3.8 · The Threshold Lamp

Yet even they are outer limbs of absorption without a seed.

Word by word

tad

that

api

even

bahir-aṅgam

outer limb

nirbījasya

of the seedless (absorption)

Where it fits

The limit: even the inner three are outer to seedless absorption, the end point of pāda 1 (1.51). Vyāsa's reason is that seedless absorption occurs even when they are absent (p. 208). So saṃyama, the tool of this whole pāda, is not its goal. The pāda's close at 3.50 and 3.55 says the same.

Reading

Then a turn. Even these inner limbs are outer compared with seedless absorption (1.51), the stilling that holds no object at all. Vyāsa gives the reason in a line: seedless absorption occurs even when these three are absent. Saṃyama always holds something; the final stilling holds nothing. Patañjali keeps the student from mistaking the best tool for the destination. Practice brings you to the door. It cannot carry you through.

Vyāsa

“Yet even these three inner means are outer limbs of seedless yoga. Why? Because seedless yoga occurs even when they are absent.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 208.

Practice

At the end of a sitting today, let go of the object you were holding. For one or two minutes, hold nothing on purpose. If the mind grabs something, notice it and release it again. Then simply finish.

A question to sit with

What would it mean to let go of even your practice?

Key ideas

samādhi (absorption), saṃyama (holding together), nirodha (stilling)