**1) Name the eighth and final limb of the yogic path; give the Sanskrit word for it; some related English words; and then describe it briefly.** The eighth and final limb of the yogic path is called “perfect meditation.”  In Sanskrit this is samadhi   smaix.  This word is made of two parts: sama sma and dhi  ix. Sama derives from an old root that can mean both one and as one, and so it came to mean equal, even, or the same.  The English words same, similar, single, and homogenous come from the same root. Dhi comes from a root √dha  xa, meaning to place or put down.  (Dhi here does not come from the root dhi  xI , meaning to think, which is spelled differently.)  Related English words are data (information which is set down); to do; deed (especially in the sense of something set down in writing); and doom (ones fate, as something set down). Generally speaking, the two words together, sama+dhi, has a meaning of setting the mind into an equal meditation, in the sense that the mind is balanced and avoids the two extremes of distraction and dullness.  Here as the eighth limb though, samadhi means the perfect meditation which can perceive the true nature of things. **2) In the third verse of this third chapter, Master Patanjali describes the object of perfect meditation, which is “the clear light.”  First give the Tibetan and Sanskrit words for “clear light.”  Then explain the Sanskrit word and give some related English words.** The Tibetan word for clear light is u-sel; the u means light  or lightrays, and the sel means clear. The Sanskrit word for clear light here is nirbhasa  inÉaRs.  This word is made up of the two parts nir and bhasa. Nir is a form of the prefix nis ins!  , which means out or forth.  Bhasa comes from the root √bha Éa, which means to shine.  The combination then means literally that which shines forth.  Related English words are photo and beacon. **3) Master Patanjali explains the clear light to mean that nothing has any nature of its own.  But is that true?  Doesn’t fire, for example, have its own nature of being, naturally, hot and burning?** Fire does have a nature of being hot and burning, but it’s not true that this nature belongs to it.  That is, the quality of being hot does not reside within a fire.  Rather, we perceive this quality within a fire only because of our own mental seeds, which come from our own past karma.  With different mental seeds it would be possible for us to experience fire as cool, and to be able to pick it up in our hands. **4) In this section, Master Patanjali refers to the idea of voidness, or emptiness.  Describe the voidness of a maple-covered donut, and how this relates to the purpose of all yoga: to become whole, or happy.  Along the way, explain the Sanskrit word for voidness and give some related English words.** We use the maple-covered donut as an example of something that we like very much, something which is difficult for us to share with others (especially if it’s the last one in the case at the pastry shop).  We normally believe that a donut which we see in a shop has been made or created in the kitchen at the shop, and that whether we can get it or not only depends upon our having enough money to do so. In reality though the donut is void or empty of any such existence.  It exists in the case at the shop only because we have given a donut to someone in the past.  We perceive it only because of seeds of perception planted within our own mind when we shared a donut with someone.  Obviously then the words voidness and emptiness do not at all mean that there is no donut there, or that in some way it is less than real. The Sanskrit word for voidness or emptiness here is shunyata zUNyta , or tongpa-nyi in Tibetan.  The word shunyata contains two parts, shunya and ta.  The ta is a suffix that means the condition of something, and is related to the English suffix tion as found in creation or situation.  Shunya comes from the root √shu zU , which means to swell, in the way that a bubble swells with an empty middle.  Related English words, where the typical change of a Sanskrit s to an English c  is observed, are cave (an empty space); cumulus (swelling clouds); and even church (which originally meant swollen with power). **5) Explain the three, and the two, different parts that make up what Master Patanjali calls “the eye of wisdom.”** The three parts that make up the “eye of wisdom” are the last three of the eight limbs of the yogic path: focus, fixation, and perfect meditation. The ability to focus upon an object of meditation and then fix the mind upon it one-pointedly, over a period of time, is what we call meditative stillness, or shamatha zmw  in Sanskrit.  The ability to use this stillness to focus upon the absolute nature of things is called the extraordinary vision, or vipashyana.  (This word is sometimes used incorrectly to describe a meditation focused on the breath, or ones thoughts.)  These two then must be combined in order to see ultimately reality directly. **6) What phrase will Master Patanjali continue to use throughout the third chapter, to refer to the conjoined power of the last three of the eight limbs of yoga?  (Include the Sanskrit, explaining the name and giving related English words.)** The combination of focus, fixation, and perfect meditation will be referred to throughout the rest of the third chapter as “the combined effort.”  These are equivalent to the classic combination of meditative stillness and the extraordinary vision of emptiness, used together to perceive ultimate reality. The Sanskrit for this unbeatable combination is sanyama s<ym.  This word is made of the two parts sam and yama.  Sam means together and is found in the English prefix com, as in the words committee  and combination. Yama has connotations of both a combination and an effort.  It comes from the roots √yat, meaning to stretch, and √yam, meaning to reach.  The word yama came to refer to the reins of a horse, something to be reached for, and then this came to the meaning of making an effort.  The two reins of the horse came in turn to refer to any kind of pair.  The Lord of Death, who is one of two famous twins, thus came to be called Yama. Jealousy  as a strong desire to reach and obtain something is an English word that comes from the same root as yama.  The English word Gemini is another related word, in the sense of a pair, or twins. The combination of sam+yama  then refers to making a combined effort: to use meditative stillness combined with an understanding of ultimate reality, in order to see emptiness directly.  This ability enables us to open a great many other doors, as we will see throughout the third chapter. **7) In what sense are the last three of the eight limbs of yoga “inner,” and in what sense are they “outer”?** The first five of the eight limbs of yoga are more external or physical actions: restraining ourselves from hurting others; doing the physical poses; practicing breath control.  The last three limbs are completely mental, and subtle.  In this sense the last three limbs are more “inner” than the first five. The final goal of all eight limbs is to reach total purity, or enlightenment.  Even the last three limbs of the yogic path, until we reach this final goal, are mixed up with “impure” karmic seeds, which wear out as they produce their positive or negative results.  In this sense then the last three limbs of yoga, during the period before we reach total purity, are “outside” or lesser than they will be when we do reach the goal.