साधनपाद / sAdhanapad

पातञ्जल योगसूत्र  - साधनपाद - १.

Patanjal Yoga-Sutra - Sadhanapada -1.

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In the Chapter One समाधिपाद  / Samadhipad of this treatise on Yoga, what is समाधि / samAdhi, was explained.

In this Chapter Two, is described, what are the essential means that help in attaining this समाधि / samAdhi and how they are to be practiced. These are the following :

तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः।।१।।

(तपः स्वाध्यायः ईश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः।।)

Collectively these are called :

क्रियायोगः / The Yoga of Action.

The Yoga Of Action is also known as :

कर्म-योग / Karma-Yoga, or simply the योग / Yoga. As is evident from the Stanza 4 and 5 of the श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता / Shrimadbhagvad-gita, the two kinds of aspirants according to the inherent  tendencies, orientation and the mindset are  of two kinds of their निष्ठा / nishthA :

साङ्ख्ययोगौ पृथग्बालाः प्रवदन्ति न पण्डिताः।।

एकमप्यास्थितः सम्यगुभयोर्विन्दते फलम्।।४।।

यत्साङ्ख्यैः प्राप्यते स्थानं तद्योगैरपि गम्यते।।

एकं साङ्ख्यं च योगं च यः पश्यति स पश्यति।।५।।

(अध्याय ५ / Chapter 5)

Those who are the seekers, and those who are the devotees.

A seeker tries to enquire about everything in terms of questioning, like - How, Why, Who, When, Whence and other such fundamental and initial queries, while the one, who has a  firm belief that there is the individual soul, there is a world and there is A Supreme One, Who is The Authority, the Only Lord of all and everything that is and happens in the world. He ordains the destiny of all beings. It's kind of monotheism.

The Seeker may accept the existence of such a Lord, call Him by a chosen name also, or may be just unconcerned about if there is or not such a Lord, in whatever form or kind. Seeking though begins in intellect, after a while the seeker arrives at the conclusion or the conviction that the consciousness alone is the instrumental and the material cause of all and everything. The consciousness alone is the Intelligence. This Intelligence Principle is variously called पुरुष / purusha, आत्मन् / आत्मा / Atman, ब्रह्मन् / Brahman, चैतन्य / चित्,  and all these words titles are synonyms. The same Intelligence Principle is again worshipped in the forms of शिव / Shiva / Father, देवी / Mother, गणपति / the child Who is the Intelligence and the Intellect also. The other two forms of the Lord could be the नारायण / NarayaNa and the सूर्य / the Sun, and this Intelligence-Principle is called साँख्य / sAmkhya साँख्य ज्ञान or simply the ज्ञान only.

The seeker ultimately finds out that though the action is important because purifies the mind and only then there is progress in the spiritual practice.

The two approaches, namely the ज्ञान / jnAna  and the कर्म / Karma may appear different from each other, are essentially one in the result and a seeker or a devotee ultimately attains the one and the same Supreme Truth.

Even the word "Yoga" is attached to them as in sAmkhya-yoga and karma-yoga and the two are kind of Yoga only. There could be no hard and fast line of distinction between the two.

Kriya-yoga therefore begins with practicing of the तपस् / tapas, स्वाध्याय / swaadhyaaya and ईश्वर-प्रणिधान / Ishwara-praNidhana.

Just as the Mathematicians of the day leave certain terms like "point", "line" undefined, the ancient sages too left certain such terms like "ईश्वर /Ishwara", "प्रकृति / Prakriti",  "ब्रह्मन् / Brahman", "आत्मन् / Atman" undefined. Still they agree there is such a "ईश्वर / Ishvara" in the sense "ईश्वर-तत्त्व / Ishwara-Principle" that governs the whole existence. They all agree on this.

Who exactly is this ईश्वर / Ishwara?

ईशावास्योपनिषद् / Ishavasyopanishad and the  श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता / Shrimadbhagvadgita tentatively indirectly define this ईश्वर / Ishwara as :

ईशिता सर्वभूतानां सर्वभूतमयँश्च यत्।।

ईशावास्येन सम्बोध्यं ईश्वरं तं नमाम्यहम्।।

And :

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति।।

भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया।।६१।।

तमेव शरणं गच्छ सर्वभावेन भारत।।

तत्प्रसादात्परां शान्तिं स्थानं प्राप्स्यसि शाश्वतम्।।६२।।

(अध्याय १८, Chapter 18)

See the beauty of this narration!

Some believe that Lord Shrikrishna Himself is "ईश्वर / Ishvara", and still refers to Ishvar in the third person singular "तं"!

These two references point out that there is such a Lord ईश्वर / Ishvar, and one should seek His refuge.

This is precisely what is meant by :

ईश्वर-प्रणिधान / Ishvara-praNidhAna, or

ईश्वर-निष्ठा / Ishvara nishthA.

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