Yoga Sutra I-25- TATRA NIRATISAYAM SARVAJNA BIJAM - In Him complete manifestation of the seed of omniscience.Swami Satchidananda uses the word omniscience in his translation of the the word sarvajna. From the Wikipedia omniscience is defined as "the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a character including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, etc. In monotheism, this ability is typically attributed to God".
Swami Satchidananda commented "He" is all-knowing and knowledge itself. "The cosmic knowledge is called the supreme soul, or Purusha". Then he asks us how we can imagine this. He gives the example of a circle stating that the space within the circle is finite and the space outside it is infinite. "If you accept the existence of a finite space, automatically you have to accept an infinite one. Without infinite there can be no finite." If we feel we are limited and finite (our minds and knowledge), then there must be a source of infinite knowledge beyond.
Yoga Sutra I- 26- SA PURVESAM API GURUH KALENAANAVACCHEDAT- Unconditioned by time, He is the teacher of even the most ancient teachers.
Here Swami Satchidananda says "Although all knowledge is within you and you need not get it from the outside, somebody is still necessary to help you understand your own knowledge." This is why we need a teacher or guru to help us to go within and understand ourselves. From the Wikipedia - A guru (Sanskrit: गुरु, Hindi: गुरु, Bengali: গুরু) is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others.
Swami Satchidananda asks "where did your guru get that knowledge?" "Then who is the first guru?" He speaks about there being a reservoir of knowledge from which all knowledge comes from and "That's why Patanjali says the supreme Purusha, or Isvara, is the Guru of the gurus." And devotion to the all knowing Isvara is another method for obtaining samadhi. This devotion is an emotional path and is a method easier than the others mentioned to attain the different levels of samadhi. Surrendering to"Him" and "The moment you have resigned yourself completely, you have transcended your own ego."
Satchidananda speaks about how we try to practice yoga with our egos, saying "I" can., for example, empty the mind. It is when we realize that it is not "I", but "You, Lord" (that is doing the action), then we have risen above nature. The bottom line is that nobody can obtain eternal peace by doing something with the mind, which is a part of nature. The supreme joy we seek can only be acquired by rising above nature by complete surrender.
To go to the sutra you can check with the post for December 16, 2008. This post wraps up book I of the Yoga Sutras. I will periodically come back and revisit this section.
2 comments:
Amazing! Coupled with the understanding I have, these lessons make it ever more so clear.
To accept that we are finite in our knowledge is to also accept that infinity of knowledge exists. This is like accepting that because we are objects or matter, we must also accept the space that allows us to exist.
Furthermore, the phrase "guru of all gurus" helps me to understand why "the guru" is a synonym for the supreme and universal Self.
Thank you for the enlightening lessons!
You are welcome C.Om! These lessons are a review for me as well from Patanjali. I agree that it is enlightening as well. Such ancient teachings of the Absolute Truth will always eternally be here for us.
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