Raja Yoga Selection Number 55, for Friday, May 4, 2012

[from Chapter I: "Samadhi Pada- On Contemplations"]
I.43. SMRTI-PARISHUDDHAU SVAROOPA-SHOONYEVAARTHA-MAATRA-
NIRBHAASAA-NIRVITARKAA
'"Nirvitarka samadhi" is that state in which the memory is clarified and
the mind, devoid of subjectivity, reflects true knowledge'.

Commentary:
'Nirvitarka samadhi' is 'samadhi' that is beyond reason. It is
meditation on an abstract object such as the 'chakras', or symbols. The
mixing of sources of knowledge ends. In 'savitarka samadhi' there is
some confusion between the element of reason and lower forms of
knowledge. In 'nirvitarka samadhi', the elements of reason, or
intellectual argumentation, fades. In both cases there is a blissful
experience, yet there is full awareness of subject and object.

* More Patanjali Yoga Sutra verses with
commentary by Swami Vishnu-devananda
available at:
http://www.sivananda.org/publications/quotes/rajayoga_quote.html