Patanjali’s Eight-Limbed Yoga Path

Patanjali – Classical Yoga Philosophy – The Roots of Yoga

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the key text of Indian philosophy, which is concerned with the nature of the mind. It is the cornerstone of classical yoga and only includes one yoga posture for meditation, but does not mention or describe any other postures. Classical yoga is a discipline of Hinduism with the purpose of spiritual realization.

The texts of Patanjali are composed of 195 sutras (the word sutra means “a thread”). Sutra is a short statement that is easy to memorize and chant. The Patanjali sutras describes the path of yoga, it defines yoga as “the ability to control the fluctuations of the mind”.

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Patanjali’s texts also include the eight-limbed principals that should be followed in life when unaffected by adverse circumstances. Although not much is known about Patanjali; the sutras of Patanjali is one of the most important ancient texts of yoga. The name Patanjali means “Pat”, “to fall”; “anjali”, “a gesture of giving and receiving”.

The eight “limbs” paths of yoga practice are:

1. Yama (The five “abstentions”) – social conduct: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation in sex and all things, and non-greed.
2. Niyama (The five “observances”) – individual conduct: purity and cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study, and awareness and devotion to the highest.
3. Asana: stable posture open to meditation. This term literally means “seat,” and originally referred mainly to seated positions. With the rise of hatha yoga asana refers to all postures.
4. Pranayama: Control of prāna or vital breath to help concentrate one’s thoughts.
5. Pratyahara (”Abstraction”): Reversal of the sense organs to enhance inner perception ( “That by which the senses do not come into contact with their objects and, as it were, follow the nature of the mind.” — Vyasa).
6. Dharana (”Concentration”): Fixing the attention on a single object.
7. Dhyana (”Meditation”): a state of mind when concentration is enhanced.
8. Samadhi: Super-conscious state or trance (state of liberation), self-realization, cognitive unification. Freedom from all the ties of existence.

Practicing the eight limbs of yoga enables the clarity of perception necessary to achieve enlightenment or self-realization.

Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras presents the goal of yoga as ‘the cessation of mental fluctuations’ (cittavrtti nirodha), an achievement which gives rise to the possibility of stable meditation and thus deeper states of absorption (dhyana or samadhi). This requires considerable restraint (yama) and self-discipline (niyama; see below for Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga)). It is held as authoritative by all schools. Patanjali is also known for writing commentaries (Mahabhashya) on the Sutras of the great Sanskrit grammarian Panini. In fact, Panini, Patanjali and Kātyāyana are regarded are the highest authority not only in Sanskrit but also in the whole of Linguistics.

The classic description of yoga is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which form the basis not only of the darshana called “yoga”- one of six such “orthodox” (i.e. Veda-accepting) schools of Hindu philosophy- but also of the practice of yoga in most ashrams (to the extent these can be distinguished). The school (dharshana) of Indian philosophy known as “yoga” is primarily Upanishadic with roots in Samkhya, and some scholars see some influence from Buddhism. The Yoga philosophy fully believes in the epistemology of the Samkhya school, as well as its concept of the individual spirits (Purusha) and the Nature (Prakriti) – but differs from Samkhya’s atheism.

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