Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II · 2 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 2

Their aim is, to bring soul-vision, and to wear away hindrances. The aim of fervour, spiritual reading and obedience to the Master, is, to bring soul-vision, and to wear away hindrances. Or, to use the phrase we have already adopted, the aim of these practices is, to help the spiritual man to open his eyes; to help him also to throw aside the veils and disguises, the enmeshing psychic nets which surround him, tying his hands, as it were, and bandaging his eyes. And this, as all teachers testify, is a long and arduous task, a steady up-hill fight, demanding fine courage and persistent toil. Fervour, the fire of the spiritual will, is, as we said, two-fold: it illumines, and so helps the spiritual man to see; and it also burns up the nets and meshes which ensnare the spiritual man. So with the other means, spiritual reading and obedience. Each, in its action, is two-fold, wearing away the psychical, and upbuilding the spiritual man.

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Themes

Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

The passage explicitly states the aim of the practices is to 'bring soul-vision,' which is direct experiential knowledge of the soul's true nature as the salvific goal.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

The passage explicitly mentions 'soul-vision' and opening one's eyes as an aim of spiritual practice.

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Magical Willpraxis

The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.

Fervour is explicitly defined as 'the fire of the spiritual will' that both illumines and burns up obstacles, making cultivated volition the primary instrument of spiritual operation.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The entire passage describes the process of 'wearing away hindrances' and 'throwing aside the veils and disguises' as the soul's journey back toward its unobscured divine vision.

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Ritual Firepraxis

Fire as medium of divine presence.

Fervour is described as a fire that burns up nets and helps the spiritual man see.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The passage defines the aim of practices as bringing 'soul-vision' and helping the man to open his eyes through inner realization.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The 'psychic nets which surround him, tying his hands, as it were, and bandaging his eyes' vividly depicts the felt condition of bondage and obscuration from one's true spiritual origin.

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Related passages · 7 parallels

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“DID that divine knowledge which constituted the supreme possession of the pagan priestcrafts survive the destruction of their temples? Is it yet accessible to mankind, or does it lie buried beneath the rubbish of ages, entombed within the…”

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“It was she in whom the voice of God promised again to introduce the living, holy substance from heaven, and to generate anew and in divine power the faded image of God that was contained therein." 1 ( Grace , vii. 18.) This, however, did n…”

Shared concept: Inner Light — The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection. (derived)

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“HEARKEN to the reed-flute, how it complains, Lamenting its banishment from its home: "Ever since they tore me from my osier bed, My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears. I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs, And t…”

Shared concept: Separation From Source — The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive. (derived)