Yoga s

Verses, Translation and Commentary 93
Verse 17
ivtkRivcaranNdaiSmtaêpanugmat! sMà}at>
vitarka vicāra ānanda asmitārūpa
anugamāt saṁprajñātaḥ
vitarka – analysis; vicāra – deliberation, reflection; ānanda – introspective
happiness; asmitārūpa – I-ness self-consciousness; anugamāt – by
accompani-ment, occurring with; saṁprajñātaḥ – the observational
linkage of the attention to a higher concentration force.
The observational linkage of the attention
to a higher concentration force occurs with analysis, reflection
and introspective happiness or with focus on self-consciousness.
Commentary:
Suddenly and without warning, Śrī Patañjali jumped from the cultivation of
non-interest in the mundane world to the observational linkage of the
attention to higher concentration force. If a yogin is successful at stopping the
ordinary functions of his mento-emotional energies, he will enter a neutral
stage from which his attention will be linked to or fused to higher
concentration forces in the sky of consciousness, the chit akasha.
In the beginning the yogi will be affected by four other forces from this side
of existence. These are the analytical power of the intellect, the reflective mood
of it, the introspective happiness which is felt during pratyāhār sensual
withdrawal practice and the I-ness or self-consciousness which has directed the
attention to be linked to the higher concentration force.
Some other commentators categorized saṁprajñāta as a type of samādhi. In
other words it has come down in the yogic disciplic succession that
saṁprajñātaḥ is a type of samādi or a lower stage of the eighth and final level of
yoga practice. However, this writer wants to inform readers that saṁprajñāta is
part of dhāraṇā practice which is the sixth stage of yoga. In that stage the
linkage is deliberate and is done by the yogi by the mystic force applied. In the
next stage, that of dhyāna, the yogi is able to realize his sense of identity and its
forceful application. He finds that his will power is drawn into the higher
concentration force of it’s own accord. In the eighth stage, that of samādhi, his
will is not only effortlessly drawn but it is continually pulled like that for a long
time, for over half hour or so.
In the stage of samādhi, he loses himself more and more, because he does
not have to exert his will or deliberation. Thus he becomes relaxed. His mystic
power loses tension and application because it is effortlessly pulled into and
fused to the higher concentration force.
In the saṁprajñāta observational linkage, the yogin sometimes finds that he
must analyze what he is linked to. This is preliminary. All yogis go through
these stages one by one as they progress and one does not move from lower to
a higher stage until one has integrated the lower progression. At first when the
deliberate linkage occurs, there is an analysis of what one is linked to, as to
what level it is on and as to its value, as to what it will evolve into and as to the
extent of transcendence.