Sūtra 3.40

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 3.40:

समानजयात्प्रज्वलनम् ॥ ३.४० ॥

samānajayātprajvalanam || 3.40 ||

40. From subdual of Samāna, effulgence.

The Rajamartanda commentary by King Bhoja:

[English translation of the 11th century commentary by Bhoja called the Rājamārtaṇḍa]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

From the “subdual” (jayāt) of the air called Samāna which surrounds the fire (of the stomach), i.e., by bringing it under control through Saṃyama, that unprotected fire ascends, and the Yogi appears effulgent as if flaming in glory.

Notes and Extracts

[Notes and comparative extracts from other commentaries on the Yogasūtra]

[The stomach is the seat of the fire which keeps up the heat of the body and consumes food; and this fire is surrounded and kept in its place by the air called Samāna. Such being the theory, it follows that when by Saṃyama the air in question is overcome or rendered inapt in its special function, the fire, from its natural tendency upwards, should rise up and escape from the body in lambent flames of glory. The Buddhists, who developed the Yoga system to its utmost limit, declare that the crown of the head, the space between the eyebrows, the mouth and the shoulders are the places whence these flames usually issue. In the Sanskrit Buddhist literature of Nepal these flames are frequently described as issuing from the person of Śākya Buddha, whenever he immersed himself in a profound meditation, and in ancient sculptures images of Buddha are often represented with these flames occupying the place of halo, nimbus, aureola, or glory of European art. A physical cause for these flames may be found in the electric flames which have been noticed by Reichenbach on the persons of highly electrio tendency under certain conditions. Of course it is an open question as to whether Yogīs had seen such electric flames and derived their descriptions therefrom, or drawn them from their fancy.]

Another perfection.