तस्य हेतुरविद्या॥२४॥
tasya = of it (conjunction); hetuh = the cause; avidyaa = ignorance
Sw. Satchidananda
“The cause of this union is ignorance”
Bryant
“The cause of conjunction is ignorance”
Discussion
In the previous sutra (sutra 2.23) it was mentioned that an understanding of the true essence of the powers of the owner (swami – the purusha) and the owned (sva – prakriti) is realized through a union between purusha (individual soul) and buddhi (intellect representing prakriti). This realization ultimately leads to a “dis-union” between the two which then leads to full kaivalya or liberation.
The current sutra states that the reason for the union of purusha and prakriti is avidya (ignorance). In stura 2.5 avidya was defined as, “… regarding a transient object as everlasting, an impure object as pure, misery as happiness and the not-Self as Self”.
The commentators go on to explain that this avidya has no beginning. Creation in Hindu cosmology is cyclical. At the end of each cycle, called “pralaya”, this creation dissolves back into its source. Each individual, non-liberated soul, along with its subtle body containing all the latent impressions called samskaras and vasanas, is a part of this dissolution. When the new cosmic cycle begins, these subtle bodies along with the individual purushas get recreated. They contain all the same mix of samskars and vasanas that were there before dissolution. The samskara of avidya (ignorance) is a part of this mix and begins to play its role in not recognizing the separation between purusha and the buddhi. This cycle continues until the time of self-realization when purusha realizes its own true identity as a pure observer (drashta). That state is called kaivalya in the yoga sutras. Thus avidya has no beginning but ends when the state of kaivalya is reached.
As stated in sutra 2.18, in the state of avidya, buddhi (intellect) has two functions to perform – experiences (bhoga) and liberation (apavarga). As long as it is involved in providing life experiences to the purusha, it stays in a state of bondage. The intellect continues to provide its function until it can finally provide the second function, that of liberation, for the purusha. Liberation is a result of discriminatory wisdom (viveka khyati). At that point the intellect ceases to function as we have been able to remove avidya (ignorance). This sequence can be summed up as follows: bondage to the cycle of birth and death is caused by ignorance (avidya), ignorance is removed by knowledge, the discriminatory wisdom, and then intellect having performed is last act, ceases to function and the state of kaivalya – total freedom – ensues. Vyasa, in his commentary, emphasizes that intellect and knowledge are not the direct cause of liberation, but by removing ignorance, they are the indirect cause.
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