Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

Author(s): Prabhavnanda Swami, Christopher Isherwood
Publisher: Ramkrishna Math Madras

Page 97

PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
Atman. The objective universe disappears. The Atman is experienced as total existence, consciousness and joy. In this experience, all sense of individual separateness and differentiation is lost. In Shankara's Crest-Jewel of Discrimination, the Disciple who has reached samadhi exclaims: “My mind fell like a hailstone into that vast expanse of Brahman's ocean. Touching one drop of it, I melted away and became one with Brahman. And now, though I return to human consciousness, I abide in the joy of the Atman. Where is this universe? Who took it away? Has it merged into something else? A while ago, I beheld it-now it exists no longer. This is wonderful indeed! Here is the ocean of Brahman, full of endless joy. How can I accept or reject anything? Is there anything apart or distinct from Brahman? Now, finally and clearly, I know that I am the Atman, whose nature is eternal joy. I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing that is separate from me.”
d. When a man comes out of samadhi, he returns to consciousness of the objective universe; but this consciousness differs from the kind which we all experience. To one who has achieved samadhi, the external world is known to be merely an appearance. In Shankara's phrase, “it is and is not.” The man of illumination no longer identifies the external world with the Atman. He sees that it is only a reflection of the Atman-not, indeed, utterly unreal, since it is projected by the Reality; yet lacking substance and independent existence, like an image in a mirror.
In this stage, a man knows that he is no longer bound by any worldly duty or obligation. “His acts”, as the Gita puts it, “fall from him.” This does not, of course, mean that a man who has achieved samadhi will thenceforward do nothing at all. On the contrary, most of the great saints have been very active, particularly in teaching others. “They are like big steamships,” said Sri Ramakrishna, “which not only cross the ocean themselves but carry many passengers to the other shore.” But the