Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - BOOK 02

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Book two of the Yogosutras of Patanjali by Patanjali, translated
by Charles Johnston eighteen sixty seven to nineteen thirty one.
Introduction to Book two. The first book of Patunjali's Yogosutras
is called the Book of Spiritual Consciousness. The second book,
which we now begin, is the Book of the Means

(00:22):
of sole growth. And we must remember that sole growth
here means the growth of the realization of the spiritual man, or,
to put the matter more briefly, the growth of the
spiritual man, and the disentangling of the spiritual man from
the wrappings, the veils, the disguises laid upon him by
the mind and the psychical nature, wherein he is enmeshed

(00:43):
like a bird caught in a net. The question arises,
by what means may the spiritual man be freed from
these psychical measures and disguises, so that he may stand
forth above death in his radiant, eternalness and divine power.
And the second book sets itself to answer this very
quick question and to detail the means in a way
entirely practical and very lucid, so that he who runs

(01:06):
may read, and he who reads may understand and practice.
The second part of the second book is concerned with
practical spiritual training, that is, with the earlier practical training
of the spiritual man. The most striking thing is the
emphasis laid on the commandments, which are precisely those of
the latter part of the Decalogue, together with obedience to

(01:27):
the Master. Ourday and generation is far too prone to
fancy that there can be mystical life and growth on
some other foundation, on the foundation, for example, of intellectual
curiosity and psychical selfishness. In reality, on this latter foundation,
the life of the spiritual man can never be built,
nor indeed anything but a psychic counterfeit, a dangerous delusion. Therefore, podungally,

(01:55):
like every great spiritual teacher, meets the question what must
I do to be saved? With the agile answer keep
the commandments? Only after the disciple can say these have
I kept? Can they be further and finer teaching of
the spiritual rules. It is therefore vite of for is
to realize that the Yoga system, like every true system

(02:18):
of spiritual teaching, rests on this broad and firm foundation
of honesty, truth, cleanness, obedience. Without these there is no salvation.
And he who practices these, even though ignorant of spiritual things,
is laying up treasure against the time to come. Book
two one. The practices which make for union with the

(02:42):
soul are fervent aspiration, spiritual reading, and complete obedience to
the Master. Interpretation, the word which I have rendered fervent
aspiration means primarily fire, and in the Eastern teaching it
means the fire which gives life and light, and at

(03:03):
the same time the fire which purifies. We have therefore
as our first practice, as the first of the means
of spiritual growth, that fiery quality of the will, which
enkindles and illuminates, and at the same time the steady
practice of purification, the burning away of all known impurities.

(03:24):
Spiritual reading is so universally accepted and understood that it
needs no comment. The very study of Patanjali Sutras is
an exercise in spiritual reading, and a very effective one,
and so with all other books of the soul. Obedience
to the Master means that we shall make the will
of the Master our will, and shall confirm in all

(03:45):
ways to the will of the Divine, setting aside the
wills of self, which are but psychic distortions of the
one divine will. The constant effort to obey in all
the ways we know and understand, will reveal new ways
and newties, tasks, the evidence of a new growth of
the soul. Nothing will do more for the spiritual man

(04:06):
in us than this, for there is no such regenerating
power as the awakening spiritual will. Two. Their aim is
to bring soul vision and to wear away hindrances interpretation.
The aim of further spiritual reading and obedience to the
Master is to bring soul vision and to wear away hindrances. Or,

(04:31):
to use the phrase we have already adopted, the aim
of these practices is to help the spiritual man to
open his eyes, to help him also to throw aside
the veils and disguises, the enmeshing psychic nets which surround him,
tying his hands as it were, and bandaging his eyes.
And this, as all teachers testify, is a long and

(04:52):
arduous task, a steady uphill fight, demanding fine courage and
persistent toil further. The fire of the spiritual will is,
as we said twofold, It illumines and so helps the
spiritual man to see. And it also burns up the
nets and meshes which ensnare the spiritual man. So with

(05:13):
the other means spiritual reading and obedience. Each in its
action is twofold, wearing away the psychical and upbuilding the
spiritual man. Three these are the hindrances, the darkness of unwisdom,
self assertion, lust, hate, attachment, interpretation. Let us try to

(05:37):
translate this into terms of the psychical and spiritual man.
The darkness of unwisdom is primarily the self absorption of
the psychical man, his complete preoccupation with his own hopes
and fears, plans and purposes, sensations and desires, so that
he fails to see, or refuses to see, that there

(05:58):
is a spiritual man, and so doggedly resists all efforts
of the spiritual man to cast off his psychic tyrant
and set himself free. This is the real darkness. And
all those who deny the immortality of the soul, or
deny the soul's existence, and so lay out their lives
wholly for the psychical mortal man and his ambitions are

(06:19):
under this power of darkness. Born of this darkness, this
psychic self absorption is the dogged conviction that the psychic
personal man has separate, exclusive interests which he can follow
for himself alone. And this conviction, when put into practice
in our life, leads to contest with other personalities, and

(06:41):
so to hate. This hate again makes against the spiritual man,
since it hinders the revelation of the high harmony between
the spiritual man and his other selves, a harmony to
be revealed only through the practice of love, that perfect
love which casts out fear. In like manner, lust is
the psychic man's craving for the stimulus of sensation, the

(07:04):
din of which smothers the voice of the spiritual man,
as in Shakespeare's phrase, the cactic geese would drown the
song of the nightingale. And this craving for stimulus is
the fruit of weakness, coming from the failure to find
strength in the primal life of the spiritual man. Attachment
is but another name for psychic self absorption, for we

(07:26):
are absorbed not in outward things, but rather in their
images within our minds. Our inner eyes are fixed on them,
our inner desires brewed over them, and we blind ourselves
to the presence of the prisoner, the enmeshed and fettered
spiritual man. Four. The darkness of unwisdom is the field

(07:47):
of the others. These hindrances may be dormant, or worn thin,
or suspended or expanded. Interpretation, Here we have rarely two
sutras in one. The first has been a explend Already
in the darkness of unwisdom grow the parasites, hate, lust, attachment.
They are all outgrowths of the self, absorption of the

(08:09):
psychical self. Next, we are told that these barriers may
be either dormant or suspended, or expanded or worn thin.
Faults which are dormant will be brought out through the
pressure of life or through the pressure of strong aspiration.
Thus expanded, there must be fought and conquered, or as
potentially quaintly says, there must be worn thin as a

(08:32):
veil might, or the lynx of manacles. Five. The darkness
of ignorance is holding that which is unendearing, impure, full
of pain, not the soul, to be eternal, pure, full
of joy, the soul. Interpretation this we have rarely considered. Already,

(08:54):
the psychic man is unenduring, impure, full of pain, not
the soul, not the real self. The spiritual man is endearing, pure,
full of joy. The real self. The darkness of unwisdom
is therefore the self absorption of the psychical personal man
to the exclusion of the spiritual man. It is the

(09:16):
belief carried into action that the personal man is the
real man, the man for whom we should toil, for
whom we should build, for whom we should live. This
is the psychical man, of whom it is said, he
that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. Six.

(09:36):
Self assertion comes from thinking of the seer and the
instrument of vision as forming oneself interpretation. This is the
fundamental idea of the Sunkia philosophy, of which the Yoga
is avowedly the practical side. To translate this into our terms,
we may say that the seer is the spiritual man,

(09:57):
the instrument of vision is the psychical man, through which
the spiritual man gains experience of the outer world. But
we turn the servant into the master. We attribute to
the psychical man the personal self, a reality which really
belongs to the spiritual man alone, And so thinking of
the quality of the spiritual man as belonging to the psychical,

(10:18):
we merge the spiritual man into the psychical or as
the text says, we think of the two as forming oneself.
Seven Lust is the resting in the sense of enjoyment interpretation.
This has been explained again and again sensation, as for example,

(10:41):
the sense of taste is meant to be the guide
to action, in this case the choice of wholesome food
and the avoidance of poisonous and hurtful things. But if
we rest in the sense of taste as a pleasure
in itself, rest that is, in the psychical side of taste,
we fall into gluttony and live to eat instead of

(11:02):
eating to live. So with the other great organic power,
the power of reproduction. This lust comes into being through
resting in the sensation and looking for pleasure from that.
Eight Hate is the resting in the sense of pain interpretation.

(11:22):
Pain comes for the most part from the strife of personalities,
the jarring discords between psychic selves, each of which deems
itself supreme. A dwelling on this pain breeds hate, which
tears the warring selves yet further asunder and puts new
enmity between them, thus hindering the harmony of the real

(11:43):
the reconciliation through the soul. Nine Attachment is the desire
toward life, even in the wise, carried forward by its
own energy. Interpretation, the life here desired is the psychic life,
the intensely vibrating life of the psychical self. This prevails

(12:05):
even in those who have attained much wisdom, so long
as it falls short of the wisdom of complete renunciation,
complete obedience to each least behest of the spiritual man
and of the Master who gods and aids the spiritual man.
The desire of sensation, the desire of psychic life, reproduces itself,

(12:25):
carried on by its own energy and momentum, and hence
comes the circle of death and rebirth. Death and rebirth
instead of the liberation of the spiritual man. Ten these hindrances,
when they have become subtle, are to be removed by
a counter current interpretation. The darkness of unwisdom is said

(12:49):
to be removed by the light of wisdom pursued through fervor,
spiritual reading of holy teachings and of life itself, and
by obedience to the Master, to be removed by pure
aspiration of spiritual life, which, bringing true strength and stability,
takes away the void of weakness which we try to
fill by the stimulus of sensations. Hate is to be

(13:13):
overcome by love. The fear that arises through the sense
of separate warring cels is to be stilled by the
realization of the one's self, the one soul. In all
this realization is the perfect love that casts out fear.
The hindrances are said to have become subtle when, by
initial efforts, they have been located and recognized in the

(13:34):
psychic nature. Eleven. Their active turnings are to be removed
by meditation. Interpretation. Here is, in truth the whole secret
of yoga, the science of the soul. The active turnings,
the strident vibrations of selfishness, lust, and hate are to

(13:57):
be stilled by meditation by letting in heart and mind
dwell in spiritual life, by lifting up the heart to
the strong, silent life above, which rests in the stillness
of eternal love and needs no harsh vibration to convince
it of true being. Twelve. The burden of bondage to

(14:18):
sorrow has its root in these hindrances. It will be
felt in this life or in a life not yet manifested. Interpretation.
The burden of bondage to sorrow has its root in
the darkness of unwisdom, in selfishness, in lust, in hate,
in attachment to sensation. All these are, in the last analysis,

(14:41):
absorption in the psychical self. And this means sorrow because
it means the sense of separateness, and this means jarring,
discord and inevitable death. But the psychical self will breed
a new psychical self in a new birth, and so
new sorrows in a life not yet manifest. Thirteen. From

(15:01):
this root they grow and ripen the fruits of birth,
of the life span of all that is tasted in
life interpretation. Fully, to comment on this would be to
write a treatise on karma and its practical working in detail,
whereby the place and time of the next birth, its
content and duration are determined. And to do this the

(15:24):
present commentator is in no wise fitted. But this much
is clearly understood that through a kind of spiritual gravitation,
the incarnating self is drawn to a home and life
circle which will give its scope and discipline, and its
need of discipline is clearly conditioned by its character, its standing,

(15:44):
its accomplishment. Fourteen. These bare fruits of rejoicing or of affliction,
as they are sprung from holy or unholy works. Interpretation.
Since holiness is obedience to divine law, to the law
of divine harmony, and obedience to harmony strengthens that harmony

(16:05):
in the soul, which is the one true joy. Therefore
joy comes of holiness comes indeed in no other way.
And as unholiness is disobedience, and therefore discord, Therefore unholiness
makes for pain. And this toofold law is true, whether
the cause take effect in this or in a yet

(16:26):
unmanifested birth. Fifteen. To him who possesses discernment, all personal
life is misery because it ever waxes and wanes, is
ever afflicted with restlessness, makes ever new dynamic impressions in
the mind, and because all its activities war with each other. Interpretation,

(16:49):
The whole life of the psychic self is misery because
it ever waxes and wanes, because birth brings inevitable death,
because there is no expectation without its shadow fear. The
life of the psychic self is misery because it is
afflicted with restlessness, so that he who has too much
finds no satisfaction, but rather the whetted hunger for more.

(17:10):
The fire is not quenched by pouring oil on it.
So desire is not quenched by the satisfaction of desire. Again,
the life of the psychic self is misery because it
makes ever new dynamic impressions in the mind. Because a
desire satisfied is but the seed from which springs the
desire to find like satisfaction. Again, the appetite comes in eating,

(17:34):
as the proverb says, and grows by what it feeds on.
And the psychic self, torn with conflicting desires, is ever
the house divided against itself, which must surely fall. Sixteen.
This pain is to be warded off before it has
come interpretation. In other words, we cannot cure the pains

(17:55):
of life by laying on the many balm. We must
cut the root absorb option in the psychical self. So
it is said there is no cure for the misery
of longing, but to fix the heart upon the eternal. Seventeen,
The cause of what is to be warded off is
the absorption of the seer in things seen Interpretation. Here

(18:19):
again we have the fundamental idea of the sunkia, which
is the intellectual counterpart of the yoga system. The cause
of what is to be warded off the root of
misery is the absorption of consciousness in the psychical man
and the things which beguile the psychical man. The cure
is liberation. Eighteen things seen have as their property manifestation

(18:45):
action inertia. They form the basis of the elements and
the sense powers they make for experience and for liberation interpretation.
Here is a whole philosophy of life things seen that
the total of the phenomena, possess as their property manifestation, action, inertia,

(19:06):
the qualities of force and matter. In combination, these in
their grosser form make the material world. In their finer,
more subjective form, they make the psychical world and the
world of sense impressions and mind images. And through this
totality of the phenomenal, the soul gains experience and is

(19:26):
prepared for liberation. In other words, the whole outer world
exists for the purposes of the soul and finds in
this its true reason for being. Nineteen. The grades or
layers of the three potencies are defined the undefined, that
with distinctive mark, and that without distinctive mark interpretation, or

(19:51):
as we might say, they are too strata of the
physical and too strata of the psychical realms. In each
there is the side of form and the side of force.
The form side of the physical is here called the defined.
The force side of the physical is the undefined, that
which has no boundaries. So in the psychical there is

(20:13):
the form side, that with distinctive marks, such as the
characteristic features of mind images, and there is the force side,
without distinctive marks, such as the forces of desire or fear,
which may flow now to this mind image, now to that.
Twenty The seer is pure vision. Though pure, he looks

(20:34):
out through the vesture of the mind. Interpretation, the seer,
as always is the spiritual man, whose deepest consciousness is
pure vision, the pure life of the eternal. But the
spiritual man, as yet unseeing in his proper person, looks
out on the world through the eyes of the psychical
man by whom he is enfolded and enmeshed. The task

(20:58):
is to set this prisoner free, to clear the dust
of ages from this buried temple. Twenty One. The very
essence of things seen is that they exist. For the
seer interpretation, the things of outer life, not only material things,
but the psychic man also exist in very deed for

(21:20):
the purposes of the seer, the soul, the spiritual man.
Disaster comes when the psychical man sets up, so to speak,
on his own account, trying to live for himself alone
and taking material things to solace his loneliness. Twenty two.
Though fallen away from him who has reached the goal,

(21:43):
things seen have not altogether fallen away, since they exist
for others. Interpretation. When one of us conquers hate, hate
does not thereby cease out of the world, since others
still hate and suffer hatred. So with other delusions, which
hold us in bondage to material things, and through which

(22:04):
we look at all material things. When the colored veil
of illusion is gone, the world which we saw through
it is also gone. For now we see life as
it is in the wide radiance of eternity. But for
others the colored veil remains, and therefore the world thus
colored by it remains for them, and will remain until
they too conquer delusion. Twenty three. The association of the

(22:31):
seer with things seen is the cause of the realizing
of the nature of things seen, and also of the
realizing of the nature of the seer. Interpretation. Life is educative.
All life's infinite variety is for discipline for the development
of the soul. So, passing through many lives, the soul

(22:51):
learns the secrets of the world, the august laws that
are written in the form of the snow crystal or
the majestic order of the stars. Yet all these laws
are but reflections, but projections outward of the laws of
the soul. Therefore, in learning these, the soul learns to
know itself. All life is but the mirror, wherein the

(23:12):
soul learns to know its own face. Twenty four. The
cause of this association is the darkness of unwisdom interpretation.
The darkness of unwisdom is the absorption of consciousness in
the personal life and in the things seen by the
personal life. This is the fall through which comes experience,

(23:36):
the learning of the lessons of life. When they are learned,
the day of redemption is at hand. Twenty five. The
bringing of this association to an end, by bringing the
darkness of unwisdom to an end is the great liberation.
This is the seer's attainment of his own pure being. Interpretation.

(23:59):
When the spiritual no man has through the psychical, learned
all life's lessons, the time has come for him to
put off the veil and disguise of the psychical, and
to stand revealed as a king in the house of
the Father. So shall he enter into his kingdom and
go no more out twenty six. A discerning which is

(24:22):
carried on without wavering is the means of liberation interpretation.
Here we come close to the pure Vedanta with its
discernment between the eternal and the temporal. Saint Paul, following
after Philo and Plato, lays down the same fundamental principle.
The things seen are temporal, the things unseen are eternal.

(24:46):
But Dunjali means something more than an intellectual ascent, though
this too is vital. He has, in his view a
constant discriminating in act as well as thought, of the
two ways which present themselves for every deed or choice.
Always to choose the higher way, that which makes for
the things eternal, honesty rather than roguery, courage and not cowardice,

(25:11):
the things of another rather than one's own, sacrifice and
not indulgence. This true discernment, carried out constantly makes for
liberation twenty seven. His illumination is sevenfold, rising in successive
stages interpretation, but Tangeley's text does not tell us what

(25:35):
the seven stages of this illumination are. The commentator thus
describes them. First, the danger to be escaped is recognized.
It need not be recognized a second time. Second, the
causes of the danger to be escaped are worn away.
They need not be worn away a second time. Third,

(25:56):
the way of escape is clearly perceived by the contemplation,
which checks psychic perturbation. Fourth, the means of escape clear
discernment has been developed. This is the fourfold release belonging
to insight. The final release from the psychic is threefold,
as fifth of the seven degrees. The dominance of its

(26:18):
thinking is ended as sixth. Its potencies, like rocks from
a precipice, fall of themselves. Once dissolved, they do not
grow again. Then, as seventh, freed from these potencies, the
spiritual man stands forth in his own nature as purity
and light. Happy is the spiritual man who beholds the

(26:40):
sevenfold illumination in its ascending stages twenty eight. From steadfastly
following after the means of yoga, until impurity is worn away,
there comes the illumination of thought up to full discernment interpretation.
Here we enter on the more detailed practical teaching of Podunjali,

(27:02):
with its sound and luminous good sense. And when we
come to detail the means of yoga, we may well
be astonished at their simplicity. There is nothing in them
that is mysterious. They are very familiar. The essence of
the matter lies in carrying them out. Twenty nine. The
eight means of yoga are the commandments, the rules, right, poise, rite,

(27:28):
control of the life force, withdrawal, attention, meditation, contemplation, interpretation.
These eight means are to be followed in their order,
in the sense which will immediately be made clear. We
can get a ready understanding of the first two by
comparing them with the commandments which must be obeyed by

(27:51):
all good citizens, and the rules which are laid on
the members of religious orders. Until one has fulfilled the first,
it is futile to concern oneself with the second, And
so with all the means of yoga, they must be
taken in their order. Thirty The commandments are these non injury, truthfulness,

(28:14):
abstaining from stealing, from impurity, from covetousness, interpretation. These five
precepts are almost exactly the same as the Buddhist commandments
not to kill, not to steal, not to be guilty
of incontinence, not to drink intoxicants, to speak the truth.

(28:35):
Almost identical is Saint Paul's list. Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not covet. And in the same spirit is the answer
made to the young man having great possessions who asked
what shall I do to be saved? And receive the
reply Keep the commandments, This broad general training, which forms

(29:01):
and develops human character, must be accomplished to a very
considerable degree before there can be much hope of success
in the further stages of spiritual life, first the psychical
and then the spiritual. First the man, then the angel.
On this broad, humane and wise foundation does the system

(29:21):
of Patunjali rest thirty one The commandments not limited to
any race, place, time, or occasion. Universal of the great
obligation interpretation. The commandments form the broad general training of humanity.
Each one of them rests on a universal spiritual law.

(29:44):
Each one of them expresses an attribute or aspect of
the self, the eternal. When we violate one of the commandments,
we set ourselves against the law and being of the eternal,
thereby bringing ourselves to inevitable confusion. So the first steps
in spiritual life must be taken by bringing ourselves into
voluntary obedience to these spiritual laws, and thus making ourselves

(30:07):
partakers of the spiritual powers the being of the eternal.
Like the laws of gravity the need of air to breathe,
these great laws know no exceptions. They are enforced in
all lands, throughout all times, for all mankind. Thirty two.
The rules are these purity, serenity, fervent aspiration, spiritual reading,

(30:34):
and perfect obedience to the master. Interpretation. Here we have
a finer law, one which humanity as a whole is
less ready for, less fit to obey. Yet we can
see that these rules are the same in essence as
the commandments, but on a higher, more spiritual plane. The
commandments may be obeyed in outer acts and abstinences. The

(30:56):
rules demand obedience of the heart and spirit of far
more awakened and more positive consciousness. The rules are the
spiritual counterpart of the commandments, and they have finer degrees
for more advanced spiritual growth. Thirty three. When transgressions hinder
the weight of the imagination should be thrown on the

(31:19):
opposite side interpretation. Let us take a simple case that
of a thief, an habitual criminal who has drifted into
stealing in childhood before the moral consciousness has awakened. We
may imprison such a thief and deprive him of all
possibility of further theft or of using the divine gift
of will. Or we may recognize his disadvantages and help

(31:42):
him gradually to build up possessions which express his will
and draw forth his self respect. If we imagine that
after he has built well and his possessions have become
dear to him, he himself is robbed, then we can
see how he would have come vividly to realize the
essence of theft and of honors, and would cleave to
honest dealings with firm conviction. In some such way, does

(32:05):
the Great Lord teach us our sorrows and losses? Teach
us the pain of the sorrow and loss we inflict
on others, and so we cease to inflict them. Now,
as to the more direct application to conquer a sin,
let heart and mind rest not on the sin, but
on the contrary virtue. Let the sin be forced out

(32:25):
by positive growth in the true direction, not by direct opposition.
Turn away from the sin, and go forward, courageously, constructively, creatively,
in well doing. In this way, the whole nature will
gradually be drawn up to the higher level on which
the sin does not even exist. The conquest of a
sin is a matter of growth and evolution, rather than

(32:48):
of opposition. Thirty four. Transgressions are injury, falsehood, theft, incontinence, envy,
whether committed or care or assented to through greed, wrath
or infatuation, whether faint or middling or excessive, bearing endless

(33:09):
fruit of ignorance and pain. Therefore must the weight be
cast on the other side. Interpretation, Here are the causes
of sin, greed, wrath, infatuation, with their effects ignorance and pain.
The causes are to be cured by better wisdom, by
a truer understanding of the self of life. For greed

(33:34):
cannot endure before the realization that the whole world belongs
to the Self, which self we are. Nor can we
hold wrath against one who is one with the Self
and therefore with ourselves. Nor can infatuation, which is the
seeking for the happiness of the all in some limited
part of it survive the knowledge that we are heirs
of the all. Therefore, let thought and imagination, mind and

(33:58):
heart throw their weight on the other side side, the
side not of the world, but of the self thirty five.
Where non injury is perfected, all enmity ceases in the
presence of him who possesses it. Interpretation. We come now
to the spiritual powers which result from keeping the commandments,

(34:20):
from obedience to spiritual law, which is the keeping of
the commandments. Where the heart is full of kindness, which
seeks no injury to another, either in act or thought
or wish. This full love creates an atmosphere of harmony,
whose benign power touches with healing all who come within
its influence. Peace in the heart radiates peace to other hearts,

(34:42):
even more surely than contention breeds contention. Thirty six. When
he is perfected in truth, all acts and their fruits
depend on him. Interpretation. The commentator thus explains, if he
who is a t aimed should stay a man become righteous,

(35:03):
the man becomes righteous. If he should say gain heaven,
the man gains heaven. His word is not in vain.
Exactly the same doctrine was taught by the Master who
said to his disciples, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose
soever sins ye remit, they are omitted unto them, and
whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Thirty seven. Where

(35:29):
cessation from theft is perfected, all treasures present themselves to
him who possesses it. Interpretation. Here is a sentence which
may warn us that beside an outer apparent meaning, there
is in many of these sentences a second and finer significance.
The obvious meaning is that he who has wholly ceased

(35:51):
from theft in act, thought, and wish, finds buried treasures
in his path, treasures of jewels and gold. And the
deeper truth is that he who, in every least thing
is wholly honest with the spirit of life, finds life
supporting him in all things, and gains admittance to the

(36:12):
treasure house of life, the spiritual universe. Thirty eight. For
him who is perfect in continence, the reward is valor
and virility. Interpretation. The creative power, strong and full of vigor,
is no longer dissipated, but turned to spiritual uses. It

(36:34):
upholds and endows the spiritual man, conferring on him the
creative will the power to engender spiritual children instead of
bodily progeny. An epoch of life, that of man the animal,
has come to an end. A new epoch, that of
the spiritual man, is opened. The old creative power is
superseded and transcended. A new creative power, that of the

(36:59):
spiritual man man, takes its place, carrying with it the
power to work creatively in others for righteousness and eternal life.
One of the commentaries says that he who is attained
is able to transfer to the minds of his disciples
what he knows concerning divine union and the means of
gaining it. This is one of the powers of purity

(37:23):
Thirty nine. Where there is firm conquest of covetousness, he
who has conquered it awakes to the how and why
of life interpretation. So it is said that before we
can understand the laws of karma, we must free oursels
from karma. The conquest of covetousness brings this rich fruit,

(37:44):
because the root of covetousness is the desire of the
individual soul, the will toward manifested life. And where the
desire of the individual's soul is overcome by the superb
still life of the universal soul welling up in the
heart within, the great secret is discerned, the secret that
the individual's soul is not an isolated reality, but the ray,

(38:08):
the manifest instrument of the life, which turns it this way,
and that until the great work is accomplished, the age
long lesson learned. Thus is the how and why of
life disclosed by ceasing from covetousness. The commentator says that
this includes a knowledge of one's former births. Forty Through

(38:32):
purity comes a withdrawal from one's own bodily life, a
ceasing from infatuation with the bodily life of others. Interpretation.
As the spiritual light grows in the heart within, as
the taste for pure life grows stronger, the consciousness opens
toward the great secret places within, where all life is one,

(38:54):
where all lives are one. Thereafter this outer manifests did
fugitive life, whether of ourselves or of others, loses something
of its charm and glamour, and we seek rather that
deep infinitudes, instead of the outer form and surrounding of
our lives. We long for their inner and everlasting essence.

(39:17):
We desire not so much outer converse and closeness to
our friends, but rather that quiet communion with them in
the inner chamber of the soul, where spirit seeks to
spirit and spirit answers, where alienation and separation never enter,
where sickness and sorrow and death cannot come. Forty One

(39:40):
to the peer of heart, come also a quiet spirit,
one pointed thought the victory over sensuality and fitness to
behold the soul. Interpretation, Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God, who is the supreme Soul,
the ultimate Self of all. In the deepest sense. Purity

(40:03):
means fitness for this vision, and also a heart cleansed
from all disquiet, from all wondering and unbridled thought, from
the torment of sensuous imaginings. And when the spirit is
thus cleansed and pure, it becomes at one in essence
with its source, the great Spirit, the great primal life.

(40:25):
One consciousness now thrills through both, for the psychic partition
wall is broken down. Then shall the pure in heart
see God, because they become God. Forty Two from acceptance,
the disciple gains happiness. Supreme interpretation. One of the wise

(40:47):
has said, accept conditions, Accept others, accept yourself. This is
the true acceptance, for all things are what they are
through the will of the higher self. Accept that efficiencies
which come through thwarting the will of the higher self
and can be conquered only through compliance with that will.

(41:09):
By the true acceptance, the disciple comes into oneness of
spirit with the overruling soul. And since the own nature
of the soul is being happiness bliss, he comes thereby
into happiness supreme. Forty three. The perfection of the powers
of the bodily vesture comes through the wearing away of

(41:31):
impurities and through fervent aspiration interpretation. This is true of
the physical powers and of those which dwell in the
higher vestures. There must be first purity, as the blood
must be pure before one can attain to physical health.
But the absence of impurity is not in itself enough,

(41:54):
else would many noveless ascetics of the Cloisters rank as
high saints. There is needed, further, a positive fire of
the will, a keen, vital vigor for the physical powers,
and something finer, purer, stronger, but of kindred essence for
the higher powers. The fire of genius is something more

(42:17):
than a phrase, for there can be no genius without
the celestial fire of the awakened spiritual will. Forty four.
Through spiritual reading, the disciple gains communion with the divine
power on which his heart is set interpretation. Spiritual reading
meant for ancient India something more than it does with us.

(42:40):
It meant first the recital of sacred text which in
their very sounds had mystical potencies. And it meant a
recital of texts which were divinely emanated and held in
themselves the living potent essence of the divine. For us,
spiritual reading means a communing with the recorded teachings of

(43:02):
the Masters of wisdom, whereby we read ourselves into the
Master's mind, just as through his music one can enter
the mind and soul of the master musician. It has
been well said that all true art is contagion of feeling,
so that through the true reading of true books we
do indeed read ourselves into the spirit of the masters,

(43:23):
share in the atmosphere of their wisdom and power, and
come at last into their very presence. Forty Five. Soul
vision is perfected through perfect obedience to the Master. Interpretation.
The sorrow and darkness of life come of the erring
personal will, which sets itself against the will of the soul,

(43:47):
the one great life. The error of the personal will
is inevitable, since each will must be free to choose,
to try and fail, and so to find the path.
And sorrow and darkness are in every suitable until the
path is found and the personal will made once more
one with the greater will, wherein it finds rest and

(44:08):
power without losing freedom. In His will is our peace,
and with that piece comes light. Soul vision is perfected
through obedience. Forty six right poise must be firm and
without strain. Interpretation. Here we approach a section of the

(44:30):
teaching which is manifestly a twofold meaning. The first is
physical and concerns the bodily position of the student and
the regulation of breathing. These things have their direct influence
upon soul life and the life of the spiritual man.
Since it is always and everywhere true that our study
demands a sound mind in a sound body, the present

(44:53):
sentence declares that for work and for meditation, the position
of the body must be steady and without strains, in
order that the finer currents of life may run their course.
It applies further to the poise of the soul, that
fine balance and stability which nothing can shake, where the
consciousness rests on the firm foundation of spiritual being. This

(45:15):
is indeed the house set upon a rock, which the
winds and waves beat upon. In Vain forty seven, right
poise is to be gained by steady and temperate effort,
and by setting the heart upon the everlasting interpretation. Here
again there is the twofold meaning. For physical poise is

(45:38):
to be gained by steady effort of the muscles, by
gradual and wise training, linked with the right understanding of
and relationship with the universal force of gravity. Uprightness of
the body demands that both these conditions shall be fulfilled
in like manner. The firm and upright poise of the
spiritual man is to be gained by so steady and

(46:00):
continued effort, always guided by wisdom, and by setting the
heart on the eternal, filling the soul with the atmosphere
of the spiritual world. Neither is effective without the other.
Aspiration without effort brings weakness. Effort without aspiration brings a
false strength, not resting on endearing things. The two together

(46:22):
make for the right poise which sets the spiritual man
firmly and steadfastly on his feet. Forty eight. The fruit
of right poise is the strength to resist the shocks
of infatuation or sorrow. Interpretation In the simpler physical sense,
which is also coveted by the wording of the original,

(46:45):
this sentence means that wise effort establishes such bodily poise
that the accidents of life cannot disturb it, as the
captain remains steady though disaster overtake his ship. But the
deeper sense is far more important. The spiritual man, too
must learn to withstand all shocks, to remain steadfast through

(47:05):
the perturbations of external things and the storms and whirlwinds
of the physical world. This is the power which is
gained by wise continuous effort, and by filling the spirit
with the atmosphere of the eternal. Forty nine. When this
is gained, there follows the right guidance of the life currents,

(47:26):
the control of the incoming and outgoing breath. Interpretation. It
is well understood to day that most of our maladies
come from impure conditions of the blood. It is coming
to be understood that right breathing, right oxygenation will do
very much to keep the body clean and pure. Therefore,

(47:48):
a right knowledge of breathing is a part of the
science of life. But the deeper meaning is that the
spiritual man, when he has gained poise through right effort
and aspiration, can stand firm and guide the currents of
his life, both the incoming current of events and the
outgoing current of his acts. Exactly the same symbolism is

(48:09):
used in the saying, not that which goeth into the
mouth defileth a man, But that which cometh out of
the mouth, this defileth the man. Those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart. Out
of the heart precede evil thoughts, murders, uncleanness, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Therefore,

(48:31):
the first step in purification is to keep the commandments fifty.
The life current is either outward or inward, or balanced.
It is regulated according to place, time, number, It is
prolonged and subtle interpretation. The technical physical side of this

(48:53):
has its value in the breath. There should be right
in breathing, followed by the period of pause when the
air comes into contact with the blood, and this again
followed by right out breathing even steady, silent. Further, the
lungs should be evenly filled. Many maladies may arise from
the neglect and consequent weakening of some region of the lungs,

(49:18):
and the number of breaths is so important, so closely
related to health, that every nurse's chart records it. Fifty one.
The fourth degree transcends external and internal objects interpretation. The
inner meaning seems to be that, in addition to the
three degrees of control already described, control that is over

(49:42):
the incoming current of life, over the outgoing current, and
over the condition of pores or quiescence, there is a
fourth degree of control which holds in complete mastery both
the outer passage of events and the inner currents of
thoughts and emotions, a condition of perfect poise and stability
in the midst of the flux of things outward and inward.

(50:06):
Fifty two. Thereby is worn away the veil which covers
up the light. Interpretation. The veil is the psychic nature.
The web of emotions desires argumentative trains of thought, which
cover up and obscure the truth by absorbing the entire
attention and keeping the consciousness in the psychic realm. When

(50:30):
hopes and fears are reckoned at their true worth in
comparison with lasting possessions of the soul. When the outer
reflections of things have ceased to distract us from their
inner realities, when argumentative thought no longer entangles us but
yields its place to flashing intuition, the certainty which springs
from within, then is the veil worn away. The consciousness

(50:53):
is drawn from the psychical to the spiritual, from the
temporal to the eternal. Then is the light light unveiled
fifty three. Thence comes the mind's power to hold itself
in the light interpretation. It has been well said that
what we most need in the faculty of spiritual attention,

(51:17):
and in the same direction of thought, it has been
eloquently declared that prayer does not consist in our catching
God's attention, but rather in our allowing God to hold
our attention. The vital matter is that we need to
disentangle our consciousness from the noisy and perturbed thraldom of
the psychical, and to come to consciousness as the spiritual man.

(51:40):
This we must do first by purification through the commandments
and the rules, and second through the faculty of spiritual
attention by steadily heeding endless fine intimations of the spiritual
power within us, and by intending our consciousness thereto thus
by degrees transferring the sense of consciousness from the psychical

(52:02):
to the spiritual. It is a question first of love
and then of attention. Fifty four. The right withdrawal is
the disengaging of the powers from entanglement in outer things,
as the psychic nature has been withdrawn and stilled. Interpretation.

(52:24):
To understand this, let us reverse the process and think
of the one consciousness centered in the soul, gradually expanding
and taking on the form of the different perceptive powers,
the one will, at the same time differentiating itself into
the varied powers of action. Now let us imagine this
to be reversed, so that the spiritual force, which has

(52:47):
gone into the differentiated powers, is once more gathered together
into the inner power of intuition and spiritual will, taking
on that unity which is the hallmark of spiritual things,
as diversity is the sea of material things. It is
all a matter of love, for the quality of spiritual
consciousness as against psychical consciousness of love and attention. For

(53:09):
where the heart is, there will the treasure be also,
where the consciousness is there will the vesture with its
powers be developed. Fifty five. Thereupon follows perfect mastery over
the powers interpretation. When the spiritual condition which we have

(53:29):
described is reached with its purity, poise, and illuminated vision,
the spiritual man is coming into his inheritance and gaining
complete mastery of his powers. Indeed, much of the struggle
to keep the commandments and the rules has been paving
the way for this mastery. Through this very struggle and sacrifice,

(53:50):
the mastery has become possible. Just as, to use Saint
Paul's simile, the athlete gains the mastery in the contest
and the race through the sacrifice of his long and
arduous training. Thus he gains the crown. End of Book two.
Recording by Kyle James mc lean