substance. One who has become the substance itself, as the substratum of all things,
naturally gets endowed with this knowledge. This knowledge is called taraka—that
which takes one across the ocean of sorrow.
Tārakaṁ sarvaviṣayaṁ sarvathāviṣayaṁ akramaṁ ca iti vivekajam jñānam (III.55). This
taraka knowledge is of such a nature that its object is everything, as different from
the mental knowledge which is provided to us now, at present, which has only certain
objects as its contents, and not all objects. A certain set of objects becomes the
content of mental consciousness, empirically. But here, there is sarva visayatva—
anything that is existent is a constant and perpetual content of this consciousness. It
is not merely sarva visaya, but is also sarvatha visaya—it is aware of everything in
every condition, not only in one condition. For example, we are aware of objects in
one condition only, not in all conditions. In the earlier sutras we have been told that
every object undergoes various conditions—the parinamas mentioned. And we
cannot be aware of all the parinamas, or all the transformations of the past, present
and future at one stroke, because of the limited character of the mind in its capacity
to know things. Only the present is known. The past is not known. The future is not
known.
But here, there is knowledge of all conditions of the objects—even those conditions
which the object has not undergone and are yet to come. They also will be known at
one stroke—that is sarvatha visaya. Sarvaviṣayaṁ sarvathāviṣayaṁ—all knowledge,
and knowledge of every condition of everything, every state through which one
passed, through which one passes and through which one has to pass—all these will
become contents of this awareness. How, in what manner, does it become a content
of awareness? One after another, successively? No. Akramam. Akramam means not
successive, but simultaneous. Instantaneous awareness of all conditions that are
possible, at any period of time—this is called viveka jnana. Tārakaṁ sarvaviṣayaṁ
sarvathāviṣayaṁ akramaṁ ca iti vivekajam jñānam (III.55).
These are only stories to the mind which is sunk in the mire of world-consciousness.
One cannot even dream of what this state of affairs is. What can be meant by
‘simultaneous awareness of all things’ and ‘simultaneous awareness of every
condition of all things’? This is called sarva jnatritva; this is omniscience. And this is
designated by the term ‘vivekajam jnanam’, knowledge born of discriminative
understanding, which is a peculiar term used in the yoga psychology. It is also
called taraka, the saving knowledge. This information is given to us in these sutras
to give us a comfort spiritually, that we are not merely entering into a lion’s den
where we find nothing but death, but that we are entering into a new type of life
altogether, where eternity embraces us with a new life which is durationless and,
therefore, deathless. This contemplation is the only technique, the only method, the
only means of the salvation of the soul.
Sattva puruṣayoḥ śuddhi sāmye kaivalyam iti (III.56). Kaivalya, or ultimate
independence of the spirit, arises when there is equanimity of the structural
character of sattva and the purusha. Sattva means the mind, or we may call it
prakriti; purusha is the consciousness. When there is similarity established between
the two, then the one does not remain as an object of the other, nor is one a subject in
relation to the other. When the two become one on account of the intense purity of
the experiencing consciousness, infinity enters into experience. This is kaivalya, this