PATANJALI'S VISION OF ONENESS
AN INTERPRETIVE TRANSLATION BY SWAMI VENKATESANANDA
SRI PATANJALA YOGA DARSANAM
IV. 1.
PATANJALI'S VISION OF ONENESS
AN INTERPRETIVE TRANSLATION BY SWAMI VENKATESANANDA
SRI PATANJALA YOGA DARSANAM
IV. 1.
Will be adding Sanskrit.
The attainments listed in the previous section are not only the fruits of the threefold inner discipline, but they are congenital in some, and in others they may follow the right and intelligent use of certain medicinal herbs or of certain mantras (mystic formulae or advice) or they may follow the kindling of the psychic fire.
IV. 2.
However, congenital endowments are not accidental, as the incidence of birth is determined by the character or quality with which one ' s whole being is saturated .
IV. 3.
To be so saturated does not involve acquiring or adding some new quality; for the transmutation of one ' s nature is not effected by the introduction of a new cause but by the removal of that which obstructs the realization of that nature. The new practice is a catalyst and is otherwise useless: and people of different natures make different choices. As in agriculture: there is fertility in the seed and the soil, and effort is directed at the removal
III. 4.
Any attempt to introduce a new transforming influence can only erect one more barrier - as such a construction of the mind-stuff (as the new influence or image is) is obviously and only a product of the ego-sense.
III. 5.
However many such images one may build within oneself, all these are projected by a single ego-sense in the mind-stuff, though the operations of the diverse successive images may vary) giving the false feeding of methodical and rapid spiritual progress.
IV.
6.
Hence, the no-image that is born of meditation is the best - because it does not create a receptacle for itself, entrench itself as a real image, and color the mind.
IV. 7.
The yogis’ actions, springing from such no-image are therefore neither pure nor impure whereas in the case of others, actions are of three classes, kinds or types - viz., pure, impure and mixed.
IV. 8.
The images that are built in the mind and the actions that flow from them color the mind creating tendencies which manifest when conditions are favorable.
IV. 9.
The relation between the actions, the tendencies they create, and the manifestation of these tendencies in behavior may be vague: especially when the behavior and its antecedents are separate in time, place, and embodiment - yet the latent impressions (tendencies) and memory are identical in nature.
IV. 10.
However, it is difficult to determine their exact operation, and it is futile to analyze them. These memories and these tendencies are beginning less - for hope or desire-to-live is permanent.
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