluid entity growing towards its own revelation: an embodiment of spirit.
It is this evolving consciousness that Patanjali describes with a great sense of purpose. We are given a direction and a method, multiple choices to reflect on , ways to engage in self observation and get to know who we really are. We are guided through the pitfalls of the mind’s delusions and the rustling vibrancy of free spirit. Yoga revealed is a path of freedom, a path of responsible empowerment and joyful contentment from which we can act in a spirit of service.
In the last chapter, Kaivalya Pada, Patanjali describes the state of Self realization, the ultimate aim of the Vedantic path.
To uphold the great changes and transmutations that our modern world will surely witness, the individual must access a state where consciousness of the spiritual self prevails at all levels of the life, untainted.
This implies the vision, and the experience of finer perceptual fields where personal interests, egotistic motivations, fueled by fear and doubt are overridden by an absolute and unshakable certainty. The practitioner, self realized, has harmonized her being around the unifying core of her soul, ready now to embody, in the material life the radiating beauty, unwavering strength and infinite compassion of Spirit.
The course ‘Embodying the Sutras’ is essentially practical, and guides the practitioner through the full spectrum of an integrated Yoga practice, with Patanjali’s Sutra as the textual backbone. Full practice includes pranayama, mudra, chanting, asana, bandha, vinyasa sequences, yoga nidra and meditation.
