I. Samādhi Pāda · Coalescence (1.40–1.46)
1.46 · The Lotus Pod
These indeed are absorption with a seed.
Word by word
- tāḥ
- these
- eva
- indeed, only
- sabījaḥ
- with seed
- samādhiḥ
- absorption
Where it fits
The four coalescences of 1.42–1.44 are named absorption with a seed; Vyāsa says the seed is an outer thing (Woods p. 92). The name implies its opposite, absorption without a seed, which 1.51 reaches. First 1.47–1.50 show what the highest seeded state yields.
Reading
The word 'seed' praises these states and limits them at once. Vyāsa says the seed of the four coalescences of 1.42–1.44 is an external object. Other readers take 'seed' as the latent impressions that can sprout into new movement; either way, these states are not yet the end. They are real achievements, and still they rest on something. 1.51 describes absorption without a seed, and 3.8 recalls the distinction for the inner limbs.
Vyāsa
“These four coalescences have an outer thing as their seed, so the absorption too has a seed. Of them, 'with coarse thought' and 'beyond coarse thought' take a gross object; 'with subtle thought' and 'beyond subtle thought' a subtle one.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 92.
Practice
After any quiet moment today, ask what it rested on: a sound, the breath, a feeling of peace. Notice that even the calmest state had an object. Write it down, without judging it.
A question to sit with
What is your calm still resting on?