The Importance of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras By Yogi Sadhu Shree

One of the most significant books that have ever been written on yoga is the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. It was written more than 2 millennia ago, but it continues to teach yoga students across the world today. These ancient teachings appear as a complete guide to yoga and are composed of 196 verses in short, easily memorizable but rich in significance. As yoga instructors, we have observed the use of these verses in simple form so that the students can know what yoga is all about and how to practice it in their day to day life. What Patanjali wrote several thousands years ago perfectly suits people who live in the modern world.

 

The Foundation of Classical Yoga

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the earliest structured texts on yoga philosophy and practice. Prior to the compilation of these sutras by Patanjali, the knowledge of yoga was mainly in the oral tradition and handed down through generations with guru to disciple. The extraordinary thing about the work of Patanjali is that he did not invent yoga, but he managed to systematise the teachings that were scattered into a systematic and practical system of yoga that can be practised by everyone. He condensed the contents of different yoga practices and philosophies into simple and simple-to-understand guidelines.

The Yoga Sutras are simple and well structured making them brilliant. Few words are intentionally used in each sutra, to memorise and meditate. This is not just by chance; Patanjali knew that it was only when wisdom is experienced that it could be true wisdom but not just a wisdom that one knows well in theory. The sutras are seeds of knowledge and when planted on the fertile soil of ordinary practice and contemplation they sprout to direct spiritual experience and change.

Discovering the Mind by the Sutras

Among the most important contributions to the work of Patanjali is the in-depth examination of the human mind and consciousness. The second sutra itself states yoga as – chitta vritti nirodha – the cessation of the mind. This is a very simple, but deep definition which makes it so that yoga is not just a physical exercise but a holistic style of discipline of the mind and spiritual enlightenment.

Patanjali understood what is only slowly being realized in the modern psychology of today, which is that what makes our mind an excellent mind makes our life an excellent life. He came up with the different ways of thinking that cause suffering, misunderstanding, ego, attachment, aversion, and fear of death. More importantly, he gave practical ways of observing, comprehending, and ultimately going beyond these patterns. According to the sutras, it is the witness-consciousness, which is the witness of thoughts, that we are not. This is the essential difference that is the basis of real change.

 

The Eight Limbs: The Full Path

Ashtanga Yoga, or the eight limbs, is, perhaps, the best-known section of the teachings of Patanjali. This system depicts yoga as a total system that encompasses all facets of human existence such as ethical behaviour, personal discipline, bodily position, regulation of breath, withdrawal of senses, concentration, meditation and ultimate absorption in pure consciousness.

The best thing with this eight-fold path is that it is gradual. Patanjali realised that one cannot force his/her spiritual progression, it has to flow naturally, with regular practise and patience. The journey starts with the sutras of yamas and niyamas – moral principles which provide a base of right livelihood. It is on this ethical basis that deeper practices will not only be shallow but also potentially dangerous.

 

Relevance in Modern Times

In the modern world, where a person is constantly distracted, there is too much information and people are anxious, the teachings of Patanjali have found their place more than ever. The Yoga Sutras deal with the basic state of a human being – his or her propensity towards mental disturbance and the intense desire to find peace and meaning. The challenges mentioned are not novel; they are the same challenges that seekers had to overcome thousands of years ago.

The sutras teach us some of the practical methods in dealing with stress, in creating a focus, and in attaining inner peace. In a world where success through the outside can never be of any long-lasting satisfaction, the wisdom of Patanjali guides our mind to ourselves and shows that only knowing our necessary nature brings true fulfillment. The meditation and conscious breathing techniques described in the sutras are proven by modern neuroscience as helpful methods of mental health and wellbeing improvement.

 

A Living Tradition

The most significant thing about the teachings of these Yoga Sutras is not how relevant they were, but it’s the fact that they are able to transform lives in even today’s chaotic world. The old poems are still relevant because they address the eternal and most important questions of human life: Who am I? What is the nature of reality? What will enable me to live a happy life? Responses provided by Patanjali are not concepts but are practical teachings that lead to first hand experience.

Since we are still learning, practising, living the teachings of Yoga Sutras, we are becoming a part of an endless chain of seekers who have already moved this way. The contribution of Patanjali to humanity is not merely a philosophic book, but an entire science of consciousness which when followed with a loving and serious mind will eventually end up with the ultimate goal of yoga which is the realisation of who we really are without the limitations of our bodies and minds.