Revisiting Patanjali

A week ago, I chanced upon Edwin F Bryant's interviews on YouTube. After spending 22 minutes on the first video, my OCD impulses led me to finish up all of the remaining 3 or 4 videos that were equally long or longer, in one sitting.

If you have interest in studying the Yoga Sutras, Edwin's book is one I'd recommend as the first reading, due the ease of understanding from his gifted ability to dissect obscure concepts contained in the sutras and commentaries and fit it into the contemporary perspective of the modern yogi. I reckon that his version is well-rounded due to his knowledge and expertise in other Indian schools of thought and the shastras. The two important texts apart from the Hindu epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) and the Upanishads and other vedic texts that are recognized by the majority of philosophical groups / lineages in India are the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is not considered as a recognized text by most of these groups.

The second book which was recommended to me by my teacher Nitya was Swami Aranya Hariharananda's Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali : Containing his yoga aphorisms with Vyasa's commentary in Sanskrit and a translation with annotations including many suggestions for the practice of yoga. Vyasa's commentaries were considered the most important as his was the first. This is a rather difficult book which I would not recommend reading it as your first book on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

On the Yoga Sutras, Krishnamacharya described it as, "a tiger with the face of a cow." At first, you don't get much from it but after reading it over and over, more things start to pour out from the pages and, boy, it's deep!

My preferred way to read them would be to study them like a text book, making notes and then practicing them or relate it back to your yoga practice and experiences, specifically, mediation practice.

But truly, the Yoga Sutras is not the best text to study without a teacher or Guru - the mode of study of yoga has traditionally been from teacher to student since time immemorial. The cryptic and generic manner that it has been written appears primarily for renunciates and hermits without the burden of worldly attachments and duties who are ready to break away from society and worldly distractions. Hence, in this aspect, the teachings are not straightforwardly applicable or adaptable by householders without dire consequences (read on)! While some may be quick to rebut that Kriya Yoga is there in the second chapter as another means prescribed to yoga, as far as the sutras in it's entirety are concerned, Kriya yoga forms the underlying foundation and technicalities outlined in chapter one - not forgetting that it forms only a small part of out of 196 aphorisms - where one has already done arduous the work of minimizing the Klesas and having attained some degree of one-pointedness to prepare for the more subtle and advanced steps of yoga. If I may, an even more straightforward route to Samadhi would be Isvara Pranidhana. Although it may not be blasphemous for anyone, whether hermit or householder, to study Patanjalian yoga, the teachings in the underlying sutras are just not the most suitable as type of practice for householders, moms and pops, even more so for people from different parts of the world and cultures, with attachments, duties, social and moral obligations to fulfill. An example of this would be Patanjali making no bones about the matter that Yamas such as Ahimsa and Bramacharya are absolute and universal vows:

2.31 These codes of self-regulation or restraint become a great vow when they become universal and are not restricted by any consideration of the nature of the kind of living being to whom one is related, nor in any place, time or situation.

jati desha kala samaya anavachchhinnah sarva-bhaumah maha-vratam

Hence, if we were to study in depth about Kriya Yoga or Karma yoga, it would be certain that the Bhagavad Gita would be a more sensible text to go to, targeted at the right audience that offers more insights about this "skill in action" type of yoga (and other types of yoga such as Jnana or Bhakti) as mentioned by Patanjali in chapter 2. These two books go hand-in-hand and that is why collectively or individually, they should be studied under the tutelage of a Guru to ensure healthy maturation of the yoga aspirant.

In honesty, I studied the Yoga Sutras first, and then Hatha Yoga Pradipika, where I was brought pretty unsettling places... and then the Gita came about and that was when I was led back to where I was rightfully supposed to be, in the context that was beneficial and healthy for me, at that point in time. I clarified this with my teacher, Nitya and it affirmed my conclusion about the care in studying these texts after she shared about what Krishnamachraya told her father, A.G Mohan, who requested his Guru to teach him certain texts, as a young family man, which his Guru declined, reason being it would ruin his life!

I shall leave it here.