3.47 · The Senses Traced Home

Saṃyama on the senses' grasping, essence, I-am-ness, connection and purpose gives mastery of the senses.

Word by word

grahaṇa

grasping, the act of perceiving

svarūpa

essential nature

asmitā

I-am-ness

anvaya

connection, inherence

arthavattva

purpose

saṃyamāt

from saṃyama

indriya-jayaḥ

mastery of the senses

Where it fits

The mirror of 3.44. The elements were the seen; the senses are the instruments of seeing. Each is traced through five aspects: grasping, essence, I-am-ness, connection with the guṇas, and purpose. Vyāsa says saṃyama on these, one after another, brings mastery of the senses (p. 281).

Reading

This sūtra mirrors 3.44. There the elements, the things seen, were known in five layers. Here the senses, the instruments of seeing, are traced back the same way: the act of perceiving; the sense itself; the I-am-ness from which, in Sāṃkhya, the senses arise; the guṇas (lightness, activity, inertia); and the purpose they serve, which is the self. Vyāsa says saṃyama is made on these one after another, and mastery of the senses follows.

Vyāsa

“Saṃyama is made on these five forms of the senses, one after another. Having mastered each in turn, the yogi masters all five forms, and from that comes mastery of the senses.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 281.

Practice

Look at one object for a minute. Then step back through five layers: the seeing; the eyes doing it; the 'I' that claims 'I see'; the mood colouring the seeing; and finally ask, for whom is all this seeing happening? Sit quietly with the question.

A question to sit with

Who is it all for?

Key ideas

saṃyama (holding together), guṇa (strands of nature), siddhi (powers), prakṛti (nature, the seen)