4.24 Individual awareness reflects Consciousness without distortion

4.24 In spite of its many latent impressions, the individual awareness can serve its higher purpose as a vehicle for liberation by offering a distortion-free reflective surface for universal Consciousness.

Remember that sutra 1.50 says that meditation creates peaceful impressions that keep the distracting impressions at bay. In fact, the seven preparatory limbs of yoga (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana and dhyana) offer an effective progression for removing distractions, obstacles and inefficiencies so that your wisdom grows and your ability to discern your true nature (2.28) increases. Yoga is a process of transformation that increases inner awareness (3.9) and establishes peaceful impressions (3.10). Only latent impressions remain (1.18). Then the yogi’s awareness, when free from distractions, becomes as a clear crystal (1.41) so that it can serve its purpose: to become an open conduit between universal awareness and the world of experience to facilitate liberation from the shackles of the ways of being (2.18). The progression towards liberation is a lifelong journey of discovering the obstacles, first by making them evident and then by noticing them in all aspects of its manifestation from gross to subtle. Eventually, individual awareness releases its ways of being. In other words, yoga unravels the fabric of the identity woven from the threads of beliefs, opinions, stories, as well as from the external narratives in movies, books, songs, and media. Yoga practice decreases the tendencies to misidentify with all external and internal temporary phenomena.

Have you noticed a change in your ways of being because of your practice?
Can you notice that, even though there are still some distractions, they are becoming more sporadic?
To what extent are you participating in your life with neutrality and all-inclusiveness instead of allowing your assumptions to cloud your perception, intentions, actions, and interactions?
In your daily activities, are you becoming more effective by setting aside your agendas and allowing awareness to become your guide?
Is it possible that you are acting in the world with clarity, kindness, and compassion?

As usual, one more way of exploring the meaning of this sutra is by chanting it.
You can choose to chant it in its traditional form with some of the words coming together:

4.24 tadasaṅkhyeya vāsanābhiś citramapi parārtham saṃhatyakāritvāt
तद् असंख्येयवासनाभिश् चित्रम् अपि परार्थं संहत्यकारित्वात् ॥२४॥

Another option is to chant each word in the sutra individually:

• tat
• asaṅkhyeya
• vāsanābhiś
• citram
• api
• para
• artham
• saṃhati
• akāritvāt

If you prefer, you may listen to the podcast:

This is an excerpt from the book Unravel the thread: Applying the ancient wisdom of yoga to live a happy life

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