Yoga-sutras (with Vyasa and Vachaspati Mishra)
by Rama Prasada | 1924 | 154,800 words | ISBN-10: 9381406863 | ISBN-13: 9789381406861
The Yoga-Sutra 4.8, 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 4.8
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 4.8:
ततस् तद्विपाकानुगुणानाम् एवाभिव्यक्तिर् वासनानाम् ॥ ४.८ ॥
tatas tadvipākānuguṇānām evābhivyaktir vāsanānām || 4.8 ||
tataḥ—thence, tad—their (of residual potencies), vipāka—fruition, anuguṇa—following, vipākānuguṇānām—of those that are competent to bring about their fruition, eva—only. abhivyaktiḥ—the manifestation, proceeding, vāsanānām—of the residual potencies.
8. Thence proceed the residual-potencies competent-to-bring-about their fruition alone.—168.
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]
‘Thence’ means from the three-fold karma.
‘Competent to bring about the fruition thereof.’ Whatever is the fruition of whichever class of karma, such residual potencies only as are competent to bring about the fruition of those actions, are manifested. When the karma relating to the state of the gods is fructifying, the residua which are adequate to the state of the hell-born, the animals and men cannot manifest. On the contrary, it is only the impressions which are adequate to the state of the gods that are manifested. The operation of the rule is the same in the case of the hell-born, the human and the animal tendencies.—168.
The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra
[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]
Having ascertained the vehicle of actions, now he describes the developments of the vehicle of afflictions:—‘Thence manifested the residual potencies competent to bring about their fruition.’ He describes the impressions which are competent to bring about the life-state, life-experience and life-period, whether hellish or divine, which are the results of the fruition of good and bad karma:—‘The residual potencies competent to bring about the fruition thereof.’ The residua which are born of divine experience are competent to bring about the fruition of divine karma. It is not possible that in the case of the manifestation of the residua of human experiences, the enjoyment of the fruitage of divine actions should take place. For this reason the impressions whose manifestation is brought about by karma are of the same class as the fruition thereof. This is the meaning of the Commentary.—8