Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Chapter 1 Samadhi Pada (21-30)

Samadhi Pada 21
yoga sutras
Union is near for those with faith and vigor.

However, lest it should be misconstrued that such gradual evolution implies cosmological or psychological distance to be covered, it should be added that the state of yoga or the unconditioned intelligence is close at hand irrespective of the approach followed by the seekers - if they are full of intense zeal, enthusiasm, energy and sincerity, and are thus able speedily to overcome obstacles.

Samadhi Pada 22
yoga sutras
The results vary depending on intensity and dedication toward
union. There is a mild, medium and intense approach.

Yet, again, it is possible to see a distinction between mild, middling and intense zeal, energy and effort, although yoga (which is spontaneous realization of oneness) and effort (which implies duality) are contradiction in terms.

Samadhi Pada 23
yoga sutras
Complete surrender to God in profound meditation brings union.

Or, the state of yoga is attained by complete, instant, dynamic, energetic and vigilant surrender of the ego-principle to the omnipresent ever-existent reality or god. This is instant realization of God as the only reality, when the (ego's?) quest of self-knowledge meets its counterpart, ignorance, and stands bewildered in choiceless encounter, and when the ego-ignorance phantom instantly collapses.

Samadhi Pada 24
yoga sutras
God is complete and unaffected by affliction, suffering and karma.

Who is god?
That unique indwelling omnipresence that is never tainted nor touched by the ground of actions and their reactions, which afflict ignorant individuals; that which is left-over after the ego-ignorance-collapse; that special inner ruler or intelligence which is unconditioned by time and whose will alone prevails even in the body. In it there is oneness, never divided. It is therefore beyond ignorance and its progeny.

Samadhi Pada 25
yoga sutras
From God comes the seed of all knowledge.

In that (god or surrender to god) there is the source of the highest and most excellent omniscience, for the self limitation which is ignorance is dispelled by the removal of the ego-ignorance obstacle. (Or, the omniscience in that is natural and arouses no wonder.)

Samadhi Pada 26
yoga sutras
God is the teacher of all teachers through time.

That omnipresent reality, both in its manifest and in its unmanifest aspects, is the source of inspiration and intuitive enlightening experience of all the sages from beginningless time: for it is not conditioned (or divided) by time. The inner light is timeless. The enlightening experience is timeless, for, time is thought and thought is ignorance.

Samadhi Pada 27
yoga sutras
God becomes present in the sacred sound of Aum.

That indwelling omnipresent sole reality is verbally alluded to as OM, which is the ever— new and eternal cosmic sound that is heard in all natural phenomena (thunderclap, roaring of the ocean, wind rustling trees in the forest, and the conflagration) and even in the reverberations of the musical instruments, the hum of engines, and the distant din of the carnival crowd.

Samadhi Pada 28
yoga sutras
This is the purpose of repeating the sacred sound.

How to utilize that OM in the adoration of god ?
By repeating it, at the same time, inquiring into, contemplating and saturating the whole being with, the substance indicated by it - that is, the reality or god, which is the real "meaning" of OM.

Samadhi Pada 29
yoga sutras
Then the soul and inner self can be found. An intervention can take place to further remove obstacles from the path.

When one repeats the OM in this manner, then the consciousness which is ordinarily scattered over the diversity, is gathered, concentrated and turned inward. The spirit of enquiry into the substance of the OM dispels all the obstacles or distractions without necessarily wrestling or struggling with them.

Samadhi Pada 30
yoga sutras
Obstacles such as disease, doubt, illusion, inability to understand, laziness, gratification of the senses, slipping from progress and a scattered mind are all impediments.

What are the obstacles ?
(1) Disease, (2) dullness, (3) doubt, (4) carelessness, (5) laziness, (6) inability to turn the attention away (from the obstacles) (7) perverted or distorted vision, (8) inability to find a firm ground for the spiritual investigation, and (9) even when such a ground is found, unsteadiness of mind and attention in the pursuit of the inquiry - these are the obstacles and distractions, for they bring about and constitute the apparent fragmentation of the mindstuff .

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