2.4 · The Field

Ignorance is the field of the others, whether they are dormant, thin, interrupted or fully active.

Word by word

avidyā

ignorance

kṣetram

field; the ground things grow in

uttareṣām

of the others that follow

prasupta

dormant, asleep

tanu

thin

vicchinna

interrupted, held back

udārāṇām

fully active, in full flower

Where it fits

Before defining the afflictions one by one, the text ranks them: ignorance is the soil of the other four. Their four states show what practice works on, from thinned (2.2) to fully active. Vyāsa adds a fifth state, seeds burned by insight that can no longer sprout (Woods p. 107). Ignorance is defined next (2.5).

Reading

Ignorance is the field the other four grow in. Patañjali gives four states an affliction can be in: dormant like a seed in winter ground, thinned by practice, interrupted (held back for now while another one is active), or in full flower. Knowing the state helps. A dormant affliction needs no fight, only care about what you water. A fully active one needs the practices of the next sūtras.

Vyāsa

“Because Caitra is in love with one woman, it does not follow that he has no desire for other women. Rather, his attachment has found its movement there; toward others its movement is still to come.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 107.

Practice

Pick one affliction you know well. Is it dormant, thin, interrupted or fully active right now? Write down what conditions wake it up.

A question to sit with

What lies dormant in your field that could wake?

Where commentators disagree

Where are 'dormant' afflictions found, and who has 'thinned' ones?

Vyāsa

A dormant affliction is one that lies in the mind as a seed and wakes when it meets its object. Afflictions are thinned by cultivating their opposites. Only in one who has reached the highest insight are they burnt seeds that cannot sprout. (Woods 1914, p. 107)

Vācaspati Miśra

His example of dormant afflictions is the 'discarnate' and those merged in nature (1.19): beings in a state close to freedom whose afflictions sleep as seeds until their time runs out, and then return. (Woods 1914, p. 108)

Bhoja

His example of the dormant is a child, whose afflictions are present as deposits but have nothing yet to wake them. The thinned afflictions are those of the practising yogi. (Tatya 1885, p. 52; Mitra 1883, wisdomlib on 2.4)

Key ideas

avidyā (ignorance), kleśa (afflictions), saṃskāra (latent impressions)