kathopanishad-2-3-11-tāṃ yogamiti

Commentary by Swami Krishnananda of the great Divine Life Society

Tām yogam iti manyante sthirām indriya-dhāraṇām, apramattas tadā bhavati, yogo hi prabhavāpyayau (2.3.11). Tām yogam iti manyante: Yoga is that state of consciousness which is the restraint of the senses, with a deliberate will and intense cautiousness that the mind does not once again go in the direction of the senses. Apramattas tadā bhavati: We should be very careful in yoga. Heedlessness is death. This is what the great Sanatkumara told Dhritarashtra in a discourse that occurs in the Udyoga Parva of the Mahabharata.

Dhritarashtra was very much disturbed. He had no sleep. So he called Vidura and said, “Tell me something because I am not sleeping.”

Vidura gave a long lecture on righteousness, justice and virtue. He said, “Actually, nothing happens in this world. Death itself is a misnomer.”

“Please tell me something about it,” said Dhritarashtra.

“I am not fit to talk on this subject. It is beyond me,” replied Vidura. “I shall call Sanatkumara, the great son of Brahma, who shall instruct you on what is this that is called death.”

Vidura thought of Sanatkumara, and Sanatkumara descended. There was a discourse between Sanatkumara and Dhritarashtra, which goes by the name of Sanatsujatiya, a great philosophical section in the Mahabharata. What did Sanatkumara say? Death is nothing but heedlessness, carelessness, lethargy, and an inability to concentrate on what is good for us. First of all, there is a difficulty in choosing what is good. After having chosen it, there is a difficulty of fixing the mind on it.

Apramattas tadā bhavati. yogo hi prabhavāpyayau: Yoga cannot be always there. We should not be under the impression that day in and day out we will be in the state of yoga. It comes and it goes. Even the greatest of yogis cannot maintain this balance for years and years continuously, day in and day out. Not even the best of yogis can maintain it, what to speak of others.

Tām yogam iti manyante sthirām indriya-dhāraṇām: Again and again there is an emphasis on the restraint of the sense organs, the restraint of the energy that is flowing through the senses and establishing it in the mind and the intellect. In this practice of sense restraint, and mental control, and the stability of the intellect, or the reason, we must be very cautious because the winds of desire will blow so violently that all the fixity of our reason and our mind, though strong like a tree planted on the earth, will be broken and turned down. Even the strongest tree can be felled by a violent wind. Desires are such tornadoes. Therefore, the Upanishad says apramattas tadā bhavati: Be full of heed, carefulness and vigilance.

Sri Ramakrishna Parmamahamsa Deva has an analogy for how we have to be concentrating and be always heedful. Suppose we are on a journey somewhere and are caught at night by a heavy rainfall, and we have no place to stay. We run here and there in search of a little hut where we can rest. On the way, in the pitch dark, we find a little thatched hut almost about to break, but because of the heavy rain we somehow or other get in, and we are shivering. When we feel like reclining a little bit, in the twilight, in a flash of the light from the lightning, we see a small snake crawling out from a hole. It is showing its head. When we look behind, there is another snake behind us. When we look to the right, we see a scorpion coming towards us, and another scorpion on the other side. Will we sleep because we are tired? Will we be cautious? Will we be vigilant? Will we be able to concentrate our mind on the predicament in which we are? Such is the way in which we have to concentrate. Death is at the elbow, as it is well said. Anybody can go any day, and therefore nobody knows what will happen to anyone at any moment of time. We should not say “Tomorrow I will do yoga”; we should do it today. Tomorrow may not come at all; who knows?

Thus, apramattas tadā bhavati: Yoga comes and goes. It never stays with any person. It is a very precarious achievement. Therefore, be cautious, cautious, cautious.