Yoga is the basis for destruction of the doshas here in this life

11 Yoga is the basis for destruction of the doshas here in this life;
Having thrown off these which torment beings, the wise one (pandita) attains Peace.

destruction annihilation, of the doshas anger and the rest. The yogas are freedom from anger and the others (of sutra 14). They are the root, the basis (of practice). For before the yogas, the opposing doshas become weak and can be thrown off.

here in this life the doshas drive towards remaining (imprisoned) in a body, the point being that life itself is caused by actions (karma) which themselves arise from doshas.

Objection It may be asked, how are those who want freedom to put forth the tremendous efforts in the yogas of angerlessness, etc. which are opposed (to the doshas, the cause of life itself)?
Yogas and doshas are mutually exclusive, like movement and rest, and why should it be only the yogas which destroy the doshas, and not the other way round?

Answer To this it is said: The yogas are the strong ones because they are associated with right knowledge (samyag-darsana), and the others are destroyed because they are weak, being associated with false notions (mithya-pratyaya). So it is, that the yogas kill the others, just as in the world it is the men of powerful intellect who destroy the weak-minded. And in this Law-book elsewhere (1.11.25) it is taught that those free from anger are stronger than those subject to anger and passion.

Having thrown off, having shaken off,

these which torment beings when the doshas spring up, beings are scorched by them as if by fire, and so they are called tormen-tors of beings. Having thrown them off, one goes to Peace, to fearlessness, to freedom. So the holy texts say, ‘he who knows the bliss of Brahman is not afraid of anything’ (Taitt. 2.9), ‘fearlessness, 0 Janaka – you have attained it!’ (Brihad. 4.2.4), and the tradition says ‘For the Knowers, there is no fear there-from’ (Mahābh. XII. 187. 58).

The verse speaks of the ‘wise one’ – the pandita. Without knowing Brahman, one does not attain Peace simply by eliminat¬ing doshas. For ‘pandita’ here is used in the sense of knower of Brahman, not knower of doctrine. A holy text about Self¬knowledge says, ‘therefore the Brahmins, having mastered this wisdom (pandita-hood) . . .’ (Brihad. 3.5.1).

Objection It may be said: if the instruction about shaking off doshas is addressed to the wise man as well, then his Brahman- knowledge has not in fact brought him Peace. If Brahman- knowledge alone brought about Peace, then from the moment of knowing Brahman, he would be free from suffering.

Answer Not so, and this is why: it is just because the yogas are based on the strength of right Knowledge that they have the power to destroy the doshas, which are feeble because they arise from false notions. So attainment of Peace is from Knowledge of Brahman, because without that the doshas cannot be eliminated nor karma destroyed.

Objection But then if shaking off the doshas and destruction of karma come automatically from Knowledge, the direction to ‘shake off the doshas’ becomes superfluous and pointless, because the desired effect will have come about without efforts.

Answer No, because (new) doshas are thrown up by that karma which has already begun to operate. In the matter of producing effects, the karmas accumulated over many incarnations are of two kinds: those already in operation, and those not yet operating. Karma-already-in-operation (pravritta karma) is karma which throws up doshas so that the agent shall experience its results in the form of pleasure or pain and so on. Without doshas, there would be no possibility of these results; for in this world we never find a case of pleasure or pain coming into operation without some desire or aversion already there. Therefore the doshas, which have been thrown up by karma-already-in-operation in order to produce its results, and which have grown strong from indulgence in them, are to be thrown off with effort; otherwise they will cause activity (pravritti) to prevail (over peace). And this is why it is said that their destruction here in this life is on the basis of yoga.

And furthermore one must take note that there are differences in (degree of clarity of) Knowledge, which may be weak or middling or perfect. For even among those who have Knowledge of Brahman, not all have the same attainment of Brahman; for the highest degree of discriminative knowledge (viveka) is found in (only) some of them, and there is the holy text ‘He is highest among the Brahman-knowers’ (Mund. 3.1.4) and the tradition ‘perfect in right vision’ (Manu VI.74).

The instruction about renunciation (tyaga) and detachment (vairagya) and conquest of the senses has its meaning for those of weaker or middling Brahman-knowledge. As regards the perfect Brahman-knowers, who have attained the goal already, all this (instruction) is only confirmation (anuvada) – of what has already been accomplished). The Gita says, ‘only when he has seen the supreme does the inner taste (for sense objects) depart from him’ (11.59), and the same thing is said in the Gita passages on the characteristics of those who have transcended the gunas (qualities of nature, XIV.22-5).

Objection It might be said, in that case even the enlightened one will be born again, because his karma-already-in-operation is generating doshas which in turn cause activities.

Answer Not so. Because the doshas and (resulting) activities (cesta) of the Knower have been thrown up (only) by karma- already-in-operation, and their force is being attenuated – as in the case of a shot arrow – just by living through the effects. And since he has no further purposes (to fulfil), there is nothing that could cause another birth.

As for the karma which has not already begun to operate, that is burnt in its latent state by the fire of Brahman-knowledge, and like seeds which have been roasted it has no power to germinate into another birth. The holy text says, ‘his karmas are destroyed’ (Mund. 2.2.8) and the tradition ‘the fire of knowledge burns up all karmas’ (Gita IV. 57).

So the settled conclusion is, that after shaking off the doshas, the wise one attains Peace.