Sūtra 3.50

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 3.50:

स्थान्युपनिमन्त्रणे सङ्गस्मयाकरणं पुनर् अनिष्टप्रसङ्गात् ॥ ३.५० ॥

sthānyupanimantraṇe saṅgasmayākaraṇaṃ punar aniṣṭaprasaṅgāt || 3.50 ||

sthāni-upanimantraṇe—on the invitation by the presiding deities, (nimantraṇa) (sthanin); saṅga—attachment, smaya—smile of satisfaction. akaraṇam—non-performance of. punaḥ—again, aniṣṭa—with the undesirable. prasaṅgāt—contact being possible.

50. When the presiding-deities invite, there should be no attachment and no smile of satisfaction; contact with the undesirable being again possible.—156.

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]

‘When the presiding deities invite, there should be no attachment and no smile of satisfaction; contact with the undesirable being again possible.’ There are four classes of Yogīs (1) The prathama kalpika; (2) The madhubhūmika; (3) The prajñājyotiḥ; (4) The atikrāntabhāvanīya.

The first is the one who is practising and in whom the light is just appearing. The second is he who has attained the Ritambharā [Ṛtambharā?] cognition. The third is he who has attained power over the elements and the senses, who preserves all that has been known and has to be known, who has been doing what has to be done and who is given to practice. The fourth is the Atikrāntabhāvanīya. His sole object is to make the mind latent in the Pradhāna. Its stages are the seven-fold in finality.

Of these then the Brāhmaṇa to whom opens up the yet unseen plane of Madhumatī, is invited by the gods from their various places. They tell him, ‘Come, sit here; enjoy yourselves here; this is a lovely enjoyment, here is a lovely damsel; this is the elixir of life, which counteracts old age and death; here is a vehicle which moves through the skies; these the kalpa trees; this is the pure stream of Mandākinī; these the perfected ones, the great seers, and beautiful and obedient nymphs; here are clairvoyance and clair-audience; here a body of adamantine strength. You have earned all these by your virtues. Come, take all this. This is an eternal, unfading, undying position which the gods love.’

Thus addressed, let him contemplate upon defects of attachment. ‘It is with difficulty that I have procured the light of Yoga, the destroyer of the darkness of afllictions, after having been long backed by the flames of the world and rolled into the darkness of birth and death. These winds of sensuous enjoyment, brought into sensuous existence by desire, are calculated to put that light out. Having seen all this how should I allow myself to be deluded by the mirage of sensuous enjoyments and put myself as fuel again into the burning fire of the same changeful existence. Farewell then, ye sensuous enjoyments; ye are but dreams, fit only to be enjoyed by weaklings.’

Having thus come upon a fixed resolution, let him practise his meditation. Having thus not allowed himself to become attached, let him not indulge himself in a smile of satisfaction that even the gods begged him. If he indulges in such satisfaction, he will never perceive himself as having his hair in the grasp of death, and resting in fancied security. Thus forgetfulness ever on the watch for a hole, and ever full of efforts, would find its way into the mind; and once there it will bring the afflictions back to life; and thence will come in contact with the undesirable. Thus avoiding attachment and mental pride, the high mental state will obtain firm hold upon him and the object that is to be attained, will ever keep in front.—156.

The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra

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

Now seeing that there is possibility of obstacle in the way of the Yogī who is practising the means of perfect freedom (kaivalya), the author teaches the cause of its removal:—‘When the presiding deities invite, there should be no attachment and no smile of satisfaction; there being possibility of contact with the undesirable again.’

The presiding deities are Mahendra, &c., who function in the regions of the powers thus obtained by the Yogī. The invitation comes from them. Attachment and a smile of satisfaction should not be indulged therein, because in that case there is again the possibility of the recurrence of the undesirable. Now with the object of determining the class of the Yogī whom the gods invite from their places, the Commentator mentions all the classes of possible Yogīs: ‘There are four classes, &c.’ Now he describes the nature of the Prathama-kalpika:—‘Of these he who practises, &c.’ In him the light of the knowledge of objects, such as the mind of others, &c., has just appeared; it has not been mastered by him. He mentions the second:—‘He who possesses the truth-bearing cognition, &c.’ The cognition there is truth-bearing (Ritambharā). It is he who desires to conquer the elements and the senses.

He mentions the third:—‘He who has conquered the elements and the senses.’ By this the elements and the senses have been conquered by Saṃyama over the gross and other appearances and over the act of sensation and other appearances. He described him further:—In all those that have been achieved by the conquest of the elements and the senses, such as knowing the mind of others, &c., he makes up his mind to preserve, so that they may not be destroyed, In those again which have still to be achieved, such as the ‘Sorrowless, &c.,’ up to the higher desirelessness, he resorts to all the means that should be adopted. The effort of many achieves the object of attainment by resorting to the proper means only.

He mentions the fourth:—‘The fourth, &c.’ This worshipful being absolutely free while yet in life, and possessing only the last body, has the sole object of making the mind latent in the First Cause (pradhāna).

Out of these he determines the Yogī who is invited by the gods:—‘To whom opens up the yet unseen plane of Madhumatī, &c.’

As to the neophyte (prathama-kalpika) there is not the least suspicion in the mind of Mahendra, &c., that he will get to the end of Yoga. The third also is not to be invited by them, because he has got what they invite him for, by his conquest of the elements and the senses. In the fourth also the suspicion of attachment is removed the farthest on account of his having reached the state of higher desirelessness. He who remains is the second alone, fit to be the object of invitation. It is he alone whose cognition is truth-bearing, that can be the object of invitation. ‘Undying’ is that which is not destroyed. ‘Unfading ' is that which is ever renewed.

He describes the fault of the smile of satisfaction:—‘If he indulges in the smile of satisfaction, &c.’ He will never understand impermanency, being possessed of a false sense of security on account of satisfaction. The rest is easy.

Indifferent places it has been said that omniscience results from Saṃyama. That, however, does not mean the knowledge of everything without exception. It only describes the nature of the knowledge, as when they say, ‘We have tasted all vegetables.’ The meaning here is that we have tasted all sorts of sauces, not that there is none left. The word ‘all’ (sarva) does signify that nothing remains; as in the word ‘The eater has eaten all the food that was given to him.’ Here the meaning is that nothing remains.—50.