- Being unconditioned by time He is Teacher even of the Ancients.
We have seen in the previous Sutra that the knowledge which the Isvara of a
Brahmanda carries in His consciousness sets a limit which no one can cross. Not only
in knowledge but also in other respects such as power He must be the highest expres-
sion in the Solar system and all lesser Entities such as Manus, Buddhas and Devatas,
however high their status, must derive their power from Him. That is why He is called
Isvara, the Supreme Lord or Ruler. A Solar system, though insignificant as compared
with the Cosmos, is still a gigantic phenomenon in time and space. Many planets are
born in it, live their life and then disappear, providing during a certain period of their
existence a field for the evolution of the innumerable Jivatmas who are part of the So-
lar System. During all this stupendous period extending over billions of years who
guides the different humanities and races which appear and then disappear on the hab-
itable planets? Who inspires and gives knowledge to those who become the Teachers
and Leaders of mankind from time to time? Only Isvara can fill this role because He
alone survives and continues through all these stupendous changes.
The word Guruh means both the Teacher as well as the Master, but here, since
we are dealing with a treatise on Yoga, the emphasis is obviously on the former mean-
ing. This means that He is the Supreme Teacher who not only gives knowledge to the
highest teachers but is also the real Teacher, behind all the teachers who are trying to
spread the light of knowledge and Divine Wisdom in the world. Scientists and other
seekers after knowledge may vainly think that they are wresting the secrets of Nature
and enlarging the boundaries of human knowledge by their own ingenuity and indomi-
table will but this attitude is utterly wrong, born of egoism and illusion which gener-
ally chaiacterize purely intellectual pursuits. It is the pressure of Divine knowledge
and will behind the evolutionary progress of humanity which is naturally enlarging the
boundaries of human knowledge, and individuals merely become the instruments of
the Supreme Guru in Whom all knowledge resides. Anyone who has watched with an
open mind and a reverent heart the phenomenal progress of Science in modern times
and the remarkable manner in which discoveries have been made, one after another,
can see the guiding and unseen hand and intelligence behind these discoveries. It is a
great pity that this spirit of reverence is lacking in modern Science and puny man, the
creature of a day, has taken all the credit for the rapid and phenomenal expansion of
knowledge which has taken place during recent times. It is this lack of reverence, the