Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Vol2 Sadhana Pada

The Yoga-Sutra is a significant landmark in the protracted evolution of the yogic tradition. It formed the foundation text for an extensive commentarial literature stretching from the Yoga-Bhasya of Vyasa (c. 450 C.E.) to modern traditionalist interpretations in Hindi and other Indic vernaculars as well as various European languages, Notably English. The present volume by Swami Veda Bharati provides a learned commentary on the second chapter of the Yoga Sutra i.e., Sadhana Pada. This contains the core of Patanjali's philosophical and meta-psychological framework, and it also defines both the components of kriya-yoga and the first five components of eight-limbedastanga-yoga. This chapter demonstrates very clearly that in Yoga, theory and practice form a homogenous whole. The theoretical concepts were largely distilled from practical experience and, in turn, informed further experimentation on the path. How could we hope to travel the path mapped out by Patanjali without recourse to such pregnant concepts as citta, vrtti, pratyaya, samskara, vasana, asaya, nirodha, parinama, guna, pratiprasava? All these ideas were shaped in the intense practice environment of Yoga over many generations. Swami Veda Bharati brings to his exegesis a singular sensitivity and wonderful comprehension of yogic concepts, which are rooted in his extensive traditional training as a Sanskrit scholar and also his personal yogic practice. This latest contribution to our comprehension of Patanjali's teachings takes us a lot further than other similar endeavors. The Volume one of the Commentary on the Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali (samadhi-pada) was published in 1984 and is available from the HImalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy, Route I, Box 400, Honesdale, PA 18431, USA. It was highly acclaimed as a work of rare authenticity, based on thirteen Sanskrit commentaries, synthesized and studied in the light of the oral tradition and direct personal experience in the master-disciple lineage of the yogis. The author is of the opinion that without such personal experience much of the terminology of the Yoga-sutras would remain obscure and any explanation of purely scholastic grounds would be incomplete. The value of the present volume on the Sadhana-pada is further enhanced by adding the study of even more published Sanskrit commentaries as well as unpublished manuscripts. Seven lengthy appendices add to the value of the work as the material presented in these appendices can be further researched and enhanced to form into independent theses. The author makes certain that the works of the previous commentators be examined in the light of how the Sutras are taught in the Himalayan caves among those who practice the various methods and are initiated into them.