Yoga Sutra 28 Study Yourself

UNION WITH THE DIVINE HAPPENS THROUGH SELF STUDY – SWADHYAYA.

This is a very important sutra: “Union with the divine happens through self study.” One has to study oneself – that is the only way to reach the divine.

Patanjali does not say, “Go to the temple.” He does not say, “Go to the church.”

He does not say, “Do the rituals.” No, that is not the way to be one with the divine. Go into yourself – swadhyaya, self study – because he is hidden behind you, within you. He is your withinmost core. You are the temple; go within.

Study yourself. You are a tremendous phenomenon – study yourself. Study all that you are. And the day you have studied yourself completely, he will be revealed. He is hidden behind you, within you. He is you in your deepest being.

So study yourself.

This “study” means actually what Gurdjieff means by “self-remembering.”

Patanjali’s swadhyaya is exactly what Gurdjieff means by “self-remembering.”

Remember yourself and just go on watching. How you relate with people – watch. Relationships are a mirror. How you relate with strangers, how you relate with people who are known to you, how you relate with your servant, how you relate with your boss – just go on watching. Let every relationship be a mirror, a reflection, and watch how you change your mask. Look at your greed, look at your jealousies, look at your fear, look at your anxieties, possessiveness – go on looking and watching.

There is no need to do anything! That’s the beauty of the sutra. Patanjali does not say, “Do something!” He says, “Study yourself.” The very study, the very awareness will do. A transformation will happen when you come face to face to know your whole being.

In different moods: when you are sad – watch; when you are happy – watch; when you are indifferent – watch; when you are feeling hopeless – watch; when you are filled with hope so much – watch; in desire, in frustration…. There are millions of moods around you – go on watching. Let every mood be a window to look within yourself. From all colors of the rainbow, watch yourself. When you are alone – watch. When you are not alone – watch. Move to the mountains, isolated – watch. Go to the factory, to the office – watch how you change, where you change.

If you go on watching…. Never relax this watching for a single moment. Buddha has said, “Then when you go to your bed – go on watching. When you go on, falling into sleep, – go on watching how you fall asleep.” Go on watching. Don’t allow anything to pass without watching. Just this self remembering, this self-study, will do all. You need not ask, “What do I do after I have watched” Nothing is needed. Once you watch your hatred totally, it disappears.

And this is the criterion: that which disappears by watching is sin, and that which grows by watching is virtue. That’s the only definition I can give to you. I don’t say that “this is sin and that is virtue.” No, sin and virtue cannot be objectified. That which grows by watching is virtue; that which disappears by watching is sin. Anger will disappear by watching; love will grow. Hatred will disappear; compassion will grow. Violence will disappear; prayer will grow, gratitude will grow. So whatsoever disappears through watching is sin. Nothing else needs to be done with it. Just watch it and it disappears. It disappears just as when you bring light to a dark room the darkness disappears. The room does not disappear; the darkness disappears.

You will not disappear by watching. In fact by watching, you will be revealed.

Only darkness will disappear: the darkness of anger, the darkness of possessiveness, the darkness of jealousy – all that will disappear. Only you will be left in your pristine purity. Only your inner space will be left – empty, void.

“Union with the divine happens through self-study.” Nothing else is needed – awareness.

Samadhi siddha Ishwar pranidhanat.

TOTAL ILLUMINATION CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY SURRENDERING TO GOD.

And when you have studied yourself, when you have come to know yourself… surrender. That becomes very simple. It is not an effort then. Now if you want to surrender, it will be a tremendous effort; and then too it will never be total. If right now you want to surrender, how can you surrender with hatred inside?

How can you surrender with jealousy inside? How can you surrender with violence inside? Surrender is possible only when you are absolutely pure.

How can you go to God and put your hatred, violence, jealousies at his feet? No, only when you are pure, a flower of purity – then you enter the temple and surrender it.

To surrender, one should become worthy of it, because surrender is the greatest act. Nothing is beyond it. You cannot surrender by your will and effort, because will and effort belong to the ego. The ego cannot surrender. When you go on studying yourself, watching yourself, the ego disappears. You remain, but there is no longer the “I.” You are a vast emptiness – with no “I” in it. You are a vast amness, but no “I” in it. Being exists, ego no more – then it is possible to surrender.

“Total illumination can be accomplished by surrendering to God.” Total illumination, samadhi: you become light itself. Everything disappears. You remain as energy; and the purest energy is light. Now scientists, physicists, say that if anything is moved at the speed of light it will become light. If a stone brick is thrown at the speed of light, the brick will disappear. It will become light itself because at that speed things disappear; only energy remains. They have discovered it just now, within this century, that there is a possibility that all matter is convertible into light, into energy. Matter is a slow-speed energy; light is a high-speed energy.

Ego is a material thing; it is a slow-speed energy. When you surrender it, you attain to the speed of light. Then you are no longer a solid thing: then you are weightless energy. And weightless energy has no limitation; it is unlimited. And weightless energy cannot be defined in any other way – the only way is to say that it is light. The Bible says, “God is light.” The Koran says, “God is light.” The Upanishads say, “God is light.” You become light.

“Total illumination can be accomplished by surrendering to God.” First, move through self-study so you can encounter God within. Then surrender to it. All and all that you are – surrender to it. And remember, that surrendering is not an effort, so don’t be bothered about how to surrender. Just first remember yourself; surrendering comes as a shadow. There is no technique to surrender. Once you know yourself, you know now how to bow down and surrender yourself.

Surrendered, you become God himself. Fighting with the whole, you remain an ugly ego. Surrendered with the whole, you become the whole. Let-go is the ultimate mantra.

But greed may arise in your mind: “Then why wait? Why should I not surrender now?” You cannot. You are the barrier, so how can you surrender?

When you are not, surrender will be. If you are, surrender is not possible. You will not surrender; your disappearance will be the surrender. You go out of one door; from another door enters surrender. You and surrender cannot exist together.

So remember, you cannot surrender. Watch yourself, so you become purer and purer and purer – so pure that almost nothing is left, only a purity, a fragrance – then surrender happens.

In this sutra Patanjali is simply saying that total illumination can be accomplished by surrendering to God. He is not saying how to surrender. He is not saying that surrender has to be done. He is simply indicating a phenomenon.

Self-study has to be done; you will come face to face with God. If you have done self-study you enter the temple, you face God, and then there is no problem. The moment you face him surrender happens. It is not a doing; it is a happening.