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Sutra number 27.
चन्द्रे ताराव्यू॑हज्ञा॒नम् ॥ ३.२७॥
That is the Sutra. Samyama on candra. That is candra. Samyama on candra - knowledge of order of stars, tārā is stars, vyūha is the order, systematic order, the constitution of the stars, the arrangement of the stars.
Candre on candra - performing samyama on the moon, candra, the knowledge of the constitution of the stars. Of course when we say it is the constitution of the stars, it is all stellar constellations. The moon is the heavenly body which though shines by reflecting the light of the sun, and as it is the satellite of our earth, and performing samyama on that, the various stars arrangement is known. Though stars and moon are there even in the day time, the visibility is blurred, it becomes invisible because of the brightness of the sun. And at night, when the sun sets, in the darkness, the bright stars, they come into the light. Moon is the brightest star, and performing samyama on him, on the moon, all the stars' knowledge is known. Nakṣatra jñānam it is called. Samyama on candra, nakṣatra jñānam we get it. Tārā jñānam it is said. Tārā vyūha jñānam it is said. How they are arranged, that is a very important and powerful sutra, that how the stars are arranged, how the stars are moving in different orbits, all that will be known by the samyama on the moon. Lunar samyama gives the knowledge of the stars, and that is why moon is also called as tārā nātha he is called. He is the master of the stars. He is also called as nakṣatra adhipati, lord of the nakṣatras, constellations. And that is one of the important practice, performing samyama on the moon.
On the moon means not just looking at the moon, all the qualities of the moon, and all those which get light, gets the reflection of the moonlight, and all of them will be visible, all the knowledge about them will be visible. And that is the statement of this particular sutra, candra tārā vyūha jñānam.
28th sutra is another powerful sutra which says that
ध्रुवे तद्ग॑तिज्ञा॒नम् ॥ ३.२८॥
Dhruve tad gati jñānam. Dhruve is dhruvatārā, polar star. All stars, all constellations, they rotate around the dhruva. Dhruva is the centre, the fixed, the immovable, firm around which all movements take place. All movements take place around a centre which does not move. That non-moving centre, that firmly non-moving centre around which all movements take place, that is the dhruva. And very simple, dhruve tad gati jñānam. To understand the depths of movements, if one has to understand and analyse, estimate and measure the movements, that which is measuring is in the state of a dhruva. It should be in the state of the dhruva. It should be in the state of a fixed, stabilised centre, kendram. Then the mobilities, movements are measured, and the knowledge of the movements will come. How they are moving, the speed, the velocity, the direction, the various accelerations of the innumerable movements can be known only when there is firmly an immovable centre which is called as dhruva. And samyama on that dhruva, naturally one will be able to get the knowledge of everything that is moving around it, making it as a centre. If it is a body, it is in the body. Just for example, just for understanding, a traffic police is there, and thousands of vehicles will be moving. He will be seeing, visualising, his perception falls on all the vehicles which are moving, but he is not moving, dhruva. That is the importance of this particular sutra.
Dhruve tad gati jñānam - we can measure and in fact become aware of a movement in relation to some standard reference point which is relatively steady. That is dhruva. And in this way the pivotal point of the movement of all the movements around the earth, including the earth, is the dhruva. And this steady dhruva is the point of reference by which we can gauge all the movements including the sun and the moon. Obviously therefore neither these later two can serve as the movement object. That is why the sutra says dhruve tad gati jñānam. To measure the gati, the speed, the movement, the mobility, what is needed? Dhruvatva is needed. Stability is needed. Firmness is needed. Unchangingness is needed. And it is to be centered. That is why dhruva word is used. And we have in the purāṇa, the child dhruva, by performing tapasya, attains that position in the entire sṛṣṭi, in the entire creation, where whole creation rotates, moves around him, and he will be able to see, oversee, overlook all the movements. Similarly, if we center our own vision, if we firm up our own vision, if we can stabilize, make our awareness dhruva, firm, all the movements which happen within us, including the thoughts, including the desires, everything that is mobile within us will be under the gambit and the supervision of the not moving dhruva vision within us. That is the dhruvatvam. Let us see the other sutras in the same vibhūti pāda of patañjali's yoga darśana.
Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः||To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/sM6Myi0d7GI?si=UwTXbmFuKD3IOmLa
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
