III. Vibhūti Pāda · Transformations (3.9–3.15)
3.9 · The Water Clock
The transformation of stilling: impressions of going outward give way, impressions of stilling appear, and the mind is pervaded by the moment of stilling.
Word by word
- vyutthāna
- going outward, emergence
- nirodha
- stilling
- saṃskārayoḥ
- of the two kinds of latent impression
- abhibhava
- giving way, being overpowered
- prādurbhāvau
- and appearing
- nirodha-kṣaṇa
- the moment of stilling
- citta
- the mind
- anvayaḥ
- pervading, being joined with
- nirodha-pariṇāmaḥ
- the transformation of stilling
Where it fits
Vyāsa opens this passage with a question: since the guṇas are always moving, what change happens in a mind that is stilled (p. 208)? The answer is the first of three transformations. Vyāsa ties it to 1.18, the mind in which only latent impressions remain. 3.10 says how that stillness lasts.
Reading
Sūtras 3.9 to 3.12 describe how the mind changes, because it never stops changing, even when still. The first change is stilling (1.2). Two kinds of latent impression compete: the habit of going outward and the habit of stilling. In each moment of stillness the first gives way a little and the second grows. Vyāsa notes that outward impressions are not thoughts, so silencing thoughts does not silence them. Only many moments of stilling can.
Vyāsa
“The latent impressions of going outward are qualities of the mind. They are not thoughts, so they are not stilled when thoughts are stilled. … That is, the latent impressions of going outward wane, and the latent impressions of stilling are laid down.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 209.
Practice
Sit for five minutes. Each time the mind settles for even one breath, mark it silently: 'one moment'. Don't judge the gaps between. At the end, consider that each marked moment has left a trace that makes the next one easier.
A question to sit with
Which habit are you feeding: going outward or coming to rest?
Key ideas
nirodha (stilling), saṃskāra (latent impressions), citta (the mind-field)