Sutra 24 Klesha-karma-vipakasayair apara-mrshta purusa-visesa isvarah

klesha: negative emotions, obscurations of the mind born of ignorance, afflictive or pain ridden states of mind. The body of pain (duhkha) which is limited by the sate of samsara (kleshas and karma). Kleshas obstruct the channels of clear vision, producing the chronically obscured egoic mindset, craving, antipathy, attachment to solidity, and fear.

karma: Most simply, the word, karma, means action. It often refers to the law of cause and effect that states that every action has a result/effect and every result has a cause. Negative actions have negative results. Positive actions produce positive results/conditions. Results/effects in the future also create conditions for causes for future results, and so on. Duhkha (suffering/sorrow) in samsara is the result of actions driven/governed by the kleshas (afflictive emotions), Happiness is the result of actions from pure vision (vidya) and prajna (transcendental wisdom). When karma is remediated or exhausted, then the unconditioned causeless state free from samsara is realized. That liberated state is free from karma, sequential time, or other causal limitations. The body can not enter that state because it has a beginning middle, and end (is temporal), but the mind can enter it and take the body along for a ride. A common misconception is that karma, means pre-destination or fate. Rather the opposite is true. If every event in the future were preordained by some cosmic template, then yogic sadhana (spiritual practice) would be futile. Rather yoga is based upon the fact that positive actions, as skillful sadhana, can bring about good karma and conditions for liberation. The isvara as the divine purusa is free from karma.

asayair: karmic residues or seed germs of the kleshas

vipaka: result

ishvara: inner most (ish) master or teacher (svara). Universal and innate primordial seed consciousness which is inside all beings (inside and out). Our innate evolutionary potentiality to emanate love, wisdom, joy, compassion, awakening, and liberation. Also ish (inner) vara (grace) as innate natural and spontaneous grace.

purusa/purusha: Self, being, or in this sense, pure and true universal unlimited and all-encompassing self. Here purusa is defined as the universal one, who is free of karma and karmic residue; i.e., the param-purusa is isvara. As the true transpersonal "self" (purusa), Mahesvara (siva) or Samantabhadra (Buddhist) as in the innate goodness or benevolence (the Buddha seed).

apara-mrshta: most pure

Commentary: Isvara is the pure immutable consciousness, the purest being (purusa), untouched by klesha, karma, results, or dormant seeds. Isvara is formless and universal. When our highest seed potential is recognized and surrendered to and hence is allowed to spontaneously shine forth, it does so as pure vision. How does one perceive or conceptualize the formless? Obviously this is not possible, as purusa (pure beingness) is beyond conceptualization processes (nirvikalpa) and acognitive (asamprajnata), transcending ordinary methods of using words, ideas, concepts, ordinary thinking, buddhi (intellect), or similar human thought processes (citta-vrtti). Yet it is still always available through direct non-dual insight into the true nature of mind beyond the citta-vrtta. Isvara is always available through isvara pranidhana (see Pada II.1 and II.45) when we remember to invite our innate intelligent evolutionary nature in. It is always available, that is, if we look for that formless grace (vara) underlying All Our Relations. yet it is unaffected by causes or conditions. The ordinary egoic mindset (citta-vrtti) is affected by causes and conditions, so it is that which has to be purified and surrendered.

Purusa has been a problematic term to translate because its definition varies according to time and place. In the ancient Vedas it signifies a profound idea of a divine template or original seed, where phenomena grows or coalesces around. It is quite a different idea than what is meant in sankhya philosophy, which is the common context used by the early academic oriented interpreters of the Yoga Sutras. Here, however Patanjali clearly links purusa as the purest formation of isvara, the universal, omnipresent, and omniscient seed Source in all. Hence isvara and purusa are linked as the the true Self in its seed aspect and its germination and flowering. Purusa in this sense is Effected by isvara, but is Affected by prakrti (causes and conditions) in its manifestation/flowering or being aspect. Purusa freely intermingles in its all pervasive aspect contained in prakrti, but it is not the same as prakrti. There is no place this purusa is not. In fact we know this pure universal purusa as pure being only through our own being/flowering which includes prakrti. Purusa as a divine universal template can only be known in the world of form (prakrti) as universal, in its dormant aspect, it resides at the innermost heart core of all as isvara. If we ask for primordial wisdom and omnipresent sacred presence to guide us at each moment (isvara pranidhana), then that is an intentional practice which leads to primordial grace. Again we are "re-minded" that isvara is the highest purusa (pure being). Reminded in Sutra 16 where Patanjali first talks about purusa, where it is vairagya which leads to param vairagya and the param-purusa who is none other than isvara (Maheshvara). Thus surrender to isvara (isvara pranidhana) and vairagya are two sides of the same coin; i.e., losing the small self (dualistic ego identifications of separateness) while simultaneously embracing and being embraced by expansive non-dual reality of Maheshvara and Prakrti wedded as one in siva/sakti.

Also see Sutra I.16 (param purusa) and the glossary, the beginning of Kaivalya Pada, and`especially this discussion entitled Purusa can not be Owned or Bought. See Professor Whicher's commentary on Prakrti and Purusa for a more detailed discussion of Purusa as pure being.

tatra: therein

nir-ati: beyond above: completely transcendent: beyond the highest

sayam (shayam): resting or abiding

bija: seed

abija: seedless

sarva: all

jna: knowledge

Commentary: See also Pada II.1 and II.45. Isvara is the seed potentia (bijam) of the omniscient knower of great integrity realized in the asamprajnata (non-dual realization) of All Our Relations (I.19), wherein all feelings of loneliness and incompleteness are fulfilled.

By remembering to practice we affirm and generate the "good mind" and simultaneously embrace the profound "right view" beyond judgment, methods of inference, willfulness, philosophical ideas, conceptual artifice, or perception. Thus this"right" view is the one beyond conception and any artifice. This indwelling seed (bijam) is the seed potential toward awakening (bodhi-citta) as described in I.50, which is the last seed that propels the sadhak into nirbija-samadhi. I.51.

Try to know Him who does not sleep during the state of sleep, remaining fully aware of it and witnessing all the goings-on of the dream world. On waking up, one may say, "I slept very well. I also had a dream of a beautiful temple." Are these words uttered by the one who slept? He says that he slept and saw a temple during sleep! What an enigma! O brethren, behold the spectator who remains awake while you sleep, poised far from sleep. Who is He? He is the pure witness, the attributeless One. He is the Supreme Being. He is within you, but you look for Him outside."

This relationship with our inner teacher is established through direct spiritual experience and is thus due to the dawning of the intrinsic light in authentic darshan untouched by form, time, and limitation, Although religionists attempt to limit isvara with names and form, Patanjali clearly indicates that such tendencies are an externalized corruption by assigning the meaning to a symbolic representation, while extracting the meaningful experience from intimate experience. Here the yoga of isvara pranidhana is the alignment and integration of divine will with individual will, spirit with nature, grandfather Sun with grandmother moon, consciousness with beingness (satchitananda), sahasrara (crown) and muladhara (earth), pingala (ha) and ida (tha), or siva/shakti in the sushumna (central channel).

Commentary: The key is that isvara has been identified as the param-purusa or innate universal seed consciousness. Ish refers to the inner, as in the ishta deva or inner deity (yidam in Tibetan). Vara can also refer to inner or innate grace. Hence Isvara is the remover of the darkness (gu) or inner light (ru). This is the only sutra which refers to "guru" in the entire Yoga Sutras. It is obvious that yoga practice is designed to bring out the nascent innate light. It is the culmination of sublime vairagya, where the yogi surrenders all attachment and dualistic (egoic) identifications.

Isvara pranidhana is a practice .HERE our every intimate experience becomes our teacher when we ask for guidance in the eternal moment by not identifying with false and limited dualistic beliefs of separation (avidya), but rather when we see eternal spirit as sacred presence in All Our Relations. This Scared Presence is also called "being present". The teacher/teaching is always HERE. The teacher/teaching is always HERE. The teacher/teaching is always HERE. Isvara is found within the unobscured instantaneous eternal moment -- here and now as Now awareness, ever accessible to the true devotee.

"Gu" means darkness, and "Ru" mans to remove. The definition for the word guru then is the remover of the darkness, and in a secondary way, the guru is the one who not just radiates and brings forth light and grace, but rather evokes it inside the sadhak, so that ignorance is destroyed. In one sense all of our experiences and relationships can act as our teachers (in the long run as long as we are learning fro them -- waking up). But certainly most of us appear to suffer from the "hard" lessons not quickly learned that has brought about some temporary darkness, ignorance (avidya), and pain (duhkha). When we reside in sacred presence, HERE , when our HeartMind is open, we are all learning our lessons. Thus everyone everywhere and everything in is in this greater perspective our gurus -- in the integrity which is All Our Relations. The true teacher thus directs us back to the true Self within into the living university and temple. That true teacher resides in the cave of the heart as well as inside the heart of all. It is known in asamprajnata (transcognitive non-dual) realization (samadhi). That guru is not exclusively external (although it resides inside all). It is not exclusively inside (as it resides inside all). That light that the guru reveals or appears to transmit is not exclusive at all. It cannot be owned by anyone specifically.

That said, in the the classical orthodox Hindu guru-shishya -- parampara diksha system the guru once evaluated and accepted is then to be followed unquestioningly and in complete surrender seeing her or him as a manifestation of the perfect and eternal (Sat) Guru or Adinath (primordial master). That interpretation of "guru" is not what Patanjali is referring to. Rather in the Yoga System as put forth by Patanjali the situation is quite different than orthodox Brahmanism, where the guru is not even mentioned except in this very sutra alone. Rather Patanjali refers to devotion to the *practice*of isvara pranidhana as the practice itself, and here there is surrender only to the most pure boundless formless "Self" (purusa) in isvara pranidhana (which becomes a constant practice). Thus, Patanjali suggests surrendering directly to isvara, as it is said that isvara is primordial teacher (guru) of even (api) the teacher of the most ancient teachers -- the darkness dispeller of the darkness dispellers.

Isvara is the innermost teacher and is always accessible inside. Isvara simultaneously is also the universal teacher inside all beings and things. As such isvara is our innate highest potential or said in another way, our innate Buddha nature, or yet in other words, the eternal teacher (Sat Guru) as the light removes the darkness. In yoga, the practice (isvara pranidhana) is indeed the teaching, the teaching is in the practice, and the teacher is in the teaching. Every time we do the practice in an attentive way all of this comes together (if we are lucky) in our own embodiment of it (more or less).

Similarly in Buddhist yoga, it is postulated an external teacher/Buddha, the inner teacher/Buddha, and the secret teacher/Buddha. The outer serves to tune the practitioner in to the inner. Once the inner is experienced, then the universal Buddhanature is recognized in all beings, operating in every atom, being, and throughout boundless space represented as a perceptible interdependent movement. This is not ideology, nor can it be conceptualized, rather through one pointed dedication/devotion to the practice, direct experience is attained (devoid of any fragmented distractions/diversions).

In a practical way Patanjali tells us that the worship of idols, books, gods, or external teachers is dissociative and distracting unless they point us back to the intrinsic eternal light (seed consciousness or bodhicitta) which resides within. At first the focusing process may take the form of asking for guidance, but we should be careful not to frame the question in a self limiting way. Rather it is more about listening for guidance -- a practice of focused deep listening.

Phakchok Rinpoche

Also we can look at yoga teachers as reflections of isvara or purusa (as their true nature) and try to allow that light to brighten us up (Sri) as much as the pre-existing darkness of our conditioned mind (in its habitual mode of ignorance) can allow. This is darshan acknowledging the inner light in All Our Relations. In a similar way all our interactions with the trees, stars, moon, other animals, star systems, and formless dimensions also are our teachers reflecting the eternal light -- the darshan of all the teachers and enlightened ones of all times. HERE we surrender at all times to the ever present teacher. This is pure grace to allow this to be continuous... and if we are really focused and fortunate we will be able to find this same seed consciousness, acknowledge, respect, and honor it in all beings at all times in All Our Relations.

From Satsang With Baba, Volume 5, page 317, by Baba Muktananda

The identity of the sat guru or true guru is easily misunderstood. In the West, the main conflation that it is not a surrender by an egoic identity to another egoic personality. Both in the East and West there is that chance that isvara pranidhana can be misunderstood and exploited. 1 and 2 can be a fast path, which releases attachment, but also it can be difficult and dangerous because of the lack of trust. Beginners should remember that trust and confidence come from self-knowledge and heightened sensitivity.