The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali – A Visual Meditation. Book Three, Vibhūti-Pādaḥ, On Remarkable Manifestions
Book Three is about the internal practice of Yoga. As we turn our attention to the internal world and to consciousness itself, the door is opened for the possibility of radical transformation. About two-thirds of the sūtras in Book Three are about the siddhis, the seemingly supernatural powers that can appear as one advances in the practice of Yoga. When you engage with Book Three, you might not fly or turn invisible or travel at the speed of thought, but you will encounter an experience of reality that challenges your understanding of what it means to occupy time and space here on Earth.
![Sūtra 3.02, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”.
Meditation (dhyāna) is the continuity [of attention] there on the focal point.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/677dbb3375c7077642913d35/abee0e24-fb8f-42e3-bba3-013f0bfdaf75/1_bk.3_3.02_Work_Townsend.jpg)
Sūtra 3.02, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. Meditation (dhyāna) is the continuity [of attention] there on the focal point.
![Sūtra 3.05.a, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”.
From mastery of this [saṁyama] there is the light of insight.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/677dbb3375c7077642913d35/8b9ce66f-00f9-439a-b68a-7ab56052644a/2_bk.3_3.05.a_Work_Townsend.jpg)
Sūtra 3.05.a, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. From mastery of this [saṁyama] there is the light of insight.
![Sūtra 3.06, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”.
Its [saṁyama’s] application is in stages.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/677dbb3375c7077642913d35/0feb10e6-008d-4325-9faf-5ed554d72b8d/3_bk.3_3.06_Work_Townsend.jpg)
Sūtra 3.06, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. Its [saṁyama’s] application is in stages.
Sūtra 3.06, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. By this is explained the transformation of essential nature, characteristics, and state in regard to the elements and sense organs.
Sūtras 3.16 - 3.46, 2021. Oil on Canvas; and Acrylic. Gouache, and Egg Tempera on Duralar. 144” x 86” (32 paintings @ 16” x 20”). About 2/3 of the sūtras in Book Three are about the siddhis, the seemingly supernatural powers (such as flying or invisibility) that can appear as one advances in the practice of Yoga. In order to emphasize the fact that the siddhis deliver an important message as a group* and are not to be viewed as fragmented, isolated experiences, the sūtras that address them are painted so that together, they create one large, coherent image: of a blue sky (oil on canvas), the view of which is almost completely obscured by a layer of activity – literally another painting that covers it like a film (acrylic and gouache on duralar, an archival, acetate-like film). Each of the component paintings represents an individual sūtra and its siddhi (with appropriate imagery) as well as being part of the whole. *Each of these special powers breaks through our usual experience of reality and opens a window onto a view of the expansive truth that reality is not what we think it is – and that we, too, are not what we think we are. We are pure consciousness.
Sūtra 3.26, 2021. Oil on Canvas; and Acrylic. Gouache, and Egg Tempera on Duralar. 16” x 20”. From saṁyama on the Sun there is knowledge of the worlds.
Sūtra 3.49, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. Only from recognition of the distinction between higher intelligence (sattva) and the Self (puruṣa) is there supremacy over all states and forms of existence (omnipotence) and omniscience.
Sūtra 3.51, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. Upon invitation by those highly placed, there should be avoidance of attachment and pride, due to re-ensnarement in the undesirable.
Sūtra 3.52, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. From saṁyama on a moment in succession, there is knowledge born of discrimination (viveka).
Sūtra 3.54, 2021. Oil on Canvas. 16” x 20”. Knowledge born of discrimination (viveka) is the deliverer, all-encompassing, timeless, and non-sequential.