1.45 · The Unmarked Horizon

And the subtlety of objects reaches as far as the unmanifest.

Word by word

sūkṣma-viṣayatvam

the subtlety of objects

ca

and

aliṅga

the unmanifest, that which has no mark

paryavasānam

ending in, reaching as far as

Where it fits

1.44 introduced subtle objects; this sets their limit at the unmanifest, nature in its root state. Vyāsa adds that the self is subtle too, but in another way, since it is not the material cause of things (Woods p. 91). The line between nature and the seer is drawn fully at 2.17–2.25.

Reading

How subtle can an object of absorption become? Following the Sāṃkhya chain of causes back from the elements, through the subtle elements, the sense of I and the intellect, it reaches aliṅga, 'without a mark': unmanifest nature, prakṛti in its root state. Vyāsa says that beyond this there is nothing subtler. He grants that the self is also subtle, but in a different way, since it is not the material things are made of. That line between nature and the seer runs through the whole text.

Vyāsa

“The subtle object even of the barely manifest is the unmanifest. Beyond the unmanifest there is nothing subtler. 'But surely the self is subtle?' True.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 91.

Practice

Take an object near you and trace it backward: what it is made of, where that came from, and further, until you can go no further. Sit for two minutes at the point where your tracing stops.

A question to sit with

Where do your explanations run out?

Key ideas

prakṛti (nature, the seen), samāpatti (coalescence), puruṣa (the seer, the self)