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sattwa guna and the Atman, one gains omnipotence and omniscience.
This discrimination has already been discussed (aphorism 36 of this chapter).
तद्वैराग्यादपि दोषबीजक्षये कैवल्यम् ॥ ५१ ॥
51. By giving up even these powers, the seed of evil is destroyed and liberation follows.
The "seed of evil" is ignorance. Because of ignorance, man forgets that he is the Atman and creates for himself the illusion of a private, separate ego-personality. This ego-personality is intent upon satisfying its desires, and acquiring possessions and powers over external nature. Of all powers, the psychic powers are, from the standpoint of the ego, the most desirable; and, of the psychic powers, omnipotence and omniscience (to which Patanjali has referred in the previous aphorism) are obviously the greatest. The yogi who has held even these powers within his grasp and nevertheless renounced them, has rejected the ultimate temptation of the ego. Henceforth, he is freed from bondage. (For example, Christ rejected the psychic powers offered to him by Satan in the wilderness.)
स्थान्युपनिमन्त्रणे सङ्गस्मयाकरणं पुनरनिष्ट
प्रसङ्गात् ।। ५२ ।
52. When tempted by the invisible beings in high places, let the yogi feel neither allured nor flattered; for he is in danger of being caught once more by ignorance.
"The invisible beings in high places" are the fallen yogis already referred to (I, 19) who have reached the state of disincarnate gods or become merged in the forces of Nature. Such beings have failed to find liberation precisely because they yielded to the temptations of the psychic powers. Therefore, it is said, they are jealous of those who seem about to
