Completion of Book I
Seedless (Nirbīja) Contemplation
The prior sutras all bore merit in disabling the cognitive functions of mind and simultaneously planting rich bodhi-seeds of awareness, thus empowering the yogin to transcend all spheres of samsara and rest in the tranquility of the un-bifurcated (undivided) Unborn Mind. However, the exercises are not yet complete since there is, however subtle, a need to supersede all forms of the slightest objective-semblance that one yearns to meditate on. Seedless Contemplation is when the yogin is so totally AT-ONE with the Unborn that there is no longer any maturation of discursive thought patterns; it is the ultimate prajñā that is Self-Realized without any outflows of intellectual interference. In effect, all becomes sublimated within the Amala-consciousness of the Tathagatas.
i.48-51 Intimations of the Unborn
1.48 The level reached is now *ritambharā*, wherein only the Truth of Reality AS IT IS is perceived through Mind’s own intuition.
Several things are being revealed here. One now only perceives Yathabhutam—awakening to Absolute Reality AS IT IS. This is the Truth (ritambhara) of Reality (Dharmadhatu—Element of Truth) and THAT which bears the Truth is the Imageless Mind of the Tathagatas. There is no longer any form of discursive means available since all is now sublimated exclusively in the Amala-consciousness of the Tathagatas. The former skandhic-consciousness (form, sensation, thought, motion, and mortal consciousness) is now sublimated by the Amala. YOU no longer are, only THAT which animates you IS. There’s a familiar scripture adage, “Once I saw indistinctly, as in a mirror.” Now we see face to face with the Imageless Face of the Unborn.
1.49 The Truth of this Mind Realization completely eclipses any scriptural knowledge or any form of inference discharged from the clouded mind.
A pretty much self-explanatory sutra—one that Bodhidharma himself expounded—Mind Only and No-thing Outside of Mind.
1.50 The Truth imparted from this *nirbīja samādhi* extinguishes all other mind projections.
This is THE Samādhi that fulfills all others. Better known as the Epitomic *Deep Samādhis*. Deep looks upon Deep and No-Thing Else. The rational mind will never be able to make sense out of this, because it completely transcends all known-categorical imperatives like logic and even known modes of mystical extrapolations.
1.51 Even when the impressions from the former sutra are wiped out, there is now only *seedless contemplation* as the fruitless fruit of nirbīja samādhi.
The following has been imported from The Lankavatarian Book of the Dead series and synchronically sums up these concluding sutras of Book I:
In these advanced phases of Deep-Samadhis one discovers that the mechanism of consciousness itself needs to shift from its adventitious defilement mode (skandhic/body consciousness) and become attuned with the supraconsciousness of the Tathagatas (Cittapada). If this shift does not occur the Ariyan Mind cannot fully transcend the realm of karmadhatu and is thus still subject to its grosser forms. In other words, one must disconnect from the source of all skandhic conditioning by allowing the Cittapada to absolve all former defiled seeds of the Alaya-receptacle thus shutting-down the dynamics of the karmadhatu. Once this action is initiated (by the grace of infinite Buddhas and Bodhisattvas), then the Ariyan Mind is aligned (Cittidhatu) with the Self THAT is devoid of all those former vicissitudes of the defiled-garbha. Mystically this is known as the developing gotra becoming fully cognizant, as Dharma-child, of the Dharmadhatu. The stage is now set for partaking in the Bodhi-store of the accumulated Buddha-gnosis of the Tathagatas, or being Confirmed in the Amala-vijnana.
The Amala-vijnana is the total Wisdom-store of the Tathagatas and thus of all Buddhas, and (as shared through Tathatic-Grace) it is the modus operandi of all Buddhas to be. It is now seeing through Imageless-Eyes the full Reality of the Dharmadhatu. In light of this Noble Self-Realization, it is the True Nature of the Self devoid of all misconceptions and defilements of the now defunct Karmic Storehouse. This Primordial Consciousness precedes the acts of all perceptions as Mind no longer perceives but fully Recollects Its own Essential Stature. It Is Itself the Immaculate Thatness. Thus, the Ariyan Mind is now intrinsically attuned to the Undivided Self of Suchness—Tathata. Deep looking upon Deep.
As John of the Cross would write, “If you desire the All your mistake is desiring it in the first place.” The slightest thought to the contrary ruins the spell.
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Book I of the Yoga Sutras can stand alone as a complete work in itself; even the first four sutras encapsulate Patañjali’s whole teaching. Alistair Shearer writes,
The first four sūtras of Chapter 1 contain Patanjali’s entire message in a nutshell: Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence, and only when the mind is silent can we realize our true nature, the effortless Being of the Self. The remaining one hundred and ninety sūtras are an expansion of this brief introductory statement.Shearer, Alistair (2010-03-17). The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Sacred Teachings) (Kindle Locations 269-272). Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
What is to follow, though, is also vital in the holistic framework of Mind Development.