Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II · 52 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston
Sutra 52
Thereby is worn away the veil which covers up the light. The veil is the psychic nature, the web of emotions, desires, argumentative trains of thought, which cover up and obscure the truth by absorbing the entire attention and keeping the consciousness in the psychic realm. When hopes and fears are reckoned at their true worth, in comparison with lasting possessions of the Soul; when the outer reflections of things have ceased to distract us from inner realities; when argumentative thought no longer entangles us, but yields its place to flashing intuition, the certainty which springs from within; then is the veil worn away, the consciousness is drawn from the psychical to the spiritual, from the temporal to the Eternal. Then is the light unveiled.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Divine Lighttheology
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The text explicitly uses 'light' as the central metaphor for the unveiled truth and spiritual reality.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Salvation is linked to the certainty that springs from within through intuition rather than external faith or ritual.
All passages →Inner Lightanthropology
The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
The light that is unveiled is the soul's own 'lasting possessions' and the 'certainty which springs from within,' locating the luminous quality inside the person rather than as an external radiance.
All passages →Return To Sourcesoteriology
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
Consciousness is 'drawn from the psychical to the spiritual, from the temporal to the Eternal' as the veil is worn away, describing a movement back toward the soul's true spiritual origin.
All passages →Related passages · 7 parallels
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Shared concept: Inner Light — The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection. (derived)