Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translated by Yogi Kalinath- Chapter 1, Verse 24

Pada 1, Sutra 24

Sanskrit Verse

Klesha-karma-vipakashayair aparamrstah purusa-vishesa ishvarah

Translation

Ishvara is a special kind of Being who is untouched by any afflictions, not subject to the results of actions and reactions and unaffected by any impressions produced by these actions.

Interpretation

In the previous verse Rishi Patanjali introduced the concept of Ishvara or God. In this verse and the next three, Patanjali explains the concept of Ishvara.

Ishvara is described as a special kind of Being and therefore cannot be conceived as a normal being, a being limited by the senses, mind, time, space and casuality. It is a Being who is unbound, unlike the conditioned souls who incarnate on the Earthly plane of existence and are involved in Prakriti (Nature) and subject to its modes of material nature (Gunas).

Only in duality can there be afflictions and as Ishvara is beyond duality, He therefore does not suffer any afflictions (Klesha) and has never suffered the illusion and delusion of not being free. He is therefore a special kind of Being.

Ishvara in fact provides a field through His Consciousness in order for the conditioned souls to function and unfold to realize their own Self in the Universe. In turn, the transcendent Brahman, the Absolute, the One Without a Second, does not bear any relation to the Universe.

The appearance of Brahman as Isvara continues as long as there is the experience of the world and the individual. The fact that there is an observer implies that there is an external world. And the fact of the existence of an objective world, again, entails the recognition of a supreme Creator and Director of beings. If there is an individual, there ought to be a world, and if there is a world, there ought to be God. Isvara, Jagat and Jiva—God, the world and the individual—go together, one implying the others, and not being possible without the others. The three principles are the basic contents of all relative experience.