प्रयत्नशैथिल्यानन्त्यसमापत्तिभ्याम्॥४७॥
prayatna=effort; shaithilya=relaxation; ananta=the infinite, cosmic serpent ‘shesha’; samaapattibhyaam=absorption of mind
Sw. Satchidananda
“By lessening the natural tendency for restlessness and by meditating on the infinite, posture is mastered.”
Bryant
“[Such posture should be attained] by the relaxation of effort and by absorption in the infinite.”
Taimni
“By relaxation of effort and meditation of the ‘ Endless ‘ (posture is attained).”
Discussion
The previous sutra (2.46) defined asana as “steady and comfortable”. The present sutra tells us how to get to that state of being steady and comfortable. There are two parts to the statement. The first part is “prayatna shaithilyam” which means letting go of any effort and just loosening and relaxing the body. For the second part “ananta samapatti” commentators have offered multiple interpretations.
As mentioned previously, the word “asana” literally means a sitting posture. However, in the present usage all the yoga postures practiced in a yoga session are also called asanas. As such, both the sutras 2.46 and 2.47 now apply to all the asanas, not just the sitting, meditative postures. By letting go of effort, we are allowing the body to find its own, naturally relaxing position. This will lead to stability of the body – no shaking, trembling, moving etc.
The word “ananta” in the second part has been interpreted differently by various commentators. The literal meaning of the word is “infinite” or “vastness”. Vyasa, in his commentary, simply states that one should meditate on the “infinite” to get into that joyful state of the asana. When you meditate on the infinite, you can lose track of body awareness which will make your asana a joyful experience.
Another meaning of ananta is the mythical thousand-hooded snake that is supposed to be holding the whole earth in a steady state. By meditating on the steadiness of earth on the snake, you can maintain steadiness of the body.
Ananta is also equated with the three and a half coiled kundalini serpent that is supposed to lie at the “muladhara chakra” at the base of the spine. By meditating on this kundalini at the muladhara chakra will also help you make your posture stable and comfortable.
Another interpretation of “ananta samapatti” is to get into a state of very deep absorption into the overall experience of the asana. This will apply to all the asanas practiced, including the sitting postures. The experience of the asana can be at multiple levels – physical, mental, emotional and even spiritual. We can meditate deeply at any of these levels of experience which will also help us get into a stable and comfortable posture.
The eventual goal of all yoga practices is to sit and meditate for long periods of time so we can finally attain the state of “chitta-vritti-nirodha” (total cessation of the fluctuations in the mind) which has been defined by Patanjali as the goal of yoga in sutra 1.2.
Asana becomes “sthira” through “prayatna-shaithiyla”. It becomes “sukham” through “ananta-samapatti”.
Relaxation of effort leads to steadiness of the asana because it is effort which makes the mind and consequently the asana unsteady. And meditating on the infinite makes the asana joyful because mind experiences joy when it expands into the infinite. Like when we sit in front of the sea or look at the sky we feel joy because the mind is focusing on something infinite.
Simultaneous application of these two in any posture (padmasana, ushtrasana, shavasana etc) brings about its siddhi – ie it makes any posture steady and joyful.
Some translators have interpreted ananta to mean sheshanag – which isn’t correct. Yogasutra is a very secular text and nowhere in the entire text has Patanjali made any reference to any specific deity.
Excellent interpretation, Veneet. I like the way you have separated the two and identified “prayatna shaithilya” with sthiram and “ananta-samapatti” with sukham. The way I have been explaining ananta-samapatti to my students is to stay focused on the asana and get 100% absorbed (ananta samapatti) in the total experience of the asana at all levels – physical, breath and mental. I think they find it hard to understand what it means to meditate on the infinite. I like to make the practice of asana itself a meditative experience with this definition of asana.
Subhash ji – Samapatti is a technical term defined in Yoga sutra 1.41
That is the meaning of samapatti in this sutra also. Patanjali is asking one to do a ‘samapatti’ on the ‘ananta’ or the infinite.
So I feel it is something like this – when one is in any posture/asana (padmasana or shavasana), one should relax the efforts and visualize something infinite (like the sky or the ocean or the cosmos etc) – this visualization of something infinite will bring about inner joy – which then brings about the asana siddhi quickly. One can try this and see that it does work.
Hi Veneet,
As explained in sutra 1.41 and in subsequent sutras, samapatti is identical with the practice and state of samadhi. Vitarka, vichara etc. are the states of samadhi as defined in sutra 1.17. In sutras 1.41 and subsequent sutras, Patanjali has decided to use the term samapatti instead of samadhi.
The word ananta can also be interpreted as an adjective to samapatti. It is something like – “ghora andhakara” means dreadful darkness or “shyama varna” would mean black color. In that sense ananta samapatti could be interpreted to mean samapatti which is ananta where ananta is an adjective qualifying samapatti. The way I look at it is that while practicing asana let the awareness stay with the asana. Even though I have let go of the effort, if I now drift into a vast expanse of space or some other form of “infinite visualization” I may loose sight of the asana and go back to tightening my muscles. That is the reason I prefer to interpret ananta to mean the “deep, infinite” state of absorption (samapatti) in the overall experience of the asana.
The interpretation that you have mentioned is a perfectly valid one and is, in fact, mentioned by many of the commentators. I am just giving another viewpoint based on my own practice and experience.
Srivatsa Ramaswami, a long-term disciple of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, talks about his guru’s subtle pointer to a different but compelling interpretation. The “Prayatna” there is the jivana-prayatna – the effort of life. What is the effort of life? It is breathing. So prayatna-shaithilya is to make the breath smooth. The root ‘ana’ means breath, as in prana, apana, etc. so ananta-samapatti means mental focus on breathing. Prayatna-shaithilya-ananta-samapattibhyam – mental focus on the breath – smooth, long inhalations and exhalations with the mind fully focussed on it while in an asana. There are many videos on youtube of Srivatsa Ramaswami’s students demonstrating the vinyasa krama during asana practice.
Dear Ram,
Thank you so much for bringing to my attention this alternate interpretation from Shri T. Krishnamacharya through Mr. Ramaswami. I am somewhat familiar with the work of Srivatsa Ramaswami. I had the good fortune of meeting him in person about ten years ago when I lived in NJ.
i recall Patanjali describing 10 ways to achieve/experience enlightenment but all Patanjali references online only mention 8 ways … what are the missing 2 ways?
Please provide the list of the ten ways and the source of that information. That will help understand and analyze that list.