28/06/2026
Pāda 1 - Sūtra 3: What happens when the mind enters the yogic state of calmness?
तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम् ॥१-३॥
Word meaning:
तदा – when the mind becomes still and waveless;
द्रष्टुः स्वरूपे अवस्थानम् – the seer, the individual self, abides in his true nature.
Meaning:
Then the seer abides in his real nature.
Explanation:
1. What happens if we practise yoga to its perfection?
The sūtra answers: The mind becomes clean, clear, and calm! Nothing stirs in it. No kind of wave rises in it. This is the highest state of silence! As there is nothing in this state to cause disturbance, the seer (the empirical subject) becomes gradually aware of his real nature! (and he abides in his true nature)!
2. What is his real nature?
He is just the Seer! The Knower. Consciousness is his essence. He being non-material, neither space nor time can bind him! He is not bounded by space; he is not affected by the flow of time! When he was enclosed in the mind as a reflection, he had thought that he was an individual limited in many ways. The reflection of the sun in a mirror appears to be small; the space within a house appears to be small. But their real nature is different. The reflection of the sun is not different from the sun. The enclosed space is not different from the infinite space outside. The smallness is only in appearance; we may call it our illusion. The mind moves, and so does the reflected self in it; when the mind looks unclean, the reflected self appears to be distorted. When the mind becomes non-mind (calm and serene) the illusion vanishes. The self comes to realize that he is the great Ātman!
Eternal and limitless! Free and profoundly calm!
3. When our mind enters the state of no-thoughts, and remains tranquil, we come to know of our spiritual nature.
We find that we are not the physico-mental beings that we think we are; we are just the seers of that body-mind complex. We are just conscious beings! We are simply conscious entities! Unchanging Ātman!
"Then the Seer rests in his own true nature."
(Yoga Sutra 1.3)
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Sri Siddheshwara Swamiji, an exquisite renunciant with incredible saintly qualities, is known widely for his spiritual discourses. The abstract eastern sacred texts find pronounced simplicity in his discourses, making even an ordinary person to understand the depth of truth contained therein. The...