The levels of samadhi taught sopra the text resemble the Buddhist jhanas. According to Feuerstein, the Yoga Sutras are per condensation of two different traditions, namely “eight limb yoga” (a??a?ga yoga) and action yoga (Kriya yoga). The kriya yoga part is contained mediante chapter 1, chapter 2 sutras 1-27, chapter 3 except sutra 54, and chapter 4. The “eight limb yoga” is described mediante chapter 2 sutras 28–55, and chapter 3 sutras 3 and 54.
There are numerous parallels sopra the ancient Samkhya, Yoga and Abhidharma schools of thought, particularly from the 2nd century BCE esatto the 1st century AD, libretto Larson. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras may be a synthesis of these three traditions. From the Samkhya school of Hinduism, Yoga Sutras adopt the “reflective discernment” (adhyavasaya) of prakrti and purusa (dualism), its metaphysical rationalism, and its three epistemic methods preciso gaining reliable knowledge. From Abhidharma Buddhism’s ispirazione of nirodhasamadhi, suggests Larson, Yoga Sutras adopt the pursuit of an altered state of awareness. However, unlike Buddhism, which believes that there is neither self nor soul, Yoga is physicalist and realist, like Samkhya, in believing that each individual has a self and soul. The third concept that Yoga Sutras synthesizes into its philosophy is the ancient ascetic traditions of isolation, meditation and introspection, as well as the yoga ideas from the 1st millennium BCE Indian texts such as Katha Upanishad, Shvetashvatara Upanishad and Maitri Upanishad.
According sicuro Wujastyk, referencing Maas, Patanjali integrated yoga from older traditions sopra Patanjalayogasastra, and added his own explanatory passages to create the unified rete informatica that, since 1100 CE, has been considered the rete informatica of two people. Together the compilation of Patanjali’s sutras and the Vyasabhasya, is called Patanjalayogasastra.
Yogabhashya
The Yogabhashya is verso commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, traditionally attributed onesto the legendary Vedic sage Vyasa who is said puro have composed the Mahabharata. This commentary is indispensable for the understanding of the aphoristic and terse Yoga sutras, and the study of the sutras has always referred to the Yogabhashya. Some scholars see Vyasa as per later 4th or 5th century AD commentator (as opposed esatto the ancient mythic figure).
Scholars hold that both texts, the sutras and the commentary were written by one person. According esatto Philipp Verso. Maas, based on per study of the original manuscripts, Patanjali’s composition was entitled Patanjalayogasastra (“The Treatise on Yoga according sicuro Patanjali”) and consisted of both Sutras and Bha?ya. This means that the Bha?ya was per fact Patanjali’s own work.
The practice of writing a serie of aphorisms with the author’s own explanation was well known at the time of Patanjali, as for example durante Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosabha?ya (that Ricerca profilo only lads, incidentally, Patanjali quotes). These research findings change the historical understanding of the yoga tradition, since they allow us preciso take the Bha?ya as Patanjali’s very own explanation of the meaning of his somewhat cryptic sutras.
The Yogabhashya states that ‘yoga’ in the Yoga Sutras has the meaning of ‘samadhi’. Another commentary (the Vivarana) by a certain Shankara, confirms the interpretation of yogah samadhih (YBh. I.1): ‘yoga’ durante Patanjali’s sutra has the meaning of ‘integration’. This Shankara ed Vedantic scholar Adi Shankara (8th or 9th century). Scholarly opinion is still open on this issue.
Contents
Patanjali divided his Yoga Sutras into four chapters or books (Sanskrit Pada), containing per all 196 aphorisms, divided as follows:
- Samadhi Pada (51 sutras). Samadhi is a state of direct and reliable perception (prama?a) where “the seer” (Purusha, nonostante consciousness, the Self) abides sopra itself. Samadhi is the main technique the yogi learns by which to calm the workings of the mind, whereafter Kaivalya, the isolation of ‘the seer’ from the impurities of the mind, is attained. The author describes yoga and then the nature and the means of attaining samadhi.