4.17 · Lodestone and Iron

An object is known or unknown depending on whether it colours the mind.

Word by word

tat-uparāga

its colouring of the mind

apekṣitvāt

because of depending on

cittasya

of the mind

vastu

object

jñāta-ajñātam

known or unknown

Where it fits

If objects stand apart from minds (4.16), how are they known? By colouring the mind, as a magnet draws iron. This closes the case for real objects. Vyāsa draws a consequence that opens the next step: since its objects are now known, now unknown, the mind changes. Who, then, knows the changing mind?

Reading

If objects stand apart from minds (4.14–4.16), how are they known at all? By colouring the mind. Vyāsa's image: objects are like magnets and the mind is like iron, drawn toward them and coloured by them. This closes the first step: things exist whether we know them or not. Vyāsa adds that because its objects are now known and now unknown, the mind changes, which leads to the changeless knower of the next sūtra. One way to read this today: what we notice is whatever pulls hardest on our particular iron.

Vyāsa

“Objects are like magnets, and the mind is like iron: they draw it to themselves and colour it. The object that colours the mind is known. Any other is not known.”

Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya, the oldest commentary. New translation from the Sanskrit, with reference to Woods (1914), p. 327.

Practice

Sit somewhere for five minutes and list what pulls your attention, in order: a sound, a screen, a worry. Then choose one thing that did not pull at all, and give it a full minute of attention on purpose.

A question to sit with

What is pulling on your mind like a magnet?

Key ideas

citta (the mind-field), vṛtti (movement of the mind), prakṛti (nature, the seen)