Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III · 51 of 55 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 51

There should be complete overcoming of allurement or pride in the invitations of the different realms of life, lest attachment to things evil arise once more. The commentator tells us that disciples, seekers for union, are of four degrees: first, those who are entering the path; second, those who are in the realm of allurements; third, those who have won the victory over matter and the senses; fourth, those who stand firm in pure spiritual life. To the second, especially, the caution in the text is addressed. More modern teachers would express the same truth by a warning against the delusions and fascinations of the psychic realm, which open around the disciple, as he breaks through into the unseen worlds. These are the dangers of the anteroom. Safety lies in passing on swiftly into the inner chamber. 'Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out.'

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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 emphasizes overcoming allurements and pride to prevent attachment from arising again.

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Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The passage describes a journey from realms of allurements into the inner chamber of pure spiritual life.

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