Sthany-upanimantrane sanga-smaya-karanam punar anista-prasangat.
Sthani
= powers (of spaces, supernatural); upanimantrane =
on being invited; sanga = attachment, pleasure; smaya
= wonder, pride; akaranam = avoidance; Punah =
again; anista
= fall, undesirable; prasangat = revival. (There should be) avoidance of pleasure or pride on being invitedby (having) super-natural powers because there is possibility of a fall again. (III-52) In previous sutras we saw how a sadhakas gradually develops various siddhis culminating in the powers of omnipotence and omniscience. Detachment from these super powers only leads to ultimate freedom (Kaivalya). On the way to liberation (Kaivalya), as it happened with great souls like Buddha, many great powers come to test the growth of sadhaka in the form of various temptations including invitations to them from entities like gods. These tests are to make a sadhaka more strong. If a yogi is not on firm footing, he will yield to these temptations which come at various levels in different forms. Even in the beginning of Sadhana there are some temptations. But at higher level they are much more subtler and the test is much more severe. So much so that if a sadhaka even wonders at the powers that come to him or her, that very feeling of wonder brings down the fall from the status achieved hence this warning from Patanjali. |