Fruits of the observances

What this passage does

The fruits of the five observances, in the order of 2.32: purity (2.40–2.41), contentment (2.42), discipline (2.43), study (2.44) and devotion to Īśvara (2.45). They move from the body toward the mind, ending in fitness to see the self and perfection in absorption. Vyāsa then closes the first two limbs and turns to posture (Woods p. 191).

Learning goals

• Match each observance to its fruit, in the order of 2.32.
• Explain the chain of 2.41 and why cheerfulness comes before one-pointedness.
• Explain how Vyāsa reads the fruits of discipline, study and devotion to Īśvara.

The argument, step by step

1. From purity comes distaste for one's own body and non-contact with others.
2. From purity also comes a chain: clarity, cheerfulness, one-pointedness, mastery of the senses, fitness to see the self.
3. From contentment comes unsurpassed happiness.
4. From discipline, as impurity wears away, comes perfection of body and senses.
5. From study comes communion with one's chosen deity.
6. From devotion to Īśvara comes perfection in absorption.

The sūtras

1. 2.40 śaucāt svāṅgajugupsā parair asaṃsargaḥ
   From purity comes distaste for one's own body and non-contact with others.
2. 2.41 sattvaśuddhisaumanasyaikāgryendriyajayātmadarśanayogyatvāni ca
   From purity also come clarity of mind, cheerfulness, one-pointedness, mastery of the senses and fitness to see the self.
3. 2.42 saṃtoṣād anuttamaḥ sukhalābhaḥ
   From contentment comes the gain of unsurpassed happiness.
4. 2.43 kāyendriyasiddhir aśuddhikṣayāt tapasaḥ
   From discipline, as impurity wears away, comes perfection of body and senses.
5. 2.44 svādhyāyād iṣṭadevatāsaṃprayogaḥ
   From study comes communion with one's chosen deity.
6. 2.45 samādhisiddhir īśvarapraṇidhānāt
   From devotion to Īśvara comes perfection in absorption.

Study

Vyāsa opens: we will now speak of the observances (Woods p. 188). Their fruits follow the order of 2.32 and move from the body toward the mind.

Purity has two fruits. 2.40: "From purity comes distaste for one's own body and non-contact with others." This is a hard sūtra and should be taught as it is. Vyāsa's reasoning: seeing the body's flaws, the practitioner stops being attached to it and becomes an ascetic; seeing no purity in the body even after washing, how could he mix with the bodies of others (Woods p. 188)? The text has renunciants in view. 2.41 gives the inner fruit: "From purity also come clarity of mind, cheerfulness, one-pointedness, mastery of the senses and fitness to see the self." Vyāsa reads it as a chain, each step arising from the one before (Woods p. 188). Cheerfulness, saumanasya, comes before one-pointedness.

2.42: "From contentment comes the gain of unsurpassed happiness." Vyāsa quotes a verse: whatever pleasure desire finds in this world, and whatever great pleasure there is in heaven, neither is worth a sixteenth part of the happiness that comes when craving ends (Woods p. 189). This answers 2.15, where pleasure from objects carried pain.

The last three are the yoga of action of 2.1. 2.43: "From discipline, as impurity wears away, comes perfection of body and senses." Vyāsa names powers such as becoming minute and hearing and seeing from afar (Woods p. 189), which the third pāda takes up. 2.44: "From study comes communion with one's chosen deity." Gods, sages and perfected beings come into view of one devoted to study and help in his work (Woods p. 190). 2.45: "From devotion to Īśvara comes perfection in absorption." For Vyāsa, one who has offered his whole being to Īśvara reaches absorption, and through it knows truly whatever he wishes to know (Woods p. 190). Vācaspati answers the objection that the other limbs would then be needless: they support it (Woods p. 190).

Readings differ most at 2.40 and 2.44. Some modern teachers soften jugupsā into detachment or care. The word means disgust, and the translation keeps it; a gentler reading can follow, labelled as a reading. At 2.44 Patañjali does not say which deity: iṣṭa-devatā is the one a person has chosen. For many in the tradition this is literal devotion; others take the chosen deity as the ideal that study brings alive. At 2.43 and 2.45 Vyāsa speaks of powers and full absorption, which raises the same question of literal reading met at 2.35–2.39.

Why it matters for practice. The observances run from an ascetic's view of the body to absorption through devotion, and the text does not water down either end. Between them lies a sequence ordinary practitioners can test for themselves: a clean, uncluttered life brings a clearer and more cheerful mind, and a cheerful mind gathers more easily.

For discussion

1. How should a teacher present 2.40 honestly to a modern class, and what does Vyāsa's reasoning add?
2. Why might cheerfulness come before one-pointedness in the chain of 2.41?
3. How does the happiness of 2.42 answer the claim of 2.15 that pleasure from objects carries pain?
4. Why does 2.44 leave the chosen deity unnamed?
5. If devotion to Īśvara brings perfection in absorption (2.45), why practise the other limbs? What is Vācaspati's answer?

A common misreading

The observances are often presented as a gentle self-care routine. The text begins them with an ascetic's distaste for the body (2.40) and ends them with absorption through devotion to Īśvara (2.45), and both ends should be taught as written.

A practice for the room

The chain of 2.41. First, one minute of tidying: each person straightens their own space, puts away what is not needed and settles their clothes. Then one minute recalling something that genuinely cheers them. Then three minutes resting attention on a single point, such as the breath at the nostrils. The teacher asks the room afterwards, for a show of hands: did the mind settle more easily than usual?