Maharishi Patanjali is a great scientist and nobody understands the human mind like he does. He has discussed the nine types of obstacles that one can come across in the path of yoga in his foremost treatise- the yoga sutras. These nine obstacles- illness, inability to comprehend, doubt, carelessness, laziness, attachment towards the senses, hallucination, non-attainment of any state, and instability- cover every possible obstacle there can be. There is no tenth obstacle.
He mentions that the way to get rid of the obstacles is by doing one thing at a time or ekatattvabhyasa. So what is the ekatattvabhyasa? It means attending to one principle. That one principle can be God, it can be the Guru, it can be self. It can be anything but ekatattvaabhyasa — practice one thing. It is the only way to overcome these obstacles.
But what happens when you do just one thing again and again? You get bored or restless. But it is that restlessness and boredom that will take you to the peak of clarity. This is the only way out.
All these nine obstacles can be gotten rid of only if there is a certain amount of calmness in the mind. In one-pointedness, there has to be a certain degree of calmness. Otherwise, even that does not seem to be possible. Holding on to one principle means seeing oneself or God or the Master in everybody. There is nothing other than this. Life is holding on to one principle and seeing that one principle in everything and everybody. Oneself – I am present in everybody or it is my Master who is present everywhere. There is nobody other than my Master; he is everything for me or God is everything for me. It is all me only. So holding on to one principle and seeing that one principle in everything- this is the skill in life.
What comes with these obstacles are five Vikshepas or distractions of the mind- Dukha or sorrow; Dourmanasya or bitterness of the mind; and Angamejayatva that is, the body does not listen to you. It is like a man who is too drunk and wants to go left but starts going to the right. He wants to walk straight but his body just won’t comply. Angamejayatva is the lack of coordination between the body and the mind where the body wins. Shwasa prashwasa is the irregular, quivering and uncomfortable breathing. If you have observed your breath, when you are happy or excited, the incoming breath is longer. You are more aware of the incoming breath in the state of excitement. When you are unhappy, your exhalation is longer and there is a total imbalance of breath.
So, what do we do to rid ourselves of them? Sage Patanjali says,’For their prevention, practice one principle.’
