Patanjali Yoga Sutra

Yoga is one of the most valuable contributions to the rest of the world. swami Satyananda Saraswati has rightly said that “Yoga is not an ancient myth buried in oblivion. It is the most valuable inheritance of the present. It is the essential need of today and the culture of tomorrow”. It is so because of the present deepening crisis resulting into institutional decay, erosion of values, social disorder, unbridled violence, wide-spread turmoil, global turbulence, uncontrolled materialistic and consumeristic tendencies. In the midst of such inhuman, hostile, external environment an individual naturally feels lost and uprooted from his spiritual and cultural heritage. This adversely affects his body and mind creating imbalance in his life. This imbalance obstructs the harmonious functioning of his organs, muscles and nervous system. Ultimately, the individual falls prey to various fatal diseases, both physical and mental. Yoga brings the different physical and mental functions into perfect co-ordination leading finally to the harmonious union of the individual consciousness with the cosmic consciousness. In sum today yoga is being increasingly perceived as an art and science of right living, working miraculously, on al aspects of human life-the physical, mental, spiritual, psychic and emotional.

It is a matter of great pleasure and satisfaction that Shri G.L. Verma, with his deep study, rich experience and penetrating insight into this precious spiritual knowledge, has done a commendable work by meticulously translating and lucidly explaining the prestigious Patanjali Yoga Sutra in the simplest possible language. This would be of immense help to the common man as well as to the practitioners of yoga who are keen to improve their quality of life by internalising and inculcating the serenity of thought and spiritual heritage.

Shri Verma deserves our heartiest congratulations for having completed this stupendous work with his in-depth knowledge of the subject and his scholarly interpretation. The book is not only worth reading but also worth preserving.

Preface

The present translation of “Patanjali Yoga Sutra” is reflection of my inspirational instinct conceived since long but could not be transformed into practical shape earlier. The compelling reason which forced my inner urge to attempt this task at the earliest is to present this translation in a simplified and easily understandable version so as to be useful for an average person since the scholarly expositions so far produced in the form of translation are beyond the understanding level of a layman. The common man cannot grasp the essence of condensed form of Sutra being complex and difficult, hence keeping this aspect in view, I have tried to make the explanation of each Sutra as easy as possible which is within the normal level of understanding and intellect.

In order to facilitate complete understanding of the concept of a Sutra, a glossary of terms used in this translation has been added along with the simplified and suitable explanation in the context in which the term has been used.

Efforts have been made to exclude all the difficult words of Sanskrit language in this rendering and in their place suitable English equivalent words have been substituted. However, essential Sanskrit words in transliterated version find place with easy English equivalents ‘()’ parentheses and vice-versa. Besides, an index of the original text of Sanskrit Sutras (Sutranukra-manika) with page numbers at the end of the book has also been provided so as to be convenient for a reader to have a quick look with regard to a particular Sutra.

The ‘Yoga Sutra’ of Patanjali contains 196 Sutras which have been presented in a condensed form comprising essential philosophical concepts and yogic techniques in a scientific and systematic manner. His philosophy is not a new one but simply gives a new face by co-ordinating all the existing systems into a single treatise. His ‘Yoga’ is a discipline for controlling the mind and the body in order to attain liberation from the material world.

Patanjali deals with the theory of Klesas (afflictions) which gets reflected in the prevailing conditions of human life of account one suffers as the same are born out of avidya (ignorance) which is root of all miseries. By avidya he does not mean “no knowledge” but the lack of true knowledge or reality. He emphasizes that true knowledge can be gained through the steady and stabilized mind. The mind is like a mirror, it gathers dust while reflects. In other words, when one’s mind attains unmodified state, one develops the discriminative knowledge which causes the ignorance to disappear and paves the way for removal of the cover which blocks the light of the ‘Purusa’.

In order to get unmodified state of mind, Patanjali has suggested to practice the ‘Astanga Yoga’ which ultimately leads one to attain the ‘Dharma-megha-samadhi’ resulting in liberation of ‘Purusa’ from the clutches of ‘Prakriti’. This state of ‘Purusa’ has been termed as ‘Kaivalya’ by Patanjali in which it is no more bound to the ‘Karmas’, nor is affected by time, space, cause and effect of this phenomenal world.

Thus, it is crystal clear that the ‘yogic discipline’ prescribed by Patanjali is most suited and relevant even today for an ordinary individual which is a panacea for all human miseries since this discipline is still continued to be rated as the most authoritative and scientific.

In this undertaking many persons have helped me. Foremost has been, as always, Gurudev Shri Shri Govind Shastriji, an eminent scholar possessing comprehensive background of Hindu religious scriptures and Shastras, scanned every Sutra painstakingly and made very valuable suggestions without whose inspiration and encouragement, the completion of this endeavour would not have been possible.

I must in the end, also express my sincere thanks to my son Mr. Inder Prakash and my daughter-in-law Smt. Prem Lata Verma for going through the proof of the manuscript and assisting me at all stages in this task as and when I felt their need.

Shri Devashish Taylor, my grandson also deserves my sincere thanks for carrying out all the typing work concerning the manuscript in question.

Back of the Book

G.L. Verma was born in 1932 at Ssrimadhopur, Rajasthan. He was educated at Maharaja’s College and University Law College in Jaipur. He served the Govt. of Rajasthan for about 8 years starting as Panchayat Extension Officer and in various other capacities till 1966.

G.L. Verma had the privilege of being associated with the LARRDIS Divisions of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Parliament House, New Delhi as Sr. Assistant, Research Assistant, Research Officer, Assistant Director and Deputy Director, the last three being positions of class I status. In this capacity his main responsibility was to provide information needs of the Members of Parliament of both the Houses along with the Members of the Union Council of Ministers for 25 years.

Following his superannuation in January, 1991, he carried on legal assignments and enrolled himself as an Advocate and practiced at Delhi High Court till 2005.

He has now shifted to Jaipur and is currently pursuing his astrological studies and research. He enjoys fabulous reputation as an astrologer and is known for his correct predictions.

Vedic Upanishads represent the profound essence, the succulent juice and the perennial spiritual philosophy of the Vedas, expounded and elucidated to make them practical and accessible for spiritual aspirants. They are magnificent, stupendous, forceful and powerful instruments in the hands of true seekers that provide spiritual foresight and vision of the ultimate Truth and Reality.

The Upanishads are integral part of the Vedas; each Vedas has a number of Upanishads in it. The present series classifies these Upanishads in true Vedic tradition, i.e. they are listed and separated into different volumes strictly according to the Vedic sequence and the Vedas they appear in.

In this edition each verse of each Upanishad has been extensively explained using simple language supplemented by elaborate notes so that these profound metaphysical treatises can be made accessible to even a lay man. Towards the end of each volume, extensive appendices have been added to elucidate the different concepts in simple worlds. Concepts such as OM, Naad, Naadis, Chakras, Yoga, Atma, Viraat, Moksha etc. are all elaborately explained in these separate appendices. A Mantra index in Romanized version is also included in each volume.