What is Yoga? The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Last month I mentioned the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that B.K.S. Iyengar has based much of his yoga teachings on.  Although not a lot is known about the life of Patanjali, it is believed that he lived somewhere between 500 and 200 BC.  He is most widely known for writing the Yoga Sutras, which is a systematic treatise defining the most important aspects of Yoga theory and practice.  He has also been acknowledged for being a grammarian and doctor of Ayurvedic medicine.  On top of this he is known as the patron saint of dance in India.

The legend surrounding Patanjali is that he may be the grandson of Brahma.  He was sent to earth to write a commentary on grammar and devote himself to the perfection of dance.  He came to earth as a tiny snake and grew into human form before his mother’s eyes.  She named him Patanjali.  Pata meaning fallen and anjali meaning “hands folded in prayer”. He is depicted as being half human and half serpent.  Patanjali is thought to have 4 hands.  Two are in the namaste position, one holding a sankha or conch that embodies energy and one a cakra, a disc that embodies the turning wheel of time or the law of cause and effect.

Mr. Iyengar says in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali that Patanjali’s works are followed by yogis to this day in their effort to develop a refined language, a cultured body and a civilized mind.  This is referring to all the great works of Pantanjali on grammar, dance and yoga.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is also called Astanga yoga.  Asta means eight. So, Astanga yoga refers to the eight limbs of yoga that sage Patanjali based the yoga sutras on.  The eight limbs are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyhara, dharana, dyana and samadhi.

In the West we tend to focus first on the asanas or postures, but the yamas and niyamas actually come before asana in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.  I will briefly list the yamas and niyamas below and next month we can begin to look at each one separately.

Yamas – are the external disciplines of yoga, universal codes of conduct or the basic rules of living, teachings that help to lessen the suffering that is to come.

The yamas include:

Ahimsa: not harming, non violence, letting go of hostility in our words, thoughts and actions

Satya: honesty or truthfulness in every thought, word and action

Asteya: not stealing or not having any desire to have something that is not yours by untruthful ways of obtaining it

Brahmacharya: celibacy or self restraint over things that are not needed or take away from ones vital energy

Aparigraha: not hoarding or not holding onto things not needed by you so that someone else can’t have it, not wanting more, also letting go of negative thoughts and not holding onto them.  It means to be happy with what you have.

Niyamas – are the internal disciplines or individual rules of conduct.

The niyamas include:

Saucha: cleanliness – purity in mind, body, thoughts, words, deeds and actions

Santosa: true contentment with oneself, not trying to be like someone else or relying on external forces to make one happy

Tapas: desire to achieve a goal and having intense discipline or consistency to bring out the true self, free from attachments

Svadhyaya: self study, not just reading and studying the scriptures but putting them to practice in your own life, keeping yourself aware

Isvara Prandihana: study of the Scriptures: by stilling the body and mind one can reach pure awareness.