Sūtra 1.32

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 1.32:

तत्प्रतिषेधार्थमेकतत्त्वाभ्यासः ॥ १.३२ ॥

tatpratiṣedhārthamekatattvābhyāsaḥ || 1.32 ||

32. For their prevention let there be exercise on one principle.

The Rajamartanda commentary by King Bhoja:

[English translation of the 11th century commentary by Bhoja called the Rājamārtaṇḍa]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

Another expedient for overcoming the obstacles with their accompaniments is now being pointed out.

[Read Sūtra 1.32]

For the “prevention” (pratiṣedha) or obstruction of those distractions, let there be “exercise” (abhyāsa) or repeated application of the thinking principle to some one selected “principle,” (tattva), from the force resulting from which arise the condition of concentration, and thereby the distractions subside.

[In former aphorisms meditation has been declared to be of two kinds: conscious and unconscious, or seeded and seedless. The object here is to inculcate the necessity of constant exercise of the first, or the seeded form, to steady the mind, and prepare it for the more arduous and difficult phase in which there should be no object upon which to meditate, or the state in which, in the language of Wordsworth, “thought is not.” The highest form of conscious meditation is intelligent communion with the soul, but this too is not at once practicable, and the instruction is that any one of the twenty-five categories may be taken up for meditation, so that the mind may be trained to the habit of concentrating itself at any one point at pleasure, and of remaining in that state of concentration without fatigue.]

Now he describes another expedient with advertence to certain works which help to purify the thinking principle.