Impediments in the Path of Yoga

Upamanyu said

On the path of yoga a person meets ten impediments: laziness, serious ailments, distraction, doubt about the place, fickleness of mind, lack of faith, confusion of vision, sorrows, dejection of mind and attachment to material things. Even for a yogi of pure mind, laziness weighs on both body and mind. Ailments come from an imbalance in the constituents of the body, and can also come from tainted karma. Distraction arises when a person does not think about the means to yoga. Doubt about the place is wondering, "Should it be this one or that?" Fickleness of mind is the inability to make it steady. Lack of faith is setting out on the path of yoga without the right feeling. Confusion of mind is mistaken belief. Sorrows are of three kinds: the adhyatmika kind, when people's minds suffer miseries through ignorance; the adhibhoutika kind, which touch the body; and the adhidaivika kind, which result from what a person did earlier. Dejection of mind comes from being unable to free oneself from wishes, and attachment to material things brings many kinds of confusion and agitation.

When the impediments are calmed and the yogi keeps practising, signs begin to show. They are divine and point to siddhi. These upasargas, or signs, are pratibha, shravana, varta, darshana, asvada and vedana, and they must be dealt with on the way to siddhi in yoga. Pratibha is the ability to see accurately the subtle, the hidden, the past and the future, which are not yet clear. Shravana is hearing all sounds without effort. Varta is knowing the conduct of all embodied beings. Darshana is divine insight without any effort. Asvada is the ability to savour divine tastes. Vedana is the ability to feel divine touch and divine fragrances. Brahma and the other lords of the worlds stand before him and give him many jewels. Sweet words flow easily from his mouth. Divine women bow to him and present all the divine medicines and herbs. This is only a small part of the siddhi gained through yoga. But when he sees it, his mind turns toward liberation: "Since I have seen this, moksha is also possible."

Related to earth, there are said to be eight qualities called paishacha: being large, thin, a child, old, a youth, taking many different forms, taking four kinds of body, and gathering different fragrances without being part of the earth. Related to water there are sixteen wonderful qualities: living in the water, emerging from the ground, drinking up the ocean at will without harm, seeing water anywhere in the world, holding water in the palm without a pot, tasting any flavour at once, creating other juices, taking three kinds of body, having a body free of wounds, and the eight of earth besides. Related to fire there are twenty-four: producing fire from the body, not fearing scorching heat, burning down the universe without effort, creating fire or water, holding fire or water in the hands, restoring things burnt earlier, cooking food in the mouth, creating two kinds of body, and the sixteen of water besides. Related to wind there are thirty-two: entering creatures instantly at the speed of thought, holding heavy things like mountains without effort, becoming heavy or light, holding wind in the hand, making fire with the flick of a finger, shaking the earth with the flick of a finger, making a body of fire only, and the twenty-four of fire besides. Related to space there are forty, called Aindra: having no shadow, coming and going unperceived by the senses, travelling through the sky, obtaining the objects of the senses at will, crossing beyond space, making space within one's own body, reducing space to a lump, living without a body, and the thirty-two of wind besides. Related to the mind there are forty-eight, called chandramasa: obtaining whatever is wished, travelling at will, subduing everyone, seeing all that is secret, creating forms needed for a task, controlling, being pleasant in appearance, insight into samsara, and the forty of space besides. The qualities of the proud Prajapati are fifty-six: the ability to cut, strike, bind and free, to seize all beings under samsara's sway, to favour everyone, to conquer death, to conquer time, and the forty-eight of chandramasa besides. And there are sixty-four extraordinary qualities called Brahma: creating, saving and destroying by resolve, engaging the minds of all beings in their own entitlements, making differences among all, creating separate worlds, being an instrument of the auspicious and of the inauspicious, and the fifty-six of the Prajapati besides.

Know that there are qualities beyond the grasp of intelligence. These are minor, ordinary powers tied to the world, called Vaishnava. Only Brahma can speak of the others, no one else. Beyond this minor world is the world of Purusha, and beyond that, with lordship over the gunas, is Ishvara's world, of which only Vishnu knows a little. With higher knowledge and supreme non-attachment one should work to hold back all these siddhis and their displays. If the mind clings to the gunas and these displays of the impure, one will not gain the wonderful supreme siddhi that gives freedom from fear and is desired by all. A person who tosses aside the gunas enjoyed by gods, asuras and kings like a blade of grass can gain the supreme siddhi of yoga. Or, wishing to favour the world, the sage may wander, enjoying the gunas as he likes, and having enjoyed pleasures, go on toward liberation.

I will now say more about applying yoga. Control yourself and listen. The time must be auspicious and the place auspicious, such as Shiva's sacred field or another, desolate, empty of beings, silent and free of obstacles. The place is well smeared, made pleasant and fragrant with scents and incense, with flowers scattered round and a colourful canopy. There must be plenty of kusha grass, flowers, water, roots and fruits. It should not be near a fire or a body of water, nor have piles of dry leaves. It should not be infested with gnats, mosquitoes, snakes or beasts of prey, nor frequented by wicked animals or evil people who cause fear. It should not be near a cremation ground, an anthill, a ruined house, a crossroads, the banks of rivers large or small, the seashore or the middle of a road, nor in a run-down garden or cow pen. The place should not be harmful or condemned in any way, nor soiled by undigested food, sour vomit, urine or excrement. He should not practise after vomiting, after overeating or when exhausted, when the mind is burdened with grave thoughts or when very hungry or thirsty, or when his guru has set him tasks. He must be moderate in food and pleasure, in exertion and work, in sleeping and waking. Every kind of excess must be avoided. The seat must be soft, beautiful, wide, level and pure. He practises the postures svastikasana, padmasana and the others, and in order worships all who stand as his gurus. His throat, head and chest are straight. The eyes should not look up too much, the head is raised a little and the teeth do not touch. The tongue rests at the tip of the teeth and does not move. The two heels guard the genitals. Without much effort the hands are laid sideways on the thighs, the back of the right hand over the palm of the left. The back is gradually straightened and the chest thrust forward a little. He fixes his gaze on the tip of his nose and looks in no other direction. The movement of prana is controlled and he is still as a rock. He pictures Shiva and Amba within his own body, in the centre of the pedestal that is the lotus of the heart, and worships them with the sacrifice of meditation. He pictures the lord at the root or tip of the nose, the navel, throat, palate, the opening between the eyebrows, the door to that opening, the forehead and the head. As is proper he pictures a supreme seat for Shiva and Shivaa. By the norms he is pictured with or without enclosures, in a lotus of two, twelve or sixteen petals. Shiva can also be remembered in a ten-sided, six-sided or square figure.

The two-petalled lotus is in the middle between the eyebrows, bright as lightning. To north and south of that lotus he pictures two petals with hues like lightning. When those hues fade, there is a sixteen-petalled lotus standing for the sixteen vowels, conceived in its petals from the east, starting at the root. In order, the letters are its leaves. The lotus has the colour of the sun and he must meditate on it in his own heart. In order, the letters on the petals are the colour of cow's milk. The six lower petals have the colour of smoke from a fire without coals. The letters on the petals of the lotus in the muladhara chakra are golden. According to his inclination he meditates on Deva and Devi seated on any of these lotuses, but the mind must be fixed. He pictures the lord in any form: the size of a thumb, sparkling, dazzling in all directions, pure as a lamp flame, with his own Shakti, as the full moon, as the lunar disc, as a star, like the awn of nivara grain, as a lotus stalk, round as a kadamba flower, or as a flake of snow. As he wishes he meditates on the tattvas he wants to conquer. He thinks of the gross images, the lords of the tattvas from Brahma to Sadashiva, the eight images, Bhava and the rest, Shiva's gross form as fixed in Shiva's texts, the terrible form, the serene form or the mixed form. Lords among sages, skilled in meditation and not driven by desire for fruits, have contemplated all these forms. Meditating on a terrible form destroys sins and ailments. Meditating on a mixed form, the fruits take long. Meditating on a pleasant form, the fruits do not come at once but do not take too long either. Meditation on the gentle form in particular leads to liberation, peace and wisdom. Doubtless siddhis are gained gradually.