Lahiri Mahasaya Specialities 2
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Introduction to Lahiri's Patanjali
On this page is some gist from Lahiri Mahasaya's commentary on Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.
Gaining mind sway
Control of the mind can be had through tactics, said Panchanon Bhattacharya, a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya.
It is generally supposed that kriya yoga fits into Patanjali's eight-step yoga form, where the beginner "rises into deep" meditation - subtilises his perceptions. It is not wrong to see yoga training as a way of such an awakening process. [cf. Iv 130] (2)
Panchanon Bhattacharya tried his best to make the text understandable and beneficial to initiates and to uninitiated ones, for some of the statements of Lahiri Mahasaya were not intelligible, not even to disciples. [cf. Iv 131] (3)
Yoga - science or art or -?
When a yogi says "This yoga is a science," it is good to be aware that "science" has many meanings and many shades of meaning, unless well specified. He could mean, "This yoga stands out from ignorance (it is a science)" Or what he intends to say, could be "This yoga covers general truths that you can test thoroughly or systematically yourself by the methods devised."
Sniff out or ferret out which senses of the word "science" could be intended, for your own good.
Yogananda, a disciple of one of Lahiri's disciples, made his own simplified form of kriya yoga known in the West. He told that kriya yoga was a science, was scientific, and worked like mathematics. However, kriya yoga is not a sort of "science wonder", for science does not depend on devotion - or a show of devotion, which Yogananda instituted along with the breathing practice. So take care. Yogananda is hardly reliable, frankly.
Also, as far as I know, mathematics does not work, it shows. Do not be taken in by words.
As a top-initiated insider of kriya yoga, I found that kriya effects depended on many things, not only the amount of kriya rounds. It may be better to present kriya as an art. It may be tough to define art. According to a definition I prefer, art is something that is made and/or displayed with the intention of it being art.
Introducing the Tenets
Below are tenets that stem from Lahiri's commentaries on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. There is a Yoga Sutras reader that seeks to make the Yoga Sutras better understandable on another page [Link]
The following "threads of thought", were prepared by me on top of Lahiri's Yoga Sutra teachings. The intention is to document how yoga gloss can be put to good use, and how a systematic presentation may enhance the value of fragmented sayings.
- Tormod Kinnes
Patanjali, First Part
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjani is divided into four chapters. Below is gist from Lahiri's comments in chapter 1. The numbers in brackets below refer to verses (sutras) of Patanjali, not to pages.
Self to Develop
You may notice that Lahiri focuses on meditation matters very much in his commentaries on other books. Practice that aims at ending up subtle, is going for results, and may thereby stultify finer results by hampering the mental glide inward. But marriages and one-pointed subtlety can help the plumbing mind or Self to develop somewhat.
The Self is above abandoning
expectations for results too, and beyond being solely inside the mind
ABANDON expectations for results. [cf. 31]
Objects look void in some states of yoga. [cf. 43]
Established in the Self, the heart becomes one with the Self. [cf. 41]
Beyond time is the inner Self that is greater than the Creator. [cf. 26]
The calm, great state is more easily gained through great disinterest. [cf. 37]
The contemplative is to hold onto the Self. [cf. 33]
The Self is above the results of bad actions. [cf. 24]
Train awareness of the heart inside the mind. [cf. 30]
The pure and those free of reasoning, win the grace of Self in their lives. [cf. 47]
Yogic liberation is the ultimate Self. [cf. 51]
Inner wisdom is called illumination. [cf. 36]
Indifference is to be developed in very many cases. [cf. 33]
Practice to awaken in the
subtle Self, needs to end up subtle, at least
BEING ineffective, in doubt, lethargic and unstable distract the yogi. [cf. 30]
The seeker is to develop disinterest. [cf. 16]
Unwillingness to do good yoga, and wrong notions, are hindrances of yoga. [cf. 30] [
Great contentment is to be sought on top of righteousness. [cf. 33]
Practice to make the mind focused, i.e., one-pointed. [cf. 32]
Subtlety is the gist. [cf. 45]
The heart calms down through yogic pranayama. [cf. 34]
The seed of omniscience is holding stably onto the inner Self, cultivating it. [cf. 25]
The state of calm can be had by dreams and drowsy feelings. [cf. 38]
Wisdom may be blessed by the grace of the Self. [cf. 49]
The sound of OM (AUM) reaches
into Selfhood
LOOKING steadfastly upwards like a fool can be a clear sign of yoga trance. [cf. 1]
Reverence is generated by doing kriya [cf. 20]
The sound of OM is also known as pranava (pranaba). One should listen in to it. [cf. 27]
Gist
- According to yoga literature, the Self is above abandoning expectations for results too, and beyond being solely inside the mind.
- Practice to awaken in the subtle Self, needs to end up subtle, at least.
- The sound of OM (AUM) reaches into Selfhood, so a way is to tune in to it through that Sound through yoga training.
Some say the Self is above practice and results, but frankly, Selfhood is to be
developed. And it takes time. There are plotters who teach differently.
"Don't get burnt"
The purpose of doing kriya should be different from burning out in bliss. And then again, in old yoga works it is stated that yoga is a fire rite called tapas, i.e., sacrifice, penance - There you have it. Those who burn, seem to glow, and those who burn, may be manipulated into it.
Don't burn yourself to death. Don't burn and sacrifice more than you can afford - let sustainability into your daily schedule.Don't let anyone set a long-range destructive fire to you, then.
Joan of Arc Excerpts
The flames they followed Joan of Arc
as she came riding through the dark;[Someone:] I've watched you riding every day.
"And who are you?" she sternly spoke
to the one beneath the smoke.
"Why, I'm fire," he replied,[Then] she climbed inside
to be his one, to be his only bride.It was deep into his fiery heart
he took the dust of Joan of Arc,
and then she clearly understood
if he was fire, oh then she must be wood.
Patanjali, Second Part
The slokas, or verses, that follow are from Lahiri Mahasaya's commentaries to the second chapter of Patanjali Yoga Sutras.
The Assumedly Deep Seer
The Deep Seer is strong to see and act on his tall wisdom given through the third eye in the forehead. And the Deep Seer needs to be strong to suffer troubles stemming from common people who do not understand a word of what he says and want to get him a doctor.
Far-out knowledge is somehow
attuned to the Hovering Self
FROM GREAT purity Divinity can [at last] be generated, and the capacity for realizing the Self. [cf. 41]
When truth is established, kriya becomes fruitful. [cf. 36]
Enlightenment starts, and much wisdom can be attained. [cf. 148]
Knowledge of far-away-places can be had from looking steadfastly into the third eye in the forehead. [cf. 45]
By burning the seeds of suffering one goes to the ultimate Self. [cf. 10]
Ignorance . . . is a root of troubles in life. [cf. 5]
Righteous action can and should result in happiness. [cf. 14] [
To ordinary people mind tricks still exist. [[cf. 22]
Hatred is due to ignorance [4]
The Deep Seer is strong to
see
BY [COMMON] contentment much happiness can be had. [cf. 42]
But the man of Knowledge considers all states of manifestation to be sorrow. [15]
The Deep Seer is consciousness. [cf. 20]
Do kriya to attain samadhi. [cf. 2] [
The seer and seen are the unreasonable association [cf. 23]
By doing Patanjali yoga, impurities are purified to enrich righteousness. [cf. 28]
Common people do not see too
well
CULTIVATING good sentiments is necessary for removing doubts about how to live and regulate one's life (yama and niyama, do's and don'ts). [cf. 33]
Through purity one tends to dissociate from others. [cf. 40]
Ordinary people do not see the hollowness of the world's appearance. [22]
What is seen is meant for enjoyment of the seer. [21]
Anger stemming from sorrow is called hatred [cf. 8]
Gist
- Far-out knowledge is somehow attuned to the Hovering Self. Freaks may have understood many things - and maybe not.
- The Deep Seer is strong to see, strong to realize. Inner strength or companions are needed to live out the wise things we get insight into, or the realizations may rebound and harm us, according to existential psychologists like Rollo May.
- Common people do not see too well and may not need to either, as the case may be.
Deep knowledge may or may not harm the one that brings it out in the open. What
effects or fruits realizations have, depend on several other things as well, including how
many there are around to share them.
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Literature
Iv: Satyeswarananda, sw., tr: Inner Victory: With Lahiri Mahasay's Commentaries. The Sanskrit
Classics. San Diego, 1987.
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