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khya, which he assumed with slight variations. In the early works, the yoga prin
ciples appear together with the samkhya ideas. Vyasa's commentary on the Yoga Su
tras, also called the Samkhyapravacanabhasya (Commentary on the Exposition of th
e Sankhya Philosophy), brings out the intimate relation between the two systems.
[126] Yoga agrees with the essential metaphysics of samkhya, but differs from it
in that while samkhya holds that knowledge is the means of liberation, yoga is
a system of active striving, mental discipline, and dutiful action. Yoga also in
troduces the conception of god. Sometimes Patanjali's system is referred to as S
eshvara Samkhya in contradistinction to Kapila's Nirivara Samkhya.[127]
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Main articles: Raja Yoga and Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Traditional Hindu depiction of Patanjali as an avatar of the divine serpent Shes
ha.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali[128]
Pada (Chapter) English meaning
Sutras
Samadhi Pada
On being absorbed in spirit
51
Sadhana Pada
On being immersed in spirit
55
Vibhuti Pada
On supernatural abilities and gifts
56
Kaivalya Pada On absolute freedom
34
In Hindu philosophy, yoga is the name of one of the six orthodox (which accept t
he testimony of Vedas) philosophical schools.[129][130] The yoga school was foun
ded by Patanjali. Karel Werner, author of Yoga And Indian Philosophy, believes t
hat the process of systematization of yoga which began in the middle and Yoga Up
anishads culminated with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.[note 18] Scholars also no
te the influence of Buddhist and Samkhyan ideas on the Yoga Sutras.[131][132] Pa
tanjali's Yoga Sutras reminds us of Buddhist formulations from the Pali Canon, S
arvastivada Abhidharma and Sautrantika.[133] The yoga school accepts the samkhya
psychology and metaphysics, but is more theistic than the samkhya, as evidenced
by the addition of a divine entity to the samkhya's twenty-five elements of rea
lity.[134][135] The parallels between yoga and samkhya were so close that Max Mll
er says that "the two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from e
ach other as Samkhya with and Samkhya without a Lord...."[136] The intimate rela
tionship between samkhya and yoga is explained by Heinrich Zimmer:
These two are regarded in India as twins, the two aspects of a single discip
line. Sa?khya provides a basic theoretical exposition of human nature, enumerati
ng and defining its elements, analyzing their manner of co-operation in a state
of bondage ("bandha"), and describing their state of disentanglement or separati
on in release ("mok?a"), while yoga treats specifically of the dynamics of the p
rocess for the disentanglement, and outlines practical techniques for the gainin
g of release, or "isolation-integration" ("kaivalya").
[137]
Patanjali is widely regarded as the compiler of the formal yoga philosophy.[138]
The verses of Yoga Sutras are terse and are therefore read together with the Vy
asa Bhashya (c. 350 450 CE), a commentary on the Yoga Sutras.[139] Patanjali's yog
a is known as Raja yoga, which is a system for control of the mind.[140] Patanja
li defines the word "yoga" in his second sutra, which is the definitional sutra
for his entire work:
???: ?????-?????? ?????:
(yogas citta-v?tti-nirodha?)
- Yoga Sutras 1.2
This terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms. I. K. Taimn