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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.13
12 tatra sthitau yatno 'bhyāsaḥ
Translation. Of these [two means], practice (abhyāsa) is the effort (yatna) directed toward stability (sthiti).
Grammar check: 4 words pass / 0 flagged / 0 beyond the checkerPāṇini-verified
Every word's claimed grammar is re-derived with vidyut-prakriya, software implementing Pāṇini's rules. Flags are shown, never hidden; some are the text taking epic or Vedic liberties the classical rules do not generate.
Word by word
| surface | lemma | grammar |
| tatra | tatra | pass |
| sthitau | sthiti | pass |
| yatnaḥ | yatna | pass |
| abhyāsaḥ | abhyāsa | pass |
How the commentary settled it
Where the verse alone is ambiguous, the reading follows Vyāsa's commentary; the deciding lines are quoted below each decision.
Take tatra as a discourse-locative, “of/among these [two means],” rather than as a literal spatial “there.”→ The discourse-locative fits the sequence after the two means named in 1.12. The indeclinable tatra can represent locative forms of tad; cf. [MW s.v. tatra, 433,2]. The present commentary does not explicitly gloss it.
ys []
The commentary is silent on the scope of tatra.
Interpret sthiti technically as the tranquil continuity of a mind free from fluctuations, not as bodily posture or generic remaining.→ The commentator explicitly defines sthiti as praśāntavāhitā belonging to a mind described as avṛttika, “without fluctuations.”
ys [1]cittasyāvṛttikasya praśāntavāhitā sthitiḥ.
Stability is the tranquil flow of the mind that is without fluctuations.
Construe the locative sthitau as the intended goal of yatna: “effort toward/for stability.”→ The gloss tadarthaḥ, “having that as its object,” makes the locative purposive or objective rather than temporal.
ys [2]tadarthaḥ prayatno vīryam utsāhaḥ.
Effort directed toward that is vigor, ardor.
Render yatna as active, vigorous effort rather than merely wish or intention.→ The commentary explains the effort through prayatna, vīrya, and utsāha, emphasizing exertion, energy, and ardor.
ys [2]tadarthaḥ prayatno vīryam utsāhaḥ.
Effort directed toward that is vigor, ardor.
Read abhyāsaḥ as the term being defined by yatnaḥ; “practice” is concretely the undertaking of means intended to establish that stability, not mere repetition.→ The commentator explicitly identifies abhyāsa with performance of the relevant means, undertaken from a desire to bring that stability about.
ys [3]tat saṃpipādayiṣayā tat sādhanānuṣṭhānam abhyāsaḥ.
Practice is the undertaking of its means, with the desire to bring that about.
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1cittasyāvṛttikasya praśāntavāhitā sthitiḥ.
2tadarthaḥ prayatno vīryam utsāhaḥ.
3tat saṃpipādayiṣayā tat sādhanānuṣṭhānam abhyāsaḥ.
41.13
5sa tu dīrghakālanairantaryasatkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ