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
The truth is that the “mind” knows neither external things nor itself.
Its measuring and analyzing, its hoping and fearing, hating and
desiring, never give it a true measure of life, nor any sense of real
values. Ceaselessly active, it never really attains to knowledge; or,
if we admit its knowledge, it ever falls short of wisdom, which comes
only through intuition, the vision of the Spiritual Man.
Life cannot be known by the “mind,” its secrets cannot be learned
through the “mind.” The proof is, the ceaseless strife and
contradiction of opinion among those who trust in the mind. Much less
can the “mind” know itself, the more so, because it is pervaded by the
illusion that it truly knows, truly is.
True knowledge of the “mind” comes, first, when the Spiritual Man,
arising, stands detached, regarding the “mind” from above, with quiet
eyes, and seeing it for the tangled web of psychic forces that it truly
is. But the truth is divined long before it is clearly seen, and then
begins the long battle of the “mind,” against the Real, the “mind”
fighting doggedly, craftily, for its supremacy.
21. If the Mind be thought of as seen by another more inward Mind, then
there would be an endless series of perceiving Minds, and a confusion
of memories.
One of the expedients by which the “mind” seeks to deny and thwart the
Soul, when it feels that it is beginning to be circumvented and seen
through, is to assert that this seeing is the work of a part of itself,
one part observing the other, and thus leaving no need nor place for
the Spiritual Man.
To this strategy the argument is opposed by our philosopher, that this
would be no true solution, but only a postponement of the solution. For
we should have to find yet another part of the mind to view the first
observing part, and then another to observe this, and so on, endlessly.
The true solution is, that the Spiritual Man looks down upon the
psychic nature, and observes it; when he views the psychic pictures
gallery, this is “memory,” which would be a hopeless, inextricable
confusion, if we thought of one part of the “mind,” with its memories,
viewing another part, with memories of its own.
The solution of the mystery lies not in the “mind” but beyond it, in
the luminous life of the risen Lord, the Spiritual Man.
22. When the psychical nature takes on the form of the spiritual
intelligence, by reflecting it, then the Self becomes conscious of its
own spiritual intelligence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account