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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Book 1 - The Problem of Union
19. The samadhi just described passes not beyond the bounds of the phenomenal world; it passes not beyond the Gods and those concerned with the concrete world. It should be noted here that the results achieved in the processes dealt with in sutras seventeen and eighteen only carry the aspirant to the edge of the realm of the soul, to the new field of knowledge of which he has become aware. He is still confined to the three worlds. All that he has succeeded in doing is stilling the modifications of [38] the mental body so that for the first time the man (on the physical plane and in his physical brain) becomes cognizant of what lies beyond those three worlds - that is, the soul, its range of vision and its knowledge. He has yet to strengthen his link with the soul (dealt with in sutras twenty-three to twenty-eight) and then having transferred his consciousness into that of the real or spiritual man, he must begin working from that new standpoint or vantage point. The idea has been expressed by some translators as the condition in which the aspirant becomes aware "of the rain cloud of knowable things." The raincloud has not precipitated sufficiently for the rain to fall from heavenly heights onto the physical plane or for the "knowable things" to become known to the physical brain. The cloud is perceived as the result of intense concentration and the stilling of the lower modifications, but until the soul or Master has assumed control the knowledge of the soul cannot be poured into the physical brain via the sixth sense, the mind. The science of yoga is a real science and only as students approach it by the correct stages and employ the scientific methods, will the true samadhi or realization be achieved.
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