3.24 · The Elephant's Strength

Saṃyama on strengths gives the strength of an elephant and the like.

Word by word

baleṣu

on strengths

hasti-bala-ādīni

the strength of an elephant and the like

Where it fits

From inner strengths to outer ones: saṃyama on the strength of an elephant gives that strength. It is the principle of 1.41 at work, the mind taking on what it rests on. This closes the first run of results; 3.25 turns to light and to knowledge of what cannot be seen.

Reading

Saṃyama on a strength gives that strength: an elephant's, and so on. Vyāsa extends the list to the strength of Garuḍa, the great bird, and of the wind. The mind takes on what it fully absorbs, as 1.41 said of the clear jewel that takes the colour of what it rests on. Patañjali states this as a power. One way to read this today: we grow like what we attend to. Choose with care the strengths you study.

Vyāsa

“Through saṃyama on the strength of an elephant, one gains the strength of an elephant. Through saṃyama on the strength of Vainateya [Garuḍa], the strength of Vainateya. Through saṃyama on the strength of the wind, the strength of the wind.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 253.

Practice

Choose one strength you lack and admire elsewhere: the steadiness of an old tree, a grandparent's patience, the persistence of water. Spend five minutes attending closely to it. Then do one task today in that manner.

A question to sit with

Whose strength are you studying?

Key ideas

saṃyama (holding together), siddhi (powers), samāpatti (coalescence)