Yoga sutras I, 40 - MASTERY OF MEDITATION

lavina · 05-27-2007, 07:58 AM

I, 40 – THE RANGE OF MASTERY OF MEDITATION OBJECTS MASTERED BY THE ADEPT

I, 40 Parama anu parama mahattva antah asva vasikarah

Mastery of tranquility
extends from the
most minute particle
to the largest,
the form of the entire cosmos.

M. Stiles

Iyengar explains that when the ordinary mind is transformed by meditation, the mind is stable, and the sadakha is “freed from all disturbances of the mind, subjugated his consciousness and mastered his passions.” (p.87) At this point, it is possible to meditate on anything from the smallest to the infinite – all is knowable.

Iyengar, B.K.S., Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. New Delhi, India: Harper Collins Publications India. 1993

Stiles, M., Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Boston, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser LLC. 2002

Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Buckingham, VA: Integral Yoga Publications. 2004

Swami Shyam, Patanjali Yog Darshan, India: International Meditation Institute, 2001, 3rd. edition.

Fawn · 05-30-2007, 11:30 PM

The magnitude of a mere particle and its important place in the universe has been a meditation with great meaning for me.

Everything in its form is composed of particles, including the universe.

Kaos · 05-31-2007, 08:23 AM

Yes, it is like seeing the world in a single grain of sand.

Even the Dalai Lama wrote a book called "The Universe in a Single Atom."
A good one too.

Hubert · 06-04-2007, 07:56 AM

I don't know if it's appropriate to post this here ... but this is the most recent post about meditation.

So I dare to quote something I found today, on wiki.

“A mind that is in meditation is concerned only with meditation, not with the meditator. The meditator is the observer, the censor, the thinker, the experiencer, and when there is the experiencer, the thinker, then he is concerned with reaching out, gaining, achieving, experiencing. And that thing which is timeless cannot be experienced. There is no experience at all. There is only that which is not nameable.” “You know, in all this there are various powers like clairvoyance, reading somebody’s thought – which is the most disgusting thing to do: it is like reading letters that are private. There are various powers. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? You call them siddhis, don’t you? Do you know that all these things are like candles in the sun? When there is no sun there is darkness, and then the candle and the light of the candle become very important. But when there is the sun, the light, the beauty, the clarity, then all these powers, these siddhis – developing various centres, chakras, kundalini, you know all that business – are like candlelight; they have no value at all. And when you have that light, you don’t want anything else.”

"Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life-perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy-if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation."

“Man, in order to escape his conflicts, has invented many forms of meditation. These have been based on desire, will, and the urge for achievement, and imply conflict and a struggle to arrive. This conscious, deliberate striving is always within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom. All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation. Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension which is beyond time.”

“Meditation is the emptying of the mind of all thought, for thought and feeling dissipate energy. They are repetitive, producing mechanical activities which are a necessary part of existence. But they are only part, and thought and feeling cannot possibly enter into the immensity of life. Quite a different approach is necessary, not the path of habit, association and the known; there must be freedom from these. Meditation is the emptying of the mind of the known. It cannot be done by thought or by the hidden prompting of thought, nor by desire in the form of prayer, nor through the self-effacing hypnotism of words, images, hopes, and vanities. All these have to come to an end, easily, without effort and choice, in the flame of awareness.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti

lavina · 06-09-2007, 09:29 AM

Thank you for all of your contributions and sharings...they deepen and enrich my understanding of the sutras.

hcoppen · 07-01-2007, 08:24 AM

for me this sutra seems to be saying that having achieved the state of 'Yoga' nothing is beyond comprehension. I can't wait!.

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05-27-2007, 07:58 AM	#1
lavina Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 228	I, 40 – THE RANGE OF MASTERY OF MEDITATION OBJECTS MASTERED BY THE ADEPT I, 40 Parama anu parama mahattva antah asva vasikarah Mastery of tranquility extends from the most minute particle to the largest, the form of the entire cosmos. M. Stiles Iyengar explains that when the ordinary mind is transformed by meditation, the mind is stable, and the sadakha is “freed from all disturbances of the mind, subjugated his consciousness and mastered his passions.” (p.87) At this point, it is possible to meditate on anything from the smallest to the infinite – all is knowable. Iyengar, B.K.S., Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. New Delhi, India: Harper Collins Publications India. 1993 Stiles, M., Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Boston, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser LLC. 2002 Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Buckingham, VA: Integral Yoga Publications. 2004 Swami Shyam, Patanjali Yog Darshan, India: International Meditation Institute, 2001, 3rd. edition.

05-30-2007, 11:30 PM	#2
Fawn Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pacific North West Posts: 9	The magnitude of a mere particle and its important place in the universe has been a meditation with great meaning for me. Everything in its form is composed of particles, including the universe.

05-31-2007, 08:23 AM	#3
Kaos Junior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 24	Yes, it is like seeing the world in a single grain of sand. Even the Dalai Lama wrote a book called "The Universe in a Single Atom." A good one too.

06-04-2007, 07:56 AM	#4
Hubert saptashata Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Romania Posts: 755	I don't know if it's appropriate to post this here ... but this is the most recent post about meditation. So I dare to quote something I found today, on wiki. “A mind that is in meditation is concerned only with meditation, not with the meditator. The meditator is the observer, the censor, the thinker, the experiencer, and when there is the experiencer, the thinker, then he is concerned with reaching out, gaining, achieving, experiencing. And that thing which is timeless cannot be experienced. There is no experience at all. There is only that which is not nameable.” “You know, in all this there are various powers like clairvoyance, reading somebody’s thought – which is the most disgusting thing to do: it is like reading letters that are private. There are various powers. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? You call them siddhis, don’t you? Do you know that all these things are like candles in the sun? When there is no sun there is darkness, and then the candle and the light of the candle become very important. But when there is the sun, the light, the beauty, the clarity, then all these powers, these siddhis – developing various centres, chakras, kundalini, you know all that business – are like candlelight; they have no value at all. And when you have that light, you don’t want anything else.” "Meditation is one of the greatest arts in life-perhaps the greatest, and one cannot possibly learn it from anybody, that is the beauty of it. It has no technique and therefore no authority. When you learn about yourself, watch yourself, watch the way you walk, how you eat, what you say, the gossip, the hate, the jealousy-if you are aware of all that in yourself, without any choice, that is part of meditation." “Man, in order to escape his conflicts, has invented many forms of meditation. These have been based on desire, will, and the urge for achievement, and imply conflict and a struggle to arrive. This conscious, deliberate striving is always within the limits of a conditioned mind, and in this there is no freedom. All effort to meditate is the denial of meditation. Meditation is the ending of thought. It is only then that there is a different dimension which is beyond time.” “Meditation is the emptying of the mind of all thought, for thought and feeling dissipate energy. They are repetitive, producing mechanical activities which are a necessary part of existence. But they are only part, and thought and feeling cannot possibly enter into the immensity of life. Quite a different approach is necessary, not the path of habit, association and the known; there must be freedom from these. Meditation is the emptying of the mind of the known. It cannot be done by thought or by the hidden prompting of thought, nor by desire in the form of prayer, nor through the self-effacing hypnotism of words, images, hopes, and vanities. All these have to come to an end, easily, without effort and choice, in the flame of awareness.” Jiddu Krishnamurti

06-09-2007, 09:29 AM	#5
lavina Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 228	Thank you for all of your contributions and sharings...they deepen and enrich my understanding of the sutras.

07-01-2007, 08:24 AM	#6
hcoppen Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 49	for me this sutra seems to be saying that having achieved the state of 'Yoga' nothing is beyond comprehension. I can't wait!.