- Its cause is the lack of awareness of his Real nature.
After giving the purpose of the union of Purusa and Prakrti in the last Sutra
Patanjali gives in this Sutra the effective cause of the union or the means whereby the
union is brought about. It should be noted that the word Hetuh is used both in the
sense of object as well as effective cause and it is used in the latter sense in this Sutra.
The Purusa by his very nature is eternal, omniscient and free and his involution in
matter which involves tremendous limitations is brought about by his being made to
lose the awareness of his Real nature. The power which deprives him of this knowl-
edge or rather awareness of his Real nature is called Maya or Illusion in Hindu phi-
losophy and the result of this privation of knowledge is called Avidya or ignorance. It
is obvious that the words illusion and ignorance are used in their highest philosophical
sense and we can barely get a glimpse into the real significance of these words. To
understand Maya and Avidya in the real sense is to solve the Great Mystery of Life and
to be free from their domination. This is the end and not the starting point of the
search.
How Avidya brings about in its train the other Klesas and lies at the root of all
miseries to which embodied life is subject has been dealt with already in explaining
the nature of Klesas, but there is one aspect of this union of Purusa and Prakrti which
must be pointed out if we are to understand the meaning of this travail and suffering
which evolution undoubtedly involves. We have seen already that there appears to be a
mighty purpose hidden behind the working of the Universe though the nature of this
purpose may be beyond our comprehension. One part of this purpose which we can see
and understand is the gradual evolution of life culminating in the perfection and eman-
cipation of the individual units of consciousness who are called Purusas. We have
been sent down into the lower worlds in order that we may attain perfection through
the experiences of these worlds. It is a tremendously long and tedious discipline but it
is worthwhile as anybody will see who understands what this perfection means and
knows those in whom this perfection is embodied. Anyway, whether we like this proc-