Introduction to ‘Enlightened Living’
There are many spiritually elevated people per the world, but not many levitating yogis: and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Maharshi are meant sicuro elevate the spirit of every man, not preciso teach him how onesto levitate. The attempt durante this little book has been sicuro expose that gospel, onesto avoid technicalities, and onesto relate the whole yoga philosophy to the ordinary and simple daily life of everyone.
There are very many excellent translations of the Sutras: this, however, is an interpretative translation. There are several scholarly and erudite commentaries, too: this is definitely not one of them. This book is not meant for the research scholar but for one who is mediante search of truth which shall free him from self-ignorance.
The incisive language of the Sutras cannot be preserved in translation. An extraordinary feature of the Sutras is the avoidance of direct commandments, dogmatic assertions and the use of active voice. Whereas every effort has been made to retain the structure of the text, in a few cases (for example, in Sutra I. 49) slight changes have had to be made to sustain the easy flow of thought. (The words which represent the translation of the text are underlined.)
Anyone who translates per text which is mediante the Sanskrit language is confronted by two difficulties: (a) not all languages have concise words or phrases which accurately convey the exact sense in which the Sanskrit word is used per the text; and (b) the Sanskrit word itself has verso number of meanings, and it is easier esatto choose the correct meaning when the word is used durante per structurally complete prose or verse, than when it occurs con the Sutras. From verso cursory glance at the very many available translations of the Sutras it is easy puro see that each one has translated some Sutras differently, without being unfaithful to the text.
Some translators, eager to build verso ‘philosophical system’ on the foundation of the Sutras have treated some words per the text as proper names of specific philosophical categories. Such verso treatment inevitably limits the understanding of the purport of the text. The text itself seems sicuro use two or more words preciso refer preciso per celibe factor: for example, samadhi and samapattih are used synonymously. There is verso danger of regarding words as http://www.datingranking.net/it/mytranssexualdate-review/ names: for then they create forms or images which perpetuate ignorance while creating an illusion of knowledge. This pitfall has been avoided per this book, and the actual meaning of the words has been sought, regardless of how the ‘philosophical system’ has classified them. When this is done, it is discovered that there is per continuous and smooth flow in the sequence of the Sutras. (Where the text clearly warrants another meaning, such an alternative meaning has also been given: examples are II. 30, II. 36 and IV. 31).
This is clearly the gospel of enlightened living, neither an escape from life nor verso hallucinatory ‘light’
The gospel of yoga suggests not per withdrawal nor an escape from the world but the abandonment of the mental conditioning which creates verso division between the ‘me’ and ‘the world’ (including the world of psychological experiences). Meditation is the vigorous search for the true identity, of the ‘me’, not per psychic jugglery nor a technique for deep relaxation. Seen from this angle, the fundamental categories of yoga (citta, and nirodha – vide I. 2), take on per character completely different to the one that prevails sopra the minds of most practicants of yoga: it is hard to translate citta and vritti, and the student has to discover the meaning con himself as Patanjali’s message saturates his whole being. Nirodha does not imply suppression, restraint or control per the usual (and brutal) connotations of those words, but per vigilantly watchful understanding of the movements of thought durante the mind-which is stillness of per different kind.