Author: Randeep Singh / go to all articles on Yoga Concepts
Yoga Sutra 3, Chapter 1, State of an Arrested Mind
” tada drastuh Svarupe avasthanam “
Yoga Sutra 3 Explained:
tada- then, after
thatdrastuh – absolute consciousness,
the spirit, true personality
svarupe – in its real nature or essence
avasthanam – establishing in a state, settles
Patanjali, in this Yoga sutra 3, chapter Samadhipada,
is elucidating on the state a person experiences when the Citta vrittis, as described in the previous Yoga sutra, had been completely arrested, and the Mind becomes absolutely steady. He says that it’s a feeling of high one experiences in this integrated, opposite to the scattered state earlier as a result of disconnected thoughts, state of Mind.
This state of Mind is its natural state it is meant to be in. Pure consciousness can only be experienced relative, absence, to the thoughts, Citta (inclusive of Mind). Experience of pure consciousness is only possible through the agency of the Mind, when it is erased of all the markings of thoughts and samskaras.
Yoga Sutra 3 explains the Role of Citta
As per Yoga sutra 3 Citta represents the material part of the Individual and the pure consciousness, spirit, is the non material aspect of an individual. Up till the moment these two remain entangled due to the presence of thoughts, samskaras, the individual experiences suffering: suffering in fact is an attribute of the material aspect of the being, or the Citta. Isvar Krishna also mentions three fold sufferings in his Samkhya karikas. The pure spirit is always in the state of bliss, it never suffers.
That is why when all the activities of the Citta are arrested, the real state of the spirit, pure consciousness, establishes itself. Thus This Yoga sutra of Patanjali states that when( tada) the state, where the activities of the Citta are completely stopped, then the real nature, face or essence
( svarupe) of the absolute consciousness (drastuh) is established ( avasthanam)
At other times the Citta mistakenly continues identifying with the situations arising out of its own activities and does’t realize real identity of the spirit. All the suffering in the world is the result of this wrong identification with the activities (vrittis) of the Citta.
Once we realise this main cause of all our suffering, we can work toward eradicating it by controlling the activities of the Citta by steadying our Mind. Once we are established in this state then we realise that all the situations around us are just the creation of our Mind ( a constituent of Citta). We should not get involved in these situations (matter) and maintain a witness like attitude instead.
It’s the Karma which binds the spirit and the matter ( Citta) together. Karma is nothing but the impressions in the form of thoughts on our Mind ( part of Citta). Once the Mind is concentrated, arrested, the Citta is disabled, the thoughts get wiped out liberating the spirit to its real or natural state which is pure bliss.
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