4.1
Spiritual powers can be
obtained by birth, or through drugs, incantations, austerities, or meditation.
4.2
The transformation of one
form or level of existence to another is the nature of the creative force.
4.3
Deeds and practices are
not the direct cause of transformation, but they can clear away obstacles, just
as the irrigator clears earth from the watercourse so that water may flow
according to its nature.
4.4
It is the sense “I am”
that produces the many minds.
4.5
Though the activities of
the many minds are varied, the one Original Mind controls all.
4.6
Of
the many minds, only the mind purified by meditation is freed from experiencing
latent karma.
4.7
The
karma of the yogi is neither white nor black.
The karma of others is white,
black, or both.
4.8
Of
the tendencies inherent in one’s karma,
only those for which environmental conditions are favorable with manifest and
ripen.
4.9
Because
the imprint of unmanifested tendencies transcends birth and death, the chain of
cause and effect is unbroken by changes in form, time, and place.
4.10
Because
the desire to exist is eternal, the succession of identity images produced by
these tendencies is without beginning.
4.11
These
tendencies and identity images are held together by cause and effect grounded
in desire, and stimulated by sense experience.
When these factors are removed, the succession of identity images comes
to an end.
4.12
The
form and expression called “past” and the form expression called “future” exist
in the eternal Now of objects as properties of their essential nature.
4.13
These
properties are either manifest, subtle, or latent according to the interplay of
the three gunas.
4.14
Because
the three gunas comprise every form
and expression of objects, in reality there is only Unity.
4.15
Though
the essential nature of an object is always the same, its material existence is
perceived differently by individual minds according to the observer’s state of
being.
4.16
So
if an object perceived by a single mind is no longer cognized by that mind, can
it be said to exist?
4.17
An
object’s existence or non-existence depends on whether or not it is reflected
in mind.
4.18
The
Self, Lord of the Mind, is the immutable, unchanging witness of the mind’s
fluctuations.
4.19
The
mind is not self-knowing since it can be observed as an object.
4.20
Neither
can the mind be both the perceiver and perceived simultaneously.
4.21
To
postulate an anterior mind perceiving the first, one would have to postulate an
infinite series of minds, each perceiving the one before it, thus causing an
endless confusion of percepts and memories.
4.22
The
Self is immaculate, unchangeable. When
Self is reflected in mind, the mind abides in Self-awareness.
4.23
Self-awareness,
reflecting both the knower and the knowable, is omniscient.
4.24
Though
the mind has numerous identity imprints and desires, it is merely an agent of
Self and cannot act independently for its own sake.
4.25
One
who clearly sees this distinction no longer confuses the mind with Self.
4.26
The
mind then bends to discriminating Awareness and is borne onwards to liberation.
4.27
Until
liberation, however, distractions due to imprints and habitual thinking may
still arise when discrimination waivers.
4.28
These
distractions are similar to the obstacles of Self-realization already
mentioned, and can be overcome in the same way.
4.29
One
who remains undistracted even by attainment of the highest illumination becomes
– as a result of this perfect discrimination – what is called the “Cloud of
Virtue.”
4.30
Thus
comes the end of illusion and freedom from karma.
4.31
All
obstructions and impurities vanish, and in the presence of infinite Awareness,
the whole of the sensory universe appears as nothing.
4.32
The
interplay of the three gunas – light,
inertia, vibration – then ceases, having fulfilled its transformative purpose.
4.33
The
sequence of changing moments in time begins and ends in the eternal Now.
4.39
When
the three gunas are devoid of
purpose, liberation is complete. Self is
revealed as Unity, and nothing remains to be done.