A brief introduction to the text and its most important ideas
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
—The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians, 6:12
The Yoga Sūtras are a collection of sūtras, short rules, on yoga (but not yoga as you know it—see below), composed around 400CE by a mysterious figure called Patañjali. In the oldest manuscripts, it’s collected with its “original commentary”, written later and by someone equally as mysterious, Vyāsa. These two together help unlock the meaning behind the Yoga Sūtras.
The question is—are the Yoga Sūtras still relevant?
Even though yoga postures are not its purview, the subject matter of the Yoga Sūtras is much grander: spiritual liberation.
Why spiritual liberation? The Yoga Sūtras posit that embodied existence is ultimately unfulfilling and that suffering is inevitable: all joy is temporary, and even the most joyful experience has an element of disappointment as a result. No material experience can be truly fulfilling.
The Sūtras introduce us to the kleṣas, the afflictions, starting with avidyā, ignorance of our true nature, leading into asmitā, the egoic identification with this embodied existance, and leading to rāga and dveṣa, attachment to pleasure and aversion of pain, and the icing on the cake, abhinivēśa, the despearate clinging to life.
So how do we realise our elusive true nature? The Sūtras start strong, as this is the first thing they teach us: the state of yoga is when the citta vṛttis, mental fluctuations, have stilled, and we can finally abide in our own true nature—at all other times, we are identified with these mental fluctuations.
Conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions: we are at their ever-changing fancy—is there a way we can have greater control over them? Yes, the Yoga Sūtras present several practices. Chief among them: single-pointed concentration—to hone the mind on a singular support.
No simple task, the text approaches this subject in waves, at first listing a series of things to fix our mind on (such as Oṃ, exhaling and retaining the breath, and an experience of pain-free luminosity, among others); then, a more tangible practice emphasising discipline, study, and devotion to a higher power; and finally the famous eight limbs of yoga, eight steps trying to get us to finally sit, be still, and meditate.
Steeped in the metaphysics of one of India’s oldest schools of thought, saṃkhya, the Sūtras promise that through single-pointed concentration (or the grace of our higher power, depending on our level of devotion to them), we unlock truth-bearing wisdom, unveiling the secrets of the laws of physics themselves, helping illuminate the nature of the mind (and its distinction to the soul, our true being), and freeing us from the bondage of embodied existance and its inherent suffering.
And while a lofty goal, at the very least minimising the turmoil of the deluge of thoughts, emotions, and distractions and giving us the ability to act, instead of constantly react, is a more tangible and immediate goal—so let’s start there, and see where that takes us.
Are you ready to study them with me? Stay tuned for my upcoming course on the Yoga Sūtras. Join my mailing list for updates!