could any body please explain the practical meaning of ‘dirgha-suksmah’ in this sutra.
has any body in his/her practice achieved it? how is it like’
some translate it as ‘refined and subtle’
it doesn’t mean much to me
does he mean inhaling or exhaling or both
what is dirgha and what about suksma
In this Sutra he is talking about both inhalation and exhalation, and he is saying it should be ‘long and fine’ or ‘long and smooth’.
It means that you should be able to inhale and exhale with long breaths and they should not be interrupted, shaky,or jerky. If your breath is not long or smooth, then it is an indication that something is wrong and you should reflect on that. If your breath is going in and out smoothly, and it is not rapid but extended to a comfortable point, then it is an indication that whatever you are doing is within your limits.
I make it a focus to maintain that in all of my practices and have happily found that it follows me when I am in regular life as well.
Several translations of Sutra II 50:
Alice Bailey
Right control of prana (or the life currents) is external, internal or motionless; it is subject to place, time and number and is also protracted or brief.
BonGiovanni
It may be external, internal, or midway, regulated by time, place, or number, and of brief or long duration.
Kofi Bufia
The different types of this control are?to surrender it up, to draw it in, or to hold it completely still, for different times, and in different stages and quantities. In this way it becomes long and subtle.
Mark O. Garrison
The modifications of the life-breath are either external, internal or stationary. They are to be regulated by space, time and number and are either long or short.
Hariharananda Aranya
That (Pranayama) Has External Operation (Vashya-Vrtti), Internal Operation (Abhyantara-Vrtti) And Supression (Stambha-Vrtti). These, Again, When Observed According To Space, Time, And Number Become Long And Subtle.
Chip Hartranft
As the movement patterns of each breath - inhalation, exhalation, lull - are observed as to duration, number, and area of focus, breath becomes spacious and subtle.
Vyasa Houston
(Pranayama has) external, internal or suspended modifications (which become) long and subtle, when observed by means of location (of breaths motion in the body), time (length of inhalation, exhalation and intervening spaces), and number.
B.K.S. Iyengar
Pranayama has three movements: prolonged and fine inhalation, exhalation and retention; all regulated with precision according to duration and place.
Charles Johnston
The life-current is either outward, or inward, or balanced; it is regulated according to place, time, number; it is prolonged and subtle.
Bart Marshall
Intentional breathing controls the three phases of breath?exhalation, inhalation, and hiatus. Breathing can be regulated by controlling the spacing, depth, number, and duration of breaths.
Chester Messenger
Breath control has three phases: prolonged and fine inhalation, exhalation and retention; all regulated with precision according to duration and place.
Barbara Miller
The modification of breath in exhalation, inhalation, and retention is perceptible as deep and shallow breathing is regulated by where the breath is held, for how long, and for how many cycles.
Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati
That pranayama has three aspects of external or outward flow (exhalation), internal or inward flow (inhalation), and the third, which is the absence of both during the transition between them, and is known as fixedness, retention, or suspension. These are regulated by place, time, and number, with breath becoming slow and subtle.
Swami Prabhavananda
The breath may be stopped externally, or internally, or checked in mid-motion, and regulated according to place, time and a fixed number of moments, so that the stoppage is either protracted or brief.
Swami Satchidananda
The modifications of the life-breath are either external, internal or stationary. They are to be regulated by space, time and number and are either long or short.
Swami Vivekananda
Its modifications are either external or internal, or motionless, regulated by place, time, and number, either long or short.
I.K. Taimni
(It is in) external, internal or suppressed modifcation; is regulated by place, time and number, (and becomes progressively) prolonged and subtle.
[B]Quetzalcoatl - [/B]
Did you just find all of those and copy them individually, or do you have a stash somewhere that lists the translation summary for every single yoga sutra within those particular commentaries?
[quote=suryadaya;35386][B]Quetzalcoatl - [/B]
Did you just find all of those and copy them individually, or do you have a stash somewhere that lists the translation summary for every single yoga sutra within those particular commentaries?[/quote]
I share this question. It is very useful to have so many of the translations/interpretations presented together in this way. If you would, please share.
Prasad,
It is very difficult to fully understand Yoga-Sutra just by reading. They are very terse and too brief to be taken literally. You need a teacher, conscious practice and constant improvement through trial and error. Pardon me if you already have this.
My guru interpreted ‘deergh-sukshma’ as Suryadaya has said, ‘long/ protracted and fine/ subtle’, that’s the literal meaning. But he added one more important dimension. If you read this sutra in the context of the overall framework that Patanjali has established, the breath has to cater to all the three bodies, physical, astral and causal. So, while ‘long and full’ breath is for the physical, less intense but finer breath is for the astral and an extremely refined one for the causal. Exercises should address these variations and simultaneously our mind should be in a meditative mode to be able to perceive the intensity and refinement of our breath.
But the most challenging and often lost in translation, is the earlier part of the sutra, “external, internal and motionless”. Are you OK with that?
Did you just find all of those and copy them individually, or do you have a stash somewhere that lists the translation summary for every single yoga sutra within those particular commentaries?
I share this question. It is very useful to have so many of the translations/interpretations presented together in this way. If you would, please share.
Hi,
it's a stashy web-app, I'll share it after some further adjustments. No commentaries so far, just the actual Sutras. It will look somewhat like this:
[QUOTE=Quetzalcoatl;35391]it’s a stashy web-app…[/QUOTE]
Fantastic! I was recently considering unbinding all thirteen… make that seventee copies of the yoga sutra-s that I now hoard, and running them through a high speed scanner to either digitize them to recognize the text or just separate out the scanned tifs of all the pages so that I could make a searchable image database from anywhere in the world.
Is it bad if my heart flutters when I think of having access to all of them while I’m traveling for most of the year? Am I a nerd?
Let me know when this is up, or if you’d ever like to like, forward me a copy of your database or anything. 
Prasad, please pardon that is off your original topic.
Q, thank you and cheers! All the best to you and this cool project. Depending on when it is needed, I would be interested in checking out your early version and helping to debug, if that would be useful in your development and tracking.
I have a website that is already up and running that was designed to do exactly that, although I have not yet input very many translations, although I don’t have the selectable filter (not yet). My idea was not to do it all myself, but to allow others to input translations. There are security issues, but if anyone would like to participate, I would be happy to accommodate you. If you are interested, you can follow the Yoga Sutras link on the Samkhya-Yoga Research Center
dīrgha
दीर्घ a. 1 Long (in time or space), reaching far; -2 Of long duration, lasting long, tedious; -3 Deep (as a sigh);
sūkṣma
सूक्ष्म a. 1 Subtle, minute, atomic; -2 Little, small;-3 Fine, thin, delicate, exquisite. -4 Nice. -5 Sharp, acute, penetrating. -6 Crafty, artful, subtle, ingenious. -7 Exact, precise, accurate, correct.
[QUOTE=Suhas Tambe;35390]Prasad,
It is very difficult to fully understand Yoga-Sutra just by reading. They are very terse and too brief to be taken literally. You need a teacher, conscious practice and constant improvement through trial and error. Pardon me if you already have this.
My guru interpreted ‘deergh-sukshma’ as Suryadaya has said, ‘long/ protracted and fine/ subtle’, that’s the literal meaning. But he added one more important dimension. If you read this sutra in the context of the overall framework that Patanjali has established, the breath has to cater to all the three bodies, physical, astral and causal. So, while ‘long and full’ breath is for the physical, less intense but finer breath is for the astral and an extremely refined one for the causal. Exercises should address these variations and simultaneously our mind should be in a meditative mode to be able to perceive the intensity and refinement of our breath.
But the most challenging and often lost in translation, is the earlier part of the sutra, “external, internal and motionless”.[B] Are you OK with that?[/B][/QUOTE]
No I’m not ok with that.