2.43 · Gold in the Fire

From discipline, as impurity wears away, comes perfection of body and senses.

Word by word

kāya

body

indriya

senses

siddhiḥ

perfection

aśuddhi

impurity

kṣayāt

through the wearing away of

tapasaḥ

from discipline; from heat

Where it fits

Third observance, and the first of the three from 2.1. Discipline wears away impurity, as 2.28 said of all the limbs, and perfects body and senses. Vyāsa names powers such as becoming minute and hearing from afar (Woods p. 189), which the third pāda takes up. Study follows (2.44).

Reading

Tapas literally means heat: the friction of choosing what is hard, such as rising early or sitting through discomfort. Vyāsa says that discipline, even as it is carried out, destroys the impurity that covers the mind. Gold is purified in fire, and so is practice. He understands the perfection that follows as the powers of Pāda III: a body that can become minute, senses that can hear and see from afar. On any reading, tapas refines; it is not punishment.

Vyāsa

“Discipline, even as it is being carried out, destroys the stain of impurity that covers [the mind]. When that covering stain is gone, the body is perfected, with powers such as becoming minute; and the senses are perfected, with powers such as hearing and seeing from afar.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 189.

Practice

Choose one small, safe discomfort today, such as an earlier start, a cool rinse at the end of your shower, or a whole day without complaining, and accept it with good humour. Leave food out of it, and stop if anything hurts.

A question to sit with

What heat would refine you?

Key ideas

kriyā-yoga (the yoga of action), siddhi (powers), aṣṭāṅga (the eight limbs)