New interpretation of Yoga Suutra

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Re: yogasuutra 1. 3 - tadaa dra.s.tu.h svaruupe 'vasthaanam

I don't want to throw a spanner into the works generated by
enthusiasm, but here goes.

I see no problem with tadaa dra.s.tu.h that will be solved
by making it read tadaa adra.s.tu.h - suutras don't have to
conform to rules of poetic composition. As a general rule,
one should be careful not to read too much philosophical
meaning into highly speculative reconstructions of text.
This is especially a problem when such reconstruction is
being done without critical evaluations of manuscripts and
without consulting established lines of commentaries.

It is highly prejudicial, to read "unobservable" here, and
to say that the reading has to be adra.s.taa. The Sanskrit
terms for unobservable or unobserved would be ad.rzya or
ad.r.s.ta, not adra.s.taa. It is perfectly consistent in the
Yoga school for the correct reading to be dra.s.taa. There
is a good clue in the suutras themselves. See dra.s.taa
d.rzi-maatra.h zuddho 'pi pratyayaanupazya.h, tadartha eva
d.rzyasya aatmaa (2.20-21).

Most importantly, I would draw attention to suutra 1.4, the
very next one in the text -

v.rtti-saaruupyam itaratra - 1. 4

kasya? v.rtti-saaruupyam api dra.s.tu.h eva | citta-v.rtti-
nirodhe sattva-puru.sa-anyataa-khyaati.h | tasmin sati,
cittasya niruddhaavasthaayaa.m, dra.s.tu.h puru.sasya sva-
ruupe 'vasthaanam | itaratra, sattva-puru.sa-anyataa-khyaaty-
abhaave, tasyaiva dra.s.tu.h pusu.sasya v.rtti-saaruupyam |
tasmaat "tadaadra.s.tur" ity atra "dra.s.taa" iti paa.tha.h
arthavad bhavati | puru.sa.h samaadhau na ki.mcit pazyati,
tasmaad adra.s.taa bhavati iti cet | satya.m sa puru.sa.h
asamprajnaate na ki.mcit pazyati | para.m tu samprajnaata-
samaaadhaav-api citta-v.rtti-nirodha.h sambhavati, na vaa?
savicaraadi-samaadhy-avasthaasu puru.sa.h vi.sayaan pazyaty
eva, dra.s.taa ca bhavaty eva |

Best wishes,
Vidyasankar
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