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Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II · 21 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 21

The very essence of things seen is, that they exist for the Seer. The things of outer life, not only material things, but the psychic man also, exist in very deed for the purposes of the Seer, the Soul, the spiritual man Disaster comes, when the psychical man sets up, so to speak, on his own account, trying to live for himself alone, and taking material things to solace his loneliness.
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Themes
Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The text asserts that things exist for the purposes of the Seer, implying divine ordering of existence.

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Tripartite Soulanthropology

Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).

The text distinguishes between the Seer/Soul, the psychical man, and material things.

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Related passages · 7 parallels
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Shared concept: Tripartite Soul — Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma). (derived)
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