Yoga Sutra 3.51 divine regions like heaven
Sūtra III.51
No reaction of attachment or pride in case of invitations from rulers of celestial realms, for undesirable consequences follow
The realms are divine regions like heaven, and their rulers are gods like Indra. There are invitations by them, such as: ‘Noble Sir, pray take this seat …’ and so on. In such case, let him remember and understand the essential meanness of individual selfhood, and let him not react with attachment or pride. Reaction of attachment or pride will entail undesirable consequences.
There are four classes of yogin:
(1)the beginner (prathama-kalpika)
(2)in the Honeyed stage (madhu-bhūmika)
(3)with the light of knowledge (prajña-jyotis)
(4)one who has passed beyond all that was to be practised (ati-krānta-bhavanīya) Of these, the first is one who having roused the light of one of the supernormal perceptions of a divine object (I.35) is engaged in practising it;
The second has the truth-bearing knowledge (I.48);
The third has conquered the senses. He retains firmly all that has been actualized so far, and possesses the means for the accomplishment of what is still to be actualized;
The fourth is one who has passed through all that was to be practised, and whose sole purpose now is reversion of the mind. He has the seven-fold ultimate knowledge (II.27).
Of them, it is the Brahmin who has directly realized the Honeyed state, whose purity is seen by the celestial gods, and whom they allure into their realms.
There are four classes of yogin: the beginner, in the Honeyed stage, with the light of knowledge, and having passed beyond all that was to be practised. He will now describe them in the order given:
Of these, the first is one who having roused the light of one of the supernormal perceptions of a divine object having roused into operation one of the viṣayavatī functions such as the Radiant (jyotiṣmatī I.36) is practising is devoting himself to practice on it.
The second has the truth-bearing knowledge (I.48).
The third is one who has conquered the senses and retains firmly as is proper when something has been once attained everything that has been actualized so far, all that was to be actualized, and all that has been directly seen (in the case of knowledge) or mastered (in the case of the powers), and who possesses the means for the accomplishment of what is still to be actualized, what is to be realized directly (sākṣātkāra). The means for the accomplishment are: practice and detachment (I.12), and this is one who has them.
The fourth is one who has passed through all that was to be practised, and whose sole purpose now remaining is reversion of the mind the dissolution of the mind. He has the seven-fold ultimate knowledge.
Of them, it is the Brahmin who has directly realized the Honeyed stage the second stage, that of the truth-bearing knowledge whose purity is seen (resentfully) by the celestial gods, and whom they allure into their realm, saluting him with the words ‘Noble Sir’, as will now be described:
‘Noble Sir! Do you take your seat here, do you enjoy yourself here. The pleasure is delicious, and delicious the girl. This elixir prevents age and death. Here is an aerial chariot, there a wish-fulfilling tree. The heavenly river Mandākinī, the perfect beings, and great sages, all give their blessings: the nymphs are without equal, and compliant. Sight and hearing are divine, and the body like a diamond. Your special virtues, Noble Sir, have merited all this. Do you take this high position, which is unfading, ever fresh, undying, and beloved of the gods.’
But let him thus invited, meditate on the evils of that associationship:
Scorched by the fierce flames of saṃsāra, wandering in birth-and-death, I have just managed to obtain the lamp of yoga which destroys the blindness of taints. The winds of sensual things, wombs of craving, are its foes. How then can I, who have seen its light, be led astray by the mirage of these things of the senses, and make myself fuel for the burning fire of saṃsāra to flare up again? Farewell, you things like dreams, pursued by pitiable creatures!
Thus confirming his purpose, let him practise samādhi on it. Giving up all association with them, let him take no pride in being thus solicited by the gods themselves. If he, through such pride, feels himself secure, he will forget that death has already grasped his forelock, and then carelessness – always to be guarded against as it seeks an opening – will enter and rouse the taints, with their undesirable consequences. By avoiding that association and that pride, what he has already practised becomes firm in him, and what he has yet to practise stands right before him.
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