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34th Sutra of the Kaivalya Pāda, the last Sutra of the Patañjali Yoga Sūtras and the ultimate, the final Sutra of the Patañjali's Yoga Darśana. The Sutra is
पुरुषार्थशून्यानां गुणानां प्रतिप्रसवः कैवल्यं स्वरूपप्रतिष्ठा वा चितिशक्तिरिति ॥ ४.३४॥
Puruṣārthaśūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktir iti ॥ ४.३४॥
Puruṣārtha, Puruṣa artha - it has two meanings, Puruṣārthas, which we generally know, Caturvidha Puruṣārthas and that also, that actual meaning of Puruṣārthas is for the purpose of the Puruṣa. Here it is the same, Puruṣārtha, Puruṣa artha - purpose of Puruṣa. Śūnya is devoid, Śūnyam, vacant, empty, Śūnyānām, Guṇānām, Triguṇas - plural, Śūnyānām, Guṇānām. Pratiprasavaḥ, Prati is counter, Prasavaḥ is evolution, counter evolution, Involution it is. Kaivalya, absoluteness, Svaḥ one's own, Rūpa form, Svarūpa - one's own form, Pratiṣṭhā, established. Rain statement Vā, or Citiśakti, Citi śakti, the potentiality of Citi it is, not Citta, Citi, the unmanifest potentiality and this is the end, Iti, the end it is.
The general understanding of Sutra is the Pratiprasavaḥ of Guṇas which are devoid of any purpose to be served for the Puruṣa, that is Kaivalya, is established in their own potentiality of Citi. That is the final meaning. So Kaivalya is the state, though this Sutra is not definition but we have to say it is a definition, as said earlier, the indescribable is described, the indefinable is defined for our own understanding, Kaivalya is the state of enlightenment following the re-emergence of the Guṇas because of their becoming devoid of the object of the Puruṣa. In this state the Puruṣa is established in his real nature which is pure consciousness. Kaivalya is a culmination of a tremendously long evolutionary process extending over innumerable lives and involving enormous periods of time. It is not just a short shortcut or a short time, a long unending process of sādhanās, a long extending over innumerable lives and involving enormous periods of time, completely one after the other, the Guṇas, the Saṁskāras, the Vāsanās, the Karmas, the Prārabdha Karmas, the Āgāmi Karmas, yes the Sañcita Karmas, the entire Guṇas have been lost, Triguṇātītaḥ, Nirguṇātītaḥ, Niṣkāmaḥ, Niṣkarmahaḥ, yes that is the state.
It is worth to remember the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad which beautifully says that particular state of the Sthiti, that wonderful state of the Puruṣaḥ. Though terminology used in the Vedānta and the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad is different, but we can easily correlate for our understanding of the Kaivalya, Kaivalya Sthiti, the re-established Pratiṣṭhā the word used by Maharshi Patañjali, he has used this word beautifully, Pratiṣṭhā, Svarūpa Pratiṣṭhā it is called. Kaivalya is Svarūpa Pratiṣṭhā and Citi Śakti all powerful it is and that is out of the Puruṣārtha Śūnyaḥ and Guṇaḥ Pratiprasavaḥ it is called, Puruṣārtha Śūnyaḥ and Guṇaḥ Pratiprasavaḥ. This Śūnyaḥ also implies to not only to the Puruṣārtha Śūnyaḥ, it is also to Guṇaḥ Śūnyaḥ it is, Pratiprasavaḥ Śūnyaḥ it is and finally Kaivalya is Pratiṣṭhā or the Svarūpa it is and then the all pervading Citi Śakti is the Kaivalya.
The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad beautifully summarizes its own 7th mantra of the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad.
Nāntaḥprajñaṃ na bahiḥprajñaṃ nobhayataḥprajñaṃ na prajñānaghanaṃ na prajñaṃ nāprajñam | adṛṣṭam avyavahāryam agrāhyam alakṣaṇam acintyam avyapadeśyam ekātmapratyayasāraṃ prapañcopaśamaṃ śāntaṃ śivam advaitaṃ caturthaṃ manyante sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ || 7 ||
(नान्तःप्रज्ञं न बहिःप्रज्ञं नोभयतःप्रज्ञं न प्रज्ञानघनं न प्रज्ञं नाप्रज्ञम् । अदृष्टमव्यवहार्यमग्राह्यमलक्षणमचिन्त्यमव्यपदेश्यमेकात्मप्रत्ययसारं प्रपञ्चोपशमं शान्तं शिवमद्वैतं चतुर्थं मन्यन्ते स आत्मा स विज्ञेयः ॥ ७ ॥)
Na Antaḥprajñam, Na Bahiṣprajñam, Na Ubhayataḥprajñam, Na Prajñānaghanam, - Neither inner awareness, outer awareness, neither the awareness of anything, Na Prajñam, not even the awareness, Na Aprajñam - not even the non-awareness.
It is Adṛṣṭam, it is Avyavahāryam, it is Agrāhyam, it is Alakṣaṇam, it is Acintyam, it is Avyapadeśyam, it is Ekātmam, it is pratyayam, it is pratyayasāram, it is Prapañcopaśamam. What a beautiful description.
The Kaivalya Sthiti of Maharshi Patañjali is exactly an image or the Upaniṣads and the Yoga Darśana, they echo their messages. Upaniṣad echoes the Yoga Darśana and Yoga Darśana echoes the message of the Upaniṣads. Many of the Sādhakas feel the ultimate of the Vedānta and the Yoga are different, it is not, it is the same. One says the Brahma, one says it is the Puruṣa. Terminologies are different but it is the one and the same and what is the state? Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad It is Śāntam, it is Śivam, it is Advaitam - śāntaṃ śivam advaitaṃ caturthaṃ manyante sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ that is to be understood, that is to be realized. And what Maharshi Patañjali said in this last sutra - Puruṣārthaśūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṁ svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktir iti - it is one and the same. So the ultimate of the Vedānta, the ultimate of the Yoga is the same. One needs establishment in oneself, says as the Brahmatvam and here it is said as the Puruṣatvam.
The message of the Sanātana Dharma, the goal of the Sanātana Dharma, the purpose of the Sanātana Dharma is this realization of one's own self. Yoga called it as Puruṣaḥ and the Vedānta calls it as the Brahmam. The Brahmam is Guṇātītaḥ. The Puruṣa is Guṇātītaḥ. The Brahmam is Naiṣkarmyasthiti. The Puruṣaḥ is Naiṣkarmyasthiti. And this understanding is very very important for all the Sādhakas, for all the teachers of the Yoga and for all the Vedāntists.
And Swami Vivekananda in his masterly way, concludes the entire Yoga Sūtras in his brilliant way: “An absolute freedom comes from the qualities, the Guṇas, becoming devoid of the object of the Puruṣa and become latent or the power of consciousness becomes established in its own nature.” This is also the message of the Vedānta. In fact all the Ṣaḍdarśanas — Sāṅkhya, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika and of course the Vedānta and this Yoga — all lead to the same goal. Methods may be different, explanations may be different, but all point to that one and the same which is there in the entire world including, of course we cannot exclude ourselves, it is in me and this message that we as human beings and the entire world and the creation are all the manifestations, expressions of one single force may be named as different, the one God, the one Lord, the Brahman, the Puruṣa, the Brahman of the Vedānta, the Puruṣa of the Yoga, the God and the Lord of the Purāṇas and the Bhakti is one and the same.
Let us conclude with the concluding commentary of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Vivekananda: “The resolution in the inverse order of the qualities, bereft of any motive of action for the Purusha, is Kaivalya, or it is the establishment of the power of knowledge in its own nature. Nature’s task is done, this unselfish task which our sweet nurse, nature, had imposed upon herself. She gently took the self-forgetting soul by the hand, as it were, and showed him all the experiences in the universe, all manifestations, bringing him higher and higher through various bodies, till his lost glory came back, and he remembered his own nature. Then the kind mother went back the same way she came, for others who also have lost their way in the trackless desert of life. And thus is she working, without beginning and without end. And thus through pleasure and pain, through good and evil, the infinite river of souls is flowing into the ocean of perfection, of self-realisation. Glory unto those who have realised their own nature. May their blessings be on us all!” That is how Swami Vivekananda concludes.
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||
To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/3cOkrIh5cOI?si=JLJc7t5UnK-D2b9p
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
