Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras are a collection of Sanskrit aphorisms attributed to the Indian sage Patanjali sometime around the 3rd or 2nd centuries BCE. But the Yoga sutras (drawn from ideas that had already existed for a long time in India) were compiled over many years, and some historians claim that the final chapter was added after Patanjali. They are regarded by most as the first genuine codification of Yoga into a system of spiritual practice.

Yoga

Yoga is an idea that existed long before Patanjali, and the Yoga Sutras present themselves merely as a revision of the doctrine. The term yoga literally means 'union' or 'yoke' (between the personal and impersonal self, or between the individual and the universal). Yoga also has the object of escaping sorrow, and of controlling passion and mental processes. The philosophy of Yoga, formalized in the Yoga Sutras, is related to other schools, or darshanas, of Hinduism, including Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimansa (based on the early Vedas), Vedanta (based on the last Vedas), and Sankhya. Each of these schools, born between the sixth and second centuries BCE, draws heavily from the Upanishads, and shares basic notions like karma (innate tendencies), dharma (duty or morality), the cycle of rebirth, and liberation. New forms and interpretations have in turn arisen from these schools; Yoga has branched into forms that include Laya, Mantra, Tantra, and Hatha, while the essence of Patanjali’s instruction has been retained in a form known as Raya Yoga, or the Royal Path. (Modern Yoga is based on Hatha Yoga, which, dating to 1000 CE, has developed special breathing exercises and posture, such as the familiar lotus position.) Raya Yoga is the most composite approach to yoga, not concentrating on one element like chanting or physical training.

Sutras

Each of the schools of Hinduism has its own set of sutras, or aphorisms (short sayings or pithy observation). The sutras help to systematize the philosophy of the writer, and they facilitate memorization and transmission by generations of students. (The brevity of the sutras created the need for commentaries based on them, the first of which is believed to have been written by Vyasa in the 6th or 7th century CE.) The sutras have the goal of making the mystical experience of Yoga understandable, and more importantly, accessible. Thus Patanjali's Yoga is very systematic, even "scientific". (Indeed, it seems to attempt a unification of ethics with the scientific discipline of physics.) The sutras penetrate the mystery of yoga in an organized and methodical fashion, as science does, and although the author does not say they are based directly on empirical evidence, the aphorisms do constitute a formula by which anyone can test the reliability of Patanjali's approach. (Furthermore, while it might seem that the observer and the observed in Yoga are the same, Patanjali claims that the "I" of our everyday lives is different from our true self, and can be observed using objective 'thought waves'.)

The Books (Pada)

The Yoga Sutras are divided into four books (Sanskrit pada), containing a total of 195 sutras. These books include: the Samadhi Pada (concerning the Theory of Yoga), Sadhana Pada (the Practice of Yoga), Vibhuti Pada (Attainments), and Kaivalya Pada (Emancipation).

I. Samadhi Pada (51 sutras)

Samadhi refers to a blissful state where the yogi is absorbed into the One. The author describes yoga and then the means to attaining samadhi. This chapter contains the most famous verses: "Atha yoga anusasanam" ("Yoga begins with discipline") and "Yogas citta vritti nirodha" ("Yoga is control of citta vrittis" - i.e., thoughts and feelings).

II. Sadhana Pada (55 sutras)

Sadhana is the Sanskrit word for "practice". Here the author outlines two forms of Yoga: kriya yoga (action yoga) and ashtanga yoga (eightfold yoga).

Kriya yoga, sometimes called karma yoga, is reflected in the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, where Arjuna is encouraged to act without attachment to the results of action. It is the yoga of selfless action or as some have observed, of service.

A definition of ashtanga

ashtanga ("eight-limbed") yoga consists of the following aspects:

1. *The five yamas (abstentions; the word means "restraint"). These are also found in Jainism; Buddhism has a similarly-conceived list.

(1) Ahimsa (abstention from violence, himsa)

(2) Satya ("truth", abstention from lying)

(3) Asteya (abstention from theft)

(4) Brahmacharya (abstention from sexual activity)

(5) Aparigraha (abstention from possessions)

2. The five niyamas ("observances"):

(1) Shaucha ("{purity")

(2) Santosha ("contentment")

(3) Tapas ("heat", i.e., austerities, self-mortification)

(4) Svadhyaya ("self-contemplation")

(5) Ishvarapranidhana "surrender to the Creator")

3. Asana ("seat"). The term which is now generally translated as "physical postures" originally referring to seated postures.

4. Pranayama (control of prana, the vital breath or "life force")

5. Pratyahara ("withdrawal" of the mind from the senses, or the senses from objects)

6. Dharana (concentration, i.e., fixing the attention on a single object)

7. Dhyana (meditation)

8. Samadhi (equipoise)

III. Vibhuti Pada (55 sutras)

Vibhuti is the Sanskrit word for "power" or "manifestation". This book describes the higher states of awareness and the techniques of yoga to attain them.

References

• Dasgupta, S.N. Hindu Mysticism. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt Ltd., 1977.
• Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree. Yoga: The Science of the Soul, Volume 1. Rajneeshpuram, Oregon: Rajneesh Foundation International, 1976.
• Dvivedi, M. N. The Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali'. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1980.