2.52 · Mist Lifting

Then the covering over the light wears away.

Word by word

tataḥ

from that

kṣīyate

wears away, dwindles

prakāśa

light

āvaraṇam

covering

Where it fits

The first fruit of breath control (2.49–2.51). Vyāsa identifies the covering as karma that binds one to rebirth, weakening moment by moment (Woods p. 196). It fulfils, for this limb, 2.28's promise that the limbs wear away impurity, and the same words return at 3.43. A second fruit follows (2.53).

Reading

This is the first fruit of breath control, and Vyāsa names the covering: the karma that hides discerning knowledge and binds one to the round of rebirth. Through the practice of breath control it grows weak and wears away moment by moment. He quotes a saying: there is no discipline higher than breath control. The light was always there; the breath clears what hides it. The same phrase returns at 3.43, one of the threads that tie the text together.

Vyāsa

“So, through the practice of breath control, the karma that covers his light and binds him to the round of rebirth grows weak, and wears away moment by moment. As it has been said: 'There is no discipline higher than breath control. From it come the washing away of impurities and the shining of knowledge.'”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 196.

Practice

Do five minutes of slow, easy breathing, then look at something beautiful nearby for one minute. Notice whether you see it more clearly.

A question to sit with

What would you see if the mist lifted?

Where commentators disagree

Does breath control remove what covers the light, or only weaken it?

Vyāsa

In one who practises prāṇāyāma, the karma that covers discriminating knowledge dwindles away, moment by moment. He quotes: 'There is no austerity higher than prāṇāyāma; from it come purity and the shining of knowledge.' (Woods 1914, p. 196)

Vācaspati Miśra

The covering is the afflictions and wrongdoing. Breath control makes it powerless but does not make it dwindle away entirely, so tapas is still needed. (Woods 1914, p. 196)

Bhoja

By the fourth kind of prāṇāyāma, the covering made of the afflictions, which veils the light of the mind's sattva, is destroyed. (Tatya 1885, p. 90; Mitra 1883, wisdomlib on 2.52)

Key ideas

prāṇāyāma (breath control), karma (action and its residue), prajñā (wisdom)