Y.S. 3.7 Tryam antargaram purvebbhyah
Tryam these three
antar internal
anga limbs
purvebhyah than the previous ones
These three practices, or limbs of yoga: dharana, dhyana and Samadhi, are more internal than the previous ones.
The border between what is internal and external is relative to the depth of our practice. To the novice, the external world is that which is outside their skin. The adept yogi will suggest that even your body is external. What’s more important than identifying a border is knowing the direction of internal. Morals are external. Actions are external. More inward than these is the pose we hold. The breath is more internal than the pose. Letting go is more internal than the breath. Focus, meditation and Samadhi are the most internal, but just for now. When you abandon the “I”, the “actor”, then we find ourselves at the beginning of a much deeper internal. Where even the act of completely dissolving the soul is an external reality, because the abandoned soul is some specific soul, and who you are is something far greater, far more pervasive than just this infinite soul. Even souls come and go. Think of what peace a falling leaf would hold if it knew it was the tree it fell from.
Y.S.3.8 Tadapi bahirangam nirbijasya
Tadapi that which also
bahir external
anga limb
nirbija seedless Samadhi
But even these eight limbs of yoga are external to seedless Samadhi
There are two faces to enlightenment. One is the one we see and celebrate like the Buddha’s image, the parables of Jesus, performing acts of charity and practicing together. The other is one we can’t see and will never fully understand because of the limitations of human perception. This is like the Zen koan that has no answer, or devotion without reason, or the absolute uncertainty of presence. These latter examples are seedless because there is no face to them. They exist just a fraction ahead of our ability to understand them. Love is the best example of these two sides. On one side, we see the object of our love and why we love them. But the seedless side of love is how true love is unconditional. Just like a mother doesn’t askher chid for anything in return. Just like the sun never says to the moon, “You owe me”. (Hafiz) Seedless love is more internal. It’s more primordial. The more internal the perception, the more universal it is to all things. The more available it has been and will be throughout time.