2.46

स्थिरसुखमासनम्

sthira-sukham āsanam

The line

Posture is what is steady and easeful.

नेपालीमा

आसन स्थिर र सुखद हुने कुरा हो।

Where it sits

The limbs reach the body only after restraint and observance. 2.47 will say how this steadiness and ease are perfected. 2.48 will say the fruit. The definition is this line, and it is short because the definition is the two adjectives.

Vyāsa (व्यास)'s bhāṣya (भाष्य) fills the unnamed shape with seats for sitting still: padmāsana (पद्मासन), vīrāsana (वीरासन), bhadrāsana (भद्रासन), svastika (स्वस्तिक), daṇḍāsana (दण्डासन), sopāśraya (सोपाश्रय), a supported seat, paryaṅka (पर्यङ्क), the couch, and the seats krauñca-niṣadana (क्रौञ्चनिषदन), hasti-niṣadana (हस्तिनिषदन), and uṣṭra-niṣadana (उष्ट्रनिषदन), named for the heron, the elephant, and the camel, and also the seat that is simply comfortable. Those are seats for the meditation the limbs are building. Svātmārāma (स्वात्माराम)'s Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā (हठयोगप्रदीपिका) names the shapes, from 1.19. This line is the steady, easeful seat.

Split: sthira (स्थिर) + sukham (सुखम्) + āsanam (आसनम्)

Sanskrit, in depth

The words

WordGrammarSense
sthira (स्थिर)stemsteady, firm.
sukham (सुखम्)nominative singular, neutereaseful. Agreeing with āsanam (आसनम्).
āsanam (आसनम्)nominative singular, neuterposture. The third limb. What is sat.

The phrases

Posture is what is steady and easeful. Two descriptions, one noun, all neuter. The line does not name a shape. Any seat that is both steady and easeful is āsana (आसन). A shape that is steady and harsh is not the definition. A shape that is easeful and collapsing is not either.

Sanskrit in this line

Agreement in the neuter, -am (अम्) on sukha (सुख) and on āsana (आसन). sthira (स्थिर) is the stem inside the compound sthira-sukham (स्थिरसुखम्), “steady and easeful,” a dvandva of two qualities. You have read dvandvas since 1.5.

Say it back

Define posture without naming a pose. The two words are the definition.

Next

2.47. By relaxing effort, and by coinciding with the endless.