Maya and Yoga

The name Patañjali is associated with three different major works. It is uncertain whether they refer to the same person or to different persons of the same name. The three works are: 

Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (the foundational text of Rāja Yoga or classical yoga philosophy)
Mahābhāṣya (Great Commentary) on Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (Sanskrit grammar)
Charaka-bhāṣya (a commentary on the Charaka Saṁhitā, an ancient text on Ayurveda)

The focus of this Page is the first one. The Yoga Sutras are made up of 196 sutras grouped into 4 sections: Samādhi Pāda (the nature of yoga and meditation), Sādhana Pāda (the practice of yoga), Vibhūti Pāda (yogic powers and the subtle states of mind) and Kaivalya Pāda (liberation and the transcendence of the mind).

I am happy to share the first twelve lines of the Yoga Sūtras together with their meanings in English. The Devanāgarī lyrics are easily found online, if any of you are interested.

These twelve lines introduce the concept of yoga (union with the source) and give us glimpses into what needs to be done to overcome the maya that shrouds us. This is merely an introduction. To advance further, one needs to become a student of a proper school of yoga, not one of those modern creations that present yoga as an exercise form. Yoga is much more than that.

The Sounds of Isha have captured the first twelve lines of the Sutras in a stirring and inspiring Stotram. 

Patañjali Stotram

Atha yogānuśāsanam 

Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ
Tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe’vasthānam
Vṛtti-sārūpyam itaratra

Vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭā’kliṣṭāḥ
Pramāṇa viparyaya vikalpa nidrā smṛtayaḥ

Pratyakṣa-anumāna-āgamāḥ pramāṇāni
Viparyayo mithyā-jñānam atad-rūpa-pratiṣṭham
Śabda-jñānānupātī vastu-śūnyo vikalpaḥ
Abhāva-pratyaya-ālambanā vṛttir nidrā
Anubhūta-viṣayāsampramoṣaḥ smṛtiḥ
Abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ

This is what the verses mean:

Now begins the exposition of Yoga.

Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
Then the Seer abides in its own true nature.
At other times, the Seer identifies with the mental fluctuations.

The fluctuations of the mind are of five kinds; they may be painful or non-painful.
They are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, imagination, sleep, and memory.

Right knowledge comes from direct perception, inference, and authoritative testimony.
Wrong knowledge is false understanding, not based on the true nature of the object.
Imagination is knowledge based only on words, without a corresponding reality.
Sleep is the mental modification based on the perception of absence.
Memory is the retention of experienced objects.
Their restraint is accomplished through practice (abhyāsa) and detachment (vairāgya).

The above verses explain in plain terms the difference between being in one's own true nature and in being bewildered by the fluctuations of the mind. They identify the various types of mental fluctuations that we become lost in. Finally they tell us what we need to do to restrain those mental fluctuations in order to realise our true nature.

Just a brief introduction, but one that needs to rewind in our minds over and over until we are ready to progress to the next stage.

Listen to the Stotram with understanding of its meaning, and be blessed.