Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III · 23 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston
Sutra 23
By perfectly concentrated Meditation on sympathy, compassion and kindness, is gained the power of interior union with others. Unity is the reality; separateness the illusion. The nearer we come to reality, the nearer we come to unity of heart. Sympathy, compassion, kindness are modes of this unity of heart, whereby we rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. These things are learned by desiring to learn them.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Cosmic Sympathycosmology
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The text describes a state where one rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep, reflecting a bound connection between individuals.
All passages →Love Of Neighbourethics
Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.
The passage explicitly identifies sympathy, compassion, and kindness as central spiritual practices that express union with others.
All passages →Meditationpraxis
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
The text centrally defines the practice as 'perfectly concentrated Meditation' on specific virtues.
All passages →Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that 'Unity is the reality' and that separateness is an illusion, emphasizing non-duality as a core truth.
All passages →Related passages · 12 parallels
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 4 (part 1)
“p.
89 CHAPTER IV.
CREATION.
Everything we see in nature is manifested truth; only we are not able to recognise it as such, unless the truth is manifest within ourselves.
God is the supreme, fundamental, universal, self-existent eternal…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVIII-b
“A certain thing of this kind also may take 71 place in the harmony and crasis of the universe: for the same things may be the salvation of the whole, through the perfection of the things inherent and the recipients; but may be noxious to th…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 365 (part 1)
“Section 45 45.
From this discussion it becomes perfectly clear that the individual member of the All contributes to that All in the degree of its kind and condition; thus it acts and is acted upon.
In any particular animal each of the lim…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter III
“Since, however, every part of the heavens, every sign of the zodiac, all the motion of the heavens, every period of time according to which the world is moved, and all things contained in the wholes of the universe, receive the powers which…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialogue-j
“So that the continual movement of one part supposes and carries with it the movement of the whole, in such a way that the attraction of the posterior parts is consequent upon the repulsion of the anterior parts; thus the movement of the sup…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination. (derived)
native_american|The Soul of the Indian|Chapter II-a
“THE FAMILY ALTAR Pre-natal Influence.
Early Religious Teaching.
The Function of the Aged.
Woman, Marriage and the Family.
Loyalty, Hospitality, Friendship.
The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war.
He had neither…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)
native_american|The Soul of the Indian|Chapter I-b
“Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink of eternity, might reveal to a chosen few the oracle of his long-past youth.
The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity.
They forget…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)
gnosticism|Gospel of Thomas|Logion 25
“Jesus said, "Love your brother like your soul, guard him like the pupil of your eye."…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)
native_american|The Soul of the Indian|Chapter II-e
“Each is vowed to die for the other, if need be, and nothing is denied the brother-friend, but neither is anything required that is not in accord with the highest conceptions of the Indian mind.…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)
norse|The Poetic Edda: Hovamol|Section 1d
“Forth shall one go, | nor stay as a guest In a single spot forever; p.
36 Love becomes loathing | if long one sits By the hearth in another's home.
36.
Better a house, | though a hut it be, A man is master at home; A pair of goats | and…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Theory and Practice of Alchemy-s
“That thou seek to advance the honor of thy Creator of all things and the good of thy neighbor, preserve it sacredly that thy Lord may not have cause to complain of thee at the last day.
I have written here in this treatise such a part of t…”
Shared concept: Love Of Neighbour — Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love. (derived)