अतीतानागतज्ञानम् ...

Patanjal Yoga-Sutra : vibhUtipada -- 16+18

पातञ्जल योग-सूत्र : विभूतिपाद -- १६+१८,

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परिणामत्रयसंयमादतीतानागतज्ञानम्।।१६।।

संस्कारसाक्षात्करणात् पूर्वजातिज्ञानम्।।१८।।

Though the two  योग-सूत्र / Aphorisms have been already dealt with, how I interpreted them together some three years ago was like this :

अतीत is the past, अनागत is the future,

The simple meaning is that the past life and the future life of a man could be known by reading the two together, with regards to his present life. 

How one goes through in life may point out that in the past life he might have thought of or desired the life that he is presently living.

That is so, because the next life depends on what state of mind one has, at the time of death. According to :

श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता / अध्याय ८,

Shrimadbhagvadgita / Chapter 8 : 

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्।।

यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः।।५।।

यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्जत्यन्ते कलेवरम्।।

तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय तदा तद्भावभावितः।। ६।।

तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च।।

मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्मामेवेष्यस्यसंशयः।।७।।

The next life depends on according to the state of one's mind at the time of death.

Now the Aphorism 16 viewed in this light suggests what one had in mind while one died in the past birth. That could explain how / why one is born in certain situation,  conditions, family and to parents, while the another in quite different another situation, conditions, family and to parents. Because this was there in one's mind. So just looking at one's life it could be understood what kind of one's state of mind had been at the time of death in the previous life.

There are people extremely rich or poor, or of another kind.

Accordingly we can also see and think that when someone dies the state of one's mind may point out how one will be living in the next life. If one dies in anxiety, fear, hope or such state of mind maybe such a one be like this in the next life.

This is how I tried to interpret together these two योग-सूत्र / Aphorisms.

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