I think of the Yoga Sutras as sort of a handbook for humanity: an experiential discipline intended to reduce human suffering – and if we’re lucky, to find the most powerful, purposeful force on earth: faith.
Patanjali outlines the nature of the environment we exist in, the science of how the human mind functions, and most importantly, the distinction between mind and consciousness – all of which we can readily verify.
Behind the empirical “here’s how it works, and here’s a path to mitigate your suffering”, there’s an implied hypothesis and proof. The hypothesis is that there’s a part of each of us that’s essentially divine. The proof is in the physical and mental practices he lays out (kriya & ashtanga yoga practices).
In short, he challenges us to accept that there’s an aspect of ourselves (consciousness) that:
- is completely intangible, timeless, immutable, and unalterable;
- doesn’t function or age;
- can’t be explained by science the way our tangible, functioning body and mind can be;
- is not subject to the vagaries of time and space;
- is utterly, infallibly, eternally perfect.
There’s literally a world of difference between the awareness OF our thoughts (evidence of consciousness), and our thoughts themselves (evidence of our conscious, thinking mind).
Patanjali implies: Skeptical? Fine. Prove it to yourself; here’s how: tie your body and mind in knots for as long as it takes; eventually, you’ll recognize that your consciousness can not be affected by anything; that it’s literally indestructible (yet without it, we wouldn’t even realize we’re alive).
Patanjali says “When that realization ‘clicks’, you’ll know it – and your life will forever change.” Life changes because that realization gives birth to complete faith in the existence of something else “unearthly”: the source of consciousness, or what I refer to as “God”.
To me, Patanjali’s Yoga isn’t a philosophy as much as it is a path to salvation from suffering. Unfortunately, that perspective can’t be taught, gifted or in any way transferred from one of us to another. As one of my teachers says, trying to do so is akin to literally trying to get someone else to see through my eyes. But faith won’t let me stop trying!
God bless, Allan 🙏❤️🕉
