Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Return to Back to Pure Consciousness YS IV - 34

Yoga Sutra - IV- 34 - PURUSARTHASUNYANAM GUNANAM PRATIPRASAVAH KAIVALYAM SVARUPA PRATISTHA VA CITISAKTER ITI - Thus, the supreme state of Independence manifests while the gunas reabsorb themselves into Prakriti, having no more purpose to serve the Purusha. Or, to look from another angle, the power of pure consciousness settles in its own pure nature.

Swami Satchidananda states in this final sutra "The power of pure consciousness settles in its own pure nature." That means that when the gunas withdraw, finishing their job, the Purusha--having gotten completely clean--stops running around. It is settled. It is happy in its own true nature. It is no longer seeking happiness and peace from outside, because it realizes it is happiness personified.

Swami Satchidananda takes us back to the first book, second sutra (YS 1-2) "Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah." "Restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga." YS 1-3 is "Tada drashtuh svarupe' vasthanam." "Then the Seer rests in its own state." The entire four books are the explanations of these two Sutras. Chitta vritti nirodhah is the practice. Svarupe'vasthanan is the experience. Satchidananda says that is why Patanjali talks about the experience at the end. "You just rest in your own true nature. You have played your games, you have gotten all your experiences, and now you are resting." By resting, Patanjali means that the true you is resting while your body and mind function.

It's not that your body and mind necessarily rest always. They have to continue to fulfill the jobs for which they were created. According to the prarabda, a momentum has been created like the wheel that has been set in motion. You gave a push earlier, and the body and mind are facing that now as prarabda. When you attain the jivanmukta state, the pushing hand is taken away, but the wheel won't stop immediately. It will continue until the momentum is lost. While the momentum continues, you just rest and watch what is happening as a witness.

Swami Satchidananda gives us the analogy of an actor. We are told that we are the witness, and then we are the actor. If we become the actor, we become responsible for our actions. When we are the witness we are not responsible for our actions because then we are not acting. So, either act and be responsible, or allow the mind and body to act and be a witness, totally free. We are further informed that Yogis do actions only for the sake of others and not for their own sake. It is the image-you or the ego-you that needs Yoga. It is to the ego or lower self, the individual self that the teaching is given.

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