Abiding in the form, in the nature of the seer is yoga. Whenever you experience joy, ecstasy, bliss, happiness, knowingly or unknowingly, you are abiding in the nature of the seer. At other times you are with the different activities of the mind.

Vrutti sarupyamitaratra (Sutra 4) meaning ‘You identify yourself with the modulations of the mind all the time’. It is like when innocent villagers or children are watching a movie, they are so totally involved in the movie that nothing else exists for them at that moment. They wouldn’t even know if their legs or back was hurting. They do not feel pain or their body at all.

Vruttayaha panchatayyaha klishtaklishtaha (Sutra 5)- ‘the modulations of the mind are five-fold, painful or not painful’. Five modes of consciousness arises in your self.

Pramanaviparyayavikalpanidra -smrutayaha (Sutra 6) – ‘wanting proof, wrong understanding, imagination, sleep and memory’.

The first modulation is Pratyakshanumanagamaha pramanani (Sutra 7), – ‘the different kinds of proof the mind requires are the obvious, experiential proof, inferential proof and scriptural proof’. Pratyaksha means obvious, experiential. Our mind constantly wants solid proof. Another is Anumana, which means, it is not so obvious, but you infer and whatever you infer, you believe. Then, Agamaha is the proof the mind takes from scriptures or books.

The second is when you impose your own ideas and feelings on others and think that is how they are. Viparyayo mithyajnanamatadrupa pratishtam (Sutra 8) meaning ‘wrong understanding is knowing of the unreal in a form that is not its own’. You have an inferiority complex or you see someone behaving arrogantly although they might not be arrogant and you are not being ill-treated by them. This tendency is viparyaya.

Abiding in the form, in the nature of the seer is yoga. Click To Tweet

The third is vikalpa. Shabdajnananupati vastushunyo vikalpaha (Sutra 9) – a sort of hallucination followed in sequence by mere words or knowledge and, in reality, devoid of truth.

If the mind is not in any of these modulations, then it goes to sleep. Abhavapratyayalambana vruttirnidra (Sutra 10) – ‘sleep is that modulation of the mind which has for its objective substratum, the cause of non-existence’.

The fifth activity of the mind is smruti – Anubhuta vishaya sampramoshaha smrutihi (Sutra 11), which is remembering the past experiences it had.

Yoga is when you drop this search and abide in the self. This does not need proof. Truth cannot be understood through proof. God is beyond proof. Proof is connected to logic and logic is very limited in its preview. This is not in the realm of the seer. The seer is beyond proof