योगसूत्रYoga SūtrasOpen in the app

III. Vibhūti Pāda · sūtras 3.1–3.8

Saṃyama

What this passage does

The pāda opens by finishing the eight limbs listed at 2.29. Pāda 2 described the five outer limbs; here come concentration, meditation and absorption (3.1–3.3), named together as saṃyama (3.4). Before any power is mentioned, Patañjali gives saṃyama's fruit, wisdom (3.5), its method, stage by stage (3.6), and its limit: even saṃyama is outer to seedless absorption (3.8).

Learning goals

The argument, step by step

  1. Concentration is binding the mind to one place.
  2. When the idea held there flows on without a break, that is meditation.
  3. When only the object shines, as if the meditation were empty of its own form, that is absorption.
  4. The three held on a single object are one act, named saṃyama.
  5. Mastering saṃyama brings the light of wisdom, and it is applied stage by stage, never skipping one.
  6. Compared with the five limbs before them, these three are inner.
  7. Yet they are outer to seedless absorption, so saṃyama is a means and not the goal.

The sūtras

  1. 3.1 deśabandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā
    Concentration is binding the mind to one place.
  2. 3.2 tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam
    Meditation is the unbroken flow of the idea held there.
  3. 3.3 tad evārthamātranirbhāsaṃ svarūpaśūnyam iva samādhiḥ
    Absorption is that same meditation when only the object shines, as if empty of its own form.
  4. 3.4 trayam ekatra saṃyamaḥ
    The three on a single object are saṃyama.
  5. 3.5 tajjayāt prajñālokaḥ
    Mastering it, the light of wisdom dawns.
  6. 3.6 tasya bhūmiṣu viniyogaḥ
    It is applied in stages.
  7. 3.7 trayam antaraṅgaṃ pūrvebhyaḥ
    These three are inner limbs, compared with those before.
  8. 3.8 tad api bahiraṅgaṃ nirbījasya
    Yet even they are outer limbs of absorption without a seed.

Study

Pāda 2 ended with the five outer limbs of 2.29, from the restraints to withdrawal of the senses. Pāda 3 opens with the last three, and Vyāsa joins them directly: the five outer means have been described, and now concentration is to be described (Woods p. 203).

The first claim is a definition in three steps. 'Concentration is binding the mind to one place' (3.1). Vyāsa lists such places: the circle of the navel, the lotus of the heart, the light in the head, the tip of the nose or tongue, or an outer object (p. 203). Meditation is the same attention once it stops breaking: 'the unbroken flow of the idea held there' (3.2), which Vyāsa calls a stream of like thoughts untouched by any other (p. 204). Absorption is 'that same meditation when only the object shines, as if empty of its own form' (3.3). The act of meditating drops out of view and only the object appears. The wording repeats 1.43, so this is the coalescence of pāda 1 reached by way of the limbs.

The second claim is a name. 'The three on a single object are saṃyama' (3.4). Vyāsa calls it the system's technical term (p. 205). The name is practical: from 3.16 on, the pāda will say again and again 'from saṃyama on this, that follows'. Its first fruit is wisdom: 'Mastering it, the light of wisdom dawns' (3.5). Vyāsa adds that the wisdom grows clearer as saṃyama grows steadier (p. 206).

The third claim is about method. 'It is applied in stages' (3.6). Vyāsa says no stage can be leapt over, and that yoga itself is the only teacher of which stage comes next. He quotes a verse: 'By yoga, yoga must be known' (p. 206).

The consequence comes in two short sūtras that place saṃyama within the whole system. Compared with the five limbs before them, the three are inner (3.7); Vyāsa adds that they are inner limbs of absorption with an object (p. 207). Yet even they are outer to seedless absorption (3.8), because, Vyāsa says, seedless absorption occurs even when they are absent (p. 208). Saṃyama always holds an object. The final stilling of 1.51 holds none.

Readings differ on how separate the three are. Taken as 3.1–3.3 define them, they look like a ladder climbed in order. Taken with Vyāsa's 'single object' in 3.4, they look like one act that deepens. The text supports both, and a teacher can show both.

For practice the passage matters in two ways. It makes the returning of a wandering mind the core of the work: concentration is the tying, and the tying is repeated until it holds. And 3.8 keeps the student from mistaking even the best technique for the goal. Everything the pāda goes on to promise is a fruit of saṃyama, and this passage has already said that saṃyama itself is not the end.

For discussion

  1. What exactly changes between concentration (3.1), meditation (3.2) and absorption (3.3)? Is anything added at each step?
  2. Why might Patañjali name wisdom as saṃyama's fruit (3.5) before he lists any power?
  3. Vyāsa says no stage can be skipped and that yoga itself is the only teacher (3.6). How would you know which stage is next for you?
  4. How can the same three limbs be 'inner' in 3.7 and 'outer' in 3.8?

A common misreading

That meditation means emptying the mind. In 3.2 meditation has an object: it is the unbroken flow of the idea held 'there'. Holding no object at all is seedless absorption, which 3.8 places beyond saṃyama.

A practice for the room

Place one simple object where all can see it, a cup or a stone. Two minutes: rest the eyes on it, and each time attention wanders, bring it back (3.1). Two minutes: let attention stay, noting silently 'break' whenever another thought arrives (3.2). Two minutes: drop the noting and simply look. Then one minute with eyes closed, holding nothing (3.8). Ask the room, without requiring answers, which part was hardest.