Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.44 (Parisamvad)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra Transcribed from Parisamvad at The Yoga Institute.

Chapter 1, Sutra 44

Etaya-Iva-Savichara –Nirvichara-Ca-Suksmavisaya-Vyakhyata

Etaya: by this
Iva: also
Savichara: accompanied by subtle thoughts
Nirvichara: devoid of subtle thoughts
Ca: and
Suksmavisaya: having subtle for their objects
Vyakhyata: are explained

The Engrossment , In Which There Is The Mixture Of Word, Its Meaning (i.e. The Object) And Its Knowledge, Is Known As Savitarka Samapati.

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Dr. Jayadeva Yogendra:

“We are talking about concentration and this has been divided extensively. There are gross things that you can easily make out and we are attracted to look at them possibly in some details. The details are many – the external appearance, the name and all that. We miss out a lot. Just as we meet someone and try to describe, we have very vague ideas. Then there is a subtler kind of concentration – where you go into the name, form , qualities. That way we believe we have understood. From a Yogic point of view that also is imperfect. There are many other details about an object that we are not able to understand.

In yoga the effort in the Samadhis is to go to the minutest details and that is when you really know, otherwise the knowledge is imperfect. The Yogi is able to control his mind and fix it on something for long duration. We see the exhibition of these things nowadays. There are people who can remember thousand things told to them in a hall for 3-4 hours and who can after that reproduce every single word that was told to them without a mistake. The capacity of the mind to hold on is unusual. It requires high concentration and total awareness.

So we have these techniques mentioned in the sutras. It is difficult for us to understand. The object of concentration may be gross, may be subtle but the capacity to hold on is important. That is not the objective. The objective is to transcend – no further concentration on objects – a stage where the mind is blank, without any object and can remain in that state for long. The mind itself undergoes a change. We see these exhibitions in which individual have that control, even nowadays. They have trained themselves. There are people who are called as Shatavadhani (can remember 100 things told to them) or better still Sahstravadhani (can remember 1000 things told to them). The ideal is a mind which can totally give itself to the object and understand it through and through and then put it aside, not hold on. This can go deep into the subconscious and can be useful – good memory.”

Smt. Hansaji J. Yogendra:

“There are two levels of concentration – gross and subtle. In gross there are two levels, in one there is name, meaning and knowledge about the object on which we are concentrating. In the other there is no name, meaning and knowledge. This is how the human mind can be trained systematically. All of a sudden you can’t get into subtlest things in life. First you have to start with gross and in gross also first with thought and then without thought. Then you go to the subtle thing to the source – so you know everything in detail. Finally it is knowledge which takes us out of all problems and suffering. We can’t get knowledge unless the mind is totally steady. When talking about knowledge we are not talking about information, we are talking about knowledge of life and for that we have to train our mind.”

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