2.22 Although Creation is discerned as not real for the one who has achieved the goal, it is yet real in that Creation remains the common experience to others.

When the yogi reaches higher states of consciousness, the sameness of everything is revealed. There are a couple of perspectives on this Sutra that I would like to share.

The first perspective is called Samkya Yoga. This branch of Yoga asserts that the world is a very real place and our perception that molds the objective world. This tradition has it’s foundations in dualism, which states that reality has two facets: the inner world in the outer world. We do have control of the outer world through our physical interactions, but our subjective perception will never reach beyond what we cognize in our brain. When we break the bonds that symbolism has on our minds, we then see the world for what it truly is. Please read my article about

Deconstructing Symbolism

The second point of view is traditional Sanatana Dharma. The world as we perceive it is an illusion. The Hindu creation story states that in the beginning, the universe awakened as God began to take physical form. From this one form, countless other forms took shape. The soul is one of these forms. As time passes, God begins to fall back asleep and the countless pieces begin to merge back into the whole. The Hindus state that we are all part of God's dream, put here for the purpose of experiencing ourselves. Our goal, over the course of many incarnations, is to wake up from this dream and become one with whole again.

Whichever perspective we take, the outcome is the same. Sutra 2.22 tells us that subjectivity can become objectivity. Think of perspective like a bubble that expands as awareness grows. Eventually the bubble expands and overlaps with other’s awareness.

In my opinion, this is the only way we will end war, poverty, racism and other ills that plague modern society. It's impossible for us to get on the same page when we are stuck in our own little bubbles. If we all realized the sameness of everything, there would be nothing to fight over.