Book One: Integration

What is Yoga?

I.1 Now, the teachings of yoga.

I.2 Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness.

I.3 Then, pure awareness can abide in its very nature.

I.4 Otherwise, awareness takes itself to be the patterns of consciousness.

I.5 There are five types of patterns, including both hurtful and benign.

I.6 They are right perception, misperception, conceptualization, deep sleep, and remembering.

I.7 Right perception arises from direct observation, inference, or the words of others.

I.8 Misperception is false knowledge, not based on what actually is.

I.9 Conceptualization derives from linguistic knowledge, not contact with real things.

I.10 Deep sleep is a pattern grounded in the perception that nothing exists.

I.11 Remembering is the retention of experiences.

I.12 Both practice and non-reaction are required to still the patterning of consciousness.

I.13 Practice is the sustained effort to rest in that stillness.

I.14 And this practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time.

I.15 As for non-reaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.

I.16 When the ultimate level of non-reaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.

I.17 At first, the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, or feeling like a self.

I.18 Later, after one practices steadily to bring all thought to a standstill, these four kinds of cognition fall away, leaving only a store of latent impressions in the depth memory.

I.19 Once the body is gone, and these latent impressions are dissolved in nature, they are inclined to be reborn.

I.20 For all others, faith, energy, mindfulness, integration, and wisdom form the path to realization.

I.21 For those who seek liberation wholeheartedly, realization is near.

I.22 How near depends on whether the practice is mild, moderate, or intense.

I.23 Realization may also come if one is oriented toward the ideal of pure awareness, Isvara.

I.24 Isvara is a distinct, incorruptible form of pure awareness, utterly independent of cause and effect, and lacking any store of latent impressions.

I.25 Its independence makes this awareness an incomparable source of omniscience.

I.26 Existing beyond time, Isvara was also the ideal of the ancients.

I.27 Isvara is represented by a sound, om.

I.28 Through repetition its meaning becomes clear.

I.29 Then, interiorization develops and obstacles fall away.

I.30 Sickness, apathy, doubt, carelessness, laziness, hedonism, delusion, lack of progress, and inconstancy are all distractions which, by stirring up consciousness, act as barriers to stillness.

I.31 When they do, one may experience distress, depression, or the inability to maintain steadiness of posture or breathing

I.32 One can subdue these distractions by working with any one of the following principles of practice.

I.33 Consciousness settles as one radiates friendliness, compassion, delight, and equanimity toward all things, whether pleasant or painful, good or bad.

I.34 Or by pausing after breath flows in or out.

I.35 Or by steadily observing as new sensations materialize.

I.36 Or when experiencing thoughts that are luminous and free of sorrow.

I.37 Or by focusing on things that do not inspire attachment.

I.38 Or by reflecting on insights culled from sleep and dreaming.

I.39 Or through meditative absorption in any desired object.

I.40 One can become fully absorbed in any object, whether vast or infinitesimal.

I.41 As the patterning of consciousness subsides, a transparent way of seeing, called coalescence, saturates consciousness; like a jewel, it reflects equally whatever lies before it - whether subject, object, or act of perceiving.

I.42 So long as conceptual or linguistic knowledge pervades this transparency, it is called coalescence with thought.

I.43 At the next stage, called coalescence beyond thought, objects cease to be colored by memory; now formless, only their essential nature shines forth.

I.44 In the same way, coalesced contemplation of subtle objects is described as reflective or reflection-free.

I.45 Subtle objects can be traced back to their origin in undifferentiated nature.

I.46 These four kinds of coalescence - with thought, beyond thought, reflective, reflection-free - are called integration that bears seeds of latent impressions.

I.47 In the lucidity of coalesced, reflection-free contemplation, the nature of the self becomes clear.

I.48 The wisdom that arises in that lucidity is unerring.

I.49 Unlike insights acquired through inference or teachings, this wisdom has as its object the actual distinction between pure awareness and consciousness.

I.50 It generates latent impressions that prevent the activation of other impressions.

I.51 When even these cease to arise, and the patterning of consciousness is completely stilled, integration bears no further seeds.

For the full Sanskrit and English Translation

https://www.arlingtoncenter.org/Sanskrit-English.pdf