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07 - Introduction to Book Three - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Introduction to Book three. The third book of the Sutras
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  Speaker 1: is the Book of spiritual Powers. In considering these spiritual powers,
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  Speaker 1: two things must be understood and kept in memory. The
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  Speaker 1: first of these is this, These spiritual powers can only
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  Speaker 1: be gained when the development described in the first and
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  Speaker 1: second books has been measurably attained, when the commandments have
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  Speaker 1: been kept, the rules faithfully followed, and the experiences which
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  Speaker 1: are described have been passed through. For only after this
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  Speaker 1: is the spiritual man so far grown, so far disentangled
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  Speaker 1: from the psychical bandages and veils which have confined and
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  Speaker 1: blinded him, that he can use his proper powers and faculties.
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  Speaker 1: For this is the secret of all spiritual powers. They
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  Speaker 1: are in no sense an abnormal or supernatural overgrowth upon
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  Speaker 1: the material man, but are rather the powers and faculties
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  Speaker 1: inherent in the spiritual man, entirely natural to him, and
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  Speaker 1: coming naturally into activity as the spiritual man is disentangled
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  Speaker 1: and liberated from psychical bondage through keeping the commandments and
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  Speaker 1: rules already set forth. As the personal man is the
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  Speaker 1: limitation and inversion of the spiritual man, all his faculties
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  Speaker 1: and powers are inversions of the powers of the spiritual man.
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  Speaker 1: In a single phrase, his self seeking is the inversion
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  Speaker 1: of the self seeking, which is the very being of
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual man, the ceaseless search after the divine and
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  Speaker 1: august self of all beings. This inversion is corrected by
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  Speaker 1: keeping the commandments and rules, and gradually, as the inversion
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  Speaker 1: is overcome, the spiritual man is extricated and comes into
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  Speaker 1: possession and free exercise of his powers. The spiritual powers, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: are the powers of the grown and liberated spiritual man.
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  Speaker 1: They can only be developed and used as the spiritual
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  Speaker 1: man grows and attains liberation through obedience. This is the
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  Speaker 1: first thing to be kept in mind in all that
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  Speaker 1: is said of spiritual powers in the third and fourth
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  Speaker 1: books of the Sutras. The second thing to be understood
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  Speaker 1: and kept in mind is this, just as our modern
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  Speaker 1: sages have discerned and taught that all matter is ultimately
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  Speaker 1: one and eternal, definitely related throughout the whole wide universe,
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  Speaker 1: just as they have discerned and taught that all force
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  Speaker 1: is one and eternal, so coordinated throughout the whole universe,
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  Speaker 1: that whatever affects any atom measurably affects the whole, boundless
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  Speaker 1: realm of matter and force to the most distant star
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  Speaker 1: or nebula on the dim confines of space. So the
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  Speaker 1: ancient stages had discerned and taught that all consciousness is one, immortal, indivisible, infinite,
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  Speaker 1: so finely correlated and continuous, that whatever is perceived by
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  Speaker 1: any consciousness is, whether actually or potentially, within the reach
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  Speaker 1: of all consciousness, and therefore within the reach of any consciousness.
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  Speaker 1: This has been well expressed by saying that all souls
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  Speaker 1: are funded mentally one with the over Soul, that the
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  Speaker 1: Son of God and all sons of God are fundamentally
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  Speaker 1: one with the Father. When the consciousness is cleared of
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  Speaker 1: psychic bonds and veils, when the spiritual man is able
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  Speaker 1: to stand to see, then this superb law comes into effect.
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  Speaker 1: Whatever is within the knowledge of any consciousness, and this
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  Speaker 1: includes the whole infinite universe, is within his reach, and may,
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  Speaker 1: if he wills, be made a part of his consciousness.
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  Speaker 1: This he may attain through his fundamental unity with the
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  Speaker 1: over Soul, by raising himself toward the consciousness above him
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  Speaker 1: and drawing on its resources. The Son, if he would
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  Speaker 1: work miracles, whether of perception or of action, must come
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  Speaker 1: often into the presence of the Father. This is the
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  Speaker 1: birthright of the spiritual man. Through it he comes into
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  Speaker 1: possession of his splendid and immortal powers. Let it be
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  Speaker 1: clearly kept in mind that what is here to be
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  Speaker 1: related of the spiritual man and his exalted power must
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  Speaker 1: in no wise be detached from what has gone before.
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  Speaker 1: The being, the very inception of the spiritual man depends
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  Speaker 1: on the purification and moral attainment already detailed, and can
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  Speaker 1: in no wise dispense with or curtail them. Let no
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  Speaker 1: one imagine that the true life, the true powers of
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual man can be attained by any way except
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  Speaker 1: the hard way of sacrifice, of trial, of renunciation, of
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  Speaker 1: selfless self conquest, and genuine devotion to the wheel of
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  Speaker 1: all others. Only thus can the golden gates be reached
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  Speaker 1: and entered. Only thus can we attain to that pure
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  Speaker 1: world wherein the spiritual man lives and moves and has
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  Speaker 1: his being. Nothing impure, nothing unholy, can ever cross that threshold,
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  Speaker 1: least of all impure motives or self seeking desires. These
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  Speaker 1: must be burnt away before an entrance to that world
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  Speaker 1: can be gained. But where there is light, there shadow,
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  Speaker 1: and the lofty light of the soul casts upon the
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  Speaker 1: clouds of the midworlds, the shadow of the spiritual man
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  Speaker 1: and of his powers. The bastard vesture and the bastard
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  Speaker 1: powers of psychism are easily attained. Yet even when attained,
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  Speaker 1: they are a delusion, the very essence of unreality. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: ponder well the earlier rules and lay a firm foundation
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  Speaker 1: of courage, sacrifice, selflessness, holiness. End of introduction to Book three.