1.24 · The Rain-Beaded Stone

Īśvara is a distinct self, untouched by afflictions, actions, their ripening and their residues.

Word by word

kleśa

afflictions

karma

action

vipāka

ripening, fruition

āśayaiḥ

by residues, stored deposits

aparāmṛṣṭaḥ

untouched

puruṣa-viśeṣaḥ

a distinct self, a special puruṣa

īśvaraḥ

the Lord, Īśvara

Where it fits

Having offered devotion as a way (1.23), Patañjali must say to whom. Vyāsa puts the question in the system's terms: who is this Īśvara, set apart from nature and from the self? (Woods p. 49). The answer uses the vocabulary of bondage that Book II develops: afflictions (2.3–2.9), karma and its ripening (2.12–2.14).

Reading

Who is Īśvara? A distinct self, never touched by afflictions, actions, their ripening or their residues. In Patañjali's system there are many selves, and Īśvara is one of them, set apart because it was never bound. Vyāsa notes that ordinary selves have afflictions credited to them the way a battle's victory or defeat is credited to the lord, though soldiers did the fighting. Other selves reach liberation; Īśvara was never bound. Whether this matches God as theists understand the word is debated.

Vyāsa

“These [afflictions, actions, ripening and residues] exist in the mind, yet they are ascribed to the self, since it is the self that experiences their fruit. In the same way, victory or defeat takes place among the soldiers but is ascribed to their lord.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 49.

Practice

Sit for five minutes. Bring to mind a mind that has never been hurt, never acted from fear, carries no grudge. Don't try to become it. Rest in its company for a few breaths and notice what in you relaxes.

A question to sit with

What would it be like to be untouched?

Where commentators disagree

Does Īśvara govern the world, or chiefly stand as the yogin's model and teacher?

Vyāsa

Īśvara is a distinct self never touched by afflictions or karma, always free and always Īśvara. This eminence comes from taking on a sattva of perfect quality, and is known from scripture. (Woods 1914, pp. 49–50)

Vācaspati Miśra

Gives Īśvara a cosmic role. At the end of each world period Īśvara resolves to take on pure sattva and withdraws the world; Īśvara also composed the mantras, medical lore and the Vedas. (Woods 1914, pp. 53–54)

Bhoja

Derives Īśvara from the root īś, 'to rule': the one able to uphold the world by mere will. (Tatya 1885, p. 23)

Surendranath Dasgupta

Does not recall the sūtras or the bhāṣya giving Īśvara any part in steering nature, though all the later commentators do. He suggests Īśvara was first trusted as protector of yogins, and that the metaphysical functions were added later to fit the system. (Dasgupta 1924, pp. 87, 163–164)

Key ideas

īśvara (the Lord), puruṣa (the seer, the self), kleśa (afflictions), karma (action and its residue)