23 Jan INTRODUCTION TO THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI
From my 20+ years of practising yoga, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what yoga is: the yoga poses that you practice on the yoga mat, right? Right, but there is so much more.
If you are interested in discovering a new aspect of yoga more ancient than the yoga poses we practice on the yoga mat, then join me in discovering one of the most ancient books on yoga, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This blog is the first of a series of blogs where I will review each verse of Patanjali’s yoga sutras to discover for myself what they are all about. At the end of each blog I will provide you my understanding of the verse and at least one exercise to internalize the verse.
Before diving into the verses, let’s first take a look at the book, who wrote it and how it is structured. The main source I used to create this series of blogs is the book entitled The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali published by Integral Yoga Publications of Buckingham, Virginia, with the English translation and commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda. You can find it on amazon.com via the link here: https://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Sutras-Patanjali-Swami-Satchidananda/dp/1938477073/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KRT0AJE13NDU&dchild=1&keywords=the+yoga+sutras+of+patanjali+by+swami+satchidananda&qid=1611497105&sprefix=The+yoga+sutras+of%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-1. Other sources I used include online dictionaries such as https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/.
- Who is Patanjali?
Patanjali is the person(s) who wrote the first yoga scripture over 2000 years ago.
- What is a sutra?
Each verse is called a ‘sutra’, which means in Sanskrit a ‘thread’ or a ‘string’. This words sounds like the English word ‘suture’, which means a stich or row of stiches that holds a wound or incision together. The English word, ‘suture’ comes from the Latin word ‘sutura’, which means a seam or sewing together. If a ‘suture’ involves stiches performed on the human body, then think of Patanjali’s sutras involving stiches of instructions performed on the human mind.
- How are the yoga sutras structured?
The book contains 196 verses divided into 4 parts:
- Samādhi Pāda. Part on Contemplation (51 verses)
- Sādhana Pāda. Part on Practice (55 verses)
- Vibhūti Pāda. Part on Accomplishment (56 verses)
- Kaivalya Pāda. Part on Absoluteness (34 verses)
- What can I learn in each blog?
Each blog will focus on one verse. At the end of each blog learnings, checklists and exercises that arise out of my reading of these ancient verses.
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