The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Installing a New Operating System
by Vyaas Houston, M.A.
In the early eighties, when I was working on a Master's Degree in Sanskrit at Columbia University, I had the idea that this could be a real opportunity to take some time to deeply assimilate Patanjali's Yoga Sutras by choosing it as a topic for my thesis. I began with the theory that this work could be truly understood if committed to memory, and worked on internally as a guide to spiritual practice.
The Yoga Sutras is a relatively short work, 196 sutras contained in four books or padas, and approaching the memorization in a methodical way, along with many chantings, after a time I was able to learn it by heart. I do remember the day that I completed the memorization. Even though it was just the beginning of really understanding the meaning of the text, there was a feeling of completion and fullness within, perhaps a glimpse of the great completion promised by the teachings. This completion is referred to four times in the Yoga Sutras. The term Patanjali uses is kaivalya, from the word kevala, meaning "only, alone, isolated" or "whole, entire, perfect" or "pure simple, unattended by anything else". Kaivalya is the state of freedom that could be described by any or all of these qualities. The four sutras defining kaivalya each in its own unique way are reached by various pathways in the text, each giving a unique and valuable perspective by plotting useful practices and insights to be recognized on this journey to self knowledge.
Read Part I (pdf) - with hand-drawn illustrations April 2009
Parts II and III (pdf) October 2009