The Essentials of Yoga (starring Patanjali)

Patanjali was certainly a sage of the highest order, penetrating to the highest mysteries yet retaining a solid and concise intellect. It has been said, "Establish at thy Kaaba a clerk-house: all must be done well and with business way" (Liber AL III:41). Only through a sharply cut diamond (the mind of the aspirant) may the Word reverberate in its original purity. The very form of the text is evidence of the orderliness of his psyche.

We have the entire doctrine summarized in the first four lines:

1-1: Now, instruction in Union [Yoga].
1-2: Union is restraining of the mind-stuff from taking various forms.
1-3: Then the Seer dwells in His own nature [unmodified state].
1-4: Otherwise the Seer is identified with the modifications.

The whole method is contained in the second line, with the first line announcing its arrival and the third & fourth lines being a short explanation of this method. We see now that Yoga, or 'Union,' is accomplished when we restrain the mind from taking various forms, from identifying with various mental 'modifications.' These thoughts, or modifications, are often pictured as ripples in a body of water; Yoga consists in the body of water becoming calm without any ripples; that is, the mind-stuff does not take forms.

Patanjali goes on to list these modifications, or vritti, some painful and some not painful. He then instructs us:

1-12: These modifications [vrittis] are controlled by practice and non-attachment.

Our essential task is then (1) practice and (2) non-attachment. But what are these things? Delightfully, Patanjali concisely explains:

1-13: Continuous struggle to keep the modifications perfectly restrained is practice.
1-15: The subjugation of the thirst for objects seen or unseen is non-attachment.

Therefore we must restrain our mind-stuff from taking forms with persistence and we must subjugate our desires for all things. We must have persistence and remember:

1-21: Success is speedy for the extremely energetic.

Even as it is said, "But exceed! exceed! Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine -- and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous! -- death is the crown of all." (Liber AL I:71-72)

What are the various impediments to our practice and non-attachment? Patanjali enumerates these:

1-30: Disease, mental laziness (inertia), doubt, lack of enthusiasm, lethargy, clinging to sense enjoyments (sensuality), false perception (mind-wandering), non-attaining of concentration, and falling away from concentration when attained (instability) - these are the obstructing distractions.
1-31: Grief (pain), mental distress (despair), tremor of the body (nervousness), and irregular breathing accompany non-retention of concentration.
2-3: The pain-bearing obstructions are ignorance, egoity, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

("Of them, ignorance is the cause, and the other four are the effects." (Vivekananda))

Oh pain! despair! misery! It is said, "Hear me, ye people of sighing! / The sorrows of pain and regret / Are left to the dead and the dying, / The folk that not know me as yet." (Liber AL II:17) What are we to do?

1-32: For the prevention of these obstacles, one should practice on one object.
3-5: Through the attainment of that comes the light of knowledge.

That is, "making the mind take the form of one object for some time will destroy these obstacles" (Vivekananda). This is the practice of 'samyama,' the first stage of which is dharana, then dhyana, then samadhi. We are also counseled to the practice of pranayama, the controlling of prana (life-force) through control of breath. Many meditations and devotions are then given, but ultimately:

1-40: The yogi's mind, thus meditating, becomes unobstructed from the atomic to the infinite.

"My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells." - Liber Tzaddi, line 40

"I am clothed with the body of flesh; I am one with the Eternal and Omnipotent God... Thou art the Lord of Glory, and the unclean dog." -Liber LXV, I:53; II:3

"For Perfection abideth not in the Pinnacles, or in the Foundations, but in the ordered Harmony of one with all." - Liber Causae, line 32

What pragmatic tools does Thelema offer?

What tools does Thelema offer, like Buddhism offers the practice of 'mindfulness...'

• Attitude of non-attachment to results/fruits of labor (Liber AL I:44)
• Attitude of affirmation, strength, beauty, force, etc. (Liber AL II)
• Attitude of no guilt from lust, "sinful" things, materiality, etc.

But all these things are subtle, somewhat passive in that they are 'attitudes' and not pragmatic tools like mindfulness. 

Is Thelema merely a paradigm which does not necessarily come with any specific tools?

The traditional response is (a) Yoga and (b) Magick, but are these founded in Thelemic literature or Crowley's literature on... yoga & magick?

* * * * *

• The use of 'strange drugs' (entheogens) is explicitly endorsed by Hadit:
• "I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof! They shall not harm ye at all. It is a lie, this folly against self. The exposure of innocence is a lie. Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this." (Liber AL II:22)
• The use of wines and alcohol is explicitly endorsed by Nuit: 
• "Be goodly therefore: dress ye all in fine apparel; eat rich foods and drink sweet wines and wines that foam! Also, take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me." (Liber AL I:51) 
• ...by Hadit: "I am the Snake that giveth Knowledge & Delight and bright glory, and stir the hearts of men with drunkenness. To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet, & be drunk thereof!" (Liber AL II:22) 
• ...by Ra-Hoor-Khuit: "For perfume mix meal & honey & thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood." (Liber AL III:23)

Perhaps that to which is alluded to often.... "the first task of the Aspirant is to disarm all his thoughts, to make himself impregnably above the influence of any one of them; this he may accomplish by the methods given in Liber Aleph, Liber Jugorum, Thien Tao, and elsewhere." (AL II:25 comment)...