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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga

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The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali Translation and Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidananda Buckingham, Virginia Originally published under the title Integral Yoga: The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali First Printing: 1978 Sixteenth Printing: 2011 Revised Edition: 2012 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Satchidananda, Swami [Integral Yoga] The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali/translation and commentary by Swami Satchidananda p. cm Includes bibliographical references, index. ISBN-13: 978-1-938477-07-2 1. Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra. 2. Yoga, Rāja. 3. Yoga I. Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra. 1990. II. Title B132. Y6P2787 1990 181’,452-dc2O 90-5213 CIP Copyright© 2012 by Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville Inc. All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or strored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America Integral Yoga® Publications Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville, Buckingham, Virginia 23921 www.yogaville.org Cover photo by Amrita Sandra McLanahan, M.D. The publication of this work is humbly offered to my beloved and revered Yoga Master, Sri Gurudev, Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj and to all who seek understanding and mastery over their minds through the glorious science of Yoga Books by Sri Swami Satchidananda Beyond Words Enlightening Tales The Golden Present The Healthy Vegetarian Heaven on Earth Integral Yoga Hatha Kailash Journal The Living Gita To Know Your Self Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali Bound To Be Free: The Liberating Power of Prison Yoga Integral Yoga Pocket Collection featuring the art of Peter Max Meditation The Key to Peace Overcoming Obstacles Adversity and Awakening Satchidananda Sūtras Gems of Wisdom Pathways to Peace How to Find Happiness The Be-Attitudes Everything Will Come to You Thou Art That How to Know Yourself Free Yourself The Guru Within Golden Moments Books about Sri Swami Satchidananda Sri Swami Satchidananda: Apostle of Peace Sri Swami Satchidananda: Portrait of a Modern Sage Boundless Giving: The Life and Service of Sri Swami Satchidananda The Master’s Touch Films about Sri Swami Satchidananda (DVD) Living Yoga: The Life and teachings of Swami Satchidananda Many Paths, One Truth: The Interfaith Message of Swami Satchidananda The Essence of Yoga: The Path of Integral Yoga with Swami Satchidananda In the Footsteps of a Master: The 1970 World Peace Tour with Swami Satchidananda For a complete listing of books, CDs and DVDs: www.iydbooks.com Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Guide To Sanskrit Pronunciation Book One Samādhi Pāda (Portion on Contemplation) Book Two Sādhana Pāda (Portion on Practice) Book Three Vibhūti Pāda (Portion on Accomplishments) Book Four Kaivalya Pāda (Portion on Absoluteness) Glossary of Sanskrit Terms Index Stories, Examples and Analogies Sanskrit Quotes Selected Reading Preface Beloved Students, It gives me great joy to witness the publication of this book. For many years these Yoga Sūtras have been like a Bible to me. They have helped me in many situations on my own path of Yoga and have given me invaluable guidance at many points. I appreciate the clarity, simplicity and thoroughness with which Patañjali Maharishi has presented the entire Yoga. He has beautifully presented it as a rigorous and complete science with all its ramifications, from the most elementary to the most highly advanced points. I feel it is a living scripture to illumine our spiritual path. The Yoga Sūtras are very concentrated and terse. Study them slowly and carefully and meditate on them. You can even learn some of the most important and useful ones by heart. This is not just a book to be quickly read and then tossed away like a popular novel. Nor is it a scholarly work to fill your mind with a lot of philosophy and theories. It is a practical handbook. Every time you pick it up you can absorb more for your growth. Let us slowly try to understand more and what little we understand, let us try to practice. Practice is the most important factor in Yoga. Let us know that all these ideas and practices are there to help us forget our personal selfishness and broaden our minds more and more. As my Master Swami Sivanandaji used to say, “Just be good and do good.” It’s very simple. Be good and do good and the entire wisdom will be yours. Every day let us check our progress and see that we grow a little better. Every day should elevate us a little, broaden our attitudes, reduce our selfishness and make us better masters over our own body, senses and mind. This is the kind of Yoga that will really help us. And let that highest goal toward which Patañjali’s Sūtras point be our goal: that one day we should all attain the highest samādhi, the totally liberated state. This liberation is not for the remote future or for when we die; it is to be lived in the very midst of the world. May all the holy sages and the founder of Yoga, Patañjali Maharishi, and all the saints bless us to achieve this goal with pure minds and deep meditation. May the sacred science of Yoga inspire us to become such masters, to find peace and joy within ourselves and to share the same with all humanity. OM Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. May God bless you. Ever yours in Yoga, Swami Satchidananda Yogaville March 1978 Acknowledgments I gratefully acknowledge the following generous souls for their assistance in the various aspects of this book: T. M. P. Mahadevan, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy, University of Madras, for his scholarly assistance in checking over the translations from Sanskrit to English; Paul jj Alix for his painstaking efforts in updating and retyping the Devanagari script and the Roman transliterations of the Sanskrit in the manuscript, for checking and expanding the definitions of the Sanskrit words used in the sūtras so they are consistent throughout the text and for making the Roman spellings of the Sanskrit consistent throughout the text; Vidya Vonne, Sita Bordow, Sudharshan Anderson, Anagan Stearns, Prahaladan Mandelkorn, Rev. Paraman Barsel and Rev. Prakash Shakti for help in editing the manuscript; Swami Sharadananda for indexing and helping with many other aspects of this volume; Prema Conan for the original book design and layout; Peter Petronio for redesigning the cover; Anand Shiva Hervé for the new book layout and for implementing the eletronic version of the Devanāgarī and the Indic Roman fonts. Abhaya Thiele, Leela Heard, Rev. Lakshmi Barsel, Ph.D., Kristofer Marsh and Hanuman for proofreading; Rev. Prem Anjali, Ph.D. for her timeless dedication in editing the text, upgrading the fonts, layout, and Devanagari, proofreading the corrections, and overseeing the entire production of the latest edition of this manuscript. To the generous “Wisdom Offering” donors who provided financial assistance in printing this book, and to all others who directly or indirectly aided in this work, I offer my sincere thanks. May they all enjoy the peace and joy of Yoga. Introduction When the word Yoga is mentioned, most people immediately think of some physical practices for stretching and stress reduction. This is one aspect of the Yogic science, but actually only a very small part and relatively recent in development. The physical Yoga, or Haṭha Yoga, was primarily designed to facilitate the real practice of Yoga—namely, the understanding and complete mastery over the mind. So the actual meaning of Yoga is the science of the mind. We all want to know more about our minds: how they work and how we can work with them. This field is closer to us than anything else in life. It may be interesting and useful to know how to fix a car or cook a meal or how atoms are split. But something that holds a more immediate and vital interest for thoughtful people is their own mind. What is the mind? Does it determine our behavior and experience or do we create and sustain its activity? What is consciousness? Can we turn within ourselves to study and understand, perhaps even control the mind? This is the subject matter of the ancient science of Rāja Yoga. Traditionally, the word Yoga by itself refers to Rāja Yoga, the mental science. With the current burgeoning of interest in expanding consciousness and in mental science in general, it is natural that we turn to Rāja Yoga. There are of course many Western approaches to the study and control of mind, each advancing various different concepts and techniques. But compared to these, the ancient Yogic science is a great grandsire. For thousands of years the Yogis have probed the mysteries of the mind and consciousness, and we may well discover that some of their findings are applicable to our own search as well. The primary text of Rāja Yoga is called the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (sometimes also called Patañjala Yoga Sūtras or Yoga Darśana) . Sūtra literally means “thread,” each sūtra being the barest thread of meaning upon which a teacher might expand by adding his or her own “beads” of experience for the sake of the students. There are almost 200 sūtras, traditionally divided into four sections. The first is the Portion on Contemplation (Samādhi Pāda) which gives the theory of Yoga and a description of the most advanced stages of the practice of samādhi, or contemplation. This probably was given first as an inspiration to the student to begin the practices. The second is the Portion on Practice (Sādhana Pāda). There is philosophy in this section also, but of a more practical nature. And the first five basic steps out of the traditional eight limbs of Rāja Yoga are expounded, along with their benefits, obstacles to their accomplishment and ways to overcome the obstacles.
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