2.2. Yoga Darśana

“atha yogānuśāsanam” (Yoga-sūtra 1/1)

“Now, an exposition of Yoga.”

The Yoga tradition is pan-universal and para-universal in its perspective.^[1] Patañjali Ṛṣi is the founder of the Yoga Darśana. By composing sūtras that encapsulate the principles of yoga, he molded it into the form of a darśana. For this reason, this darśana is also known as the Pātaṃjala Yoga Darśana. The Yogasūtras is the principal text of this Darśana. Several expositions and sub-commentaries have been later authored on this aphoristic text.^[2]

Yoga admits all the twenty-five entities of Sāṃkhya and adds Īśvara to it.^[3] Most of the belief systems in Sāṃkhya and Yoga remain the same. Yoga tells us about eight steps and Asamprajñātā, a deep meditation where one becomes unaware of the surroundings and remains in a trance for some period.

The ultimate objective of this darśana is to attain yoga.

“yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ” (Yoga-sūtra 1/2)

“Yoga’ is defined as the absolute concentration (nirodhā) of the citta,” the inner faculty that enables one to reflect and contemplate. As a consequence of this identification, topics such as the form of the citta, the nature of its content, and the means to its control, have been extensively deliberated. Within this discussion, the darśana describes eight steps as the means to attain yoga.

These eight steps are known as aṣṭāṅgayoga. They are:

1. yama,
2. niyama,
3. āsana,
4. prāṇāyāma,
5. pratyahara,
6. dhāraṇā,
7. dhyāna, and
8. samādhī.^[4]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ānnada Bālayogī Bhavanānī, Understanding the Yoga Darśana, Dhivyānanda creations,Puduchery, 2011

[2]:

Zimmer Heinrich, Philosophies Of India, Brahmanism, Meridian Books New York 1957, pp.333-409

[3]:

Prasāda Rāmā, Patanjai’s Yogasūtras with the commentary of Vyāsa and the gloss of Vācaspati Miśrā, Munśīrāma Manoharalāla, p.8

[4]:

Prasāda Rāmā, p.155.