Many translations have been made from the original Sanskrit
of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. They have become well loved,
well used, and well applied by many in all parts of the world
and of all religious beliefs. The Sutras have a power and a
timelessness about them which demonstrate the accuracy with
which they pinpoint the basic truths of human evolution from
subservience to personality clamours to the serene freedom of
the soul.
Most human problems today originate in selfish desire; the
prostitution of tile feeling nature to self-centred physical
appetites. This is also brought out clearly in the teaching
of the Lord Buddha, the treading of the Noble Eight-Fold Path
providing the only way out of the maze: "Right Values; Right
Speech; Right Mode of Living: Right Thinking: Right Expression;
Right Conduct; Right Effort; Right Rapture or True Happiness".
These are attributes of the soul.
Patanjali explores exhaustively the means, the techniques
and the mental posture which create the connecting thread between
the form-centred personality and these stages towards spiritual
achievement and soul fusion. The four parts of the book develop:
1. The Problem of Union (51 sutras).
2. The Steps to Union (55 sutras).
3. Union Achieved and Its Results (55 sutras).
4. Illumination (34 sutras)
Many different training techniques have been available over
the centuries, depending on the condition of human consciousness
and the phase of spiritual growth to be accomplished. Each "Yoga"
has had its place, fulfilled its function, and become an absorbed
part of human experience.
In this book the factor of mind in meeting present-day needs
is again given prominence as the agent of the soul, and the
key to personalitv release. These Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are
based on Raja Yoga, the "kingly science of tine soul": "Through
the science of Raja Yoga the mind will be known as the instrument
of the soul and the means whereby the brain of the aspirant
becomes illuminated and knowledge gained of those matters which
concern the realm of the Soul."
The soul is concerned with the working out of planetary purpose
and plan; so again we find that mental training, and the self-achievement
of the individual, lead to cooperation and service on a scale
far more comprehensive and of far grcater evolutionary significance
than merely the individual effects on the life of the disciple.
Sutra 31 of Part IV rings out like a bell and a clarion call
to those who venture on the path of union with the soul. "When
through the removal of hindrances and the purification of the
sheaths, the totality of knowledge becomes available, naught
further remains for the man to do."
