Theos-Talk Archives (December 1998 Message tt00092)

Dec 5th 1998

Dear friend:

RE: PATANJALI's YOGA SUTRAS and their interpretation.

I do hope that you have access to the translation done by Mr. W.
Q. Judge as in my esteem it is one of the best.  It contains
significant ideas as commentary and does not try to force the
mind into some particular groove.

To begin with all the ancient texts salute the unnamable and the
unmanifest - that which in Theosophy is called the ABSOLUTENESS -
an ever-present eternal and boundless PRESENCE which is
symbolized as the origin of Space (such as we can think of it)
from the most metaphysical point of view, and totally out of
relationship with what we sense as matter and space here and now.
Most of the first 300 pages of Vol. 1 of the S D speaks to this
single point - which is summarized in SD I, pp. 14 -16 as the
First Fundamental Proposition.

How it is sounded (if sounded at all) is not important.  It is
the idea that counts.  In India when the Sun rises the Brahmin
salutes it with the Gayatri verse and that is chanted in the
usual way in Sanskrit.  Those who know the true (metaphysical)
significance, they know that even this is superficial, as there
are at least 7 ways in which this can be done, and each is
correct for the time, place and purpose of the student - and,
also taking into account the day of the month, the hour of the
day, the season of the year and the particular year of certain
secret cycles during which the Brahmin has incarnated in a
particular place on the surface of the earth to fulfil a specific
duty - which it is his duty to discover.  So it is not simple at
all nor can any ordinary exoteric rules and writings cover the
real and deep significance of even this starting point.

While this much information is rarely given, as it usually
misunderstood, you will grasp the idea that man is treated as an
immortal pupil with a specific task to accomplish be voluntary
effort and diligent search each life time (which corresponds to a
school day for the "pupil.")

There is a very helpful and significant article :  A COMMENTARY
ON THE GAYATRI by W. Q. Judge.  I believe it is accessible for
reading or downloading through http://www.blavatsky.net
Under the heading of Articles by W. Q. Judge.  Also another
articles by the same author:  AUM !  It also is available through
the same Web-site.  You will also find some significant
statements made by HPB in the THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY.

It is quite clear from the quotations you send that various
authors interpret the WORD in the light of their own
understanding.  If you apply what Theosophy has to say, you may
probably get closer to the truth of the matter.

Another thought:  Why is it that the Verbum, the Word, the Sound
are spoken of in relation to the Manifesting LOGOS ?  [ Logos
also means WORD. ]  Because there is the concept there of
organization, of KARMA for the Universe and all its many types
and kinds of beings), a Plan, and of Memory.  It implies that in
the emanation of the "pairs of opposites" symbolized by "Spirit"
and "Matter," there is included a third aspect - that of the MIND
(Mahat - the Universal Mind).  It is this which represents the
intelligence and the consciousness that is applied as Wisdom.
Those responsible for this aspect we call by various names:
Dhyani Buddhas,  Dhyan Chohans,  Rishis,  Fathers of Mankind,
Masters of Wisdom,  Mahatmas,  Adepts, etc.,  etc., -- they are
those Wise Ones who assist Nature in her reawakening and in
re-establishing the patterns of the new manifestation in the
lines and under the Karma of the past ones.  For there is a
reincarnation of Universes just as there is the reincarnation of
Man's MONAD enveloped in that Monadic essence from which he draws
the materials to frame his several bodies, ending in the physical
sheath we all know.  HPB describes this process in SD I beginning
from p. 140 onwards to about p. 300.

Best wishes and let me know if there are any other aspects of
Patanjali that interest you on which I might have some notes to
share.

Best wishes,

Dallas