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Yoga-sūtra with Vyāsa's bhāṣya · 1.40
39 paramāṇuparamamahattvānto 'sya vaśīkāraḥ
Translation. The mind’s mastery (vaśīkāra) extends from the atom (paramāṇu) to the utmost magnitude (parama-mahattva).
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
| surface | lemma | grammar |
|---|
| paramāṇuparamamahattvāntaḥ | paramāṇuparamamahattvānta | pass |
| asya | idam | pass |
| vaśīkāraḥ | vaśīkāra | 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 opening word is a possessive bahuvrīhi qualifying vaśīkāraḥ: its two limits are the atom and maximal magnitude. The compound therefore expresses the complete range between the subtle and gross extremes, not a single linear ‘end of maximal greatness.’→ A dvandva-garbha bahuvrīhi with paramāṇu and parama-mahattva as the two endpoints.
ys [1]sūkṣme niviśamānasya paramāṇvantaṃ sthitipadaṃ
For the mind entering into the subtle, the stable point has the atom as its endpoint.
ys [2]sthūle niviśamānasya paramamahattvāntaṃ sthitipadaṃ cittasya.
For the mind entering into the gross, its stable point extends to maximal magnitude.
ys [3]evaṃ tām ubhayīṃ koṭim anudhāvato yo 'syāpratīghātaḥ sa paro vaśīkāraḥ.
Thus, as it follows those two limits, its absence of obstruction is supreme mastery.
The genitive asya denotes the mind, so the phrase means ‘the mind’s mastery,’ rather than the yogin’s personal dominion or the mastery of some immediately following object.→ asya refers to citta, ‘the mind.’
ys [2, 3]sthūle niviśamānasya paramamahattvāntaṃ sthitipadaṃ cittasya.
evaṃ tām ubhayīṃ koṭim anudhāvato yo 'syāpratīghātaḥ sa paro vaśīkāraḥ.
The commentary first identifies the subject as the mind and then describes ‘its’ absence of obstruction at both limits as supreme mastery.
vaśīkāra is rendered ‘mastery,’ specifically the mind’s unobstructed capacity to remain directed toward objects at both extremes; it is not merely coercive subjugation.→ Unobstructed mastery of the fully refined mind.
ys [3]yo 'syāpratīghātaḥ sa paro vaśīkāraḥ.
Its absence of obstruction is supreme mastery.
ys [4]tadvaśīkārāt paripūrṇaṃ yoginaś cittaṃ na punar abhyāsakṛtaṃ parikarmāpekṣata iti.
Through that mastery the yogin’s mind is complete and no longer requires refinement produced by further practice.
The sequence mahattva is the abstract noun formed from mahat with the suffix -tva, ‘greatness/magnitude’; the analyzer’s secondary division mahā + lexical tva is not adopted.
→ parama-mahattva, ‘maximal magnitude.’
Vyāsa's commentary on this unit
1sūkṣme niviśamānasya paramāṇvantaṃ sthitipadaṃ labhata iti.
2sthūle niviśamānasya paramamahattvāntaṃ sthitipadaṃ cittasya.
3evaṃ tām ubhayīṃ koṭim anudhāvato yo 'syāpratīghātaḥ sa paro vaśīkāraḥ.
4tadvaśīkārāt paripūrṇaṃ yoginaś cittaṃ na punar abhyāsakṛtaṃ parikarmāpekṣata iti.
51.40
6atha labdhasthitikasya cetasaḥ kiṃsvarūpā kiṃviṣayā v