The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali

March 1, 2003
The "Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali" is a classic Sanskrit treatise consisting of 195 "threads" or aphorisms describing a process of liberation through yoga. Little is known about Patanjali, although most scholars estimate that he lived in India circa 200-300 B.C., possibly as early as 500 B.C. Patanjali organized the sutras into four parts: Samadhi (absorption), Sadhana (practice), Vibhuti (supernatural powers), and Kaivalya (liberation), and it adds up to a dense, difficult text describing the workings of consciousness and explaining how, through yoga, one can obtain liberation from the suffering caused by fluctuations in the mind. Attempting a new translation and commentary is an ambitious project for a layman like Hartranft, founder of a center dedicated to integrating yoga and Buddhist traditions, and his translation is notable for his attempts to interpret the sutras from a modern American Buddhist perspective. Hartranft occasionally oversimplifies and takes some questionable liberties in his zeal to link Patanjali to the Buddha, but his translation certainly succeeds in making Patanjali's esoteric theories comprehensible to today's readers. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)