III. Vibhūti Pāda · Inner maps (3.25–3.34)
3.27 · The Moon's Star-Map
On the moon, knowledge of the arrangement of the stars.
Word by word
- candre
- on the moon
- tārā-vyūha
- the arrangement of the stars
- jñānam
- knowledge
Where it fits
The sky continues. After the sun's worlds (3.26), saṃyama on the moon gives knowledge of the arrangement of the stars. Vyāsa's whole comment is one sentence (p. 260). The series moves from the brightest light to the stars around it, and 3.28 adds their motion.
Reading
After the sun's worlds, attention turns to the moon. Vyāsa's whole comment is one sentence restating the sūtra. In India the moon has long been the sky's clock: the stars were learned by its path through the twenty-seven lunar mansions, the nakṣatras. Where 3.26 looked at one great light and saw the worlds, this sūtra looks at the moon and sees its setting. Steady attention on one light shows the pattern around it.
Vyāsa
“Through saṃyama on the moon, one would come to know the arrangement of the stars.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 260.
Practice
On a clear night, find the moon and note two or three bright stars near it. Look again at the same time tomorrow night. The moon will have moved about a hand's width east against them. Watch for a few nights.
A question to sit with
What pattern surrounds the light you are watching?