Swami Adidevananda refers here to Yoga’s efficacy for stabilizing mental
disturbances, which have adverse effects on the body. There is coopera-
tion between the hygienic and soteriological dimensions of the Yogic reli-
gious therapeutic: the religious path of Yoga also has curative power for
ordinary psychophysical maladies.
The companions of the obstacles are the ‘symptoms of distraction’
or vikÓsepas(vi, ‘out,’ ‘asunder’; √kÓsip, ‘to throw’). The theory of vikÓsepas
accords with Yoga’s treatment of mind and body as the primary dimen-
sions of a unitary human entity. The vikÓsepasare:
- DuÓhkha: suffering or mental distress, conditioned by physical or
mental factors - Despair or depression
- Unsteadiness of the limbs or body
- Irregular breathing [YS 1.31]
The vikÓsepaslink the mental with the physical: for instance, mental dis-
tress has physical manifestations including shallow, irregular, or labored
respiration. Conversely, regulation of the breath can stabilize mental dis-
tress. Yoga prescribes a preventative approach to the vikÓsepas:one-
pointed concentration. Rather than permitting one’s mind to be frag-
mented in several directions, one should practice mental concentration on
a single object or principle in order to achieve one-pointedness, ek ̄agrata ̄.
Curing vikÓseparequires the clarification or purification (prasada ̄ Óna) of the
mind, achievable by cultivating compassion, good cheer, and indifference
toward vice; by control of the breath, and other means [YS 1.33–39].
Overcoming the kle ́sasis directly related to achievement of samadhi ̄.
Subduing the obstacles, antaray ̄ ̄aÓh, and eliminating vikÓsepa, distraction,
help develop the concentration necessary for samadhi ̄. The kle ́sascontain
the reservoir of karmasor actions, which produce the myriad experiences
in present and future lives [YS 2.12–13]: “the mental field becomes a field
for the production of the fruit of actions only when is it watered by the
stream of afflictions” [TV 2.13]. When the kle ́sasare destroyed, the vehi-
cle of karmascannot produce fruit because their generative power is de-
stroyed. The karmasresult in joy or sorrow according to whether their
cause is virtue or vice [YS 2.14], but all is misery to persons who have de-
veloped vivekaor the power to discriminate:
Pa r iÓn ̄ama-t ̄apa-samskÓ ara-du ̄ hkhair guÓ Óna-vÓrtti-virodhac ca du ̄ Óhkham eva
sarvam vivekinaÓ Óh.104 religious therapeutics