The Yoga-sūtras of Patañjali E-Book

Gaura Kṛṣṇa Dāsa (László Tóth-Soma)

• Herausgeber: The Bhaktivedanta College Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 421

Beschreibung

Vedic literature, the ancient spiritual treasure of India, is an invaluable gift to us today. The most important questions of human existence and the final answers are discussed and revealed on its pages.
Those who are seeking perfection often wonder what right way to choose in order to achieve the state of perfect bliss and freedom. They are yearning for the freedom that is not restrained by time or space, or in other words, by the limits of the material world.
Freedom and happiness are the two genuine qualities of the original state of the soul, and by achieving liberation, it is possible to experience this original state once more. Liberation, the first stage of our spiritual existence, can be attained by the process of self-realization, and this is called yoga.
The author of this volume, Gaura Kṛṣṇa Dāsa (László Tóth-Soma), who is a professor at the Bhaktivedanta College of Budapest, translated Patañjali’s Yoga-sūtras from the original Sanskrit text in a very authentic way. His commentaries contain theoretical and philosophical teachings on yoga, as well as various instructions for those practicing yogis who have already stepped on the path of self-realization. His in-depth knowledge and an over two-decade-long practice make his work a reliable help for those who would like to know their real self and their relation to the final source of all.
The present volume elaborates on the first part of Patañjali’s Yoga-sūtras,
the so-called Samādhi-pāda. The following three parts will soon be available.

Leseprobe

Budapest

Budapest, 2017

The Yoga-sūtras

of Patañjali

p:at:Wj:l:y::ðg:s:Ü*:aeNa

Part One

SAMĀDHI-PĀDA

Including the translation of the original Sanskrit text and

the Śrī Gopāla Sad-gati Bhāṣya commentary

Gaura Kṛṣṇa Dāsa

Bhaktivedanta College Press

Patañjali – Yoga-sūtra, Első rész

The book was originally written in Hungarian by

Gaura Kṛṣṇa Dāsa (László Tóth-Soma)

English Translation

Revatī Devī Dāsī (Rita Renner)

Publishing Manager

Mahārāṇī Devī Dāsī (Magdolna Banyár)

Editors

English: Alexandra M. Szabó

Philosophy: Śyāmasundara Dāsa (Zoltán Bakaja)

Sanskrit: Tibor Körtvélyesi

Cover

Gaurasundara Kṛpāmoya Dāsa (Gergő Rátkai)

Layout

Sundara-rūpa Dāsa (Sándor Jakab)

Gaurasundara Kṛpāmoya Dāsa (Gergő Rátkai) [epub]

Readers interested in the subject matter

of this book are invited

to contact the following address:

Bhaktivedanta College, Budapest

Bhaktivedanta Hittudományi Főiskola

8 Attila Street

1039 Budapest, Hungary

[email protected]

www.bhf.hu

Copyright © 2017 Bhaktivedanta College Press, Budapest

ISBN 978-963-12-9667-9

ISBN 978-963-12-9668-6 [epub]

Printed in Hungary

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

Table of Contents

Auspicious Invocation7

Preface9

The Idea of Liberation12

The Fate of the Soul after Liberation16

The Teachings of the Vedānta and the Upaniṣads16

The Sāṅkhya Philosophy 18

Aṣṭāṅga-yoga20

The Philosophy of Nyāya-vaiśeṣika21

Karma-mīmāṁsā, the Ritualistic Tradition of the Vedas22

Yoga as the Way of Self-realization23

A Few Words about the Present Translation and Commentary for the Yoga-sūtras24

Introduction27

Patañjali, the Author of the Yoga-sūtras27

The Subject and the Structure of the Yoga-sūtras31

Teachings on Samādhi35

I.1–4 The Definition and the Result of Yoga36

I.5–11 The Different Activities of the Material Consciousness69

I.12–16 Methods for Controlling Citta-vṛttis95

I.17–20 The Controlled States of the Material Consciousness123

I.21–23 Different Types of Yogis and the Direct Process of Self-realization149

I.24–29 The Characteristics of God158

I.30–32 Obstacles in Spiritual Advancement and in Uninterrupted Practice, and the Attached Factors185

I.33–40 Secondary Methods for Pacifying the Material Consciousness200

I.41–45 The Steady States of Clearing Consciousness223

I.46–51 The Two Types of Samādhi241

Bibliography257

Abbreviations 263

The English Aphorisms in Sequence265

Teachings on Samādhi265

The Sanskrit Aphorisms in Alphabetical Order270

Glossary272

Auspicious Invocation

nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale

śrīmate śivarāma-svāmin iti nāmine

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Śrīla Śivarāma Swami, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.”

I offer this book with love and eternal gratitude to my spiritual master, who leads me on the path of self-realization life after life, and who is working on the spiritual advancement of humankind with infinite patience and devotion.

I bow down to the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and I beg for the blessings of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, who are the sources of both the love for the Supreme Lord and the spiritual strength that is needed for attaining such love. They are the crown jewels of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava disciplic succession.

Desiring for the taste of unlimited devotion, I am offering my life to the eternally young divine couple, Śrī Śrī Rādhā–Kuñjabihāri-Gopāla,1 everyone’s well-wishers. They are standing at the very end of the path leading to liberation as the source of all existence and as the supreme attainable goal.

I am not worthy of appearing in the role of a guru. By the blessings of my spiritual master, may I stand in the service of those, who are seeking the truth and the spiritual values, while wandering in the dense forest of the material world, life after life.

Hoping for their benefit, I begin to translate the Yoga-sūtras and to compile its Śrī Gopāla Sad-gati Bhāṣya2 commentary. I wish that they can find valuable thoughts in it, worth for considering.

I need to say thanks to my students who have been inspiring me for years to systemize this knowledge and publish it in the form of a book. What is found in this book is not my work. Each and every word are based on the ancient teachings of Vedic scriptures that were transmitted to posterity by great saints such as Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, and commentators of the Yoga-sūtras such as Vyāsa, Vācaspati Miśra, Vijñābhikṣu, Bhojarāja, and in the present age, Hariharānanda Āraṇya, Hṛdayānanda Dāsa Gosvāmī, Balarāma Ācārya (the saint of Gaṅgotrī), and others, whose teachings affected me directly or indirectly.

I place this book into their hands as an offering.

Badarikāśrama in the Himālaya, India

June 23, 2006

1 They are the author’s iṣṭa-devatās (beloved Deities). The name Śrī Śrī Rādhā–Kuñjabihāri-Gopāla refers to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, the supreme, transcendental divine couple, who are wandering in the groves of Vṛndāvana.

2 The name of the commentary points out that it focuses on the transcendental goal (sad-gati) of spiritual life and self-realization designated by the Vedas, and that it was inspired by the teachings of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Preface

Vedic literature,3 the ancient spiritual treasure of India, is an invaluable gift to us today. The most important questions of human existence and the final answers are discussed and revealed on its pages. Nevertheless, over the thousands of years of history, there had been many different ways attempting to understand the truth of the transcendence on the basis of Vedic wisdom. These different paths sometimes led and sometimes misled those who merged themselves into “transcendental adventures,” while searching for the truth. Amongst the many approaches, six traditional schools appeared from the mist of ancient times presenting the same knowledge from different viewpoints (darśana). These schools are known as āstikas — wherein asti means ‘existent, present’ — because all of them accept that the Vedas are eternal, that they originate from God, and that they are the infallible source of instructions, even though not each of these schools reach the final essence of the Vedas in their consequences.

The first amongst them, (1) the system of Vedic logic (nyāya), lays down the rules of philosophical argument aiming liberation and specifies the definitions of the basic concepts to be discussed such as the material world, the soul, God, and liberation as the final goal. (2) The so-called atom theory (vaiśeṣika) deals with the structure and the ontology of the material world. The teachings of vaiśeṣika connects the method of logic to the analysis of material existence, demonstrating that living beings in physical bodies in the material world— as the prisoners of material nature— insist on a way of existence to which originally they do not have much to do with, and which eventually falls apart into invisible atoms. (3) The school that studies and analyzes the world in detail (sāṅkhya) develops this method further in order to help those who have already been inquiring about transcendental subjects of distinguishing between matter and spirit. (4) Through the system of aṣṭāṅga-yoga, the original spiritual vision of the soul is being awakened and so the yogi can see himself separate from his own body (and from the material world), and by becoming devoted to God (īśvara), he can step on the path of liberation. (5) The path of sacrifices carried out for material benefits (karma-mīmāṁsā) directs the living being towards religion and morals if the sacrifices are performed in accordance with the prescription of the Vedic literature. (6) The school summing up the final, God related teachings of the Vedas (vedānta), diverts one’s attention to the supreme attainable goal — namely God, His transcendental nature, and the devotional service rendered to Him — by emphasizing the final conclusions of the Vedas, as they are explained in the Upaniṣads, the Purāṇas, and the Bhagavad-gītā.

Most of the Indologists argue that the basic principles of Nyāya were compiled and systemized by Gautama Ṛṣi in the 6–5th centuries BC, while his contemporary, Kaṇāda collected the teachings of Vaiśeṣika and Kapila Muni organized Sāṅkhya philosophy (that was reorganized by Īśvarakṛṣṇa in about the 4–6th centuries AD). Patañjali built up a system to show the full path of yoga in eight limbs (aṣṭāṅga), based on the wisdom of Vedic literature in the 4–3rd centuries BC, and it was Jaimini who summarized theKarma-mīmāṁsā instructions. According to the tradition, the original organizer of the Vedānta doctrines was Vyāsa himself, the compiler of the Vedas, but later, in the 8th century AD, Śaṅkara used Vyāsa’s Vedānta-sūtras for constructing his own impersonal, Advaita-vedānta philosophy that considered the personal qualities of God and the soul to be an illusion.4

These six orthodox philosophical approaches — similarly to the faculties of modern universities, which represent different disciplines — used to be stages of a process that offered an integrated understanding of the Vedas. However, in the course of time, they had parted from each other and from their Vedic roots, so they became individual schools. During this process, they preserved or lost, in different grades, the idea of the most important purpose regarding human existence, namely the realization of God, the service rendered for Him, and the liberation that leads out of the material world.

The Karma-mīmāṁsā school is a good example for the above. By the 5th century BC, Karma-mīmāṁsā became the primary philosophy of the Indian priest community, but at the same time, it was used for sanctifying mass animal slaughter in the disguise of animal sacrifice. Due to the importance of the universal principle of ahiṁsā (nonviolence), this would have been impossible in an ontological school that is strongly connected to its roots.

In spite of their different viewpoints, there are a number of basic theses that these schools agree on:

1. They all accept that the final spiritual substance, the soul of the human being is eternal and indestructible, and so it stays alive after the death of the physical body. The so-called self is not influenced by the death of the physical body, however, as long as it is attached to mundane existence, it gains birth in the created material world again and again (reincarnation).

2. In this material world that is created according to the desires of the living beings, suffering is inevitable in all forms of life.

3. The cause of the misery experienced in the material world is not God, but the living being itself, since its circumstances are arranged (by the Supreme) according to its own desires and previous activities. This chain of cause and effect is expressed in the law of karma (wherein karma means ‘act, action, performance’).

4. The final cause of the suffering of the conditioned souls in the mundane world is that they are unaware of their transcendental nature. This ignorance can be dissolved by transcendental knowledge.

5. They also accept that the real goal of life for all human beings is liberation (mokṣa or mukti) from material existence.

The six schools trace out six different routes for gaining higher spiritual knowledge, which they represent from different viewpoints and distances. According to the original concept, they were steps gradually leading to the supreme goal, designated by Vedic wisdom, but in due course of time, they became individual philosophical paths, which further developed and changed throughout history. To demonstrate their original function, one can apply the “wheel analogy” well-known from references. If one is sitting on the flange of a huge cart wheel, they constantly rotate while riding up and down. After realizing that sitting in the axle would prevent many inconveniences, one finds themselves in a calm, balanced, and harmonious situation. The center of the wheel, the “hub” is the Vedānta viewpoint, from where Absolute Reality becomes visible to the greatest possible extent.5

The Idea of Liberation

The central teaching of each school of philosophy in Hinduism is based on the idea of the soul (ātman or jīva). They all claim that the living entities who gain birth in this world are different from their physical bodies. While the body is subject to birth, growth, disease, aging, and death; the soul is eternal, ever-existing. The soul is also different from the biological system consisting of various life phenomena working within the body. In time, through the process of aging, this biological system is gradually losing its organized and coordinated structure, as well as its viability. The living being is not identical with its material consciousness either. The material consciousness can be detected through the living being’s personality, it is constantly changing, therefore it can experience happiness and distress even in unchanged circumstances, and it is dependent on various desires, emotions, imaginations, dreams, or hallucinations. The self also differs from the intelligence, in which doubts, faults, and defects are usually inherent. Moreover, the organized union of those listed elements cannot be considered the eternal and unchanging self either. The substantial nature of the living being is beyond all of them. It is due to the strong and constant relation the living entity maintains with its physical body, with the synchronized activities of the mind, and the intelligence (the manifestations of the psyche), that it identifies itself with those elements, as well as with the struggles, sufferings, and enjoyments they detect. This is called false self-identification (ahaṅkāra). The substantial nature of the soul is beyond all of these, and cannot be influenced by the limited material body and the psyche, or by their alterations, advancement, degradation, happiness or distress.

The so-called Vedic literature, which deals with the fundamental ontological questions of Hindu culture, emphatically declares that the real self (ātman or jīva) of the living entity is void of any defects and limits, unborn as it is eternal, and cannot be touched by growth, disease, aging, and death, “For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.”6

We falsely think that the physical body, the senses, the different organs, the mind, the intelligence, the defects related to all of these, as well as the happiness and the distress experienced by them, belong to our real self. The living being (the soul) has nothing to do with the matter, the reason why one considers it material, despite its transcendental nature, is ignorance (avidyā). Finding the way out of this deeply rooted ignorance, one must acquire spiritual knowledge and become completely free of all sufferings. But this spiritual knowledge cannot be gained by common mind and intelligence. To be able to comprehend it, the yogi must purify or refine his contaminated consciousness (citta). Having purified the mind and the intelligence, the living being — absorbed in meditation on God — becomes capable of perceiving the dimensions beyond matter, to experience eternity and realize its relation with God. This way one can get rid of all influential contamination, weakness, imperfection, sadness, biased conception, and can achieve the state of perfect inner peace and freedom that is called jīvan-mukti, the state of liberation or self-realization.

One must, of course, be mentally and physically active and play a useful role in society, as long as they live in this world as “embodied psycho-physical” beings. This is one’s duty towards the world. But this duty can be fulfilled with an enlightened mind that helps one remain free from the flood of desires, which would pull them down and divert their attention from the spiritual essence. The self-realized, liberated yogi apparently lives, moves, and acts in this world just as anyone else, but internally he is free, not obstructed by any bondage or any limits. His deeds are inspired by love and sympathy, and having transcendental consciousness, he does not know material desires or sadness and is always able to behold the essence.

When, as a result of the practices of self-realization, after giving up false self-identification, one becomes fully aware of being a soul, and sees all others as eternal living entities in spite of their visible bodies, one has acquired perfect spiritual knowledge. The most famous scripture of Hindu yoga literature, the Bhagavad-gītā, states that these perceptive “…humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṇa, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and a dog-eater [outcaste7],”8 because they know and experience that eternal souls live in those different bodies.

One could raise the question what happens to the living entity, the soul (ātman), after leaving its body at the moment of death. At the time of death, it is solely the physical body (sthūla-deha) that perishes, the soul remains in the company of the subtle body (sūkṣma-deha). The subtle body — consisting of the mind (manas), the intelligence (buddhi), and the false self-identification (ahaṅkāra) — animates and carries the material consciousness (citta), and it does not perish with the visible body. In other words, one’s material self-concept, subtle desires, past experiences along with their different types of imprints (vāsanā and saṁskāra) in the deeper part of the material consciousness, and the result of the merits and faults of one’s previous activities (karma), all remain connected to the soul. These factors force the soul to accept a new body. In its new body, the soul returns and performs new activities, faces new challenges, and experiences misery and sometimes happiness in the physical world.

However, if one leaves his physical body after self-realization, death means a final departure from the manifested world. The aspiring yogi, who achieves spiritual perfection and liberation, becomes fully aware of his real self, and after his death, he regains his original spiritual form (sva-rūpa) and identity, his transcendental qualities, and his relation with God (īśvara). He does not have to take birth anymore, neither in this world nor in another one since those “options” which can be experienced in the temporary physical creation have no significance for him any longer.

As the different schools of Hinduism in the field of religious philosophy approach the Absolute Truth from different perspectives, they reach different phases of the long way leading to the perfection of self-realization, and so they give insight into the details of their philosophy accordingly. We saw that the six main schools — including Patañjali’s yoga philosophy — represent such viewpoints (darśana) which differ from each other to a certain extent, but all of them are standing on the foundation of Vedic wisdom, and they all intend to attain perfection and the final goal described by the Vedas.

The Fate of the Soul after Liberation

The Teachings of the Vedānta and the Upaniṣads

It is certainly the Upaniṣads and the Vedānta-darśana which paint the most inspiring and complete picture about the condition, or the fate, of the soul after its liberation. According to their teachings, the qualitative features of the soul, after its complete release from the “imprisonment” of the material body, are perfectly identical with the features of the supreme Brahman, the Absolute Truth (God) — the final cause of the complete material creation.

As for the revelations of the mentioned scriptures, the Brahman — i.e. the Absolute — is the source of all, unlimited, eternal and perfect sac-cid-ānanda, and supreme to material qualities, to the chain of cause and effect, as well as to the concept of relativity. He is the self-manifested Reality, He is one without a second.

They teach about the endless variety of the physical world, the manifestation of the Brahman that takes shape in time and space without causing any change in the transcendental, non­material nature of the Brahman. The individual souls are identical with Him substantially. There are two basic theories about this identity.

1. According to the first theory, which is the best reflection of the original Vedic teachings, the soul simply regains its originally eternal, fully cognizant, forever blissful (sac-cid-ānanda) nature or form, which in a qualitative manner, is completely identical with the nature of the Absolute, the Supreme Godhead. Although the soul is identical with God regarding its nature and qualities, it never becomes God. The soul in its original and perfect state, having personality and qualities, serves the Supreme, its own source, as an individual entity. Later we are going to see that, for example, in the terminology of the Sāṅkhya school — whose philosophical viewpoint agrees with this theory —, the totality of the individual souls (puruṣa) is called Brahman.9

2. Another theory is represented by Śrī Śaṅkara (AD 788–820), one of the commentators of the Vedānta philosophy. According to his viewpoint, the identical nature of the Brahman and the jīva (soul) is complete oneness (advaita). In his opinion, self-realization means that the living being realizes that he is not different from God. According to Śaṅkara, the individual nature of the soul, its birth, death, joy, and misery in this world; as well as the endless variety of the material manifestation are all just illusions.

Contrary to Śaṅkara’s philosophy about extreme identity, many Indian schools of religious philosophy are of the opinion that the living entities are identical with God solely in their nature (as both of them are transcendental), but they are eternally different in the quantitative parameters of their qualities.10 It is in the light of the teachings of the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad-gītā, and the Vedānta-sūtra that these schools do not accept the complete oneness of the soul and God. Śaṅkara’s teaching on the extreme oneness of the soul and God is only an insignificant opinion in the great ocean of Vedic wisdom.

For instance, the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta schools especially emphasize that God and the soul are not material, their existence is eternal, and both of them have personal qualities. In the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta view, the most fundamental and natural element of the relation between the soul and God is the soul’s devotion (bhakti) to God. On the basis of the scriptures, they consider God to be the Supreme Person, who is beyond the limits of time and space, who eternally possesses infinite knowledge, wisdom, wealth, power, fame, beauty, sweetness, and transcendental form. Besides all these, He is boundlessly loving, merciful, and is not attached to anything.

His devotees, the transcendentalists, whose goal is to reach God, call Him in different names listed in the Vedic scriptures. They are aspiring to develop a confidential relation with Him by means of meditation and activities. They fully merge themselves into thoughts about Him, because this remembrance leads to the perfect state of samādhi, which opens the gate to liberation and, beyond that, to the perfect transcendental future.

According to the enlightened followers of these schools, the souls, after their liberation, leaving their perishable material bodies and the constantly changing physical world behind, enter into a transcendental realm of spiritual bliss, where they eventually regain and enjoy their original, individual, and personal relationship with God in eternity. This is the perfect liberation.

The theistic Vedānta schools emphasize that one can achieve different types of liberations (mukti) according to their desires, to the spiritual practice (sādhana) they perform during their lifetime, as well as to the goal they intend to attain with their spiritual practices.11

The Sāṅkhya Philosophy

Regarding the nature of the soul, Kapila, the systematic organizer of the Sāṅkhya philosophy, puts emphasis on the soul’s absolute qualitative difference from the material world. He does that to such an extent that in his teachings he denies any spiritual qualities that would be even slightly similar to material qualities. He says that the soul (puruṣa), after its complete liberation from the bondage of its physical and subtle bodies, inflicted on it by the material nature (prakṛti), regains its original, transcendental nature as pure, unchanging, infinite, and self-effulgent consciousness. According to his teachings, the number of souls is infinite and they are eternally different from each other, however, he considers that they have no individual qualities, or personalities. They represent the consciousness that, by its “proximity,” induces the process of “cosmic evolution” by causing a disturbance in the yet passive and steady state of the material energy.12

Considering that the teachings of the Sāṅkhya philosophy are rooted in the soil of Vedic literature, one can understand that denying the mentioned characteristics simply means the denial of the soul’s material parameters, but does not exclude the existence of the spiritual, transcendental qualities. Kapila simply does not get into such depths in his discourse on the subject matter. The existence of the spiritual features can be undoubtedly accepted because the Vedic literature (the Upaniṣads, the Purāṇas, etc.) provides unambiguous statements about the transcendental personality and qualities of the soul. Similarly, the concept of the supreme living being, God (paramapuruṣa) is not mentioned in Kapila’s system either, however, it can be found in the Vedic scriptures. Nevertheless, this supreme living being is introduced as īśvara (God) by Patañjali, the representative of the next school. He considered God to be an unquestionable part of his teachings besides applying the philosophical system of Sāṅkhya.13

It is probably worth mentioning that the Sāṅkhya philosophy has a more ancient system within the Purāṇas, which is undoubtedly built on theistic foundations, and which is related to another sage also called Kapila.14

Aṣṭāṅga-yoga

Patañjali basically accepts Kapila’s doctrines about the material world and the transcendental soul in his scientific summary called the Yoga-sūtras. However, he emphasizes that the soul does have an original, transcendental consciousness, which is covered by the contaminated, material consciousness (citta) when the soul is in the prison of the physical body. In its liberated state, the soul is conscious, it is able to experience, and has its own original, spiritual form (sva-rūpa) and qualities. At the moment of liberation, the material world becomes nonexistent for the soul, while other living beings remain captured by its illusion.

Patañjali suggests that the most important means for liberation, or the key for the perfect form of spiritual absorption (samādhi), is the devotion to the supreme soul, God (īśvara) that should be developed and practiced.15 The yogi should worship the īśvara and should consider Him to be the subject of his meditation, as He is the most perfect amongst all living beings (the puruṣas, or the souls who are sentient, immortal, and have personality). He is eternally independent and not influenced by the energies of the material world. He is not affected by time or by the reactions of any activities (karma). In the perfected state of liberation, the living beings’ qualities are identical with His nature, but they never become one with Him.

The Philosophy of Nyāya-vaiśeṣika

The teachings of Gautama Ṛṣi’s Nyāya philosophy and Kaṇāda’s Vaiśeṣika system present another approach. They believe that the physical world originates from those uncountable atoms (paramāṇu) that are eternal, are of four types (earth, water, fire, air), and have no expansion. Ether, space, time, the countless souls and minds are considered to be all-pervading and unchanging nonmaterial substances. Above all of these, stands the Supreme Soul, God (paramātman or īśvara), who rules and controls the listed elements.

The īśvara created the whole cosmic manifestation by His own intelligence and His own will. In the universes, in time and space, He produced manifold bodies from the elemental units of atoms, coupling them with the souls and with the fitting minds (material consciousness). According to the Nyāya-vaiśeṣika approach, the soul is the residence of consciousness, and its characteristics (guṇa) are knowledge, will, and, for example, effort. However, the soul cannot bear a consciousness for experiencing the material world and for gaining empiric knowledge without getting into contact with a mind and the different senses, which are the consequences of the material body prescribed by the law of karma.

According to their teachings, the contaminated material consciousness of the living being can be purified by the devotion to God, the process of contemplation and meditation, and the spiritual enlightenment attained by divine favor. In this way, the soul can get out of the “psychophysical” prison of the body and mind, thus regaining its eternal existence in its original and transcendental state, without (material) knowledge, desires, and consciousness. The liberated souls always remain separated.

In the light of the Vedic literature, one can easily understand that the teachings of theNyāya-vaiśeṣika system put an emphasis on one part of the whole picture, namely on the ontogenesis of the material world, its construction of atoms and subtle elements. Therefore these schools describe the souls to be eternal beings without consciousness (or rather material consciousness) and do not even mention their transcendental characteristics, which are discussed by the Vedānta and the different yoga schools in detail.

Karma-mīmāṁsā, the Ritualistic Tradition of the Vedas

The word mīmāṁsā refers to the in-depth study that is in the search of the essence of Vedic teachings. Such a deep study must lead each sincere seeker to the realization that the cause of matter and soul is the same and only Absolute Truth. The Absolute is the source and the final resting place of all existence. The process of Mīmāṁsā has two sections. The first is called Karma-mīmāṁsā because it presents the knowledge about the Absolute in relation to the Vedic rituals, which are performed in order to gain material results and to satisfy the senses. The teachings ofKarma-mīmāṁsā suggest the impersonal feature of the Absolute and the existence of an all-pervading “cosmic spirit”. This philosophy was usually studied to acquire some basic knowledge, therefore it is also called Pūrva-mīmāṁsā, the ‘preliminary study’ of the Vedas.

The second section of theMīmāṁsā process aims to learn the final, transcendental essence of the Vedas by studying the Āraṇyakas,16 and mainly the Upaniṣads. This second section is calledUttara-mīmāṁsā, the ‘advanced study’ of the Vedas or — as it was previously discussed under its generally known name — the Vedānta.

An interesting feature of Jaiminī’sKarma-mīmāṁsā philosophy is that it places the rituals — described and prescribed by the Vedas — and the performer of the rituals into the focus instead of the Absolute Truth (God) or the soul.

According to his teachings, religious and virtuous deeds are sacrifices whose benefits can already be enjoyed on earth — without elevating to higher material regions of the universe — as balance, harmony, or inner peace. In the opinion of Jaimini, one can achieve liberation even in their present life by the Vedic science, in a sense that one can freely decide on their fate upon that knowledge. Those who accept knowledge can gradually experience higher grades of material happiness. The liberation of the soul is also mentioned in his philosophy, however, it is not in the focus, as he considers even material life to be livable and, moreover, enjoyable.

Yoga as the Way of Self-realization

As it is seen from the above, the guardians of the traditional philosophy and practice of yoga are those ancient Indian ontological schools which have been looking for the answers to the most important questions about the world and human existence for thousands of years. The word yoga is translated and explained in different ways, therefore the complete picture unfolds by examining each meaning. Its first and most used meaning is ‘connection’, or ‘interconnection’ with the source of all existence (God), who is considered to be either a kind of impersonal energy (Brahman), or the Supersoul (Paramātman, the witness of the living beings’ activities) being present in the hearts, or the Supreme Person (īśvara, Bhagavān). Another well-known meaning of the word yoga is ‘attaching’ or ‘yoking’ that refers to disciplining, controlling, or concentrating the mind, or the material consciousness. This process makes it able to distinguish between real and unreal, essential and inessential, the eternally existing soul and the temporarily manifesting matter. Over time, there had been masters who emphasized one certain meaning, while others emphasized another, depending on what was considered more important in their teachings: the technical aspect of yoga that can be practiced with self-effort; or the theistic teachings of the tradition claiming that the goal of life is God (parama-gati),17 who can be achieved by following the instructions of the sacred yoga literature.

In summary, the word yoga refers to a process of controlling the body and mind, through which one tries to realize themselves (their original transcendental self) and the Supreme Person (God), as well as the original relation between them. Through the bodily, mental, and transcendental practices of this process, one learns to distinguish between the transient material world and the eternal soul or, more generally, the transcendental dimension. The Vedic literature and other scriptures of yoga traditions suggest different methods in order to achieve this goal. These different methods are usually considered to be equally appropriate by the man of today, but in reality, they are different aspects of one process, or different steps on the way leading to the same goal. Applying them on their own is usually enough for approaching but not for achieving the goal. These methods are steps to higher levels of consciousness through gradual elevation, leading the aspiring and sincere seekers to their most valuable and most exciting discoveries. These discoveries reveal miracles invisible to mundane eyes. Experiencing them is a special gift. As the Bhagavad-gītā states, “What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.”18

A Few Words about the Present Translation and Commentary for the Yoga-sūtras

In this publication the English equivalents of the Sanskrit words are defined according to the yoga traditions; the English translations of the verses are interpretive but faithfully follow the original text. The words wedged in the text in parentheses are such parts of the sūtra which help the understanding, while the words in square brackets give information that is not expressed in the sūtra directly but it is a consequence of either (1) the previous sūtras, or (2) the context, or (3) the requirements of the translation and practical expectations. The word-for-word translation shows different meanings of the Sanskrit words, while the text contains the English equivalent which is most frequently used in yoga traditions or the most appropriate in the context.19 In the commentaries, the Sanskrit words are used in their “lexical form,” except for a few terms which have been incorporated in the general yoga terminology as nominative nouns (such as yogī or Brahmā). Those Sanskrit words which have become part of the English language are written as English words in the commentaries (yoga, yogi, guru, etc.), however, we did not change the style of the quoted verses. We also would like to note that the gender of the often used Sanskrit word yogī or yogi (the nominative case of yogin) is male. Thus, we use it as a masculine word in the English text, however, we refer to both male and female yoga students with the word. The abbreviations used in the word-for-word translation and in the references are defined in the appendix entitled Abbreviations.

As a consequence of the previous explanations, it becomes obvious that the philosophical approach represented by Patañjali is clearly Vedic. Therefore any interpretation or commentary for the Yoga-sūtras should be based on Vedic literature and the teachings of its saintly representatives. As a result of my humble attempt to comply with these requirements, I am publishing this Śrī Gopāla Sad-gati Bhāṣya commentary.20 Regarding the fact that Patañjali was not the writer but the compiler of this wisdom, there is no reason to wonder why everything he wrote is found in the most important volumes of Vedic literature, wherein the context and the embedded teachings reflect the original spirit of the tradition. The Upaniṣads, the Purāṇas, andthe Bhagavad-gītā — along with the words of those sages who had authentically interpreted this important work of Patañjali in the past — form the solid foundation of the commentaries following each sūtra.

The translation of the verses and the related commentaries published in this book had been written with scientific accuracy, nevertheless, this work was not compiled especially for those whose primary intention is to study the Sanskrit language or certain aspects of the Hindu culture. This translation and commentary for the Yoga-sūtras were meant for those aspiring and advanced yogis who had already developed firm intention to search for the truth beyond the physical phenomena, hidden from mundane eyes. Many parts of this book will be comprehensible exclusively for them. The spiritual dimensions and their transcendental phenomena beyond the material spheres can neither be interpreted and characterized by physical parameters nor conceived by the material consciousness in its completeness. In spite of all these, I hope that this volume will please all the readers and give them an insight into the mysterious world of those who seek for the soul and the Supreme Absolute Truth.

3 The term ‘Vedic literature’ refers to the scriptures of Hinduism, the Vedas (Ṛg, Yajur, Sāma, Atharva) as well as the Purāṇas and the Itihāsas, as means for practical application. It also includes those transcendental writings which faithfully follow the teachings of the Vedas, or had been compiled as commentaries on the Vedas.

4 In contrary to the chronology described above, Vedic tradition considers that these sages lived and taught much earlier.

5 Héjjas, 19–20.

6Bhg 2.20.

7 The term ‘outcaste’ refers to those people who live on the periphery or outside the society. They do not accept or partly consider the laws of the society.

8Bhg 5.18.

9 The term brahman firstly means growth, expansion, development, and transcendental nature beyond material qualities. Therefore, in this sense, it is understandable that the Vedic scriptures refer to both God and the soul with the word brahman.

10 This is also a reason why the Upaniṣads often use the term brahman (transcendental) referring to both God and the individual soul.

11 The result of the different spiritual practices can, for example, be: (1) merging into the existence of God (sāyujya-mukti), this is the goal of Śaṅkara’s followers, (2) achieving the eternal abode of God (sālokya-mukti), (3) attaining a form similar to the worshipped Deity (sārūpya-mukti), (4) obtaining power similar to that of God (sārṣṭi-mukti), and the most perfect liberation that is (5) attaining the company, or association, of God (sāmīpya-mukti).

12 The term ‘cosmic evolution’ refers to the process that is called creation in the theistic schools of Hinduism. The Sāṅkhya system completely avoids the description of any relation the soul and the material energy (or God and matter) could have (in order to emphasize their qualitative difference) and so it does not even accept that a Supreme Soul (God) would have any direct influence on the formation of the material world. This philosophy does not make a distinction amongst the souls at all, and does not even mention that there would be one amongst them who were supreme to all (that is a fact proved by many references of the Vedic scriptures). The unconscious, inactive, material energy cannot, of course, be differentiated by itself, therefore Kapila admits that the “proximity” of the spiritual entities’ (puruṣas’) consciousness induces the process.

13 In the interpretation of Vijñānabhikṣu, Kapila’s Sāṅkhya philosophy took the form of a theistic school in the 16th century, in spite of the fact that the arguments of the previous commentaries found unnecessary to assume the existence of a personal God as a precondition. Kapila did not find necessary to discuss the “subject of God” while presenting the differences between matter and transcendence, and, as mentioned earlier, he simply named all sentient living beings, whose nature were eternity, puruṣa.

14 The compiler of the ancient Sāṅkhya philosophy is considered to be the incarnation of the Supreme Lord in the Vedic literature. Therefore, distinguishing him from the representative of the atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophy, he is called Īśvara-Kapila (īśvara means God). The teachings of this theistic Sāṅkhya can, for example, be found in the third canto of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam).

15samādhi-siddhir īśvara-praṇidhānāt, Yoga-sūtras 2.45.

16 Stories from the forest. Those brāhmaṇas who retired from the society — the so-called vānaprashas — used to live in the forest. The Āraṇyakas, those scriptures which highlight austerity and penance, are for them.

17 The Vedic literature (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.3.11) states that there is nothing superior to the abode of the Supreme Godhead, and that abode is the ultimate destination of yoga, puruṣān na paraṁ kiñcit sā kāṣṭhā sā parā gatiḥ.

18Bhg 2.69.

19 For the sake of those readers who seek a deeper meaning and for those who understand Sanskrit, the word-for-word translation shows the characteristics of the compound words, the number, the case, and the gender of the words, and other important information.

20 The name Śrī Gopāla Sad-gati Bhāṣya means that the commentary (bhāṣya) tries to focus on the real, original, and eternal goal (sad-gati) of yoga and self-realization, i.e. awakening devotion to the purely transcendental Supreme Lord that is automatically accompanied by liberation from the material world.

Introduction

Patañjali, the Author of the Yoga-sūtras

The circumstances of the birth and the life of Patañjali, the author of the Yoga-sūtras, are shrouded by the mists of antiquity. In fact, there is very little of what we know about this exalted sage who, in his work, summarized the yoga related teachings of the Vedic literature along with personal experiences of such saints who committed themselves to the search for the transcendence.

The descriptions of his life are usually of the opinion that he must have lived in this earthly world sometime between the fourth century BC and the sixth century AD. However, according to the estimation of the historians and the scholars of the Sanskrit language, it was in the fourth century BC that the so-called aphoristic sūtra literature, including the Yoga-sūtras, appeared.

In addition, there are many controversies about the identity and personality of Patañjali in academic circles, even though the different yoga traditions do not attach great importance to this question. Presumably, throughout the Indian history, there were more persons named Patañjali. Three of them are well-known. One is the famous linguist who had written a commentary entitled Mahābhāṣya (The Great Commentary)21 on Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī, the ancient text on Sanskrit grammar, and who compiled the classical literary work on yoga, the Yoga-sūtras. A number of commentators of the Yoga-sūtras considered the same Patañjali to be the author of the Yoga-sūtras and the Mahābhāṣya (for example Bhojarāja in the 11th century, as well as Caraka and Cakrapāṇidatta in the 18th century).22 It was another Patañjali who wrote the Nidāna-sūtra, the work indispensable to study the literature on Vedic rituals. The third person with the same name was one of the well-known teachers of Sāṅkhya philosophy. According to some historians, the above mentioned three scholars are different persons who lived in different eras.

The Indian tradition stands in stark contrast to this opinion by claiming that all of the previously listed writings are from the pen of the same author. Moreover, a few Āyurveda related treatises are also considered to be the works of the same Patañjali. According to the tradition, Patañjali was not an ordinary man, he was a partial expansion of Anantaśeṣa (one of the incarnations of Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa), who appeared in the physical world by his own will to assist those living beings on the path of liberations who are chained to the material world in their physical bodies.23

Anantaśeṣa is the thousand-headed snake incarnation, whose lap of coils is the resting place of Lord Viṣṇu, and who is the storehouse of all knowledge. He is the exalted Lord of all serpents, whose innumerable hoods represent infinity and omnipresence. Many yogis offer prayers and bow down to Anantaśeṣa before beginning their daily yoga practice.

Vyāsa’s prayer in the invocation of his commentary on the Yogas-sūtras (4–5th century AD) exemplifies the same:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

yas tyaktvā rūpam ādyaṁ prabhavati jagato ’nekadhānugrahāya

prakṣīṇa-kleśa-rāśir viṣama-viṣa-dharo ’neka-vaktraḥ subhogī

sarva-jñāna-prasūtir bhujaga-parikaraḥ prītaye yasya nityam

devo ’hīśaḥ sa vo ’vyāt sita-vimala-tanur yoga-do yoga-yuktaḥ

“I offer my obeisances to Vāsudeva, who, leaving His original form behind, appears in different ways to serve the benefit of the world and to annihilate the ocean of miseries. As the Lord of the snakes [Anantaśeṣa, the thousand-headed divine snake, the resting place of Viṣṇu], He has many mouths and heads and bears deadly poison. He is the prime proprietor of all (the supreme enjoyer), the source of all wisdom, who is constantly served by His many snake-followers to give Him pleasure. May the Supreme Lord, the effulgent, immaculate Lord of the Snakes, protect us. He is the bestower of yoga as well as its supreme practitioner.”24

According to a legend of the Hindu religious and yoga tradition,25 not much before Patañjali’s appearance in the physical world, Lord Viṣṇu — laying on the lap of Anantaśeṣa — was admiring the wonderful dance of Śiva, the demigod responsible for the destruction of the universe. He was so much delighted and pleased by Śiva’s dance that His transcendental body began to shake and became more and more heavy for Anantaśeṣa. As soon as the performance was over, the trembling had gone, and the body of the Lord regained its lightness. With astonishment, Anantaśeṣa asked his Lord about the cause of this extraordinary change. In His answer, the Supreme Lord explained that Lord Śiva’s beautiful and sublime dance had measured this dramatic effect on Him. Upon hearing the story, enchanted by the Lord’s words, Anantaśeṣa humbly expressed his desire to learn the art of dance so that he could also satisfy the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu.

Being impressed by this sincere desire, Lord Viṣṇu foretold that one day Anantaśeṣa would be blessed by Śiva for his devotion and his humble service. By Śiva’s mercy, after manifesting himself in the physical world, Anantaśeṣa can bestow his blessings on humankind by teaching them the science of self-realization (yoga), at the same time fulfilling his ardent desire to become the master of dance. Anantaśeṣa was wondering who could be the right mother to give birth to him in the mundane world.

At the very same time a chaste yogīnī (female yogī), Goṇikā approached the Lord with her prayers, because she desired to give birth to a child. Goṇikā wanted to have a son to whom she can impart the knowledge she had gained by practicing yoga. As she was old but had no children, she anxiously decided to pray to the Supreme Lord, who can fulfill all desires. Turning towards the sun, she performed a very simple sacrifice. After bowing down, she took some water in her palms and lifted her arms while begging to the Lord for begetting a son. This is how she wanted to offer the only gift she could obtain to the Supreme Lord.

Having seen this, Anantaśeṣa had no doubt that Goṇikā would be the right mother for him. While Goṇikā was about to lift her arms and offer that little water to the sun, she saw in astonishment that a small snake is creeping in her palms. She was even more amazed when the small snake changed into a human being, who immediately bowed before her and asked her to accept him as her son. Goṇikā was, of course, pleased by the request of the little boy. As he fell down (pat) from heaven into her palms, joined for prayer (añjali), she gave him the name ‘Patañjali’. Goṇikā lovingly took care of her divine offspring until he grew up to be a dashing young man. According to the Padma Purāṇa, Patañjali appeared as a son of Atri (one of the seven ṛṣis) and Anasūyā in Ilāvṛta-varṣa, the celestial land of sublime beauty in the material world, where demigods and enlightened living beings reside. This is from where he descended to the earthly region to teach people about self-realization.26

The biographies, full of such and similar legends, actually hide more secrets than what they reveal. However, one can conclude that Patañjali was a great ṛṣi (divine sage), who appeared in the human society to share the fruits of his wisdom with those who are open and able to adopt it.

Nevertheless, the philosophical doctrines and the practical instructions Patañjali analyzed and summarized, had undoubtedly existed in the Vedic yoga traditions centuries before his time. All sages and saints whose goal was self-realization used to follow these teachings in their daily life. Everyone agrees that the sum of the Yoga-sūtras is a perfectly compiled scientific summary containing the most important elements and practices of the Vedic yoga tradition, while it can easily be traced back to its origin in the Purāṇas, the Upaniṣads, and the Vedas.

The Subject and the Structure of the Yoga-sūtras

The Yoga-sūtras, which is actually a handbook of instructions, has been considered to be the revelation of rāja-yoga since ancient times. It was further improved and elaborated by saintly commentators throughout the course of history in the light of scriptures and their own experiences. This is how the commentary entitled the Yoga-bhāṣya (Vyāsa-bhāṣya) was born from Vyāsa’s pen27 (4–5th century), which was further elaborated on by Vācaspati Miśra in his Tattva-vaiśāradī commentary (9th century). The previously mentioned Bhojarāja wrote the Rājamārtaṇḍa commentary (at the beginning of the 11th century), and Rāmānanda Sarasvatī (in the 16th century) compiled the Maṇiprabhā purport. Additionally, we have to mention Vijñābhikṣu’s notes on the Yoga-sūtras called the Yoga-vārttika.

Patañjali’s Yoga-sūtras is respected as a universal work since it discusses the different aspects of self-realization and combines the metaphysical theses of Sāṅkhya philosophy with the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā on bhakti, the process of surrender to the personal God (īśvara).28