[Yogins having understood the relationship between pranava (om) and the thing expressed will ] repeat it and contemplate upon its meaning.

In his commentary, Vyasa remembers what is said in Vishnu Purana:

“After the repetition of Om let him meditate on Isvara. After meditation on Isvara let him repeat Om. Through attainment of perfection in both the repetition of Om and in meditating on Isvara, the Supreme Self shines forth”

The repetition of a mantra is known as japa, and it is meant to perfect the faculty of concentration. This ancient technique is used in many religions: in Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism it’s used a japa mala, a kind of prayer bead, to count the repetitions, usually 108. In Islamism and Sufism, the practice is known as tasbih (dhikr), and involves the repetition of the 99 names of God; to keep track of counting is used the right hand or a misbaha. Catholics use the rosary to repeat a prayer 150 times, and Orthodox Church use a komboskine to repeat a Jesus prayer a number between 300 and 1500 times.

Why the practice of japa is so widely used for meditation? We could find the answer in a study of 2001, published in the British Medical Journal, which found that Ave Maria and yoga mantra repetition had similar effects on people, slowing respiration to around 6/min and thus having a marked effect on synchronization in cardiovascular rhythm; and to slow respiration, improves concentration, and induces calm. That is the first aim of this sutra: through the repetition (japa) of the pranava (om), we get fixed in yoga (meditation), which makes the mind one-pointed. When the mind gets one-pointed, the inner meaning (artha) of the mantra is realized; and then, again we go on repeating the mantra, but this time we remember its inner meaning, realizing a more subtle and pure meaning, and then again we repeat… and this way we will increase gradually the concentration, until it’s firmly established.

From the whole sequence of sutras on isvara (from sutra  I.23 to sutra I.28) we finally find out why isvara is a mean for yoga: because from the repetition of his name, (the primal sound of the universe – the gateway – om) and then the contemplation on its meaning, and then the new repetition, etc. we can reach our innermost being, gradually going from outside to inside us, from the gross to the subtle, using the (psychophysical) power of the japa practice to calm our mind and to experience higher planes of consciousness, to experience our true Self.

taj (tat) – that
japas – recitation, repetition (from jap= whisper, mutter)
tad (tat) – that
artha – meaning, aim, purpose
bhāvanam – realization, causing to be; contemplation.

[Īśvara] was also the teacher of the former [teachers], because with him there is no limitation by time.

This sūtra reinforces the idea of the previous ones. From YS I.24 we got that  Īśvara is the only one untouched by the wheel of existence, and we quoted Vyasa “he isn’t one who has attained liberation, because he has been always free”. Here Patañjali says that this god is not limited by time, he is eternal. And in YS I.25 it said that he is the uppermost limit for knowledge, he’s omniscient,“He knows everything there is to be known” , and that is only possible if Īśvara is the teacher of teachers, the primal guru.

How could a transcendental being be somebody’s teacher?. Because being the teacher of the first sages means that he was their inspiration, their guru (which is considered also an incarnation of the divine), their Īśvara in the sense that we ascribed to him early in YS I.25: someone who you looks up to, like someone who has reached mastery in your field. He is a teacher, and we need to learn from someone; and the things that he teaches us are eternal, the knowledge that we learn from him is always valid for everyone.

If some self-called “guru” brings us brand new teachings, secrets that nobody knows, that means that his knowledge isn’t eternal, and probably that he isn’t a guru… at least you should think twice before choosing him as your own private Īśvara, otherwise he could let you down.

pūrva – former , prior , preceding , previous to , earlier than

api – and, also, moreover

guru – a spiritual parent or preceptor

kāla – a period of time, time, during a long time

anavaccheda (an + avanccheda) – not limited, not interrupted, continuity

One year later everything seems changed. On February 27 I woke up suddenly, at 3:34 am, Santiago de Chile time, shaken by the most violent earthquake that I had never experienced before. During 90 seconds I was convinced that I was living my last minutes on this world; I was terrified, not because of dying, in some way I was surrendered to death, but because I thought that it would be very painful. I live in an eleventh floor apartment, and I thought that the violence of the movement would break the building: I felt like being swallowed by the unlimited power of nature; I was minute, weak, insignificant in front of such almighty  energy. It was the terrifying force of nature, the fecund pṛthivi, the unconscious prakṛti; “Mother Nature” brought death, destruction, chaos, pain and suffering to my land, in a way that I never imagined. The force of the nature crushed us.

From that minute all has been chaos; earth still moves with quakes, at least 5 times a day; a lot of people is isolated, without water, power, food or even hope… and that frustration, anguish and hopelessness is awaking up the worst side of the human being. There are people plundering small grocery’s stores, and big supermarkets; they are taking advantage of fallen walls, and also burning stores to get inside, so firemen are being distracted from the rescue labors to extinguish fires, using the scarce water available; some people is also robbing empty or damaged houses, stealing anything inside, from food to washing machines; some of them are even attacking inhabited houses, threatening the people inside with knives, sticks or guns. Neighbors are organizing themselves  to defend their properties and, in some cases, the few belongings that they own after the tragedy. Mother Nature also wake up the dark side of the human nature. People versus people. People sinking in chaos, despair, fear and violence, trying to survive at any cost; as if the force of the mother nature wouldn’t  be enough, we need to face now the force of the human nature.

I’m sure that we are going to pass through all this human misery; we’ll be able to show also the bright side of human nature; it’s already happening. Slowly, we are coming back to sanity, going out from this madness. In short time we will stand up again, working together to rebuild our homes, schools, hospitals and roads; we will bury our dead people, and regret our behavior, but it will be difficult to forget the time when we bit each other, because our instincts to survival; when we couldn’t deny the force of our human nature.

Today I remembered a part of a chant that I learned about one year ago, at KYM; it is from laghunyāsaḥ:

“pṛthīvi me śarīre śritā | śarīragṃhṛdaye | hṛdayaṃ mayi | ahamamṛte | amṛtaṃ brahmaṇi “

It means something like this: May the earth be united to my body, may my body be in my heart.  May my heart be united to the consciousness in me; may the consciousness in me be united to the immortal in me; may the immortal in me be united to Brahman”

Untouched by taints or karma-s or their fruition or their latent stocks is the Lord, who is a special kind of Puruṣa.

Who is this īśvara who is neither pradhana nor puruṣa?, He is a special kind of Self, untouched by the causes-of-affliction, action, its fruition or their deposit.

Patañjali begins to unveil the mystery about this īśvara, who enables in us the attainment of the state of yoga . We can notice that this “Lord” doesn’t belong to the kind of gods we are used to: neither he is a western style kind of god, an almighty, omnipresent superhero (who watch, judge and punish or rewards us) nor the “whole”, the “thatness”, used to describe eastern Brahman (even when later commentators of the Yoga-sutra, immersed in the bhakti medieval movement, tried to explain īśvara as Brahman). He is a special kind of puruṣa, meaning in sanskrit “the personal and animating principle in men and other beings , the soul or spirit” but also “a man , male , human being (pl. people , mankind)” according to monier-williams dictionary. Yoga darṣana says that all of us are a puruṣa who doesn’t know that is free, until he realizes it, at “liberation”.

What is special about this puruṣa? That it has been always free from delusion; that he was, is, and will be untouched for afflictions (that moves us to) acts (that produces) fruits (or consequences that remain in our mind, stored as subliminal impressions in the) deposit (of our memory); in other words, he is free from the wheel of existence, samsara, beyond the mechanisms of Nature; this puruṣa doesn’t suffer because he has always known that he is free. Vyāsa underline that he isn’t one who has attained liberation, because he has been always free (introducing the idea that he has existed from the time without beginning, which will be reinforced in sutra I.26); he is the only being never touched for the bondage experience, and that makes him supreme, he is perfect and it is not surpassed  by any other power, because whatever other power would surpass it, would be that itself, says Vyāsa. So, Vyāsa defines this lord as the highest, the most powerful puruṣa, “primus inter pares”.

My yoga philosophy teacher said that īśvara not necessarily means god, and that could be a guru, or even someone who you looks up to, like someone who has reached mastery in your field (a “Prima ballerina assoluta” would be an īśvara for a ballet dancer). I think that my teacher wanted to highlight that īśvara is someone who inspires you, the highest person for you, someone who you can trust and who moves you, increasing your faith. We will see later that when you meditate on something you become one with the object of meditation; so, if you meditate in something positive, perfect, omniscient you acquire those qualities; that’s why īśvara has to be perfect, for us to become like him, reaching the knowledge that will drive us to self-actualizing. It’s not important what is īśvara, phenomenologically or ontologically speaking, in terms of yoga what really matters is how its “existence” helps us to attain “liberation”.

kleśa – cause-of affliction, taint, pain.

karman – action, work.vipāka – fruition, ripening; effect. Result.

āśaya – deposit, residue, balance of fruits from past actions.

aparāmṛṣṭa – untouched.

puruṣa –man, human, primeval man as source of everything, highest self; sometimes translated as soul or spirit

viśeṣa – distinct, special

īśvara – lord

Hence the distinctions of mild, moderate, and ardent.

Even among the vehement yogin-s (tīvrasaṃvegaḥ)  there are differences regarding to their progress: slow, moderate or ardent.

This sūtra reinforces the idea of the previous one:“More intense the faith and the effort, closer the goal”, but it also tell us about how yoga recognizes our nature, that we all are distinct human beings, having different character and being surrounded for different circumstances. Some of us need more time to get some results because our progress is slow, but there are also people who have the capacity to progress quicker than the average yogin. So, there is hope for everyone: we can all reach the goal of yoga, with a different practice, at a different pace.

There is this story of Indra Devi, one of the greatest yoga teachers, when she relates about her practice with Sri Krishnamacharya: “I remember in one of the classes in the beginning, everybody was doing Pascimatanasana. Well almost everybody. You know [the posture where your] feet stretched on the floor, and inhale – exhale you touch the toes. My hands were so far from the toes that I asked one of my co-students to push me from the back. Sri [Krishnamacharya] told me, ‘No, no, no! You can injure muscle. You can do it by and by’. And I remember I’m on the floor, looking up at him and saying, ‘in my next incarnation.’” She reached a special place in yoga at her own pace…

Next time that you rush into a posture in your asana practice, or try some new pranyama without being prepared, try to remember this sūtra: inhale-exhale and be aware of your own capacity, and work accordingly: even if you are such an enthusiastic yogin, you should try to follow your own right pace: slow, medium or intense; just keep the faith !.

mṛdu – mild, soft
madhya – moderate, medium
adhimātratva – intense, ardent
tatah – hence
api – also, indeed
viśeṣaḥ – distintion, difference