Lokānandaḥ samādhisukham लोकानन्दः समाधिसुखम् (sūtra 18)

Loka – both objects and subjects. This means all that exist in the universe, both the subject and the object. In other words, loka refers to the world, where both the subject and object exist together. ānandaḥ - bliss, one of the attributes (sat-cit-ānanda) of the Brahman. samādhi – the eighth limb of aṣṭāṅga yoga ofPatanjali. There are different stages of samādhi. Here, samādhi means entering into the stage of super consciousness in waking state. In other words, if one’s mind is stilled when he is awake, he is said to have entered into the stage ofsamādhi. sukham – rejoice.

This sūtra says that the rejoicing in bliss is the universe for a yogi. It is important that a yogi of this type has to continuously remain in a state of constant awareness, fixed on Śiva. He has to look at the universe through the eyes of Śiva. If samādhi is explained as trance in this context, a yogi now and then comes out of trance and gets worldly acquaintance. Trance is explained as that state of mind in which consciousness is fragile and voluntary action is poor or missing; a state resembling deep sleep. But this sūtra talks about the stage where the yogi is still awake while entering into the stage of samādhi. This means that he has to be a Self-realised yogi as he has to look at the universe through the eyes of Śiva. This can happen only if the yogi feels that he is Śiva Himself. To transform as Śiva, he has to repeatedly affirm with strong conviction and total dissolution of duality. Truly identifying oneself with Śiva happens only in the stage of nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is the stage where one’s ego is totally blown off. It is the cessation of existential being.

Bhagavad Gita (VI.15) explains the significance of this sūtra. Krishna says, “the self-governed yogi (which means his mind is totally under his control) engaging his soul in ceaseless union with Spirit, attains the peace of My being, the final nirvāṇa.” The importance of individual self is dissolved along with the destruction of egotism paving way to the universal consciousness, a state where the individual consciousness pervades everywhere. The yogi perpetually rejoices in bliss, like Śiva, as he knows that he is not different from Śiva. He has become Śiva Himself.