2.53 · Ready

And the mind becomes fit for concentration.

Word by word

dhāraṇāsu

for concentrations

ca

and

yogyatā

fitness, readiness

manasaḥ

of the mind

Where it fits

Vyāsa adds a second fruit with "furthermore" (Woods p. 197): the mind becomes fit for concentration, the sixth limb, defined at 3.1. He supports it by citing 1.34 on breathing out and holding the breath. Before concentration, one outer limb remains: withdrawal (2.54).

Reading

Vyāsa adds this second fruit of breath control with the word 'furthermore', and points back to 1.34, where breathing out and holding the breath steady the mind. A body that can sit and a breath that is steady have prepared the mind for concentration (3.1), the first of the inner limbs. One outer limb still remains: withdrawal of the senses (2.54–2.55). Fitness is a good word for this stage. It doesn't mean perfection; it means readiness, like a lamp filled and trimmed before it is lit.

Vyāsa

“Simply through the practice of breath control [the mind becomes fit for concentration], as the earlier sūtra says: 'Or by breathing out and holding the breath.'”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 197.

Practice

After breathing practice, choose one point, such as the breath at the nostrils, and stay with it for one minute. Is it easier than it is without the breathing first?

A question to sit with

What are you now ready for?

Key ideas

prāṇāyāma (breath control), saṃyama (holding together), citta (the mind-field)