Using the Power of the Mind to Accomplish Anything

Photo by Lital Levy on Unsplash

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"I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and angels."
- Pearl S. Buck

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  
​Want to start at the beginning?
Yoga Sutra 3.11
सर्वार्थतैकाग्रतयोः क्षयोदयौ चित्तस्य समाधिपरिणामः
sarvārthataikāgratayoḥ kṣayodayau cittasya samādhipariṇāmaḥ
As distractedness declines and one-pointed focus arises in the mind, a flow of absorption in the object of meditation arises.

Although Yoga Sutra 3.11 may seem quite esoteric at first, when we look at it from the basics, it actually makes quite a bit of sense.  Let’s break this one down into pieces, since it is the only sutra we’ll cover this month and is central to understanding subsequent sutras in pada three.
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Sutra 3.11 is made up of seven Sanskrit words (combined here into four).  And when we look at them one by one, what Patanjali is trying to explain becomes quite clear.

Sarvarthata - distracted mind (Stiles, 97), distractedness, attending to everything (Satchidananda, 223), all-pointedness or many-pointedness (Iyengar, 192)

Ekagratayoh - one-pointedness (Stiles, 97), undisturbed attention or attending to one thing (Satchidananda, 223)

Ksaya - disappearance (Stiles, 97), declining (Satchidananda, 223) or decay (Iyengar, 192)

Udayau - arising (Stiles, 97), [the] appearance (Satchidananda, 223) or the rise (Iyengar, 197)

Cittasya - of the mind (Stiles, 97) or of the consciousness (Iyengar, 197)

Samadhi - absorption into Spirit (Stiles, 97), absorption, harmony (Satchidananda, 223) or spiritual absorption (Iyengar, 197)

Parinamah - transformation (Stiles, 97), development, or maturity (Satchidananda, 223)

Putting it all together it literally reads “distractedness one-pointedness declining arising of the mind spiritual development.”  In other words, as the distracted mind declines and the one-pointed mind arises, one develops spiritual maturity.  

What is spiritual maturity?  It is “samadhi parinamah,” which if you remember from last month’s blog is the natural progression of nirodhah parinamah or pervading calmness of mind.  So we might say that spiritual maturity is a pervading absorption within the mind to one point of focus.  

As the Shoshoni Yoga Retreat’s guide translates this sutra, “As the mind becomes less scattered it develops one-pointed focus.  The focus is thus much stronger and able to maintain absorption in the Self.” (33)  Makunda Stiles references nirodhah parinamah in his translation of Sutra 3.11 by writing the mind “experiences a second transformation resulting from the continuous appearance of one-pointedness and the disappearance of distraction.” (33)  This transformation “happens during the transition between dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption).” (Bhakt, 143)

​BKS Iyengar further clarifies the difference between nirodhah parinamah and samadhi parinamah.

​In nirodha parinama, the emergence of thought-waves is restrained and stilled.  In samadhi parinama, the intervals between the emergence and the restraint of thoughts and vice versa are studied… In the state of silence [that emerges from samadhi parinama], the fragrance of the soul emerges as the centre of attention.  This is ekagrata parinama, which is dealt with in the next sutra.

Essentially, Patanjali is explaining the three-step process that happens as the mind makes its way into samadhi.  From development in restraining the mind, to a state of absorption in the object of focus, which effortlessly emerges between thoughts, onto a state of absorption in “the fragrance of the soul,” which is much larger than an object of focus or even our individual consciousness.
In next month’s post, we’ll discuss this final state of absorption or “ekagrata parinamah” defined by Patanjali and pull all three of these steps together.
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Have you ever experienced a state of absorption during meditation, where you are able to sustain your attention on your point of focus in a continuous flow without thought?  It is very subtle.  Perhaps you’ve experienced this state of flow without thought while you practice a yoga pose and reach “the edge” or “zero point” of that asana.  Or perhaps that state has emerged while engaged in a favorite activity like running, crafting or singing.  When have you experienced that state of one-pointed attention where your consciousness effortlessly flows toward its object?