Sutra 27 Tasya vachakah pranavah

Commentary: Isvara can not be defined or limited because Isvara by definition is indefinable omniscient infinite mind, however he can be symbolically represented by the expression of pranava - by the vibratory essence that the sacred sound, om, approximates. Thus isvara is often accessed through the pranava which is om.

Tasya means "it". Vacakah means "expression" from the root vac to speak. Pranavah means "the sacred syllable AUM" derived from "pra" (before) and nava (from the root, sound). So the straight translation is simply, Its' (referring to isvara as the teacher of all the teachers as discussed in the previous three sutras) expression is the pranavah (the sacred sound).Notice Patanjali himself never mentions AUM, but rather pranava. It is also of interest that Patanjali does not say "word", but rather pranava, sacred "sound".

Who can really say adequately in words, what is essentially ineffable, an all encompassing supramundane transgalactic Reality which exists by itself unable to be boxed in by human words, concepts, or fabrication. IM by definition is infinite, it's boundaries can not be defined or limited because it has none. Thus to try to define it is both counterproductive and impossible (not that we don't try sometimes :blush ) . So to define any word that represents IM or God would depreciate it/demean it, and that is why I believe that the name of God is sacred and unutterable.

Words are by definition symbolic representations for things -- it is not the thing itself. Like looking at a map is not the same thing as experiencing subjectively the here and now of the territory (as in the well known adage the map is not the territory), words likewise (although useful at times) can and do tend to over objectify our situation, create separation, and reinforce dualistic thinking (dualistic conceptualization is impossible without words or symbolic logic). Simply put, words and concepts may be useful for some tasks, but in meditation or yoga they are counter-productive tending to hold up the separation and duality.

So the question then, is AUM an exception? Yes, if we approach it as not an emanation and a path back to primal now awareness. As a sadhana (practice) I agree with Patanjali, it can be effective, but like all practices, they remain short from the integrative experience itself. The universe may indeed be pregnant with AUM -- permeating all of space and emptiness -- or it may be deafening silent -- or it may well be far beyond sound itself (some animals do not have ears). So from my limited experience of Infinite Mind (isvara). The intoning of AUM is a conveyer, a pathway, a sadhana which leads us into the greater vibration, pulsation, and inter-dimensional energetic hologram which has no beginning or end -- where both sound and words have little meaning.

Some commentators who see God in all religions try to show how they all point to the same living Spirit. So in the West it is often attempted to take examples from from Judeo-Christian texts such as: "In the beginning there was the word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God".

Such has been "talked over" about over and over literally by thousands of scholars, but to this commentator the relevance to this sutra means that there is a creative and meaningful vibration of creative unborn source from God at the time of creation (similar to a big bang) -- AT THAT MOMENT between non-creation and creation, a meaning or vector toward life emerged represented by a meaningful "word" or vibration. So in that sense a word thus was spoken and is still BEING SPOKEN NOW as creation/evolution as the creative evolutionary energy (shakti). But this is not an ordinary word, as we may find in English, Hebrew, or even Sanskrit as it was not pronounced by man in the beginning. If we listen we can hear THAT sound (as shabda or nada). Thus by concentrating on the pranava, AUM, it is a powerful sound capable of leading the practitioner into samadhi as we attune to and trace back the energetic intelligence behind tha sound to its silent Source.

So by expressing the sound most closely reflective of the pranava, the yogi tunes their physical, energetic, mental/emotional, and wisdom bodies in a corresponding vibratory harmony with the pranava, thus overcoming the limitations of words and the conceptual mind (nirvikalpa). Thus the pranava vibration is invited in. At the same time one can say that the pranava is thus expressing itself inside the yogi; i.e., the yogi is not actually expressing the pranava from inside out, as much as Maheshvara is expressing it within the yogi. Thus the wise and devoted yogi joins as one with Maheshvara in transconceptual resonance and union.

One can take many directions from HERE but first it's valuable to acknowledge that in Sanskrit which is a highly developed phonetic language -- in Sanskrit linguistic structure, the word, AUM, can be proved to convey all the other sounds in the alphabet -- all possible sounds that human's can make. As such (and Hindus take the Sanskrit language and script as being sacred), AUM represents more than the whole. One would have to study Sanskrit to go further and such is beyond the scope of this translation.

However Patanjali is going for a universal and eternal Truth in isvara, beyond man's language and culture. To be fair the Jews for example, believe the same thing about the Hebrew language and their bible. There are huge volumes of books written trying to figure out the right pronunciation of the word, for God, (some call it Jehovah) as they also believe that it is sacred. Other religions (including native American) believe that their language is also sacred and that the word for the creator has great transformative power as well. So in presenting yoga sutra (I.27) to Westerners in terms that they may understand (Judeo-Christian) may often miss what patanjali is really saying here. Patanjali actually said that the pranava is the expression of isvara -- the omniscient teacher of all the teachers. Practically speaking however all vital and living religions agree, that is to focus on the creator in creation. That is spiritual practice. So the practical meaning would be the same i.e., practice intoning aum and/or listening for aum as the self existing expression of isvara (the divine purusha). Patanjali is thus offering this sutra as one practice that may be effective in clearing out the vrttis and obscurations leading us eventually to Infinite Mind.