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Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras

Below are links to the 4 padas (chapters or feet) that comprise Patanali’s yoga sutras. These were compiled from two different texts (T. K. V. Desikachar’s The Heart of Yoga and Vyaas Houston’s The Yoga Sutra Workbook) both of which having subtle differences and numerous inconsistencies. My effort in merging the two was to remove as many inconsistencies as possible creating as accurate a representation as I could.

The sanskrit and transliteration were generated using a nifty little Windows program called Itranslator. This program is not only a neat thing to play around with but it also installs the fonts necessary to view these pages. Please be sure to download, run, and install this software before clicking on the links below. Here’s a brief pronunciation guide to help out.

If you notice any errors or you have other texts that might help resolve any inconsistencies please let me know. Thanks and enjoy!

Attention Macintosh users: you must install the Devanagari MT font from your OS installation disc. Insert disc 1 and run the Install Other Program (or something like that). Select Additional Fonts or All Fonts, etc. Without these fonts you will not be able to view these pages.

First Pada

॥ अथ समाधिपादः॥ || atha samādhipādaḥ || I.1 अथ योगानुशासनम्॥ १॥ atha yogānuśāsanam I.2 योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः॥ २॥ yogaścittavṛttinirodhaḥ I.3 तदा द्रष्‍टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम्॥ ३॥ tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe’vasthānam I.4 वृत्तिसारूप्यमितरत्र॥ ४॥ vṛttisārūpyamitaratra I.5 वृत्तयः पञ्चतय्यः क्‍लिष्‍टाक्‍लिष्‍टाः॥ ५॥ vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ I.6 प्रमाणविपर्ययविकल्पनिद्रास्मृतयः॥ ६॥ pramāṇaviparyayavikalpanidrāsmṛtayaḥ I.7 प्रत्यक्षानुमानागमाः प्रमाणानि॥ ७॥ pratyakṣānumānāgamāḥ pramāṇāni I.8 विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानमतद्रूपप्रतिष्‍ठम्॥ ८॥ viparyayo mithyājñānamatadrūpapratiṣṭham I.9 शब्दज्ञानानुपाती …

Fourth Pada

॥ अथ कैवल्यपादः॥ || atha kaivalyapādaḥ ||   IV.1 जन्मौषधिमन्त्रतपःसमाधिजाः सिद्धयः॥ १॥ janmauṣadhimantratapaḥsamādhijāḥ siddhayaḥ || 1 ||   IV.2 जात्यन्तरपरिणामः प्रकृत्यापूरात्॥ २॥ jātyantarapariṇāmaḥ prakṛtyāpūrāt || 2 ||   IV.3 निमित्तमप्रयोजकं प्रकृतीनां वरणभेदस्तु ततः क्षेत्रिकवत्॥ ३॥ nimittamaprayojakaṁ prakṛtīnāṁ varaṇabhedastu tataḥ kṣetrikavat || 3 ||   IV.4 निर्माणचित्तान्यस्मितामात्रात्॥ ४॥ nirmāṇacittānyasmitāmātrāt || 4 ||   IV.5 प्रवृत्तिभेदे प्रयोजकं …

Sanskrit Pronunciation

1) k g c j ṭ ḍ t d p b (all consonants) are pronounced with minimal breath, much less than is used in the release in English. 2) the ‘h‘ which follows the same consonants (kh, gh, etc.) designates additional breath released simultaneous to the consonant. 3) ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ are cerebral, pronounced by …

Second Pada

॥ अथ साधनपादः॥ || atha sādhanapādaḥ ||   II.1 तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः॥ १॥ tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ   II.2 समाधिभावनार्थः क्‍लेशतनूकरणार्थश्च॥ २॥ samādhibhāvanārthaḥ kleśatanūkaraṇārthaśca   II.3 अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्‍लेशाः॥ ३॥ avidyāsmitārāgadveṣābhiniveśāḥ kleśāḥ   II.4 अविद्या क्षेत्रमुत्तरेषां प्रसुप्ततनुविच्छिन्नोदाराणाम्॥ ४॥ avidyā kṣetramuttareṣāṁ prasuptatanuvicchinnodārāṇām   II.5 अनित्याशुचिदुःखानात्मसु नित्यशुचिसुखात्मख्यातिरविद्या॥ ५॥ anityāśuciduḥkhānātmasu nityaśucisukhātmakhyātiravidyā   II.6 दृग्दर्शनशक्‍त्योरेकात्मतेवास्मिता॥ ६॥ dṛgdarśanaśaktyorekātmatevāsmitā   II.7 सुखानुशय रागः॥ ७॥ sukhānuśayaī …

Third Pada

॥ अथ विभूतिपादः॥ || atha vibhūtipādaḥ ||   III.1 देशबन्धश्चित्तस्य धारणा॥ १॥ deśabandhaścittasya dhāraṇā   III.2 तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम्॥ २॥ tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam   III.3 तदेवार्थमात्रनिर्भासं स्वरूपशून्यमिव समाधिः॥ ३॥ tadevārthamātranirbhāsaṁ svarūpaśūnyamiva samādhiḥ   III.4 त्रयमेकत्र संयमः॥ ४॥ trayamekatra saṁyamaḥ   III.5 तज्‍जयात् प्रज्ञालोकः॥ ५॥ tajjayāt prajñālokaḥ   III.6 तस्य भूमिषु विनियोगः॥ ६॥ tasya bhūmiṣu viniyogaḥ …