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The Art of Personal Sādhana

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    puruṣa

    Devanāgarī: पुरुषा Translation: animating principle, self, consciousness, spirit; a person, man, a human being; people Similar words:ātman, cit, cetanā, dṛś, pumān, draṣṭṛ, puṃs Opposite words:prakṛti, citta, ahaṃkāra, dṛśya, buddhi Related concepts:brahman, īśvara, draṣṭṛ, cit, puruṣottama, jīva, asmitā, avidyā

    Appears in

    Yoga Sūtra:

    Chapter 1: 16 , 24
    Chapter 3: 35 , 49 , 55
    Chapter 4: 18 , 34

    Sāṃkhya Kārikā:

    3 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 21 , 31 , 36 , 37 , 42 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 61 , 63 , 65 , 69

    Bhagavad Gītā:

    Chapter 8: 8
    Chapter 13: 21

    Gītārtha Saṃgraha:

    4


    Click here for complete Saṃskṛta Index

    Commentaries around

    “In the Yoga state we experience what is beyond the mind.”
    – TKV Desikachar on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 3

    “Yoga is about cultivating a profound discernment
    of the difference between
    the Nature of our Being and
    the Being of our Nature.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verses 12-16

    “Yoga is about recognising change and
    recognising that which recognises change.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 16

    “We can experience an absence of
    thirst for the ephemeral Guṇa
    when the recognition of the
    eternal Puruṣa pulls us more.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter One verse 16

    “Citta and Puruṣa are distinct.
    They are in association like heat and water.
    Water which is cold becomes
    warm in association with heat.
    Then we use the term hot water.”
    – T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 6

    “Similarly, because of the proximity of Citta and Puruṣa,
    what is the quality of one is taken to be of the other.
    In our convention they are often taken as one
    and not two distinct entities with different natures.
    This state is Asmitā.”
    – T Krishnamacharya on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 6

    “Within the sense of “I” Am-ness,
    the I-ness is Prakṛti and
    the Am-ness is Puruṣa.
    The illusion is the sense of as if One–ness.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 6

    “The ten senses or Das Indriya are the gateways
    between our inner and the outer experiences,
    in the twin roads of the worldly phenomena
    that we call sensory knowing or bodily action.
    The five senses that transport knowing from
    the outer to the inner are called the Jñāna Indriya,
    or the senses through which we perceive the world.
    The five senses that transport action from
    the inner to the outer are called the Karma Indriya,
    or the senses through which we act out into the world.
    The coordinator of this remarkable interface is Manas,
    often referred to as the eleventh sense or internal organ.
    The identifier in this remarkable process is Ahaṃkāra.
    The discerner in this remarkable trinity is Buddhi.
    The source of perception within this remarkable play
    of knowing and action is known as Cit or Puruṣa.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Two verse 54

    “Kaivalya is the outcome of the
    equality of Sattva and Puruṣa.
    The clarity of Sattva acquired
    through our efforts with Citta,
    coexisting with the eternal
    abiding awareness of Puruṣa.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Three verse 55

    “The witness cannot be witnessed.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Four verse 18

    “‘What’ is it that identifies
    that we misidentify?”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Four verse 18

    “We observe what we experience
    through the eye of the Indriya
    The eye of the Indriya observes
    through the I of the Manas
    The I of the Manas observes
    through the I of the Ahaṃkāra
    The I of the Ahaṃkāra observes
    through the I of the Buddhi
    The I of the Buddhi observes
    from the eye of the Puruṣa.”
    – Paul Harvey on Yoga Sūtra Chapter Four verse 18

    “What is it that:
    Earth does not cover?
    Water does not wet?
    Fire does not burn?
    Air does not erode?”
    – Paul Harvey on Bhagavad Gītā Chapter Two verse 23

    “When the mind thinks it is seeing rather than the Puruṣa
    there is Avidyā, and this is the beginning of Duḥkha.”
    – TKV Desikachar Religiousness in Yoga Chapter Six Page 85

    “There is no death for the Puruṣa
    because there is no change for it,
    and what is death but change.”
    – TKV Desikachar Religiousness in Yoga Chapter Six Page 87

    “Prāṇa is simply the expression of Puruṣa in all parts of the body and beyond.”
    – TKV Desikachar Religiousness in Yoga Chapter Ten Page 135

    “Prāṇa is simply the expression of Puruṣa in all parts of the body and beyond.
    This Prāṇa has an intimate relationship to the mind
    because the Puruṣa sees only through the mind.
    Thus Prāṇa, mind and breath are interrelated.
    Whatever happens in the mind influences the breath.”
    – TKV Desikachar Religiousness in Yoga Chapter Ten Page 135

    “There is a relationship between Pariṇāma, Tāpa and Saṃskāra.
    When you recognise this phenomena there is something that recognises it.
    That something is not part of the phenomena.”
    – TKV Desikachar on Sāṃkhya and Yoga

    “Yoga is when the mind is completely absorbed in the great force within.”
    – TKV Desikachar France August 1983

    “In meditation,
    one must make the transition
    from the gross, that which has form
    and which can be seen by the mind,
    to the subtle, the formless.”
    – TKV Desikachar Madras December 19th 1988

    “In each one of us there is something that experiences.”
    – TKV Desikachar introducing the Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2001

    “If the Saṅga is at the Puruṣa level it will stay;
    if it is at the Prakṛti level it will change.”
    – TKV Desikachar speaking with his senior Western students London 1998

    “Better not to confuse:
    – Bodywork with Āsana.
    – Energywork with Mudrā.
    – Breathwork with Prāṇāyāma.
    – Mindwork with Dhyānam.
    – Voicework with Mantra.
    – Soulwork with Puruṣa.”
    – 108 Yoga Study Path Pointers

    Links to Related Posts:

    • T Krishnamacharya Yoga Sūtra Study Quotes Collected and Collated
    • TKV Desikachar Yoga Sūtra Study Quotes Collected and Collated
    • Paul’s Yoga Mālā – A Thread of Pearls from Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra
    • Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Keywords – Collected & Collated into Chapters
    • Paul’s Yoga Sūtra Study Questions – Collected & Collated into Chapters
    • TKV Desikachar talks on Śraddhā in the light of the Yoga Sūtra……
    • Learning Support for Chanting the Puruṣa Sūktam

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    Related

    This glossary with its similar, opposite and related concepts categories, supplemented by textual references and additional commentaries around the key word, is a both work in progress and constantly ever-expanding in terms of further cross-references, textual cross links and commentaries.
    As it continues to develop your comments and suggestions on your experience and how it may be enhanced are very welcome via this link, thank you.
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