Heyam Duhkham Anagatam — Future Suffering is to be Avoided
Patanjali's most optimistic teaching: future suffering has not yet arrived and can be avoided. The purpose of yoga is not to cure past pain but to prevent the suffering that has not yet occurred.
Sutra 2.16 — 'heyam duhkham anagatam' — is one of the most practically important in the entire text: the suffering that has not yet come is to be avoided (heya). Past suffering cannot be changed; present suffering being experienced must be met. But future suffering — which will arise from the continued operation of the kleshas on karma — can be intercepted by yoga practice. This teaching is the philosophical foundation of all preventive spiritual practice: rather than treating the symptoms of suffering after they arise, yoga practice addresses the root causes (kleshas) before they produce their inevitable fruits. Vyasa's commentary compares this fourfold structure — the suffering to be avoided, its cause, its removal, and the means — to the method of medicine: disease, diagnosis, cure, and remedy.
The suffering that has not yet come is to be avoided.
Psychologist Martin Seligman's positive psychology framework — particularly its focus on resilience, character strengths, and prospective flourishing rather than merely treating disorder — reflects the same orientation as Patanjali's 2.16: the primary target of practice is future wellbeing, not past pathology.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali