तदा सर्वावरणमलापेतस्य ज्ञानस्यानन्त्याज्ज्ञेयम् अल्पम् ।। ३१।।

तदा – from this, सर्व – all, आवरण – covering, मल – dirt, अपेतस्य – been removed, ज्ञानस्य – of ज्ञान, अनन्त्यात् – because of being endless, ज्ञेयम् – that which is to be known, अल्पम् – little

At this point, because of the unlimited nature of knowledge when all impurities have been removed from it, that which remains to be known is little

The nature of the mind is सत्व whose nature is knowledge and illumination. When covered by तमस्, mind is obscured and by रजस्, it is stimulated. When these too have been removed and even ego-principle (that restricts mind to body and senses) is removed, चित्त gains its all-expansive potential. Just as after rainy season, Sun is not obscured by monsoon clouds and shines fully, so does knowledge pervade all at this stage. That which remains to be known is as irrelevant as a firefly in the sky, says आदिशंकर

तत: कृतार्थानां परिणामक्रमपरिसमाप्तिर्गुणानाम् ।। ३२।।

तत: – from that, कृत – accomplished, अर्थानां – goal, परिणाम – change, mutation, क्रम – sequence, परिसमाप्ति: – cessation, गणानाम् – of the गुण

As a result, there is a cessation of the ongoing permutations of the गुण, their purpose is now fulfilled

सांख्यकारिका has a line – “As a dancer ceases from the dance after she has been seen by the audience, so प्रकृति ceases after having revealed her nature to the पुरुष; प्रकृति says I have been seen and never again comes before the sight of पुरुष”

क्षणप्रतियोगी परिणामापरान्तनिर्ग्राह्य: क्रम: ।।३३।।

क्षण – moment, प्रतियोगी – counterpart, correlative, partnership, dependent existence, परिणाम – mutation, change, अपरान्त – utmost limit, निर्ग्राह्य: – is perceivable, क्रम – sequence, progression

The progression (of any object through Time) corresponds to a (series of) moments. It is perceivable at the final (moment) of change.

गुण are always in a state of flux and thus material reality is a flow that can be considered as a series of moments. These moments are related together in a क्रम or sequence – the ongoing existence of an object through Time, then, is actually a continuium of imperceptible moments in the life span of an object. This again is nothing other than a series of क्षण which again is nothing other than movement of अणु. अणु of all objects is constantly in motion at every moment and क्षण is the period of time it takes an अणु to move to the space immediately adjacent to it.

Thus, when we say that a cloth has become old, in reality, we are referring to a certain cut off point in this sequential flux which पतंजलि refers to as परिणाम-अपरान्त. And as an object is about to disintegrate, we can infer the presence of previous states of change throughout the lifetime of the cloth. And we become aware of the constant change the cloth had undergone from its very inception – this idea of change thus applies to all aspects of material creation. So if change is permanent, there can be no end to it and there can never be liberation – is it not? That is not true – there are two kinds of permanence as per व्यास. Both the permanence of change viz permanence of constantly changing गुण and permanence of unchanging पुरुष, both co-exist.

In प्रकृति, while objects like pots may cease to exist, but the essential underlying nature of प्रकृति is eternal meaning that it is one in which the mutations in the form of effects such as pots keep changing but the underlying essence remains permanent. And पुरुष is one in which there are never any mutations to begin with and it always remains a pure unchanging essence. So व्यास now says that while for one in संसार, the permutations of गुण do not end but for a liberated योगी, the permutations cease. वाचस्पति says that this सूत्र will end the question as to whether post liberation, प्रकृति & गुण will cease to mutate and transform having no role to play. विज्ञानभिक्षु adds here that posing certain questions beyond a point is to engage in fruitless inferential logic and ultimately a waste of time

पुरुषार्थशून्यानां गुणानां प्रतिप्रसव: कैवल्यं स्वरूपप्रतिष्ठा वा चितिशक्तिरिति ।। ३४।।

पुरुषार्थ – goal of पुरुष, शून्यानां – devoid of, गुणानां – of the गुण, प्रतिप्रसव: – return to the original state, कैवल्यं – aloneness, liberation, स्वरूप – essential nature, प्रतिष्ठा – situated, वा – or, चितिशक्ति: – power of consciousness, इति – thus

Ultimate liberation is when the गुण, devoid of any purpose for the पुरुष, return to their original (latent) state; in other words, when the power of consciousness is situated in its own essential nature

पुरुष has now become केवल (alone) – one may refer to this state as aloneness, one’s-own-ness, not-connected-with-anything-else-ness. पुरुष now abides exclusively in its own nature. It is fully uncoupled from प्रकृति. गुण have achieved their purpose of providing भोग or liberation. A line in सांख्यकारिका reads as “Certainly therefore, no पुरुष is bound or liberated nor does it migrate; it is प्रकृति abiding in manifold forms that is bound, migrates and is liberated”. Physical body and cognitive apparatus of a योगी can now return to elements. संस्कार dissolve in the mind, mind into the ego, the ego into the महत् (बुद्धि) and the latter into प्रकृति. योगी’s journey into संसार is over.

पतंजलि stops here and does not describe the nature of पुरुष state of being maybe because these are covered in the various उपनिषद्. Theistic पुराण contains details of various liberated पुरुष who live in लोक beyond the realm of प्रकृति but पतंजलि avoids all that – maybe because he may have felt that it was not necessary. He also does not get into description of ईश्वर and the nature of relationship of ईश्वर with the पुरुष. But be that as it may, He has covered a vast ground already and we have to do नमो नम: to Him for leaving us with this fascinating eternal सूत्र. Let us all attain to our स्वरूप.

ॐ तत् सत्

इति पतञ्जलिविरचिते योगसूत्रे चतुर्थ: कैवल्यपाद: ।