For the disembodied and those merged in nature, [samādhi] arises from [previous] existence.

This sutra introduces a special category: beings who attain elevated states of consciousness due to saṃskāras from previous lives, not through conscious practice in this life.

The videha are beings who have transcended identification with the physical body. The prakṛti-laya are absorbed in primordial nature.

Patañjali warns that these states, though elevated, are not final liberation. These beings eventually take rebirth because they have not eradicated the root cause: avidyā (ignorance). Their absorption is like a cosmic sleep from which they will eventually awaken to continue their spiritual evolution.