1.16 · Past the Last Hill

The highest non-attachment comes from knowing the self: it is freedom from thirst for the guṇas themselves.

Word by word

tat

that (non-attachment)

param

highest

puruṣa-khyāteḥ

from knowing the self (puruṣa)

guṇa

the guṇas: sattva, rajas, tamas (lightness (or clarity), activity, inertia)

vaitṛṣṇyam

freedom from thirst

Where it fits

1.15 gave non-attachment toward objects. This gives its highest form, which rests on knowing the self and so looks ahead to the seer and the seen of 2.17–2.25. Vyāsa calls it the furthest limit of knowledge (Woods p. 38). In 1.18 he makes it the means to absorption without an object.

Reading

Ordinary non-attachment (1.15) turns away from particular objects. The highest kind comes from knowing the self, puruṣa, and has no thirst even for the guṇas: sattva, rajas and tamas, lightness (or clarity), activity, inertia, which make up every object, the mind included. Vyāsa says that the one in whom it dawns reflects: what was to be reached is reached, the afflictions are worn away, the chain of births is cut. He calls it the furthest limit of knowledge. Sūtra 3.50 returns to this letting go of even the highest attainments.

Vyāsa

“When it arises, the yogi in whom clear seeing has dawned thinks: 'What was to be reached has been reached. The afflictions that had to be worn away are worn away. The tightly linked chain of passing from life to life has been cut …' Non-attachment is simply the furthest limit of knowledge.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 38.

Practice

Sit for five minutes. Notice that pleasant states come and go too: calm, clarity, a good feeling about your practice. Let each one pass without holding on, exactly as you would an unpleasant one. Rest in what notices them.

A question to sit with

Can you let go even of what is good?

Key ideas

vairāgya (non-attachment), puruṣa (the seer, the self), guṇa (strands of nature), viveka (discernment)