The tenth yoga sutra explains about the impressions, memories and desires that governs one`s actions since time immemorial. If one is capable in eradicating those `seeds` of desires from the source, he is sure to be liberated from the uproars of the universe and the self. Nobody has any idea regarding the creation of the universe or how creation came about. Then, slowly man came into existence and with him came his essential qualities of illumination, action and inertia. Though in early times, he was with a pure heart, he slowly became a prey to the dichotomies of characteristic feelings. Ensnared between polarities, he searched for one being, who would be beyond all these worldly limitations - the Almighty. In this process, man understood the importance of yoga, the process in which one can get more close to kaivalya.

tasam those memories and impressions
anadiwam without beginning, existing since eternity
ca and
asisah desires
nityatvat permanent, eternal

These impressions, memories and desires have existed eternally, as the desire to live is eternal.

Just as the universe is eternal, so are impressions and desires. They have existed from the distant past, beyond anybody`s memory. For one whose seeds of blemishes are eliminated, and whose desires have come to an end, the turmoils of the universe appear to have come to an end.

Nobody knows the timeless, primordial, absolute One, or when the world came into existence. Both purusa and prakrti, spirit and nature, existed before man appeared. When creation took place, man was empowered with consciousness, intelligence, mind, senses of perception, organs of action and body. At the same time the characteristics or qualities (gunas) of nature, illumination (sattva), action (rajas) and inertia (lamas) entered man`s body. Set on the wheel of time with the spokes of the gunas of nature, man began to function in conformity with these three fundamental, intermingling qualities. Though born with an unpolluted heart, he gradually became caught in the snare of nature and fell victim to the polarities of pleasure and pain, good and evil, love and hatred, the permanent and transient. That is how desires (vasana) and imprints (samskara) rooted themselves in man`s life, and why this sutra says that desires have existed from time immemorial.

Caught in these reverses, man felt the need of a personal divinity, unaffected by afflictions, untouched by actions and reactions, and free from the experience of joy and sorrow. This led to a search for the highest ideal embodied in purusa, or God. Through this search arrived culture, and finally civilization. Man learned to differentiate between good and evil, virtue and vice, and what is moral and immoral. That is how yoga was discovered.

Through yoga sadhana, the desires that have existed since the beginning of time are eliminated so that kaivalya can be experienced.

In II.12, Patanjali explained that the causes of actions are hidden, accumulated impressions of one`s past deeds. In this chapter he speaks of pure actions, which collect and store no imprints.

The essential nature of citta is tranquillity - santa citta. When the sadhaka does not permit thought-waves to arise (vyutthana citta), naturally there is no need for their restraint, nirodha citta. As both are filtered by santa citta, the sadhaka resides in this quiet state and performs his duties. His actions are pure, and their outcome too will be pure (iv.7).

Due to ignorance, joy and sorrow occur and deepen, according to one`s surroundings. If allowed free rein, they agitate the serene state of consciousness and the gates of kaivalya may remain closed forever. But one can sever the links of desires by developing the mind through the grace of yoga. As long as one practices yoga, one is free from desire. Dedicated, life-long practice of yoga stops the wheel of desires, so that one lives in the state of poise and peace. (1.35; n.1,9; in.51.)