The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 40-51: The Five Stages of Samadhi

In this episode, we discuss the last 12 sutras of the first chapter. Here the obstacles to samadhi are overcome, and there are five stages of samadhi, resting in one's own being, outlined. In the first two, the practitioner selects objects to meditate on, which could be anything from the entire universe down to the smallest subatomic particle.

First, these things are meditated on with distinctions as to what they are called, our understanding of them, and the objects-in-themselves. Then we move on to meditating only on the object in itself without labels or ideas about them. In stages three and four, one meditates on subtle realities underlying the things we can directly perceive with our senses.

Ultimately this means meditating on material nature in itself. As in the previous two stages, here we also go from meditating on these principles with their respective names and our understanding of them to later move on to meditating on them in themselves without labels. Finally, we arrive at independent samadhi, meaning samadhi that does not require holding anything in the mind as an anchor.

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