What are Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and why do they matter?
The Yoga Sutra were the most confusing text that I learned about during my Yoga teacher training. I didn’t get the translation at all and ended up putting them aside for quite a few years.
Later when reading about the Sutras again in Yoga magazines my interest kindled.
Who was Patanjali?
This is one of the mysteries.
Nobody really knows. Patanjali could have been a man, a collective of Sanskrit scholars, or a woman.
The Yoga Sutras have been compiled around 500 BCE.
Patanjali has also related to comments on Sanskrit grammar and Ayurveda, it is not clear though if all is the same person.
He is often depicted with his lower body as a snake and the upper body as a human to express that he has overcome the duality of life.
It’s all about the Mind
The Yoga Sutras are based on the Samkhya philosophy, one of the six schools of Indian philosophy.
In a very basic summary, the Samkhya philosophy is based on the dualistic concept that our individual consciousness is part of the Universal Consciousness. Our mind, however, is under the illusion that we are separated which creates suffering.
The Yoga Sutras are a practical guide for our minds to remember that union. Hence, the Sutras are filled with explanations on how our mind operates, which hindrances and obstacles we encounter on our way to liberation from this illusion, and the clear roadmap to follow with the 8 limbs of Yoga.
The four Chapters of the Yoga Sutras
Sutra is a short aphorism and a Sanskrit word which means "that which sews and holds things together".
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras contain 195 sutras which are divided into 4 chapters:
Samadhi Pada (Chapter on Enlightenment)
Sadhana Pada (Chapter on Practice)
Vibhuti Pada (Chapter on Powers or Manifestations)
Kaivalyam Pada (Chapter on Liberation)
In this blog post, I would like to introduce you to the first chapter. There is so much in this chapter, and you might be surprised how familiar all will be.
Although mankind has invented many tools and devices gaining technological progress in a rather short time span. On our own mental and physical level we seem to have not evolved at all in the last two thousand years.
Chapter 1 - Samadhi Pada
The very beginning of the work defines the aim, the goal of Yoga. In the second sutra we learn what Yoga is:
“Yogas chitta vrtti nirodha
Yoa is when the fluctuations of the mind are ceasing”
And the third sutra explains what this means:
“Tada drashtuh svarupe vasthanam
Then the Seer abides in his own true nature.”
This is what I love about the Yoga Sutra, it sees our true nature or essence as calm and content.
This coincides with our body’s tendency to homeostasis, striving for equilibrium. Each cell in our body tries to balance that state. The parasympathetic nervous system, in rest and digest mode, is the base state. When times get fast or dangerous, our nervous system shifts into the sympathetic, fight and flight mode, to shift back into rest and digest again when the situation is over.
Imagine how you would feel when the ongoing stream of thoughts, the ups and downs, the ideas of what we need to have or not, and who we like and dislike would come to a natural hold. When you could choose when to think and when not to and what to think.
How would that be?
This is our true nature according to the Yoga Sutras. This is the place where Yoga Sutras want to lead us back to, back home, so to speak.
This road back is not necessary a highway. For some people, it might just be, but for the vast majority, it is a long and winding road with lots of ups and down, going in circles, moving forwards and back until we finally arrive. We need to understand and cut through our conditioning to reach the goal.
Quite early on, in the 12th Sutra, Patanjali offers a basic concept to help us. The Sutras explain that the fluctuations mentioned above can be restrained or managed by
“Abhyasa and Vairagya.
Practice and non-attachment”
Practice is our effort toward steadiness of mind. And here comes the explanation for us of what Patanjali means with practice:
“Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness.”
So, we need to practice for a long time, without stopping and starting, but continuously and need to be serious about it.
Equally important, we need to practice non-attachment. Think about learning a new Yoga pose, asana, let’s say headstand or the split. There comes a time when you think, ‘by now, I should really be able to do this, I am practising it for 2 months.’ This thought might lead to impatience, frustration or even giving up. This is an attachment to your practice, an expectation that your mind creates, and reacts to. You might give up and miss potentially succeeding with the next attempt. To avoid this non-attachment is suggested for you to keep going without the drama, just like brushing your teeth.
On our journey back to our true nature, we can encounter the following hindrances which keep us from progressing, the 10 Vikshepas:
“Disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensuality, false perception, failure to reach firm ground and slipping from the ground gained - these distractions of the mind are the hindrances.”
They are absolutely self-explanatory. Which is the one that hinders you from progressing?
These hindrances show up by creating unhappiness or depression, suffering, shaking of the body or disturbance in the breath.
As the Yoga Sutras are a practical guide, Patanjali offers us solutions too.
There are seven tips on how to overcome these distractions. We should focus on one only, whichever works for us.
Here they are:
By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind retains its undisturbed calmness.
My teacher used to regard this Sutra as the most important one to practise.
Cultivating the above attitude truly helps us to work with our feelings of envy, jealousy, or schadenfreude, feeling smug or superior or being able to mind our own business, which all bring unrest to our minds.
Think about how frequently you react to people’s remarks, notice your feeling when you see that your neighbour/friend has and you always wanted, your feelings when you see the misfortune of someone who has treated you badly in the past, etc.Or that calm is retained by the controlled exhalation or retention of the breath.
Or the concentration on subtle sense perceptions (for example the contact of the ground underneath, the air on the skin, the outbreath on the upper lip) can cause steadiness of the mind.
Or by concentrating on the inner light, the lotus of our heart.
Or by concentrating on a great soul’s mind who has conquered attachment.
Or by concentrating on an experience had during a dream or deep sleep.
Or by meditating on anything one chooses that is elevating.
YS, I.33-39
The first chapter concludes with an introduction to the different stages of Samadhi.
Samadhi is the ultimate goal and is sometimes translated as ‘state of original balance’. This takes this chapter to a full circle. Remember, in the beginning, Patanjali mentioned that in the state of Yoga, the seer rests in its true nature which is the original balance.
Other words that you might read expressing the same state are moksha, kaivalya, and nirvana.
When you learn more about Yoga, you notice that everything comes in layers. Our existence is multifaceted and can be experienced on different levels.
So is samadhi. There is not just one samadhi, but different levels. Our concentration moves from gross to subtle.
When we focus on the object of our choice at the beginning all mental activities are involved in the comprehension. As we move along with our practice our mind becomes clearer, ideas and memories slowly recede to finally a state where no impressions are left, and the mind is clear, open, and transparent is reached.
Savouring for a moment the idea of seeing everything as it is, and not through the filter of our conditioning from past experiences.
This is mind-blowing indeed.
We surely experience mini-samadhis throughout our day without noticing when we are engrossed in our work, nature, reading, music, the calmness at the end of a Yoga practice, etc. We just don’t notice it or haven’t made the connection yet.
This marks the end of the first chapter and its 51 sutras.
Summary
This first chapter, the chapter on enlightenment, introduces us to what Yoga is, a state of our mind when all fluctuations of stopped. This is also our true nature.
We have learned that we can manage these fluctuations with two equally important aspects:
an ongoing practice, over a long period of time, that we are serious about.
not placing any expectations on this practice on what we get from it or might achieve.
We are experiencing hindrances in our way which we can overcome through either changing the attitude of our mind, focusing on sense perception, working with the breath, focusing on our inner light, or being inspired by others who have overcome attachment, observing our dreams and sleep, or meditating on whatever uplifts us.
We have seen that samadhi is the desired state of the original balance, that it has different levels moving us from gross to subtle.
Is any of the above relevant to you?
Resources
There are many translations of the Yoga Sutras, so here are a few that I like to dip in regularly.
The Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar
Very accessible and a great entry point for everyone.The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satchidananda
I love this one because it has Sanskrit writing, transliteration, word-by-word translation and the translation brought into a meaningful sentence and easily understandable commentary.The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant
As Swami Satchidananda with a more academic commentary.The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi A Women’s Guide to the Yoga Sutras.
Easy to understand, Nischala Joy Devi brings in stories and practices to make the sutras experiential.
