Sūtra 2.55

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 2.55:

ततः परमा वश्यतेन्द्रियाणाम् ॥ २.५५ ॥

tataḥ paramā vaśyatendriyāṇām || 2.55 ||

tataḥ—thence. paramā—the highest, vaśyatā—control. indriyāṇām—of the senses.

55. Thence the senses are under the highest control.—106.

The Sankhya-pravachana commentary of Vyasa

[English translation of the 7th century commentary by Vyāsa called the Sāṅkhya-pravacana, Vyāsabhāṣya or Yogabhāṣya]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

Some say that the conquest of the senses is their non-attachment to sound, etc. Attachment is a defect which draws them away from the good. Others say that inasmuch as the enjoyment of unprohibited objects is proper, it should be said that contact with sound, &c., subject to one’s wishes, is the conquest of the senses. Others again say that the conquest of the senses is the obtaining of knowledge of sound, &c., without their causing pleasure and pain, in the absence of attachment and aversion. Jaugiṣavya says that it is only the want of action of the senses, on account of the one-pointedness of the mind. For this reason it is then that this control is the very highest, the restraint, that is to say, of the senses along with the restraint of the mind and also for the reason that the Yogīs, being thus restrained, do not stand in need of employing other means, like those employed in the conquest of other organs.—106.

The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra

[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]

‘Thence the senses come under the highest control.’ Are there any controls of the senses which may be said not to be the highest, so that it is said here that the highest control is secured? Shows them:—‘Some say that the conquest, &c.’ Explains this:—Attachment is desire. The word in the original is Vyāsana, which is described as meaning that which removes away from the good. The absence of this attachment which draws one away from the good, is the control. Describes another control:—The enjoyment of such sound, &c., as is not forbidden by Śruti, &c., and the avoidance of those that are forbidden, is proper, that is, in accordance with propriety.

He describes another control:—‘Contact with sound, &c.’ The contact of the senses with sound, &c., depends upon one’s wishes. Man is free to enjoy whatever he likes. He is not dependent upon the enjoyment.

He mentions another control also ‘The knowledge of sound, &c., without pleasure and pain, &c.’

He mentions the control which is preferred by the author of the aphorism, and with which a great Ṛṣi is in accord. Jaigiṣavya says that it is the non-inclination of the senses towards their objects, the sounds, &c., along with the mind which has become one-pointed. Now he says that this is' the highest control:—‘For this reason is it then, &c.’ The word ‘then’ (TU in the original) differentiates this control from other controls. The other controls do not remove the possibility of contact with the poison of afflictions, because they are of the nature of the conjunction between the serpent and the poison. Even the greatest professor of the science of poisons who has controlled a serpent, sleeps not with the serpent in his arras, without fear. This control, however, which is free from contact with all poisons, leaves no fear, and is, therefore, called the Highest.

‘Like the control of the other organs’:—In the state of the Yatātma Yogī, when one sense has been controlled, the Yogī stands in need of further effort for controlling the remaining senses. Not so is there need of other effort to control the external senses, when the mind is restrained. This is the meaning.—55.

Five objects have been treated in this chapter: The Kriyā Yoga, the Afflictions, Fruitage of actions, the consequent Pain, and the four branches of the science of Sorrow.

Here finishes the Gloss of Vācaspati on the second Chapter of the Commentary of Vyāsa on Patanjali’s Yoga Philosophy. The chapter describing ‘The means of Yoga.’