The Other Kind of Profound Meditation

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“The other kind of profound meditation comes from faith (confidence), courage, mindfulness, integrity and wisdom.”
— Yogasūtra 1.20 —

“Yogins adopt this means. Tranquility that is experienced by the mind through reverential faith sustains a Yogin like a loving Mother. This kind of faith gives a seeker after discriminative knowledge, energy which brings him the (sustained) memory which makes the mind undisturbed and collected and conducive to concentration. In such a mind dawns the light of discriminative knowledge, by which the Yogin  understands the real nature of things. By retaining such knowledge and by cultivating detachment toward all knowables he thus attains Asamprajñāta-samādhi.”
Translation by Svāmi Hariharānanda Āranya (1882)

Michael’s Translation/Interpretation (2024)

This sūtra is about the means of practicing nirbīja or dharamegha samādhi. It is an intersection of multiple ideas and traditions that can help us become a master gardener of our mind.  These five qualities are sometimes called pañcabala (five strengths), or pañcamārga (the five paths of meditation):

1. ्रद्धा śraddhā ≈ faith, confidence
Persons on this path possess a strong desire to overcome suffering, their own or others; so they renounce the worldly (rat race) kind of life.

2. वीरय vīrya ≈ courage, perseverance
Persons on this path start practicing meditation regularly and gather an analytical knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā).

3. ्मृति smṛti ≈ mindfulness, awareness
(The Path of Seeing). Persons on this path practice profound concentration meditation on the nature of reality; They realize the emptiness of reality directly.

4. समाधि samādhi ≈ integrity, cultivating harmony
 (The Path of Integrity). Persons on this path practice purifying themselves of all kleshas and accumulate
the wisdom to help countless others and future generations do the same.

5. ्रज्ञा prajñā ≈
(The Path Beyond Training). Persons on this path have completely purified themselves of kleshas and reside im beginner’s mind as they prepare for death whenever it may come.

These five paths of meditation are not exactly to a destination, rather they more like five paths in our brain that co-exist to help us practice the other kind of meditation (nirbīja samādhi). Sambhāra is where we become genuinely interested in taming the elephant of our mind, Prayoga is the struggle to practice regularly and well enough to understand emptiness and interdependence, Darśana is where we have a breakthrough that allows us to see ultimate reality directly and comprehend the 4 noble truths, Bhāvanā is where we cultivate our mind well enough to lead by example and Aśaikṣā is where wisdom replaces all defilements