Yogadarsana: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Ramdev

According to Maharshi Patanjali, looking at an idol or statue is not meditation. He says that the attainment of God means the absolute ending of miseries; ‘samadhibhavanarthah Klesatanukaranathasca’; ‘avidya-asmita-raga-devsa-abhinivesah panca Klesah.’ According to the great sage, the goal of kriyoga is smadhi, i.e., sambhodhi, self-realosation and the cessation of miseries. For the removal of this impurity of the mind he exhorts the eight limbs of yoga (astanga yoga): ‘yoganganusthanad asuddhiksaye jnanadipith a vivekakhyateh.’ Describing the astanga yoga which comprises yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi, Maharshi Patanjali says: ‘ahinsasatyateyabrahmacaryaparigraha yamah; ‘saucasantovacchinnah svadhyayesvarapranidhanani niyamah’; ‘deska-kala- samayanavacchinnah sarvabhuma mahavratam’- non-violence, truth, etc., are universal great vows. Spiritual and global peace is impossible without observing them. ‘ekam sad viprah bahudha vadanti.’ There is one main purpose for Maharshi Patanjali behind all the prejudices must break down. Then, you need not go anywhere; you have got all the solutions. He talks of attaining divine powers by the controlled focusing of dharana, dhyana and Samadhi: ‘trayame katra samyamah’; ‘ tajjayat prajnalokah’; ‘tasya bhumisu viniyogah’. He tells the method of knowing the past and the future by focusing samyama; he explains the method of vanishing; he also teaches the procedure of walking in space and entering into another body; he also makes us attain siddhis like anima, laghima, garima, etc. Mahrshi Patanajali also unravels the secrets of physiology and cosmology. He also teaches walking on water without any support, and alos makes the sadhakas skilled in knowing the mysteries of previous birth and re-birth.