Pada 1

Question 1

1.1

Answer 1

Now, the teachings of yoga [are presented]

Question 2

1.2

Answer 2

Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind.

Question 3

1.3

Answer 3

When that is accomplished, the seer abides in its own true nature.

Question 4

1.4

Answer 4

Otherwise, at other times, [the seer] is absorbed in the changing states [of the mind].

Question 5

1.5

Answer 5

There are five kinds of changing states of the mind, and they are either detrimental or nondetrimental [to the practice of yoga]

Question 6

1.6

Answer 6

[These five vṛttis are] right knowledge, error, imagination, sleep, and memory.

Question 7

1.7

Answer 7

Right knowledge consists of sense perception, logic, and verbal testimony.

Question 8

1.8

Answer 8

Error is false knowledge stemming from the incorrect apprehension [of something].

Question 9

1.9

Answer 9

Metaphor consists of the usage of words that are devoid of an actual object.

Question 10

1.10

Answer 10

Deep sleep is that state of mind which is based on an absence [of any content].

Question 11

1.11

Answer 11

Memory is the retention of [images of] sense objects that have been experienced.

Question 12

1.12

Answer 12

[The vṛtti states of mind] are stilled by practice and dispassion.

Question 13

1.13

Answer 13

From these, practice is the effort to be fixed in concentrating the mind.

Question 14

1.14

Answer 14

Practice becomes firmly established when it has been cultivated uninterruptedly and with devotion over a prolonged period of time.

Question 15

1.15

Answer 15

Dispassion is the controlled consciousness of one who is without craving for sense objects, whether these are actually perceived, or described [in scripture].

Question 16

1.16

Answer 16

Higher than renunciation is indifference to the guṇas [themselves]. This stems from perception of the peruṣa, soul.

Question 17

1.17

Answer 17

Samprajñāta [samādhi] consists of [the consecutive] mental stages of absorption with physical awareness, absorption with subtle awareness, absorption with bliss, and absorption of the sense of I-ness.

Question 18

1.18

Answer 18

The other samādhi [asamprajñāta-samādhi] is preceded by cultivating the determination to terminate [all thoughts]. [In this state] only latent impressions remain.

Question 19

1.19

Answer 19

For [some], those who are unembodied and those who are merged in matter, [the state of samprajñāta is characterized] by absorption in [subtle] states of prakṛti.

Question 20

1.20

Answer 20

[But] for others, [the state where only subconscious impressions remain] is preceded by faith, vigor, memory, samādhi absorption, and discernment.

Question 21

1.21

Answer 21

[This state of samprajñāta] is near for those who apply themselves intensely.

Question 22

1.22

Answer 22

Even among these, there is further differentiation [of this intensity into degrees of] mild, mediocre, and ardent.

Question 23

1.23

Answer 23

Or, [this previously mentioned state is attainable] from devotion to the Lord.

Question 24

1.24

Answer 24

The Lord is a special soul. He is untouched by the obstacles [to the practice of yoga], karma, the fructification [of karma], and subconscious predispositions.

Question 25

1.25

Answer 25

In him, the seed of omniscience is unsurpassed.

Question 26

1.26

Answer 26

Īśvara was also the teacher of the ancients, because he is not limited by Time.

Question 27

1.27

Answer 27

The name designating him is the mystical syllable oṁ.

Question 28

1.28

Answer 28

.Its repetition and the contemplation of its meaning [should be performed].

Question 29

1.29

Answer 29

From this comes the realization of the inner consciousness and freedom from all disturbances.

Question 30

1.30

Answer 30

These disturbances are disease, idleness, doubt, carelessness, sloth, lack of detachment, misapprehension, failure to attain a base for concentration, and instability. They are distractions for the mind.

Question 31

1.31

Answer 31

Suffering, dejection, trembling, inhalation and exhalation accompany the distractions.

Question 32

1.32

Answer 32

Practice [of fixing the mind] on one object [should be performed] in order to eliminate these disturbances.

Question 33

1.33

Answer 33

By cultivation an attitude of friendship toward those who are happy, compassion toward those in distress; joy toward those who are virtuous, and equanimity toward those who are non-virtuous, lucidity arises in the mind.

Question 34

1.34

Answer 34

Or [stability of mind is gained] by exhaling and retaining the breath.

Question 35

1.35

Answer 35

Or else, focus on a sense object arises, and this causes steadiness of the mind.

Question 36

1.36

Answer 36

Or [steadiness of mind is gained when] the mind is pain free and luminous.

Question 37

1.37

Answer 37

Or [the mind can become steady when it has] one who is free from desire as its object

Question 38

1.38

Answer 38

Or [the mind becomes steady when it has] the knowledge attained from sleep and dreams as its support.

Question 39

1.39

Answer 39

Or [steadiness of the mind is attained] from meditation upon anything of one’s inclination.

Question 40

1.40

Answer 40

The yogīs mastery extends from the smallest particle of matter to the totality of matter.

Question 41

1.41

Answer 41

Samāpatti, complete absorption of the mind when it is free from its vṛttis, occurs when the mind becomes just like a transparent jewel, taking the form of whatever object is placed before it, whether the object be the knower, the instrument of knowledge, or the object of knowledge.

Question 42

1.42

Answer 42

In this stage, savitakra-samāpatti, “samādhi absorption with physical awareness” is intermixed with the notions of word, meaning, and idea.

Question 43

1.43

Answer 43

Nirvitarka [samāpatti], “absorption without conceptualization,” occurs when memory has been purged and the mind is empty, as it were, of its own [reflective] nature. Now only the object [of meditation] shines forth [in its own right].

Question 44

1.44

Answer 44

The states of samādhi with “subtle awareness” and without “subtle awareness,” whose objects of focus are the subtle nature [of things], are explained in the same manner.

Question 45

1.45

Answer 45

The subtle nature of things extends all the way up to prakṛti.

Question 46

1.46

Answer 46

These above mentioned samāpatti states are [known as] samādhi meditative absorption “with seed”.

Question 47

1.47

Answer 47

Upon attaining the clarity of nirvicāra-samādhi there is lucidity of the inner self.

Question 48

1.48

Answer 48

In that state, there is truth-bearing wisdom.

Question 49

1.49

Answer 49

It [seedless samādhi] has a different focus from that of inference and sacred scripture, because it has the particularity of things as its object.

Question 50

1.50

Answer 50

The saṁskāras born out of that [truth-bearing wisdom] obstruct other saṁskāras [from emerging].

Question 51

1.51

Answer 51

Upon the cessation of even those [truth-bearing saṁskāras], nirbīja-samādhi, seedless meditative absorption, ensues.