Grandma’s Basement

Introduction

Although yoga teacher training has come to an end, my learning and seeking certainly have not.  Recently, I found myself returning to Sri Swami Satchidananda’s book, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I kept jumping around seeking wisdom with a mind like a grasshopper. Which sutra was it? What had seemed so deep and impactful before?

In life, I have jumped around a lot, much like I was doing in the sutras. It doesn’t take much to make me jump either. Sitting with discomfort has never been a strength of mine, yet discomfort is everywhere. For me it’s a frequent, maybe constant state. Even comfort is uncomfortable. Shoot, I passed two hours watching Netflix in a blanket while drinking tea and eating those Indian kids cookies my partner likes to buy (Parle-G, they are delicious, btw). It was comfortable, but I’m sure uncomfortable about having done it. 

I’m going to try something new. This project will be called a sutra a day. Each day, I’ll read a sutra from this book and post a few thoughts about it, for whatever they are worth.

The Sutras are divided into four sections: (1) Samadhi Pada (Contemplation); (2) Sadhana Pada (Practice); (3) Vibhuti Pada (Accomplishments); and (4) Kaivalya Pada (Absoluteness). We will start from the beginning and progress in a linear fashion. Something I never ever do in life. 

Today We Do Two

1. Atha Yoganusasanam. “Now the exposition/instruction of Yoga is being made.”
2. Yogas Citta vrtti nirodhah. “ The restraint of the modification of the mind-stuff is Yoga.

Today we do two. This isn’t to undersell the importance of the first one. 

The first sutra – first sentence is really important. It sets the tone for what comes. In this case, it tells you exactly what will be described. By virtue of that first sentence, we understand that everything that follows – every sutra – is included under yoga. This is probably important for a lot of people I know. We say we are going to yoga or doing yoga – I say it. But what we usually mean is that we are going to a class of yoga postures strung together in an intentional way. And intention, as we will find in further exploration, is really important as well. But the poses, they aren’t the goal of yoga. 

Okay, so number two.

Mind-stuff. My mind really is full of stuff. So much stuff. It’s like my mom’s basement. Boxes of things needing excavating, ghosts of the past packed up in cardboard to be dragged out again at a future date, a clutter of entertainment – couches, TVs table, laundry room with hanging laundry.  So many things, so much stuff in the mind. But what the heck is the restraint of the modification? Does Patanjali mean cleaning out the basement?

According to Satchidananda, this sutra is so important that it is enough alone, he describes it as the goal of yoga. So, the goal of yoga isn’t graceful contortion of one’s body. And I’m guessing it’s not REALLY cleaning out the basement – although there’s probably room for that. 

Sri SatchiD explains that citta is the sum total of the mind – it’s made up of different parts, of ego, of intellect, of desire and senses. These result in the modifications. These can get in the way of seeing clearly. So it’s not the stuff we are cleaning, it seems we are cleaning up the modifications. He also explains that are mind creates the outside world. Which is why it’s less important to change the outside world and more important to change our minds – our inside world. Ahhhh, restraint! (if only I had more of that)

Weirdly, it is through restraint that we are free.  We aren’t being controlled by the ego, the wayward and demanding emotions, or even the prideful intellect. 

Freedom. Even if our external circumstances bind us, our mind is free. Yoga.