Chapter 1: Samādhi
1: atha yogā nuśāsanam
Yoga is now explained.
2: yogaś citta-vṛtti nirodhaḥ
Yoga is for the mind’s whirling to cease.
3: tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe 'vasthānam
At that time, the seer rests in appearances.
4: vṛtti-sārūpyam itaratra
Otherwise, [the citta] conforms to the whirling.
5: vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ
There are five whirlings, defiled and not:
6: pramāṇa viparyaya vikalpa nidrā smṛtayaḥ
grasping, aversion, conceptualization, drowsiness, and recollection.
7: pratyakṣānumānāgamāḥ pramāṇāni
Grasping [can be based on] attention, inference, or hearsay.
8: viparyayo mithyājñānam atadrūpapratiṣṭham
Aversion is a false knowing, not materially established.
9: śabdajñānānupātī vastuśūnyo vikalpaḥ
Conceptualization isn’t objective, following on from [mere] verbal knowledge.
10: abhāvapratyayālambanā vṛttir nidrā
Drowsiness is a whirling which embraces fading away.
11: anubhūtaviṣayāsaṃpramoṣaḥ smṛtiḥ
Recollection is not being deprived of experiences.
12: abhyāsavairāgyābhyāṃ tannirodhaḥ
Stopping this [whirling] is [achieved] by practice and renunciation.
13: tatra sthitau yatno 'bhyāsaḥ
Practice means striving for stability.
14: sa tu dīrghakālanairantaryasatkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ
This is only firmly grounded when cultivated properly and for a long time uninterrupted.
15: dṛṣṭānuśravikaviṣayavitṛṣṇasya vaśīkārasaṃjñā vairāgyam
Renunciation is knowing how to be without thirst for things seen or heard about.
16: tat paraṃ puruṣakhyāter guṇavaitṛṣṇyam
The higher [renunciation] is the non-thirst towards sense contact via self-possession.
17: vitarka vicār' ānand' āsmitā rūpā-nugamāt saṃprajñātaḥ
Effort, thought, joy, [and] conceit [make for] form-connected understanding.
18: virāmapratyayābhyāsapūrvaḥ saṃskāraśeṣo 'nyaḥ
Another [level of samādhi] has [merely] a residual of mental activity [left] after the attentive practice stops.
19: bhavapratyayo videhaprakṛtilayānām
Attention [then] becomes absorbed in a bodiless potential.
20: śraddhāvīryasmṛtisamādhiprajñāpūrvaka itareṣām
The final is preceded by faith, energy, recollection, concentration, and discernment.
21: tīvrasaṃvegānām āsannaḥ
Extreme world-weariness is close [to the goal].
22: mṛdumadhyādhimātratvāt tato 'pi viśeṣaḥ
Mild, moderate, or excessive also differentiates.
23: īśvarapraṇidhānād vā
Or [samādhi can be gained] through devotion to Īśvara.
24: kleśakarmavipākāśayair aparāmṛṣṭaḥ puruṣaviśeṣa īśvaraḥ
Īśvara is a different kind of person: untouched by defilements, karma, fruition, or tendency.
25: tatra niratiśayaṃ sarvajñabījam
Here is the unsurpassed seed of all there is to know.
26: pūrveṣām api guruḥ kālenānavacchedāt
The former [moment], also a teacher. Hence, temporal continuity.
27: tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ
His name is a [mere] vocalization.
28: tajjapas tadarthabhāvanam
Say it, and you’ll see what I mean.
29: tataḥ pratyakcetanādhigamo 'py antarāyābhāvaś ca
From that: mindfulness and the disappearance of the obstacles.
30: vyādhi styāna saṃśaya pramādālasyāvirati bhrānti darśanālabdha bhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni citta-vikṣepās te 'ntarāyāḥ
Disease, torpor, doubt, carelessness, sloth, compulsion, confusion, seeing the unobtained, instability in the foundation, [and] an anxious citta: these are the obstacles.
31: duḥkha daurmanasyāṅgame jayatvaśvāsapraśvāsā vikṣepasahabhuvaḥ
The symptoms of anxiety are stress, depression, tremors in the limbs, and difficulty breathing.
32: tat-pratiṣedhārtham eka-tattvābhyāsaḥ
The treatment is single-object practice.
33: maitrī-karuṇā-mudit'-opekṣāṇāṃ sukha-duḥkha puṇy'-āpuṇya viṣayāṇāṃ bhāvanātaś citta-prasādanam
Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity towards everything—pleasant, unpleasant, good and bad alike—pacifies the citta.
34: pracchardanavidhāraṇābhyāṃ vā prāṇasya
Or the exhaling and inhaling of the breath
35: viṣayavatī vā pravṛttir utpannā manasaḥ sthitinibandhanī
Or something which arises out of experience and arrests the mind.
36: viśokā vā jyotiṣmatī
Or which is painless and enlightening
37: vītarāgaviṣayaṃ vā cittam
Or something for which the citta is without passion
38: svapnanidrājñānālambanaṃ vā
Or [you can] hang on to dream knowledge
39: yathābhimatadhyānād vā
Or meditate on whatever suits you.
40: paramāṇuparamamahattvānto 'sya vaśīkāraḥ
Mastery is from the most minute to the most grand.
41: kṣīṇavṛtter abhijātasyeva maṇer grahītṛgrahaṇagrāhyeṣu tatsthatadañjanatā samāpattiḥ
The whirling abated—precious as a jewel!—the grasper, the grasping, and the grasped thus abiding and thus anointed: [this is] unification.
42: tatra śabdārthajñānavikalpaiḥ saṃkīrṇā savitarkā samāpattiḥ
In that [state of] unification with effort, [there is still] sound, meaning, knowledge, and conceptualization.
43: smṛtipariśuddhau svarūpaśūnyevārthamātranirbhāsā nirvitarkā
With the purification of mindfulness, [the mind] appears to be empty except for the object shining forth effortlessly.
44: etayaiva savicārā nirvicārā ca sūkṣmaviṣayā vyākhyātā
This also explains the subtle things [about samādhi] with and without thought.
45: sūkṣmaviṣayatvaṃ cāliṅgaparyavasānam
Even subtle “thingness” itself terminates in the featureless [absorptions].
46: tā eva sabījaḥ samādhiḥ
[But] even these [states] are “samādhi with [karmic] seeds.”
47: nirvicāravaiśāradye 'dhyātmaprasādaḥ
Thoughtless clarity is the heart of religiousity.
48: ṛtaṃbharā tatra prajñā
Truth born this way is discerning.
49: śrutānumānaprajñābhyām anyaviṣayā viśeṣārthatvāt
[Truths] which have been heard, inferred, or discerned are different things, [and have] different functions.
50: tajjaḥ saṃskāro 'nyasaṃskārapratibandhī
The [mental] activity born from that [absorption], [temporarily] obstructs other activity.
51: tasyāpi nirodhe sarvanirodhān nirbījaḥ samādhiḥ
With the cessation of even that, all ceases. This is the seedless samādhi.