मैत्रीकरुणामुदितोपेक्षाणां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यविषयाणां भावनातश्चित्तप्रसादनम् ॥३३॥
पदविभाग: मैत्री-करुणा-मुदिता-उपेक्षाणाम्, सुख-दुःख-पुण्य-अपुण्य-विषयाणाम्, भावनातः, चित्त-प्रसादनम्।
अन्वय: सुख-दुःख-पुण्य-अपुण्य-विषयाणाम् मैत्री-करुणा-मुदिता-उपेक्षाणाम् भावनातः चित्तप्रसादनम्।
प्रतिपदार्थ: मैत्री = friendliness / amity, करुणा = compassion / empathy, मुदिता = gladness / joyful appreciation, उपेक्षाणाम् = and equanimity / indifference (Genitive case: “of friendliness, compassion, gladness, and equanimity”), सुख = happiness / the happy, दुःख = sorrow / the suffering, पुण्य = virtue / the virtuous, अपुण्य = vice / the non-virtuous / the wicked, विषयाणाम् = regarding objects or situations (Genitive case: “regarding those who are…”), भावनातः = from cultivating the attitude / projecting the feeling, चित्त-प्रसादनम् = purification, pacification, and clarity of the mind.
तात्पर्यम्: By cultivating attitudes of friendliness, mercy, gladness, & indifference toward the happy, unhappy, virtuous, & non-virtuous, the Chitta is pacified.
Further context on the 33rd Sutra from Patanjali’s Yogasutras
This verse gives us an operating principle for dealing with people/situations in the world. It’s necessary because the spiritual ideas need to be implemented and we need a way to do it. Else, it’s easy to talk of spiritual purity when our minds and actions are clouded by ignorance.
Patanjali prescribes an antidote for each of the real world situations.
| People / Situations | Default Ego Reaction | Patanjali’s Antidote | The Result in Your Mind |
| 1. The Happy (Sukha) | Jealousy, envy, or comparison. | मैत्री (Maitrī – Friendliness) The good needs to be multiplied. A good friend participates in Sukha as if it’s his own. | Kills envy and expansion of oneness. |
| 2. The Suffering (Duḥkha) | Pity, superiority, or avoidance. | करुणा (Karuṇā – Compassion) Kindness is contagious. Being Karunavan towards Dukha means to acknowledge another person’s or one’s own pain. | Destroys arrogance and cruelty. |
| 3. The Virtuous (Puṇya) | Insecurity, fault-finding, or feeling threatened. | मुदिता (Muditā – Gladness) Wherever we see virtue, it’s an opportunity for us to celebrate the good. | Destroys the ego’s need to assert itself. |
| 4. The Wicked (Apuṇya) | Righteous anger, judgment, or the urge to “fix” them. | उपेक्षा (Upekṣā – Drawing boundaries with the negative) The wicked dies its own death as long as the good survives. They need to be paid no attention, instead awareness i.e., supreme intelligence needs to be awakened so that the wicked falls off on its own. | Protects your energy from being drained. |
Operating in this way is like a prasadam to the already volatile chitta. The least we can do is to add to it. Of course doing it mechanically is as toxic as not doing it at all. Each of the antidotes refer to an internal state of arrival and needs to be performed with utmost integrity.
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