Yoga Sūtra Chapter Four verse 12

अतीतानागतं स्वरूपतोऽस्तिअध्वभेदाद् धर्माणाम् ॥१२॥

atīta-anāgataṃ svarūpataḥ asti-adhva-bhedāt-dharmāṇām ||12||

In their own character, past and yet to come exists
due to divisions in the way of nature.

atīta - gone by, past, passed away, dead; the pastanāgata - not yet come, not come, not arrivedsvarūpa - own character; own form or shape; own condition, peculiarity, character, natureasti - exists, existent, presentadhvan - a road, way, orbitbheda - dividing, breaking, splitting, cleaving, rending, tearing, piercing; distinction, difference, kind, sort, species, variety; separation, division, partition, part, portiondharma - essential qualities, according to the nature of anything; highest duty; customary observance or prescribed conduct

Commentaries and Reflections

Commentary by S Ramaswami:

“The same object appears in that particular moment in that form or Dharma.

I.e. Past – Clay, Avasthā

Present – Pot, Avasthā

Future – Dust, Avasthā

So although the Dharmas manifest, the object itself does not disappear.

The same object just appears different because of the particular Dharma manifesting itself.

Or this can be in our relationship to that object, i.e. Rāga or Dveśa at different times.

Here though, we are looking at the object itself, not our relationship to it. This refutes the Buddhist view that objects are mental projections. The changes in the object are inherent within it.

Because of the differences in the manifestations of characteristics, objects appear differently on different occasions, i.e. past, present, future.

Then what are these objects made up of?”