Best Yoga Sutra Translations
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The foundational text of the yoga philosophy is the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali. It's part of the Mauryan sutra corpus, that is: the earliest part of the text was composed somewhere between 321B and 185BC.
The Yoga Sutras are a very short text of concentrated verses. Because it's so concentrated, the Sanskrit is extremely hard to translate. This means that most translations are in fact translations plus commentaries.
There are a LOT of commentaries on the Yoga Sutras, because every Indian spiritual teacher of note has written one. Every teacher aspiring to greatness has also written a translation/commentary. In addition to that, the most famous commentaries have also been commented on.
Defining yoga
Yoga is establishing the mind (chitta) in stillness.
(Ravi Ravindra, The Wisdom of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Guide, p. 5)
The most famous sentence in the whole sutras is the second verse, which defines yoga. Personally I think that the direction of the commentary can usually be extracted from the translators idea on how that verse should be read. From the definition of yoga, everything else follows.
Philosophy in the Yoga Sutras
While the yoga sutras, like all yoga philosophy, mainly address yoga as a spiritual path, they also point to a philosophy. The philosophy of the Yoga Sutras is mainly based on the Samkhya philosophy of ancient India, but you'll also find the influence of Jainism, Buddhism and the Upanishads.
Summary of the Yoga Sutras
The yoga philosophy of life can be summarized based on the 8 limbs (ashtanga):
- Yama : Universal morality
- Niyama : Personal observances
- Asanas : Body postures
- Pranayama : Breathing exercises, and control of prana
- Pratyahara : Control of the senses
- Dharana : Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness
- Dhyana : Devotion, Meditation on the Divine
- Samadhi : Union with the Divine
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