2.9 · The Will to Live

Clinging to life flows by its own momentum and is rooted just as firmly even in the wise.

Word by word

sva-rasa-vāhī

carried along by its own flavour or momentum

viduṣaḥ

of the wise, the learned

api

even

tathā

just so

rūḍhaḥ

rooted, established

abhiniveśaḥ

clinging to life; fear of ending

Where it fits

The list of 2.3 ends with its subtlest member. Clinging to life is rooted even in the wise, so learning does not remove it. Vyāsa reads the fear of death, present from birth, as a trace of deaths undergone in earlier lives (Woods p. 117). 2.10 turns to how the five end.

Reading

The subtlest affliction is the instinct that clings to existing. It 'flows by its own momentum', Patañjali says, and is rooted just as firmly even in the wise. Knowing about it doesn't remove it. This sūtra is honest: everyone carries it, however learned. Practice doesn't deny the fear. It makes room around it, so that it no longer runs the whole life.

Vyāsa

“Every living being always has this wish for itself: 'May I not cease to be! May I go on being!' … And just as this affliction is seen in the utterly deluded, so it is rooted even in the wise …”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 117–118.

Practice

Lie down for ten minutes. At the end of each easy exhale, notice the small moment before the next breath comes, and any flicker of alarm in it. Don't hold the breath. Let each in-breath arrive by itself. If this brings up something painful, stop and breathe normally.

A question to sit with

What are you afraid to let end?

Key ideas

kleśa (afflictions), saṃskāra (latent impressions), karma (action and its residue)