Chapter 2: Practice
1: tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ
Austerity, recitation, [and] devotion to the present moment are active Yoga.
2: samādhibhāvanārthaḥ kleśatanūkaraṇārthaś ca
[These practices] cultivate samādhi and weaken the defilements.
3: avidyāsmitārāgadveṣābhiniveśāḥ kleśāḥ
The defilements are: ignorance, conceit, greed, aversion, and inertia.
4: avidyā kṣetram uttareṣāṃ prasuptatanuvicchinnodārāṇām
Ignorance is the field for the rest, whether they be dormant, suppressed, weakened, or aroused.
5: anityāśuciduḥkhānātmasu nityaśucisukhātmakhyātir avidyā
Ignorance is seeing as permanent, essential, satisfying, or self that which is really impermanent, inessential, unsatisfying, and not-self
6: dṛgdarśanaśaktyor ekātmatevāsmitā
Conceit misidentifies the power of seeing as “a seer.”
7: sukhānuśayī rāgaḥ
Greed is chasing [after] pleasure.
8: duḥkhānuśayī dveṣaḥ
Aversion is chasing [away] pain.
9: svarasavāhī viduṣo 'pi tathā rūḍho 'bhiniveśaḥ
Inertia is rooted in relishing one’s own stream of consciousness.
10: te pratiprasavaheyāḥ sūkṣmāḥ
These are subtleties to be eliminated by going against the stream
11: dhyānaheyās tadvṛttayaḥ
Eliminated, that is, through meditation.
12: kleśamūlaḥ karmāśayo dṛṣṭādṛṣṭajanmavedanīyaḥ
The tendency to act is rooted in the defilements and is felt throughout seen and unseen births.
13: sati mūle tadvipāko jātyāyurbhogāḥ
There being a root, there will be fruit: birth, aging, and experience.
14: te hlādaparitāpaphalāḥ puṇyāpuṇyahetutvāt
These delightful and distressing fruits have merit and demerit as their cause.
15: pariṇāmatāpasaṃskāraduḥkhair guṇavṛttivirodhāc ca duḥkham eva sarvaṃ vivekinaḥ
Change, austerity, activity, pain, sense contact, whirling, and conflict—to the discerning, however, all is stressful.
16: heyaṃ duḥkham anāgatam
Eliminate future stress!
17: draṣṭṛdṛśyayoḥ saṃyogo heyahetuḥ
Eliminate its cause: conflating “seeing” with “a seer”!
18: prakāśakriyāsthitiśīlaṃ bhūtendriyātmakaṃ bhogāpavargārthaṃ dṛśyam
“Seeing” is [merely] the continuous, “brightness” activity with the virtue of transforming the elements and the [visual] faculties into objects of experience.
19: viśeṣāviśeṣaliṅgamātrāliṅgāni guṇaparvāṇi
Differentiated, undifferentiated, distinct or indistinct are just levels of sense contact.
20: draṣṭā dṛśimātraḥ śuddho 'pi pratyayānupaśyaḥ
“The seer” is only [the action of] seeing: pure attending and observing.
21: tadartha eva dṛśyasyātmā
“Seeing” is, essentially, just for that purpose.
22: kṛtārthaṃ prati naṣṭam apy anaṣṭaṃ tadanyasādhāraṇatvāt
Its purpose done, it vanishes—though the object doesn’t, commonly speaking.
23: svasvāmiśaktyoḥ svarūpopalabdhihetuḥ saṃyogaḥ
The power of ownership over things is a misunderstanding caused by this conflation.
24: tasya hetur avidyā
The cause of this is ignorance.
25: tadabhāvāt saṃyogābhāvo hānaṃ taddṛśeḥ kaivalyam
Eradicating it, the conflation is [also] eradicated. That letting go is seeing liberation.
26: vivekakhyātir aviplavā hānopāyaḥ
Unremitting, detached awareness is the means for attaining detachment.
27: tasya saptadhā prāntabhūmiḥ prajñā
It has seven parts and its final stage is wisdom.
28: yogāṅgānuṣṭhānād aśuddhikṣaye jñānadīptir ā vivekakhyāteḥ
The “limbs” of Yoga, the wearing away of impurities, and the brilliance of jhana lead to detached awareness.
29: yamaniyamāsanaprāṇāyāmapratyāhāradhāraṇādhyānasamādhayo 'ṣṭāv aṅgāni
The eight “limbs” are: restraint, observance, posture, watching the breath, guarding the senses, meditation and samādhi.
30: ahiṃsāsatyāsteyabrahmacaryāparigrahā yamāḥ
Harmlessness, honesty, non-stealing, chastity and non-addiction are restraint.
31: jātideśakālasamayānavacchinnāḥ sārvabhaumā mahāvratam
[Holding to these five precepts] in all spheres, [regardless of] birth, place, time, and mitigating circumstances constitutes the Great Vow.
32: śaucasaṃtoṣatapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ
Purity, contentment, austerity, recitation, and devotion to the present are the observances.
33: vitarkabādhane pratipakṣabhāvanam
Afflicted effort implies cultivating the opposite.
34: vitarkā hiṃsādayaḥ kṛtakāritānumoditā lobhakrodhamohapūrvakā mṛdumadhyādhimātrā duḥkhājñānānantaphalā iti pratipakṣabhāvanam
The effort to harm, [lie, steal,] etc.—whether done [personally], caused to be done, or [simply] approved of; whether arising from greed, hatred, or delusion; whether subtle, medium, or extreme—has suffering and unending ignorance as its fruit. Therefore, their opposites should be cultivated.
35: ahiṃsāpratiṣṭhāyāṃ tatsaṃnidhau vairatyāgaḥ
Being firmly grounded in non-harm, enmity is abandoned in that presence.
36: satyapratiṣṭhāyāṃ kriyāphalāśrayatvam
Being firmly grounded in honesty ensures that actions are fruitful.
37: asteyapratiṣṭhāyāṃ sarvaratnopasthānam
Being firmly grounded in non-stealing draws you close to all the [world’s] treasures.
38: brahmacaryapratiṣṭhāyāṃ vīryalābhaḥ
Being firmly grounded in chastity, vitality is obtained.
39: aparigrahasthairye janmakathaṃtāsaṃbodhaḥ
Being settled on non-addiction awakens us to the process of rebirth.
40: śaucāt svāṅgajugupsā parair asaṃsargaḥ
Through purity, the protection of your own limbs and the non-contamination of others.
41: sattva-śuddhi-saumanasya-ikāgryendriya-jayātma-darśana-yogyatvāni ca
[The higher] purity of mind is [achieved through] gladness, one-pointedness, mastery of the faculties, and the ability to know one’s self.
42: saṃtoṣād anuttamaḥ sukhalābhaḥ
Contentment is the highest pleasure.
43: kāyendriyasiddhir aśuddhikṣayāt tapasaḥ
Austerity is the wearing away of [mental] impurities through the power of the body’s faculties.
44: svādhyāyād iṣṭadevatāsaṃprayogaḥ
Through recitation, contact with the chosen deity.
45: samādhisiddhir īśvarapraṇidhānāt
Through devotion to the present, the attainment of samādhi.
46: sthirasukham āsanam
A stable, comfortable posture
47: prayatnaśaithilyānantasamāpattibhyām
by deliberate relaxation and nonstop unification
48: tato dvandvānabhighātaḥ
From that, one is not bothered by dualities
49: tasmin sati śvāsapraśvāsayor gativicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ
Mindful of inhalation and exhalation in this way, while cutting off [other] activities, is watching the breath.
50: bāhyābhyantarastambhavṛttir deśakālasaṃkhyābhiḥ paridṛṣṭo dīrghasūkṣmaḥ
Externally or internally, with a fixed or moving point [of awareness], for a duration or for a count, watch long and short [breaths].
51: bāhyābhyantaraviṣayākṣepī caturthaḥ
The fourth [jhana] transcends in and out.
52: tataḥ kṣīyate prakāśāvaraṇam
There, the covering of the light [of the citta] disappears.
53: dhāraṇāsu ca yogyatā manasaḥ
And it is there that the mind is [finally] fit for application.
54: svaviṣayāsaṃprayoge cittasvarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇāṃ pratyāhāraḥ
Its things disunite [from it], just as appearances did from the faculties during sense restraint.
55: tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām
From this: full control of the faculties.