Patanjali Yoga Sutra – Chapter-1 – verse-12,13,14 & 15

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – Chapter-1 – verse-12:-

अभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां तन्निरोध: ॥ ।१२।

वृत्तय: Thought waves – they are controlled by means of practice and non-attachment.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – Chapter-1 – verse-13:-

तत्र स्थितौ यत्नौऽभ्यास: ॥ ।१३।

Practice is the repeated effort to follow the discipline which give permanent control of the thought-waves of the mind.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – Chapter-1 – verse-14:-

स तु दीर्घकालनैरन्तर्यसत्कारासेवितो दृढभूमि: ॥ ।१४।

Practice becomes firmly grounded when it has been cultivated for a long time, uninterrruptedly, with earnest devotion.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra – Chapter-1 – verse-15:-

दृष्टानुश्रविकविषयवितृष्णस्य वशीकारसंज्ञा वैराग्यम् ॥ ।१५।

Non-attachment is self-mastery; it is freedom from desire for what is seen and heard.

The waves of the mind can be made to flow in two opposite directions – either towards the objective world (desire) or towards true self-knowledge (towards liberation).  Therefore both practice and non-attachment are necessary. Indeed, it is useless and even more dangerous to attempt one without the other.  If we try to practice spiritual discipline without attempting to control the thought waves of desire, our minds will become violently agitated and perhaps permanently unbalanced. If we attemp nothing more than a rigid negative control of the waves of desire, without raising waves of love, compassion and devotion to oppose them, then the result may be even more tragic.  This is why certain strict puritans suddenly and msysteriously commit suicide. They make a cold, stern effort to be ‘good’, that is not to think ‘bad’ thoughts. And when they fail, they cannot face this humiliation, which is nothing but hurt pride and the emptiness inside themselves. 

Non-attachment is the exercise of discrimination. We gradually gain control of the ‘painful’ or impure thought waves by asking ourselves: “why do I really desire that object?  What permanent advantage sould I gain by possessing it? In what way would its possession help me towards greater knowledge and freedom?”.  The answer to these questions are always disconcerting. They show us that the desired object is not only useless as a means to liberation but potentially harmful as a means to ignorance and bondage:  our desire is not really desire for the object-in-itself at all, but only a desire to desire something, a mere restlessness in the mind. 

It is fairly easy to reason all this out in a calm moment.  But our non-attachment is put to the test when the mind is suddenly swept by a huge wave of anger or lust or greed.  Then it is only by a determined effort of will that we can remember what our reason already knows………… that this wave, and the sense-object which raised it, and the ego-sense which identifies the experience with itself, are all alike transient and superficial – that they are not the underlying Reality.  

Non-attachment may come very slowly. But even its earliest stages are rewarded by a new sense of freedom and peace:  It should never be thought of as an austerity, a kind of self-torture, something grim and painful.  The practice of non-attachment gives value and significance to even the most ordinary incidents of the dullest day.  It eliminates boredom form our lives.  And as we progress and gain increasng self-mastery, we shall see that we are renouncing nothing that we really need or want, we are only freeing ourselves from imaginary needs and desire. In this spirit, a soul grows in greatness until it can accept life’s worst disasters, calm and unmoved.