श्रद्धावीर्यस्मृतिसमाधिप्रज्ञापूर्वक इतरेषाम्॥२०॥ (Yoga Sutra 1.20)
The समाधि of others who follow the prescribed path comes from श्रद्धा, the delight in Yoga, वीर्य, enthusiasm, स्मृति, recollection, समाधि, concentration, प्रज्ञा, insight.
That समाधि, however, which is attained by those who see the difference between the Self and the non-Self, and who are distinct from those that have succeeded through birth, medicine, incantation and austerity, comes from श्रद्धा etc.; it is that which has श्रद्धा etc. as its पूर्व, means.
That is, it is an उपाय-प्रत्यय–it has उपाय, the prescribed means, as its प्रत्यय, cause.
Among them the means, श्रद्धा implies delightfulness of the mind with regard to Yoga. Indeed that protects the Yogi like a mother!
From that springs वीर्य, enthusiasm, in the man who delights in Yoga and is a seeker of discrimination.
In the person in whom वीर्य has arisen, there comes स्मृति, recollection, regarding the preceding stages he has passed over.
And from the recollection of the mind, becoming free from anxiety, attains समाधि. समाधि here means onepointedness.
In the person whose mind has become one-pointed, there arises, through discrimination, insight into the object of meditation.
From the practice of that insight and through supreme detachment, पर-वैराग्य, follows the असंप्रज्ञात-समाधि in the case of seekers of Liberation. This is the idea.
Samkhya Kaumudi says: “All objects other than the power of Consciousness (ie. Purusha) are indeed changeful every moment, even in that state of निरोध (total restraint) of all mental modifications there does surely exist a flow of transformation of the mind as such as also a flow of the impressions (संस्कार) caused by that flow of transformation.
Perhaps having this in mind Patanjali says: विरामप्रत्ययाभ्यासपूर्वः संस्कारशेषोऽन्यः॥१८॥ (Yoga Sutra 1.18),
“The other ie. the असंप्रज्ञात-समाधि is that in which only the impressions remain..”
To explain, the mind can undergo changes in two ways–either with a tendency towards producing its effects, viz. the modifications in the form of प्रमाण, विपर्यय, विकल्प, निद्रा and स्मृति, or towards merging into its cause viz. the प्रदान. In असंप्रज्ञात-समाधि the second tendency is in evidence.
Patanjali states the usefulness of that संस्कार in Yoga Sutra 3.10: तस्य प्रशान्तवाहिता संस्कारात्॥१०॥ “As a result of that संस्कार, the mind comes to have a steady flow.”
प्रशान्तवाहिता, steady flow, means the cessation–through a reverse transformation–of the mind that is devoid of modifications, like a fire that is without any more fuel.
As for instance, a fire blazes up by increasing gradually with the supply of fuel and offering of oblations such as clarified butter etc.
But when the fuel etc. get exhausted, it becomes slightly less intense at the first instance.
In the succeeding moments, however, it becomes more and more pacified. Thus it becomes gradually more subdued.
Similarly, the cessation of the mind that has become fully restrained becomes successively more continuous.
As to that, the impression born from the previous cessation is itself the cause of the succeeding cessation.
And then, like a fire without fuel, the mind, gradually becoming inactive, merges into its own source, together with the impressions (संस्कार) of the state of व्युत्थान (ie. क्षिप्त, मूढ and विक्षिप्त), समाधि (onepointedness) and निरोध (total restraint).
After that, when from the perfection of the resulting असंप्रज्ञात-समाधि there follows full realization born of the hearing of the great Upanishadic sayings, then there comes about the cessation of nescience.
From that follows the eradication of the contact between the ‘Seer’ and the ‘seen’ which is due to that nescience.
As a consequence, when there comes the cessation of all the five kinds of mental modifications, then the Purusha established in his own nature, is said to be pure, absolute and liberated.
Thus Patanjali says in Yoga Sutra 1.3 तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम्॥३॥ “Then there comes about the establishment of the Seer in His own nature.”
‘Then’ means ‘when all the mental modifications have been restrained.’
But when the modifications are present, then although the Seer is ever pure in His nature as the eternal, immutable, Consciousness, yet from the beginningless contact with, ‘the seen’, which is caused by nescience and which leads to the superimposition on him of the idea of identity with the mind, He comes to possess the characteristics of the modifications of the mind, and though a non-enjoyer, becomes as it were a sufferer of sorrows!
Patanjali says of this in Yoga Sutra 1.4: वृत्तिसारूप्यमितरत्र॥४॥ ‘At other times’ means ‘when the modifications are manifest’.
This very fact is elaborated in Yoga Sutra 4.22: द्रष्टृदृश्योपरक्तं चित्तं सर्वार्थम्॥२३॥
“The mind being colored (affected) by the Seer and the seen, is said to be representing all.”
The mind itself, being colored by ‘the Seer and the seen’, appears as the perceiver and the thing perceived, as identified with the nature of the Conscious and of the insentient, as not an object though it is an object by nature, as sentient though insentient.
Mind is like a crystal, and it is said to be representing all.
Hence some persons, become deluded by this identification of the mind with sentience, say that mind is itself conscious.
तदसङ्ख्येयवासनाभिश्चित्रमपि परार्थं संहत्यकारित्वात्॥२४॥ (Yoga Sutra 4.24)
“That mind, though diversified by innumerable impressions, is for the enjoyment of the Other because it acts unitedly with others.”
He Himself, for whose enjoyment and liberation that mind exists, is the Other ie. other than the mind, the ununited Conscious Person.
But the mind, which is like a pot acts in unison with others, is not sentient. This is the purport.
विशेषदर्शिन आत्मभावभावनाविनिवृत्तिः॥२५॥ (Yoga Sutra 4.25). “For one who has realized the distinction, the enquiry into the nature of the Self ceases.”
For one who has thus realized the distinction between the mind and the Person, the enquiry into the nature of the Self, which enquiry existed previously in his mind, due to indiscrimination, ceases, because when the distinction is perceived the erroneous notion of identity cannot occur.
Tamilbrahmins 