Sutra 1.20: Essential Qualities to Develop

Sutra 1.20: Sraddha-Virya-Smrti-Samadhi-Prajna-Purvakah Itaresam

Samadhi is available to all through the development of trust/faith, enthusiasm, and memory.

Sutra 1.20 returns from the more esoteric realms of the disembodied Gods to some more practical guidance for our spiritual evolution. In this sutra Patanjali gifts us three qualities that must be ignited to attain “samadhi” or a realization of your true nature. 

The first is often interpreted as faith (shraddha), this word can stimulate memories of an all too familiar religious regimen that is doled out like generic school lunches for mass consumption and don’t you dare question it, because faith, in this case, equals following, in fear, of somebody else’s truth while forbidding you to form your own. Perhaps we call in a sub here, and replace faith with trust. This is a trust in yourself to sift through all of the top notch name brand beliefs and draw forth your own knowing of the unknown and the commitment to continually renounce your knowns for the infinite depth of the unknowns. 

The second necessary component that we must welcome and affirm is enthusiasm. This is the personality of your aliveness. When our energy or “inner chi” is expelled as pure, its’ potency and power is what makes all things possible. But when our energy snow plows into thoughts of worry or fear it spills out of us as lethargy, apathy, and negativity. The yoga practice is a self cleaning mind mop that keeps the pathway clear for our energy to move straight from our power source within to connect us to all of life’s external experiences.

The third component is memory (smrti). This is our why. When we can consistently remember that death is on our doorstep, we can regulate and re-shape our ways of being to align with our love. When I can remember, I can remind myself, literally, to re-mind would be to choose not to throw up my middle finger and scream the f-bomb at that stupid b**** who cut me off, or to not dive down the same rabbit hole of my fears, frustrations, and fuck ups for hours on end.  

These three components, trust, enthusiasm, and memory, attune you to the divine intelligence inherent in all of us, so that more of our limited life moments are spent in the state of samadhi rather than in the illusion of separateness.

Gracias dear readers,

I have so much appreciation for you, and your interest, and your willingness to explore yoga philosophy with me. Our commitment to living the sutras to our best understanding is, as the sutras tell us, a sure way to samadhi, or more simply put, inner peace. One more moment of trust, enthusiasm, or memory, today will lead to the explosion of many many more of these moments.

All my love and blessings,

Andrea Dawn