Yoga s

Verses, Translation and Commentary 121
Verse 9
SvrsvahI ivÊ;ae=ip twaêFae=i-invez>
svarasavāhī viduṣaḥ ’pi tatha rūḍho
‘bhiniveśaḥ
svarasavāhī = sva – own + rasa – essence + vāhī – flow current, instinct
for self-preservation (svarasavāhī – it’s own flow of energy of self
preservation); viduṣaḥ – the wise man; ‘pi = api – also; tatha – just as, so
it is; rūḍho = rūḍhah – developed produced; ‘bhiniveśaḥ = abhiniveśaḥ –
strong focus on mundane existence which is due to instinctive fear of
death.
As it is, the strong focus on mundane existence,
which is due to the instinctive fear of death,
and which is sustained by its own potencies,
which operates for self-preservation,
is developed even in the wise man.
Commentary:
Even though wise, a person has to curb his instinctive life force. This is why the
mastership of kuṇḍalini yoga is necessary before one can attain salvation. It is
due to the natural sense of self-preservation, which is present in the subtle
body, which is instinctively fearful of not having a gross form and of having to
leave such a form permanently.
Unless one effectively resists the life force in the subtle body, his wisdom or
knowledge can do nothing to remove the strong fear of death. The resistance is
acquired by intake of higher pranic energies, through prāṇāyāma and other
methods which form parts of the kriyā yoga practice.
Mastery of the lifeforce, the kuṇḍalini chakra, gives the yogin the ability to
infuse the subtle body with a lack of fear, due to its conscious experiences in
the subtle world. When the subtle body takes a footing in the subtle existence
it releases itself from dependence on this gross manifestation, and the fear of
death (abhiniveśaḥ) departs from it.
In his translation, the Raj Yogi I.K. Taimni gave riding and dominating as the
meaning of rūḍhah. His translation reads that abhiniveśa is the strong desire for
life which dominates even the learned (or the wise). In his purport, he stated
that the universality of abhiniveśaḥ shows that there is some constant and
universal force inherent in life which automatically finds expression in this
“desire to live”.
In higher yoga one realizes this when one traces that urge to the life force in
the subtle body and then to the cosmic life force which dominates or rides on
the back of the psyche, dictating by urges and motivations, how it should
procure gross existences, maintain these and fight to remain rooted in these.
It is only when a yogin has developed a yoga siddha body that he becomes
totally free of that lifeforce impulse which forces him to procure a foot hole in
the gross existences for participation in the struggle for survival in lower
worlds.