Gorakṣaśataka 67–73: Daily Life, Discomfort and Ten Obstacles

In the context of retaining urine and faeces, I render bahusaṃkramaṇam as “great disturbance”; literally, much movement or walking about is also possible. Mallinson (2012, p. 270) interprets it as excessive agitation. The list continues the sentence begun in 67 and leads into the arising of illness in 69.

The conditional construction introduced by yadi, “if”, extends into 70: the practitioner interrupts practice and ultimately abandons it because they attribute their illness to yoga. Following Mallinson (2012, p. 270), I therefore relate stambhayet to practice, not to holding the breath. kathyate is passive, “it is said”; it introduces the quoted explanation. This historical interpretation is not present-day advice on responding to symptoms.

tyajet, “would abandon”, belongs to the condition opened by yadi in 69. The text describes the first obstacle; it does not instruct the reader to abandon practice here. The subsequent obstacles are rendered as separate sentences.

viṣamam is Mallinson’s correction of viṣayam. In the working text the ninth obstacle is called anākhyam, literally “unnamed”. I do not replace it with a conjectured category known from other lists.

I understand sattvāsthayā dhiyā as a connected expression: understanding grounded in reality. -āstha is construed adjectivally with dhī. This accords with Mallinson’s interpretation of the practitioner as grounded in true reality (2012, p. 270). The translation does not divide the expression into two independent means.