Verse 3.52
स्थान्युपनिमन्त्रणे सङ्गस्मयाकरणं पुनरनिष्टप्रसङ्गात् ॥५२॥
sthāny-upa-nimantraṇe saṅga-smaya-akaraṇaṁ punar-aniṣṭa-prasaṅgāt ॥52॥
When approached by celestial beings, there should be neither attachment
nor surprise, for undesirable connections can occur again.
Verse 3.53
क्षणतत्क्रमयोः संयमात् विवेकजंज्ञानम् ॥५३॥
kṣaṇa-tat-kramayoḥ saṁyamāt vivekajaṁ-jñānam ॥53॥
By making Samyama on a particle of time and its multiples comes discrimination.
Celestial beings try to seduce the yogi from the grace of yoga. The yogi must maintain his hard-won freedom, and must not fall victim to temptations that can pull him down from the height of spirituality.
Like, celestial beings try to lure the successful yogi to his doom. If he submits to their blandishments, he is again caught in sensory pleasures and afflictions, and falls from the grace of yoga.
There are four types of yogis. They are known as prathama kalpika, madhubhamika, prajnajyoti and atikrantabhavaniya.
Prathama kalpika yogis have worked hard in their yogic practices, and the power of progress has just begun to dawn.
Madhubhamika yogis have learned to differentiate between citta and the seer and try to gain further mastery.
The prajnajyotis have succeeded in subjugating the elements of nature, the qualities of the senses of perception, mind and desires and have realized the seer,
while the atikrantabhavaniyas have attained the highest knowledge of the seer and have the power of paravairagya (highest dispassion).
Patanjali warns all classes of yogis not to let themselves be enticed into angelic 'traps', but to distance themselves from these divine temptations so that their hearts have no room to harbor undesirable feelings and urges.
Patanjali now shows an altogether different method of reaching samadhi:
by sanyama on the continuous flow of moments which move in a succession known as time, the yogi gets direct understanding of time and relativity.
From this, he recognizes that a moment in time is timeless, and that this timelessness is real and eternal, while its movement is confined to the past and the future. Movement is timebound, transient and ever-changing. The moment is everlasting, changeless, sacred: it is, in fact, the secret of samadhi.
The moment is unconditioned reality, while the sequence of moments is conditioned reality; it is relative to the absolute and illusory. This realization is termed exalted intelligence.
In moment, neither psychological nor chronological time is felt.
Moment comes between rising impressions and their restraints and vice-versa: it is a quiet intervening state, auspicious and pure, and is to be stabilized, prolonged and expanded so that consciousness becomes absolute.
This is vivekaja jnana, the gateway to kaivalya. The yogi has learned the orderly sequence of practice and of time, and now cannot be trapped by the temptations of celestial beings. (But, should this happen, he is reminded to
pursue his sadhana, and to keep Self-Realization as his goal.)
As the atom is the minutest particle of matter, the moment is the minutest particle of time. The moment is singularly alone. Moments succeed one another in sequence, and these sequences put together constitute time. Thus the spokes of moments move into the wheel of time. The movement of mind in a continuum is psychological time. The movement of moments in present, past and future is chronological time.
The yogi keeps aware of the moment and thus conquers psychological and chronological time. He remains attentive to the moment, and does not allow his attention to slip into the movement of moments. He remains undisturbed, and with the loss of the time factor too. Then, he catches sight of the soul. This is vivekaja jnana, exalted intelligence, the secret and sacred knowledge.
PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
