The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: The Book of the Spiritual Man — John Shaqi
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
We are still considering how to overcome the wavering and perturbation
of the psychic nature, which make it quite unfit to transmit the inward
consciousness and stillness. We are once more told to use the will, and
to train it by steady and persistent work: by “sitting close” to our
work, in the phrase of the original.
36. As also will a joyful, radiant spirit.
There is no such illusion as gloomy pessimism, and it has been truly
said that a man’s cheerfulness is the measure of his faith. Gloom,
despondency, the pale cast of thought, are very amenable to the will.
Sturdy and courageous effort will bring a clear and valorous mind. But
it must always be remembered that this is not for solace to the
personal man, but is rather an offering to the ideal of spiritual life,
a contribution to the universal and universally shared treasure in
heaven.
37. Or the purging of self-indulgence from the psychic nature.
We must recognize that the fall of man is a reality, exemplified in our
own persons. We have quite other sins than the animals, and far more
deleterious; and they have all come through self-indulgence, with which
our psychic natures are soaked through and through. As we climbed down
hill for our pleasure, so must we climb up again for our purification
and restoration to our former high estate. The process is painful,
perhaps, yet indispensable.
38. Or a pondering on the perceptions gained in dreams and dreamless
sleep.
For the Eastern sages, dreams are, it is true, made up of images of
waking life, reflections of what the eyes have seen and the ears heard.
But dreams are something more, for the images are in a sense real,
objective on their own plane; and the knowledge that there is another
world, even a dream-world, lightens the tyranny of material life. Much
of poetry and art is such a solace from dreamland. But there is more in
dream, for it may image what is above, as well as what is below; not
only the children of men, but also the children by the shore of the
immortal sea that brought us hither, may throw their images on this
magic mirror: so, too, of the secrets of dreamless sleep with its pure
vision, in even greater degree.
39. Or meditative brooding on what is dearest to the heart.
Here is a thought which our own day is beginning to grasp: that love is
a form of knowledge; that we truly know any thing or any person, by
becoming one therewith, in love. Thus love has a wisdom that the mind
cannot claim, and by this hearty love, this becoming one with what is
beyond our personal borders, we may take a long step toward freedom.
Two directions for this may be suggested: the pure love of the artist
for his work, and the earnest, compassionate search into the hearts of
others.
40. Thus he masters all, from the atom to the Infinite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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