The Yoga Sutras

The Thread of Yoga

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the foundational text of classical yoga - 196 terse aphorisms that systematize the path to liberation. Composed sometime between 200 BCE and 400 CE, these sutras remain the most authoritative statement of yoga philosophy and practice.

What is a Sutra?

Sutra means “thread” - a condensed statement meant to be memorized and then expanded through commentary and contemplation. Sutras are deliberately brief:

“yogash chitta-vritti-nirodhah” (I.2) “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.”

This single sutra contains the entire teaching. The remaining sutras elaborate, explain, and provide the path to realize what is stated here.

The Four Chapters (Padas)

The Yoga Sutras is divided into four chapters, each addressing a different aspect:

Samadhi Pada (Chapter on Absorption)

The first chapter describes what yoga is and its goal. Key teachings include:

The definition of yoga (I.2): chitta-vritti-nirodha - the cessation of mental fluctuations

The result (I.3): When fluctuations cease, the Seer rests in its own nature

The five types of fluctuations (I.5-11): Correct perception, misconception, imagination, sleep, and memory

Practice and non-attachment (I.12): The two means of stilling the mind - abhyasa (persistent practice) and vairagya (dispassion)

The levels of samadhi: Progressive stages of absorption, from gross to subtle

Ishvara (I.23-27): The special Purusha, untouched by afflictions, and Om as its symbol

Sadhana Pada (Chapter on Practice)

The second chapter focuses on practical methods. Key teachings include:

Kriya Yoga (II.1): The preliminary yoga of tapas (discipline), svadhyaya (self-study), and ishvara pranidhana (surrender)

The Kleshas (II.3-9): The five afflictions that cause suffering - avidya (ignorance), asmita (ego), raga (attachment), dvesha (aversion), and abhinivesha (fear of death)

Avidya as the root (II.4): Ignorance is the field in which all other kleshas grow

The Eightfold Path (II.29-55): Detailed presentation of the eight limbs - yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara

Vibhuti Pada (Chapter on Powers)

The third chapter describes the deeper practices and their results:

Samyama (III.4): The three-fold practice of dharana, dhyana, and samadhi applied to one object

Siddhis (III.16-48): The powers that arise from samyama on various objects - knowledge of past and future, understanding of other minds, physical powers, etc.

The warning (III.37): These powers are obstacles to samadhi if they become objects of attachment

The discrimination (III.54): The ultimate samyama - discrimination between pure awareness and all its objects

Kaivalya Pada (Chapter on Liberation)

The final chapter addresses the nature and attainment of liberation:

The origins of the siddhis (IV.1): Powers arise from birth, herbs, mantra, tapas, or samadhi

The nature of mind (IV.3-4): Consciousness is borrowed from Purusha; individual minds are modifications of one mind

The cessation of karma (IV.7-11): The yogin’s karma becomes neither black nor white

Reality and perception (IV.14-18): Objects are real; their perception depends on the states of the perceiving mind; but Purusha is unchanged

The culmination (IV.34): Kaivalya - when Purusha stands alone, free from all identification with Prakriti

Key Concepts

Chitta

Chitta includes all aspects of the individual mind - intellect (buddhi), ego (ahamkara), and sensory-processing mind (manas). It is the “stuff” that fluctuates and must be stilled.

Chitta is not pure consciousness (Purusha) but the instrument through which consciousness appears to function in the world.

Vritti

Vrittis are the fluctuations, modifications, or turnings of the mind. They are like waves on the surface of consciousness. The five vrittis are:

1. Pramana - valid cognition
2. Viparyaya - misconception
3. Vikalpa - imagination
4. Nidra - sleep
5. Smriti - memory

All mental activity falls into one of these categories. Yoga addresses all vrittis, not just the problematic ones.

Nirodha

Nirodha is cessation, restriction, or control. When applied to the vrittis, it describes a state where the mind becomes still - not blank or unconscious, but quiet.

There is scholarly debate about whether nirodha means complete cessation or controlled restriction. In practice, the stillness is progressive, moving through levels of refinement.

Purusha and Prakriti

Patanjali adopts the Samkhya metaphysics of two ultimate principles:

Purusha: Pure consciousness, the Seer, unchanging and eternal Prakriti: Nature, matter, the seen - including the mind

Liberation (kaivalya) is the recognition that Purusha was never bound - the suffering belonged to Prakriti’s self-misidentification.

Approaching the Text

The Yoga Sutras rewards sustained study:

Read with commentary: The sutras are too terse to understand alone. Traditional commentaries (Vyasa’s is the oldest) and modern translations both help.

Contemplate slowly: Each sutra contains depths. One sutra studied thoroughly yields more than a hundred read quickly.

Practice alongside: The sutras describe experience. Without practice, they remain intellectual concepts.

Return repeatedly: Understanding deepens over time. The same sutra reveals new meaning as practice matures.

The Living Tradition

The Yoga Sutras is not merely a historical document but a living transmission. Its teachings have been practiced, tested, and verified for over two millennia.

Patanjali offers no mythology, minimal metaphysics, and no appeal to faith. He presents a systematic psychology of liberation based on observation and practice.

For the serious practitioner, this text is a lifetime study - an inexhaustible map of the journey within.