Shankara on the Yoga Sutras – Salutations and colophon

Salutations and colophon

Whose expressive-word is OM, from whom is all action made fruitful,
Who, himself without taints or fruition of karma, brings about everything as the fruit of actions,

Lord of lords, controller of preservation and coming into being and cessation of all creations, may he have regard to our good deeds and annul our bad.

He has given life to the three worlds.
A fraction of his unimaginable power became in this world the Fish and other avatāra-s reckoned to be ten;

Tormented by the continuous chain of the three sufferings arising from the taints, we go for refuge to Him who has Śeṣa (the cosmic serpent) as his couch.

Salutations to Patañjali, lord of yogin-s, lord of serpents (being an incarnation of Śeṣa) who by the power of the gem in his hoods lights everywhere on earth, in the sky, and in space,

who by (this) yoga has removed impurities of the mind, by (his) grammar those of speech, and by his (classic on) medicine those of the physical body – to that highest of sages, Patañjali, be this bow with my folded hands.

The sage Patañjali is supreme, by whom all the seekers of ends attain their highest good; the joy which he brings removes the three burning afflictions, by the Raincloud of Dharma (samādhi);

who to remove the heat of the Dharma-s of tainted action of those traversing the paths of worldly existence
appeared as the water-bearer of the yoga which leads to the
Raincloud of dharma – to that Ṛṣị Patañjali I bow down.

I bow down to him on whose countenance is a full moon, the teacher, the lord, who is not decorated with wealth and who is without the necklace of serpents, the incomparable Śaṅkara whose feet are to be worshipped.

With this, the Fourth Part, on Transcendental Aloneness, of the sub-commentary on the commentary to the yoga sūtra-s of Patañjali, by the holy Lord (bhagavat) Śaṅkara, who is a paramahaṃsa parivrājaka ācārya and pupil of holy Lord Govindapāda whose feet are to be worshipped, is complete.

This concludes the vivaraṇa sub-commentary.