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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.18

virāmapratyayābhyāsapūrvaḥ saṃskāraśeṣo 'nyaḥ

Translation. The other [samādhi] is preceded by practice of the cessation-cognition (virāmapratyaya) and has only subliminal disposition (saṃskāra) remaining.

Grammar check: 3 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

surfacelemmagrammar
virāmapratyayābhyāsapūrvaḥvirāmapratyayābhyāsapūrvapass
saṃskāraśeṣaḥsaṃskāraśeṣapass
anyaḥanyapass

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.
The entire first expression is a bahuvrīhi qualifying an implied samādhiḥ: the samādhi has the practice of virāmapratyaya antecedent to it. The internal relations are virāmasya pratyayaḥ and virāmapratyayasya abhyāsaḥ.
→ The bahuvrīhi interpretation “preceded by practice of the cessation-cognition.” The commentary recasts the expression as tadabhyāsapūrvakam, explicitly making that practice antecedent to the condition of the mind. This agrees with pūrva in the sense “preceded or accompanied by” (MW s.v. pūrva, 643,1).
ys [5]tadabhyāsapūrvakaṃ hi cittaṃ nirālambanam abhāvaprāptam iva bhavatīty eṣa nirbījaḥ samādhir asaṃprajñātaḥ.
For the mind, preceded by practice of that, becomes supportless, as though it had attained non-existence; this is the seedless, non-cognitive samādhi.
Virāmapratyaya is interpreted as the cognition or conception (pratyaya) of cessation (virāma), not as a grammatical pause, mere belief, or the complete cessation of every cognition. It is itself cultivated as an objectless support.
→ “Cessation-cognition.” The commentary treats virāmapratyayaḥ as a masculine entity that is objectless (nirvastuka), empty of an object (arthaśūnya), and deliberately made a support. Thus pratyaya is the cognition being cultivated, while virāma supplies its content. The lexical values are also supported by MW: “cessation” (MW s.v. virāma, 982,2) and “conception, notion, idea” (MW s.v. pratyaya, 673,3).
ys [3]sālambano hy abhyāsas tatsādhanāya na kalpata iti virāmapratyayo nirvastuka ālambanīkriyate.
For practice furnished with an objective support is not capable of accomplishing that; therefore the objectless cessation-cognition is made the support.
ys [4]sa cārthaśūnyaḥ.
And it is empty of an object.
Saṃskāraśeṣa is a bahuvrīhi, “that in which saṃskāra is the remainder,” rather than a tatpuruṣa meaning “a remainder of saṃskāra.” Saṃskāra here denotes the subliminal disposition left after all mental activities have subsided.
→ The bahuvrīhi “with only subliminal disposition (saṃskāra) remaining.” The commentary predicates saṃskāraśeṣa directly of nirodha when all vṛttis have disappeared. Śeṣa has its ordinary sense “remainder, residue” (MW s.v. śeṣa, 1088,3).
ys [1]sarvavṛttipratyastamaye saṃskāraśeṣo nirodhaś cittasya samādhir asaṃprajñātaḥ.
When all mental activities have subsided, the mind’s cessation, with only subliminal disposition remaining, is non-cognitive samādhi.
Anyaḥ refers to another kind of samādhi in contrast to the samādhi of the preceding sūtra; the omitted head noun is samādhiḥ, specifically asaṃprajñātaḥ samādhiḥ.
→ “The other [samādhi].” The commentary twice supplies samādhiḥ and identifies this state as asaṃprajñātaḥ and nirbījaḥ. This also matches anya as “other, different” (MW s.v. anya, 45,2).
ys [1]sarvavṛttipratyastamaye saṃskāraśeṣo nirodhaś cittasya samādhir asaṃprajñātaḥ.
When all mental activities have subsided, the mind’s cessation, with only subliminal disposition remaining, is non-cognitive samādhi.
ys [5]tadabhyāsapūrvakaṃ hi cittaṃ nirālambanam abhāvaprāptam iva bhavatīty eṣa nirbījaḥ samādhir asaṃprajñātaḥ.
For the mind, preceded by practice of that, becomes supportless, as though it had attained non-existence; this is the seedless, non-cognitive samādhi.

Vyāsa's commentary on this unit

1sarvavṛttipratyastamaye saṃskāraśeṣo nirodhaś cittasya samādhir asaṃprajñātaḥ.
2tasya paraṃ vairāgyam upāyaḥ.
3sālambano hy abhyāsas tatsādhanāya na kalpata iti virāmapratyayo nirvastuka ālambanīkriyate.
4sa cārthaśūnyaḥ.
5tadabhyāsapūrvakaṃ hi cittaṃ nirālambanam abhāvaprāptam iva bhavatīty eṣa nirbījaḥ samādhir asaṃprajñātaḥ.
61.18
7sa khalv ayaṃ dvividhaḥ