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Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I · 16 of 51 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 16

The consummation of this is freedom from thirst for any mode of psychical activity, through the establishment of the spiritual man. In order to gain a true understanding of this teaching, study must be supplemented by devoted practice, faith by works. The reading of the words will not avail. There must be a real effort to stand as the Soul, a real ceasing from self-indulgence. With this awakening of the spiritual will, and purification, will come at once the growth of the spiritual man and our awakening consciousness as the spiritual man; and this, attained in even a small degree, will help us notably in our contest. To him that hath, shall be given.
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Themes
Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis

Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.

Freedom from thirst for any mode of psychical activity implies a radical letting-go of will and grasping.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

True understanding requires a real effort to stand as the Soul rather than just reading words.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The goal is described as standing as the Soul and awakening consciousness as the spiritual man, implying a merging with the divine nature.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

The passage explicitly states that purification leads to the growth of the spiritual man and awakening consciousness as the spiritual man.

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