III. Vibhūti Pāda · Knowing the self (3.35–3.37)
3.37 · The Glittering Detour
These are obstacles to absorption, though powers to the outward-turned mind.
Word by word
- te
- these
- samādhau
- in absorption
- upasargāḥ
- obstacles, troubles
- vyutthāne
- in the outward-turned mind
- siddhayaḥ
- powers, accomplishments
Where it fits
The pāda's key warning. The gifts of 3.36 are obstacles in absorption and powers only to the outward-turned mind; Vyāsa says they work against its seeing (p. 265–266). He applies it to 3.36, and many readers extend it to every power in the pāda. 3.50–3.51 return to the theme.
Reading
This is the key that reads the rest of the chapter. The same experiences look like powers to the outward-turned mind and are obstacles to absorption. Vyāsa says they go against the seeing that belongs to the concentrated mind. Vyāsa takes 'these' as the gifts of 3.36; many later readers apply it to every power in the book. Sūtra 3.51 returns to the warning, and 4.1 lists other sources of powers. Whatever Patañjali claims for saṃyama, the powers are never the goal.
Vyāsa
“Intuition and the rest, when they arise in a mind in absorption, are obstacles, because they work against its seeing. When they arise in an outward-turned mind, they are powers.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 265–266.
Practice
Name one thing you are quietly proud of in your practice or your work: a skill, a reputation, a good result. Ask, 'Does this serve the aim, or has it become the aim?' Write one sentence in answer.
A question to sit with
What success is pulling you off the path?
Where commentators disagree
Which powers are 'obstacles', and are they of any worth outside absorption?
- Vyāsa
- 'These' are the intuition and the supernal senses of 3.36. In the concentrated mind they are obstacles because they go against its seeing; in the outward-turned mind they are perfections. (Woods 1914, pp. 265–266)
- Vācaspati Miśra
- Someone who gains these powers may think his work is done and stop. Only the outward-turned mind prizes them, as a man born poor counts a little money a fortune; the yogin who seeks the end of suffering must avoid them even when they come near. (Woods 1914, p. 266)
- Bhoja
- They are obstacles in meditation because the joy and wonder they bring slacken it. In ordinary active life they are true perfections, because they yield the results people want. (Tatya 1885, p. 124; Mitra 1883, wisdomlib on 3.37)