The Basic Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali. Avneet Kumar Singla

spiritual consciousness higher than this. For those with weak will there is this advice: to be faithful in obedience, to live life and thus strengthen the will to perfect obedience. The Will is not ours, but God's, and we come in only through obedience. When we enter into the spirit of God, we may share the power of God.

      Higher than the three stages of the path is the goal, the end of the path.

      23. Or spiritual consciousness may be gained by ardent service of the master.

      If we regard our life as tasks that the master of life has set us, if we regard all duties as parts of the work of this master entrusted to us and forming our life's work; if we then obey immediately, loyally and sincerely, we will gradually enter into the life of the master and share the power of the master.

      Thus we are initiated into the spiritual will.

      24. The Master is the spiritual man who is free from obstacles, bondage to works, and the fruit and seed of works.

      The soul of the master, the Lord, is of the same nature as the soul within us; but we still bear the burden of many evils, we are in bondage through our former works, we are under the dominion of sorrow. The soul of the master is free from sin and bondage and sorrow.

      25. The master is the perfect seed of omniscience is.

      The soul of the master is essentially one with the Oversoul and therefore partaker of the omniscience and omnipotence of the Oversoul. All spiritual attainments rest upon it and are possible because the soul and the Oversoul are one.

      26. He is the teacher of all who have gone before, because he is limited by time.

      From the beginning, the Oversoul has been the teacher of all souls who have inherited the kingdom of light through their entry into the Oversoul, recognizing their oneness with the Oversoul. For the Oversoul is before the time, and the time, the father of all others, is one of his children.

      27. His word is OM.

      OM: the symbol of the Three in One, the three worlds in the soul; the three times, past, present, future, in eternity; the three Divine powers, creation, preservation, Transformation, in the one being; the three essences, immortality, omniscience, joy, in a spirit. This is the word, the Symbol of the master and Lord, the perfect spiritual man.

      28. Let there be a soundless repetition of OM and meditation on it.

      This has many meanings in ascending degrees. First, there is the potency of the word itself, as with all words. Then there is the diverse meaning of the symbol, as suggested above. Finally, there is the spiritual realization of the high essences thus symbolized. Thus we rise step by step to the Eternal.

      29. Then the awakening of the inner consciousness and the elimination of barriers comes.

      Here too faith must be supplemented by works, life must be led and studied before the full meaning can be understood. The awakening of spiritual consciousness can only be understood in moderation when it is entered. It can only be entered where the conditions are present: purity of heart, and strong aspiration, and the resolute conquest of each sin.

      However, this can be easily understood: that the recognition of the three worlds as rest in the soul leads us to realize ourselves and everything

      life as of the soul; that if we do not dwell in the past, present or future, but in the eternal, we become more one with the eternal; that if we regard all organization, preservation, mutation as the work of the Divine, we will come more in harmony with the one and thus remove the barriers on our path to the light.

      In the second part of the first book, The problem of the origin of the spiritual man is further discussed. We are led to consider the obstacles to its emergence, to overcome the barriers and certain steps and stages of ascent from the ordinary consciousness of practical life to the finer, deeper, radiant consciousness of the spiritual man.

      30. The barriers to interior consciousness, which drive the psychic nature this way and, these are: to achieve disease, inertia, doubt, light-heartedness, laziness, restlessness, false notions, inability to a stage of meditation, or to hold it when reached.

      We must remember that we regard the spiritual man as entangled and entangled by psychic nature, emotional and mental forces.and as unable to come to clear consciousness, unable to stand and see clearly, because of the psychic veils of personality.

      Nine of them are listed, and they go quite thoroughly into the raw hardness of psychic nature.

      Illness is more likely to be included for its effect on the emotions and mind, since physical infirmity, such as blindness or deafness, is not an insurmountable barrier to mental life, and can sometimes be a help as distractions cut off. It will be good for us to think about each of these nine activities and to see each as a mental state that is a barrier to the inner consciousness of the spiritual person.

      31. grief, despair, physical restlessness, the taking in and taking out of the breath of life also contribute to driving the psychic nature back and forth.

      The first two moods are easy to understand. We can well see that a soaked mental state, blatantly opposed to the pure and positive joy of spiritual life, would be a barrier. The next, bodily restlessness, is in a special way the fault of our time and generation. When it is conquered, the mental restlessness is also half conquered.

      The next two terms, which concern the breath of life, offer some difficulties. The superficial meaning is hard and irregular breathing; the deeper meaning is a life with hard and irregular impulses.

      32. The steady application to a principle is the way to put this to a halt.

      The Will, which in its pristine state was full of power, was constantly corrupted by forbearance, the search for moods and sensations for the sake of sensation. Hence come all sickly and sickly moods of the spirit. The remedy is a return to the original state of the Will, through vigorous, positive effort; or, as we are told here, through constant application to a principle. The principle to which we should apply so steadily should be one that arises from the reality of spiritual life; brave work for the soul, in others as in ourselves.

      33. through sympathy with the happy, compassion for the sad, joy in the Holy, disregard for the unholy, the psychic nature moves towards gracious peace.

      When we are wrapped in ourselves, wrapped in the cloak of our selfishness, immersed in our pain and bitter thoughts, we are not willing to disturb or burden our own sick mood by giving friendly compassion to the happy ones, thus doubling their joy or showing compassion for the sad ones, thus halving their grief. We refuse to find joy in holy things and let the spirit brood over unholy things in sad pessimism. All these evil psychic moods must be conquered by strong effort. This tearing of the veils will reveal to us something of the grace and peace that are of the inner consciousness of the spiritual man.

      34.or peace can be achieved by the even emission and control of the life breath.

      Here, too, we can look for a double meaning: first, the even and calm breathing that is part of the victory over physical restlessness; then the even and calm tenor of life, without hard or dissonant impulses that bring silence to the heart.

      35. Faithful, persistent application to any object, if completely attained, will bind the mind to the resistance.

      We are still considering how to overcome the wavering and disturbance of the psychic nature, which makes it quite unsuitable to transmit the inner consciousness and silence. We are once again asked to use the Will and train it through constant and persistent work: by sitting near our work, in the phrase of the original.

      36. As well as a joyful, radiant spirit.

      There is no illusion like gloomy pessimism, and it has really been said that a man's cheerfulness is the measure of his faith. Darkness, dejection, the pale world of thought, are very accessible to the will.

      Robust and courageous efforts bring a clear and brave spirit. But it must always be remembered that this is not a consolation for the personal person, but a sacrifice for the ideal of spiritual life, a contribution to the universal and universally shared treasure in heaven.

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