'Absolute peace of mind', Raja Bhoja's Commentary on the Yoga Sutras

An FB status update from Ramaswami this evening

"“Yogo yuktiH samaadhaanam” is a quote from Bhoja's independent commentary on YS. The word Yoga has two meanings one is union, from the root 'yujir' as used in, say, Hatayoga (union of ha and ta) and the other from the root 'yuja' is 'absolute peace of mind' as used in Rajayoga".

This meaning deriving from yuja, 'absolute peace of mind', that I first came across in Ramaswami's book 'Yoga for the three stages of life' was perhaps the deciding factor for me to sell a beloved vintage Sax and fly to LA to study with him.

Actually, it wasn't so much peace of mind, I've never really bought into the idea that we're all searching for peace and/or happiness, neither concern me that much. No, it was rather this from Ramaswami's Yoga for the Three Stages of Life, my all time (so far) favourite book on yoga.

"Based on this interpretation the yoga of Patanjali is a system of practices that lead to the total harnessing of mental energy without any dissipation whatsoever (nirodha "completely contained")"

Here's the full passage for context.

"... yoga can also be derived from the root yuja and mean samadhi or samadhana, "to put in place perfectly".... Thus yoga by this definition, would mean putting all mental energies in place, or harnessing mental energies without any dissipation. This definition is different from the earlier derivation of the word yoga from the root yujir, meaning "unity" (yujir yoga).
Based on this interpretation the yoga of Patanjali is a system of practices that lead to the total harnessing of mental energy without any dissipation whatsoever (nirodha "completely contained") One can note that it is not unity with a higher principle that is aimed for in this form of yoga, but rather the removal of all the distractions of the mind.... One system talks of unity the other of freedom"
Yoga for the Three stages of Life.
Chapter III, What is yoga. p34-35
Srivatsa Ramaswami

...and again in one of Ramaswami's Newsletter's


"It can be seen that Patanjali's definition of Yoga does not suggest the usual connotation of Yoga as union. Yoga meaning union requires at least two separate principles to come together and ultimately unite, like prana and apana in Hatayoga, but in this sutra only cittavritti is dealt with and no union with another principle is suggested. Vyasa in his commentary says Yoga is samadhi, or a state of mind and not union. Sankara in his exposition of Yogasutras refers to yoga as samadhana or unalloyed peace. He says that Patanjali has used the word not in the meaning of yoga as union (yukti) but as samadhana or peace of mind. The word Yoga can be derived from two differentroots yujir meaning yoga as in union and yuja as in samadhi meaningabsolute peace of mind and the sutras use Yoga in the (second) sense,that of absolute peace".
Srivatsa Ramaswami April 2012 Newsletter

So it comes from the commentary on the yoga sutras by somebody called Bhoja

You have to love Wikipedia

"Bhoja (also Bhojadeva) was a philosopher king and polymath of medieval India, who ruled the kingdom of Malwa in central India from about 1000 to 1055 CE. Also known as Raja Bhoja Of Dhar, he belonged to the Pawar dynasty.[1] The name Bhoja means "bountiful, liberal" and appears as the name of a tribe, the descendants of Mahabhoja, in the Mahabharata.

Bhoja established numerous temples, including the Bhojeshvara Temple at Bhojpur, a city he founded [2], about 30 km from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh on the banks of river Betwa. He also established the Bhoj Shala which was a centre for Sanskrit studies and a temple of Sarasvatī in present day Dhar.

Biography

Raja Bhoja ruled the Mālwa region from the beginning of the eleventh century to about 1055. His extensive writings cover philosophy, poetry, medicine, veterinary science, phonetics, yoga, and archery. Under his rule, Mālwa and its capital Dhar became one of the chief intellectual centres of India. King Bhoja, together with the Solanki king Bhimdev of Gujarat (Anhilwara), rebuilt the temple at Somnath between 1026 and 1042 after it was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1024. He founded the city Bhojpur. It is also said that Bhoja also founded the city of Bhopal[3], but it could be possible that the city was founded by another king of the same name. The Bhojtal (Upper Lake or bada talab) of Bhopal is said to have been constructed by Bhoja.

rAjamArtANda (pata~Njali yoga sUtra bhAshya): Major commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, wherein the Raja clearly explains various forms of meditations such as savitarka, savichAra, sAnanda and sAsmita, which are critical for understanding the nature of cognition from the view point of yoga."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhoja

and google to for that matter

Here's a link to Raja Bhoja's commentary, available in pdf for download here
http://blavatskyarchives.com/theosophypdfs/tatya_the_yoga_philosophy_of_patanjali.pdf

and his commentary on the first two sutras/aphorisms.

As I mentioned in my previous post I've just started to  follow along with AG Mohan's Yoga sutras online course, for more of Krishnamacharya's reading of the sutras and partly as an excuse to read more carefully Vachaspati-Micra's commentary as well as to review  Arany's, seems I'll be adding Raja Bhoja's commentary to the pile. nice thing about Mohan's course is that he's working through the text a couple of sutras at a time, perfect for comparing other comentaries.