Our Inspiration

The Yoga Sutras
of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras, authored by Patanjali sometime between the fourth and second centuries BC, is, in the condensed form of 196 sutras, an exposition of the essential philosophy and techniques of Yoga. Sutra means "thread" or "string." The Yoga Sutras bind together the essential aspects of Yoga as a thread binds the beads of a necklace.

The Yoga Sutras is divided into four sections. Chapter I answers the question “What is Yoga?” and since the goal of Yoga is the higher state of consciousness called Samadhi, it is entitled Samadhi Pada. Chapter II, Sadhana Pada, studies the causes of suffering and describes external practices (Sadhana) by which to alleviate these sufferings. Explained in chapter III, Vibhuti Pada, are psychic powers that may be obtained after long and dedicated practice and higher internal practices leading the aspirant to Samadhi.  Vibhuti means, "divine power." Chapter IV deals with the philosophy and metaphysics of Yoga and the nature of mind and consciousness with the practical aim of spiritual freedom, Kaivalya. This final chapter is called Kaivalya Pada.

The first chapter of the Yoga Sutras begins:

ATHA-YOGANUSASANAM
Now the discipline of Yoga is explained.

YOGAS CHITTA-VRTTI-NIRODHAH
Yoga or union is the cessation of the thinking mind: "Who am I?"

TADA DRASTUH SVA-RUPE'VASTHANAM
Then the witness is established in its own form, pure Self-awareness.

What is Yoga?
Why do we do it?

The goal of yoga is to alleviate suffering, to live a life in balance and peace. So we must first ask the question, "What is the cause of suffering?" The mind is the cause of suffering. Yoga, as described in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, is a system of experiential techniques and controls designed to teach us how to get out of the thinking mind, which is always asking, "who am I, why am I here?" The thinking mind always lives in the past and future, planning and remembering, bringing us pleasure and its opposite, pain.

Yoga teaches how to master the mind because if the mind becomes the master we become miserable. We need our body and our mind since together they are the vehicles through which we see, feel and experience; but we need to drive our car, and not have the car drive us. Through the practices of raja yoga, right living, asana, pranayama, and meditation, the mind can eventually be stilled.  Then we become the witnesses, established in awareness of the pure Self: I Am, without identification with the body and mind, the cause of all our suffering. 

In other words: "Be still and know I am that I-AM."