Latin and Greek Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Aphorism 18, Chapter 1

Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft.  To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both classically diachronic and most enlightening).   I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.

The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara (the manifestations of prakrti, or worldly phenomenology), and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us.  Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad evolutes (which are all so very interesting!).

During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect (hence, a tri-lingual, diachronic linguistic heritage) the same transformation?

Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 17:  At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self.  This post I move on to: Aphorism 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.

Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important  Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:

Practices: From the Greek root word praktikos: active, fit for action, business-like,which is related to pragma, pragmatos: deed, act.  Practice is nothing more than doing; praxis is a fancier word for the same idea.  Numerous SAT and GRE derivatives come via this word, such as impracticality, pragmatic, pragmatism, malpractice, and practiced (adj.). 


Cognition: From the Latin root word cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: to learn, know.  Cognition is the act of learning or knowing (in an extremely broad sense).  Other fine SAT and GRE derivatives that come from this root include cognitive, incognito, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, cognoscenti, and prognosis.

Latent:  From the Latin root word lateo, latere: to lie hidden, lurk.  A "latent" impression "lies hidden" until being spurred to reappear, in this case in a later life.  Note that the "-ent" suffix is nothing more than a present active participle ending, hence "latent" is "lying hidden."  Latency is another key derivative, simply the substantive form of "latent."

Impressions:  From the Latin root word premo, premere, pressi, pressum: press, crush, overpower, exert force upon.  An "impression" is simply that which is "exerted upon" something else, in this case, the experiences of one's life being "pressed upon" one's memory.  This Latin root word is prolific, to wit: compression, suppress, oppressive, impressionable, repressive, irrepressible, etc.  A complete list of over 100 derivatives can be found via Word Empire III: Clarity, the most comprehensive Greek and Roots etymology dictionary available today.

Memory:  Via the Latin root word memoro, memorare: to recall to mind; to remind. Memory is the ability to recall something to mind, which intimates that all impressions are there in the mind of past experiences or objects perceived, but it's the power of the memory that enables one to retrieve those perceptions. Other SAT and GRE level vocabulary from this includes: memorial, commemorate, memoir, memorandum, immemorial, and memorabilia.

Now let's move on to Aphorism 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.

The idea behind Yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind, clearing it in order to be able to attain samadhi, or enlightenment, which brings true joy and a vision of things as they really are.  When one is no longer plagued by the four forms of cognition, or analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self, they do not disappear, but remain lying dormant, as it were, ready at any moment to pop back up again, either during this lifetime or future reincarnations.  That is why it is of paramount importance to practice Yoga each and every day, for cognition is very strong, and the cause truly of all worldly woes.  It has always been curious to me that the mind, which can bring us so much, can also take away so much; that is, there are as many different worlds of the mind as there are people on this one planet, and clearly they cannot all be "right," but merely see one version of a mind-clouded truth.  Yoga stipulates that each and every one of us has divinity immanent in ourselves; that is, we each have a purusa, a transcendent power that is capable, according to Yoga, of omnipotence and omniscience, equal almost in grandeur to Isvara (taking the various forms of Vishnu or Shiva), the One Purusa, the only difference being that Isvara can create worlds, whereas a particulated, unique purusa cannot.  So we are all divine, as it were, capable of immense greatness, but this mind that impedes our progress must be dealt with first, and recognized for what it is. 

But why?  Why the game?  Prakrti, the matrix of all evolutes, that which creates all phenomenology, that which forms constantly changing states of matter all about us, is there for purusa, for its entertainment, as it were.  The problem is is that our minds take those prakrtic manifestations as reality with a capital "R," which fools the purusa into thinking that it, too, is a part of prakrti, when it, in fact, is not.  The mind or citta dupes it, as it were, causing purusa to think that the mind and all its craziness and the world of manifestation is ultimate Reality.  Once purusa becomes tired of the never-ending dance of forms (which may takes thousands of lifetimes), it will eventually realize its true self, and all forms of cognition will be seen as what they are, simply yet another form of prakrti.  The discipline (and a hard discipline it is) of Yoga speeds along that process, allowing purusa to shine forth more quickly, to gain samadhi more rapidly, to burn the samskaras more quickly, so that purusa may ultimately be liberated, no longer bound by the chains of cognition, no longer chained by duhkha, suffering.  Freed to claim its own birthright: omnipotence and omniscience, and ultimately kaivalya, ultimate enlightenment (comparable to the nirvana of Buddhism).  The mystic powers of the yogi are hard to conceive of, which Patanjali fully addresses in Book III.  Things like teleportation, polymorphing, invisibility, levitation, elephantine strength, moving at the speed of thought, omniscience, and omnipotence.  Wow.  Unlimited human potential through the taming, and ironically then the harnessing, of the mind.  But only through recognition of prakrti for what it is, a long and difficult process.  Nihil sine magno labore.  Nothing without great effort.  Ad astra per aspera.  To the stars through hard work.  Wouldn't Nietzsche be enthralled vis-a-vis his concept of the Ubermensch, or Overman, concocted in his most well-known brilliant work, Thus Spake Zarathustra?



 


Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words cedo, cedere, and gnosco, gnoscere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic!  There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.

Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 17

Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft.  To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both diachronic and most enlightening).   I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.

The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara (the manifestations of prakrti, or worldly phenomenology), and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us.  Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad evolutes (which are all so very interesting!).

During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect (hence, a tri-lingual, diachronic linguistic heritage) the same transformation?

Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 16: When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature  This post I move on to: Aphorism 17: At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self.

Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important  Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:

process:  From the Latin root word cedo, cedere, cessi, cessus: move, give in, give way, yield, and the Latin preposition pro: forward, forth.  Therefore, a process is simply a "moving forth" with some activity.  The verb cedo, cedere has a legion of GRE and SAT derivatives, including: antecedent, cede, precedent, accede, incessant, unprecedented, and recession.  Want many more?  Check out www.wordempire.com where you can find a Greek and Latin roots based dictionary in full color that has a full listing of English words derived not only from this root, but 1170 others, a complete distillation of the English language in terms of its Greek and Latin roots.

accompanied:  The primary stem of the word "accompany" comes from the Latin root word panis, "bread."  Looking at the two prefixes (ac--to, towards, near, at, com--with together), we see that "company" is etymologically the people that we share "bread with;" to "accompany," then, is a going "towards" or being "near or at" those with whom one "shares bread."  Panis, of course, is the root word behind the French word for bread, pain, and the Spanish, "pan;" note that Spanish and French are evolved forms of Latin (to the tune of about 90% root representation).  One of my favorite English words is "paneity," "the state or condition of being bread."  Huge.  Do you know anyone whose brain appears sometimes afflicted by "paneity," or perhaps is in a permanent state of?

cognition:  From the Latin root word cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: to learn, know.  Cognition is the act of learning or knowing (in an extremely broad sense).  Other fine SAT and GRE derivatives that come from this root include cognitive, incognito, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, and prognosis. 

analytical: From the Greek root word lyein: loosen, destroy, dissolve.  When one analyzes something, one is able to "loosen" any secrets from it, whereas if one is begin analytical, one is "loosening" or "destroying" any obstacles that prevent one from full knowledge of something.  Other SAT and GRE vocabulary words that come from this root include: catalyst and palsy.  Many, many medical terms derive from this root as well, such as: dialysis, hemolysis, electrolysis, paralysis, etc.  Check out Word Empire III: Clarity for a full listing of these medical terms, as well as those involved with chemistry and biochemistry.

Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at Aphorism 17, Chapter 1: At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self.

Patanjali now lists what happens when a yogi becomes nonreactive or attempts to cease the fluctuations of the mind, the vrittis, stilling the violent reactions of the mind in favor of ceasing the never ending flow of the citta.  As per the style of Patanjali, much will be said in future sutras about these four types of cognition.  I would like to bring in my own experience at this point to discuss these four types of thinking.

Japa is the way of meditation, that is, the focusing upon an alambana, or object of concentration, exclusive of all else, the intense focus stills the mind, creates restraining samskaras, and thereby helps circumscribe the multitudinous outgoing samskaras that plague us all so.  Patanjali states that the fastest way to enlightenment is through the help of a divinity, most notably Vishnu or Shiva, but that the second fastest way to enlightenment is the repetition of the sacred syllable OM (which encompasses the Universe) over a course of many years, which brings one closer to Vishnu or Shiva, who then grants samadhi, or the realization that one is not prakrtic in nature at all, but that one is one's purusa, or atman, or soul, and that the body and all its various accoutrements that it brings (job, family, career, that is, identity) is not you, but is yet another manifestation of prakrti, there for purusa to experience, but, when all is said and done, as illusory and evanescent as any other manifestation that prakrti brings for purusa to witness.  Getting there, of course, is way difficult, so difficult, in fact, that it requires many, many lifetimes to get there.  Thanks to Isvara, the Lord of the Yogis, for metempsychosis, for reincarnation.  Indeed, this process of clearing the mind is a multi-lifetime process.
 
The problem is thought.  Thinking, thinking, thinking and always thinking.  Sem, sem, sem, sem, sem.  The mind, the citta, is whorled continuously by the vrittis; the yogi's task, by doing japa (Iyengar nicely melds japa with yogasana so that one can physically flow and meditate concurrently) is to build up what are called restraining samskaras, which are by and large small fortifications against the outgoing samskaras, those latent impressions in the mind that are continuously popping up, leading to thought upon thought upon thought (ad nauseam).  A samskara can be there from yesterday (dwelling upon events in one's life that are currently troubling), or a samskara can be from childhood, or even feelings that arise from a previous life.  Samskaras seem limitless!  How one is to build enough restraining samskaras to stop the outflow of the outgoing samskaras has seemed like a huge task to me.  The other day I spoke with one of my friends who has been meditating for over 30 years; he told me that his mind is more quiet now during japa, but certainly the vrittis still whorl, egged on by those ever appearing and disappearing samskaras.

I wonder if, as I analyze, analyze, analyze (you'd think we'd all get bored of this neverending thought and worrying that is, after all, just inflections of the very same thing day after day after day), if the restraining samskaras might perhaps be not a one-to-one correspondence with the outgoing samskaras, but if, rather, one restraining samskara might be able to defend, against, say, 100 outgoing samskaras?  I feel as if I am outmatched, as it were; the outgoing team is going to beat the restraining team, and right now the outgoing is winless.  If samskaras are measured by time, I'm going to be around for a very, very long time. 

However, despite the 90% frustration level, the restraining samskaras are building.  As I look upon my bronze statue of Shiva, candle glowing from behind, darkness of pre-dawn reigning, there are moments of pure concentration, when my citta is held at bay, when the restraining samskaras are multiplying.  Perhaps by the thousands; they must be time-independent, for if they weren't, no one would ever get out of the cycle of rebirth.  Sometimes at yoga I will experience the bliss of samadhi, realizing that it's all there, it's all true, it's all right beyond the onionskin.  The other day, while practicing japa, I felt a conscious shift in my brain, almost as if an entire layer of something peeled away.  I'm not sure what it was, but I know it was something to do with burning up those outgoing samskaras.  My mind has been calmer lately.  Even amongst the vicissitudes and vagaries of teaching Latin in middle school.

These epiphanic moments are what encourage the yogi to continue, even through the ardor of sitting (yes, that sounds like an oxymoron, but it is most certainly not).

Patanjali will deal later with "feeling like a self."  The idea here is that the prakrtic self is not who we are; we are not a body, our thoughts, our experiences, our prakrtic evolute. Rather, we ARE our purusa. If we could but realize that, all of the vicissitudes of our prakrtic, phenomenological  self could be seen as what they are: illusory.  I realize that I stated that already in this post, but perhaps you had forgotten?

Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words cedo, cedere, and gnosco, gnoscere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic!  There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.

Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 16

Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft.  To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both diachronic and most enlightening).   I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.

The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara, and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us.  Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad manifestations.

During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect the same transformation?

Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 15: As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.  This post I move on to: 

Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 16: When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.

Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important  Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:

ultimate: From the Latin root word ultimus: last, farthest away.  Good English derivatives that flow from this root include ultimate, penultimate ("almost" last; "pen" comes from paene, "almost;" source of words like peninsula .... "almost" an island and penumbra), antepenultimate (the 3rd to last syllable), preantepenultimate (the 4th to last syllable, that is, the "before the before the second to last") and Ultimate Thule.

 

non-re-act-ion: Via the Latin root words non: "not;" the prefix re-: "back, again;" act: from ago, agere, egi, actum: do, drive; and the suffix -ion "act, state, or result of doing something." So, etymologically, "nonreaction" is "the state of not doing (something) back" when something is done to you. Of these root words, hundreds of English words are derived from ago, agere, egi, actum; some SAT and GRE words include: exacting, ambiguous, prodigal, mitigate, exigent, and exiguous. Wanting more? Check out the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today. 

Pure:  From the Latin purus: clean, spotless.  Words like impurity and purity come via this, but also the SAT-level vocabulary words puritanical, expurgate, and purge (the last two directly via purgo, purgare: to clean or cleanse).

Independent:  Primarily from the Latin root word pendeo, pendere: to hang, weigh.  An "independent" person "is in the condition of not hanging from" anything else.  A huge number of words come via this root word, including many SAT and GRE level words--a small sampling follows: expend, suspend, append, compensate, recompense, stipend, pendulous, poise, penchant, and pensive.  Interested in learning all of the words that come from this highly prolific root word?  Check out www.wordempire.com , where you'll discover the most comprehensive and colorful Greek and Latin roots etymology dictionary available today.

Fundamental:  Via the Latin root word fundus: bottom, depths, basis.  Something "fundamental" forms the underpinning or "basis" from which other things arise.  It is kind of like an infrastructure upon which more things can be built.  For example, one must know the "basis" of knowledge of a certain area, or "basic" facts, or the "fundamental" facts of mathematics before one can truly understand the more abstract variable system.  Other great English vocabulary words that come from this root include: profound, founder (of course, a ship that "founders" sinks to the "bottom" of the sea), found, fund, and flounder.

Quality:  From the Latin adjective qualis: of which sort, or which kind, in what state.  The quality of one's work describes "of what kind or sort of substance" it is composed.  Is it of a poor kind?  Of a good sort?  Other SAT-level vocabulary words that stem from this root of good quality include: qualitative, qualifier, and kickshaw (via French quelque chose). 



Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at Chapter 1, Aphorism 16: 
When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.

In this sutra, Patanjali tells us that our soul, purusa or the atman, mistakes itself for being a part of nature, since the citta, that part of our mind that engages with the world, imagines that it is the only reality and truth. Since the citta, however, is also a manifestation of prakrti (prakrti again is the matrix of phenomenology, that is, it is the creative force that creates all phenomena around us in this physical world, including, and most importantly, the citta, or mind), it tricks the purusa into thinking that it too is bound up within prakrti as it conceives of it.  This holds true as well for the buddhi part of the citta, which lies closest to purusa, and acts as a mirror which shines back to it, enabling it to behold itself.  "Pure awareness," or unsullied consciousness of the purusa is not possible with any sort of reaction, because the purusa itself is, by definition, reactionless; it, in and of itself, cannot react to anything because it is not of the nature of prakrti, but transcendent to it; it is beyond the world of opposites, beyond any phenomenology: it is transcendent (and hence a piece of the divine dwells immanent within us all, making us all equal, making us all ineffable).  It is only the citta, the mind, which can thus react.  The ultimate purpose of prakrti once again is to provide experience for purusa, and once purusa deems that it is indeed not of prakrti, and becomes disengaged from it, or disinterested, only then will enlightenment be possible.  This process of the falling away of interest of those things prakrtic (yes, that was tautological all you cavilers) ultimately consummates in total nonreaction because of the realization that prakrti is nothing but an ever-changing show, irreal, but nevertheless necessary for purusa to at long last divine that it, and only it, that is, one Pure Witness, or Pure Awareness, can have any lasting "reality" in the samsaric mokestrom.  The "fundamental qualities of nature" simply refers to the creative matrix of prakrti.


And so, it seems that we can practice (it's oh so interesting that "praxis" takes place amongst the productions of "prakrti") nonreaction to the ongoing show.  Why be oh-so-invested by reacting negatively or harshly to one's neighbor, when, in truth, it it nothing but yet another guise of prakrti that will all too soon evanish, as all of prakrti is evanescent (at best, or at worst)?  My wonderful, wonderful good friend Ruth Frederick used to say "This too shall pass."  And so it shall.  The nature of prakrti is Heraclitean; Heraclitus had many wonderful aphorisms about change: a few follow:

Everything flows, nothing stays still.
The sun is new each day.
You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on.
There is nothing permanent except change.

We could view this as highly disenchanting, since, after all, we cling to the unclingable.  We yearn to keep the unkeepable.  But, Yoga tells us that we do, each and every one of us, possess a unique purusa, all of "our" own, that is unchangeable, that is divinely immanent, and that is not influenced whatsoever by the ever changing flow of objects and images that is the phenomenology of this world, this training ground.  We should take very great comfort and solace from that.  That notion could form the very core of our inner calm abiding.  Let us remember, in the thick of it, that this too shall pass.

We can count on that.

One last thought: have you ever looked through old photo albums from your family or extended family, and wonder just who those people were in the black and white photographs?  Sometimes we're lucky if we even get a name, much less anything about them.  Recall that one day, you, too, will be part of a similar black and white photograph.  This can allow us to pause, and regard the samsaric onslaught of prakrti with perspective and equanimity.

With nonreaction.  Because, at heart, it is all equivalent, and equally illusory. 



Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words ago, agere, and pendeo, pendere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic!  There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.

Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!

Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 15

Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft (found in the fascinating and life-transforming book The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker's Guide to Extraordinary Living by Stephen Cope), and also those translations of Swami Satchidananda, Edwin Bryant, and Christopher Chapple. I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.

The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara, and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us.  Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to it.

During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect the same transformation?

Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 14: This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time.  This post I move on to: 

Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 15: As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.

Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important  Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:

non-re-act-ion: Via the Latin root words non: "not;" the prefix re-: "back, again;" act: from ago, agere, egi, actum: do, drive; and the suffix -ion "act, state, or result of doing something." So, etymologically, "nonreaction" is "the state of not doing (something) back" when something is done to you. Of these root words, hundreds of English words are derived from ago, agere, egi, actum; some SAT and GRE words include: exacting, ambiguous, prodigal, mitigate, exigent, and exiguous. Wanting more? Check out the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today. 

recognize: via cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: learn, know, get to know (conn, quaint).  Here is a short paragraph utilizing English vocabulary words derived from this prolific word root: 

When Billy recognized Morgan after not seeing her for many years, he ‘got to know’ her ‘again’. After this recognition had occurred, he really wanted to reacquaint himself with her bubbling effervescent personality (note the funny spelling change of this Latin root from "cognit" to "quaint:" Old French is the culprit; French has certainly added a great deal of color to our language, and is a major contributor to difficult Scripps National Spelling Bee words!), so he decided to invite her on a date to a quaint (the adjective "quaint" can mean ‘cunningly made’ by someone who has ‘learned’ a skill, but has also evolved into meaning ‘strange’ and ‘odd’ in an old-fashioned sort of way) French restaurant so as to make the soiree a highly memorable rendezvous.
Billy must have possessed some sort of oracular precognition, or foreknowledge, because Morgan had, over the years, become quite the cognoscente of French cuisine, "having learned" all the ins and outs of haute cuisine. Billy, certainly no connoisseur whatsoever of food, "knowing" little of its art, therefore decided to reconnoiter the restaurant to "learn" a little about it beforehand in order to impress his hoped-for new beloved, so he went, incognito (or name "unknown"), to the place itself, pretending to be one of those magazine food tasters that would later report on the sumptuousness, or lack thereof, of the offered bill of fare. Displaying a tad bit of cognitive dissonance in his new role, he ordered biftec, and pronounced it a veritable miracle (grass fed, hugged, kissed, and all). Raving about his successful reconnaissance mission in which he "learned" everything he needed to "know" so he could report "back" to others, he felt fully prepared for his restaurant revel, ready to drop linguistic tidbits upon the lift of the fork, until he discovered, later on the next evening, that Morgan had gone incognita as well and was going for none of his obsequious culinary cognition (and who herself was a vegetarian anyway).

perceive:  from the Latin verb capio, capere, cepi, captum: "take, capture, seize."  "Perception," etymologically, is the "thorough seizing or capturing" by the mind of experience, or of the world that the mind "perceives." Note that the prefix "per" in this case acts as an intensive prefix, adding emphasis to the main stem "cept." ("pre" in the word "prefix," on the other hand, means "before, in front of," as "prefixes" are those words that are "fastened in front of a word"). The suffix "-ion" means "act, state, or result of doing something." Hence, etymologically, "perception" is the "act of thoroughly capturing or seizing" the world around one, through the mind, or to "perceive" is to "thoroughly capture" that which is around you (limited, of course, by the strictures of the human mind).  Capio, capere gives us many English SAT and GRE words, including but certainly not limited to: inception, encapsulate, incipient, susceptibility, captious, capacious, cater, conceit, and recuperate.  Want more?  Check out www.wordempire.com.

Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at aphorism 15: 
As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned. 

Nonreaction, or dispassion for those objects of the world, or for those niggling, annoying, and troublesome events that happen to us all, is perhaps one of the toughest lessons that we all must learn; for all of us, it will take many lifetimes.  How many people that we all know try to convince us of their opinions?  How many try to win arguments to feed their own ego?  How many of us need the next thing, the next smart phone, the next flat screen TV, the next version of the iPod?  One of each item doesn't seem to be enough in this day and age, as companies continue to focus on growth.  Yoga teaches us the freeing discipline of aparigraha, or  non-possessiveness.  This leads towards freedom, and limits our involvement with prakrti, that unending matrix of phenomenology that is continuously being created anew, forever beguiling the vrittis, or fluctuations of the mind, into focusing upon it. Much like the Schopenhauerian Will.

People will always "get our goat."  I remember my father saying that there is always a rotten apple in the barrel, which I took to mean that there are always going to be some people who will annoy us, irritate us, downright make us furious.  Say, for instance, that a co-worker speaks to you sharply one day, over a seemingly trivial event.  Most people's minds will latch onto that, and the whole process of endless cycles of thought will begin:  Why did he do that?  Whom does he think he is anyway?  I'm going to tell him off!  Maybe there is something wrong with me!  I really need to call a meeting with just my boss and that jerk to get even.  You know how it goes; endless mental energy is spent, taking precious time; your days are filled with something that is, in reality, no more.  Yoga teaches us to live in the moment, and in the moment only.  Charlotte Joko Beck, in her wonderful book Living Everyday Zen, speaks a wonderful truth. She describes an argument that a wife has with a husband.  The wife stews about it for weeks on end, making it live and come alive into the present.  Beck asks her, "Where is that?  Show me the argument."  Of course, it is not there at all.  It's now nothing but a fluctuation of the mind.  She also states, that when thoughts arise, simply label them.  "Here's a thought about my ridiculous neighbor."  "Here's a thought about why I'm not quite getting it."  Reality is not the citta, the mind, with all its silliness.  Label, and the thought will eventually disappear.  Even if it takes 1000 labels.

Many of us crave simplicity.  Aparigraha is a wonderful concept of Yoga that simplifies our lives because it allows us to chip away at our reactivity, at our need to have more and more, and realize that what is important is not stuff, it's stilling the mind, which does lead to peace and happiness (really!).  One of my friends and I used to go to sports card shows in Chicago; we would go about the merchants and desire rookie cards, old cards, cards of superstars, mostly because we'd think that those cards would be worth double the money in future years, maybe even tomorrow!.  We wouldn't want to pass up the remarkable opportunities present, and in this haze of buying frenzy we'd load up, sure that we'd strike it rich.  On the way home we'd gloat and guzzle over our newfound treasures ... but in another year we'd have completely forgotten about those cards because now there were even more that we just had to have!  I soon realized that all of that was just a mirage ... it was just another version of the endless permutations of prakrti that luckily I soon became wise to.  Prakrti just got me in other ways after that.

One of the gifts of Yoga is a becoming nonreactive to both things and the things that people do in our lives.  We must remain in the present, and the present moment only.  Where is that new smart phone right now?  Where is that 50th pair of shoes right now?  What is wrong with right now giving this moment its due?  What is wrong with giving each and every moment its due?  We live our lives not so much day to day or year to year, but moment to moment.  Yoga, the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind, the vrittis, is a deceptively simple task, but is vastly difficult; but over time it becomes easier.  We realize, as we appreciate each and every moment of nowness, that all snippets of time are worthy of being snooped out, of being attended to.  That our day should not be predicated upon wishing the day be past so that we can head to that sale to get more stuff.  Which will only make us crave more stuff.  Increasing the vrittis. Do you see the insidiousness?

There is nothing wrong with this moment.
There is nothing wrong with this moment.
There is nothing wrong with this moment.
Image this mantra in your life.
And imagine a life of nonreactivity.
Wow. 


Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words teneo, tenere; colo, colere, and firmus? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed. There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.

Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!

Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 14

Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft. I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.

The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day and mostly misperceives samsara, and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us.

During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect the same transformation?

Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 13: Practice is the sustained effort to rest in that stillness. This week I move on to: Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 14: This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time.

Let's first take a look at the Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:

Practice: via the Greek root prassein: to make, do, or achieve (morphemes from various principal parts of this verb include: pract and prax). Hence, practice is "doing," "making," or "achieving." Other SAT and GRE level vocabulary words include: pragmatic (via pragma: deed, act); malpractice; practitioner; praxis; and impractical.

Firmly: via the Latin root firmus: strong, stable, immovable. When one does something firmly, one's intent in that action is "strong" and "stable." Someone who is infirm, on the other hand, is not strong or stable, but weak; hence he or she possesses an infirmity of some kind. When one affirms an action, one is "strong" in one's acceptance of it. Other SAT and GRE level derivatives include: confirm, unfurl, furl, and affirmation. Note that the word "farm" derives from this root as well, as the land of a "farm" is "stable, strong, and immovable."

Cultivate: via the Latin root word colo, colere, colui, cultum: to till, grow, tend, maintain, develop, revere, worship, or inhabit. When one "cultivates" an action, one "grows" it by carefully "tending, maintaining, and developing" it over time so that it bears fruit (like a farmer cultivating her fields). SAT and GRE vocabulary words that come from this root include the ff.: acculturate, subculture, cyberculture, and terricolous. Note that a "cult" is a place where a divinity of some kind is "worshiped," whereas a "horticulturist" is one who "tends and grows" gardens.

Continuously: From the Latin root teneo, tenere, tenui, tentum: have, hold; "continuous" is the "thorough holding" of something over a long period of time (note that the prefix "con" comes via the Latin root word cum, which in this case acts as an intensive prefix meaning "thoroughly"). The difference between "continual" and "continuous" is this: whereas something that happens on a "continual" basis has breaks (continual rain would have periods of relief), a "continuous" action is nonstop. Teneo, tenere is another one of those huge roots that have given rise to a multiplicity of SAT and GRE English derivatives, such as: abstain, abstinence, tenacious, pertinacious, tenet, pertinent, detain, appurtenance, malcontent, etc. etc.

Now, let's take a look at aphorism 14: This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time. The mind is very, well, sticky, very pertinacious, very, very busy. One has been thinking continuously everyday for almost one's entire life (one would like to think that as infants we were spared that continuous barrage, merely continually delighting without spurious, fallacious analysis, golden years of the mind, as it were). Because of this neverending thought stream (stream of consciousness) it is very hard at first to cease those fluctutations of the mind, that interminable mind stuff, that never seems to want to be quiet. The sem, or flea-mind, has over 60,000 thoughts/day ... no wonder the goal of Yoga of cessation of that sem is so very difficult. This is why the practice of yoga must be "firmly" rooted in one's life, imbued in one's day, always and continuously present in one's actions and thoughts; it must be cultivated and tended lovingly and skillfully each and every day on a continuous basis over a long, long period of time. Then, and only then, will the amazing fruits of yoga be realized. Otherwise the mind and its diabolical vrittis or fluctuations will continue to take us over, making us slaves to our false selves. Be sticky. Be tenacious. Be pertinacious. This is well within the range of anyone who has sticky gumption. B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the world's masters of Yoga, states this in his preface to his enlightening book Light on Life: "If this book is to lay any claim to authenticity, it must make one point clear above all others. It is this: By persistent and sustained practice, anyone and everyone can make the yoga journey and reach the goal of illumination and freedom." "Sadhana" is the Sanskrit term for the "practice of Yoga." Be continuous in your sadhana. One's life, to have meaning, must have a teleological bent; what good is a goal if it is for material gratification only? "I've always wanted a Porsche." Then, when you finally get one, all of a sudden you want something else. Then something else again. Ad nauseam. But when one realizes the ultimate goal of Yoga, there is no wanting. No grasping. Only joy and bliss. One of the nicest conceptualizations of yogic practice is the idea of aparigraha: nonpossession. That alone can set you free. Today's world is one of instant gratification. I remember at one time when I was a kid that if I wanted a particular song, I'd have to travel 10 miles to the record store, only to find out that it was out of stock; I would then order it, and have to wait another two or three weeks--but was it sweet when I finally got it! The waiting, in and of itself, was educative. Now, what with instant downloads on one's iPod, one can get music immediately. Periods of waiting are on the decline. Which continues to create false needs because we get into the habit of avarice, wanting more and more and more ... how many gigabytes do you really need on that iPod anyway? You can only fit 5000 songs on it? Why not more? Patience and diligent application are a fire that refines the soul, refines the character, and defines who you are. You are not your likes, dislikes, status, professional standing, or any of the other trappings of modern life. You are purusa, which is realizable via continuous practice. The soul, purusa, the Witness, is not of the physical world; it is of a timeless, non-spatiotemporal realm. Meaning cannot come overnight; rather, those things which really matter in life take many, many years of hard practice before they come to fruition. A man may seek his beloved for an entire lifetime before he finds her; and yet, in that meeting, he will see that all his searching, all his efforts, all his time were more than worth the pain and agony in getting there. One cannot build castles upon sand, but one must carve out the difficult rock to construct something lasting. Ani Tenzin Palmo says in Reflections on a Mountain Lake that humans are lazy; that we let our minds run away with us, being too filled with lassitude to care. Yoga is well worth the effort. What could be more important than a search for the soul, for the ending of suffering, for finding the immanent transcendent that dwells within each and every one of us? If we all understood that the phenomenological manifestations of prakrti are nothing but illusory, merely there for the entertainment of purusa, then we would know that we all are the same, less the specious trappings that we all think are ourselves. What freedom, what peace, what joy, what love, and what bliss would come from that realization. Is that not worth the continuous effort of the discipline that Yoga offers each and every one of us? Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words teneo, tenere; colo, colere, and firmus? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed. There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you. Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!

Latin Roots of the Yoga-Sutra--Chapter 1--Aphorism 13

Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's great work concerning yoga, the Yoga-Sutra, translated by Chip Hartranft. I have found the aphoristic style of the Yoga-Sutra to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in it, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the practice of yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held western conception of yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.

The purpose behind yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day, and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what yoga can do for us.

During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's aphorisms, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with yoga beyond the asanas. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect the same transformation? Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 12. This week I move on to:

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

Let's first discuss the Greek and Latin roots of five words in aphorism 13:

Practice: via the Greek root prassein: to make, do, or achieve (morphemes from various principal parts of this verb include: pract and prax). Hence, practice is "doing," "making," or "achieving." Other SAT and GRE level vocabulary words include: pragmatic (via pragma: deed, act); malpractice; practitioner; praxis; and impractical.

Sustained: From the Latin root teneo, tenere, tenui, tentum: have, hold; "sustained" is the "holding under" of something in order to support it. Teneo, tenere is another one of those huge roots that have given rise to a multiplicity of English derivatives, such as: abstain, abstinence, tenacious, pertinacious, tenet, pertinent, detain, appurtenance, malcontent, etc. etc.

Effort: The word "effort" derives from the Latin adjective fortis: "strong, vigorous, powerful." English gets its word "force" from this (ts often changed to cs when moving from Latin into English). Hence, "effort" is "thoroughly strong, vigorous, or powerful" action in order to bring something about. Other SAT-level derivatives that come from fortis include: forcible, fortitude, forced, fortifying, force majeure (just to throw in a legal term).

Stillness/rest: Christopher Lee Chapple (in Yoga and the Luminous, an incredible explication of Patanjali) offers the word "stability" as an alternate translation for "rest in stillness." The English word "stability" ultimately derives from the Latin sto, stare, steti, statum: "stand, stand still" a hugely prolific root word that has given rise to hundreds of English words, including the following SAT and GRE level vocabulary words: rest, stature, substantial, constitute, statuesque, oust, obstinate, restive, and staunch, to name a very few. Interested in more? Check out the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today at www.wordempire.com.



Now, let's take a look at aphorism 13: Practice is the sustained effort to rest in that stillness; or substitute "rest in that stillness" with "stability."

Patanjali offers many avenues of Yogic "practice" that can help one cease the fluctuations of the mind, or at least slow them down (mine are unfortunately still running at thousands/day, but at least not tens of thousands any more! Wouldn't that be cool to have a "thought counter"? What a helpful tool that would be!). Ani Tenzin Palmo, in her fine book Reflections on a Mountain Lake, makes a reference to the fact that allowing one's thoughts to run amok is akin to pure laziness on the practitioner's behalf. Ceasing the mind's sem requires "sustained effort," that is, not only "effort" when one is meditating, but also, and even more pointedly, during the heated combat of daily life when remaining "stable" by nonreaction is not only the most difficult, but also the most salutary in leading one out of the ceaselessness of fluctuation. The sem loves samsara! And remains most alive while within its grasp.
The wonderful idea behind Yoga is that we can practice at any time. It does not require us to go out and buy expensive equipment (in fact, one of the nicest notions in Yoga is that of aparigraha, or "nonpossessing"); it does not require a particular venue or commute; it does not even require us to leave where we are right now (for are we not always "where we are?" a point nicely made in Wherever You Go, There You Are by John Kabat-Zinn). It "only" requires us to have mental stamina to cease that seemingly ceaseless sem, to shut it down, simply by "being" instead of erringly "becoming."
Something happens? Observe, don't react.
Something happens? Observe, don't react. ad infinitum. This takes years, so take it easy on yourself. I'm entering only my third year of yogic practice. Slip, slip, slip, tread, slip, slip, slip, tread. You get the idea.

Hence, Yoga, stringently, demands constant practice (how slippery are the thoughts that can take us from elation to the doldrums seemingly at a whim--how illusory it all is!) in order to be "still." A concept similar to the stillness of the nirvanic lake. The stillness of the center of the hurricane, a fine metaphor: being:stillness:stability:truth vs. becoming:motion:samsara:illusoriness.
Yoga takes us there with many different kinds of practices. Patanjali does not hammer one particular system as dogmatic and infallible; rather, he offers the yogi many egalitarian ways from which to pick and choose. Whatever metaphor works for you. His system thereby has not become concretized, is not proselytizing at all, and has no hidden or ulterior agenda. Comforting I must say in an age of capitalism (which pervades all).
Stay tune for my next post which shall speak of Aphorism 14: This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time. (my italics). Be not lazy!

Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words teneo, tenere; sto, stare, and fortis? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed. There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.

Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!