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Yoga Sutra 1.24
क्लेशकर्मविपाकाशयैरपरामृष्टः पुरुषविशेष ईश्वरः ॥२४॥
kleśa karmavipāka-āśayaiḥ-aparāmṛṣṭaḥ puruṣa-viśeṣa īśvaraḥ ॥24॥
- kleśa: afflictions
- karmavipāka: fruits of actions
- āśayaiḥ: accumulations of traces of past karma
- aparāmṛṣṭaḥ: untouched, unsmeared
- puruṣa-viśeṣa: a consciousness, a special or distinct purusha (purusha = a consciousness; vishesha = special, distinct)
- īśvaraḥ: God, Paramatma
- God is a special soul untouched by afflictions, acts, their traces and their fruits.
- OR
- Ishwara is a special kind of Being, untouched by ignorance and the products of ignorance, not subject to karmas or samskaras or the results of action.
Definition of Ishwara - According to Patanjali, God is pure spiritual consciousness, completely free of any relation with karma and its effects. In Yoga Sadhana, there are various types of yoga; such as raja yoga, hatha yoga, mantra yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, laya yoga and tantra sadhana, but the ultimate aim is to realize the truth by surrender to the Supreme Being. This is equally true for everyone; a layman and a highly intellectual philosopher.
Patanjali said, one can surrender to God only if he is aware of his limitations, recognizes his true self, nature; only then he will not distract and can surrender to God completely. Out of ignorance, if he thinks of himself as strong and capable, then he can´t surrender.
Ishwara is also known as purusha, but special, who is untouched by the five afflictions, three kinds of action, three kinds of fruits of action and the seeds of karmas unlike ordinary human beings.
Human beings because of their past karmas, born in favourable or unfavourable circumstances. The health, enjoyments, mental development, and span of life are the effects of their past karmas. With these longing, human being go on collecting new traces of past deeds. Like this the store of the traces or karmashaya goes on increasing and the soul is unable to free itself from birth cycle and gets birth again and again to witness the good and bad effects of the past deeds.
Ishwara is free from all these but manifests in every human being on earth as purushavishesha. Hence it is possible for every human being to attain the supreme being (purushavishesha), for that one needs to experience the highest truth as described above.
References
- Four Chapters on Freedom by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, published in 1976.
