When Infinity of Knowledge Is Revealed YS IV - 31

Yoga Sutra - IV- 31- TADA SARVAVARANA MALAPETASYA JNANASYANANTYA JNEYAM ALPAM - Then all the coverings and impurities of knowledge are totally removed. Because of the infinity of this knowledge, what remains to be known is almost nothing.

Swami Satchidananda asks in this short commentary What is impurity? He answers It is like the sensitive coating on photographic film. The "I" and "mine" coat our mental film and then want to "catch' everything they see. If not for the sensitive film, you may see many things, but they wouldn't affect you, because nothing would get recorded. A jivanmukta's mind is like an uncoated, crystal-clear mica sheet. It runs through the camera and pictures are shot, but nothing gets recorded. There's nothing to process, nothing to develop and nothing to fix. That means there are no "fixations."

"How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood says the following for this sutra:

To man in his ordinary sense-consciousness, the universe seems full of secrets. There seems so infinitely much to be discovered and known. Every object is an invitation to study. He is overcome by his own sense of ignorance. But, to the illumined yogi, the universe does not seem all that mysterious. It is said that , if you know clay, you know the nature of everything that is made of clay. So, if you know the nature of Atman, you know the nature of everything in the universe. Then, all the painstaking researches of science seem like efforts of a child to empty the ocean with a spoon.

See related posts:

• Absolute True Consciousness YS I - 48, 49
• Wisdom - Seven Stages - YS II - 27 (Part II)
  Wisdom - Seven Stages - YS II - 27 (Part I)
• Discriminative Knowledge YS III - 55

Nirvitarka Samadhi YS I - 43

Yoga Sutra I-43 - SMRTI PARISUDDHAU SVARUPA SUNYEVARTHA MATRA NIRBHASA NIRVITARAKA - When the memory is well purified, the knowledge of the object of concentration shines alone, devoid of the distinction of name and quality. This is nirvitarka samadhi, or samdhi without deliberation.


What this type of samadhi is (without deliberation) is unmixed with the sound or name, the object or meaning and knowledge. Here in nirvitarka samadhi there is only knowledge (jnana) of the object meditated on. This is when the memory is purified or devoid or qualities, according to Swami Satchidananda. So this is to know nothing but the object itself as it truly is without our reactions and or preconceived thoughts.

Pramana - Right Knowledge YS I - 6

This post is a continuation of yesterday's post in which I stated "In YS I-6 Pramana Viparyaya Vikalpa Nidra Smrtayah Patanjali lists the five types of vrittis (mental modifications) as right knowledge, misconception, verbal delusion, sleep and memory."

Today I will address Pramana which is translated as Right Knowledge. Pramana is a Sankrit word used in the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali. Pramana forms one part of a tripuţi (trio) concerning Pramā (the correct knowledge of any object arrived at by thorough reasoning, Sanskrit), namely:
1. Pramāta, the subject, the knower
2. Pramāņa, the means of obtaining the knowledge
3. Prameya, the object, the knowable

Knowledge can be defined as information we know through study, experience, education, perception, reasoning etc.

In Swami Satchidananda's commentary of this sutra, he states "Pantanjali calls valid knowledge is what you understand by seeing something yourself-direct perception. If you see something face-to-face you don't have any doubt. That is one way to get valid knowledge." Then he states another way is through inference (i.e. how humans draw conclusions) as if one saw smoke, one knows there cannot be smoke without fire. Or if " you see a cow giving milk, you infer the cows gives milk." A third way Satchidananda refers to is "a reliable authority or person who has really understood something tells you." And here he refers to holy scriptures. Here explains that "The words of prophets given through holy scriptures are finalized. They can't be modified."

So in regard to your thoughts of knowing the right or valid knowledge, we have to become more focused on the kinds or thoughts we have on a daily basis. Are we living our lives through right or valid knowledge? Especially with all the bombardment of other people's thoughts of their knowledge through media, associations, what we learn in school, in the work place, how are we affected? Dharana which is concentration and Dhyana which is meditation are great tools to see where we are at. See what methods works for you. Eventually, by being fully present we will have to leave all the thoughts and knowledge behind at some point if we are to have peace.