other · wisdom

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

c. 400 BCE – 400 CE (composition; scholarly debate) · Classical India (c. 2nd century BCE – 4th century CE) · India

Book I — Samadhi Pada: Concentration

1Now the exposition of yoga is being made.
2Yoga is the restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff.
3Then the Seer abides in his own nature.
4At other times, the Seer takes the same form as the modifications of the mind.
5The modifications are of five kinds, painful or not-painful.
6They are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, imagination, sleep, and memory.
7The right sources of knowledge are direct perception, inference, and competent testimony.
8Wrong knowledge is false knowledge not corresponding to the thing itself.
9Verbal delusion follows from words having no corresponding reality.
10The modification called sleep is based on the negation of the wakeful state.
11Memory is when perceived objects do not slip away, and come back to consciousness.

The Path of Practice

12Their control is by practice and non-attachment.
13Practice is the effort for a steady state.
14It becomes firmly grounded when it is continued for a long time,
15without interruption, and with reverent devotion.
16Non-attachment is the consciousness of self-mastery
17on the part of him who is free from craving for objects, whether seen or heard about.
18This is the higher, when there is cessation from thirst for the qualities of nature
19because of the vision of the Purusha.

The Obstacles to Yoga

20Disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensuality, false perception,
21failure to attain any stage, and instability — these distractions of the mind-stuff are the obstacles.
22The methods of removing them are:
23Friendliness towards the happy, compassion for the unhappy,
24delight in the virtuous, and disregard for the wicked.
25By exhaling and restraining the breath also, the calm mind is attained.
26Or, the state of meditation may be reached by concentrating the mind
27on the light within, which is beyond all sorrow.
28Or, by concentrating on the heart of one who is free from all passion.
29Or, by meditation on the knowledge that comes in dream and sleep.
30Or, by meditation on anything that appeals to one as good.

Book II — Sadhana Pada: The Practice

31Austerity, self-study, and devotion to the Lord —
32these are the practical means of yoga.
33The purpose of these practices is to bring about samadhi and to attenuate the causes of suffering.
34The causes of suffering are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.
35Ignorance is the field for the others which follow, whether they be dormant, feeble, intercepted, or sustained.
36Ignorance is regarding the non-eternal as eternal, the impure as pure,
37the painful as pleasurable, and the non-Atman as the Atman.

The Eight Limbs of Yoga

38The eight limbs of yoga are:
39Yama — restraint;
40Niyama — observance;
41Asana — posture;
42Pranayama — breath-control;
43Pratyahara — withdrawal of the senses;
44Dharana — concentration;
45Dhyana — meditation;
46Samadhi — absorption.
47The restraints are: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-covetousness.
48The observances are: cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study, and devotion to the Lord.
49When negative thoughts trouble the mind, cultivate their opposites.
50Non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-covetousness are universal moral principles;
51not qualified by caste, place, time, or circumstance.

Book III — Vibhuti Pada: Powers

52Concentration is the binding of the mind-stuff to a place.
53The uninterrupted flow of the mind-stuff toward the object is meditation.
54When the object of meditation only shines forth in the mind,
55as though devoid of the thought of even the self who is meditating, that is samadhi.
56These three, taken together, are called samyama.
57By mastery of samyama comes the light of knowledge.
58Its application is to be made by stages.

Book IV — Kaivalya Pada: Liberation

59For the liberated, the seen has served its purpose.
60When the mind is fixed on discriminative discernment,
61it inclines towards liberation.
62In the intervals other thoughts arise through past impressions.
63They may be avoided by the same means as the afflictions.
64The absolute freedom of the Purusha, established in his own nature,
65is called kaivalya — isolation.

notes

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the foundational text of the Yoga school of Hindu philosophy — one of the six orthodox darshanas. Traditionally attributed to the sage Patanjali (dates disputed, likely 2nd century BCE to 4th century CE), it is a compact work of 195 sutras (aphorisms) in four books. The text codifies the practice of Ashtanga Yoga (the "eight-limbed" path): the five yamas (restraints) and five niyamas (observances), asana (posture), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (absorptive concentration). The goal is kaivalya — the "isolation" or liberation of the pure consciousness (Purusha) from the modifications of matter (Prakriti). The opening sutras (I.1-4) are among the most quoted passages in yogic literature: yogah cittavritti-nirodhah — "yoga is the cessation of the modifications of the mind-stuff" — with the consequent state described as "then the Seer abides in his own nature." The modern global yoga movement traces its philosophical framework almost entirely to this text, though modern postural yoga bears only tenuous connection to the practice Patanjali describes (which is primarily meditative, not physical). Translation: James Haughton Woods, "The Yoga-System of Patanjali," Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 17, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914. Public domain.

MeditationHinduDharmaPhilosophyYoga

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