Meditation on the Third Sutra

The third Yoga Sutra of Patanjali:
TADA DRASTUH SVARUPE ‘VASTHANAM

It means the seer abides in his own nature, and referrs to the state we produce through the “cessation of the modifications of the Mind-stuff” that is the definition of Yoga.

On the night of the New Moon, this Sutra pulled at me unexpectedly and I found myself chanting it with my Mala in hand, looking myself in the eye in a mirror meditation– all of which eventually produced an extrordinary state of consciousness.

There was the distinct experience of pratyahara, or sense-withdrawl– hearing my own voice and seeing myself but becoming completely disconnected from the action, the sound, and the image. I also experienced some visual hallucinations, first seeing my face take the form of other faces, an old woman, a child, a man, a goddess, animalian and beautiful and frighteningly as though I had never seen it before. Then my reflection lots its identity altogether and I experienced the field of color as a pleasant wave, a warmth in the gut, an observation of shifting tonal variations.

I continued the meditation until I had chanted the sutra 108 times, one for each bead on the Mala. My lips and my breath were still moving, and the reflection was still my reflection, but I found myself in none of those things.
The Self sits deeper, and I think I glimpsed that place.