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.

See related posts:

• Karma Past, Present & Future - YS II - 12
• Jivamuktas Immune from Karma IV - 30
  

For the Jivanmukti - No Time Reality YS IV- 33

Yoga Sutra - IV- 33- KSANA PRATIYOGI PARINAMAPARANTA NIRGRAHYAH KRAMAH - The sequence [referred to above] means an uninterrupted succession of moments which can be recognized at the end of their transformations.

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:

Time is a sequence of moments and, hence, a sequence of mutations of the gunas which take place at every moment. We only become aware of these moment-changes at intervals, when a whole series of of them have resulted in a mutation which is sufficiently remarkable to be apparent to our senses. An example is given of a that a bud on a flower has opened, but after a couple of hours we recognize the blossoming flower. Similarly, at the end of a series of thoughts and impressions, we may have an idea or make a decision.

But for the illumined soul (jivanmukti) , time has no reality. There is no sequence in his thought-pattern. He controls time, as it were, and know the past, present and future like a flash in the eternal now (III,53).

See Single Moments/Sequence in Time YS III - 53

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

Jivamuktas Immune from Karma IV - 30

Yoga Sutra - IV- 30 - TATAH KLESA KARMA NIVRTTIH - From that samadhi all afflictions and karma cease.

Swami Satchidananda has a long commentary for this sutra. Some of it has some repetition of the earlier descriptions of the three types of karma. The commentary begins with By dharmamegha samadhi all that affects the mind goes away. One becomes a jivamukta. Such a person is not affected by anything. He or she is there and things happen; that person is a constant witness. The body and mind, which were trained well before liberation, just continue certain functions because of their prarabda, or residual karma.

The review of the workings of karma, (all our actions which leave their results) are grouped into three sections as follows:

1. Prarabda karma -Karma to be experienced in this life. It is according to your prarabda that you come into this world with different qualities of body and mind. This karma dictates whether we are a girl or boy and we each have to undergocertainn experiences for which that type of body is needed.


2. Sanjita karma- Is the sum total of all your past karmas.


3. Agama karma - While experiencing prarabda karma we are creatinig new karma. To recognize the new karma, anything that happens unexpectedly is prarabda and consciously planned actions are new karma.

In the case of jivanmuktas, they have come into the world with human bodies because of their prarabda. Until they got liberated they were just like anybody else. Now, with their Self-knowledge, they decide not to do any new karma to bind themselves, sotherer is no agami for them. But that doesn't mean they are not doing any actions. Some things seem to be happening as they are seen doing many things, however, they are not. And because of this isolation from the mind and body, they are not affected by the reactions of the acts you see them perform. It is the mind that performs all the karmas.

So once you realize you are Purusha (the Self or cosmic man), it is known that karma belongs to the mind. With the isolation from the mind, the seeds of karma are burnt, not affecting the jivamukta- thus no further birth. But still, the prarabda that brought this mind and body remains. Until that is over, the body and mind will still function. ;Jivamuktas are neither blamed or praised for their actions. Just as you watch them acting, they watch themselves. All praise and blame go to the body and mind-- not to the jivamuktas.

See related post:

• Karma Past, Present & Future - YS II - 12

Samadhi - Contemplation YS III - 3

Yoga Sutra III- 3 - TAD EVARTHAMATRA NIRBHASAM SVARUPA SUNYAM IVA SAMADHIH - Samadhi is the same meditation when there is the shining of the object alone, as if devoid of form.

Swami Satchidananda tells us that there is not much he can say about this one. "You will easily understand when you have a little experience. Meditation culminates in the state of samadhi. It's not that you practice samadhi. Nobody can consciously practice samadhi. Our effort is there only up to meditation." He tells that we can put all our effort into dharana and it becomes effortless in dhyana, knowing you are in meditation. "But in samadhi, you don't even know that . You are not there to know it because you are that. " Samadhi is when you become what you think. Swami Satchidananda informs us that in meditation there are three things: the meditator, the meditation and the focus of meditation. "In samadhi there is neither the object or the meditator. There is no feeling of 'I am meditating on that.' "

An scientific analogy is given of alkaline solution being poured into an acidic solution until ultimately there is no more acid solution, just alkaline. So think of the Lord as the alkali and you and He becomes one. "That's samadhi." Swami Satchidananda tells us that it's hard to put into words (about samadhi) and that if we keep working at it, we will know what samadhi is. He reminds us of the four samadhis previously mentioned in Yoga Sutra Book I:

• savitaraka samadhi - with form
• savichara samadhi- with idea
• sa-ananda samadhi - with bliss
• sa-asmita samadhi - with pure ego

"All these four still leave some parts of the mind with hidden desires. You are not completely free. The ideas in the mind are not completely roasted. They could still germinate again. That's why all these four are called sabija samadhi. " Bija means seed, so the sprouting tendency is still there. But once those seeds are completely roasted, they won't germinate. Then that is seedless samadhi (nirbija samadhi or nirvikalpla samadhi).

The commentary ends with us being informed that the burnt seeds (mental seeds) makes the difference between ordinary people and jivanmuktas (liberated beings). The jivanmuktas are living liberated people and that liberation is not to experience when you die. "When living, you should be liberated. Jivan-mukta: mukta means liberated, jivan, while living. That is the final state of samadhi."

"Samadhi is, in fact, much more than a perception; it is direct knowledge." - "How to Know God - The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali" translated and commented on by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood.

See related posts:

• The Eight Limbs of Yoga - YS II - 28, 29
• The Mind as A Crystal YS I - 41
• Savitarka Samadhi YS - I - 42
• Nirvitarka Samadhi YS I - 43
• Reflective - Super 0r Non- Reflective Samadhi
• Samadhis with Seed YS I - 46s YS ...
• Nirvichara Samadhi YS I- 47
• Samprajnata (Distinguished) Samadhi-YS I -17
• Asamprajnata or Non-distinguished Samadhi YS- I-18...
• Rebirth - YS I-19

Asamprajnata or Non-distinguished Samadhi YS- I-18

Yoga Sutra I- 18 VIRAMA PRATYAYABHYASA PURVAH SAMSKARASESO'NYAH- By the firmly convinced practice of the complete cessation of the mental modifications, the impressions only remain. This is the other samadhi [asamprajnata or non-distinguished]

A definition from http://en.mimi.hu/yoga/asamprajnata_samadhi.html -Asamprajnata Samadhi supraconscious. The citta and the object of meditation are fused together. The consciousness of the object of meditation is transcended. All mental modifications are checked (niruddha), although latent impressions may continue.

In this commentary of this sutra, Swami Satchidananda continues to talk about samprajnata samadhi (distinguished) with all its four varieties should be practiced. He talks about how the buried seeds can still come up in the conscious mind and pull you back into worldly experience. It is only when all four stages are passed can one progress into asamprajnata samadhi where even the ego feeling is no longer present "and the seeds of past impressions are rendered harmless." He further says in this state, only consciousness is present and nothing else. This is the state of a liberated individual, a jivanmukti, and there is no more getting tossed or involved in worldly matters. It is not meant that the liberated person just goes away from the world or dies, but that it is one who lives and the same time is liberated.

Basically Satchidananda is saying we have to understand nature completely, then bring it under control, push it aside and become liberated. If one just attempts to renounce the world by going to a forest or cave and never being free from the nature that is not liberation. Nature will follow. There is no hiding anywhere. There is no other way than to understand it (Prakriti or Nature), handle it properly and then rising above it.

Samskara - Impression YS I - 50

Samskara(s): Sanskrit word meaning impression left by a previous thought or action; latent tendency; are the seed of our past actions. We all have samskaras in our lives that either help or hinder us. So now we come to the following sutra:

Yoga Sutra I- 50 - TAJJAH SAMSKARO'NYA SAMSKARA PRATIBANDHI - The impression produced by this samadhi wipes out all other impressions.

Swami Satchidananda says in his commentary of this sutra that the impression which comes from the samadhi in which you get ritambhara prajna will block all other impressions. Here everything dies away and there is no more returning back as an ordinary person, who is unaware of his own true nature. When one gets to this stage, the stage of no return, one always retain this knowledge (of his true nature). This stage is when one becomes a realized saint or a jivamukta. The word jivan means one who is lives and mukta means liberated. The jivanmukta lives, eats, talks, does business like everyone else but liberated. This liberated person doesn't get excited. This person as a jivanmukta can do anything, like being involved in the world for the sake of humanity without any personal attachment.

Swami Satchidananda concludes the commentary by stating that a liberated person will not be attached to anything, not have impressions or old thoughts to bring them back to ordinary life. The seeds of desire will be completely burnt up and that liberated person will always live in an unattached state.