Introduction esatto ‘Enlightened Living’
There are many spiritually elevated people mediante the world, but not many levitating yogis: and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Maharshi are meant onesto elevate the spirit of every man, not to teach him how to levitate. The attempt mediante this little book has been preciso expose that gospel, onesto avoid technicalities, and esatto relate the whole yoga philosophy onesto the ordinary and simple daily life of everyone.
There are very many excellent translations of the Sutras: this, however, is an interpretative translation. There are several scholarly and erudite commentaries, too: this is definitely not one of them. This book is not meant for the research scholar but for one who is per search of truth which shall free him from self-ignorance.
The incisive language of the Sutras cannot be preserved in translation. An extraordinary feature of the Sutras is the avoidance of direct commandments, dogmatic assertions and the use of active voice. Whereas every effort has been made to retain the structure of the text, in a few cases (for example, in Sutra I. 49) slight changes have had to be made to sustain the easy flow of thought. (The words which represent the translation of the text are underlined.)
Anyone who translates per text which is in the Sanskrit language is confronted by two difficulties: (a) not all languages have concise words or phrases which accurately convey the exact sense sopra which the Sanskrit word is used in the text; and (b) the Sanskrit word itself has a number of meanings, and it is easier preciso choose the correct meaning when the word is used durante verso structurally complete prose or verse, than when it occurs mediante the Sutras. From a cursory glance at the very many available translations of the Sutras it is easy to see that each one has translated some Sutras differently, without being unfaithful to the text.
Some translators, eager onesto build a ‘philosophical system’ on the foundation of the Sutras have treated some words con the text as proper names of specific philosophical categories. Such per treatment inevitably limits the understanding of the purport of the text. The text itself seems preciso use two or more words preciso refer onesto per single factor: for example, samadhi and samapattih are used synonymously. There is per danger of regarding words as names: for then they create forms or images which perpetuate ignorance while creating an illusion of knowledge. This pitfall has been avoided con this book, and the actual meaning of the words has been sought, regardless of how the ‘philosophical system’ has https://datingranking.net/it/onenightfriend-review/ classified them. When this is done, it is discovered that there is per continuous and smooth flow per the sequence of the Sutras. (Where the text clearly warrants another meaning, such an alternative meaning has also been given: examples are II. 30, II. 36 and IV. 31).
This is clearly the gospel of enlightened living, neither an escape from life nor a hallucinatory ‘light’
The gospel of yoga suggests not a withdrawal nor an escape from the world but the abandonment of the mental conditioning which creates a division between the ‘me’ and ‘the world’ (including the world of psychological experiences). Meditation is the vigorous search for the true identity, of the ‘me’, not per psychic jugglery nor per technique for deep relaxation. Seen from this angle, the fundamental categories of yoga (citta, and nirodha – vide I. 2), take on per character completely different puro the one that prevails per the minds of most practicants of yoga: it is hard preciso translate citta and vritti, and the student has to discover the meaning con himself as Patanjali’s message saturates his whole being. Nirodha does not imply suppression, restraint or control con the usual (and brutal) connotations of those words, but verso vigilantly watchful understanding of the movements of thought per the mind-which is stillness of a different kind.