PATANJALI'S VISION OF ONENESS CONTINUED
AN INTERPRETIVE TRANSLATION BY SWAMI VENKATESANANDA
PATANJALI'S VISION OF ONENESS CONTINUED
AN INTERPRETIVE TRANSLATION BY SWAMI VENKATESANANDA
I. 41.
| Lest it should be misunderstood that the intelligence freed from conditioning and coloring is dull, inactive, unresponsive and void, it should be remembered that, like a pure crystal which reflects without distortion or confusion any object that is placed near it, the steady and ever-alert intelligence, too, receives and reflects the color (nature) of the subject, the predicate, and the object in all situations, instantly, spontaneously and appropriately. |
I. 42.
| In the case of the understanding reached through logic or reasoning there is confusion on account of the discrepancies that exist between the word (description), meaning (in both connotations as the substance described and as the knowledge of the word-meaning) and imagination or assumption. Hence, it is unclear and uncertain. |
I. 43.
| But, when the mind-stuff is cleansed of memory, the self or personality which was nothing but the fragmentation, the conditioning or the coloring (the impurity) is wiped out as it were; and the substance or truth alone shines, without distortion, logic or reasoning which is the function of the limited personality . |
I. 44.
Whatever has been said above also applies to similar distinctions between the other methods already suggested (like the method of inquiry) and spontaneous awareness. Thus, by this they and all the subtleties involved have been explained, leaving only the subtlest experiencer of awareness to be dealt with.
I. 45.
When thus the subtle experiencer of the inner awareness is observed without interruption one arrives at that which has no identification or distinguishing mark, but which is at the same time not a void.
I. 46.
That indeed is the realization of the homogeneous cosmic essence, though even in it there exists the seed of potential fragmentation, which is the consciousness of the individuality or the observer.
I. 47.
Proficiency in such observation dispenses with even self-inquiry, on account of the uninterrupted self-awareness being natural: then there is spiritual enlightenment, peace and bliss.
I. 48.
Such enlightenment is saturated with harmony, order and righteousness.
I. 49.
This enlightenment, this understanding, this realization is quite different from what one has heard about or deduced from teaching obtained from external sources. Whereas in the case of the latter the object of study, investigation and understanding is outside of the consciousness, the realization arrived at in the former is of a special category.
I. 50.
This special realization of spontaneous self-awareness completely transmutes the entire being and there is total change. All other habits and tendencies are overcome by habitual self-awareness .
I. 51.
(Sanskrit will be placed as soon as possible)
When even that special realization (with the seed of fragmentation still present) is transcended, everything is transcended, and the seeker has, as it were, come one full circle. The seeker is entirely, absorbed in the seeking. The Reality realizes itself (it is) without the need for the individual even in his subtlest state. This indeed is the enlightenment in which there is no seed at all for the manifestation of diversity.
