The Eight Spheres of Union

Practicing the Presence

About 2500 years ago, the Maharishi Patanjali distilled essential wisdom concerning
the union of individual awareness with universal consciousness into 195 pithy statements
now known as the Yoga Sutras. They succinctly describe the physiological, psychological
and subtle body aspects associated with Union (Yoga); but they are by no means a how
to manual. It is unlikely that any single translation or commentary will ever compass
their subtle profundities.
In the second division (pada) of the Yoga Sutras, he detailed the eight anga of
consciousness: observances, actions, postures, breathing, withdrawal of attention, focus,
resonance and samadhi. One meaning of anga is limbs, and they came to be taught as tools
for structuring yoga, perhaps because limbs of the body have particular functions and so
might be thought of as tools. Also, they began to be taught as steps, or a sequence, which,
being perfected, lead to Union. Either error treats the anga as though they can be isolated
from each other. In practice, they reflect and support each other in unfolding full human
consciousness, and comprise the totality of lifefrom gross physical aspects to the most
refined.
One meaning of anga is limbs. They came to be taught as tools for structuring yoga,
maybe because limbs of the body have particular functions and so might be thought of as
tools. Also, they began to be taught as steps or a sequence of actions which, being
perfected, lead to Union. Either error says these functions (expressions) of consciousness
can be isolated from each other and from the totality. They cant; they reflect and support
each other and rise to perfection together, for they comprise the totality of lifefrom the
gross to the most refined.
Patanjali gave a straightforward unveiling of human nature and natural law,
unattached to tradition or religion. The Sad-guru, the Eternal Teacher, is the Lord, allinclusive Brahman, the Source. There is no indication that belief in, or devotion to, a guru,
teacher, religion or gods is necessary to unveil full human consciousness. Indeed, he
makes it clear that individual passionate commitment is the primary requisite. It is a pity
that his description of an uncomplicated unfolding has become interpreted as a weighty
and intricate undertaking. The observances and actions have been codified as vows and
samadhi presented as the goal/result of the preceding seven.
The shift of emphasis nourishes the notion that suffering is needed to end suffering,
thereby tilting awareness toward inherent weakness rather than inherent strength. Even
now, Eastern and Western traditions both perpetuate duality by dividing life into sacred
and secular. When life is taken up as a seamless garment, experience naturally transforms.
Another meaning of anga is subordinate divisions, departments or spheres. Of course, the
One has none of these. But, if, for the sake of communication, the Eight Spheres of Union
are accepted as aspects of Unity, they can be approached with clarity. The spheres are not
self-generating energies, but lie as if dormant, covered by impressions and thoughts, until

awakened. They are the Treasure of Grace: Divine Order functioning and knowable in the
body, and as they are drawn into experience, their extensive interlacing discloses the
Unity of Life. Consciousness doesnt rely on them for fulfillment; they require conscious
attention in order to be enlivened in the phenomenal world.
There are no group tours to enlightenment. Every person is an infinite, sovereign
creator of his own world, whether he recognizes it, or not. In setting intent, it is ordained,
Let there be and behold! it is so. The creator determines quality of life in his world that is
populated with his mind-born children. Each human life, then, is a universe: six and a half
billion people on planet Earth mean six and a half billion universes.
By habitual thoughts, life is situated in heaven or hell; but the mind is not absolute.
Thoughts will come, because they are a part of life, but its always possible to choose the
type of thought that is entertained. The minds sovereignty over life is illusory; without
direction, it is helpless to know peace. The final say belongs to Intellect, which has the
discernment needed to train the mind to appropriate service. Mind is subtler and
therefore more powerful than the body; intellect is subtler and so more powerful than the
mind. The Source is more subtle still. Intellect is Soul, the seat of awareness in the body.
Cultural patterns show the collective investment in maintaining the status quo. An
infinite Source must have infinite expressions, but humans generally perceive life through
the lens of cultural patterns. Ideas are unfruitful without supportive action, and habitual
actions without a solid foundation sabotage the fulfillment of potential. Innocence is the
springboard from which experience leaps over the walls of tradition. Without innocence,
understanding stays at the level of theory, opinion or belief.
Replace the word understanding with substance (sub=under; stance=standing/position),
and the primary meaning surfaces. True understanding integrates essence with form: the
Nature of everything is known as pure consciousness. Belief systems structured by the
mind rely on sensory evidence, yet essential Nature is beyond the reach of the senses.
Impressions shade perceptions but are powerless to affect Reality. Even one unfiltered
encounter with the Unchanging can be enough to wipe out what is without substance.
Pada II, sutra 28: Practice of the spheres of union removes the impure; discrimination, or
knowledge, discloses the splendor of wisdom.
Practice, applied to the anga, designates a profound commitment to Life, the practice of
the Presence of God. There is no implication that human nature needs reconstruction or
even modification; or that choices contrary to Nature are entailed.
All of life is troubled by the notion that human nature is fallen; it is part of the belief in
duality. The wonderful truth is that human nature is the nature of the Self, the nature of
God. The idea of impurity comes in viewing it through the dust raised by the flurry of
ideations; the clear experience of Beauty is clouded. Only mention impurity and thoughts
about morality and feelings of guilt surface. Moral qualities are not involved. Impure
describes the condition of living without insight into the nature of Reality. If the Natures
of the self and the Self were distinct, then duality would be real and Union, impossible.

Yamas
The five inner disciplines (yamas: deaths) are ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, and
aparigraha. If they are approached as obligations, rather than as natural companions in
Life, latent self-judgment is awakened, demanding harsh physical testing. Opening of
consciousness can be and should be gentle. These disciplines are without opposites in
reality. Patanjali never implies they are difficult to know. Yama does mean deaths, but in
this context, rein, curb, or forbearance is appropriate and, perhaps, clearer. They are not
perfected by making a mood that satisfies the surface level of the mind, because
transformation is not instigated from the surface level. The mind, unaided, has neither
desire nor capacity to modify its patterns. It accesses transforming power when it is
directed by Intellect, which has the necessary ability to discern.

Ahimsa
The first inner discipline is ahimsa: harmlessness. Just as lava is belched into the
atmosphere from the depths of a volcano, the self-violence that seethes in the caldron of
the sub-conscious explodes into the world. Self-violence is always born of compromise,
the denial of the heart, from fear. The fear reveals itself as judgment, unforgiveness,
control issues, harsh words and brutal acts, and escalates to unresolved factional and
international conflicts.
Compromise has been turned into an expression of love by the mind (which always
justifies and defends its perceptions), when in fact compromise is a subtle, virulent poison
transmitted from one generation to another. It comes from the idea that love can be lost.
Willingness to find a middle ground is taken as an expression of love or goodwill. One or
both parties accept less than they do wantor even what they dont wantin order to get
at least a part of what they would like to have. Eventually, the complete expression of life
is compromised.
Personality is a limited, unbeneficial configuration built and maintained by the mind.
Taken as a definition of being, it is certain to clash with other personalities, each of which
has its own definition of being. Understand that the multiple human expressions of the
Infinite are not personalities; by definition, person-ality indicates an entity separated from
all others. Even babies have distinctive traits; from birth, interaction with their world
lends reality to the coloration called personality that shimmers on the surface of the mind.
Forms are distinct; there is one essence for all.
The reverse of personality is innocence, or harmlessness: if the mind is not held to a
specific identity with its likes, dislikes, habits, responses and history, then the possibilities
for joy increase beyond imagining. The usual experience of life is a string of compromises,
in which memories and expectations are permitted to steal the moment. Control, even
when administered with the softest words and sweetest smile, is violence. (I do not speak
about the training of small children: they should be directed toward wholeness. Training

based in the caretakers own skewed perceptions predictably incorporates emotional, if

not physical, violence.)
Impersonal Nature is not violent. Violent behavior comes from unclear thoughts, and
it is not certain that below the human level, thoughts, as such, exist. A few experiments
have seemed to indicate that subtler levels of interaction can be enhanced in some
animals. Still, hunger or the protection of offspring drives one animal to kill another. At
the cellular level, through natural design, white cells destroy others. Tornados, tsunamis,
earthquakes and other so-called acts of God are intense physical manifestations, but they
are not punishments by an angry God. With good reason, Paradise is pictured as a
temperate environment not subject to extremes: if the highest level of awareness on Earth
belongs to humans, the collective consciousness is mirrored in the physical world. While
the reality of human Nature goes unrecognized, we will find the environment violent; as
awareness evolves, the world experience will reflect the changes.
Ahimsas power in the unseen realms is more obvious if it is translated as innocence, or
harmlessness. Innocence is not weakness; harmlessness is not helplessness. Indeed, ahimsa
is a subtle quality corresponding to purity of Life, which violence cant touch, or threaten.
The experience of samadhi, through unfailing return of focus to the Unity of the Self, wipes
out perception of otherness that could threaten. Harmlessness not only avoids doing injury,
but also is incapable of doing injury at any time, to any being. Then, we can see that as
awareness goes beyond the personal level, the possibility of harm at any level ends.

Satya
The impact of satya is deeper than the usual translation of truthfulness implies; literally,
it means having the quality of the Eternal, which puts it precisely at the foundational level of
Life. The best efforts to live in truth fail while the mind acts without direction. Beliefs
about truth are not the experience of truth; and they are mutually exclusive: one can hold
onto ideas, or one can directly know. A Greek word, hamartia, translated as sin in some
versions of the New Testament, means missing the mark. In aiming for a mind-created target,
(even if that target is enlightenment or heaven) one cant be certain of hitting it smack on,
because it is located in the constantly changing, outer realm of duality.
Truth and untruth seem to belong to the many pairs of opposites that afflict life, but
truth has no opposite. Consider: the unreal is not; it has never existed and never will.
Regardless how many people support an idea, belief doesnt modify reality. The Earth
looks flat, the sun seems to rise and set, roads appear to come to a point in the distance, and
separate forms give the impression that consciousness is fragmented. The organs of sense
are tools for physical life, yet they dont function at optimal effectiveness. First, they act
within a limited range of vibrations; second, emotional quality colors physical experience.
The value given to an experience is determined by the belief that the mind is capable
of effectively ordering life. Any kind of thought at all may show up at any time; if it is not
invited to stay, and fed, it will disappear. Thoughts that flow in harmony with truth

produce speech that is aligned as well; harmonious actions are the natural consequence.
When the mind enjoys the quality of the Eternal, it infuses all of life with that quality.

Asteya
Asteya: non-stealing, is not limited to material goods, or even more subtle goods, such
as reputation, hopes, dreams, credit for success, responsibility for failure, and more. The
impersonal energies of Naturecreation, maintenance and destructionweave a tapestry
of circumstances that offer endless options for experience. The mind does its very best to
tidy up the possibilities, but is bound to fail. It takes responsibility for matters out of its
reach: other peoples emotions; the results of actions; precise knowledge of the future. In
short, it tries to direct the entire unfolding space-time field of human life.
The mind is not intended to direct Life, but to serve it, and like every servant, it needs
to be trained by an authority with a clear understanding of what is suitable. In the Book of
Proverbs, it is said that three things disturb the earth; one is a servant when he rules. A
servant guided appropriately becomes efficient and valuable, and finds the opportunity
for service much greater than imagined. Intellect (Soul) has the discernment needed to
bring the mind into faultless service.
The ultimate application of asteya is not robbing God. One might wonder how anything
could be stolen from the Eternal, which is not subject to gain or loss. Certainly, nothing
real can be taken from or added to it; still, in the context of relative life, God is robbed
when anything is taken as personal. Those who believe that they have a private life rob
God. Those who take credit for success and responsibility for failure rob God. Those who
believe that thoughts and actions originate with them rob God. Those who judge anything
of life as imperfect rob God. In other words: wherever an individual I is exalted as having
independent existence, or whenever the value of any expression of Life is deprecated, God
is robbed. Appreciation for the gift of the present moment soon uncovers the unity of Life.

Brahmacharya
In India the charyas are students, from the verb char, which means both occupied with
and wandering, roaming about. As part of their renunciation of the common pleasures and
comforts of life, they often traveled about, perhaps with a teacher, sleeping where they
found shelter, begging for food, and without marriage or sexual relationships. The
common understanding of brahmacharya has become celibacy or self-restraint. The purpose
is to control sexual activity, and thereby end addiction to sensory pleasures. Sex is just the
tip of the iceberg of sensual addiction. A repressed craving will pop up in another form in
another part of life until satisfied or transcended. Unless and until a deeper delight is
introduced, any pleasure is hard to relinquish. Even when the desire for appetitive
satisfaction ends, the habit of action may continue. Inertia functions at all levels of life.

Nobody wants life to be out of balance. However it may seem, everyone does the best
he can to cope with the challenges of life. The search for increasingly dangerous thrills is
at heart a distorted step toward transcendence, a flawed way to live in the moment. No
dilemma can be resolved until a quality is introduced that can cut through perceptions,
lifting life to a higher level of understanding. Physical compliance can be forced, but the
inner experience doesnt change without surrender of former ideas.
Attention on the Infinite, the quality of being engaged with the Infinite, and the practice of the
Infinite as translations have the spirit of brahmacharya. Restraint is covert violence that can
quickly become overt. Re-channeling or re-directing energy is gentle and more effective to
create stability, because it uses approach rather than avoidance. In avoidance, an eye must
be kept on what is to be avoided, instead of what is wanted, and it is possible to end up in
an equally undesired condition.
The mind is loyal, even when untrained. It looks for happiness everywhere in the
material world, and, having chosen for one thing, continues mechanically considering
whether another option might be better. In its ignorance that pleasure and pain are not
different as to source or qualities, it keeps on moving, keeps on moving from one thing to
another, one activity to another, one possession to another. The body, by its inability to
cope with incessant mental activity, is brought to a deep level of fatigue. That fatigue
interrupts its smoother performance, all the way to the cellular level.
Why should mental activity tire the body? In the womb and after birth for a while,
what look like haphazard movements of a baby are in fact Natures way of creating
linguistic ability. Every phoneme produces a particular muscular response. In time, with
growth, the movements become too subtle for the unaided eye to notice, but they dont
stop. The mind works primarily through concepts and concepts require words. While the
mind is busy with thoughtsmost of which are inconsequentialthe body responds with
the ingrained muscular responses. Even when just sitting, it is not at rest if the mind is
active. With one-pointed awareness, the mind quietens and the body comes to a deep
level of rest, even though involved in physical activity!
Through a regular meditative-contemplative practice, the mind reaches the supreme
Joy of unity, thereby satisfying its natural function of increasing the experience of
happiness. Concurrently, by familiarity with samadhi the bodily appetites are naturally
brought into balance without strain.

Aparigraha
Aparigraha is non-grasping, the final inner discipline. Stinginess, greed, compulsive
buying or collecting, and co-dependent relationships are a very few of the ways grasping
shows itself materially. Less obvious are stubbornness of belief, clinging to memories
(good or bad), idolizing traditions, and the tendency to quickly make territorial claims.
Have you noticed that in regularly-scheduled meetings by the second gathering many
attendees have chosen their seats, and really dont like it if someone else happens to sit
there? Grasping is a kind of lust which can apply to any form, any object at alleven one

as trivial as the seat in a meeting. Of course the natural ebb and flow of life is hampered!
Of course daily life becomes burdensome!
Desire grows inordinate from repression and from indulgence. Where is steadiness to
be found between joyless denial and joyless excess? Appetitive impulses are not evil in
themselves; they are natural functions to serve life. Suffering comes with personalized
impulses and the certainty that ownership is a valid and desirable state, as well as a
possibility. Happiness based on possessing is short-lived; the distress it brings is on-going.
What isnt owned cant be lost. This doesnt mean that objects of life or family and friends
cant be or shouldnt be enjoyed. Certainly not. But it is true that people begin by having
objects and eventually the objects have them. Impersonal being neither gains, nor has, nor
loses; impersonal desires flow in complete harmony with each other to increase the
universal experience of happiness.

Niyamas
The niyamas: outer disciplines echo and reflect the inner disciplines, but their power is
directed to dissolve the challenges of ordinary circumstances that come from the
afflictions (kleshas): ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, obstinacy of daily life (habit). The
outer disciplines are shaucha, samtosha, tapas, svadhyaya and ishvara pranidhanani: purity,
contentment, austerity, study of the Self and the willingness to surrender to the Lord. Remember,
the kleshas (afflictions) are movements of mind, they are not Self-existent energies; the
niyamas describe the natural state which should be humanitys consistent experience.

Shaucha
By movement of the mind, the impersonal quality shaucha becomes conjoined with
morality. When promises of fulfillment are interpreted as commandments, hundreds and
even thousands of subsidiary rules and definitions are introduced. Their ties to time and
place make them bases for arguments and wars. When cultures previously separate begin
to interact through commerce or conquest, variations in their moral and ethical codes
often conflict. Centuries later, there may still be no resolution. In the world of duality,
compassion is rare: the rule of action is my way or your suffering.
Hydrogen and oxygen combine to produce water, which can take three forms; yet they
themselves are unchanged. Dye or dirt added to water hides its clarity, but the water itself
continues pure. The pure essence of everything is consciousness, from the smallest,
subtlest throb of energy to the unimaginable immensity of Space. The Source cant be
increased, decreased, altered or destroyed; yet an accretion of impressions can hide it,
exactly as very, very tiny particles go unnoticed until they build up in sufficient quantity
to take on a collective identitydustand prevent clear perception of the surface on
which they lie. In consciousness, an accumulation of impressions is called personal life and
impurity lies in the accumulations ability to color or obscure truth, not in life itself.

With purity of focus, the senses lose their power to distract and the field of action is
emptied. Purity of Life blesses all creation.

Samtosha
Does samtosha: contentment imply passivity, impotence or lack of spontaneity? On the
contrary, it is the fullest appreciation for and enjoyment of what is, exactly as it is. The
mind rests in the joy of being. We could say that it is praise revealed in silence: the present
is complete; no request is necessary.
Nor is it a question of resignation. Such an attitude quickly becomes a toxic pool of
bitterness. The best the mind can do is to imitate the actions it thinks belong to
contentment. It cant decide to be content; it continues trying to generate happiness. Until
it unites with the supreme Joy, it is bound to move.
Contentment meets life spontaneously. Having erased the past and being unconcerned
about the future, it experiences change as moving from perfection to perfection.

Tapas
The next action, tapas, may be the most misunderstood. It is safe to say that the
violence perpetrated as a way to union is directly linked to that misunderstanding.
Austerity is the usual translation, one that has led to inducing physical discomfort or
actual pain in order to overcome the body. Harsh living conditions, stringent diets,
lashings and other self-imposed torturethe list of brutalities inflicted and accepted is
long.
Useful boundaries as the translation allows for a more positive application. Relatively
few people have learned to love themselves truly; the best most can manage is self-pity,
the sense of victimization, which is the root of self-indulgence. Destructive habits and
relationships are rationalized because of the secret satisfactions that they bring
satisfactions that go unrecognized because they apply at unconscious levels. When it is
seen that self-pity is a twisted form of love, it takes less effort to turn the energy given to
destructive choices toward expansive ones. Useful boundaries help to narrow focus and
unleash power that is dispersed through outward movements of the mind.
Literally, tapas means heat. Understanding it as the flame of love prevents the distasteful
inferences that might come from other translations. What is done for love is so much
easier, so much more delightful than what is done from obligation! The energy of love
flows to align with the object of desire, in this case, the Self. Love for the Divine is a heat
that burns away whatever stands between the Lover and the Beloved.
Sometimes we think of the individual as the Lover and the Divine as the Beloved. The
opposite is also true. If Divine Love were not the Source of Everything, such a thought
would be beyond the minds capacity, impossible to conceive.
It is not unusual to find duty mistaken for love. The collective belief links love and
suffering, so that love is demonstrated by persisting in an action or relationship that has

become arduous. See how much I suffer? See how much I love! is a common attitude. To call it
commitment is like putting makeup on a corpse: the body may look a little better, but the
reality of its condition hasnt been changed in the slightest. Taking on responsibility for
and dogged continuance with anything from a sense of duty or from fear of what others
might think is injurious to the one who does so, and dishonest toward the object of duty.
Eventually it causes physical illnesses, or erupts in hostility, even against a stranger.
Love carries no burdens. To determine whether duty or love is the basis of an action,
only one question needs to be answered: Does the commitment expand joy, or diminish it?

Svadhyaya
The study of the Self, svadhyaya, is not the scholastic work of putting time and energy
into learning about anything, whether a physical or mental practice; however, it is closer to
the study of dance, music or an art form, in that it can only be learned by doing. For most
of human history, information was preserved orally. Even after writing developed, a
miniscule part of the population could access written records; everyday matters continued
to be transmitted through speech. Beginning around the turn of the 20th Century, in
Western culture at least, literacy of the general population became nearly universal. Since
then, technology has allowed the quantity of information available to proliferate beyond
anything that our ancestors could have imagined.
As with most aspects of duality, the abundance of written words is two-edged. It
offers endless options for distraction; and it provides a fast way to learn about
possibilities. While a possibility remains outside the frame of reference, if it should
happen it might well be ignored, or misinterpreted, or explained away. Then, too, words
of sages can shake habits of thought. Even so, union depends on individualitys
movement for change. That is the opening declaration in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Now
begins instruction with regard to what happens when intent is set toward unity of
individual awareness with universal consciousness.
The study of the Self is direct experience of the Self, corresponding to the fourth inner
discipline, brahmacharya. With svadhyaya, unity is brought into the physical level to
function in activity. It is the point where the filter of shared experiences is let go and a
personfor himself, by himselfapplies to his life the Beauty which alone has value.
In onen experiment, five monkeys were put in a cage with a ladder in the center
leading up to a huge pile of bananas. When one of them started up the ladder, the rest of
them were given electric shocks, with the result that very soon any monkey that tried to
get to the bananas was attacked and beaten by the others. Soon, the temptation of the
bananas wasnt enough to make any of the monkeys try to climb the ladder. Then, the
researchers replaced one of the monkeys with a new one. He immediately went for the
bananas, and the others quickly pulled him down and beat him. A second one was
substituted and the same thing happened, with the first substitute enthusiastically taking
part in beating the new one. A third one was changed and the same sequence took place
again. One by one, they were all replaced until five completely innocent monkeys that

had never received electric shocks were in the cage. Even so, if any one of them tried to
get the bananas, the rest of them violently prevented it. The bananas stayed untouched. If
the five new monkeys could be asked why a monkey going for the bananas was beaten
up, its a good bet that they would say, I dont know. Thats just whats done around
here.
Much of human behavior has the same basis: it is done because thats what is done.
Power is handed over to some indeterminate they, some tradition, some belief system.
What they decide usually introduces violence into relationships (as with the monkeys) and
prevents enjoyment of natural desires (the bananas).
Joy is directly proportionate to the awareness with which life is lived.

Ishvara pranidhana
Ishvara pranidhana means surrender to the Lord. In the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana, the
Upanishads, other ancient texts, Ishvara: the Lord refers specifically to Brahman. It
designates the universal consciousness that is the only Reality; the infinite Self without
attributes, so far beyond anything accessible by the senses that it alone is worthy to be
called the Lord. No imagery attaches to the title, even though it is said, He.
Pranidhana is attention given to; directing thoughts toward; profound contemplation;
meditation upon; placing in front of. It is not to be understood as submission to exterior force or
pressure! That is obvious because of the particular form used: pranidhanani means the
willingness to surrender.
Saying I am willing, I am willing, and yet doing nothing, is all too common. In true
willingness, in true surrender, nothing is held back. If a suicide mission needs five
volunteers, and 7 respond, even the two who dont go have essentially laid down their
lives. Patanjali draws attention to a subtle level, well below observable activity, in the
Heart. It takes surrender at this level to bring about radical change.
The difference between the form used here and the form used in the first Pada is
important. There, the context for surrender was inactivity contrasted with action. Here, he
emphasizes that union necessitates dropping below the minds directives so that the Self
becomes the Lord of Life.
Surrender is about laying everything of lifefeelings, thoughts, actions, impulses,
beliefs, habits, attachments and aversionsbefore the Lord (although He is not a person,
not even an infinite one). Returning life to Life calls for letting go of personal perspectives.
Nothing is lost by yielding them up; they are powerless anyway to produce peace and joy.
In the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna encourages Arjunas surrender to Him, not as the Infinite-inform, but simply as the Infinite. No other option is viable, for union.

Asanas

Of the hundreds of thousands of people practicing yoga asanas, few seem to use them
as other than postures with varying degrees of difficulty to help release stress. Knowledge
of what they represent goes missing. Those who use them in conjunction with meditation,
reach profounder levels of stability in life, even if they are not directly looking for union.
The significance of the word asana is not limited to the traditional postures, but includes as
well halting, stopping, encamping, abiding, dwelling, from the Sanskrit verb as: to do anything
without interruption.
People constantly assume mental and emotional postures that are bricks in the walls of
their castle: their personal life. The positions they take give importance to their
individuality; it is not exaggeration to say that the idea of vulnerability terrifies the mind.
Its easy to see the link between non-grasping and this sphere of consciousness. When a
mind-based stance is held for an extended period, subsequent movement becomes
awkward, sometimes painful, just as happens in the physical realm. From the willingness
to flow with Life by dwelling in the experience of the Self, the currents of Natural Law
carry us forward with ease and grace.
Patanjali recognized the asanas power to effect major changes in awareness. They do
augment flexibility, and the aptitude for holding a pose easily for longer periods grows
with practice. While the mind remains active, restlessness of the body is unavoidable.
Facility in the asanas is an outward, visible expression of an expanding ability to give
single-pointed attention to the unseen. Their practice is a meditation without words that
helps to stabilize all of the other limbs.

Pranayama
Pranayama means both the restraint or death of breathing and the observance of the life force,
or vital air. It also is wordless meditation by the instrument of the body. Focus turns
inward, while air moves into and out of the body; thoughts stop. Familiarity with the
Infinite comes with stilling the minds movements.
The belief that the body sickens and dies without proper breathing is true at ordinary
levels of awareness. Breath is vital to bodily processes: oxygen is brought in to be
distributed to the brain and other organs; and carbon dioxide, a product of metabolism, is
taken away. Improper breathing takes its toll on the body, lending support to all manner
of illnesses, which in turn further disturb the breathing; it is a downward cycle, but one
that can be interrupted and rectified.
At deeper levels of knowledge, it is seen that life does not depend on respiration. In
meditation metabolism slows, and the breath along with it. In profound meditation, while
the attention remains in pure consciousness, respiration may stop; and then start again as
the mind resumes activity.
Pranayamas are specific exercises for consciously inhaling, retaining the breath and
exhaling. Superficially, they regulate the normal process of respiration; at a deeper level,

they augment the movement of the life force, prana, in the body. Furthermore, they mirror
the eternal in-breathing, pause, and out-breathing of the universe.
There are four parts to the word aum (OM): the a, the u, the mand the silence
that follows. There are four parts to the pranayamas: inhaling, pause, exhalingand
stillness, or the Breathless state. There are four states of consciousness: waking, dreaming,
sleepingand turiya, simply known as the Fourth.

Withdrawal
Without this sphere, perfection of the yamas and niyamas at least would be impossible.
The senses provide the mind with information about the physical world in order to
maintain the body in relative comfort and bring pleasure to life. Unfortunately, their
reports are inaccurate: first, because a weakness in any one distorts the experience; and
second, because colorations from earlier impressions take away innocence. Moreover, the
mind gets drawn into movement because desire lies outside, in the objects. The more it
follows sensory pleasure, the less real pleasure it is able to bring to life. Most importantly,
the senses are unable to take the mind to its supreme Joy: knowledge of the Self.
In pratyahara: withdrawal, the decision is taken to end reliance on the senses reports as
a basis for action. Automatically, when the mind approaches the Transcendent, it
withdraws attention it would otherwise give to the senses; without its support, they are
effectively withdrawn, also.
The withdrawal that Patanjali presents is the same as withdrawal of troops from a
battlefield: not one is left behind to engage with the enemy. When an army leaves the field
of action, its particular application of energy ends. Only the highest commander has
authority to give such an order. With respect to withdrawal of the senses, the Intellect
alone can decide for this option. The mind depends on the senses feedback to take part in
life; it could never implement such a choice.
Another parallel is the withdrawal of the universe back into the Self at the end of ages.
In union, individual awareness (a universe) is drawn back into universal consciousness.

Focus
Single-pointed awareness: that is focus. Nothing is miraculous about the power of focus to
rapidly work wonderful changes, regardless of the nature of the object. Like leavening in
dough, it acts involuntarily, without human intervention, fulfilling its nature without
regard for subsequent conditions.
While Natural Law supports all choices, individual life is definitely made easier or
harder by where attention is put. What gets your attention over time eventually gets you.
The power of focus is such that it enlivens any object it touches, although the gross senses
dont immediately recognize it. Only a small part of humanity at any time seems able to
focus one-pointedly until a goal is reached. When a desired result doesnt happen fast

enough, attention shifts. Additionally, the mind tends to focus on what is not wanted
instead of what is. Both are habits and can be undone.
Focus and the next two limbs, resonance and samadhi, are particularly linked, as
Patanjali points out; these three are the most inward spheres of commitment. All of the
others incorporate an aspect of physicality; there is some measure of interaction with the
body-world. These three spheres entail nothing tangible, and reach to the most subtle
levels of human capacity.
All of the spheres are linked, but a particular power emerges from the ability to
maintain the three at one time. It is known as samyama: tying up or binding together.
Another meaning is destruction of the world. Although it is not one of the spheres of yoga, it
is not found apart from them; therefore, more information has been included at the end of
this writing.

Resonance
Asked to describe meditation (dhyana), most people would probably say it involves
closed eyes, a particular posture, and using specific words or sounds (mantras) to stop the
mind. The word mantra comes from two Sanskrit words: manas: mind and tra: to rescue. It
rescues the mind from the thousands of useless thoughts.
A definition of dhyana that allows for more innocence in its practice, and reveals the
purpose more clearly is concentration: a distilling of one desire out of many possible objects of
desire; the conscious, consistent direction of energy to one object.
Another translation is resonance, reverberation, or resounding such as happens when a
sound sent out into encircling mountains in one direction echoes and re-echoes from all
around. Or, when one tuning fork is struck and others vibrate in consonance with it. In
resonance, coherent energies merge to amplify the original vibration. A battalion of soldiers
breaks cadence in crossing a bridge because the uniformity of vibrations could cause it to
collapse. Resonance has many applications in medicine and industry, as well.
In the subtle levels, power beyond what the mind can comprehend is accessed
through resonance. As subtlety increases, so does the vibratory rate. The mechanics of
combining focus with concentration is this: attention given to one point enlivens that object;
before the energy can dissipate completely, it is reinforced by returning focus to that point;
the energies vigorously build there, until no contrary energy remains. What doesnt serve
the singularity of attention disappears from experience. Such is the power of attention
directed to one purpose without vacillation. Then life is enjoyed beyond the level of doing
or not-doing and desire and fulfillment are not separated.

Samadhi

As noted above, creative power does not lie within the object of focus. In that respect,
where attention is placed is immaterial. It is always the case that more intense focus brings
more powerful results faster, whether for good or for ill. In that respect, the chosen object
of focus is of primary importance. Although you may not have realized it, your habitual
thoughts are a form of focus and resonance, and produce the energy that shapes your life.
What do you want to enliven in your life? No other person or power in the universe
can choose your desires or negate your creative power. It lies entirely with you to decide
what you want and then bring it to life.
Patanjali called samadhi the seed state of consciousness. Every seed has the potential
to fulfill its own nature: rose seeds never-ever mature into oak trees. Time is needed for
complete revelation of the seeds nature. Whereas nurture helps the process, which can be
slowed or stopped by the environment, no exterior qualities need to be added for
completion. In the matter of samadhi, it is a seed with regard to individual experience of it.
At the beginning, the connection may be fleeting, but with time, stability brings the same
plenitude of consciousness in the individual that already exists in samadhi. That is known
as union.
Samadhi is not the goal or the result of the other spheres of yoga. Attempts to practice
the preceding spheres before having connected with the power of samdahi keeps them at
the level of physical and mental exercisesa very, very slow way indeed to find Union!
In order for the mind to gain familiarity with samadhi, a vehicle is needed that takes it
to the Ascendant level of existence smoothly and easily. Mantras by which the mind is
more or less numbed into stillness are plentiful; and there are affirmations that please the
mind by producing an expansive mood, but do little to transform life. The ideal vehicle is
one that continues to charm through countless repetitive uses and ultimately, in the
shortest possible time, enables the mind to satisfy its purpose of bringing maximal
happiness to life.
Being unused to stillness, even with such a vehicle the mind will at first quickly return
to the superficial level and its habitual thoughts. Still, driven by passionate commitment
when it is returned with patient consistency to the subtlest level, it is increasingly
captivated, until it finally comes to rest.

Samyama
Samyama is focus, resonance and samadhi conjoined, a unity that makes possible the next
evolutional leap for awareness. The previous one could happen once awareness of the
trans-personal, transcendent Self stabilized. Now, with samyama, the forces of Nature
themselves are manipulated, and applied to specific elements of life.
Samyama is known as The Three-in-One, a description suggestive of the Holy Trinity
and the Tri-murti: the Father/Brahma; the Son/Shiva; and the Holy Ghost/Vishnu. Whatever
the names, they represent the impersonal and universal qualities creation, destruction and
maintenance. Long, long ago they were personalized as specific eternal beingsgods who

demand to be worshipped and must be placated. Humanity still bows before them, their
real significance as the forces of Nature forgotten. Thus, it is said that the gods are not
friends of mankind, for they would gladly keep humans ignorant in order to assure
continued offerings and adoration.
The Father/Brahma is the Knower, or focus; the Son/Shiva, the Process of Knowing, or
resonance; and the Holy Spirit/Vishnu, That Which is Known, or samadhi.
Appropriately, samyama is also the name of the City of Yama, the Lord of Death,
located on Mount Meru, the Cosmic Center of consciousness. One of its meanings is the
destruction of the world. The destructible world is the minds space-time creation. Any valid
meditative technique carries the mind to the trans-personal realm. It may stay there only
for an instant at first; yet even so, in that instant, time, space and the action they involve
end. The return to activity is a kind of rebirth: the mind that emerges is not the same one
that went in.
By repeatedly going the still point, which Patanjali called the place where the horses are
unharnessed, the field of action is abandoned. Horses represent the senses; the chariot is the
body/mind. Without a firm hand on the reins, the horses can pull the chariot to
destruction; guided by intellect, they carry it directly and smoothly along the appropriate
road. When the horses are loosed from the chariotthe bits and bridles and harnesses
completely removedthey are free to run through the field, nibble grass, roll on the
ground or enjoy whatever they like. When the mind is stilled, it can no longer be pulled
first one way and then another by the senses; the senses are freed to accomplish their
purpose of enjoyment of phenomenal life. While the body continues, the senses will
function, but will not have the power to drag it where they will.
Samyama applied to specific points of consciousness unlocks the so-called magical or
supernatural powers, as detailed in Pada III. They only seem so to the waking state mind,
but in fact are completely natural to the Self.