yoga lesson six, part 1

My dear friends, welcome back.

Here we are at lesson six of this pilgrimage through the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali. We’ve encountered the promises of yoga, a description of the thought forms that busy the mind, and an introduction to the means of practice.

Now, it’s time to let Patañjali guide us into a deeper appreciation of what we see as reality.

That’s awesome, right?

Before we begin, I want to thank new subscribers to knowing thyself. Dear Barb, dear Paula, dear Andy—you are all so appreciated. Thank you for being here. If you’re already a subscriber and enjoy what you discover here, I encourage you to share with friends. There’s just nothing better than meeting friends of friends.

Here we go.

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To understand the content in the four sūtras we’ll discuss today, we need a little foundation in the yogic cosmological scheme. Let’s enter into the thought experiment shared by the great ṛṣis (seers or, literally, listeners) who encounter and pass along the wisdom of the world:

How did the world come about?
What do you really know about the impulse of creation?
What have you been taught?
What do you suspect?
What do you imagine?

Whatever construct we envision, notice how any examination of the beginnings of existence tends to remind us of two things at once: we are, as individual humans, incredibly fleeting; and it is absolutely miraculous that we exist.

Here’s the world’s origin story from a yogic perspective. (Please forgive my errors in understanding and give grace to my teachers for continuing to guide this energetic student.)¹

First, there is consciousness. This is called Puruṣa. It exists without form or force and evolves nothing more than consciousness itself. Consciousness simply is.

Alongside Puruṣa is the pure potential of creation. This is called Prakṛti. It is unmanifested energy and form; its nature is to evolve and dissolve. Here is our mother—the source of everything we perceive, think, know, are, and will be.

I imagine our eternal mother gestating a trinity of unmanifest energies. These are the guṇas—the power of change, the power of light, and the power of darkness. From these energies, first the will, then the ego, then subtle elements of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell evolve. It is from these subtle elements that the gross construct of what we call our world takes shape: space, wind, fire, water, and earth.

Understanding the duality—of consciousness as it is and the ever-shifting cycle of energy in motion—is essential because the union of yoga is a process of involution. We follow the breadcrumbs of creation back to its source.

We find, at the source, that we only know it as consciousness.

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I know. That’s a lot.

Let’s pause here and do an exercise.

Please grab something at hand—a pen, a rock, a flower, your dog, a glass of water.

hazelnut smells like a pile of leaves and tastes like the garbage disposal.