Yoga Sūtra Chapter Four Title

कैवल्यपादः

kaivalya-pādaḥ

The Chapter on Abstraction.

kaivalya - independence, freedom, emancipation, solitude, isolation, aloneness, separateness, abstraction, not connected with anything else; uncompounded, unmingledpāda - the chapter of a book; section; a quarter, a fourth part; foot, leg; on foot; the act of locomotion
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Commentaries and Reflections

Commentary by T Krishnamacharya:

Commentary by TKV Desikachar:

“Chapter Four is a repeat of ideas in Chapters One, Two and Three.
However, it is presented in a more challenging style. As a Rajasic refutation of other philosophies such as Buddhism. Countering the view that the mind fabricates the object with the view that the object is real.”

Commentary by S Ramaswami:

“There has been a progressive transformation of the mind towards Nirodha.
We presumably have learnt everything there is to know about Prakṛti.
All the Siddhi have been discussed, now only Kaivalya is left.”

Commentary by Paul Harvey:

“The Book on Freedom”

“In the Yoga Sūtra, the pre-eminent text on Dhyānam within Yoga.
Chapter One is about the Refinement of the practice of Dhyānam;
Chapter Two is about the Preparation for the practice of Dhyānam;
Chapter Three is about the Outcome of the practice of Dhyānam;
Chapter Four is about the Goal of the practice of Dhyānam.”

“The fourth book, called Kaivalya Pādaḥ, reinforces the idea
that whatever happens is actually already existing within us.
It is not something we can or need to acquire from outside
and it reminds us that the mind is the essential tool to help
in the final discernment of what is the unchanging essence.”