[159][160] The numerous historical variants show that the text was a living document and it was changed as these manuscripts were transmitted or translated, with some ancient and medieval manuscripts marked with "corrections" in the margin of the pages and elsewhere by unknown authors and for unclear reasons. [100], Book 3 of Patanjali's Yogasutra is dedicated to soteriological aspects of yoga philosophy. [147], The five yamas or the constraints of the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali bear an uncanny resemblance to the five major vows of Jainism, indicating influence of Jainism. I.1): 'yoga' in Patañjali's sutra has the meaning of 'integration'. [169] The manuscript of the Yoga Sutras was no longer copied, since few read the text, and it was seldom taught. But the aim of yoga meditation is conceived in terms that a Buddhist would not accept: as the separation of an eternal conscious self from unconscious matter. [153] Some scholars see Vyasa as a later 4th or 5th century CE commentator (as opposed to the ancient mythic figure). According to Ian Whicher, the status of ananda and asmita in Patanjali's system is a matter of dispute. [66] This is done in several ways, inhaling and then suspending exhalation for a period, exhaling and then suspending inhalation for a period, slowing the inhalation and exhalation, consciously changing the time/length of breath (deep, short breathing). Patanjali Yoga Sutras Translation and Commentary by Swami Vivekananda PATANJALI'S YOGA APHORISMS INTRODUCTION Before going into the Yoga aphorisms I shall try to discuss one great question, upon which rests the whole theory of religion for the Yogis. According to Buddhism, the origin of suffering is desire; according to Yoga, it is the connection between the observer (Purusha) with the observed (Prakrti). Patanjali Yoga Sutras. [153], Other scholars hold that both texts, the sutras and the commentary were written by one person. The role of Self is central to the idea of Saṃyoga, Citta, Self-awareness and other concepts in Chapters 2 through 4 of the Yoga sutras, according to Desmarias. [22][23], Edwin Bryant, on the other hand, surveyed the major commentators in his translation of the Yoga Sūtras. [162] Modern translations and interpretations include: Patañjali was not the first to write about yoga. [170], Popular interest arose in the 19th century, when the practice of yoga according to the Yoga Sutras became regarded as the science of yoga and the "supreme contemplative path to self-realization" by Swami Vivekananda, following Helena Blavatsky, president of the Theosophical Society. [note 1], Philipp A. Maas assessed Patañjali's Pātañjalayogaśāstra's date to be about 400 CE, based on synchronisms between its arguments and those of Vasubandhu, on tracing the history of the commentaries on it published in the first millennium CE, on the opinions of earlier Sanskrit commentators, on the testimony of manuscript colophons and on a review of extant literature. [108][109] Once a yogi reaches this state of samyama, it leads to unusual powers, intuition, self-knowledge, freedoms and kaivalya, the soteriological goal of the yogi. All three (Dhyana, Dharana and Samadhi) practised on a particular object or subject is called Sanyam by Patanjali. This means that the Bhāṣya was in fact Patañjali's own work. Roy Perrett (2007), Samkhya-Yoga Ethics, Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges (Editors: Purusottama Bilimoria et al), Volume 1, पातञ्जलयोगप्रदीप, गीताप्रेस गोरखपुर, page 198, p222. A history of Indian philosophy, Volume 1 By Surendranath Dasgupta, Indian Philosophy Vol 2, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. [125] Patañjali's Yoga Sutras accept the Samkhya's division of the world and phenomena into twenty-five tattvas or principles, of which one is Purusha meaning Self or consciousness, the others being Prakriti (primal nature), Buddhi (intellect or will), Ahamkara (ego), Manas (mind), five buddhindriyas (sensory capabilities), five karmendriyas (action-capabilities) and ten elements. Another commentary (the Vivarana) by a certain Shankara, confirms the interpretation of yogah samadhih (YBh. Peter Heehs (2002), Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience, New York University Press. It considers consciousness and matter, self/soul and body as two different realities. [10] The practice of writing a set of aphorisms with the author's own explanation was well-known at the time of Patañjali, as for example in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośabhāṣya (that, incidentally, Patañjali quotes). [110][111][112][113] Hindu scholars such as the 8th century Adi Sankara, as well as many modern academic scholars describe Yoga school as "Samkya school with God. For example, in verse II.35, Patanjali states that the virtue of nonviolence and non-injury to others (Ahimsa) leads to the abandonment of enmity, a state that leads the yogi to the perfection of inner and outer amity with everyone, everything.[49][50]. John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press. The explanations of the classical commentators on this point appear to be foreign to Patanjali's hierarchy of [ecstatic] states, and it seems unlikely that ananda and asmita should constitute independent levels of samadhi. [142], According to David Gordon White, the language of the Yoga Sutras is often closer to "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, the Sanskrit of the early Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, than to the classical Sanskrit of other Hindu scriptures". "[26], Michele Desmarais summarized a wide variety of dates assigned to Yogasutra, ranging from 500 BCE to 3rd century CE, noting that there is a paucity of evidence for any certainty. [89] According to Feuerstein. Scholarly opinion is still open on this issue.[153]. [148][149][150] Three other teachings closely associated with Jainism also make an appearance in Yoga: the doctrine of "colors" in karma (lesya); the Telos of isolation (kevala in Jainism and Kaivalyam in Yoga); and the practice of nonviolence (ahimsa), though nonviolence (ahimsa) made its first appearance in Indian philosophy-cum-religion in the Hindu texts known as the Upanishads [the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, dated to the 8th or 7th century BCE, one of the oldest Upanishads, has the earliest evidence for the use of the word Ahimsa in the sense familiar in Hinduism (a code of conduct). (1976). [138][139] Patanjali's Yoga Sutras for example, states Michele Desmarias, accept the concept of a Self or soul behind the operational mind, while Buddhists do not accept such a Self exists.