The Ultimate Knowledge

Photo by Simon Wilkes on Unsplash

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Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge
- Khalil Gibran

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  
​Want to start at the beginning?
Yoga Sutra 3.55
तारकं सर्वविषयं सर्वथाविषयमक्रमं चेति विवेकजं ज्ञानम् 
tarakam sarva visayam sarvatha visayam akramam cha iti vivekajam jnanam
Discriminative spiritual knowledge transcends temporality and comprehends all things in all conditions simultaneously.

In Yoga Sutras 3.53-3.55, Patanjali addresses the importance of living in the present moment to the spiritual aspirant.  Sutra 3.53 explains how to accomplish this.  By samyama on the smallest unit of time (in other words, a moment) and the sequence of these moments in time, one unravels time and gains understanding of it.  

Like all other siddhis produced through meditation on specific objects or concepts, this makes logical sense to me.  When we concentrate upon something, its mysteries are revealed to us.

BKS Iyengar makes the comparison that moments are to time what atoms are to matter.  Moments, which are by definition ephemeral, coalesce into time, which is more tangible.  It’s difficult to remember one specific moment even in a vivid memory but remembering something with a beginning, middle and end is easier for our limited (i.e. time-based) mind.  

One of the most powerful spiritual memories I have is visiting the Isha Foundation while in Tamil Nadu.  I have many incredible memories there but what stands out to me most vividly is walking into a meditation chamber carved out of a cave.  Dozens of us were herded into this cave where everyone was absolutely silent.  Everyone meditated.  The feeling of communion was palpable to me in this cave, buzzing with the energy of 50 or so people concentrating together.  A little ringer went off and everyone silently filed out of the cave again once our time was up.  

I can still feel that electric cave in my body but I can’t vividly recall any specific moment in that cave, despite my full attention to it.  However, by intensely focusing on each moment in time, the entire experience is viscerally seared into my memory.  While the rest of my time at the Isha Foundation was dazzling and memorable, no other memory stands out so clearly to me.  I will never forget the feeling I had in that cave.

Our mind was created when we were born, exists now and will cease to exist when our brain dies.  Thus, it is easier for the mind to understand temporality, existing as it does within the sequence of time.  This is like matter.  It is easy to observe something like an object or even a cell.  But even microscopes can only infer and depict what an atom looks like.  So our mind can only infer and depict what a moment is within our understanding of the sequence of time.

But the adept practitioner develops deep spiritual knowledge (vivekajam jnanam), which Iyengar calls “the gateway to kaivalya (spiritual liberation),” (234) by practicing samyama on the present moment and the succession of moments.

Yoga Sutra 3.54 clarifies that by the attainment of this knowledge, the practitioner can then distinguish unfalteringly between distinct objects or ideas, even when they seem similar.  ​

The enlightened Yogi is able to discern perfectly between things, regardless of how inseparable or indistinguishable they may seem.
-The Shoshoni Retreat’s Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Anyone who concentrates on present reality within its place of past-present-future will “gain an understanding that clarifies the differences between two similar objects that are otherwise indistinguishable by their origin, distinctive characteristics, or position.” (Stiles, 45)  A rudimentary example of this: imagine parents of identical twins.  When the twins are first born, they seem indistinguishable.  As the parents concentrate on each moment and the series of moments they share with their children, they are easily able to distinguish between them.

Yoga Sutra 3.55 therefore concludes that the spiritual knowledge attained by this samyama allows the yogi to comprehend “all objects in all conditions” and is “the intuitive knowledge which brings liberation.” (Satchidananda, 249) The Shoshoni Retreat calls this “a radiant knowledge of all things, wholly and completely.” (44) When a yogi can easily distinguish between all things, their intuition takes over.

What knowledge you need will come to you as it is required…By staying grounded in the understanding that your higher self is beyond the play of time and nature, you will realize that activity is spontaneously happening without having to think too much about it. (Bhakt, 183)

This intuitive understanding comes into play in the final Sutra of the third Pada, which we will look at next month.
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​Try living just five minutes of some routine part of your day moment to moment.  Then close your eyes and concentrate on the sequence of those events from the beginning to the end, one singular moment at a time.  Do you understand anything deeper about those five minutes?  Do those five minutes seem clearer than other times you do the exact same thing?