Maitri Karuna Mudita Upekshanam — The Four Attitudes
Patanjali prescribes four attitudes toward different kinds of people that, when cultivated, make the mind serene: friendliness toward the happy, compassion toward the suffering, joy toward the virtuous, equanimity toward the unvirtuous.
Sutra 1.33 prescribes four social attitudes (Brahmaviharas) that pacify the chitta: Maitri (friendliness) toward those who are happy; Karuna (compassion) toward those who are in pain; Mudita (joy) toward the virtuous; and Upeksha (equanimity) toward those who are unvirtuous. These four attitudes are the social dimension of yoga practice — they describe the emotional posture that keeps the mind clear and undisturbed in the face of all the variety of human experience. If one feels jealousy toward the happy, rage at the virtuous, pity for the sinner, and coldness toward the suffering, the mind becomes turbulent. If one cultivates these four attitudes consistently, the mind remains serene. The same four Brahmaviharas appear in Buddhist teachings (Pali: Metta, Karuna, Mudita, Upekkha), suggesting their cross-traditional validity.
By cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion toward the suffering, joy toward the virtuous, and equanimity toward the unvirtuous, the mind becomes serene.
Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson's research on positive emotions confirms that the four Brahmaviharas — especially loving-kindness and compassion — produce measurable improvements in psychological resilience, immune function, and social connectedness when cultivated systematically.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
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- What the Yoga Sutras say about a steady mind
Friendliness towards the happy, compassion towards the suffering, gladness at the good, and evenness towards the badly behaved. Patanjali prescribes these for the sake of your own serenity, not the other person's.
- What the Yoga Sutras say about envy and comparison
Sutra 1.33 assigns four attitudes: friendliness to the happy, compassion to the suffering, gladness to the virtuous, equanimity to the unvirtuous. Envy is the failure of the first and third — jealousy standing where gladness belongs. Patanjali's stated reason for prescribing them is not kindness but serenity of the chitta.