ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to convey the way in which Patañjali and his commentators describe the steps that a yogi takes in the transformation of consciousness from the normal wakeful states to the highest levels of Samādhi. The series of levels of Samādhi the texts describe are: Savitarkā and Nirvitakrā, which involve the gross aspects of an object of concentration, and Savicārā and Nirvicārā focused on the subtle aspect of the object respectively with and without the context of space, time, and causality. The meditator’s further progress involves going to increasingly subtle levels till reaching the highest level of subtlety in Prakṛti passing through along the way the states called Sānanda, and Sāsmitā Samādhi. Some allied details are also touched upon with attempt to interpret the textual accounts in contemporary context and idiom.
