The mind according to Patanjali

DAN ALDER explores the topic of mental well-being during a Yoga4Unity 2023 masterclass. He asks: how does the sage Patanjali view the mind? What does Patanjali believe to be our potential, what gets in the way of us attaining that potential, and what solutions are offered to us to remove those barriers?

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Yoga is the goal not the practice

You may think that there is no goal to yoga, but Patanjali states that yoga is the cessation of the mind’s fluctuations. So yoga is the goal, not a practice. When we talk about yogic practice, in a way we’re not talking about it correctly. Patanjali’s final result is yoga. And how do we reach that final result? By bringing the mind’s fluctuations to stillness so that there is no thought in your mind. Then we have yoga, and yoga is union.

The ego, the aspect of the mind that refers to “I,” tells us that we are different and separate from everything else. And along with that separateness comes suffering, whether it’s just a little bit or a huge amount of suffering. So, as long as there is perceived separation, we believe that union is the answer to our problem in life.

But Patanjali wants us to reject union. I know that must sound crazy, so I’ll say it again: reject union or yoga.

The reason? Because everything is already whole and united, it cannot be any other way. That is the natural state of things. Whether it’s a galaxy trillions of miles away, you, me, or the grass outside, it is already part of the whole, already unified with that which it should be unified with. We are already whole, complete, and unified with all things.