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The fourth sutra of the Vibhuti Pada is on samyama. The sutra is
त्रयमेकत्र॑ संय॒मः ॥ ३.४॥
Trayam ekatra samyamaḥ.
Trayam is the three. Ekatra, together, put together, combined. Samyama is samyama. Trayam ekatra samyamaḥ - the fourth sutra. The three put together is called as samyama. The three means the dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. As we have seen, the process of dhāraṇā, the stage of dhāraṇā, dhāraṇā transforms, culminates itself into the stage of dhyāna, and the dhyāna transforms into samādhi. And all the three transformations put together on a single object is samyama. The three transformations happening simultaneously, at a time, on a single object means the process of dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi, all the three happen on one single object, one single idea, one single thought. So the object of meditation is not changed. The object for dhāraṇā, the object for dhyāna and the object for the samādhi is not changed. If you have to put it in the other way, even the subject matter for dhāraṇā, the subject matter for dhyāna and samādhi are not different, it is same, no change. And even in that particular one single object, as we have seen, deśa bandhaḥ cittasya dhāraṇā, tatra pratyaya ekatānatā dhyānam and tadeva artha-mātra-nirbhāsaṁ svarūpa-śūnyam iva samādhiḥ. All three, there is no change of the object. This is one of the important suggestions, an important conclusion that the object of meditation, in our normal terminology, the object of concentration, the object of sādhana should not keep on changing. Once it is fixed, it is fixed. And the depth is very deep. It is as if there is no depth at all, it is a bottomless pit and infinitely the citta goes on getting itself isolated, completely separated from everything external.
So trayam ekatra also suggests that it is a suggestion, beautiful suggestion, that all the three processes put together, and that is the important dimension here. And the word used is ekatraḥ. Ekatraḥ is together. It is not just together, it is even simultaneous. Anything which is distinctly different, totally different, totally unconnected, cannot be ekatra or simultaneous. That is why dhāraṇā is not totally different from dhyāna, which is again not totally different from samādhi. It is one becoming the other, it is one transforming into the other, it is one culminating into the other.
The very important word used is tra is used, ekatra. It is not anyatra, it is not yatra or tatra, it is ekatra it is. And it is happening at one place, on one object. And the object of meditation is unchanged. This is a very very important suggestion for all the yoga instructors and teachers and the practitioners that the object of meditation for the antarāṅga yoga is not changed. It is continuous, constant. That is why for the dhāraṇā, for the dhyāna and for the samādhi, the subject matter is same. But we should all remember that there is a process in it. There is some technique, there is some methodology in dhāraṇā, in dhyāna and samādhi which is specific to it. The process and the technique and the transformation which is happening in the mind, in the citta, during dhyāna and dhāraṇā and samādhi are specific to it. In the sense that there is some activity, there is some process. Otherwise normally we see that meditation is commonly understood, known or taught as something not doing anything at all, just sitting quietly. It is not static, inactive dullness. It is active, dynamic stability. There is lot of difference between static, inactive dullness, which is tamas, and an active, dynamic stability. There is a difference. That is why meditation should not lead and it cannot lead, it will not lead to tamas. There is a wide difference between the both. We see tug of war. Some people will be pulling the rope to one side, other group will be pulling the rope to the other side, opposite forces they are pulling and the force is applied on both the sides in opposite directions. What is the resultant? The resultant is the rope is stable, the center spot is stable. It is only for an example to understand. And we have seen that the changes and the transformations are very, very smooth, very, very normal, easy flow it is, one getting into the other. Though actually the whole process of meditation will proceed through all these three inevitable essential stages, the sādhaka will have a feeling and experience that his citta has at once attained the samādhi state, as if without passing through the stages of dhāraṇā and dhyāna. It is so swift it is, it is so quick it is, it is so natural, it is so automatic and it is so simple.
So attaining samādhi means already passed through dhāraṇā and dhyāna, and it is so spontaneous. So all the three are happening together and this process of happening all the three together is the samyama, a master control over the mind, complete control it is. This mastery is such that the sādhaka can go into samādhi at one instant. That means the whole process is fully under his control and therefore it is quite apt to designate such a mastery over the process of the term samyama. That is why we see many times samyama is control, a mastery.
And we all should remember that meditation is not an inactive state of dullness. There is intense alertness and intense awareness. And that alertness and awareness is so fine, so sharp that the thought is not leaving one subject matter. The citta is so confined and it is so careful as if it is not allowing to shift from its object of dhāraṇā, from its object of dhyāna. And that confinement and those transformations is the samyama it is.
How beautifully Maharshi Patanjali describes it. And once this samyama is mastered on any one particular object, on particular matter, on a particular subject, then the vibhūtis, about 55 or so, are mentioned in the Yoga Sutra, in this particular Vibhuti Pada. And it is necessary to keep in mind two facts about samyama. First, it is a continuous process and the passage from one stage to the other is not abrupt change. And secondly, the time taken in reaching the last stage depends entirely on the progress of the yogi, of the sādhaka, of the person. To the beginners may have to take hours together, may be days, may be months and years, but an adept personality, an adept sādhaka who has mastered the technique can pass into it almost instantaneously and effortlessly. We have an example of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Aravinda Ghosh. There are living examples even now. As samādhi does not involve any movement in space, it is not movement in space or rising, it is just a sinking aspect. And this sinking is towards the center of its own consciousness. It is not going out, it is not going to somewhere, it is inward journey - antarāṅgāḥ it is. And the time is never an essential factor in the process. And we should remember that the time taken for this journey, permit me to use the word, for this internal journey, the inner journey, that time for sinking, dissolving, entirely depends upon the sādhaka. And that dependence of the sādhaka is again defined by yama-niyama-āsana-prāṇāyāma-pratyāhāra and that is the lack of mastery and the gaining the mastery, that is the difference.
And let us see the further sutras.
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/9r6xCyCYn0U?si=-_1a0l1k87fgJm98
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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
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