The different stages of the guṇa qualities consist of the particularized, the unparticularized, the distinctive, and the indistinctive.

Bryant Commentary:

This sūtra follows on the previous one by outlining the basic categories of evolutes that emerge from the primordial interaction of the guṇas in prakṛti. The first category noted by Patañjali, the particularized, viśeṣa, refers to all final evolutes of prakṛti, that is, to end products that do not produce further products or evolutes out of themselves. The second category, the unparticularized, aviśeṣa, refers to the evolutes that do produce further products or evolutes out of themselves. Thus, if we glance at the Saṅkhya chart in the introduction, the gross elements (ether, air, fire, water, earth) are the particularized aspects of the unparticularized subtle elements (sound, touch, sight, taste, smell). Along similar lines, the powers behind the five organs of knowledge (ears, eyes, skin, tongue, and nose), as well as those behind the five organs of action (speech, hands, feet, anus, and genitals), along with the internal organ of mind are the particularized aspects of the unparticularized ego, ahaṅkāra. (Since the mind works through these ten organs, it also is considered an organ.) Thus, there are sixteen particularized items including mind, none of which produces further evolutes, and six unparticularized ones including ego, which do produce evolutes. (This schema is found in the Sāṅkhya Kārikā III).

Beyond these there is mahat, which is another name for the cosmological buddhi, referred to in this sūtra as liṅga by Patañjali and translated here rather loosely as distinctive. The commentators have different views on why liṅga is used in this regard. Vijñānabhikṣu, for example, states that liṅga, literally mark or sign, is so called because it marks all the other effects of the world, that is, everything emanates from buddhi. (Ego, which is the immediate source from which all the particularized and unparticularized elements mentioned above have evolved, is itself a manifestation of buddhi.) Liṅga in Hindu logic is something that is the sign of something else—smoke is the sign of fire. So whereas prakṛti herself is unperceivable, buddhi is perceivable—it has signs or characteristics that distinguish it. Buddhi is like the root of a tree, says Śaṅkara: It is the closest to the seed that produced it, and it is also the cause of the trunk, branches, leaves, etc., which stem from it.

But buddhi, too, is ultimately a transformation of the guṇas, specifically that of sattva. It is pure beingness, says Vyāsa, neither existence nor nonexistence, neither real nor unreal. The world of manifest reality has yet to emerge from it. It is like the mind just awakened from sleep but prior to the activity that occurs in the ego stage, says Vijñānabhikṣu. He quotes the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: “Then, impelled by the Time factor, the entity mahat came into existence from the unmanifest. Its nature is knowledge, which dispels ignorance, and it manifests the universe which is situated within itself” (III.5.27).

Finally, the unmanifest mentioned in this sūtra is a yet more subtle manifestation of these guṇas, the primordial matrix from which even buddhi itself, along with all its evolutes, originates. At this level, we have arrived at prakṛti herself, and it is this that Patañjali refers to here as aliṅga, that without signs, the undistinctive (see also I.45). There are no signs by which one can discern prakṛti prior to the movement of the guṇas (thus the Sāṅkhya school holds that that prakṛti cannot be perceived, its existence can only be inferred [anumānita], and thus it is called the inferred one). This stage is eternal; the other three stages—buddhi, ahaṅkāra, and all subsequent evolutes—are temporary manifestations, or permutations of prakṛti.

Therefore, says Vyāsa, the world created by the guṇas may appear to have the nature of birth and death, but all that is really occurring is that the evolutes of the guṇas are manifesting and unmanifesting the various bodies and things of this world due to the constant flux of the guṇas themselves. If Devadatta’s cows die, he analogizes, we may think Devadatta has become poor, but his poverty is due to the death of his cows, not his own death. Similarly, there is no birth and death of puruṣa, simply the constant mutation and transformation of the guṇas of prakṛti within which puruṣa appears to be embedded, which temporarily produce bodies and forms in certain configurations, and then dissolve them back into their matrix. Vijñānabhikṣu quotes the Gītā: “All beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their interim stage, and unmanifest in their end. What is there to lament in this?” (II.28). The evolutes, such as bodies and states of mind, are temporary configurations; only the cause is eternal: prakṛti herself.

Vācaspati Miśra reiterates that everything one experiences in manifest reality, whether on the grossest level of sensual indulgence or the most subtle level of discrimination between buddhi and puruṣa, is ultimately taking place in buddhi or its evolutes. He notes that liṅga and aliṅga are called nonexistent by Vyāsa because the guṇas are quiescent in this stage, devoid of effects (the senses and sense objects of the world), and therefore cannot fulfill the objectives of puruṣa, which, we recall, is for the purpose of providing either experience or liberation to the puruṣa. At the same time, Vyāsa also states that they are not totally nonexistent (like the lotus in the sky), because they produce effects. In other words, they exist as cause.

Quoting various passages from the Vedānta Sūtras, Vijñānabhikṣu again takes this opportunity to distinguish the philosophy of the Yoga school from that of the advaita, nondualist Vedāntic school founded by Śaṅkara. The advaita school posits that prakṛti, the guṇas, and the entirety of the manifest world are all ultimately not real but are mental constructions produced by ignorance, superimpositions on the only real existent, Brahman. Outlining the position of the Yoga school, Vijñānabhikṣu stresses that the world in its essence—prakṛti—is real and eternal, and therefore the evolutes from this matrix, the world, are also in this sense real, albeit temporary and constantly changing, mutating, and eventually dissolving back into their source. He quotes the well-known verse from the Chāndogya Upaniṣad in reference to objects made out of clay, which we call pots or plates, etc., out of convenience, but which remain, essentially, clay: “By means of just one lump of clay, one can perceive everything made out of clay—the transformation is just a verbal handle, a name—while the reality is just this: ‘It is clay’” (VI.1.4). The manifestations of Brahman are not false, Vijñānabhikṣu argues, contra Śaṅkara, any more than the modifications of clay are false. But they are temporary.

Vācaspati Miśra further states that manifest reality has to follow the sequence of evolution noted by Patañjali in this sūtra. It is not that the seed of a nyagrodha tree will spontaneously and immediately produce a fully grown, stocky tree with its leaves and branches, he says. The tree comes about gradually, the seed becoming a shoot and slowly evolving in contact with light and water. At the same time, says Vijñānabhikṣu, seed, sprout, and tree are nondifferent from each other, and so, in the same way, are buddhi and its effects nondifferent. Puruṣa, on the other hand, is a totally different entity. When puruṣa and prakṛti combine, living beings come into existence, just as when air and water combine, bubbles are formed.

Avidya Is The Breeding Ground For The Others Whether They Be Dormant, Attenuated, Interrupted Or Active

The causes of suffering are not seeing things as they are, the sense of ‘I’, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

Ignorance is the fertile soil,
and, as a consequence,
all other obstacles persist.
They may exist in any state – dormant, feeble, intermittent,
or fully operative.

The lack of awareness of Reality, the sense of egoism or ‘I-am-ness’, attractions and repulsions towards objects and the strong desire for life are the great afflictions or causes of all miseries in life.

The five afflictions which disturb the equilibrium of consciousness are: ignorance or lack of wisdom, ego, pride of the ego or the sense of ‘I’, attachment to pleasure, aversion to pain, fear of death and clinging to life.

Ignorance, egoism, attachment, hatred, and clinging to bodily life are the five obstacles.

The states of the qualities are the defined, the undefined, the indicated only, and the signless.

SV Commentary:

The system of Yoga is built entirely on the philosophy of the Sankhyas, as I told you in some of the previous lectures, and here again I will remind you of the cosmology of the Sankhya philosophy. According to the Sankhyas, nature is both the material and efficient cause of this universe. In this nature there are three sorts of materials, the Sattva, the Rajas, and the Tamas. The Tamas material is all that is dark, all that is ignorant and heavy; and the Rajas is activity. The Sattvas is calmness, light. When nature is in the state before creation, it is called by them Avyaktam, undefined, or indiscrete; that is, in which there is no distinction of form or name, a state in which these three materials are held in perfect balance. Then the balance is disturbed, these different materials begin to mingle in various fashions, and the result is this universe. In every man, also, these three materials exist. When the Sattva material prevails knowledge comes. When the Rajas material prevails activity comes, and when the Tamas material prevails darkness comes and lassitude, idleness, ignorance. According to the Sankhya theory, the highest manifestation of this nature, consisting of these three materials, is what they call Mahat, or intelligence, universal intelligence, and each human mind is a part of that cosmic intelligence. Then out of Mahat comes the mind. In the Sankhya Psychology there is a sharp distinction between Manas, the mind function, and the function of the Buddhi intellect. The mind function is simply to collect and carry impressions and present them to the Buddhi, the individual Mahat, and the Buddhi determined upon it. So, out of Mahat comes mind, and out of mind comes fine material, and this fine material combines and becomes the gross material outside—the external universe. The claim of the Sankhya philosophy is that beginning with the intellect, and coming down to a block of stone, all has come out of the same thing, only as finer or grosser states of existence. The Buddhi is the finest state of existence of the materials, and then comes Ahamkara, egoism, and next to the mind comes fine material, which they call Tanmatras, which cannot be seen, but which are inferred. These Tanmatras combine and become grosser, and finally produce this universe. The finer is the cause, and the grosser is the effect. It begins with the Buddhi, which is the finest material, and goes on becoming grosser and grosser, until it becomes this universe. According to the Sankhya philosophy, beyond the whole of this nature is the Purusa, which is not material at all. Purusa is not at all similar to anything else, either Buddhi, or mind, or the Tanmatras, or the gross material; it is not akin to any one of these, it is entirely separate, entirely different in its nature, and from this they argue that the Purusa must be immortal, because it is not the result of combination. That which is not the result of combination cannot die, these Purusas or Souls are infinite in number. Now we shall understand the Aphorism, that the states of the qualities are defined, undefined, and signless. By the defined is meant the gross elements, which we can sense. By the undefined is meant the very fine materials, the Tanmatras, which cannot be sensed by ordinary men. If you practice Yoga, however, says Patanjali, after a while your perception will become so fine that you will actually see the Tanmatras. For instance, you have heard how every man has a certain light about him; every living being is emanating a certain light, and this, he says, can be seen by the Yogi. We do not all see it, but we are all throwing out these Tanmatras, just as a flower is continuously emanating these Tanmatras, which enable us to smell it. Every day of our lives we are throwing out a mass of good or evil, and everywhere we go the atmosphere is full of these materials, and that is how there came to the human mind, even unconsciously, the idea of building temples and churches? Why should man build churches in which to worship God? Why not worship Him anywhere? Even if he did not know the reason, man found that that place where people worshipped God became full of good Tanmatras. Every day people go there, and the more they go the holier they get, and the holier that place becomes. If any man who has not much Sattva in him goes there the place will influence him, and arouse his Sattva quality. Here, therefore, is the significance of all temples and holy places, but you must remember that their holiness depends on holy people congregating there. The difficulty with mankind is that they forget the original meaning, and put the cart before the horse. It was men who made these places holy, and then the effect became the cause and made men holy. If the wicked only were to go there it would become as bad as any other place. It is not the building, but the people, that make a church, and that is what we always forget. That is why sages and holy persons, who have so much of this Sattva quality, are emanating so much of it around them, and exerting a tremendous influence day and night on their surroundings. A man may become so pure that his purity will become tangible, as it were. The body has become pure, and in an intensely physical sense, no figurative idea, no poetical language, it emanates that purity wherever it goes. Whosoever comes in contact with that man becomes pure. Next “the indicated only” means the Buddhi, the intellect. “The indicated only” is the first manifestation of nature; from it all other manifestations proceed. The last is “the signless.” Here there seems to be a great fight between modern science and all religion. Every religion has this idea that this universe comes out of intelligence. Only some religions were more philosophical, and used scientific language. The very theory of God, taking it in its psychological significance, and apart from all ideas of personal God, is that intelligence is first in the order of creation, and that out of intelligence comes what we call gross matter. Modern philosophers say that intelligence is the last to come. They say that unintelligent things slowly evolve into animals, and from animals slowly evolve into men. They claim that instead of everything coming out of intelligence, intelligence is itself the last to come. Both the religious and the scientific statement, though seemingly directly opposed to each other, are true. Take an infinite series A—B—A—B—A—B, etc. The question is which is first, A or B. If you take the series as A—, you will say that A is first, but if you take it as B—A you will say that B is first. It depends on the way you are looking at it. Intelligence evolves, and becomes the gross material, and this again evolves as intelligence, and again evolves as matter once more. The Sankhyas, and all religionists, put intelligence first, and the series becomes intelligence then matter, intelligence then matter. The scientific man puts his finger on matter, and say matter then intelligence, matter then intelligence. But they are both indicating the same chain. Indian philosophy, however, goes beyond both intelligence and matter, and finds a Purusa, or Self, which is beyond all intelligence, and of which intelligence is but the borrowed light. 

Of tbese, Nescience is the field, the breeding ground for the others that follow, the Egoism, &C., having a four-fold possible mode of their existence, as the dormant, the tenuous, the alternated and tvhe fully operative.

What is dormancy? It is the existence in the mind as power alone in the germinal state. It is awake when it turns its face towards its objects. In the case of him who pclssesses discriminative knowledge, the gerlns of the a>fflictions are singed, and therefore even on the object coming in front, they do not come into operation. How call the burned up seed sprout ? Hence, the wise man whose aiftictions are gone, is said to, have’ had his last birth. It is in him alone that the afflictions pass into the fifth state, that of the ~eed Eeing burnt up; inasmuch aEc the afflictions do exist in tbat state, although their mecl-powel has been bl~rnt up. It is for this reason that th& do not awaken even when an object comes in front of them. This i~ the dcnnancy of tlme whose seedpower has been burnt nh.

Tenuitv is now described. The afflictions become ten~~ous on being cut down by habituation to contrarie.:.

And they are alternated, inasmuch ss they disappear and appear over and over again in the same condition. Anger is not obser~wl to be in operation at the time of attachme~~t~. Anger does not arise when attachment has its play. Nor does it happen that attachment, while manifesting ai tll reference to one object, has cea.sed to exifit altogether with reference ‘to another object. Recmse Chaitra is attached to one wowan, it does llot follow that Ile is averse to otl~ers. The *fact is that in the one hie attachmel~t has manifestecl itself, while in others it can-be active in the future. It is tiris that hec~lnes either donnnnt, tenuous or alternated.

The fully operative is that which has found manifestation in the object.

All these do not pass beyold the sphere of affliction. What ie it . then that is cdled an affliction, whether it be the dormant, the alternated , or the R~lly operative? This i~ true. But they become either alternated ol* anv W one else, only when they appear as so qaalified. As all are removed hy l~abitnntion to contraries, a11 art? manifested bv m the operation of competent causes.

All these aiffictions are the modifications of Nescience only. How ? It is Nescience alone that is the quickness of their life. The afflictions appear only in the form which is put upon an object by Nescience. They are found existing simultaneously with the cognition of the unreal ; and they clisappear when Ne~cience disappears.-

~ Rāma Prasāda translation.