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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.38
37 svapnanidrājñānālambanaṃ vā
Translation. Or [the yogin’s mind attains the state of stability (sthitipada) when it] has dream-cognition (svapna-jñāna) or sleep-cognition (nidrā-jñāna) as its support (ālambana).
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 |
|---|
| svapnanidrājñānālambanam | svapnanidrājñānālambana | pass |
| vā | vā | 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.
Analyze the whole compound as a neuter nominative singular bahuvrīhi qualifying the understood citta: ‘whose support is dream-cognition or sleep-cognition.’ It is not a standalone accusative object. The bhāṣya explicitly supplies yoginaś cittaṃ as the subject and describes it as tadākāram. Its printed labhata is apparently an uncorrected reading for labhate; this does not affect the identification of cittaṃ as nominative. The rendering ‘support’ for ālambana is also consistent with [MW s.v. ālambana, 153,2].→ A nominative bahuvrīhi qualifying the understood citta
ys [1]tadākāraṃ yoginaś cittaṃ sthitipadaṃ labhata iti.
The yogin’s mind, taking that form, attains the state of stability (with printed labhata apparently standing for labhate).
Interpret the internal compound distributively: svapna-jñāna is one possible support and nidrā-jñāna another. The commentary resolves the compressed svapna-nidrā sequence by repeating the complete expression with vā, rather than treating dream and sleep as a single jointly qualifying dvandva.→ Two alternatives: svapna-jñāna or nidrā-jñāna
ys [1]svapnajñānālambanaṃ vā nidrājñānālambanaṃ vā
Either having dream-cognition as its support or having sleep-cognition as its support.
Render svapna and nidrā as contextually distinct states, ‘dream’ and ‘sleep,’ without adding the more specific ‘deep sleep.’ The commentary establishes that they are distinct alternatives, although it does not itself define svapna. Nidrā as ‘sleep’ is lexically supported by [MW s.v. nidrā, 548,2]; the supplied extract [MW s.v. svapna, 1280,3] gives sleep-related senses but does not by itself resolve the contextual contrast.→ ‘Dream’ and ‘sleep,’ preserving the distinction without importing ‘deep’
ys [1]svapnajñānālambanaṃ vā nidrājñānālambanaṃ vā
Either supported by the cognition of a dream or supported by the cognition of sleep.
Take vā as an indeclinable alternative particle. It presents this as another method of attaining stability and, in the commentary’s expanded construction, distributes the alternatives between dream-cognition and sleep-cognition. Therefore the English requires both an initial ‘Or’ and an internal ‘or.’→ Indeclinable ‘or,’ with the distributive interpretation made explicit by the commentary
ys [1]svapnajñānālambanaṃ vā nidrājñānālambanaṃ vā
Either having dream-cognition as support or having sleep-cognition as support.
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1svapnajñānālambanaṃ vā nidrājñānālambanaṃ vā tadākāraṃ yoginaś cittaṃ sthitipadaṃ labhata iti.
21.38
3yathābhimatadhyānād vā