absence of the consciousness of the distinction between the character of the mind
and the nature of the purusha is called world experience. This has to be cut at the
root by the methods of meditation mentioned in the Samadhi Pada.
Svārthasaṁyamāt puruṣajñānam (III.36). Here is the secret of yoga, or true meditation,
from the spiritual point of view. Purusha jnana, or knowledge of the purusha, arises
by svartha samyama—samyama on svartha, meditation on one’s own essential
nature, or the purpose of the spirit. This is the meditation prescribed. The purpose of
the spirit, the character of the spirit, is the object of meditation. We cannot once
again go into all the details of this subject, inasmuch as we have covered it in the
Samadhi Pada. But suffice it to say that the contemplation of the nature of the spirit,
or its purpose, is equivalent to a precondition of a grasp of the nature of the spirit by
viveka shakti, or analytic understanding. It is enough for the mind to understand
and appreciate that the purusha is consciousness in nature. And consciousness has
to be indivisible, by the very nature of it, which means that it is infinite,
unconditioned by objects, space and time. Therefore, any experience in terms of
space and time or objects is contrary to the nature of the purusha. Hence, there
should be an effort exercised upon the mind to sublimate object awareness into
spiritual awareness.
Spiritual contemplation is a process of sublimation of objectivity into universality.
This kind of meditation is what is introduced in this sutra, and when this is
practised, purusha jnana arises—knowledge of the purusha comes. But this is a hard
task because the conception of the purusha is not provided to the mind usually, in
ordinary world experience. The nature of the purusha does not mean the nature of
the individual self. It is the nature of the Universal Self. Purusha is a name that we
give to the Absolute itself—that which comprehends all things. Therefore, there is the
need for the practice of those conditions mentioned in the Samadhi Pada, meaning
the conditions which are designated as vairagya and abhyasa.
Dṛṣṭa ānuśravika viṣaya vitṛṣṇasya vaśīkārasaṁjñā vairāgyam (I.15). A complete absence
of taste for things which are seen as well as unseen has been described as vairagya.
This meditation cannot come to a person who has a taste for things which are
outside. It is not merely an absence of sense-contact; it is an absence of taste itself.
‘Vitrishnasya’ is the term used. A dislike arisen on account of the non-cognition of
value in things which are external—this is called vairagya. And a persistent practice
of this condition, the maintenance of this awareness, called vashikara samjna—that
is called abhyasa. All these we have studied in the Samadhi Pada. This is the
technique.
Patanjali mentions this to us once again, in the Vibhuti Pada, for the purpose of
acquisition of the knowledge of the purusha. Sattva puruṣa anyatā khyātimātrasya
sarvabhāva adhiṣṭhātṛtvaṁ sarvajñātṛtvaṁ ca (III.50). When there is an acquisition of
this understanding and an establishment of oneself in this status of meditation, some
extraordinary results follow, and they are mentioned as sarva bhava adhisthatritva
and sarva jnatritva. One becomes the substratum of everything as a result of this
meditation—that is sarva bhava adhisthatritva. As the substratum of all things,
there is no need for this consciousness to move towards objects, because it is the
substratum of even the object. As the result of this, again, there is sarva jnatritva—
knowledge of everything. The substance of everything is also endowed with the
knowledge of everything. It follows, because everything is a modification of the