Continuation of verse 1.

4. Purify the mind by purging all types of desires. Mind plays a very important role in Self-realization. We can realize the Self only in the mind that is purged of all impurities. Mind is the cause for saṁsāra; saṁsāra means transmigration, for which attachment to worldly illusions is responsible. What is worldly illusions? There are many things created by Brahman with attraction and this is mainly to test the endurance capacity of a person to stay away from such attractive influences. A beautiful apple is there on a table. If it is disdained to reach us, it will reach. Desire for that apple causes impression in the mind and over a period of time, desires get embedded deeply in the mind and later on percolate into subconscious mind. It is extremely difficult to remove any impression from subconscious mind. Desires can smash our spiritual path. In day to day life, we come across many such desires. Suppose a person who cannot afford to buy a high end car aspires for it, and if he is not able to get it, the thought of this car will remain in him mind for a long time, which could make him sleepless even. Such desires will repeatedly taunt us during meditation. Kaṭha Upanishad says, “The one who has renounced all desires and has gained full control over mind and sense organs can see the greatness of the Self. He then becomes free from all worries.” Similarly, Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad says, “When all the desires that dwell in his mind are gone, he becomes immortal and attains Brahman in this very body.” This final stage can be reached in two ways. One is the mundane stage associated with desires and attachments, where soul gets ready for rebirth and merges with Brahman during subsequent births. The other stage is the stage of samādhi, where the soul gets ready for its union with the Brahman, not to be born again, he continues to remain in the stage of kaivalya even after his death. This is known as videha mukti or kaivalya prāpti.

5. Wash all the sins. Pāpa or sins are misdeeds. The organs of actions are the main reason for accruing sins which in turn influence karmic account. When mental clarity is attained, the mind never gets adversely influenced under any circumstances. The material world is always filled with allurements. Dharma Śāstra-s laid guidelines for proper living. Nobody is born to commit sins. Sins are committed during the course of man’s existence. The main cause for committing sins is impulsive desires. Desire for status, desire for money, desire for competition, it could be anything.  Sins are sometimes committed for survival. If such desires cannot be achieved through fair means, sinful means are adopted.  Normally such means are adopted to satiate one’s mental and physical desires. If one is able to overcome the vicious yearnings and holding on to his mind connected to higher level of spirituality, he could escape the clutches of sins. Sins badly affect one’s karmic account, the effect of which is felt at a later date. Repeated indulgence in such sinful acts make a person habituated to committing only sins, thereby making him a man of unsound character. The significance of committing sins is not realised instantaneously but realised only at a later date.  It is the impulsive desires that make a man to indulge in sinful acts.  When such desires arise, even one’s will power is drubbed.  In the first place, sins should not be accrued as they cause latent impressions in karmic account, which will surely manifest sometime in future. The point now is how to get rid of these sins? It is advisable not to indulge in sinful acts, as we do not know, whether they get embedded as karmic account or not. Not all the sins can be neutralized. Minor sins can be neutralized, by indulging in service or performing pañca mahā yajña-s, discussed above.

6. Get away from the pleasures of sensory organs, the result of which is always painful. Sensory organs are responsible for all our actions. Having born as beings, we have to put into use sensory organs. We have to use our sense organs for our living, but should not be addicted to their actions or pleasures derived from them. When senses and sensory organs interact, they become the cause for pleasures for those who are attached to materialistic life. Surely they are the cause for grief.  Further they have beginning and end. Therefore, wise men do not indulge in them. The one, who is able to resist the temptations of desire and anger, becomes a yogi.  He is indeed a happy man. A resolute person who feels the beatification and elucidation within is a yogi and attains the everlasting peace of Brahman.  The person, whose sins and incertitude are obliterated by acquiring knowledge and whose minds are conditioned and firmly established in Brahman and actively engaged in service to humanity, attain the everlasting peace of the Brahman. Patañjali underlines the importance of real modifications of the mind.  It implies that all perceptions are only imaginations.  So what is not imagined is reality.  He proceeds to say that truth can be realized outside the body.  This happens only at the highest level of consciousness.  The lower level of consciousness is always associated with worldly pleasures and consequent miseries.  If one indulges in worldly pleasures, attachment and desire are bound to be present, that invariably lead to miseries.  The miseries, sufferings and pain arise only if one fails to understand the reality, due to want of adequate spiritual knowledge. 

7. Realize the Self within. Self is within and It is omnipresent. When It is everywhere, the same Brahman has to be within us. There are billions of living beings in the universe and among them, human birth is the most gifted one. It is gifted because one can attain liberation only through human birth.  Out of many human beings, only blessed few seek liberation and they attain liberation only through the grace of a Guru. Kṛṣṇa says , “Among thousands, one endeavours to realise Me. Among these aspirants, only one understands Me as I am.” One will think about liberation, only when the time is ripe for him to get liberated. He has to use this time to seek the right Teacher (Guru) with a request to show the path of liberation. One may be doing hours of pūjā, japa, homa and could be meticulously following the dictums of dharma śāstra-s, but this does not mean that he will attain liberation, as liberation is purely related to knowledge and individual experience. These two can be attained only after shedding all types of desires. (In the present day context, material world forms the foundation for spiritual life). Kṛṣṇa explains, “When he is not afflicted by sensory objects or actions, he becomes the renouncer of all saṅkalpa-s and known as yogārūda”. Actions do not include those actions that are essential for normal living. Only we can see the moon through our own eyes and not through others’ eyes. Similarly, we alone can realize the Self within us. We need spiritual eye (eye that is not associated with the material world and opposed to biological eyes) for this. To attain liberation, the only way is to realize that both the Self and the self within (Paramātmā and jīvātmā) are the same. Liberation cannot be attained through yoga (physical exercises), philosophies, following the dictums of śāstra-s and not even by vidyā-s. Discourses containing flowery words describing Scriptures may be good to listen, but such discourses will not give us Liberation. Till we realize Brahman, knowledge of śāstra-s will be of no use and once we realize Brahman, even then, knowledge of śāstra-s go waste. Śāstra-s do not explain Brahman and they contain enormous descriptions and flowery words. They may be appreciated by scholars and ritualistics and not by those who seek Brahman.

8. Get rid of body consciousness. What is body consciousness? A true yogi does not need rudrākṣa mālā or saffron clothes or long grown beard. Those who project themselves with these are not realized persons. A true yogi will be living one amongst us. Pampering body, which is going to die will not give any spiritual benefits. Again, those going around with thousands of followers are not true yogis. They give importance only to pomp and vanity and not to the Self within. Self is always a witness and It never makes us to perform actions. We do all actions, either due to our karmic influence or due to our free will. At a point of time, we can concentrate only on one thing. If we pamper our body, our concentration or awareness of the Self within would be lost. In spiritual life, body should be ignored, except for its quality sustenance.

Further Readings:

SĀDHANĀ PANCHAKAM - 1

SADHANA PANCHAKAM - 2

SADHANA PANCHAKAM - 4