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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.19
bhavapratyayo videhaprakṛtilayānām
Translation. For the bodiless gods (videha) and those absorbed into Primal Nature (prakṛtilaya), [the “other” concentration (samādhi)] is conditioned by their mode of existence (bhava-pratyaya).
Grammar check: 2 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 |
|---|
| bhavapratyayaḥ | bhavapratyaya | pass |
| videhaprakṛtilayānām | videhaprakṛtilaya | 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.
Interpret bhavapratyayaḥ as a bahuvrīhi predicate: the elided state has bhava—one’s given mode of existence—as its conditioning cause. Pratyaya therefore denotes a condition or causal basis here, not merely a belief or conception.→ ‘Conditioned by their mode of existence.’ The broad lexical sense of bhava is supported by [MW s.v. bhava, 748,3], while the commentary’s account of a state operating solely through its own saṃskāra supports the causal sense of pratyaya.
ys [1]videhānāṃ devānāṃ bhavapratyayaḥ.
For the bodiless—namely, the gods—it is conditioned by existence.
ys [2]te hi svasaṃskāramātropayogena cittena kaivalyapadam ivānubhavantaḥ svasaṃskāravipākaṃ tathājātīyakam ativāhayanti.
For, with a mind functioning solely through its own latent disposition, they experience as if the station of isolation and pass through the corresponding maturation of their own latent disposition.
Analyze videhaprakṛtilayānām as a dvandva of two coordinated classes, with the genitive construed as the class for whom the predicate holds.→ The commentary first discusses videhas and then introduces prakṛtilayas separately with tathā, establishing two coordinated groups.
ys [1]videhānāṃ devānāṃ bhavapratyayaḥ.
For the bodiless gods, it is conditioned by existence.
ys [3]tathā prakṛtilayāḥ sādhikāre cetasi prakṛtilīne kaivalyapadam ivānubhavanti, yāvan na punar āvartate 'dhikāravaśāc cittam iti.
Likewise, the Prakṛti-absorbed, when the still-functioning mind has dissolved into Prakṛti, experience as if the station of isolation, until the mind returns again through the force of its function.
Take videha as a substantivized designation for bodiless gods, not simply for deceased persons.→ ‘Bodiless gods’: devānām is the commentary’s explicit gloss, while ‘bodiless, incorporeal’ is supported by [MW s.v. videha, 966,2].
ys [1]videhānāṃ devānāṃ bhavapratyayaḥ.
For the videhas—that is, the gods—it is conditioned by existence.
Interpret prakṛtilaya as a person whose mind is absorbed or dissolved into Prakṛti, not as Prakṛti’s own dissolution or as mere physical lying down or clinging.→ ‘Those absorbed into Primal Nature.’ The commentary’s prakṛtilīne cetasi fixes the direction of the relation, and ‘primary substance’ for prakṛti is supported by [MW s.v. prakṛti, 654,1].
ys [3]tathā prakṛtilayāḥ sādhikāre cetasi prakṛtilīne kaivalyapadam ivānubhavanti, yāvan na punar āvartate 'dhikāravaśāc cittam iti.
Likewise, the Prakṛti-absorbed, when the still-functioning mind has dissolved into Prakṛti, experience as if the station of isolation, until the mind returns again through the force of its function.
Supply ‘the other concentration (samādhi)’ as the elided subject of the masculine predicate bhavapratyayaḥ, inherited from the preceding sūtra.
→ Supply the inherited subject in square brackets so that the addition is explicit rather than presented as a word occurring in this unit.
Do not identify the videhas’ and prakṛtilayas’ condition with genuine kaivalya. It only resembles kaivalya and remains subject to saṃskāra maturation or the mind’s return.→ A conditioned, kaivalya-like state, because the commentary twice uses iva and explicitly states that the mind can return.
ys [2]te hi svasaṃskāramātropayogena cittena kaivalyapadam ivānubhavantaḥ svasaṃskāravipākaṃ tathājātīyakam ativāhayanti.
They experience as if the station of isolation while passing through the maturation of their own latent disposition.
ys [3]tathā prakṛtilayāḥ sādhikāre cetasi prakṛtilīne kaivalyapadam ivānubhavanti, yāvan na punar āvartate 'dhikāravaśāc cittam iti.
The Prakṛti-absorbed likewise experience as if the station of isolation, until the mind returns again through the force of its function.
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1videhānāṃ devānāṃ bhavapratyayaḥ.
2te hi svasaṃskāramātropayogena cittena kaivalyapadam ivānubhavantaḥ svasaṃskāravipākaṃ tathājātīyakam ativāhayanti.
3tathā prakṛtilayāḥ sādhikāre cetasi prakṛtilīne kaivalyapadam ivānubhavanti, yāvan na punar āvartate 'dhikāravaśāc cittam iti.
41.19
5śraddhāvīryasmṛtisamādhiprajñāpūrvaka itareṣām