Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II · 39 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 39

Where there is firm conquest of covetousness, he who has conquered it awakes to the how and why of life. So it is said that, before we can understand the laws of Karma, we must free ourselves from Karma. The conquest of covetousness brings this rich fruit, because the root of covetousness is the desire of the individual soul, the will toward manifested life. And where the desire of the individual soul is overcome by the superb, still life of the universal Soul welling up in the heart within, the great secret is discerned, the secret that the individual soul is not an isolated reality, but the ray, the manifest instrument of the Life, which turns it this way and that until the great work is accomplished, the age-long lesson learned. Thus is the how and why of life disclosed by ceasing from covetousness. The Commentator says that this includes a knowledge of one's former births.

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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.

The passage explicitly states that conquering covetousness involves overcoming the 'desire of the individual soul' and letting go of will toward manifested life.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

The text asserts that the universal Soul wells up within the individual heart, making the divine accessible internally.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The passage describes the individual soul's state when overcome by the universal Soul, resulting in a merging of identity with the divine.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The text presents the paradoxical instruction that understanding Karma requires first freeing oneself from Karma.

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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 states that conquering covetousness awakes one to the 'how and why of life' and includes knowledge of former births.

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Soul Migrationcosmology

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

The Commentator explicitly notes that this includes a knowledge of one's former births.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The text declares that the individual soul is not isolated but a 'ray... manifest instrument of the Life' connected to the universal Soul.

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