East which is based on the direct experience of an unbroken line of adepts and mystics
and of which Samkhya shows merely one facet. It should be remembered that the
Yoga-Sutras is a book of technical nature giving the technique of Yoga and the essen-
tial doctrines of this basic philosophy must be understood if that technique is to be
mastered properly. It does not mean that what is not given in the Yoga-Sutras does not
conform with the Yogic philosophy upon which the book is based. The ideas in Yoga-
Sutras should be studied against the background of the total Eastern philosophy and
there is no justification for isolating them and studying them as if they were based on
Samkhya or a separate and independent philosophy.
in Him the highest; unsurpassed (of) the Omniscient
the seed; the principle.
- In Him is the highest limit of Omniscience.
This Sutra gives us another idea with regard to Isvara the Presiding Deity of a
Solar system. The meaning of the Sutra is easy to understand but its real significance
is generally missed. In order to understand this significance it is necessary to bear in
mind that each Solar system is considered to be a separate and, to a great extent, inde-
pendent manifestation of the One Reality corresponding with its isolation and separa-
tion by tremendous distances from other Solar systems in space. We may imagine the
innumerable Solar systems scattered throughout the Cosmos as so many centres in the
Consciousness of the One Reality in manifestation which is called Saguna Brahman in
Hindu philosophy. Round each such centre manifests the life of the Logos or Isvara of
that Solar system much in the same way as the life of a Purusa manifests round the
centre of his consciousness through a set of vehicles. Each Solar system may thus be
considered as a sort of reincarnation of its Isvara bringing into each new manifestation
on a macrocosmic scale the Samskaras of the previous Solar systems which have pre-
ceded it.
Since each Solar system is the manifestation of the consciousness of its Isvara
and each Isvara represents a definite stage in the infinite unfoldment of consciousness