Sūtra 1.20

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of sūtra 1.20:

श्रद्धावीर्यस्मृतिसमाधिप्रज्ञापूर्वक इतरेषाम् ॥ १.२० ॥

śraddhāvīryasmṛtisamādhiprajñāpūrvaka itareṣām || 1.20 ||

(20) [Osho—] Others who attain asamprajñāta-samādhi attain through faith, effort, recollection, concentration and discrimination.

Ancient and Modern interpretation:

Vyāsa says^[1] Yogīs (who follow the path of the prescribed effort) adopt the means of reverential faith, energy, repeated recollection, concentration and real knowledge (and thus attain asamprajñāta-samādhi).

The above method is adopted by Yogīs. Śraddhā means reverential faith towards means of attainment of kaivalya. This faith brings about tranquility. Such a faith gives seeker the energy (vīrya). Where there is śraddhā, there is vīrya. These two bring about the sustained memory. Through careful practice, the Yogī develops watchfulness till it becomes established in the memory. This memory is then used as a tool to arrest the mind at will.Such an undisturbed mind becomes conducive to concentration and the light of discriminative knowledge dawns. The Yogī then understands the real nature of things. By retention of such discriminative knowledge and by cultivating detachment towards all knowable he attains Asamprajñāta-Samādhi.

Osho says^[2] others who attain Asamprajñāta-Samādhi attain through faith, effort, recollection, concentration and discrimination.Osho describes śraddhā as trust and not faith. Faith is something one is born into whereas trust is something one grows into. Trust is personal intimacy and not a social phenomenon. To emphasize the point further, Osho says marriage is a faith whereas Love is Trust. Śraddhā is right trust, and it is the first requirement for Asamprajñāta-Samādhi. The second is vīrya, which Osho describes as Bio Energy, the total energy phenomenon of the seeker. Such energy can be brought about only through effort. Total energy can be summoned only when there is a trust. The third aspect is smṛti, Osho calls it,self-remembrance. In everything one does, the ‘I’ inside should not be forgotten. It is not self-consciousness; it is consciousness of the self. Selfconsciousness is ego; consciousness of the self is asmitā, purity. Ordinarily the consciousness is arrowed towards an object.Selfremembrance means pointing the arrow also towards inside. A double arrowed arrow, when the subject and the object are together in the consciousness.

Osho defines^[3] Samādhi as a non-questioning and non-problematic state of the mind. It is not concentration. If the sādhaka is absorbed, Samādhi happens automatically. In Asamprajñāta-Samādhi, when the trust is complete, when the effort is total, when the remembrance is deep, Samādhi happens. Lastly, prajñā means wisdom-a knowing awareness, and not ‘discrimination’ as commonly interpreted. A man of wisdom, a man of understanding, does not choose wrong or right. He simply feels. He throws his awareness everywhere, and in that light he moves. Wherever he moves is right.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Araṇya, op.cit., p.50

[2]:

Osho, op.cit, p.22

[3]:

Ibid., p.35