From the cultivation of purity, there arises a natural distaste for one’s own body and a gentle avoidance of unnecessary contact with others. As purity deepens, the mind becomes clear, cheerfulness blossoms, attention becomes one-pointed, mastery over the senses is gained, and one becomes fit for the highest realization of the Self. Through contentment, a joy that surpasses all other happiness is attained. With the practice of austerity, the impurities that veil the body and senses are burned away, leading to their perfection. By devoted study of sacred texts, union with one’s chosen deity is realized. And through wholehearted devotion to the Lord, perfection in samadhi—the state of deep meditative absorption—is achieved. In this state, the posture of the body becomes steady and comfortable. Such steadiness is accomplished by relaxing effort and merging awareness with the infinite. When this is attained, one is no longer disturbed by the dualities of life, such as pleasure and pain or heat and cold. With posture thus established, the regulation of the breath—pranayama—begins. The movements of breath, whether external, internal, or suspended, are observed with attention to place, time, and number, gradually becoming prolonged and subtle. There is even a fourth kind of breath regulation, which transcends both external and internal objects. When this practice matures, the coverings that obscure the inner light are diminished, and the mind becomes fit for deep concentration. The senses withdraw, as if imitating the mind’s stillness, no longer engaging with their objects. This leads to supreme mastery over the senses. Concentration arises as the binding of the mind to a single place. When awareness flows without interruption toward the object, this is meditation. When only the object shines forth, as if the self is absent, that is samadhi. These three—concentration, meditation, and samadhi—when applied to one point, are together known as samyama. With mastery over samyama, the light of insight dawns, and this mastery can be applied to various levels of experience. These three practices are more internal than those that precede them, yet even they are external compared to the seedless samadhi, which is beyond all seeds of thought. Within the mind, the impressions of distraction and restraint rise and fall, and the mind’s connection to the moment of restraint marks a transformation. This flow becomes tranquil through the impressions left by practice. The fading and arising of the mind’s focus, whether on all objects or just one, is the transformation of samadhi. When the impressions of tranquility and arising are balanced, this is the transformation of one-pointedness. By understanding this, one comprehends the transformations of characteristics, signs, and states in the elements and the senses. The substratum of things follows the characteristics that are tranquil, arising, or yet unmanifest. The differences in sequence are the cause of differences in transformation. By practicing samyama on these three kinds of transformation, knowledge of the past and future arises. When samyama is applied to the separation of sound, meaning, and mental impression—which are usually superimposed and cause confusion—one attains knowledge of the speech of all beings. Through direct perception of impressions, the knowledge of previous births is revealed. By samyama on mental impressions, the thoughts of others can be known, though this does not extend to the underlying support, as it is not an object of perception. By samyama on the form of the body, the power of being perceived can be suspended, breaking the connection between the eye and light, resulting in invisibility. By samyama on karma—whether it is bearing fruit or not—one gains knowledge of the time of death, or this may be known through omens. By samyama on friendliness and other virtues, powers related to those qualities arise. And by samyama on strength, one attains the might of an elephant and similar extraordinary abilities.