Yaśovijaya’s Insights on Contemplation and Meditative Experience

Patañjali's insights on the mind have long been central to scholarly discussions on yoga and meditation. Among those who engaged with Patañjali's ideas, as well as with his earliest commentator Vyāsa, was Yaśovijaya (1624–1688), a Tāpa Gaccha monk often regarded as the last great philosopher of Jainism. His 17th-century text the Dvātriṃśaddvātriṃśikā (Thirty-Two [Chapters] with Thirty-Two [Verses]) contains various chapters on yoga and meditation, at times comparing Jain thought with Patañjali’s teachings. K. K. Dixit (1970, 102) notes that Yaśovijaya critiques Patañjali in chapters 20, 25, and 26 of this text, but does not detail how. My research involves translating these chapters, among others, to uncover Yaśovijaya’s nuanced ideas and particular understandings of yoga in this text. For him, yoga is a broad term referring to proper religious conduct, including various meditation and contemplation practices.

Yaśovijaya was a key intellectual figure in the Jain tradition because he wrote on a vast range of subjects, building on the legacy of earlier Jain philosophers, and serving as a bridge to modern Jain thought. He wrote in four languages—Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gujarati, and Hindi. Like other Jain writers of his time, the unifying thread of Yaśovijaya’s extensive body of work is his commitment to articulating and defending Jain orthodoxy and orthopraxy (Cort 2010, 3). Despite his prolific writings and his influence and good reputation among Jains in India today, he has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. John Cort observes that this scarcity of research does not reflect the breadth or significance of his productive career (ibid.). 

Studying Yaśovijaya's yoga works is crucial because they demonstrate continuity with earlier Śvetāmbara thinkers, particularly Haribhadra, while also anticipating modern trends—such as prioritizing inner experience over outward performance in religious practice. For instance, the Tāpa Gaccha sect to which Yaśovijaya belonged, accepted certain forms of worship, including image and icon veneration, as legitimate. While affirming this view, Yaśovijaya explored its nuances, emphasizing for example that outward practices are effective only when performed with the right inner disposition. Cort (2010) has analyzed Yaśovijaya’s writings on the defense of icons, interpreting his theology of the icon through the lens of his distinctive views on harm and intention. Other existing English-language studies on Yaśovijaya have examined his contributions to logic and epistemology. Jonardon Ganeri (2008, 2011) has explored his works in these fields, highlighting his role in India’s era of “new reason” and his emphasis on neutrality and impartiality as key cosmopolitan virtues in a multifaith society. 

The social and intellectual context of Yaśovijaya is crucial to understand his concerns, interests, and particular reframing of yoga. During his time, the Jain community in northern India underwent many changes with the rise of new sects and groups. Alongside these shifts, new sectarian activities emerged, including bhakti-oriented Vaiṣṇavism, Ismā‘īlī, Satpanthī Ismā‘īlī and Sufi movements, the Kṛṣṇa bhakti movement, Nāth yogi sects, and mother goddess cults, as well as widespread conversions in Gujarat. Additionally, Gujarat hosted a diverse trading population, including Arabs, Persians, Tartars, Armenians, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and English merchants. These factors likely prompted Yaśovijaya to produce a vast body of work addressing topics of concerns for Jain communities (Shah 2017, 24).

In the political sphere, the Sufi doctrine of “Unity of Being” (waḥdat al-wujūd) was prominent, promoting a unified spiritual vision across religions. Many Hindu texts were being translated into Persian with the aim to be read through the lens of the “divine unity” hold by Islamic mystics (Ganeri 2008, 31–38). These translation efforts reflect 17th century’s intellectual exchanges, with Sanskrit scholars engaging with diverse traditions. Yaśovijaya was part of this milieu which largely explains why he engaged with other Jain and non-Jain thinkers, such as Patañjali. My investigation considers this context, investigating which yoga practices he sought to justify and in relation to whom.

In chapter 20 of the Dvātriṃśaddvātriṃśikā, titled "The Emergence of Yoga" (Yogāvatāra), Yaśovijaya extensively discusses contemplative practices. The first fourteen ślokas and their commentaries focus on key sūtras from the first pāda of the Yogasūtra (specifically I.17–20 and I.41–51). Yaśovijaya briefly outlines Patañjali’s classifications of samādhi—savitarkā, nirvitarkā, savicārā, and nirvicārā—demonstrating familiarity with Vyāsa. At certain points, he directly challenges Patañjali's views. For instance, he critiques Patañjali’s sequence of meditation—moving from the grasper (gṛhītṛ) to the grasping (grahaṇa) and finally to the grasped (grāhya). Instead, he argues that samādhi begins with the grasped object, then the act of grasping, and finally the grasper. He further contends that meditating solely on puruṣa as the grasper is impossible.

After discussing Yogasūtra pāda 1, Yaśovijaya moves on to discussing teachings on contemplation from other Jain texts, frequently citing Haribhadra’s Yogabindu and Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya. Interestingly, he also references Kundakunda’s Pravacanasāra 1.80, demonstrating engagement with Digambara thought. Towards the chapter’s end, he mentions the eight qualities of an ideal yogi, as outlined by Buddhist Bhadanta Bhāskara and later adopted by Haribhadra in Ṣoḍaśaprakaraṇa XVI.14: freedom from prejudice (adveṣa), inquisitiveness (jijñāsa), love for listening (śuśrūṣā), attentive hearing (śravaṇa), comprehension (bodha), critical evaluation (mīmāṃsā), clear conviction (pariśuddha), and earnest practice (pratipatti) (translations by Tatia 1951, 296-297). 

Yaśovijaya’s engagement with diverse thinkers reflects his immersion in the rich intellectual and cosmopolitan milieu of his time. What stands out in his interpretation is that he does not outright reject the premises he critiques but instead reinterprets them through a Jain ontological lens. For him, meditation and contemplation are ultimately effective because they counteract the central obstacle of the Jain path: karma. His Jain perspective on contemplation revolves around eliminating the material, obstructive substance that clings to the soul, preventing its innate brilliance—a stance consistent with both his predecessors and followers.