The cloud of dharma and the end

What this passage does

The close of the text. Non-attachment even to the highest insight brings constant discernment and the cloud of dharma (4.29). Afflictions and karma end (4.30), knowledge is unbounded (4.31), and the guṇas, their work done, complete their sequence (4.32), a term defined in 4.33. The last sūtra describes freedom from both sides, nature's and the seer's (4.34), returning to the seer resting in itself of 1.3.

Learning goals

• Explain what the cloud of dharma is and why non-attachment even to the highest insight leads to it (4.29).
• Trace what follows: the end of afflictions and karma, boundless knowledge, and the guṇas' sequence completed (4.30–4.33).
• Explain the two descriptions of liberation in 4.34 and how they return to 1.3.

The argument, step by step

1. For one who seeks no return even from the highest insight, discernment is constant, and the absorption called the cloud of dharma arises.
2. From that, afflictions and karma come to an end.
3. With every covering and impurity removed, knowledge is infinite and what remains to be known is small.
4. Then the guṇas, their purpose fulfilled, complete their sequence of transformations.
5. Sequence is the succession of moments, seen at the end of a transformation.
6. Liberation is the guṇas' return to their source, or the power of awareness established in its own nature.

The sūtras

1. 4.29 prasaṃkhyāne 'py akusīdasya sarvathā vivekakhyāter dharmameghaḥ samādhiḥ
   For one who seeks no return even from the highest insight, discernment is constant, and from it comes the absorption called the cloud of dharma.
2. 4.30 tataḥ kleśakarmanivṛttiḥ
   From that, afflictions and karma come to an end.
3. 4.31 tadā sarvāvaraṇamalāpetasya jñānasyānantyāj jñeyam alpam
   Then, with every covering and impurity removed, knowledge is infinite and what remains to be known is small.
4. 4.32 tataḥ kṛtārthānāṃ pariṇāmakramasamāptir guṇānām
   Then the guṇas, their purpose fulfilled, complete their sequence of transformations.
5. 4.33 kṣaṇapratiyogī pariṇāmāparāntanirgrāhyaḥ kramaḥ
   Sequence is the succession of moments, seen at the end of a transformation.
6. 4.34 puruṣārthaśūnyānāṃ guṇānāṃ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyaṃ svarūpapratiṣṭhā vā citiśaktir iti
   Liberation is the return of the guṇas to their source, now that they have no purpose left for the self; or it is the power of awareness established in its own nature. Thus it ends.

Study

The close of the text moves quickly. The first claim joins non-attachment to discernment. Akusīda means one who is not a money-lender, who takes no interest. 'For one who seeks no return even from the highest insight, discernment is constant, and from it comes the absorption called the cloud of dharma' (4.29). Vyāsa describes this person as looking for no profit even from meditative insight, asking nothing even of that (Woods pp. 340–341), and says that once the seeds of impressions are spent, no other thoughts arise. The gaps of 4.27 have closed. Why the absorption is called a cloud is debated. Vācaspati says it rains down everything knowable; others hear rain that washes away the last afflictions. The shape repeats 3.50: the highest attainment, let go.

The consequences follow. 'From that, afflictions and karma come to an end' (4.30). Vyāsa draws a striking conclusion: the wise person is free even while still alive, because error is the cause of becoming, and no one whose error has dwindled has ever been seen to be born (p. 341). Later tradition calls this jīvanmukti, liberation in life; the word is not in the sūtra. Then knowledge, uncovered, is boundless, and what is left to know is small, 'like a firefly in the sky', as Vyāsa puts it (4.31; p. 342). Then the guṇas, having served experience and freedom (2.18), complete their sequence of change (4.32). Vyāsa says that, once they have done so, they cannot stay on for even a moment (p. 343).

4.33 pauses to define a term: 'Sequence is the succession of moments, seen at the end of a transformation.' Vyāsa's image is a new garment that is one day seen to be old, though no single moment made it so (p. 343). He distinguishes two kinds of permanence: the self's, which is absolutely unchanging, and the guṇas', which persists through change (p. 344). That distinction lets the last sūtra say exactly what ends. He also sorts questions. 'Will every one who is born die?' has one answer: yes. 'Will every one who dies be born again?' needs a distinction: not the one in whom discernment has dawned and craving dwindled. 'Will the round of rebirth end?' cannot be answered as asked, only once it is analysed (pp. 344–345).

4.34 describes liberation from two sides, joined by 'or' (vā). From nature's side, the guṇas, now empty of purpose for the self, return to their source. From the seer's side, the power of awareness is established in its own nature. Vyāsa says that its remaining so for ever is liberation (p. 347). The second description returns to 1.3: 'Then the seer rests in its own nature.' The text ends with iti, 'thus'.

For practice, the passage ends where the text began, with non-attachment and discernment (1.12, 1.16, 2.26). Nothing new is added at the end. The last step is the same letting go, carried even to the best of what practice has given.

For discussion

1. What does the money-lender image in akusīda say about the attitude that brings the cloud of dharma (4.29)? Compare 3.50.
2. How does Vyāsa argue that the wise are free while still alive (4.30)?
3. Why might the text stop to define sequence (4.33) just before its last sūtra?
4. 4.34 gives two descriptions of liberation joined by 'or'. What does each stress, and why might both be needed?

A common misreading

That liberation means the world is destroyed or the person vanishes. In 4.34 the guṇas return to their source because their work for that self is done, and 2.22 says the seen does not end for others; the seer rests in its own nature, as 1.3 said at the start.

A practice for the room

Sit with eyes lowered for eight minutes. Two minutes resting on the breath. Two minutes recalling one real insight you have had, then letting go of any wish to keep or use it (4.29). Two minutes looking back over today without adding anything: no regret, no pride, no plan. Two minutes doing nothing at all: no technique, no watching, simply sitting. Close by opening the eyes and noticing that the room is still here.