This paper discusses a series of sūtras of Patañjali’s Yogasūtra, namely 1.10, 1.21–23, and 2.9, in the light of their paraphrase and/or interpretation found in the Dharma Pātañjala (‘Book/System of Patañjali’), an Old Javanese-Sanskrit Śaiva scripture retrieved from a rare West Javanese codex unicus dated ca. 1450 AD. Besides a philosophical exposition of the tenets of a form of Śaiva Siddhānta, the Dharma Pātañjala contains a long presentation of the yoga system that apparently follows the first three chapters of Patañjal’s Yogasūtra, either interweaving Sanskrit excerpts from an untraced versified version of the latter text with an Old Javanese commentary, or directly rendering into Old Javanese what appears to be an original Sanskrit commentary. Although the Old Javanese prose often bears a strong resemblance with the arrangement and formulation of the topics treated in the Yogasūtrabhāṣya, it diverges from that commentary in several respects. The Dharma Pātañjala often presents specific doctrinal details that are found in other (sub)commentaries or in the Arabic rendering of the sūtras-cum-commentary composed by al-Bīrūnī before 1030 AD, or adds original elements that are unattested elsewhere. The testimony of the Dharma Pātañjala turns out to be useful in order to solve some of the dilemmas posed by the selected sūtras. It may also help us to better understand the textual cultural transmission and cultural reception of Patañjali’s work in both South and Southeast Asia, for its author, rather than freely borrowing from different Sanskrit commentaries, appear to have drawn upon an as yet unidentified, and possibly lost, ‘common source’.
In this work, three texts have been brought together for the first time. The question of the authorship of YSBHV has been vexed one and has engaged the attention of scholars for a long time. In this work the authorship problem has been examined in great detail on the basis of both the internal and external evidences. The author has also drawn attention to some specific references to Vacaspati Misra in the body of the Vivarana. This hopefully should settle once and for all the authorship problem. Printed Pages: 902.
The Yogasastra and its voluminous auto-commentary, the Svopajnavrtti, is the most comprehensive treatise on Svetambara Jainism. Written in the twelfth century by the polymath Hemacandra, it was instrumental in the survival and growth of Jainism in India as well as in the spreading of Sanskrit culture within Jaina circles. Its influence extended far beyond confessional and geographical borders and it came to serve as a handbook for the Jain community in Gujarat and overseas. It is a systematic presentation of a set of ideas and practices originally belonging to the Svetambara canonical scriptures and traditions molded into a coherent whole with the help of a long row of scholastic thinkers. Hemacandra integrates innovations of his own as well as non-Jaina elements of pan-Indian and Saiva provenance, attesting to a strong Tantric influence on medieval Jainism. Some of these elements came to be perpetually included within Svetambara orthopraxy and orthodoxy due to the normative status acquired by the Yogasastra. The present translation is the first of its kind in a Western language.
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In just 196 short aphorisms, this classic work of Indian philosophy spells out succinctly how the mind works, and how it is possible to use the mind to attain liberation. Compiled in the second or third century CE, the Yoga-Sutra is a road map of human consciousness—and a particularly helpful guide to the mind states one encounters in meditation, yoga, and other spiritual practices. It expresses the truths of the human condition with great eloquence: how we know what we know, why we suffer, and how we can discover the way out of suffering. Chip Hartranft's fresh translation and extensive, lucid commentary bring the text beautifully to life. He also provides useful auxiliary materials, including an afterword on the legacy of the Yoga-Sutra and its relevance for us today.
The Indian system of philosophy is the store-house which has supplied spiritual food, through the ages, to all the nations of the world. Other teachings, whatever they be, are but the sauces and the spices, useful so long as this philosophy supplies the spiritual inspiration.Yogasutra of Patanjali is divided into four chapters. It comprises aphorisms on the system of yoga. The aphorisms relate to the subject of Spiritual Absorption (Samadhi), Means of Practice (Sadhana), Accomplishments (Vibhuti) and Emancipation (Kaivalya). To expound further: Ch. I explains the grades of Spiritual Action for the restraint of the exhibitive operations of the mind. Until that is done no yogic achievement is possible. Ch. II deals with the process of Material Action which can attenuate the gross impurities that have entered into the mind. Ch. III pertains to the Dissolutionary Change of the worldly life by means of Samyama. Ch. IV explains the working of threefold action— the present action, the stored-up action and the regulated fruitive action. It teaches how the individual soul, released from the bond of actions, realizes the Reality of the Supreme Being wherein the individual souls merge into Brahman as rivers do into the ocean. The entire system of Yoga, in all its categories, is nowhere better treated than in this book.
The Yogasutra is one of the most important works of Indian culture. The present book is an attempt of interpretation of the Yogasutras based on some special criteria adopted by the authros: (1) To use the traditional commentaries as auxiliaries, not as guides, with prudence and freedom, (2) To interpret those Sutras, in which Patanjali analyzes real phenomena, as what they actually are: descriptions of facts of experience. To such an end the authors have tried to have a clear idea of the phenomena to which Patanjali refers, and in this task they have found extremely useful the descriptions of their mystical experiences by Yogis of India and Christian mystics. The book includes the Sanskrit text of the Sutras and an English translation by the authors.
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