Parinama
Sanskrit: परिणामTransliteration: Pariṇāma (IAST)
Translation: “transformation, change, modification, evolution; development; ripening; changing”
The Science of Yoga (I. K. Taimni)
Commentary: "Pariṇāma means change. It should be obvious to the most unintelligent man that life as we know it is governed by a relentless law of change which is all-pervasive and applies to all things at all times. Nothing in life abides right from a Solar system to a grain of dust, and all things are in a state of flux though the change may be very slow, so slow that we may not be conscious of it. One effect of Māyā is to make us unconscious of the continuous changes which are taking place within and without us. People are afraid of death but they do not see the fact that death is merely an incident in the continuous series of changes in and around us. When the realization of this continuous, relentless change affecting everything in life dawns upon an individual he begins to realize what illusion means. This realization is a very definite experience and is one aspect of Viveka, the faculty of discrimination." (p. 149)
"After dealing with the three stages of meditation leading up to Samādhi, Patañjali takes up the question of the three fundamental types of mental transformations which are involved in the practice of higher Yoga. These four Sutras (Part 3, Sutras 9-12) bearing on this question are very important because they throw light on the essential nature of the mental processes which are involved in the practice of Yoga and further elucidate the technique of Samādhi.
The important point to note with regard to these three Pariṇāma is that they are not states but modes of transformation, or to put it in other words, they do not represent static but dynamic conditions. In the progressive process of Self-realization through Samādhi, the mind can pass from one stage to another through the use of three and only three kinds of transformations which are sequentially related to one another and really constitute three integral parts of a larger composite process which has to be repeated on each plane as consciousness withdraws, step by step, towards the Center of Reality. The ordinary transformations of the mind take place according to the laws of association or reasoning or recording to the stimuli applied by the external world through the sense-organs. The three kinds of transformations we are now considering are of a special kind and are used only in the practice of higher Yoga after the Yogi has acquired the capacity of passing into the Samādhi state at will." (p. 260)
Nirodha Pariṇāma (Part 3, Sutra 9)
"The Sutra under discussion defines Nirodha Pariṇāma or transformation which results in suppression of Citta-Vṛtti. In view of the fact that Yoga is described in Part 1, Sutra 2 as the suppression of Citta-Vṛtti, it is easy to see how important it is to understand this Sutra thoroughly. As soon as control of the mind is begun, Nirodha comes into play. The word Nirodha in Sanskrit means both restraint and suppression and the earlier efforts at control of the mind beginning with Dhāraṇā involve Nirodha not so much in the sense of suppression as that of restraint. But a little careful thought will show that even in the preliminary practice of Dhāraṇā, Nirodha, in the sense of suppression, is involved to a certain extent. In trying to practice Dhāraṇā, the will is trying all the time to suppress distractions and substituting in their place the one object on which meditation is to be performed. It will be obvious to anyone that in each of these efforts to replace a distraction by the chosen object there must be a momentary state in which neither the distraction nor the chosen object is present and the mind is really without any Pratyaya, just as when the direction of a moving object is suddenly reversed there must be a moment when the object is not moving but is at rest. It is because Nirodha in this limited sense enters the problem of controlling the mind from the very beginning that Patañjali has taken up Nirodha Pariṇāma first in his treatment of the subject but it should be noted that true Nirodha or complete suppression is the last in the cycle of transformations and comes after Samādhi Pariṇāma and Ekāgrata-Pariṇāma in actual practice.
We have seen that Nirodha is that momentary unmodified state of the mind which intervenes when one impression which holds the field of consciousness is replaced by another impression. The impression which holds the field of consciousness is called Vyutthāna-Saṃskāra and the impression which opposes or tries to replace the Vyutthāna-Saṃskāra is called Nirodha Samskara in this Sutra. Between two successive impressions there must be a momentary state in which the mind has no impression at all or is present in an unmodified condition. The object of Nirodha Pariṇāma is to produce at will this momentary state and gradually extend it, so that the mind can exist for a considerable duration in this unmodified state. This extension of the Niruddha state by repeated efforts has been expressed by the phrase Nirodha-Kṣaṇa-Cittānvayo which means ‘permeation of the mind by the momentary state of Nirodha or complete suppression of Vṛtti. Nirodha Pariṇāma comprises the whole process beginning with the first effort at suppression of the ‘seed’ and ending with the firm establishment of the Niruddha state. The Yogi should be able to maintain the Niruddha state for a sufficiently long time to enable consciousness to pass through the ‘cloud’ or void and emerge into the next plane.
In passing from a condition in which the ‘seed’ of Samādhi holds the field of consciousness to a condition of complete Nirodha, there is a struggle between two opposite tendencies, the tendency of the ‘seed’ to rise again in the field of consciousness and the tendency of the mind to remain in a condition of Nirodha. No other distraction can rise and occupy the field of consciousness because that tendency has already been eliminated in the previous two processes of Samādhi Pariṇāma and Ekāgrata Pariṇāma. Samādhi Pariṇāma has eliminated the tendency of distractions to appear in the field of consciousness and Ekāgrata Pariṇāma has established the tendency of the same impression—the ‘seed’—to persist without interruption. That is why, when the force of will is applied to suppress the ‘seed,’ it is only that particular seed which can appear again. This will also show why the Samādhi and Ekāgrata states must be attained before the will can be applied to produce the Niruddha state. If these techniques have not been mastered, then after every effort of suppression a new Pratyaya or distraction may arise as happens in the case of the ordinary man who tries to practice Nirodha. The student will also be able to understand now the significance of the phrase Abhyāsa Pūrvaḥ in Part 1, Sutra, for Asamprajñāta Samādhi is nothing but the state of the mind in which the Pratyaya or ‘seed’ has been made to disappear by the practice of Nirodha. This condition of Nirodha is not a state of ordinary mental vacuum, but a state of Samādhi in which the Yogi is in complete control of the mind.
The first effort to suppress the ‘seed’ of Samprajñāta Samādhi produces a void only momentarily. The tendency of the ‘seed’ to emerge again into consciousness is so strong owing to the previous practice of Ekāgrata that it again takes possession of the mind and transforms it into its own image. The repetition of the effort at suppression however, makes it slightly easier every time to bring about the Niruddha state and maintain the mind in that state a little longer. Continued practice of this kind gradually increases the tendency of the mind to remain in the Niruddha state and weakens the tendency of the ‘seed’ to reappear in the field of consciousness as pointed out in the next Sutra (Part 3 Sutra 10).
A simple physical experiment will serve, perhaps, to illustrate the opposition of the two tendencies referred to above. OB is a rod attached to a stand OA and kept in the position OB by a spring at C.
If a child is asked to press the rod OB to the position OA he may be able to bring it to that position with difficulty and may be able to touch the stand OA only momentarily in the first attempt. Each successive attempt will, however, make it easier for him to bring the rod in the position OA and keep it in that position longer. And with sufficient practice the child may learn to keep the rod in the position OA as long as he likes. The tendency of the rod to spring upwards has been completely mastered by practice. In the same way, the tendency of the ‘seed’ to spring back into the field of consciousness can be mastered by sufficient practice and the Niruddha state maintained for a sufficient length of time for the consciousness to pass through the Laya centre and emerge into the next higher plane.
The tendency of the mind to remain in the Niruddha state also grows with practice and ultimately becomes so strong by the force of Saṃskāra that it can remain in that condition easily for any length of time. The significance of the phrase Praśānta Vahita should be noted. The flow of this Niruddha state becomes, after sufficient practice, easy and peaceful. There is no struggle which may be present in some degree in the earlier stages when the tendency has not been established firmly.
Such a struggle would produce an unstable condition of the mind which is utterly unsuited for the purpose which has to be accomplished.
It may be pointed out here that the resistance encountered from the mind in bringing about the different transformations is due not so much to the mind itself as to the Saṃskāra of Vāsanā still hidden within it. If these have been removed to a sufficient degree, the passage from one condition to another can take place without much resistance. In fact, if Vairagya has been developed to a high degree, the necessary changes may be brought about with comparative ease as shown by the life of great spiritual teachers of the world. That is why the Yogi has to rise on the two wings of Vairagya and Abhyāsa as pointed out in Part 1, Sutra 12. Even in the last stage when Dharma-Megha-Samādhi is practiced (Part 4, Sutra 29) for the attainment of Kaivalya, it is the practice of extreme Vairagya which destroys the remaining Saṃskāra of the subtlest Vāsanā and liberates the consciousness of the Yogi." (p. 261-264)
Samādhi Pariṇāma (Part 3, Sutra 11)
"The second kind of mental transformation which is involved in the different stages of Samādhi is Samādhi Pariṇāma. This transformation really begins with the practice of Dhāraṇā and continues until the Ekāgrata state is reached. As the definition of Samādhi Pariṇāma given by the author shows, its essential nature is the gradual reduction of the all-pointed condition of the mind to the one-pointed condition.
First, the series of objects which in the case of the ordinary man occupy the mind, one after another, are replaced by one chosen object, the ‘seed’ of Samādhi. All the other objects, except the object chosen for Saṃyama which are technically called ‘distractions’, are eliminated completely when Dhyāna is perfected. Then begins a new kind of movement or transformation of the mind in which consciousness begins to move in depth, as it were, and the object is denuded of its coverings or non-essential elements like name or form. The ‘seed’ is split open and its different layers exposed in order to get at the core which is its Svarūpa. When this process, which is dealt with in Part 1, Sutra 43, has been completed and the object ‘shines’ in the mind in its real Svarūpa, there is nothing further which can be done on that plane. The attainment of the Nirvitarkā stage marks the completion of the Samādhi Pariṇāma as far as the Vitarka stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi is concerned. If the mind is kept concentrated on the object, it can merely reproduce the irreducible Svarūpa of the object. Here the Ekāgrata Pariṇāma which is dealt with in the next Sutra begins." (p. 264-265)
Ekāgrata-Pariṇāma (Part 3, Sutra 12)
"The characteristic of the Ekāgrata-Pariṇāma, which as we have seen is the consummation of the Samādhi Pariṇāma, is that exactly the same Pratyaya rises in the field of consciousness again and again and produces the impression as if a single fixed unchanging Pratyaya is occupying the field. The succession of exactly similar images in an apparently stationary Pratyaya is due to the intermittent nature of the manifested Universe which has been briefly explained in connection with Part 4, Sutra 33. The whole Universe appears and disappears alternately but the interval called a Kṣaṇa is so small that it appears to be a continuous phenomenon. We see a continuous glow in an electric bulb with an alternating current but we know that the glow is discontinuous and periods of illumination follow periods of darkness alternately at very short intervals. It is not only in Samādhi that this discontinuity enters in the perception of the Pratyaya. It is present in all perceptions and thinking right from the plane of the lower mind up to the Atmic plane. Wherever there is manifestation there must be discontinuity or succession which is called Krama in Part 3, Sutra 15 and Part 4, Sutra 33.
The projection of a cinematographic picture on a screen may serve to illustrate, to some extent, the difference between the three Pariṇāma. The moving picture on the screen is produced, as is explained in connection with Part 4, Sutra 33, by a succession of dissimilar images falling on the screen at intervals of less than 1/10th second. This produces an illusion of continuity while there is actual discontinuity in the projection. If all the pictures on the film roll are made exactly similar, there will be one stationary and unchanging image produced on the screen. But we know that the appearance of such a stationary and unchanging image is an illusion. What we see as an unchanging image is composed of a number of similar (Tulya) images following each other so rapidly as to be indistinguishable. If we slow down the speed of projection sufficiently the illusion will disappear and we shall be able to see similar images following each other at regular intervals. In the same way the Pratyaya of Ekāgrata Pariṇāma remains apparently the same but in reality it is composed of a series of similar (Tulya) Pratyaya following each other at inconceivably high speed. It is because the phenomenon is dynamic and not static that it is called a Pariṇāma (transformation) and not Avasthā (state).
Now, if we suppose that even this picture which produces an unchanging image on the screen is removed and each portion of the film corresponding to a single picture is quite transparent, it is obvious that a uniform illumination will be seen on the screen. Here the analogy breaks down. The dropping or suppression of the Pratyaya of Ekāgrata Pariṇāma by means of Nirodha does not produce the illumination of Reality but the consciousness of the next subtler plane and the whole cycle of the three Pariṇāma has to be repeated again on this plane to enable the consciousness to pass again into the next subtler plane. It is only when the Pratyaya of the last plane (Atmic) is dropped or suppressed that the illumination of Reality or consciousness of the Puruṣa dawns.
The reason for the emergence of a Pratyaya of the next subtler plane when the ‘seed’ present in Ekāgrata Pariṇāma is suppressed is to be sought in the nature of the complex mechanism through which consciousness functions on the different planes and the nature of the Saṃskāra which bind consciousness to its vehicles. Theoretically, the Nirodha which follows the Ekāgrata state should lead to direct contact with Reality but this does not happen. As this question has been dealt with at another place (Part 1, Sutra 18) it is not necessary to enter into it here." (p. 265-267)
Reference:
Commentary: "Pariṇāma means change. It should be obvious to the most unintelligent man that life as we know it is governed by a relentless law of change which is all-pervasive and applies to all things at all times. Nothing in life abides right from a Solar system to a grain of dust, and all things are in a state of flux though the change may be very slow, so slow that we may not be conscious of it. One effect of Māyā is to make us unconscious of the continuous changes which are taking place within and without us. People are afraid of death but they do not see the fact that death is merely an incident in the continuous series of changes in and around us. When the realization of this continuous, relentless change affecting everything in life dawns upon an individual he begins to realize what illusion means. This realization is a very definite experience and is one aspect of Viveka, the faculty of discrimination." (p. 149)
"After dealing with the three stages of meditation leading up to Samādhi, Patañjali takes up the question of the three fundamental types of mental transformations which are involved in the practice of higher Yoga. These four Sutras (Part 3, Sutras 9-12) bearing on this question are very important because they throw light on the essential nature of the mental processes which are involved in the practice of Yoga and further elucidate the technique of Samādhi.
The important point to note with regard to these three Pariṇāma is that they are not states but modes of transformation, or to put it in other words, they do not represent static but dynamic conditions. In the progressive process of Self-realization through Samādhi, the mind can pass from one stage to another through the use of three and only three kinds of transformations which are sequentially related to one another and really constitute three integral parts of a larger composite process which has to be repeated on each plane as consciousness withdraws, step by step, towards the Center of Reality. The ordinary transformations of the mind take place according to the laws of association or reasoning or recording to the stimuli applied by the external world through the sense-organs. The three kinds of transformations we are now considering are of a special kind and are used only in the practice of higher Yoga after the Yogi has acquired the capacity of passing into the Samādhi state at will." (p. 260)
Nirodha Pariṇāma (Part 3, Sutra 9)
"The Sutra under discussion defines Nirodha Pariṇāma or transformation which results in suppression of Citta-Vṛtti. In view of the fact that Yoga is described in Part 1, Sutra 2 as the suppression of Citta-Vṛtti, it is easy to see how important it is to understand this Sutra thoroughly. As soon as control of the mind is begun, Nirodha comes into play. The word Nirodha in Sanskrit means both restraint and suppression and the earlier efforts at control of the mind beginning with Dhāraṇā involve Nirodha not so much in the sense of suppression as that of restraint. But a little careful thought will show that even in the preliminary practice of Dhāraṇā, Nirodha, in the sense of suppression, is involved to a certain extent. In trying to practice Dhāraṇā, the will is trying all the time to suppress distractions and substituting in their place the one object on which meditation is to be performed. It will be obvious to anyone that in each of these efforts to replace a distraction by the chosen object there must be a momentary state in which neither the distraction nor the chosen object is present and the mind is really without any Pratyaya, just as when the direction of a moving object is suddenly reversed there must be a moment when the object is not moving but is at rest. It is because Nirodha in this limited sense enters the problem of controlling the mind from the very beginning that Patañjali has taken up Nirodha Pariṇāma first in his treatment of the subject but it should be noted that true Nirodha or complete suppression is the last in the cycle of transformations and comes after Samādhi Pariṇāma and Ekāgrata-Pariṇāma in actual practice.
We have seen that Nirodha is that momentary unmodified state of the mind which intervenes when one impression which holds the field of consciousness is replaced by another impression. The impression which holds the field of consciousness is called Vyutthāna-Saṃskāra and the impression which opposes or tries to replace the Vyutthāna-Saṃskāra is called Nirodha Samskara in this Sutra. Between two successive impressions there must be a momentary state in which the mind has no impression at all or is present in an unmodified condition. The object of Nirodha Pariṇāma is to produce at will this momentary state and gradually extend it, so that the mind can exist for a considerable duration in this unmodified state. This extension of the Niruddha state by repeated efforts has been expressed by the phrase Nirodha-Kṣaṇa-Cittānvayo which means ‘permeation of the mind by the momentary state of Nirodha or complete suppression of Vṛtti. Nirodha Pariṇāma comprises the whole process beginning with the first effort at suppression of the ‘seed’ and ending with the firm establishment of the Niruddha state. The Yogi should be able to maintain the Niruddha state for a sufficiently long time to enable consciousness to pass through the ‘cloud’ or void and emerge into the next plane.
In passing from a condition in which the ‘seed’ of Samādhi holds the field of consciousness to a condition of complete Nirodha, there is a struggle between two opposite tendencies, the tendency of the ‘seed’ to rise again in the field of consciousness and the tendency of the mind to remain in a condition of Nirodha. No other distraction can rise and occupy the field of consciousness because that tendency has already been eliminated in the previous two processes of Samādhi Pariṇāma and Ekāgrata Pariṇāma. Samādhi Pariṇāma has eliminated the tendency of distractions to appear in the field of consciousness and Ekāgrata Pariṇāma has established the tendency of the same impression—the ‘seed’—to persist without interruption. That is why, when the force of will is applied to suppress the ‘seed,’ it is only that particular seed which can appear again. This will also show why the Samādhi and Ekāgrata states must be attained before the will can be applied to produce the Niruddha state. If these techniques have not been mastered, then after every effort of suppression a new Pratyaya or distraction may arise as happens in the case of the ordinary man who tries to practice Nirodha. The student will also be able to understand now the significance of the phrase Abhyāsa Pūrvaḥ in Part 1, Sutra, for Asamprajñāta Samādhi is nothing but the state of the mind in which the Pratyaya or ‘seed’ has been made to disappear by the practice of Nirodha. This condition of Nirodha is not a state of ordinary mental vacuum, but a state of Samādhi in which the Yogi is in complete control of the mind.
The first effort to suppress the ‘seed’ of Samprajñāta Samādhi produces a void only momentarily. The tendency of the ‘seed’ to emerge again into consciousness is so strong owing to the previous practice of Ekāgrata that it again takes possession of the mind and transforms it into its own image. The repetition of the effort at suppression however, makes it slightly easier every time to bring about the Niruddha state and maintain the mind in that state a little longer. Continued practice of this kind gradually increases the tendency of the mind to remain in the Niruddha state and weakens the tendency of the ‘seed’ to reappear in the field of consciousness as pointed out in the next Sutra (Part 3 Sutra 10).
A simple physical experiment will serve, perhaps, to illustrate the opposition of the two tendencies referred to above. OB is a rod attached to a stand OA and kept in the position OB by a spring at C.
Fig. 9
If a child is asked to press the rod OB to the position OA he may be able to bring it to that position with difficulty and may be able to touch the stand OA only momentarily in the first attempt. Each successive attempt will, however, make it easier for him to bring the rod in the position OA and keep it in that position longer. And with sufficient practice the child may learn to keep the rod in the position OA as long as he likes. The tendency of the rod to spring upwards has been completely mastered by practice. In the same way, the tendency of the ‘seed’ to spring back into the field of consciousness can be mastered by sufficient practice and the Niruddha state maintained for a sufficient length of time for the consciousness to pass through the Laya centre and emerge into the next higher plane.
The tendency of the mind to remain in the Niruddha state also grows with practice and ultimately becomes so strong by the force of Saṃskāra that it can remain in that condition easily for any length of time. The significance of the phrase Praśānta Vahita should be noted. The flow of this Niruddha state becomes, after sufficient practice, easy and peaceful. There is no struggle which may be present in some degree in the earlier stages when the tendency has not been established firmly.
Such a struggle would produce an unstable condition of the mind which is utterly unsuited for the purpose which has to be accomplished.
It may be pointed out here that the resistance encountered from the mind in bringing about the different transformations is due not so much to the mind itself as to the Saṃskāra of Vāsanā still hidden within it. If these have been removed to a sufficient degree, the passage from one condition to another can take place without much resistance. In fact, if Vairagya has been developed to a high degree, the necessary changes may be brought about with comparative ease as shown by the life of great spiritual teachers of the world. That is why the Yogi has to rise on the two wings of Vairagya and Abhyāsa as pointed out in Part 1, Sutra 12. Even in the last stage when Dharma-Megha-Samādhi is practiced (Part 4, Sutra 29) for the attainment of Kaivalya, it is the practice of extreme Vairagya which destroys the remaining Saṃskāra of the subtlest Vāsanā and liberates the consciousness of the Yogi." (p. 261-264)
Samādhi Pariṇāma (Part 3, Sutra 11)
"The second kind of mental transformation which is involved in the different stages of Samādhi is Samādhi Pariṇāma. This transformation really begins with the practice of Dhāraṇā and continues until the Ekāgrata state is reached. As the definition of Samādhi Pariṇāma given by the author shows, its essential nature is the gradual reduction of the all-pointed condition of the mind to the one-pointed condition.
First, the series of objects which in the case of the ordinary man occupy the mind, one after another, are replaced by one chosen object, the ‘seed’ of Samādhi. All the other objects, except the object chosen for Saṃyama which are technically called ‘distractions’, are eliminated completely when Dhyāna is perfected. Then begins a new kind of movement or transformation of the mind in which consciousness begins to move in depth, as it were, and the object is denuded of its coverings or non-essential elements like name or form. The ‘seed’ is split open and its different layers exposed in order to get at the core which is its Svarūpa. When this process, which is dealt with in Part 1, Sutra 43, has been completed and the object ‘shines’ in the mind in its real Svarūpa, there is nothing further which can be done on that plane. The attainment of the Nirvitarkā stage marks the completion of the Samādhi Pariṇāma as far as the Vitarka stage of Samprajñāta Samādhi is concerned. If the mind is kept concentrated on the object, it can merely reproduce the irreducible Svarūpa of the object. Here the Ekāgrata Pariṇāma which is dealt with in the next Sutra begins." (p. 264-265)
Ekāgrata-Pariṇāma (Part 3, Sutra 12)
"The characteristic of the Ekāgrata-Pariṇāma, which as we have seen is the consummation of the Samādhi Pariṇāma, is that exactly the same Pratyaya rises in the field of consciousness again and again and produces the impression as if a single fixed unchanging Pratyaya is occupying the field. The succession of exactly similar images in an apparently stationary Pratyaya is due to the intermittent nature of the manifested Universe which has been briefly explained in connection with Part 4, Sutra 33. The whole Universe appears and disappears alternately but the interval called a Kṣaṇa is so small that it appears to be a continuous phenomenon. We see a continuous glow in an electric bulb with an alternating current but we know that the glow is discontinuous and periods of illumination follow periods of darkness alternately at very short intervals. It is not only in Samādhi that this discontinuity enters in the perception of the Pratyaya. It is present in all perceptions and thinking right from the plane of the lower mind up to the Atmic plane. Wherever there is manifestation there must be discontinuity or succession which is called Krama in Part 3, Sutra 15 and Part 4, Sutra 33.
The projection of a cinematographic picture on a screen may serve to illustrate, to some extent, the difference between the three Pariṇāma. The moving picture on the screen is produced, as is explained in connection with Part 4, Sutra 33, by a succession of dissimilar images falling on the screen at intervals of less than 1/10th second. This produces an illusion of continuity while there is actual discontinuity in the projection. If all the pictures on the film roll are made exactly similar, there will be one stationary and unchanging image produced on the screen. But we know that the appearance of such a stationary and unchanging image is an illusion. What we see as an unchanging image is composed of a number of similar (Tulya) images following each other so rapidly as to be indistinguishable. If we slow down the speed of projection sufficiently the illusion will disappear and we shall be able to see similar images following each other at regular intervals. In the same way the Pratyaya of Ekāgrata Pariṇāma remains apparently the same but in reality it is composed of a series of similar (Tulya) Pratyaya following each other at inconceivably high speed. It is because the phenomenon is dynamic and not static that it is called a Pariṇāma (transformation) and not Avasthā (state).
Now, if we suppose that even this picture which produces an unchanging image on the screen is removed and each portion of the film corresponding to a single picture is quite transparent, it is obvious that a uniform illumination will be seen on the screen. Here the analogy breaks down. The dropping or suppression of the Pratyaya of Ekāgrata Pariṇāma by means of Nirodha does not produce the illumination of Reality but the consciousness of the next subtler plane and the whole cycle of the three Pariṇāma has to be repeated again on this plane to enable the consciousness to pass again into the next subtler plane. It is only when the Pratyaya of the last plane (Atmic) is dropped or suppressed that the illumination of Reality or consciousness of the Puruṣa dawns.
The reason for the emergence of a Pratyaya of the next subtler plane when the ‘seed’ present in Ekāgrata Pariṇāma is suppressed is to be sought in the nature of the complex mechanism through which consciousness functions on the different planes and the nature of the Saṃskāra which bind consciousness to its vehicles. Theoretically, the Nirodha which follows the Ekāgrata state should lead to direct contact with Reality but this does not happen. As this question has been dealt with at another place (Part 1, Sutra 18) it is not necessary to enter into it here." (p. 265-267)
Reference:
- Taimni, I. K. (1975). The Science of Yoga: The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali in Sanskrit with Transliteration in Roman, Translation in English and Commentary: Theosophical Publishing House. p. 149, 260-267.
