Chapter-1, Sutra17

Patanjali Yogasutra1.17

वितर्कविचारानन्दास्मितारूपानुगमात् संप्रज्ञातः॥

"Samprajnata samadhi is that which is accompanied by reasoning, discrimination, bliss, unqualified egoism."

Patanjali's Yogasutra 1.17 refers to a state of Consciousness called 'Samprajnata Samadhi,' which is a form of meditative absorption characterized by Pure Awareness. 

This contemplative yet blissful state of samadhi that arises when the mind has stilled its thought processes. In that deep meditative Awareness, one's identity merges with the object of focus in a spontaneous, uncontrived manner. Gone are the "vicaras" or thoughts of analysis and reflection that normally accompany mental acts. In their place is a seamless Knowing born of Pure Presence. Finally, there is an identification with the object of meditation. This progression leads to 'Samprajnata Samadhi,' a heightened state of Awareness where the meditator is fully Aware of the object of meditation.

This sutra points to the Supreme Meditation where subject and object become one. The meditator no longer perceives themselves as separate from that which they behold. Duality vanishes as awareness rests as the very essence of both observer and observed. In such an utterly tranquil state, Bliss or "ananda" arises unconditioned by any urging of the mind. It is a Joy that is its own cause and effect, existing when all else has dissolved.  

By describing this seamless merging and the Bliss it brings, Patanjali offers us a glimpse of the fully unified Consciousness that is our truest Nature. When thoughts cease their restless motions and awareness ceases grasping even itself, we realize our Self as the innermost Self of all. Bliss is then our constant experience because in that state, we have gone beyond duality and know only endless being-awareness-bliss. All is felt as whole and holy, for the seer has been seen as one with the seen.

Swami Vivekanand says:

"Samadhi is divided into two varieties. One is called the Samprajnata, and the other the Asamprajnata. The Samprajnata is of four varieties. In this Samadhi comes all the powers of controlling Nature. 

The first variety is called the Savitarka, when the mind meditates upon an object again and again, by isolating it from other objects. There are two sorts of objects for meditation, the categories of Nature, and the Purusa. Again, the categories are of two varieties; the twenty-four categories are insentient, and the one sentient is the Purusa. When the mind thinks of the elements of Nature by thinking of their beginning and their end, this is one sort of Savitarka. The words require explanation. 

This part of Yoga is based entirely on Sankhya Philosophy, about which I have already told you. As you will remember, egoism and will, and mind, have a common basis, and that common basis is called the chitta, the mind stuff, out of which they are all manufactured. This mind stuff takes in the forces of nature, and projects them as thought. There must be something, again, where both force and matter are one. This is called Avyaktam, the unmanifested state of nature, before creation, and to which, after the end of a cycle, the whole of nature returns, to again come out after another period. Beyond that is the Purusa, the essence of intelligence. 

There is no liberation in getting powers. It is a worldly search after enjoyment in this life. All search for enjoyment is vain; this is the old, old lesson which man finds so hard to learn. When he does learn it, he gets out of the universe and becomes free. The possession of what are called occult powers is only intensifying the world, and in the end intensifying suffering. Though, as a scientist, Patanjali is bound to point out the possibilities of this science, he never misses an opportunity to warn us against these powers. 

Knowledge is power, and as soon as we begin to know something, we get power over it; so also, when the mind begins to meditate on the different elements, it gains power over them. That sort of meditation where the external gross elements are the objects is called Savitarka. Tarka means question, Savitarka means with- question. Questioning the elements, as it were, that they may give up their truths and their powers to the man who meditates upon them. 

Again, in the very same meditation, when one struggles to take the elements out of time and space, and thinks of them as they are, it is called Nirvitarka, without- question. When the meditation goes a step higher, and takes the Tanmatras as its object, and thinks of them as in time and space, it is called Savichara, with-discrimination, and when the same meditation gets beyond time and space, and thinks of the fine elements as they are, it is called Nirvichara, without-discrimination. 

The next step is when the elements are given up, either as gross or as fine, and the object of meditation is the interior organ, the thinking organ, and when the thinking organ is thought of as bereft of the qualities of activity, and of dullness, it is then called Sanandam, the blissful Samadhi. In that Samadhi we are thinking of the mind as the object of meditation. 

Before we have reached the state which takes us beyond the mind even, when it has become very ripe and concentrated, when all ideas of the gross materials, or fine materials, have been given up, and the only object is the mind as it is, when the Sattva state only of the ego remains, but differentiated from all other objects, this is called Asmita Samadhi, and the man who has attained to this has attained to what is called in the Vedas “bereft of body”. He can think of himself as without his gross body; but he will have to think of himself as with a fine body. Those that in this state get merged in Nature without attaining the goal are called Prakrtilayas, but those who do not even stop at any enjoyments, reach the Goal, which is Freedom."

For context, similar insights can be found in the Vedic teachings. 

The Katha Upanishad (I.3.12) speaks of going beyond the senses to realize "That" which cannot be sensed by any sense organs. 

The Taittiriya Upanishad (2.4.1) describes stepping past perception and non-perception to enter the transcendent Reality. 

The Mundaka Upanishad (2.1.5) invites us to still the mind to experience our essence as Pure Awareness beyond all thought. 

And the Yoga Vasistha reminds us that when the mind is absolutely motionless, what remains is immeasurable Peace. May these luminous pointers help light our path to truth.

In conclusion, Patanjali's Yogasutra 1.17 outlines a process of meditative absorption that leads to a profound state of cognitive and Blissful Awareness. This concept is not isolated but is part of a broader discourse within the Vedic tradition that explores the Nature of Consciousness and the path to enlightenment.