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Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III · 8 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 8

But this triad is still exterior to the soul vision which is unconditioned, free from the seed of mental analyses. The reason is this: The threefold power we have been considering, the triad of Attention, Contemplation, Meditation is, so far as we have yet considered it, the focussing of the beam of perceiving consciousness upon some form of manifesting being, with a view of understanding it completely. There is a higher stage, where the beam of consciousness is turned back upon itself, and the individual consciousness enters into, and knows, the All consciousness. This is a being, a being in immortality, rather than a knowing; it is free from mental analysis or mental forms. It is not an activity of the higher mind, even the mind of the spiritual man. It is an activity of the soul. Had Newton risen to this higher stage, he would have known, not the laws of motion, but that high Being, from whose Life comes eternal motion. Had Darwin risen to this, he would have seen the Soul, whose graduated thought and being all evolution expresses. There are, therefore, these two perceptions: that of living things, and that of the Life; that of the Soul's works, and that of the Soul itself.
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The higher stage is described as free from mental analysis or forms, transcending categories.

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Cosmic Consciousnessanthropology

A state of awareness transcending ordinary human consciousness, often involving unity with the universe or higher dimensions.

The passage describes a higher stage where the beam of consciousness turns back upon itself and enters into All consciousness.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The passage centrally describes the individual consciousness entering into and knowing the All consciousness.

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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 identifies the higher stage as an activity of the soul where one knows the All consciousness directly.

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