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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.30
vyādhistyānasaṃśayapramādālasyāviratibhrāntidarśanālabdhabhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni cittavikṣepās te 'ntarāyāḥ
Translation. Illness (vyādhi), mental incapacity for action (styāna), doubt (saṃśaya), failure to cultivate the means to meditative absorption (pramāda), inactivity from heaviness (ālasya), craving for the mind’s contact with objects (avirati), erroneous cognition (bhrāntidarśana), failure to attain a level of absorption (alabdhabhūmikatva), and failure to remain established in a level once attained (anavasthitatva)—these are distractions of the mind (cittavikṣepāḥ); they are the obstacles (antarāyāḥ).
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 |
|---|
| vyādhistyānasaṃśayapramādālasyāviratibhrāntidarśanālabdhabhūmikatvānavasthitatvāni | vyādhi-styāna-saṃśaya-pramāda-ālasya-avirati-bhrāntidarśana-alabdhabhūmikatva-anavasthitatva | pass |
| cittavikṣepāḥ | cittavikṣepa | pass |
| te | tad | pass |
| antarāyāḥ | antarāya | 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.
The uninterrupted opening sequence is one neuter nominative plural itaretara-dvandva containing nine coordinated obstacles, not a series of separately inflected words.→ A nine-member itaretara-dvandva, as confirmed by the commentary’s count and its successive treatment of all nine members.
ys [1]navāntarāyāś cittasya vikṣepāḥ.
The nine obstacles are distractions of the mind.
ys [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]vyādhir dhāturasakaraṇavaiṣamyam.
styānam akarmaṇyatā cittasya.
saṃśaya ubhayakoṭispṛg vijñānaṃ syād idam evaṃ naivaṃ syād iti.
pramādaḥ samādhisādhanānām abhāvanam.
ālasyaṃ kāyasya cittasya ca gurutvād apravṛttiḥ.
aviratiś cittasya viṣayasaṃprayogātmā gardhaḥ.
bhrāntidarśanaṃ viparyayajñānam.
alabdhabhūmikatvaṃ samādhibhūmer alābhaḥ.
anavasthitatvaṃ yal labdhāyāṃ bhūmau cittasyāpratiṣṭhā.
The commentary successively defines disease, mental incapacity, doubt, negligence, sloth, non-restraint, erroneous cognition, non-attainment of a level, and instability.
Vyādhi is translated as “illness,” specifically a physiological disorder rather than metaphorical distress.→ Illness, because the commentary defines it as an imbalance involving bodily constituents, fluids, and organs.
ys [4]vyādhir dhāturasakaraṇavaiṣamyam.
Illness is an imbalance of the bodily constituents, fluids, and organs.
Styāna denotes the mind’s incapacity for action, not the dictionary’s merely physical senses such as density or rigidity.→ Mental incapacity for action.
ys [5]styānam akarmaṇyatā cittasya.
Styāna is the mind’s incapacity for action.
Saṃśaya is doubt understood as cognition reaching both mutually opposed alternatives.→ Doubt between alternatives, distinct from the false cognition denoted by bhrāntidarśana.
ys [6]saṃśaya ubhayakoṭispṛg vijñānaṃ syād idam evaṃ naivaṃ syād iti.
Doubt is cognition touching both alternatives: ‘This might be so; it might not be so.’
Pramāda is rendered specifically as failure to cultivate the means to samādhi, rather than as unspecific carelessness.→ Failure to cultivate the means to meditative absorption.
ys [7]pramādaḥ samādhisādhanānām abhāvanam.
Pramāda is the failure to cultivate the means to meditative absorption.
Ālasya is inactivity caused by heaviness of both body and mind.→ Inactivity from heaviness, preserving the commentary’s stated cause.
ys [8]ālasyaṃ kāyasya cittasya ca gurutvād apravṛttiḥ.
Sloth is inactivity owing to heaviness of the body and the mind.
Avirati is not merely failure to observe a rule; it is craving whose nature is the mind’s conjunction with objects.→ Craving for the mind’s contact with objects.
ys [9]aviratiś cittasya viṣayasaṃprayogātmā gardhaḥ.
Non-restraint is craving whose nature is the mind’s conjunction with objects.
Bhrāntidarśana is treated as one technical member and translated “erroneous cognition.”→ Erroneous cognition, because the commentary equates it with viparyayajñāna.
ys [10]bhrāntidarśanaṃ viparyayajñānam.
Erroneous perception is inverted or false cognition.
Alabdhabhūmikatva means failure to attain a level of samādhi, not merely lack of a physical place or foundation.→ Failure to attain a level of meditative absorption; loss or instability after attainment belongs instead to anavasthitatva.
ys [11]alabdhabhūmikatvaṃ samādhibhūmer alābhaḥ.
Failure to attain a level is the non-attainment of a level of meditative absorption.
Anavasthitatva is failure of the mind to remain established in a level already attained; it presupposes attainment and is therefore distinct from alabdhabhūmikatva.→ Failure to remain established in an attained level.
ys [12, 13]anavasthitatvaṃ yal labdhāyāṃ bhūmau cittasyāpratiṣṭhā.
samādhipratilambhe hi sati tadavasthitaṃ syād iti.
Instability is the mind’s failure to be established in a level that has been attained; for only when meditative absorption has been acquired could it remain established there.
Cittavikṣepāḥ is a genitive tatpuruṣa, “distractions of the mind,” and the nine items are themselves those distractions rather than merely their causes or symptoms.→ Distractions of the mind, predicated directly of the nine-member list.
ys [1]navāntarāyāś cittasya vikṣepāḥ.
The nine obstacles are distractions of the mind.
ys [14]ete cittavikṣepā nava yogamalā yogapratipakṣā yogāntarāyā ity abhidhīyante.
These nine distractions of the mind are called impurities of yoga, opponents of yoga, and obstacles to yoga.
Te resumes the nine distractions, while antarāyāḥ is a second predicate: “these are the obstacles.” In context, antarāya means specifically an obstacle to yoga.→ A resumptive demonstrative followed by a second nominal predicate.
ys [14]ete cittavikṣepā nava yogamalā yogapratipakṣā yogāntarāyā ity abhidhīyante.
These nine distractions of the mind are called impurities of yoga, opponents of yoga, and obstacles to yoga.
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1navāntarāyāś cittasya vikṣepāḥ.
2sahaite cittavṛttibhir bhavanti.
3eteṣām abhāve na bhavanti pūrvoktāś cittavṛttayaḥ.
4vyādhir dhāturasakaraṇavaiṣamyam.
5styānam akarmaṇyatā cittasya.
6saṃśaya ubhayakoṭispṛg vijñānaṃ syād idam evaṃ naivaṃ syād iti.
7pramādaḥ samādhisādhanānām abhāvanam.
8ālasyaṃ kāyasya cittasya ca gurutvād apravṛttiḥ.
9aviratiś cittasya viṣayasaṃprayogātmā gardhaḥ.
10bhrāntidarśanaṃ viparyayajñānam.
11alabdhabhūmikatvaṃ samādhibhūmer alābhaḥ.
12anavasthitatvaṃ yal labdhāyāṃ bhūmau cittasyāpratiṣṭhā.
13samādhipratilambhe hi sati tadavasthitaṃ syād iti.
14ete cittavikṣepā nava yogamalā yogapratipakṣā yogāntarāyā ity abhidhīyante.
151.30
16duḥkhadaurmanasyāṅgamejayatvaśvāsapraśvāsā vikṣepasahabhuvaḥ