Yoga-sutras (with Vyasa and Vachaspati Mishra)
by Rama Prasada | 1924 | 154,800 words | ISBN-10: 9381406863 | ISBN-13: 9789381406861
The Yoga-Sutra 3.2, English translation with Commentaries. The Yoga Sutras are an ancient collection of Sanskrit texts dating from 500 BCE dealing with Yoga and Meditation in four books. It deals with topics such as Samadhi (meditative absorption), Sadhana (Yoga practice), Vibhuti (powers or Siddhis), Kaivaly (isolation) and Moksha (liberation).
Sūtra 3.2
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 3.2:
तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम् ॥ ३.२ ॥
tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam || 3.2 ||
tatra—there. pratyaya—of the mental effort, ekatānatā—continuation. dhyānam—meditation.
2. The continuation there of the mental-effort (to understand) is meditation (dhyāna).—108.
The Sankhya-pravachana commentary of Vyasa
[English translation of the 7th century commentary by Vyāsa called the Sāṅkhya-pravacana, Vyāsabhāṣya or Yogabhāṣya]
[Sanskrit text for commentary available]
Meditation is the continuance, i.e., the unchanging flow, of the mental effort to understand the object of meditation, untouched by any other effort of the understanding.—108.
The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra
[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]
The author describes the meditation which is brought about by concentration:—‘Continuance of the mental effort to understand it is meditation.’ Continuance of the mental effort means one-pointedness. The Commentary is easy. Here too says the Purāṇa: “Meditation is the continuance of one-pointedness with reference to the effort of understanding directed to any object, there being absence of desire to understand anything else at the time. This is brought about, O King, by the foregoing accessories”—2.