ConclusionNow, we are at the last sutra: puruṣārtha śūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ
svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktiḥ iti (IV.34). This is the last sutra of Patanjali. He gives a
double definition of moksha, or salvation. It is, on the one side, a return of the gunas
of prakriti to their original source and the dissolution of the forms which were
constituted by the concrescence of the gunas due to the preponderance of certain of
their forms—either sattva, rajas or tamas. When the purpose of these gunas is
fulfilled through the experiences that the purusha has been provided with, there is no
further work to be done for the gunas and the workmen retire to their home, as it
were. They go back because the work has been completed, and there is a cessation of
the forms which once controlled the mind, affected the mind and put it under
bondage. So, in one sense, the return of the gunas to their sources, or a setting up of
an equilibrium of the Cosmos, can be said to be liberation. On the other side,
svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktiḥ iti: the establishment of consciousness in its own nature is
salvation. This is a positive definition.
The consciousness should rest in itself. That is called freedom. And when the
consciousness moves towards an object, that is called bondage. Here is a very
succinct definition of bondage and liberation. Whenever the mind moves towards an
object, it is caught by the appearance of the object and it transforms itself into the
form of the object as if it has no status of its own. This predicament has to be
obviated by the practice of meditation. When that is effected, the modifications of the
mind cease. The modifications cease, the vrittis cease, because the forms do not any
more attract the mind. There is no impression created upon the mind by the objects
outside and, therefore, there is the return of the mind to its own nature. And when
the mind returns to consciousness, it ceases to be, like a drop dissolving in the
ocean.
When consciousness rests in itself, what happens? There is an immediate experience
of the rain, as it were—as the sutra puts it, dharma-megha—of all power, all
knowledge and all perfection, showering from every direction. The perfection, the
power, and the knowledge that the individual has lost are brought back on account of
the return of consciousness to its own self. The weakness of the individual is due to
the movement of consciousness towards objects, and the strength depends upon the
reverse process. The more is the intensity with which consciousness returns from the
objects to itself, the greater is the strength of the individual. And so, the highest
strength, the greatest knowledge and the deepest bliss or happiness are experienced
when all the ramifications of consciousness, or rays of consciousness, are brought
back to itself and there is a resting of the Infinite in Itself.
With this, we conclude with obeisance to the Great Master Patanjali and the System
of Yoga as described by him.
Hari Om Tat SatŌm pūrṇam adah, pūrṇam idam,
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate;
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvasisyate.