Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the foundational scriptural source for Raja Yoga, the meditative path of yoga, consisting of 196 terse aphorisms organized into four chapters. Composed sometime between 200 BCE and 200 CE by the sage Patanjali, it presents a systematic path of mental discipline leading to the cessation of mental fluctuations and the realization of pure consciousness. Though relatively brief, its influence on Indian philosophy, medicine, and spirituality has been enormous, and through the modern yoga movement its reach now extends worldwide.

The text begins with the famous definition: 'Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind' (yogas chitta vritti nirodhah, 1.2). This signals immediately that for Patanjali, yoga is not primarily physical postures but a program of mental and spiritual transformation. The goal is kaivalya — liberation of pure consciousness (purusha) from entanglement with matter (prakriti). The practical path unfolds through the eight limbs (ashtanga yoga), moving from ethical foundations through posture, breath, and sense-withdrawal to the inner states of concentration, meditation, and full absorption.

• Romans 7:15-25 (inner conflict between knowing good and doing it)
• Matthew 5:8 (pure in heart shall see God)
• 1 Corinthians 12-14 (spiritual gifts as real but potentially distracting)
• Luke 22:42 (surrender to God's will paralleling ishvara pranidhana)
• Exodus 20 (commandments paralleling yama/niyama ethical framework)

Despite being the foundational text of yoga philosophy, the Yoga Sutras mentions physical postures only three times, saying only that asana should be 'stable and comfortable' (2.46). The physical asana-focused yoga most Westerners practice is largely a 20th-century development, influenced by Indian wrestling traditions, European gymnastics, and the innovations of teachers like T. Krishnamacharya and B.K.S. Iyengar.