Part 4 Yoga Sutras Chapter 1 Verses 5-6

In this forth recording from a series of lectures on the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Ryan Kurczak explains sutra 5 and 6.

According to sutra 5 and 6 the mental modifications that may cause pain or pleasure are fivefold: the processes that occur when valid knowledge is required, illusion, delusion, sleep and memory.

Yoga practice has to do with illuminating that what cause us problems and to achieve self-knowledge to manage our states of consciousness. What we see in this world is like projections on a screen based on our level of awareness. When we interact with the world from the seer state, we see what is actually happening instead of coming from our conditioning, memories, past habits and behaviors. When we experience higher levels of functioning, we waist less energy on thinking and need less sleep. A discussion on Yogic sleep that is started in this recording continues in part 5 and part 7 of this series.

According to yoga philosophy the spiritual eye is the gate, the birth canal, through which we wake up. Ryan describes how we can raise above distractions like feelings, thoughts and memories during meditating through bringing our attention to the spiritual eye and flow attention through it. If we lift our attention to the seventh chakra and sustain it long enough, we can experience a sense of boundlessness beyond the body, merging with infinite consciousness.

Recorded in 2009 at the first “Yogic Scriptures and Meditation Group” hosted by the Asheville Yoga Center. Presented by Ryan Kurczak, Kriya Yoga teacher authorized by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda.

A deeper discussion of the Yoga Sutras can be found here: https://kriyayogaonline.com/downloadable-courses/kriya-yoga-sutras-26-hour-meditation-training-course/