1.17 · Four Flooded Terraces

Absorption with an object is accompanied by the forms of coarse thought, subtle thought, bliss and the sense 'I am'.

Word by word

vitarka

coarse thought: the mind's coarse engagement with its object (Vyāsa)

vicāra

subtle thought: its subtle engagement

ānanda

bliss, joy

asmitā

the sense 'I am'

rūpa

form

anugamāt

from being accompanied by

saṃprajñātaḥ

absorption with knowing; with an object

Where it fits

With the two means in place, Vyāsa asks how the absorption that follows is to be described (Woods p. 40). The first kind keeps an object. Its four stages run from coarse to subtle, a ladder that 1.42–1.44 refine as coalescence. 1.18 names the other kind.

Reading

Absorption that still has an object comes in four layers. First vitarka, coarse thought, which Vyāsa defines as the mind's coarse engagement with its object. Then vicāra, subtle thought, the subtle engagement. Then ānanda, bliss. Then asmitā, the bare sense 'I am'. Vyāsa explains that each stage drops one element: the first has all four, the second has lost coarse thought, the third subtle thought too, the fourth even bliss. Sūtras 1.42–1.44 refine the first two. Some translators give 'reasoning' and 'reflection', but Vyāsa defines both by ābhoga, which Woods renders 'direct-experience': a taking-in of the object, not an argument.

Vyāsa

“Vitarka is the mind's coarse engagement with its object. Vicāra is the subtle one. Bliss is delight. The sense of 'I am' is awareness of a single self.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 40.

Practice

Look at a stone or a leaf for two minutes, noticing shape and colour. Then two minutes on texture and the finest detail. Then notice any quiet pleasure in attending. Finally, for a minute, notice only that you are here, looking.

A question to sit with

Which layer is your attention resting on?

Where commentators disagree

What are the objects of the four stages of absorption with an object?

Vyāsa

Vitarka is the mind's coarse (sthūla) direct experience of its object, vicāra the subtle one, ānanda is joy, and asmitā is a sense of the self as one. Each stage drops one element: the first has all four, the last has asmitā alone. (Woods 1914, p. 40)

Vācaspati Miśra

Maps the stages onto known, knowing and knower. Vitarka and vicāra take coarse and subtle objects; ānanda takes the sense organs as its object, which are pleasant because they arise from sattva; asmitā takes the knower as its object. (Woods 1914, p. 41)

Bhoja

Puts the senses with the gross elements under vitarka, and the subtle elements and the inner organ under vicāra. Ānanda is meditation on sattva still mixed with some rajas and tamas; asmitā is meditation on pure sattva, where only bare existence remains. (Tatya 1885, pp. 14–15)

Key ideas

samādhi (absorption)