Sūtra 2.7

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 2.7:

सुखानुशयी रागः ॥ २.७ ॥

sukhānuśayī rāgaḥ || 2.7 ||

7. Desire is dwelling on pleasure.

The Rajamartanda commentary by King Bhoja:

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

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

“Dwelling on pleasure” (sukhānuśayī) is lying on pleasure. The longing or thirst for pleasure on the part of him who had experienced it before, and is impelled by its remembrance, is the affliction called desire (rāga).

Notes and Extracts

[Notes and comparative extracts from other commentaries on the Yogasūtra]

[The root √śī is “to sleep” or “lie down,” and literally the translation of anuśayī should be the sleeper, or that which lies on something, but idiomatically I prefer dwelling, as it conveys more clearly the idea intended by the author. Obviously he means the dwelling on, or keeping alive in the mind, the idea of some object or other. Anuśaya means “to follow” or “to pursue,” and that would afford a very appropriate rendering of the term here, but in the next aphorism it has been used with reference to pain, and as no one pursues pain knowing it to be pain, that rendering cannot be adopted. It is true the word also means “repentance,” and it may be assumed that the author has used the word in two different senses in the two aphorisms, but such an assumption would be unjustifiable in dealing with definitions. The author, in his aphorisms, has nowhere evinced any leaning for rhetoric or verbal ornament, and it is very unlikely that he should use the same word in two consecutive aphorisms in two contradictory senses, when his object is to make things clear, and not to confound.]

He next defines aversion.