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Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book IV · 26 of 34 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 26

Thereafter, the whole personal being bends toward illumination, toward Eternal Life. This is part of the secret of the Soul, that salvation means, not merely that a soul shall be cleansed and raised to heaven, but that the whole realm of the natural powers shall be redeemed, building up, even in this present world, the kingly figure of the Spiritual Man. The traditions of the ages are full of his footsteps; majestic, uncomprehended shadows, myths, demi-gods, fill the memories of all the nobler peoples. But the time cometh, when he shall be known, no longer demi-god, nor myth, nor shadow, but the ever-present Redeemer, working amid men for the life and cleansing of all souls.
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Themes
Christ Forcecosmology

In Western Hermetic Qabalah, the specific harmonizing cosmic force symbolised by Tiphareth, the central Sephira of the Tree of Life — the equilibriating, compensating, healing, redeeming, and purifying factor of the universe, recognised by the occultist as one power among the hierarchy of supreme cosmic forces rather than assigned the exclusive position it holds for the Christian mystic. Distinct from logos (the ordering principle through which the universe was created, not this specific mediating/healing Sephirotic force) and trinity (a claim about the Godhead's internal three-personed structure, not a single emanation's function within a tenfold system).

The 'ever-present Redeemer, working amid men for the life and cleansing of all souls' functions as a harmonizing, healing, redeeming cosmic force mediating between the divine and humanity, closely matching the Christ-force role described in the definition.

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Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

The passage opens with the personal being bending 'toward illumination' and frames the Redeemer as bringing 'life and cleansing' — illumination as both mystical state and revelatory divine quality is central.

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Frashokereticosmology

The final restoration/renovation of the cosmos.

The passage explicitly states that 'the whole realm of the natural powers shall be redeemed' and that a time cometh when the Redeemer works 'for the life and cleansing of all souls' — a cosmic-scale restoration and renovation.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

The passage states that the traditions of the ages contain 'majestic, uncomprehended shadows, myths, demi-gods' — the truth is concealed within mythic and shadowy outer forms until the time of full revelation.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The Redeemer is described as actively working amid men for the life and cleansing of all souls.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The passage describes the whole personal being bending 'toward illumination, toward Eternal Life' — a directional movement of the soul back toward its divine origin and ultimate state.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

The text explicitly states that redemption means building up the 'kingly figure of the Spiritual Man' and knowing the Redeemer as the ever-present Savior.

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Related passages · 12 parallels
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 2, Section 1n
“200 Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person. (So, too, is Creation. Cf. p. 65, n. 2). 201 i. e. We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God. Cf. Athan. Creed: “Neither confounding…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 1, Section 1d
“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους. Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”
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“48.) "The soul and the Word are not one or one being. The soul is born from the centre of nature, from the essences, and belongs to the body, for she issues from the essences of the body, and attracts to herself the body; but the Word is f…”
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christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter I-b
“They are useful and necessary up to a point, but the Truth lies beyond them and is to be apprehended to a supernatural manner by what later writers call “infused” contemplation. The sum of the whole matter is that God is incomprehensible.…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 3)
“This other will is the sensitivity and conceivability of the primordial will, by means of which that which is nothing finds itself to be something. By so doing the inconceivable causeless will issues by means of that which it has eternally…”
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“Then the understanding of such a man receives from the Holy Spirit the highest and hidden mysteries which according to the divine Paul, neither the human eye can understand nor the human reason comprehend unaided. (Ii Corinthians ii, 9).…”
Shared concept: Divine Light — The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation. (derived)
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“it was already an old one. That Arjuna, Krishna's companion and chela, is said to have descended into Patala, the "antipodes," and therein married Ulupi, * a Naga (or Nagini rather), the daughter of the king of the Nagas, Kauravya.** And n…”
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theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 61 (part 5)
“These "originals" -- called to this day in China "the Dragons of Wisdom" -- were the first disciples of the Dhyanis, who were their instructors; in short, the primitive adepts of the Third Race, and later, of the Fourth and Fifth Races. Th…”
Shared concept: Christ Force — In Western Hermetic Qabalah, the specific harmonizing cosmic force symbolised by Tiphareth, the central Sephira of the Tree of Life — the equilibriating, compensating, healing, redeeming, and purifying factor of the universe, recognised by the occultist as one power among the hierarchy of supreme cosmic forces rather than assigned the exclusive position it holds for the Christian mystic. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 73 (part 9)
“Hence Io, refusing to yield to Jupiter's passion, becomes "horned." The cow was in every country the symbol of the passive generative power of nature, Isis, Vach, Venus -- the mother of the prolific god of love, Cupid, but, at the same time…”
Shared concept: Christ Force — In Western Hermetic Qabalah, the specific harmonizing cosmic force symbolised by Tiphareth, the central Sephira of the Tree of Life — the equilibriating, compensating, healing, redeeming, and purifying factor of the universe, recognised by the occultist as one power among the hierarchy of supreme cosmic forces rather than assigned the exclusive position it holds for the Christian mystic. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 79 (part 2)
“As Evil and punishment are the agents of Karma, in an absolutely just retributive sense, so Evil was the servant of the good (Hibbert Lect. 1887, pp. 101-115). The reading of the Chaldeo-Assyrian tiles has now demonstrated it beyond a sh…”
Shared concept: Christ Force — In Western Hermetic Qabalah, the specific harmonizing cosmic force symbolised by Tiphareth, the central Sephira of the Tree of Life — the equilibriating, compensating, healing, redeeming, and purifying factor of the universe, recognised by the occultist as one power among the hierarchy of supreme cosmic forces rather than assigned the exclusive position it holds for the Christian mystic. (derived)