A Farmer & His Field

Patanjali yoga offers a path of self-cultivation; the word cultivation stands as much for spiritual care as for agriculture, writes KRISHA KOPS

Swami Hariharananda Aranya lived as an ascetic in a mountain cave and possessed nothing but a thick, cotton blanket, a napkin, a dhoti, and a wooden water-pot.

For the last 21 years of his life, he lived in a house cave, where he spoke to his students only through a window. But he mainly became famous for writing one of the most important comments on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

What Hariharananda attempted to achieve with his studies and asceticism was self-cultivation. This spiritual practice is as much a part of many religions as it is of numerous philosophies. It is concerned with bringing about a fundamental change in oneself through theories and practices.

In his Yoga Sutras, 1:33, Patanjali writes about self-cultivation, which translators use for the Sanskrit term bhavana, deriving from the Sanskrit root bhu for ‘becoming’. More precisely, Patanjali writes about the cultivation of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

Patanjali’s yoga, in general, offers a path of self-cultivation.

However, we should not confuse self-cultivation with self-optimisation, although these two types rarely occur independently of each other and are not always distinguishable. If we have silicone implants and liposuction done or if we take medicines to help us concentrate better and longer, it has nothing to do with self-cultivation but with self-optimisation.

Patanjali describes in so far a path of self-cultivation, as his practice of yoga is aimed at kaivalya, isolation or complete salvation. Once this state occurs, the practitioner is no longer the same, for he realises what his true Purusha, Self, is and, therefore, sees the world with different eyes. This is a meta-change that no longer has anything to do with the ‘I’. The optimisation, on the other hand, always works only on the level of ‘I’ and can at most, improve the state of the ego.

Being a quality, cultivation cannot be quantified either. It cannot be calculated with a pedometer or a calorie counter. Optimisation fetishes the goal, whereas cultivation makes bhavana, the becoming, its soul. When Buddhist monks create elaborate mandalas made of rice grains on the shore for hours, only to have the next tide carry them away again, then it is precisely this cultivation.

It is the process itself, the practice that is the focus, rather than what we have achieved with it. ‘Cultivation’ is derived from the Latin word cultura, which stands as much for spiritual and physical care as for agriculture. In the picture of the annual arable farming, the repeated ploughing of the fields, much is revealed.

Of course, the Yoga Sutra also pursues a goal, in that it intends liberation from earthly suffering. But this differs from the goal of optimisation, on the one hand, in that it places more emphasis on the process itself. On the

other hand, the nature of the goal is entirely different. Perhaps the contradiction lies in the fact that on the outgoing level of the ego, there is always optimisation taking place. At least as long as the ego is not overcome, and thus perfect cultivation occurs.

The correct type of cultivation does not know compulsion, neither external nor internal. There is no ‘you become better, more flexible, stronger’. Instead of coercive flawlessness, it stands for acceptance and sees the alleged imperfections as part of the whole.

Cultivation brings us into resonance with the world and, thus, with ourselves, whereas self-optimisation leads to the opposite: burnout, the complete alienation from the world and, consequently, from ourselves.

Finally, the difference between self-optimisation and self-cultivation can be seen in the fact that cultivation is a practice of death. Because the ego dies more and more during this process, until it dissolves completely. On the contrary, self-optimisation is based on the fear of death. It wants to make the ego more beautiful, healthier, stronger and smarter, so that we can pretend it will never perish.

We are well advised to follow Patanjali on his path of self-cultivation. We do not necessarily have to follow the strictly ascetic path like Hariharananda. Cultivation can also be done in interactions, in everyday life, and in so many other areas