Theos-Talk Archives (November 2005 Message tt00047)

ESOTERICISM


=======================

"It is the Spiritual evolution of the inner,
immortal man that forms the
fundamental tenet in the Occult Sciences."	SD
I 634


-----------------


The following quotations give a partial view of basis of the ancient
ESOTERIC WISDOM which is innate to every being (including the whole of
humanity), and which the teachings of THEOSOPHY, as promulgated by the
Masters of Wisdom through Their “messenger:” H. P. Blavatsky, and her
devoted pupil W. Q. Judge, expound in theory and practise.  

The words they used for explanation enshrine the great secrets of Nature,
and its practical and marvelously sensitive method of education, through all
processes of living. 

Not an atom, a human, a planet, a sun or a galaxy is excluded from this
working, living ABSOLUTENESS. Impersonality, universality, continuity
because of immortality, and the justice and rule of Law support all. The
aim of the Universe is to spiritualize and therefore it teaches mutual
assistance, cooperation, tolerance and brotherhood. 

One may say that an exact reproduction of those original teachings provides
all students with a common basis to begin their study. How they interpret
the meaning behind and within those words is dependent on the devotion,
desire to learn, and moral character of the student. The motive power that
is present, and exercised behind and within any action, depicts the
character and condition of mind interest, of any person or being. 

The esoteric wisdom [“Heart” doctrine] in inherent within the words used
[“eye” doctrine]. It is the ideas and the motives behind the words that are
essential. Each student has to seek for those. If we can take some of these
statements as key ideals, and compare ourselves detachedly and impersonally
to them, we may learn a great deal about our own personal nature, capacity
and development.

How is this possible? It is because in every being and each human a common
and ideal base: the ATMA (a Ray” of the Universal and all-pervading ONE
SPIRIT).   

There is in each of us the MONAD – the ATMA {a “Ray” of the ABSOLUTE,the
indescribable primal SELF}. It is ancient and is WISE, and has been through
all experience. It has undertaken (under the imperishable and universal Law
of Karma) the task of endless reincarnations, so as to assist all MONADS of
lesser experience to progress to the level of wisdom it has attained.  

In ourselves, if we are attracted to THEOSOPHY, we can witness this
educational development proceeding. One of the rules of such tutelage is to
permit unfettered latitude to the many Monads that accumulate around it by
affinity and form its temporary sheaths or “bodies.” [see S D II 167] 

THEOSOPHY holds that every individual is an IMMORTAL MONAD, and that it is
possible for anyone to reach deep into his own Spiritual Self, and secure
there the wisdom of accumulated experience -- as memory and reminiscence --
and from those depths, obtain verification of facts, and the moral truths of
“right livelihood,” called BROTHERHOOD. 

One must remember that the UNIVERSE or NATURE has been in existence for an
immense time. It rules and regulations have been in place long before our
present “arrival.” We, as individual MONADS, are co-existent and ever-living
components of IT from the beginning. Our bodies and forms constantly change,
but the SPIRIT (ATMA) within, is never killed, nor can it die and disappear.


Patanjali, an ancient Sage, said: “For the purpose of the development of the
Soul (mind) the UNIVERSE exists.“

The whole of NATURE is ruled by impartial and immutable laws -- laws which
allow for the development of independent thought and thinkers (such as we
MONADS all are). None is “superior” nor “inferior“ to any of the others.
But the “path” of progress that each follows has always been
self-determined. Karma marks the interaction of such choosing with the
impartial laws of Nature – and these are laws that demand fairness, honesty,
sincerity and a “level field” for every being. 

The great moral and ethical rules which all are aware of in their “heart of
HEARTS” are based on this fact of the co-existence of IMMORTALS. 

If we turn to the Pratimoksha Sutra… of the Buddhists, we read… :
   
1. Thou shalt not kill any living creature.
2. Thou shalt not steal.
3. Thou shalt not break thy vow of chastity.
4. Thou shalt not lie.
5. Thou shalt not betray the secrets of others.
6. Thou shalt not wish for the death of thy enemies.
7. Thou shalt not desire the wealth of others.
8. Thou shalt not pronounce injurious and foul words.
9. Thou shalt not indulge in luxury …
10. Thou shalt not accept gold or silver.	Isis II 164


“There is no pretense of personal virtue or knowledge in handing on for the
benefit of others what one perceives to be good for them. A claim, even a
thought of personal virtue, is detrimental -- because it is personal. The
Egoic perceptions on this plane are limited by this very thing. 

"Thy body is not self, thy Self is in itself without a body, and either
praise or blame affects it not." 
"Deliverance of mind from thralldom by the cessation of sin and faults is
not for 'Deva-Egos' (reincarnating egos). Thus says the 'Doctrine of the
Heart'."   

"The Dharma of the 'Heart' is the embodiment of Bodhi (True, Divine Wisdom),
the Permanent and Everlasting." 

"To live to benefit Mankind is the first step. To practice the six glorious
virtues is the second." VOICE
 
The six glorious virtues are: 

ONE -- 'Sama.' It consists in obtaining perfect mastery over the mind (the
seat of emotions and desires), and in forcing it to act in subordination to
the intellect which had been strengthened by attaining – 

(a) 'Right knowledge of the real and the unreal' (Right Philosophy).


(b) 'Perfect indifference to the fruits of one's actions, both here
and hereafter.' (Renunciation of the fruits of actions.) 


TWO -- 'Dama.' Complete mastery over bodily acts. 

THREE -- 'Uparati.' Renunciation of all formal religion, and the acquirement
of contemplation of objects without being in the least disturbed in the
performance of the great task one has set before oneself. 

FOUR -- 'Titiksha.' Cessation of desire and a constant readiness to part
with everything in the world. 

FIVE -- 'Samadana.' That which renders the student constitutionally
incapable of deviating from the right path. 

SIX -- 'Shradda.' Implicit confidence on the part of the pupil in his
Master's power to teach, and his own power to learn. 

SEVEN -- One other, and the last accomplishment required, is an intense
desire for liberation from conditioned existence and for transformation into
the One Life. 

While some of these may be beyond us, we can 'practise' in these directions;
in fact, we have been so doing, and we know that practice makes perfect.
F P, pp. 78-81 



These great facts, ideas and moral directives are reflected in statements on
ESOTERICISM, and the basis for esotericism inherent in THEOSOPHY -- some of
which are offered below.

DTB
---------------------



"Occult Science has its changeless traditions from prehistoric times. It
may err in particulars; it can never become guilty of a mistake in
questions of Universal laws." SD I 516

  
  
"The Secret Doctrine merely asserts that a system known as the Wisdom
Religion, the work of generations of adepts and seers, the sacred heirloom
of pre-historic times--actually exists, though hitherto preserved in the
greatest secrecy by the present Initiates; and it points to various
corroborations of its existence to this very day, to be found in ancient and
modern works.  

Giving a few fragments only, it there shows how these explain the
religious dogmas of the present day, and how they might serve Western
religions, philosophies and science, as sign-posts along the untrodden paths
of discovery.  

The work is essentially fragmentary, giving statements of sundry facts 
taught in the esoteric schools--kept, so far, secret--by which the 
ancient symbolism of various nations is interpreted. it does not even
give the keys to it, but merely opens a few of the hitherto secret drawers.
 
No new philosophy is set up in the Secret Doctrine, only the hidden meaning
of some of the religious allegories of antiquity is given, light being
thrown on these by the esoteric sciences, and the common source is pointed
out, whence all the world-religions and philosophies have sprung.
 
Its chief attempt is to show, that however divergent the respective
doctrines and systems of old may seem on their external or objective side,
the agreement between all becomes perfect, so soon as the esoteric or inner
side of these beliefs and their symbology is examined and a careful
comparison is made.
 
It is also maintained that its doctrines and sciences, which form an
integral cycle of universal cosmic facts and metaphysical axioms and truths,
represent a complete and unbroken system; and that he who is brave and
persevering enough, ready to crush the animal in himself, and forgetting the
human self, sacrifices it to his Higher Ego, can always find his way to
become initiated into these mysteries.  
 
This is not all the Secret Doctrine claims.
 
Are not a few facts and self-evident truths, found in these volumes--all the
literary defects of the exposition notwithstanding--truths already proved
practically to some, better than the most ingenious "working" hypotheses,
liable to be upset any day, than the unexplainable mysteries of religious
dogmas, or the most seemingly profound philosophical speculations ? Can the
grandest among these speculations be really profound...when they are limited
and conditioned by their author's brain-mind, hence dwarfed and
crippled...cut down to fit limited sensuous perceptions, which will not
allow the intellect to go beyond their enchanted circle?..."
--HPB-The Babel of Modern Thought - HPB Art III 44-5
 

    
"The Secret Doctrine will explain many things, set to right more than one
perplexed student." M L 289

  
"The Secret Doctrine is not a treatise, or a series of vague theories, but
contains all that can be given out to the world in this century."
SD I xxxviii
  

" The latter," The Secret Doctrine "though giving out many fundamental
tenets from the Secret Doctrine of the East, raise but a small corner of the
dark veil. For no one, not even the greatest living adept, would be
permitted to, or could--even if he would--give out promiscuously, to a
mocking, unbelieving world, that which has been so effectually concealed
from it for long aeons and ages." SD I xvi
  

"For in the 20th century of our era scholars will begin to recognize that
the S D has neither been invented nor exaggerated, but on the contrary,
simply outlined; and finally, that its teachings antedate the Vedas."
SD I xxxvii
  

"Draw a deep line in your thought between that ever incognizable essence,
and the, as invisible, yet comprehensible Presence (Mulaprakriti), or
Schekinah, from beyond and through which vibrates the Sound of the Verbum,
and from which evolve the numberless hierarchies of intelligent Egos, of
conscious as of semi-conscious, perceptive and apperceptive Beings, whose
essence is spiritual Force, whose Substance is the Elements and whose Bodies
(when needed) are the atoms -- and our doctrine is there ... reality in the
manifested world is composed of a unity of units, so to say,
immaterial...and infinite..." SD I 629
 

"It is on the doctrine of the illusive nature of matter and the infinite
divisibility of the atom, that the whole science of Occultism is built."
SD I 520

     
"From Gods to man, from Worlds to atoms, from a star to a rush light, from
the Sun or the vital heat of the meanest organic being--the world of Form
and Existence is an immense chain, whose links are all connected. The law
of Analogy is the first key to the world-problem, and those links have to be
studied coordinately in their occult relations to each other."
SECRET DOCTRINE I 604


"Esoteric Philosophy teaches that every thing lives and is conscious, but
not that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even
animal beings. Life we look upon as the one form of existence."
SD I 49


"We give facts, and show land-marks: let the wayfarer follow them. What is
given here is amply sufficient for this century."	SD II 742
 

"The Secret Doctrine [not the book] was the universally diffused religion of
the ancient and prehistoric world." SD I xxxvi
  

[HPB claims incredible antiquity for SD sources. Look up what is written
on
pages: S D I 272-3, II 438-9, 449, 200-201.]

 
"These truths are in no sense put forward as a revelation; nor does the
author claim the position of a revealer of mystic lore. now made public for
the first time in the world's history." SD I vii
  

"Is it a new religion, we are asked? By no means; it is not a religion,
nor is its philosophy new...it is as old as thinking man. Its tenets are
not now published for the first time, but have been cautiously given out to,
and taught by, more than one European Initiate--especially by the late
Ragon." SD I xxxvi
  

"...it is perhaps desirable to state unequivocally that the teachings,
however fragmentary and incomplete, contained in these volumes, belong
neither to the Hindu, the Zoroastrian, the Chaldean nor Christianity
exclusively. The Secret Doctrine is the essence of all these. Sprung from
it in their origins, the various religious schemes are not made to merge
back into their original element, out of which every mystery and dogma has
grown, developed, and become materialized."	SD I viii
  

"If coming events are said to cast their shadows before, past events cannot
fail to leave their impress behind them. It is, then by those shadows of
the hoary Past and their fantastic silhouettes on the external screen of
religion and philosophy, that we can, by checking them as we go along, and
comparing them, trace out finally the body that produced them. There must
be truth and fact in that which every people of antiquity accepted and made
the foundation of its religions and its faith."	SD II 794
  

"...there are proofs of a certain character which become irrefutable and are
undeniable in the long run, to every earnest and unprejudiced mind...such
were offered to her [HPB]...But, this is the personal view of the writer;
and her orthodoxy cannot be expected to have any more weight than any other
"doxy."...
 
Therefore are we, Occultists, fully prepared for such questions as these:
"How does he know that the writer has not invented the whole scheme? And
supposing she has not, how can one tell that the whole foregoing [scheme of
evolution--Rounds, Globes, Races, etc...], as given in the Stanzas, is not
the product of the imagination of the ancients?  

How could they have preserved the records of such an immense, such 
an incredible antiquity? The answer that the history of the world 
since its formation and to its end "is written in the stars," i.e., is 
recorded in the Zodiac and the Universal Symbolism whose keys are in 
the keeping of the Initiates, will hardly satisfy the doubters...  
 
So are our data based upon the same readings [of the Assyrian tiles,
cuneiform fragments, and Egyptian hieroglyphics], in addition to the almost
inexhaustible number of Secret works of which Europe knows nothing--plus the
perfect knowledge by the initiates of the symbolism of every word so
recorded..." SD II 438-9
 

"...the first fundamental dogma of Occultism is Universal Unity (or
Homogeneity) under three aspects." [SPIRIT, ASTRAL SOUL, and 
PHYSICAL MATTER] S D I 58


"...it is...a fundamental principle of Occult philosophy, the same
homogeneity of matter, and immortality of natural law..."	
SD I 640
  

"...perfect analogy, as a fundamental law in Occultism."	 
S D I 586fn

  
"The Occultist sees in the manifestation of every force in Nature, the
action of the quality, or the special characteristic of its noumenon, which
noumenon is a distinct and intelligent Individuality on the other side of
the manifested mechanical Universe." SD I 493
  

"Metaphysically and esoterically there is but One Element in Nature, and at
the root of it is the Deity." SD I 460


"It is the Spiritual evolution of the inner, immortal man that forms the
fundamental tenet in the Occult Sciences."	SD I 634


"The radical unity of the ultimate essence of each constituent part of the
compounds of Nature--from Star to mineral Atom, from the highest Dhyan
Chohan to the smallest infusoria--this is the one fundamental law in Occult
Science." SD I 120


"The homogeneous primordial Element is simple and single only on the
terrestrial plane of consciousness and sensation, since matter, after all,
is nothing else than the sequence of our own states of consciousness, and
Spirit an idea of psychic intuition." SD I 542


…"Devotion" the first and foremost motor in his nature, for it is the only
one that is natural in our heart, which is innate in us...This feeling of
irrepressible, instinctive aspiration in primitive man..."    
[read: “The Great Sacrifice" ( S D I 207-8)] SD I 210


"Collectively, men are the handiwork of hosts of various spirits,
distributively, the tabernacles of those hosts, and occasionally, and
singly, the vehicles of some of them." SD I 224


"The closer the approach to one's Prototype [ATMA], "in Heaven," the better
for the mortal whose personality was chosen by his own personal deity (the 
seventh principle), as its terrestrial abode. For, with every effort of
will
towards purification and unity with that "Self-god," one of the lower rays
breaks and the spiritual entity of man is drawn higher and ever higher to th
ray that supersedes the first, until, from ray to ray, the inner man is
drawn into the one and highest beam of the Parent Sun." SD I 638-9


"Initial existence...is a conscious spiritual quality." SD I 289


"...a fundamental law in Occultism, that there is no rest or cessation of
motion in Nature..." SD I 97

  
"Space, however viewed--...is as the "Unknown Causeless Cause," is the
oldest dogma in Occultism." SD I 9
 

" Nature abhors a vacuum..." SD I 495


"...circular motion, a fundamental dogma... SD I 116-7

  
“How much of direct knowledge do we have about esoteric philosophy?”

The importance of it is that only direct knowledge is the source of a
lasting sense of responsibility. An accurate, heartfelt perception of
things results in a sense of ethics and an active intention to be useful.  

Perhaps it was to highlight the significance of this feeling of personal
accountability that Thomas Taylor, the translator of Plato and the
Neoplatonists, wrote: 

A little learning is a dangerous thing. 
Drink deep, or taste not the PLATONIC  spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely, sobers us again.1 

THEOSOPHIST II p. 52
=========================================================
  
>From PATANJALI -- Some practical advice:


CONTROL OF MIND AND EMOTIONS IS FIRST TO BE ATTAINED.

	
"On the other hand, the Raja Yogis try to control the mind itself by
following the rules laid down by the greatest of adepts." 

Patanjali's rules compel the student not only to acquire a right knowledge
of what is and what is not real, but also to practice all virtues, and while
results in the way of psychic development are not so immediately seen as in
the case of the successful practitioner of Hatha Yoga, it is infinitely
safer and is certainly spiritual, which Hatha Yoga is not. 

In Patanjali's Aphorisms there is some slight allusion to the practices of
Hatha Yoga, such as "postures," each of which is more difficult than those
preceding, and "retention of the breath," but he distinctly says that
mortification and other practices are either for the purpose of extenuating
certain mental afflictions or for the more easy attainment of concentration
of mind. 

In Hatha Yoga practice, on the contrary, the result is psychic development
at the delay or expense of the spiritual nature. These last named practices
and results may allure the Western student, but from our knowledge of
inherent racial difficulties there is not much fear that many will persist
in them. 

This book is meant for sincere students, and especially for those who have
some glimmering of what Krishna meant, when in Bhagavad-Gita he said, that
after a while spiritual knowledge grows up within and illuminates with its
rays all subjects and objects. 

Students of the mere forms of Sanskrit who look for new renderings or
laborious attempts at altering the meaning of words and sentences will find
nothing between these covers. [“Eye Doctrine” --- DTB]

It should be ever borne in mind that Patanjali had no need to assert or
enforce the doctrine of reincarnation. That is assumed all through the
Aphorisms. That it could be doubted, or need any restatement, never occurred
to him, and by us it is alluded to, not because we have the smallest doubt
of its truth, but only because we see about us those who never heard of such
a doctrine, who, educated under the frightful dogmas of Christian
priestcraft, imagine that upon quitting this life they will enjoy heaven or
be damned eternally, and who not once pause to ask where was their soul
before it came into the present body. 


WITHOUT REINCARNATION PATANJALI'S APHORISMS ARE WORTHLESS. …


The manifestation, in any incarnation, of the effects of mental deposits
made in previous lives, is declared to ensue upon the obtaining of just the
kind of bodily and mental frame, constitution and environment as will bring
them out. Where were these deposits received if not in preceding lives on
earth— or even if on other planets, it is still reincarnation. And so on all
through the Aphorisms this law is tacitly admitted.

In order to understand the system expounded in this book it is also
necessary to admit the existence of soul [mind], and the comparative
unimportance of the body in which it dwells. 

For Patanjali holds that Nature exists for the soul's sake, [p. 24] taking
it for granted that the student believes in the existence of soul. Hence he
does not go into proof of that which in his day was admitted on every hand. 


MIND and SOUL

And, as he lays down that the real experiencer and knower is the soul and
not the mind, it follows that the Mind, designated either as "internal
organ," or "thinking principle," while higher and more subtle than the body,
is yet only an instrument used by the SOUL in gaining experience, just in
the same way as an astronomer uses his telescope for acquiring information
respecting the heavens. 

But the Mind is a most important factor in the pursuit of concentration; one
indeed without which concentration cannot be obtained, and therefore we see
in the first book that to this subject Patanjali devotes attention. He shows
that the mind is, as he terms it, "modified" by any object or subject
brought before it, or to which it is directed. This may be well illustrated
by quoting a passage from the commentator, who says: "The internal organ is
there"— in the Vedanta Paribhasha — "compared to water in respect of its
readiness to adapt itself to the form of whatever mold it may enter. 'As the
waters of a reservoir, having issued from an aperture, having entered by a
channel the basins, become four-cornered or otherwise shaped, just like
them; so the manifesting internal organ having gone through the sight, or
other channel, to where there is one object, for instance a jar, becomes
modified by the form of the jar or other object. 

It is this altered state of the internal organ — or mind — that is called
its modification.'" While the internal organ thus molds itself upon the
object it at the same time reflects it and its properties to the soul. The
channels by which the mind is held to go out to an object or subject, are
the organs of sight, touch, taste, hearing, and so on. Hence by means of
hearing it shapes itself into the form of the idea which may be given in
speech, or by means of the eye in reading, it is molded into the form of
that which is read; again, sensations such as heat and cold modify it
directly and indirectly by association and by recollection, and similarly in
the ease of all senses and sensations. 

It is further held that this internal organ, while having an innate
disposition to assume some modification or other depending upon constantly
recurring objects — whether directly present or only such as arise from the
power of reproducing thoughts, whether by association or otherwise, may be
controlled and stilled into a state of absolute calmness. This is what he
means by "hindering the modifications." And just here it is seen that the
theory of the soul's being the real experiencer and knower is necessary. For
if we are but mind, or slaves of mind, we never can attain real knowledge
because the incessant panorama of objects eternally modifies that mind which
is uncontrolled by the soul, always preventing real knowledge from being
acquired. But as the Soul is held to be superior to Mind, it has the power
to grasp and hold the latter if we but use the Will to aid it in the work,
and then only the real end and purpose of mind is brought about. 

These propositions imply that the will is not wholly dependent on the mind,
but is separable from it; and, further, that knowledge exists as an
abstraction. 

The will and mind are only servants for the soul's use, but so long as we
are wrapped up in material life and do not admit that the real knower and
only experiencer is the soul, just so long do these servants remain usurpers
of the soul's sovereignty. Hence it is stated in old Hindu works, that "the
Soul is the friend of Self and also its enemy; and, that a man should raise
the self by the self." [BHAGAVAD GITA, VI, p. 45 ]

In other words there is a constant struggle between the lower and the Higher
Self, in which the illusions of matter always wage war against the Soul,
tending ever to draw downward the inner principles which, lying midway
between the upper and the lower, are capable of reaching either salvation or
damnation.


WILL

…Many old Hindu writers hold, and we incline to the same view, that Will is
a spiritual power, function or attribute constantly present in every portion
of the Universe. It is a colorless power, to which no quality of goodness or
badness is to be assigned, but which may be used in whatever way man
pleases. When considered as that which in ordinary life is called "will," we
see its operation only in connection with the material body and mind guided
by desire; looked at in respect to the hold by man upon life it is more
recondite, because its operation is beyond the ken of the mind; analyzed as
connected with reincarnation of man or with the persistence of the
manifested universe throughout a Manvantara, it is found to be still more
removed from our comprehension and vast in its scope. 

In ordinary life it is not man's servant, but, being then guided solely by
desire, it makes man a slave to his desires. Hence the old cabalistic maxim,
"Behind Will stands Desire." The desires always drawing the man hither and
thither, cause him to commit such actions and have such thoughts as form the
cause and mold for numerous reincarnations, enslaving him to a destiny
against which he rebels, and that constantly destroys and recreates his
mortal body. It is an error to say of those who are known as strong-willed
men, that their wills are wholly their servants, for they are so bound in
desire that it, being strong, moves the will into action for the
consummation of wished for ends. …

The system postulates that Ishwara, the spirit in man, is untouched by any
troubles, works, fruit of works, or desires, and when a firm position is
assumed with the end in view of reaching union with spirit through
concentration, He comes to the aid of the lower self and raises it gradually
to higher planes. In this process the Will by degrees is given a stronger
and stronger tendency to act upon a different line from that indicated by
passion and desire. Thus it is freed from the domination of desire and at
last subdues the mind itself. 

But before the perfection of the practice is arrived at the will still acts
according to desire, only that the desire is for higher things and away from
those of the material life. Book III is for the purpose of defining the
nature of the perfected state, which is therein denominated Isolation. 


ISOLATION OF THE SOUL 

in this philosophy does not mean that a man is isolated from his fellows,
becoming cold and dead, but only that the Soul is isolated or freed from the
bondage of matter and desire, being thereby able to act for the
accomplishing of the aim of Nature and Soul, including all souls of all men.



MAHATMA - JIVANMUKTA

It has become the habit of many superficial readers and thinkers, to say
nothing of those who oppose the Hindu philosophy, to assert that Jivanmuktas
or Adepts remove themselves from all life of men, from all activity, and any
participation in human affairs, isolating themselves on inaccessible
mountains where no human cry can reach their ears. Such a charge is directly
contrary to the tenets of the philosophy which prescribes the method and
means for reaching such a state. 

These Beings are certainly removed from human observation, but, as the
philosophy clearly states, they have the whole of nature for their object,
and this will include all living men. They may not appear to take any
interest in transitory improvements or ameliorations, but they work behind
the scenes of true enlightenment until such times as men shall be able to
endure their appearance in mortal guise. 

The term "knowledge" as used here has a greater meaning than we are
accustomed to giving it. It implies full identification of the mind, for any
length of time, with whatever object or subject it is directed to. 
[ Intro. to PATANJALI’S YOGA SUTRAS, by W Q J ]