3.20 · The Lit Lattice

But not of what that thought rests on, since that is not the object of saṃyama.

Word by word

na

not

ca

but, and

tat

that

sālambanam

together with what it rests on

tasya

of it

aviṣayī-bhūtatvāt

because it has not become the object

Where it fits

A limit on 3.19. The yogi perceives the other's thought, not what it rests on, because only the thought was the object of saṃyama. Vyāsa's reason states a rule for the whole list: saṃyama yields knowledge of its object and no more (p. 249). Woods notes that Vijñānabhikṣu omits this sūtra.

Reading

That knowledge has a limit. One perceives the other's thought, not what it rests on. Vyāsa: the yogin knows the other's thought is coloured, but not by what object, since that object was never the target of saṃyama. You can know someone is upset without knowing why. Woods notes that the commentator Vijñānabhikṣu leaves this sūtra out, so his numbering of the rest of the pāda differs by one.

Vyāsa

“The yogi knows that the thought is coloured by passion, but does not know what object it is passion for. What another's thought rests on has not been made an object of the yogi's own mind.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 249.

Practice

Next time you sense someone is upset, don't fill in the reason. Say what you notice ('You seem tired today') and ask. Compare their answer with the reason you would have guessed.

A question to sit with

What are you assuming about the cause?

Where commentators disagree

Is 3.20 a sūtra at all, and what limit does it set on knowing another's mind?

Vyāsa

The yogin knows that the other's idea is coloured, but not by what object; the other's object never becomes the support of the yogin's mind, only the other's idea does. (Woods 1914, p. 249)

Vācaspati Miśra

Contrasts this with 3.18: saṃyama on one's own impressions reveals them with their circumstances, but this saṃyama has the other's mind as its object 'and nothing more'. (Woods 1914, p. 250)

Vijñānabhikṣu

Does not count these words as a sūtra but reads them as part of Vyāsa's commentary, so his numbering of the rest of Pāda III differs. (Woods 1914, p. 249, n. 2; Jha 1907, p. 112)

Bhoja

The object is unknown only because it was not made the object of saṃyama. If the yogin performs saṃyama to discover what the other's mind rests on, knowledge of that object also arises. (Tatya 1885, p. 112; Mitra 1883, wisdomlib on 3.20)

Key ideas

siddhi (powers), saṃyama (holding together), citta (the mind-field)