Yoga Sutra - IV- 24 - TAD ASAMKHYEYA VASANABHIS CITTAM API PARARTHAM SAMHATYA KARITVAT - Though having countless desires, the mind-stuff exists for the sake of another [the Purusha] because it can act only in association with It.Swami Satchidananda translated this sutra without commentary.
"How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood says the following:
Every combination of individuals or forces in this world has to have a purpose for its action or existence; otherwise it would be just a meaningless, functionless collection of objects, brought together haphazardly. And this purpose must be external to itself. A congress or parliament would be just a collection of noisy individuals in a room, if it did not have a purpose of legislating for a community. A house is just a pile of materials, until an owner comes to inhabit and enjoy it. So with the mind-- that yelling parliament of conflicting interests and desires. It is nothing but a madhouse, until it is "called to order." It can only become purposive the external will of the Atman.
See preceding posts.
3 comments:
They seem to say that Atman is the external cause/purpose for all selves. This is interesting to me because I have been wondering about how causality can be "created" because we usually perceive and assume that there always is a cause for everything, which makes me inclined to believe that the absolute reality is not some sort of causation. Then again, who really knows the nature of the absolute unless one is enlightened? :)
I agree that it's true that only the enlightened knows the true nature of the Absolute (Purusha, Atma, God, the Divine Creator or the Source).
As Swami Muktananda has said this (world) is all "A Play of Consciousness" [also the name of his biography]. Without the Atman there is nothing, thus nothing to perceive or have purpose.
Thanks for visiting!
I see - so perhaps the Atman is that part of ourselves which allows us to perceive the "absolute."
Also, thanks for directing me to the yoga sutras you have posted (as per your comment on Anne's blog) - they are very wise sayings!
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