Powers and constructed minds

What this passage does

Book IV begins where Book III ended, with powers, and moves at once to the question that matters for freedom: which mind is fit for it? It lists five sources of power (4.1), explains how nature changes forms (4.2–4.3), describes the minds a yogi constructs (4.4–4.5), and singles out the one born of meditation, which leaves no residue (4.6). Vācaspati reads the opening this way: the book first identifies the mind fit for liberation (Woods p. 299).

Learning goals

• Name the five sources of power in 4.1 and say why only one matters for liberation (4.6).
• Explain the farmer of 4.3: the instrumental cause removes a barrier and does not drive nature.
• Explain what constructed minds are (4.4–4.5) and why the mind born of meditation leaves no residue (4.6).

The argument, step by step

1. Powers come from birth, herbs, mantras, discipline or absorption.
2. Transformation into another kind comes from the overflowing of nature.
3. The instrumental cause does not set nature in motion; it breaks the barrier, as a farmer does.
4. Constructed minds arise from I-am-ness alone.
5. One mind directs the many in their different activities.
6. Of these, only the mind born of meditation leaves no residue.

The sūtras

1. 4.1 janmauṣadhimantratapaḥsamādhijāḥ siddhayaḥ
   Powers come from birth, herbs, mantras, discipline or absorption.
2. 4.2 jātyantarapariṇāmaḥ prakṛtyāpūrāt
   Transformation into another kind comes from the overflowing of nature.
3. 4.3 nimittam aprayojakaṃ prakṛtīnāṃ varaṇabhedas tu tataḥ kṣetrikavat
   The instrumental cause does not set the natures of things in motion; but from it comes the breaking of the barrier, as with a farmer.
4. 4.4 nirmāṇacittāny asmitāmātrāt
   Constructed minds arise from I-am-ness alone.
5. 4.5 pravṛttibhede prayojakaṃ cittam ekam anekeṣām
   One mind directs the many in their different activities.
6. 4.6 tatra dhyānajam anāśayam
   Of these, the mind born of meditation leaves no residue.

Study

Book IV begins where Book III ended, with powers, and moves at once to the question that matters for freedom: which mind is fit for it? Vācaspati reads the opening this way (Woods p. 299).

The first claim widens the sources of power. 'Powers come from birth, herbs, mantras, discipline or absorption' (4.1). Vyāsa gives examples of the first four, such as taking on another body at birth or an elixir of life, and says the powers born of absorption have already been explained (p. 299). Pāda 3 is now placed in a larger frame. Absorption is one source among five, and the others are not denied.

The second claim is about how such change happens. 'Transformation into another kind comes from the overflowing of nature' (4.2). Vyāsa says the natures that make up body and senses fill out the new form, depending on merit as an occasioning cause (p. 300). 4.3 limits that cause: 'The instrumental cause does not set the natures of things in motion; but from it comes the breaking of the barrier, as with a farmer.' The farmer is Patañjali's own image, and Vyāsa fills it in. A farmer who wants to flood a lower field does not drag the water across by hand. He breaks the barrier, and the water floods through by itself. Vyāsa adds a second picture, the farmer pulling up weeds so the water reaches the roots of the grain (p. 301). Merit removes what blocks nature, and nature does the rest.

The third claim concerns minds a yogin makes. When a yogin creates many bodies, Vyāsa asks, do they share one mind or have many (p. 303)? 4.4 answers: 'Constructed minds arise from I-am-ness alone.' Asmitā here is the principle the mind evolves from, not the affliction of 2.6. 4.5 adds that one mind directs the many in their different activities, so that they act with one purpose (p. 303).

The consequence is 4.6: 'Of these, the mind born of meditation leaves no residue.' Vyāsa says it alone has no activity driven by attachment, and so no tie to merit or sin, while minds of the other kinds still carry a store of karma (p. 304). The question that governs the rest of the book is now set. What matters is whether a mind's acting leaves anything behind.

Readings differ on 4.2–4.5. The tradition reads them literally, as accounts of yogic transformation and of a yogin acting through many bodies. Many modern readers also hear a description of ordinary life in them: the roles we take on are small minds built on the sense of 'I', held together, at best, by one steady purpose. That is an application, not what Vyāsa says, and should be offered as one.

For practice, 4.3 is the most useful sūtra here. Much of practice is clearing. Effort that tries to push nature tends to strain; effort that removes an obstruction lets change come of its own accord.

For discussion

1. Why might Book IV open by listing sources of power other than absorption (4.1)?
2. In the farmer image of 4.3, what does the farmer do and what does the water do? What is the parallel in your own practice?
3. Why is the I-am-ness of 4.4 not the affliction of 2.6? What would go wrong if it were?
4. What does it mean for a mind to leave 'no residue' (4.6), and why might that matter more than any power?

A common misreading

That 4.1 recommends herbs, drugs or spells as a path in yoga. The sūtra lists sources of power without recommending any, and 4.6 says only the mind born of meditation is free of the residue that binds.

A practice for the room

Sit comfortably. Invite everyone to think of one change they want in their practice or daily life, and to keep it private. For two minutes, notice the effort usually spent pushing for it. For three minutes, ask silently, 'What is one barrier I could remove instead?' (4.3), and let an answer come without forcing. Close with a minute of quiet. Anyone who wishes may name the kind of barrier in a few words.