Introduction by Bhoja

देहार्द्धयोगः शिवयोः स श्रेयांसि तनोतु वः |
दुष्प्रापमपि यत्स्मृत्या जनः कैवल्यमश्नुते || 1 ||

dehārddhayogaḥ śivayoḥ sa śreyāṃsi tanotu vaḥ |
duṣprāpamapi yatsmṛtyā janaḥ kaivalyamaśnute || 1 ||

1. Salutation to Gaṇeśa. May that semi-corporeal union^[1] of Śiva and his spouse (Śivā) by the recollection of which man enjoys isolation,^[2] hard as it is to attain, shower on you all blessings!

त्रिविधान्यपि दुःखानि यदनुस्मरणान्नृणाम् |
प्रयान्ति सद्यो विलयं तं स्तुमः शिवमव्ययम् || 2 ||

trividhānyapi duḥkhāni yadanusmaraṇānnṛṇām |
prayānti sadyo vilayaṃ taṃ stumaḥ śivamavyayam || 2 ||

2. We praise that eternal Śiva the thought of whom forthwith dissolves the threefold pain^[3] which besets mankind.

पतञ्जलिमुनेरुक्तिः काप्यपूर्वा जयत्यसौ |
पुंप्रकृत्योर्वियोगो'पि योग इत्युदितो यया || 3 ||

patañjalimuneruktiḥ kāpyapūrvā jayatyasau |
puṃprakṛtyorviyogo'pi yoga ityudito yayā || 3 ||

3. That unprecedented work^[4] of the sage Patañjali wherein he describes the severance of the soul (Puruṣa) from nature (Prakṛti) to be Yoga^[5] (true union) reigns supreme.

जयन्ति वाचः फणिभर्तुरान्तरस्फुरत्तमस्तोमनिशाकरत्विषः |
विभाव्यमानाः सततं मनांसि याः सतां सदानन्दमयानि कुर्वते || 4 ||

jayanti vācaḥ phaṇibharturāntarasphurattamastomaniśākaratviṣaḥ |
vibhāvyamānāḥ satataṃ manāṃsi yāḥ satāṃ sadānandamayāni kurvate || 4 ||

4. May the sayings of the lord of snakes,^[6] which are even as the light of the moon to the mass of expanding darkness of the human mind, and the appreciation of which always fills the mind of good people with lasting happiness—may they prosper!

शब्दानामनुशासनं विदधता पातञ्जले कुर्वता वृत्तिं राजमृगाङ्कसंज्ञकमपि व्यतन्वता वैद्यके |
वाक्चेतोवपुषां मलः फणिभृतां भर्त्रेव येनोद्धृतस्तस्य श्रीरणरङ्गमल्लनृपतेर्वाचो जयन्त्युज्ज्वलाः || 5 ||

śabdānāmanuśāsanaṃ vidadhatā pātañjale kurvatā vṛttiṃ rājamṛgāṅkasaṃjñakamapi vyatanvatā vaidyake |
vākcetovapuṣāṃ malaḥ phaṇibhṛtāṃ bhartreva yenoddhṛtas tasya śrīraṇaraṅgamallanṛpatervāco jayantyujjvalāḥ || 5 ||

5. The glorious words of the king Raṇaraṅgamalla,^[7] who, like the lord of snakes, has cast off all impurity from his speech, mind and body, who has (like unto him) compiled a work on the government of words, who has commented on Patañjali, and written on medicine a treatise called the Rājamṛgāṅka^[8]—may they prosper.

दुर्बोधं यदतीव तद्विजहति स्पष्टार्थमित्युक्तिभिः स्पष्टार्थेष्वतिविस्तृतिं विदधति व्यर्थैः समासादिकैः |
अस्थाने'नुपयोगिभिश्च बहुभिर्जल्पैर्भ्रमं तन्वते श्रोतॄणामिति वस्तुविप्लवकृतः सर्वे'पि टीकाकृतः || 6 ||

durbodhaṃ yadatīva tadvijahati spaṣṭārthamityuktibhiḥ spaṣṭārtheṣvativistṛtiṃ vidadhati vyarthaiḥ samāsādikaiḥ |
asthāne'nupayogibhiśca bahubhirjalpairbhramaṃ tanvate śrotṝṇāmiti vastuviplavakṛtaḥ sarve'pi ṭīkākṛtaḥ || 6 ||

6. All commentators are perverters of the meaning of their authors; they avoid those parts which are most difficult to understand, by saying that the meaning there is obvious; they dilate upon those parts with useless compound terms where the meaning is plain; they confound their hearers by misplaced and inappropriate dissertations without number.^[9]

उत्सृज्य विस्तरमुदस्य विकल्पजालं फल्गुप्रकाशमवधार्य च सम्यगर्थान् |
अन्तःपतञ्जलिमते विवृतिर्मयेयमातन्यते बुधजनप्रतिबोधहेतुः || 7 ||

utsṛjya vistaramudasya vikalpajālaṃ phalguprakāśamavadhārya ca samyagarthān |
antaḥpatañjalimate vivṛtirmayeyamātanyate budhajanapratibodhahetuḥ || 7 ||

7. Avoiding voluminousness, keeping clear of all mystifying and obviously worthless network of words, and abstracting the inmost meaning, I publish this exposition of the sage Patañjali for the edification of intelligent persons.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A fit of jealousy, according to the Kālikā Purāṇa, had caused a temporary separation between Śiva and his spouse Durgā. On their reconciliation, the lady besought her master to devise some means by which the possibility of all future separation could be obviated, and the expedient was hit of uniting their bodies so as to make of the two an androgynous figure, half male and half female. Other causes have been assigned for this union.

[2]:

Separation of the human soul from all association with nature. Vide p. 207.

[3]:

Viz., 1st, those proceeding from internal causes; 2nd, those from natural and extrinsic causes; 3rd, those that proceed from superhuman causes. Vide Wilson’s Sāṅkhya-kārikā, p. 2.

[4]:

Lit., saying.

[5]:

A play upon the word Yoga. The purport is that a total abandonment of, lit. disunion from (viyoga), the world is a conditio sine qua non to the Yogi, which is the end sought by the Yoga system of Philosophy. In other words what is separation from sensuous objects is the union or dissolution of the thinking principle in its original source.

[6]:

Patañjali is believed to have been an incarnation of Ananta, and the title indicates that idea. Vide Introduction, p. lxvii.

[7]:

A title of Bhoja.

[8]:

All these works of Bhoja are still extant.

[9]:

“Commentators each dark passage shun—
And hold a farthing rush-light to the sun.”
St. Jerome “not versions but inversions.”
Italian, Traduttori traditori “Translators traitors.”
“Surrender rather than render;
Not turning, but overturning.”