← Wisdom Library
c. 400 CE (compiled; drawing on older oral tradition)

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

A terse, 196-aphorism manual on stilling the mind — the founding text of classical Yoga as a philosophical and psychological system, not merely a physical practice.

Introduction

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras open with a definition that still frames the entire field: yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. What follows across four compact chapters is less a set of physical postures — those occupy a small fraction of the text — and more a systematic psychology of attention, affliction, and self-mastery, built around the eight-limbed path (ashtanga) from ethical restraint through concentration to absorption. Its closest intellectual relatives today are found less in yoga studios than in contemplative psychology and attention research.

Key Themes

  • ✦Chitta vritti nirodha — stilling the fluctuations of the mind
  • ✦The eight limbs (ashtanga) — an integrated ethical and mental discipline
  • ✦The five kleshas — root causes of psychological suffering
  • ✦Concentration (dharana), absorption (dhyana), and integration (samadhi)

Recommended Translations

  • —Edwin F. Bryant, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary
  • —B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali