Yoga-sutras (with Vyasa and Vachaspati Mishra)
by Rama Prasada | 1924 | 154,800 words | ISBN-10: 9381406863 | ISBN-13: 9789381406861
The Yoga-Sutra 3.16, English translation with Commentaries. The Yoga Sutras are an ancient collection of Sanskrit texts dating from 500 BCE dealing with Yoga and Meditation in four books. It deals with topics such as Samadhi (meditative absorption), Sadhana (Yoga practice), Vibhuti (powers or Siddhis), Kaivaly (isolation) and Moksha (liberation).
Sūtra 3.16
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 3.16:
परिणामत्रयसंयमाद् अतीतानागतज्ञानम् ॥ ३.१६ ॥
pariṇāmatrayasaṃyamād atītānāgatajñānam || 3.16 ||
pariṇāma-traya—the three fold change, saṃyamāt—by Saṃyama over. atīta—of the past. anāgata—of the future, jñānam—knowledge..
16. By Saṃyama oyer the three-fold change, comes the knowledge of the past and the future.—122.
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]
By Saṃyama over the charges of characteristic, secondary quality and condition, comes to the Yogīs the knowledge of the past and the future. The triad of concentration, meditation and trance together has been termed Saṃyama. When direct knowledge of the three-fold change is obtained by means of Saṃyama, knowledge of their past and present is obtained.—122.
The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra
[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]
Henceforward up to the end of the chapter, the objects of Saṃyama and the attainments which indicate mastery over them, are discussed. Of these, the first object of the Saṃyama of a Yogi, familiar with all the accessories of Yoga, that is introduced, is the triad of changes itself, whose modality has already been described:—‘By Saṃyama over the three-fold changes, comes the knowledge of the past and the future.’
The question is that inasmuch as direct knowledge is obtained only of the object with reference to which saṃyama is performed, how is it that the Saṃyama on the triad of changes will become the cause of the direct knowledge of the past and the future? For this reason the Commentator says:—When direct knowledge of the three-fold change has been obtained by means of Saṃyama, the knowledge of the past and the future, having as they do the relation of co-existence with these changes, is also brought about. The direct knowledge of the triad of changes itself, is the direct knowledge of the past and the present which it comprehends. The very essence of the one being the essence of the other, the object of Saṃyama and direct knowledge arc not different (in the aphorism). This is the meaning.—16.