Classical Yoga · compiled by Patanjali
Yoga Sutras 3.55
When clarity equals the Seer, there is freedom
सत्त्वपुरुषयोः शुद्धिसाम्ये कैवल्यम्॥
When the purity of the mind equals that of the Purusha, there is liberation.
What this verse points to
The culminating sutra of the third book. Kaivalya — aloneness, or freedom — arrives when the clarity of the mind is no longer distinguishable in purity from that which is aware of it.
The mind is not destroyed in this description. It becomes so transparent that it stops being a filter, which is a very different outcome from the one people often imagine.
Sit with it
Rather than trying to stop the mind, aim to make it clear enough that you forget it is there.
About the Yoga Sutras
The Yoga Sutras are 196 terse aphorisms compiled by Patanjali, organised into four books: samadhi (absorption), sadhana (practice), vibhuti (attainments), and kaivalya (liberation). The style is deliberately compressed — each sutra is a memory-thread meant to be unpacked by a teacher — and the text is the foundational statement of the eight-limbed (ashtanga) path.
References to this text are given as book.sutra — here, 3.55.