Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 3 - Sutra 17







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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 3
- Union achieved and its Results





17. The Sound (or
word), that which it denotes (the object) and the embodied spiritual essence (or idea) are
usually confused in the mind of the perceiver. By concentrated meditation on these three
aspects comes an (intuitive) comprehension of the sound uttered by all forms of life.This is one of the
most important sutras in the book, and holds the key to the object of the entire
meditation process. This is to reveal or to unveil to the perceiver or spiritual man, the
true nature of the self, the second aspect, and the correspondence to the second aspect in
all forms of subhuman life, as well as to put him en rapport with the second aspect in all
superhuman forms. Thus it concerns the subjective side of all manifestation and deals with
those forces which in every form constitute the consciousness aspect, which concern the
Christ or buddhic principle and which are the direct cause of objective manifestation and
the revelation of spirit through the medium of form.
This is the AUM. First the breath, then the word and all that is, appeared.
Just as long as the great Existence who is the sum total of all forms and of all states
of consciousness continues to sound the cosmic AUM, just so long will the objective
tangible solar system persist.
The following synonyms in connection with this sutra must be borne in mind if clarity
of thought is to be achieved: [272]


 


I. Spiritual Essence
II. The Sound or Word
III. The Object


1. Spirit
1. The Soul.
1. Body


2. Pneuma
2. The Psyche.
2. Form.


3. The Father. Shiva
3. The Son. Vishnu.
3. The Holy Spirit. Brahma.


4. The Monad. The One.
4. The cosmic Christ.
4. The vehicle of life and of incarnation.


5. The eternal Will or Purpose.
5. Eternal Love-Wisdom.
5. Eternal activity and intelligence.


6. The great Breath.
6. The AUM.
6. The Worlds.


7. Life.
7. Consciousness Aspect.
7. Activity Aspect.


8. Synthesizing Energy.
8. Attractive Force.
8. Matter.


9. First Aspect.
9. Second Aspect.
9. Third Aspect.


 


In the mind of man
these three aspects are confused and that which is outward and objective is usually
recognized as reality. This is the great maya or illusion and can only be dissipated when
the perceiver can distinguish the three great aspects in every form, his own included.
When the second aspect, the soul, the middle or mediating principle is known, the nature
of the form is also known, and the essential nature of spirit can be inferred. The
immediate field of knowledge, however, which the yogi has to master is that of the second
aspect. He must arrive at the Sound or Word which brought every form into manifestation,
and which is the result of the breath, the essence or spirit.
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word [273] was with God and the Word was
God. All things were made by Him..." (John I, 1, 2.)

Here, in the Christian Bible, is the substance of the entire teaching, and in the
significance of the three letters of the Sacred Word, AUM, lies the clue to the entire
cosmic process. The meditation process when duly and correctly carried out reveals
therefore the second or soul aspect, and the Sound, or Word (the Voice of the Silence) can
then be heard.
Once heard and the work carried steadily forward, the realm of consciousness is
revealed and the yogi is en rapport with the second aspect of his own nature and with the
second aspect in every form. This is the basis of the whole science of the soul and leads
a man to know his own soul or psyche and the psyche in every form of divine life. It is
the foundation for the entire science of psychism, both in its higher and lower aspects.
When a man is a lower psychic he is aware of, and responds to the soul aspect of the
material forms and the third or Brahma aspect (the body), dominates, for every atom of
matter has a soul. This concerns all that is subhuman.
When he responds to the higher correspondence of this, to the reality of which the
lower is but the shadow, he is in touch with the Christ consciousness, with the soul of
his being which is one with the soul in all the superhuman kingdoms.
In connection with this, two things must be remembered. If he is a lower psychic he is
in touch with the second aspect of the lower man, the astral body, the middle principle in
the lower [274] man, linking the mental body and the etheric. He is, therefore, en rapport
with all that can be contacted on that plane.
If, however, he is a higher psychic he is en rapport with the second aspect of divine
manifestation, the ego or soul on its own plane, mediating between and linking the monad
with the personality, spirit with the body.
It is interesting here to note that a clue to the truth of this can be found in the
manifestations of lower psychism such as are seen in the average mediumistic seance and
the ordinary type of spiritualism. Contact with the astral plane is made through that
great center, the solar plexus which links the higher three centers and the lower. It
accounts also for the fact that flowers are such a feature in materializations at seances,
for the vegetable kingdom is the middle kingdom of the three subhuman kingdoms, mineral,
vegetable, and animal. The explanation as to the prevalence of Indian guides is also found
here, for they are the shells and powerful thought-forms left by the second of the three
strictly human races, Lemurian, Atlantean and Aryan. No Lemurian shells or thought-forms
are left now, but many Atlantean shells are still to be found preserved through the use of
certain forms of Atlantean magic.
By concentrated meditation upon the distinction between these aspects there will
eventually come a hearing of the Voice of the Silence and contact with a man's own second
aspect. He will know himself as the "Word made flesh" and will recognize himself
as the AUM. [275]
When this is the case he will then hear the word in other units of the human family,
and will awaken to a recognition of the sound, as it is emanated by all forms in all the
kingdoms of nature. The realm of the soul will stand open to him and this, when it
includes recognition of the sound in all the four kingdoms, will lead him to know himself
as Master. Soul knowledge and the power to work with the soul of all things in the three
worlds is the distinctive mark of the Adept.





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