Notes: Here āsana is a seat, a throne, a sitting posture, and importantly, a stable internal seating for practice. It exists in a pure space, undefiled by engrossment with the world of duality and desire. It is neither too high or too low, nor too active or too passive. This seating is like a soft cloth placed atop sharp blades of kuśa-grass; and the true āsana is a state of comprehensive balance between the polarities of the world of duality. The fabric is the unifying softness, the blades of grass are the specifying sharpness, and the yogi is seated in purity as the deconstructor and integrator of existence. The prescription in this verse should be understood and applied both externally and internally.