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21 Sutra, this is another wonderful sutra in the Vibhuti Pada. The sutra is
का॒यरू॒पसं॒य॒मात्तद्ग्रा॒ह्यश॒क्तिस्त॒म्भे
च॒क्षुःप्र॒का॒शास॒म्प्रयो॒गेऽ॑न्तर्धा॒नम् ॥ ३.२१॥
kāya rūpa saṃyamāt tat grāhya śakti stambhe cakṣuḥ prakāśa asaṃprayoge antardhānam
kāya rūpa saṃyamāt tat grāhya śakti stambha cakṣuḥ prakāśa asaṃprayoge antardhānam saṃprayoge antardhānam- Kāya is the body, rūpa is a frame, frame of the body, body frame rūpa also signifies the tanmātra, rūpa rasa śabda sparśa rūpa rasa gandha tanmātras in which rūpa is a tanmātra, saṃyama on that, saṃyama kāya rūpa saṃyamāt on the tanmātra of the body or saṃyama on the rūpa of the body, tat that for grāhya śakti grāhya is absorption śakti is power grāhya śakti, stambha stopped, cakṣuḥ eye cakṣuḥ is eye, prakāśa is the light, asaṃprayoga - a is not, sam is total pra is thorough, yoga is contact asaṃprayoga thoroughly, completely not contact, not in touch, antardhānam disappearing. Kāya rūpa saṃyamāt tat grāhya śakti stambha cakṣuḥ prakāśa asaṃprayoga antardhānam - By performing saṃyama on rūpa one of the tanmātras, by performing saṃyama on rūpa on suspension of the receptive power grāhya śakti the contact between the eye and the light from the body is broken then the body becomes invisible. How wonderful it is. The yogi or the sādhaka's body becomes invisible, he becomes invisible it seems to be impossible, unbelievable we feel it cannot be possible, we think it is a miracle some story no, Patanjali is giving the scientific technique the method of how it happens that is very important - kāya rūpa saṃyamāt grāhya śakti stambha of the cakṣuḥ. The capacity of the eye to absorb the light from the object is gone stambha stopped it and by stopping it the body becomes disappeared, invisible. This is the important sutra which is there in the vibhūti and one of the most well known or widely propagated particular vibhūti it is.
So the invisibility of the body is possible, disappearing is possible. This can be done by performing saṃyama on the rūpa tanmātra. What is rūpa tanmātra, it is the shape behind it and that particular tanmātra by performing saṃyama on that what will happen, the ability of the light which is reflecting from the body and entering into the other person's eyes and other person's eyes will not be able to take it, accept it asaṃprayogaḥ, the contact is lost, stambha it is and that is how the body becomes invisible or we feel the person is disappeared.
We hear so many incidents like this even in the life of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa we have examples like that that the body is disappeared and it is by the performance of saṃyama on the rūpa tanmātra it is. And the interrelations between the tanmātras, tattvas and the organs of sensation and their correspondence are all well known and we have already discussed in the first chapter in the preceding one and form an integral part of the psychology upon which the entire science of yoga is based. All the visual phenomena are dependent upon the interplay of the tanmātra which is called as rūpa and the tattva is called as the tejas the bright brilliance, prakāśa that is the tattva and the organ of sensation is the eye. So the three things are there the organ of sensation, the eye the tanmātra the rūpa and the tattva is the tejas - pṛthvī, āpas, tejas, vāyu, ākāśa (pañca-bhūta) and the tanmātra connected to the tejas is the rūpa and saṃyama on that what will happen, by performing saṃyama on that rūpa tanmātra the subtlest form of the tejas bhūta the sādhaka gains the knowledge of the forces which connect that tattva, the tanmātra and the eye, the organ of sensation and he can manipulate these forces as he likes.
See the very important technique here by performing this saṃyama we should again repeatedly understand saṃyama means dhāraṇā dhyāna samādhi happening at a time, somebody is just concentrating I am meditating it is ok in a colloquial normal simple language but as per Maharshi Patañjali's antara yoga we should remember in the Vibhuti Pada concentration is such a deep practice, such a subtle practice, dhāraṇā is a subtle practice, samādhi and what we talk of normally concentration and meditation comparative to that is nothing actually very insignificant, uncomparable actually. And having the saṃyama on the rūpa tanmātra the sādhaka, the yogi gains the knowledge of the forces which connect tattva that is the tejas tattva the tanmātra, the rūpa and the eyes and that once he has the knowledge he can manipulate it, it is his will that is the vibhūti here. He can therefore prevent the light from his body reaching or affecting the eyes of the perceiver and he makes himself invisible. For example when we say I see something we will be able to see something because the light is reflecting, the light is falling on the object and after the light falling on the object the light takes the shape of the object and that shape, that light which took the shape of the object falls in my eyes and the eyes receives that and interprets it this is a very subtle process which is happening that is how we are seeing so many objects outside. And when that object form, rūpa falls in the eye and the mind comes into activity and it gives a name to it every rūpa gives a name to it and every name has a rūpa the interconnectedness is there. The moment we hear a sound of a snake we get the shape of the snake, the moment we see a shape like a snake we call it as a snake the rūpa and the nāma are connected. And that light which is falling on a particular object, if it is a stone the light falls on the stone and that reflects it and when it is reflecting on the eyes our retina, it goes inside then it interprets it, that is why objects in dark are not seen we may be in light but the object is in the dark we cannot see, we are not seeing it is our day experience because the light the prakāśa, the light falling there was no light to fall on the object and the object, the light falling on the object is not reflected even though I am in the light and the object is in the dark. If the object is in the light, we are in the darkness then we can see the object because the light falling on the object has reflected and reached my eyes this is very common, normal, regular which is happening, that is how we see it. But here Patañjali says by performing saṃyama on that rūpa tanmātra, the light the prakāśa falling on the body of the person he will gain the knowledge so that it will not reflect, he will prevent it he will stop - stambhe it is, once the reflection is stopped, reflection means that grahya shakti is stopped, he will not be visible to the person who is there and this asaṃprayoge total, complete contact yoga here is that contact complete contact is lost prakāśa, the complete contact of the light is stopped. Then what happened, antardhānam, the body becomes invisible.
So it is the person the sādhaka, the yogi makes himself invisible by stopping the light falling on him, not to be reflected, he stops it and this is the vibhūti he gains it.
Swami Vivekananda again wonderfully summarizes this particular sutra “A yogi standing in the midst of this room can apparently vanish he does not really vanish but he will not be seen by anyone the form and the body are as it were separated you must remember that this can only be done when the yogi has attained to that power of concentration when form and the thing formed have been separated, then he makes a saṃyama on that and the power to perceive forms is obstructed because the power of perceiving forms comes from the junction of form and the thing formed.” How beautifully Swami Vivekananda explained it this particular sutra of Maharshi Patañjali. We should again remember that these are not miracles or mysteries or siddhis inexplicable they are explicable and there is a law behind it there is a technique behind it. Let us see the next sutras.
To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
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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
