IV. Kaivalya Pāda · Powers and constructed minds (4.1–4.6)
4.5 · The Hub
One mind directs the many in their different activities.
Word by word
- pravṛtti-bhede
- in the difference of activities
- prayojakam
- directing, setting in motion
- cittam
- mind
- ekam
- one
- anekeṣām
- of the many
Where it fits
Vyāsa states the worry: how can many minds follow the intention of one? The yogi makes one further mind that directs the rest. With the constructed minds accounted for, 4.6 asks the question that matters for freedom: which of these minds leaves no store of karma behind?
Reading
If a yogi has many constructed minds, what keeps them together? Vyāsa answers that the yogi makes one more mind to direct all the others, so their varied actions serve a single purpose. Whatever one makes of the literal claim, the shape is familiar. A day full of different tasks holds together only when something steady underneath is setting the direction. Without it, the many minds pull apart and each one goes its own way.
Vyāsa
“How can the activity of many minds be led by the intention of one mind? The yogi makes one mind that directs all the others. From it their different activities proceed.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 303.
Practice
Before you start today, write one sentence naming what all your tasks are finally for. Keep it in your pocket. Twice during the day, at a change of task, read it and see whether the task in front of you still fits.
A question to sit with
What one purpose holds your many activities together?