Patanjali Yoga Sutras Samadhi Pada - 26
Katha Vivekananda Kendra
The 26th Sutra of the Samadhi Pada is the nature of the Ishwara as a Guru. This is an important dimension Patanjali brings out.
The Sutra is
स पू॒र्वेषामपि गुरुः कालेनान॑वच्छे॒दात् ॥ १.२६॥
sa eṣa pūrveṣām api guruḥ kālenānavacchedāt || 1.26 ||
sa eṣa pūrveṣām api guruḥ kālena anavacchedāt, pūrveṣām api guruḥ, pūrveṣām - earlier ones, ancient, older, previous - pūrveṣām earlier ones, ancient. Api also, pūrveṣām api Ancients also. Guruḥ Masters. We know Guru is Guru, Masters. Kālena - kāla ena - by time. Anavacchedāt, avaccheda - anavaccheda, avaccheda is limited, anavaccheda is not limited. Anavaccheda avaccheda is limited or indivisible, but anavaccheda is not limited, indivisibility.
Swami Vivekananda this particular Sutra puts it very nicely. He is the teacher. He means Ishwara as a Purusha which was spoken of earlier. As we know these are the nature and qualities of the Ishwara as a Purusha, are these going on. So in this particular Sutra the quality and the nature of the Ishwara as a Purusha is described. Vivekananda's translation is very simple. He is the teacher of even the ancient teachers being not limited by time. He is the teacher of even the ancient teachers - pūrveṣām api guruḥ, kālenānavacchedāt - being not limited by time. He is the teacher of even the ancient teachers being not limited by time.
As all of us know there is knowledge within ourselves but this knowledge has to be brought out. It is to be expressed and manifested. For this expression and manifestation of the knowledge within us, we need a knowledge and a tool outside. And the Ishwara Tattva being the nature of the Purusha is beginningless and endless. So it is unaffected by time - anavacchedāt. And because it is not bound by time notm limited by time means it is eternal, it is always existent. Hence it is the Guru of the ancients, all other Gurus, Masters whom we speak, whom we come across, they are all time bound, they are limited in a time frame, but Ishwara as a Guru is not limited. Infact the only Guru is the Ishwara. Because he is ever existent and he is ever existent because - kālenānavacchedāt, not bound, not limited by the time.
Generally the word Guru is understood
गुकारोऽन्धकारस्य रुकारस्तन्निवर्तकः ।
अन्धकारनिवृत्तित्वात् गुरुरित्यभिधीयते ॥
gu-kāro ’ndhakārasya ru-kāras tan-nivartakaḥ |
andhakāra-nivṛttitvāt gurur ity abhidhīyate ||
Guru who removes andhakāra here it doesn't mean darkness the darkness of ignorance, and the light of knowledge is brought. And that removal of darkness of ignorance and bringing up the light of knowledge that is Guru. Need not be necessarily a person, it can be a book, it can be a thought, it can be an idea, it can be anything. Especially, not necessarily being in a physical form. It can be even formless, but that which removes the darkness of ignorance and that which brings out the light of knowledge, that is Guru. And here the Guru is referred to the Purusha of the Ishwara.
And also the sutra reiterates that Ishwara is the ultimate source of all knowledge. That is how the sutra is beautifully put. So it will be seen that Ishwara as conceived in the Patanjali Yoga Sutra is totally unrelated to whatever concepts we have, because it is immutable and therefore it is beyond time. And Ishwara is omniscient which we have seen in the earlier sutras. And it is eternal it is always existent not bound by the time limitations of the time. Whenever we say limitations of the time means now the Guru is there, now Guru is not there or Guru will be there from 7 to 8 o'clock, or Guru will be present from 9 to 10 or Guru was there yesterday, Guru will be there tomorrow or Guru is there today, all such references to the time doesn't, informal, doesn't point, they doesn't refer, they are not concerned with the Guru as presented by Patanjali in this particular sutra.
But we also know that there is a need of a Guru. As we said in the beginning that the knowledge within us has to be brought out, it needs another knowledge to express itself and that is the Guru. A dead ancient matter it cannot call out the knowledge, it is action of knowledge that brings out knowledge. Knowing beings people who are knowledgeable must be with us to call forth what is in us. So this teachers, Gurus are always necessary and if you remember the world was never without a Guru. And no knowledge can come without them. It is very important dimension, important point in Patanjali Yoga Sutra that if I believe that I am a person with little knowledge, and if I say somebody else has little knowledge, that little knowledge when I am referring when we refer then there must be somebody who has more knowledge and there must be somebody who has unlimited knowledge, this second deduction is that no knowledge can come without a teacher. We cannot find any knowledge without a teacher. And who else can be the best apart from the Ishwara as a Purusha who is not bound by the time and Ishwara is the true teacher and is the true Guru .Ishwaratvam - let us also not forget that Ishwaratva is within us. We may take external help but ultimately it is within our self. To understand it is within our self by our self we may take a help from the outside. And this is how this beautiful Sutra tells and refers to the ultimate Guru - sa eṣa pūrveṣām api guruḥ kālena anavacchedāt - let us see the other dimensions of Ishwara.
Oṃ 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.
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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