← Home
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book IV · 33 of 34 · tr. Charles Johnston

Sutra 33

The series of transformations is divided into moments. When the series is completed, time gives place to duration. There are two kinds of eternity, says the commentary: the eternity of immortal life, which belongs to the Spirit, and the eternity of change, which inheres in Nature, in all that is not Spirit. While we are content to live in and for Nature, in the Circle of Necessity, Sansara, we doom ourselves to perpetual change. That which is born must die, and that which dies must be reborn. It is change evermore, a ceaseless series of transformations. But the Spiritual Man enters a new order; for him, there is no longer eternal change, but eternal Being. He has entered into the joy of his Lord. This spiritual birth, which makes him heir of the Everlasting, sets a term to change; it is the culmination, the crowning transformation, of the whole realm of change.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →
Themes
Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

The passage distinguishes between the Spirit and Nature as two distinct realms of existence.

All passages →
Soul Migrationcosmology

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

The text mentions that 'that which is born must die, and that which dies must be reborn' within the Circle of Necessity.

All passages →
Related passages · 9 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 127
Section 5 5. It may be objected that the Intellectual-Principle possesses its content in an eternal conjunction so that the two make a perfect unity, and that thus there is no Matter there. But that argument would equally cancel the Matter…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 8)
188 So writes Schopenhauer in his Counsels and Maxims , and indeed it is very effectively expressed, but we have no foundation whatsoever for regarding man as the summit of that which nature has created. This is only THE HIGHEST THAT WE KN…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|INTRODUCTION-i
The life of man is more than an experience or trial; it is an effort, a struggle to reproduce and represent upon earth some of that goodness, beauty, and truth which are diffused over the universe and constitute its harmony. Long, slow, an…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 6 (part 8)
They are fire-flames, illumined by the light of God, but we attain the great fountain of meekness and love which is welling up within the holy essentiality of God." 1 ( Menschwerdung , i. 5.) Man comprises all three principles: the princip…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 119 (part 2)
The better elements are compelled into existence and moulded to their function by the Reason-Principle directly; the less good are potentially present in the Reason-Principles, actually present in the phenomena themselves; the Soul's power…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism-g
In the present world, said they, Good and Evil are so exactly balanced that man has the utmost freedom and is able to choose or reject either. The Welsh Triads tell us there are three objects of metempsychosis: to collect into the soul the…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter X (part 7)
An age of great inspiration and unconscious productiveness is invariably followed by an age of criticism and consciousness. The one affords material for the analyzing and critical intellect of the other. Thus all those great characters wh…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|Third Dialogue-h
In which generation finding themselves once more through the changes which permutably succeed, they return again to the superior forms. Cic . So that they mean, that souls are impelled by the necessity of fate, and have no proper counsel…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Life and Philosophy of Pythagoras-f
It is probable that Pythagoras obtained his concept of the Υ from the Egyptians, who included in certain of their initiatory rituals a scene in which the candidate was confronted by two female figures. One of them, veiled with the white ro…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)