ensures

The series on Patanjali’s yogasutras continues

The next sutra is Swarasavahi vidushopi tatharoodo abhiniveshaha, which means “fear flowing even in the wise is established in them as carefulness”.

The Sanskrit word for fear is Bhaya, but here Patanjali has used the word Abhinivesha, which in its most intense form is fear and in its most diluted cautiousness. Like for instance, when you walk on edge of a lake and you tread carefully so as not to fall in. If this care was not taken, the body would have vanished. It is like, “When I am not the body, I will not attend to the body at all”. In that case, “I will not have the body to speak longer or to do anything”.

To maintain the body certain amount of care is essential. Is this clear? When this care becomes little more than what is needed, then it becomes insecurity. If it becomes more, a little more, it is being paranoid. It is just like salt in the food. If there is more salt in food it becomes impossible to eat. At the same time, you cannot justify the presence of ignorance here. You cannot say, “Oh! Let it be there. A little ignorance can be there. So what?.” You have to thin them down and reduce it to its minimum.

That brings us to  pratiprasavaheyaha Sukshmaha.

When you make these miseries more and more subtle, they let you return to yourself. They bring the mind back to the source. When these miseries are very intense, they bother you and captivate your mind. When you crave for someone, the mind is not stable. The mind is not capable of meditating. But once the craving is limited, then, you are able to sit down and meditate. Now, what is the way to get rid of these miseries?

Dhyana heyahastad vruttayaha or meditation.