Microsoft Word - Taimni - The Science of Yoga.doc

outer or inner environment between which our life continually oscillates. These
Dvandvas are of many kinds, some related to our physical nature, others to our mind.
Thus heat and cold are a pair of opposites which affect primarily the physical body.
Joy and sorrow are a pair which affect the mind. Now, all these conditions, related to
the mind or body which are constantly changing keep the consciousness drawn to the
external environment and hinder the mind in going within. They produce Viksepa or
distraction and the Sadhaka has to acquire the capacity of rising above them if his
mind is to be freed to pursue the more difficult task of suppressing its own internal
disturbances and modifications. One important result of gaining perfection in the prac-
tice of Asana is freedom from these disturbing reactions to changes in the external
world. It is obvious that the Dvandvas referred to in this Sutra are those which affect
the physical body, such as heat and cold, humidity and dryness and not others which
are related to the mind.
Patanjali has given in this Sutra only one result of practising Asana, a result
with which the Sadhaka is directly concerned in the practice of Yoga. But there are
also other important benefits which accrue from this practice. Some of these subsidiary
results of practising Asana are:
(1) Making the body perfectly healthy and resistant to fatigue and strain.
(2) Acquiring fitness for the practice of Pranayama as a result of proper
regulation of Pranic currents in the body. In fact, those who become proficient in the
practice of Asana find that the movements of the breath begin naturally to conform to
the requirements of Pranayama and it becomes possible to take to the practice of
Pranayama with the greatest ease.
(3) Development of will-power. The physical body is directly and in some
mysterious manner related to the Atma, the source of spiritual power. Gaining control
over the physical body which mastery of Asana implies brings about an extraordinary
influx of that spiritual force which expresses itself in outer life as will-power.