Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
## The Nature of Shukla Dhyana
**Yoga Shastra, Eleventh Prakash, Verses 52-55**
| Other philosophies have considered the soul to be all-seeing, all-faced, all-armed, and all-footed, pervading all the realms. || 51 ||
Now, what do they do in the fifth and subsequent times? It is said:
| 944. **Samayaistataścaturbhiḥ nivartate lokapūraṇād asmāt | Vihitāyuḥ samakarmā, dhyānī pratileṇamārgeṇa || 52 ||**
**Meaning:** By pervading the realms with the soul's regions in four times, making other karmas equal to āyus karma, the meditating muni gathers the work of filling the realms in reverse order. || 52 ||
**Explanation:** In this way, by making āyus karma equal to the state of other karmas in four times, in the fifth time, they gather and shrink the soul's regions filled with karma in the realms. In the sixth time, they gather the form of the manthani, in the seventh time, they shrink the form of the kapāta, and in the eighth time, they gather the form of the danda, and become situated in their original body as before. At the time of samudghāta, there is no activity of the yoga of mind and speech. At that time, there is no purpose of these two yogas, only the activity of kāya-yoga. In it, in the first and eighth times, there is predominance of audārika kāya, so there is audārika kāya yoga. In the second, sixth, and seventh times, due to the soul's movement outside the audārika body, there is excessive vibration of kārmāṇa-vīrya, so there is audārika-kārmāṇa-miśra yoga. In the third, fourth, and fifth times, the soul's regions are without the activity of the audārika body and outside that body, so there is only kārmāṇa kāya yoga without the help of that body. The learned scholar, Shri Umāsvāti, has said in the 275th and 276th verses of Praśamarati: "In the time of samudghāta, in the first and eighth, there is yoga of the audārika body, in the seventh, sixth, and second, there is mixed audārika yoga, and in the fourth, fifth, and third, there is kārmāṇa body-yoga, and in these three times, they are regularly anāhārakas." After abandoning samudghāta, if necessary, they engage in the activity of all three yogas. For example, if someone asks a question with an unanswerable mind, they engage in the tendency of satya or asatyāmṛṣā manoyoga. Similarly, in addressing someone, etc., they engage in the activity of vachanayoga. They do not engage in the activity of the other two types of yoga. Both also engage in the activity of returning the fruits of audārika kāya yoga, etc. After that, they begin yoga-nirodha in the time of antarmūhūrta. There are two divisions of these three yogas: sūkshma and bādara. After becoming only-knowing, the after-time of these two types of yogas is negligible antarmūhūrta, and the excellent one is up to a little less than the previous time. The sayogi-kevali wanders and awakens many bhavya jivas. When their lifespan is only antarmūhūrta remaining, they first stop bādara vachanayoga and manoyoga with bādara kāya yoga, then they stop bādara kāya yoga with sūkshma kāya yoga. When bādara kāya yoga is happening, it is impossible to stop sūkshma yoga. A running man cannot suddenly stop his speed, he can only stop gradually. Similarly, after stopping all bādara yoga, they stop sūkshma vachan and manoyoga with sūkshma kāya yoga, then they stop sūkshma kāya yoga with their own soul, doing sūkshma kriyā anivarti shukla dhyāna. || 52 || This same thing is said in three verses.
| 945. **Śrīmān cintyavīryaḥ śarīrayoge 'tha bādare sthitvā | Acirad eva hi nirunadḍhi, bādaro vāṅmanaḥ - sayogau || 53 ||**
| 946. **Sūkṣmeṇa kāyayogena, kāyayogam sa bādaraṁ rūṇḍhyāt | Tasmin aniruddhe sati śakyo roddhum na sūkṣmatanu yogaḥ || 54 ||**
| 947. **Vachan - manoyoga - yugaṁ sūkṣmaṁ nirunadḍhi sūkṣmāt tanuyogāt | Vidadhāti tato dhyānaṁ sūkṣmakriyām asūkṣmatanu yogaṁ || 55 ||**
**Meaning:** Possessing the wealth of kevalajnāna, etc., and inconceivable power, that yogi, taking hold of bādara kāya yoga, quickly stops bādara vachanayoga and manoyoga, then stops bādara kāya yoga with sūkshma kāya yoga; because without stopping bādara kāya yoga, sūkshma kāya yoga cannot be stopped. After that, they stop sūkshma vachan and sūkshma manoyoga with sūkshma kāya yoga. After that, they do sūkshma kriyā asūkṣmatanu yoga, meditating. || 55 ||