3.46 · The Diamond Body

Perfection of the body is beauty, grace, strength and diamond-hard firmness.

Word by word

rūpa

beauty, form

lāvaṇya

grace

bala

strength

vajra-saṃhananatvāni

the firmness of the vajra, diamond or thunderbolt

kāya-saṃpat

perfection of the body

Where it fits

A definition for 3.45: perfection of the body is beauty, grace, strength and diamond-hard firmness. It echoes 2.43, where discipline perfects body and senses. With the elements mastered, Patañjali turns in 3.47 to the senses that perceive them.

Reading

The vajra of this sūtra means both diamond and thunderbolt. Patañjali defines the perfection of the body promised in 3.45, and Vyāsa repeats it: handsome, attractive, unequalled in power, compact as the thunderbolt. It echoes 2.43, where discipline perfects the body and senses. It sits oddly beside 2.40's distance from the body, and the honest reading holds both: the body is cared for and made strong, and it is still not the self.

Vyāsa

“He is beautiful to look at, radiant, of surpassing strength, and as firmly knit as a diamond.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 280.

Practice

Stand still for two minutes with your feet firmly on the ground. Feel the strength your body has today, as it is, without comparing it to any ideal. Then do one thing that cares for it: stretch, drink water, rest.

A question to sit with

How do you care for the body you have?

Key ideas

siddhi (powers)