THERE ARE FIVE CLASSES (pancatayyah) OF MODIFICATIONS (vrittayah) SOME PAINFUL (klistaa) OTHER NOT PAINFUL (aklistaah)
In this sutra Patanjali just says that there are five classes of modifications. Some of the modifications are painful while some are not. What does he mean here by painful and not painful. We might be under the impression that all modifications are painful. How can there be non-painful modifications. An important point to understand here is that irrespective of the nature of modifications, the presence of modifications itself denotes misery. Even though the modifications are not painful, still they are modifications and when the mind moves there can be no silence. Also painful or not painful are relative terms. Something that is painful to you may not be painful for somebody else. Similarly something that is pleasurable to you may not be pleasurable for somebody else. The movement of the mind itself is the root cause of all trouble. But some modifications may help you to go beyond the mind.
The whole science of yoga is to go beyond the mind. Hence a deep clarity of what mind really is, is required. That is the reason Patanjali discusses as length then nature of the mind, what kind of modifications it has and other details. And remember that you don't have any tool with you right now except the mind. If rightly used you can go beyond it, if not it will take over. We know that because of the mind we are in misery. Now we have to find a way to go beyond this mind of misery. But how can we go beyond the mind. Isn't the very process of going beyond the mind, involve the mind? Won't it be a paradox? Though logically it sounds like a paradox, that's our only choice. We have no other option. We have to use the route of the mind but intelligently.
Mind is not something, which is different from the body. That is the reason it's called as the subtle body. It is closely tied with the body. Both are inseparable. A human being is not just physical; he is also psychophysical. His mind is deeply tied to the body. Both the body as well as the mind affects each other. For e.g. medical science is now proving that 90% of our diseases are psychosomatic. So when there is a malfunction in the mind automatically it impacts the body. That is the reason heart patients are advised not to get angry else the blood pressure increases and finally impacts their physical health. It is also said that a person who is paralyzed can walk when he is under hypnosis. Now the body, which was paralyzed, is able to obey the orders of the mind if it is hypnotized. Similarly a healthy body may act paralyzed when the mind is hypnotized to believe that it is paralyzed.
The body has direct relationship with the mind too. When a person drinks alcohol or takes any narcotic substance his mind gets affected. He gets tipsy and starts blabbering. So intake of something physical inside the body directly impacts the mind. Similar is the case with depression pills or anxiety pills. By taking the pills, some enzymes are released which in turn affects the mind. So both the body and the mind are directly related to each other.
Body is something gross and the mind is subtler than the body. The soul is subtler than the mind. It's the subtlest of the subtle. Everything we know right now is with the mind. There is no other kind of knowing. The very act of knowing involves the mind. So the mind stands as a bridge between the body and the soul. The body is insentient by itself and so it does not have the capacity to know. The mind as it its subtler than the body, so it can know the body. But it cannot know the soul, because the soul is the subtlest. The subtle cannot know the subtler but the subtle can know the gross. That is the reason the mind can know the body but fails to know the soul.
Body is like solid, mind like a liquid and soul like vapor. As the body is solid it is bound in space and time. It can be located in space and time. You can say for sure that the body is present at a particular latitude and longitude on earth. But things get tricky when we try to locate the mind. Mind is like a liquid; it flows. You cannot give its exact location. It's very difficult to find the location of the mind. Mind moves constantly, between the past and the present. It does not stop. It moves in space too. You can think of the sun, your house and some other place with the help of your mind. By the process of thinking the mind has reached there. The body is still here but the mind is there. I always tell people, if your body is here one thing is sure that you are not here. By you, I mean your mind. Sometimes people ask me, you heal the body through meditation; can you heal my mind of my worries. I always tell them, healing the body is easy as it is here. If you physically come in my presence, the healing can happen through meditation. Healing the mind is a problem because the mind is never here. When you visit the Ashram, you may be thinking about tomorrow's job. When you are in the job place, you might be thinking of the beach. When you are at the beach, you might be thinking of some meeting. So your mind is never there, where you physically are. It's hovering all over the place. The mind and the body are never spatially and temporally together.
Mind is less bound, but it cannot be confined to one particular place. Only place where it cannot reach is the soul. It's like a mad dog that is unchained. If the mind were bound within some territory, things would have been simpler. But you cannot bind the mind, as its very nature is to flow like a liquid. In Mahabharata Yudhisthira is asked a question 'What is faster than the wind?' and Yudhistira answers Mind. Mind is faster than anything, even light. Even before the light from the sun has reached the andromeda galaxy, the mind has reached there. It does not even require a fraction of a second for the mind to reach anywhere. But there is one place where the mind cannot reach. That place is the soul. When the mind will try to reach the soul, it will disappear. It's like an object that is trying to reach the sun. What will happen when it goes near the sun? The object will burn to ashes as it approaches the sun. Similarly the mind disappears when it travels towards the soul. It just vanishes. And yoga is all about going from mind to no-mind. It's a process of transformation and a progress from the subtler to the subtlest.
Soul is the subtlest. It is beyond space and time. It is like vapor. Vapor cannot be located at a particular point in space and time. It pervades both. So does the soul. In the Upanishads they give the analogy of two birds sitting on a tree. One bird is sitting high on a branch, motionless, calm and serene. It never eats anything, nor does it drink or talk or move. The second bird on the contrary sits on a lower branch and is involved in day-to-day life. Its takes care of its nest, children. Goes all around the place in search of food and water. It is affected by all emotions like worry and fear and sways like a pendulum between the thresholds of happiness and sorrow. One day this bird looks up and sees this first bird sitting on the higher branch, calm and serene. It's amazed to see its tranquility and serenity. So it starts flying towards this bird and when it reaches its branch it realizes that it becomes one with that bird.
Soul is like this bird sitting motionless, high up on the branch and the mind is like the bird that was moving on a lower branch. As the mind starts moving towards the soul, it disappears and becomes one with the soul.
But still the mind is bound by space and time. It can spread across all space and time but can never transcend them. It can never go beyond them. If it tries, it disappears. As a result of this property of the mind, it is still finite and hence can never reach the infinite. Soul is the infinite ocean of consciousness and the mind is like a ripple on that ocean. Imagine a ripple trying to know the ocean. It cannot. Only thing it can do is to calm down and disappear. But the mind presents before us a big contradiction. The very nature of the mind is finite, but it is made up of infinite desires. When it tries to fulfill all its desires, new desires spring up. Trying to fulfill the desires is like pouring fuel over fire. The fire grows in intensity, so does the mind if one tries to fulfill its desires. Suppressing the desires again leads to trouble. It's like pressing a spring down with full force. One day the spring is going to recoil back with full force. So neither suppression nor indulgence is going to annihilate the mind. We just have one choice, witnessing the mind with awareness. Knowing its nature, its modification and its properties. Then we are in a position to handle it. Many a time, because of our ignorance about it's functioning, the mind deceives us. We think that by fulfilling its desires, it will keep quiet. The result is contrary to our conclusion. The mind never dies down by fruition of its desires. But when we are aware of the nature of the mind, then there is some hope. There is a way to go beyond it. However strong the enemy may be, if you know the Achilles' heel then you are stronger than him. So Patanjali has done tremendous research in studying the mind, its modifications etc. and is placing his findings before us, which will enable us to ultimate transcend the mind.
प्रमाणश्चिवृपेयो'योश्चिवृकल्पेश्चिनुद्रस्मृतयो pramaanaviparyayavikalpanidraasmritayah