III. Vibhūti Pāda · Mastery of elements and senses (3.44–3.48)
3.48 · Swift as Thought
From that comes speed like the mind, the senses working free of the body, and mastery of nature.
Word by word
- tataḥ
- from that
- mano-javitvam
- swiftness like the mind
- vikaraṇa-bhāvaḥ
- the senses' working apart from the body
- pradhāna-jayaḥ
- mastery of nature (prakṛti)
- ca
- and
Where it fits
Mastery of the senses (3.47) yields three powers: speed like the mind, senses working free of the body, and mastery of pradhāna, nature itself. Vyāsa calls them 'honey-faced' (p. 282). With nature mastered, what remains is what is not nature, the subject of 3.49.
Reading
From mastery of the senses come three powers: the body moves as fast as the mind, the senses work apart from the body, at any place or time, and nature itself, pradhāna, the root of all things, is mastered. Vyāsa says these three are called 'honey-faced', madhupratīka. Sweet as they are, they are not the goal: 3.50 says the seeds of bondage end only when one lets go even of these.
Vyāsa
“Speed like the mind means that the body gains unsurpassed movement. … Mastery of nature is command over all its sources and their products. These three powers are called 'honey-faced' (madhupratīka).”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 282.
Practice
Notice how fast your mind travels. In ten seconds let it go to your childhood home, then to tomorrow, then to a far city. Then bring it back to this room and name five things that were here all along.
A question to sit with
Where does your mind go when you are not watching it?