Independence of the Seer YS II - 25

Yoga Sutra II- 25 - TAD ABHAVAT SAMYOGABHAVO HANAM TAT DRSEH KAIVALYAM - Without this ignorance, no such union occurs. This is the independence of the Seer.

Swami Satchidananda says "More simply, once the junction created by ignorance is removed, the Seer rests in his own true nature. The Purusha is always like that; although temporarily it appears to be bound by Prakriti." In other words, the Self appears to be bound by nature. "We should not only understand this theoretically" but also understand this in all our experiences, our actions, our ups and downs. We should keep asking ourselves, "Who am I?" "Who is happy?" "Who is unhappy?" When we keep this in mind, ask the questions and be vigilant, we will see that we are the knower and who we really are is not diminished by the outer circumstances.


In the continuation of the summary, Swami Satchidananda says "The Vedantins say, "Aham sakshihi." This means "I am the eternal witness." Just knowing this will help us out on many situations in life. If we are upset over something, we can ask who is upset? Even with pain we can have this attitude like if our finger gets burned, who is burned? This process becomes a meditative focus that helps us to see "Who" is at the effect in these situations.

Swami Satchidananda humorously gives an example of telling us he used to treat scorpion stings, which are very painful. He said the quickest way relieve someone from the pain was to put a few drops of salt solution in their eyes. Even though it had nothing to do with the sting, it diverted the attention away from the sting to the eye. And by the time the stinging eye was relieved, the scorpion sting was forgotten. "The attention is instantly transferred. So everything is relative." Once our minds, or attention is shifted, whatever was focused on before is forgotten. "A man is according to his mind", therefore, bondage and liberation is our own minds. It is only when we transcend the mind that we are free from all these troubles. The commentary ends where even if we reach that transcendence of mind and becoming free that instead of being idle, we can help others who are still bound.


In "How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood says that they are bewildered by what Patanjali is saying in this sutra. To them, Patanjali appears to be accepting and even approving of this ignorance. "Surely, ignorance is undesirable? Surely, it would have been much better if we had never become alienated from the Atman, never ceased to be aware of our real nature?" They further comment that this bewilderment they are experiencing is another product of this same ignorance. "Rooted in maya, we cannot hope to understand maya or judge the "justice" or 'injustice" of its bondage by our little relative, ethical standards."

They continue on commenting that all they can see for certain is that great saints who became liberated did not look back on their struggles lamenting with bitterness and regret. Instead of looking at maya with horror, they looked at it as fascinating and as an amusing play. The final conclusion is that instead of wasting time on reasoning and philosophizing, it is better to keep our eyes on those that have gone before us reaching the end of the journey. They are "beckoning us on to follow them." Their triumph is our reassurance that ultimately all is for the best.

See related posts:

• The Seer or Purusha YS II - 20
• The Witness - YS II - 21
• Maya - Illusion YS II - 22
• Samyoga - Union YS II - 23
• Because of Ignorance - YS II - 24