Introduction
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are generally recognized as the most authoritative and most ancient text of Indian yoga in its entire thousands-year history. The word "yoga" (yoga, योग) comes from the Sanskrit root "yuj" (युज, yuj), which has many different meanings, of which only two are primary: "to restrain" and "to unite". Originally, the root "yuj" of the word "yoga" meant to yoke/putting on a bridle when harnessing a draft animal to connect/unite it to a cart, and it is from this action that both of these meanings of the word derive. For Patanjali, the word "yoga" means the method of uniting the consciousness of the soul with the superconsciousness (that is, the development of the superconsciousness) through taming the disturbances within the mind-manas. The word "sutra" (sūtra, सूत्र) literally means "thread" in Sanskrit, and serves to designate both individual sutras-aphorisms and, later, collections of such sayings, and therefore the Sanskrit name "yoga-sūtra" can now be translated not only as "Yoga Sutras", but also, although less frequently, as "Yoga Sutra". Over the past two thousand years of the Yoga Sutras' recorded history, numerous translations of this text have appeared in various languages, including dozens into English. Numerous commentaries have also been written on this text, aiming to clarify the meaning of these aphorisms from the perspective of a particular author and, of course, often justify the views of their religious or philosophical school based on interpretations of this authoritative text, often biased in a desired direction. One of the reasons for making this translation with the necessary commentary is that among the many available translations of the Yoga Sutras, including academic editions, I have not found a single one that, firstly, would be free from obvious translation errors and, secondly, would be clear for understanding. Hinduism, with its Indian self-designation "sanatana dharma" ("primordial religion"), is neither a monotheistic religion in the strict sense of the word (there is only one "temple" dedicated to Parabrahman in all of India in Oachira, Kerala), nor even a homogeneous one. Within Hinduism, hundreds of different religious movements and schools coexist, including even atheistic ones, as well as an even greater number of cults of individual deities. The difficulties of translating and interpreting the text of the Yoga Sutras stem from several issues. One of these is the drift in meaning of many Sanskrit words since the time of the writing and subsequent editions of this ancient Indian text, that is, over at least the last two thousand years. It's enough to recall how the perception of the term "yoga" itself has changed over the past half-century, transforming in the popular consciousness into the physical practice of asanas. Although for the last several thousand years, yoga has been defined exclusively as a psychotechnique for taming the agitation of the mind, a practice that occurs entirely within the yogi's consciousness. The physical practice of asanas is not mentioned in any of the ancient Indian texts, including the Puranas and Itihasas. References to postures in yoga from that time usually boil down to the same formulation: "the saint was in samadhi while sitting". Another problem in translating and interpreting the Yoga Sutras is that such texts, containing aphoristic sutras, are characterized by several semantic levels of interpretation. Beyond the literal reading of each yogic sutra, they are united by a certain general discourse (here: a holistic picture with all its aspects and stages) of yogic practice. This general discourse encompasses a vast expanse of meaning, beginning with the level of development of the ordinary person, with their sole cognitive tool, the mind (manas), and ending with the attainment of the goal of Patanjali's teachings, that is, the developed supramental structures of superconsciousness with the supernatural abilities (siddhis) inherent to superconsciousness. With this perception of the text, each sutra acquires additional meaning, which becomes clear only when examining the text as a whole. Modern Indologists believe that the Yoga Sutras draw inspiration from three different traditions that existed from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE, namely, from the Samkhya, from the Buddhist traditions, and from "various older ascetic and religious schools of thought".
About The Book
THE TRUE PRACTICAL ESSENCE OF PATANJALI'S YOGA SUTRAS: This is not just another translation of the Yoga Sutras from Sanskrit. Readers may discover, perhaps for the first time, the hidden meanings of sutras 1.17, 2.47, 3.4, and many others. The distinctive features of this edition are, first, a carefully verified and meaningful translation, presented in a way that preserves and conveys the original intent of the sutras without resorting to confusing, quasi-philosophical formulations. Commentaries have been added alongside the sutra translations wherever further clarification or comparison with other yogic and Buddhist texts is required. Second, the practical focus of this edition enables a deeper understanding of the method proposed by the author of the Yoga Sutras for attaining the goal of yogic teaching-the development of super-consciousness. Applying this method allows readers to work toward achieving this goal through personal practice.
Asana (106)
Bhakti Yoga (22)
Biography (53)
Hatha Yoga (100)
Kaivalyadhama (58)
Karma Yoga (32)
Kriya Yoga (91)
Kundalini Yoga (61)
Massage (2)
Meditation (358)
Patanjali (158)
Pranayama (71)
Women (33)
Yoga for Children (12)
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