PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
Sanskrit text with Translation and Commentary By
Swami Vivekananda
Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I - SAMADHI PADA
CHAPTER II - SADHANA PADA
CHAPTER III – VIBHOOTI PADA
Vibhooti Pada
Sutra
CHAPTER III – VIBHOOTI PADA THE CHAPTER OF POWERS
We have now come to the chapter which is called the Chapter of Powers.
1. deshabandhashchittasya dharana
Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object.
Dharana (concentration) is when the mind holds on to some
object, either in the body, or outside the body, and keeps itself in that state.
2. tatra pratyayaikatanata dhyanam
An unbroken flow of knowledge to that object is Dhyana.
The mind tries to think of one object, to hold itself to one
particular spot, as the top of the head, the heart, etc., and if the mind succeeds in receiving the sensations only through that part of the body, and through no other part, that would be Dharana, and when the mind succeeds in keeping itself in that state for some time it is called Dhyana (meditation).
3. tad evarthamatranirbhasan svaroopashoonyam iva samadhih When that, giving up all forms, reflects only the meaning, it is Samadhi.
That is, when in meditation all forms are given up. Suppose I were meditating on a book, and that I have gradually succeeded in concentrating the mind on it, and perceiving only the internal sensations, the meaning, unexpressed in any form, that state of Dhyana is called Samadhi.
4. trayam ekatra sanyamah
(These) three (when practised) in regard to one object is Samyama.
When a man can direct his mind to any particular object and fix it there, and then keep it there for a long time, separating the object from the internal part, this is Samyama; or Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi, one following the other, and making one. The form of the thing has vanished, and only its meaning remains in the mind.
5. tajjayat prajnaalokah
By the conquest of that comes light of knowledge.
When one has succeeded in making this Samyama, all powers come under his control. This is the great instrument of the Yogi. The object of knowledge are infinite, and they are divided into the gross, grosser, grossest, and the fine, finer, finest, and so on. This Samyama should be first applied to gross things, when when you begin to get knowledge of the gross, slowly, by stages, it should be brought to finer things.
6. tasya bhoomishu viniyogah That should be employed in stages.
This is a note of warning not to attempt to go too fast.
7. trayam antaranggan poorvebhyah
These three are nearer than those that precede.
Before these we had the Pranayama, the Asana, the Yama and Niyama; these are external parts of these three— Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi. Yet these latter even are external to the seedless Samadhi. When a man has attained to them he may attain to omniscience and omnipresence, but that would not be salvation. These three would not make the mind Nirvikalpa, changeless, but would leave the seeds for getting bodies again; only when the seeds are, as the Yogi says, “fried,” do they lose the possibility of producing further plants. These powers cannot fry the seed.
8. tad api bahiranggan nirbijasy But even they are external to the seedless (Samadhi).
Compared with that seedless Samadhi, therefore, even these are external. We have not yet reached the real Samadhi, the highest, but to a lower stage, in which this universe still exists as we see it, and in which are all these power.
9. vyutthananirodhasanskarayorabhibhavapradurbhavau nirodhakshannachittanvayo nirodhaparinamah
By the suppression of the disturbed modifications of the mind, and by the rise of modifications of control, the mind is said to attain the controlling modifications - following the controlling powers of the mind.
That is to say, in this first state of Samadhi, the modifications of the mind have been controlled, but not perfectly, because if they were, there would be no modifications. If there is a modification which impels the mind to rush out through the senses, and the Yogi tries to control it, that very control itself will be a modification. One wave will be checked by another wave, so it will not be real Samadhi, when all the waves have subsided, as control itself will be a wave. Yet this lower Samadhi is very much nearer to the higher Samadhi than when the mind comes bubbling out.
10. tasya prashantavahita sanskarat
Its flow becomes steady by habit.
The flow of this continuous control of the mind becomes
steady when practices day after day and the mind obtains the faculty of constant concentration.
Comments
Post a Comment