Yoga Sūtra Chapter Four verse 17
तदुपरागापेक्षित्वात् चित्तस्य वस्तुज्ञाताज्ञातं ॥१७॥
tat-uparāga-apekṣitvāt-cittasya vastu jñāta-ajñātam ||17||
That expectation which colours the psyche,
a substance may be known or not known.
Commentaries and Reflections
Commentary by TKV Desikachar:
“According to Patañjali,
even when you have something in front of you, you may not see it.
Even when you don’t have something in front of you but you want to see it,
you will see it.
Everything depends on YOU.
You may think you have a question when in reality you don’t;
or you may not have a question but will find it as well as the answer.”
“According to Patañjali, comprehension is dependent upon two things:
1. Your interest
and
2. The proximity of the object.
Apekṣā is the interest of the Puruṣa for the object.
The success of Dhyāna depends on the force (Śakti) of the Puruṣa
that pushes the mind to direct itself towards an object.
Without interest, there is no question and no answer.
If you have the interest, you will discover the proximity.”
“In observing, we must remember a few more things:
We can only observe when there is an inclination to do so.”
Commentary by Paul Harvey:
“We look at the world through the eyes
of our needs and expectations.”
“What you are looking at is coloured
by where you are looking from.
Where you are looking from is coloured
by what you are looking at.
So the mind may know or not know,
where it is actually looking from,
or what it is actually looking at.
Or even not know that it doesn’t know
the nuances inherent in what and where.”
Question:
“Can you explain for me the relationship between this ‘Apekṣa‘ and ‘Upekṣā‘ in YS C1 v33 please?”
Response:
“In terms of relationship, the two terms fall into an opposite framing as in ‘interest’ in YS C4 v17 and ‘disinterest’ in YS C1 v33, whilst sharing a commonality in terms of both being an active process as in active interest and active disinterest.”