---
type: Concept
bundle: yoga-darshana
bundle_version: "0.2.0"
id: samapatti
title: "Samāpatti"
iast: "Samāpatti"
devanagari: "समापत्ति"
description: "The cognitive coincidence in which citta takes the form of its object in samādhi — not union, not merger."
darshana:
  - Pātañjala Yoga
  - Sāṃkhya
text_source: "YS 1.41-1.46"
tags:
  - Yoga
  - Patanjali
  - samapatti
  - absorption
  - samadhi
  - coincidence
  - jewel-metaphor
not:
  - term: "union"
    why: "union implies two things merging into one; samāpatti is the cognitive coincidence of citta with an object; citta and the object do not become one ontological entity — citta takes on the *form* of the object, the way a clear jewel takes on the color of what it rests on; both remain distinct"
    instead: "Keep Samāpatti untranslated; do not substitute the English term."
  - term: "merger"
    why: "same issue as union; samāpatti is an epistemological process in a dualist framework; subject and object remain ontologically distinct"
  - term: "coincidence in the luck sense"
    why: "samāpatti is best translated as cognitive coincidence or epistemic coincidence: the coincidence (falling-together) of knower, knowing, and known in the absorption; nothing accidental is implied"
  - term: "trance"
    why: "trance implies reduced awareness; samāpatti is heightened, refined engagement with an object to the point of maximum clarity"
related:
  - /concepts/samprajnata-samadhi.md
  - /concepts/chitta-vritti.md
  - /concepts/purusha.md
  - /concepts/prakriti-yoga.md
  - /concepts/nirodha.md
  - /concepts/parinama.md
timestamp: "2026-06-20"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Samāpatti — समापत्ति

**Not:** union, merger, coincidence in the luck sense, trance

The cognitive coincidence of citta with the object of meditation — the process by which citta, when its modifications (*vṛttis*) are attenuated, takes on the form (*rūpa*) of the object with such fidelity that the ordinary distinction between knower, knowing, and known collapses. Samāpatti is the underlying mechanism of samprajñāta samādhi; it describes *how* absorption works rather than cataloguing its stages.

## Etymology

- *sam* — together, completely
- *ā* — toward, fully
- *pat* — from √*pat* (to fall, to alight, to coincide)
- *samāpatti* — "completely falling together"; alighting; coincidence; meeting-point

The falling metaphor is precise: knower and known fall together — they coincide in a single cognitive event that is neither purely subjective nor purely objective.

## YS 1.41 — The Jewel Sūtra

*kṣīṇavṛtterabhijātasyeva maṇer grahītṛgrahaṇagrāhyeṣu tatsthatadañjanatā samāpattiḥ*

"Samāpatti, in (the domain of) the grasper, the grasping, and the grasped, is the coloring of citta with the character of *that* (the object) — (occurring) in one whose vṛttis have become attenuated — like (a clear) gem resting on a colored surface."

Three elements:

1. **Kṣīṇa-vṛtti** — "attenuated modifications"; samāpatti requires that most vṛttis have subsided; a heavily Rajasic or Tamasic citta cannot achieve it; the more Sattvic and still the citta, the deeper the samāpatti
2. **Abhijāta maṇi** — "a well-born gem"; a gem of excellent clarity, free from flaws and impurities; the analogy for Sattvic citta
3. **Tatsthat-adañjanatā** — "coloring with the character of *that* while resting on *that*"; the gem's appearance is modified by the surface's color without the gem itself being altered

## The Grasper / Grasping / Grasped Triad

The three terms *grahītṛ / grahaṇa / grāhya* correspond to:
- **Grahītṛ** — the grasper; the "knower" side; in cognitive terms: the perceiving instrument (citta, ahaṃkāra, buddhi); ultimately pointing toward Puruṣa
- **Grahaṇa** — the grasping; the act of knowing; the cognitive process itself
- **Grāhya** — the grasped; the object; from a gross physical form to the subtlest object of samādhi

In ordinary experience these three are experienced as sharply distinct — "I" (grasper) am here, and "the tree" (grasped) is there, connected by my act of seeing (grasping). In samāpatti, this three-fold distinction collapses into a single unified cognitive event.

## Savitarka and Nirvitarka Samāpatti (YS 1.43-1.44)

Patañjali applies the samāpatti framework to explain the distinction within each samprajñāta stage:

**Savitarka** — with vitarka; "with deliberation/reasoning" about the gross object:
- The gross object is mixed with *śabda* (name), *artha* (meaning/form), and *jñāna* (acquired conceptual knowledge) — the practitioner's mental overlay colors the perception
- The diamond rests on the cloth but has dust on it

**Nirvitarka** (YS 1.43):  
*smṛtipariśuddhau svarūpaśūnyevārthamātranirbhāsā nirvitarkā*  
"When memory is purified, appearing as the object alone with its own form, as if empty of itself — that is nirvitarka."

The three layers (name, meaning, conceptual knowledge) drop away; the object shines in its own pure form without the practitioner's knowledge-overlay. This is the diamond cleaned of dust.

The same logic applies to savicāra / nirvicāra for subtle objects (YS 1.44-1.45).

## Samāpatti and the Puruṣa Question

YS 1.41 lists among the objects of samāpatti: *grahītṛ* (the grasper). This means Puruṣa — the ultimate grasper — can itself be an object of samāpatti. But there is a complication: Puruṣa is not Prakṛtic; citta cannot take on Puruṣa's form the way it takes on a gross object's form, because Puruṣa has no Guṇa-constitution.

Vyāsa resolves this: the samāpatti with Puruṣa is the closest available approach — the sāsmitā stage, where citta's object is the bare asmitā-sense that approximates Puruṣa's nature without being identical to it. True Puruṣa-recognition (viveka-khyāti) is not samāpatti but the collapse of the samāpatti framework altogether.

## Cross-References

- [Samprajñāta Samādhi](samprajnata-samadhi.md) — the four absorptions that samāpatti describes from within; samāpatti is the mechanism, samprajñāta is the typology
- [Citta-Vṛtti](chitta-vritti.md) — samāpatti requires attenuated vṛttis; understanding citta-vṛtti is prerequisite
- [Pariṇāma](parinama.md) — the transformation theory that explains what is happening in citta during samāpatti
- [Puruṣa](purusha.md) — the ultimate grasper whose nature samāpatti approaches but cannot capture by Prakṛtic means
- [Nirodha](nirodha.md) — when even samāpatti's cognitive coloring ceases entirely

## Audience Metaphor

Samāpatti is what happens when a perfectly clear diamond is placed on a red cloth: the diamond takes on the appearance of red, so completely that you might think the diamond itself is red. But the diamond has not become red — it has so thoroughly received the red's form that they are functionally indistinguishable. In samāpatti, citta is the diamond; the meditation object is the cloth. The purer (more Sattvic) the citta, the more completely it can take on the object's form — and the closer the practitioner is to knowing the object as it is, rather than as filtered through Rajasic and Tamasic distortions.

## Citations

1. [Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali](/references/yoga-sutras.md) 1.41-1.46
2. [Yoga Bhāṣya of Vyāsa](/references/yoga-bhasya.md) on YS 1.41
3. [Tattvavaiśāradī](/references/tattvavaisharadi.md) of Vācaspatimiśra on YS 1.41
