If you read Yoga Sutra 2.15 out of context, you’d think the great sage Patanjali was teaching yogis to give up hope. Life is suffering, he seems to be saying here. The verse reads: All is misery to the wise because of the pains of change, anxiety, and purificatory acts. Patanjali is saying if you’re […]
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali teaches us that yoga can liberate us. It gives us tools for overcoming attachment, aversion, and egoism. If we don’t practice yoga, that is, if we don’t find a means of liberation, we will continue to suffer. For classical yogis, continued suffering means an endless cycle of birth, suffering, death, […]
Egoism is a problem. You don’t have to be a yogi to know this. The small self—which egoism inflates—always competes for attention, recognition, and accomplishment. Why is this a problem? If you’re focusing on human life, it’s not. If you’re focusing on spiritual growth and enlightenment, egoism is a great obstacle. Reverend Jaganath Carrera describes […]
In Yoga Sutra 2.5, Patanjali gives yogis a clear idea of ignorance as an obstacle to enlightenment. If we remain in the dark about the truth, he says, we will suffer. Ignorance is taking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, evil for good and non-self as self. ~Sutra 2.5 As this […]
I remember my very first yoga experience, an Integral Yoga beginners hatha class I attended in the library of my high school. Each time we practice, the teacher had a reminder for us. Your true nature is peace, she would say. Combined with the mellow and relaxing experience of yoga, that sounded right. Then, of […]
The second chapter of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali deals with how to practice yoga. Sutra 2.1 states: Austerity, the study of sacred texts, and the dedication of action to God constitute the discipline of Mystic Union. (from sacredtexts.com) Reverend Jaganath Carrera describes austerity in this case as “accepting pain as help for purification.” We practice […]
As the end of the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali attempts to describe samadhi, a complete state of oneness that is the goal of yoga. The individual practices that comprise yoga lead to samadhi. In short, we practice letting go of the mind and ego, and what remains is a blissful state of […]
In the first chapter of the Sutras, Patanjali addresses the issue of concentration and gives yogis practices for maintaining calm. In the early sutras, we learn that concentration and breathing exercises are tools for stilling the mind. That stillness, which we must create before we can reach enlightenment, is the goal of yoga. Many practices […]
In the last few weeks, we’ve explored the first chapter of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, which is about contemplation. As we’ve seen, the purpose of yoga is to still the mind, and there are specific obstacles we need to recognize. Patanjali tells us that meditation (concentration or contemplation) is the key to staying on the path […]
In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali warns us there will be roadblocks on the path to enlightenment. He then gives us a way to gauge whether these roadblocks are present on our own path. Patanjali alerts us to the symptoms of mental distraction in sutra 1.31. In a translation by Reverend Jaganath Carrera, the verse reads: […]