Knower and Knowable vs Same and Other

i put Venus on Far Side for the title of yesterday's post, but never explained why.  if you check the ephemeris you will see that venus was 30 behind the Sun Feb 8 and now it is less than 23 degrees behind.  That means it is circling around to the far side of the Sun from Earth.  In the chart, it won't pass the Sun till June 6/7.  When we see it passing the Sun in the chart that means it is full or lined up on the far side of the Sun with Earth.

one of my long term projects is memorizing the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  i am on #40 of the first pada which is kind of like section or chapter.  i think they say pada means foot but i might not remember that correctly.  there are 4 padas.

this sutra #40 is one of the longer ones, about 10 words.  oops  i see it is sutra 41 not 40.  it goes like this:

 ksina (totally weakened)

vrtter (mental modifications)

     i think by mental modifications they mean something like thoughts

abhijatasyeva (naturally pure)

    i think abhija might mean without seed *

maner (crystal)
grahitr (knower)
grahana (knowable)
grahyesu (knowledge)
tatstha (similar)
tadanjanata (taking the color of)
samapatti (samadhi or balanced state)

i really don't get it but i believe i will.  what strikes me now is the similarity between this knower and knowable mediated by knowledge and the concept in Plato's Timeaus of the same the other and something that mediates the two.  i can't remember what it was.

this is an example of how Plato and Socrates seem like such spiritual guys to me.  i often see such similarities between their ideas and those outlined in the sutras.  even though they refer to Egypt (Plato and Socrates refer to Egyptian priests and their teaching a lot) i think they would agree that they learned a lot also from cultures even further east.

well i can't just dump that string of words without some explanation.  Here's the translation from the translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda:

Just as the naturally pure crystal assumes shapes and colors of objects placed near it, so the Yogi's mind, with its totallly weakened modifications, becomes clear and balanced and attains the state devoid of differentiation between knower, knowable, and knowledge.  This culmination of meditation is samadhi.

My mind is like the mouth of a rodent with teeth always growing.  it has to ahve something to chew on at all times.  these yoga sutras are the perfect diet for such an appetite.

* I had bhija mixed up with bijam.  Bijam translates as seed.