The Philosophy of Yoga (Yoga Sutra 1.17)

“Vitarka Vicara Ananda Asmitarupa Anugamat Samprajnatah.”

Practice and detachment develop four types of Samadhi (awareness):

1. Self-analysis or engrossment in conjecture, inference and analytical study
2. Synthesis, consideration and discrimination
3. Bliss or elation
4. The experience of a state of pure being.

These four states of awareness constitute samprajnata Samadhi.

The first, engrossment in analysis (vitarka) is an act of involvement by deliberate thinking and study which leads to the root cause. It is an attempt to distinguish cause and effect. Intellectual analysis is a function of the brain and produces relative and conditioned knowledge. It is gross and lacks refinement.

The second, differentiating knowledge (vicara) is a process of investigation, reflection and consideration. The wandering conjectural brain is stilled and the student develops mental depth, acuteness, refinement and subtlety.

The third, bliss (ananda) ensues as the growing body of experience brings maturity and fulfillment is reached. This state frees the student from the mechanisms of the brain and allows him to dwell in the self alone, or the fourth state (asmita).

One goes from the periphery to the source, from the gross body towards the subtle mind and from there to the source, the core of being. Contemplation by the self of the self brings one to purusa, where the self is devoid of ego.

Scientifically, the front of the brain is the analytical area, the back of the brain is the reasoning, the base of the brain is the blissful and the crown of the head is the place of the individual self.  By synchronizing these four parts and drawing them toward the brain stem a transitory state of quietness (manolaya) is experienced. Then, by descending the synchronized consciousness toward the source of the mind at the heart, it can merge into a mindless, timeless state of being. This is known as the conquest of the spirit.

When we begin to practice asana, the method is a process of trial and error based on conjecture.  It is adventurous rather than calculating.  We remember our errors.  We then evolve to the stage where a body of experience has come from the investigation, mature consideration and dawning discrimination.  As the asanas ripen, skin-consciousness moves toward the center. Movement is at once centripetal and centrifugal.  This integrity brings bliss.

Finally, when the conscious mechanisms by which we consider and perform asana come to an end, the process reaches a resting point.  The asana then rests only on the inner self which is in poise with the universal consciousness.
 

Paraphrased from:
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali
B.K.S Iyengar

The Textbook on Yoga Psychology
Rammurti Mishra, M.D.

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Yoga Sutra 1.13
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Yoga Sutra 1.16
Yoga Sutra 1.17
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Yoga Sutra 1.41 & 1.42
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