Book 4 (Part I)

CHAPTER Vii SAMADHI ORE rubbish has been written about Samadhi than enough; we must endeavour to avoid adding to the heap. Even Patanjali, who is extraordinarily clear and practical in most things, begins to rave when he talks of it. Even if what he said were true he should not have mentioned it ; because it does not sound true, and we should make no statement that is ἁpriori improbable without being prepared to back it up with the fullest proofs. But it is more than likely that his com- mentators have misunderstood him. The most reasonable statement, of any acknowledged authority, is that of Yajna Valkya, who says: “ By Pranayama impurities of the body are thrown out?,־by Dharana the impurities of the mind; by Pratyahara the impurities of attachment ; and by Samadhi is taken off everything that hides the lordship of the soul.” There is a modest statement in good literary form. If we can only do as well as that! In the first place, what is the meaning of the term? Etymologically, Sam is the Greek συν-, the English prefix “syn-” meaning “together 79