The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: The Book of the Spiritual ManPatañjali
Religion
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: The Book of the Spiritual Man
Patañjali
Yoga -- Early works to 1800
8. From the force inherent in works comes the manifestation of those
dynamic mind images which are conformable to the ripening out of each
of these works.
We are now to consider the general mechanism of Karma, in order that we
may pass on to the consideration of him who is free from Karma. Karma,
indeed, is the concern of the personal man, of his bondage or freedom.
It is the succession of the forces which built up the personal man,
reproducing themselves in one personality after another.
Now let us take an imaginary case, to see how these forces may work
out. Let us think of a man, with murderous intent in his heart,
striking with a dagger at his enemy. He makes a red wound in his
victim’s breast; at the same instant he paints, in his own mind, a
picture of that wound: a picture dynamic with all the fierce will-power
he has put into his murderous blow. In other words he has made a deep
wound in his own psychic body; and, when he comes to be born again,
that body will become his outermost vesture, upon which, with its wound
still there, bodily tissue will be built up. So the man will be born
maimed, or with the predisposition to some mortal injury; he is
unguarded at that point, and any trifling accidental blow will pierce
the broken Joints of his psychic armour. Thus do the dynamic
mind-images manifest themselves, coming to the surface, so that works
done in the past may ripen and come to fruition.
9. Works separated by different nature, or place, or time, are brought
together by the correspondence between memory and dynamic impression.
Just as, in the ripening out of mind-images into bodily conditions, the
effect is brought about by the ray of creative force sent down by the
Self, somewhat as the light of the magic lantern projects the details
of a picture on the screen, revealing the hidden, and making secret
things palpable and visible, so does this divine ray exercise a
selective power on the dynamic mind-images, bringing together into one
day of life the seeds gathered from many days. The memory constantly
exemplifies this power; a passage of poetry will call up in the mind
like passages of many poets, read at different times. So a prayer may
call up many prayers.
In like manner, the same over-ruling selective power, which is a ray of
the Higher Self, gathers together from different births and times and
places those mind-images which are conformable, and may be grouped in
the frame of a single life or a single event. Through this grouping,
visible bodily conditions or outward circumstances are brought about,
and by these the soul is taught and trained.
Just as the dynamic mind-images of desire ripen out in bodily
conditions and circumstances, so the far more dynamic powers of
aspiration, wherein the soul reaches toward the Eternal, have their
fruition in a finer world, building the vesture of the spiritual man.
10. The series of dynamic mind-images is beginningless, because Desire
is everlasting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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