By this, the transformations of form, time, and state in the elements and senses are explained.

Bhūta are the elements. Indriya are the senses. Dharma is form or characteristic. Lakṣaṇa is time-mark. Avasthā is state or condition.

Patañjali generalizes. The three parināmas described for the mind also apply to everything manifest.

Everything in nature experiences transformations of dharma (what it is), lakṣaṇa (when it is), and avasthā (how it is). Clay becomes a pot, the pot ages, the pot breaks.

This understanding is crucial for the siddhis. The yogī who understands how transformations occur can, through saṃyama, know them and eventually influence them.

The elements (earth, water, fire, air, space) and the senses (hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, smelling) are subject to these same laws of change.

Nothing is static. Everything flows. The yogī learns to see the flow and to situate themselves in the unchanging source of the flow.