Sūtra 1.3

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 1.3:

तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम् ॥ १.३ ॥

tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe'vasthānam || 1.3 ||

3. Then (i.e. at the time of meditation) there is abidance of the spectator in its own form.

The Rajamartanda commentary by King Bhoja:

[English translation of the 11th century commentary by Bhoja called the Rājamārtaṇḍa]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

Now the author of the Sūtras, wishing to describe the words citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ, describes first [in two aphorisms] the word citta.

[Read Sūtra 1.3]

“Then,” at that time, the soul, as “the spectator,” (draṣṭā) “abides” remains in its own form, which is simple intelligence (and nothing more). The meaning is this: that on knowledge being fully developed, there being no shadow of any sensuous object cast on the thinking principle, and the egotism of one's self, which is the actor, being gone, and intellect being fit for liberation, the soul abides or obtains location in Buddhi which is its own form.

Notes and Extracts

[Notes and comparative extracts from other commentaries on the Yogasūtra]

[The spectator is the soul which, abiding in the body, and influenced by the thinking principle, beholds what is done by the organs, but does not partake of the pleasures and pains resulting from their action, and in the state of Yoga the functions beingstopped there is the spectator without any spectacle to behold. This spectator is the soul.]

What then is the form (of the soul) when waking (or active, i.e. other than in a state of meditation)? To this he replies: