Patanjali Yog Sutra – Atha yoga anushasanam 1.1

Many of us struggle to get a grip of our lives and make sense of our surroundings and seek clarity about ourselves and the world around us. While everybody else seems to be working on different ways to figure out life through different modalities, the Vedic wisdom of India, since the past many thousands of years, has had a complete and systematic science to solve this problem – the Yog Sutras of Patanjali.

196 in number, and divided into four chapters, these sutras answer most of the questions that we all have, at one or the other stage of our life and we seek answers to! The main intent of these sutras is to help us see the outer reality, as it is, without lenses, and at the same time, be deeply connected with our inner reality. These sutras, help us make sense of ourselves if we are willing to look at it with the right expectations and if we are ready to work on it.

Patanjali approaches these sutras as a scientist would – being very direct and terse. These sutras are presented in the same way as a scientist would present an equation, whose meaning has to be expanded, layer by layer. Each sutra is loaded with knowledge and has to be internalized and lived, for one to capture its essence and wisdom.

I have deeply benefitted from these Sutras and hence attempt to share my understanding of the same. I do not claim to be an authority on the subject, however, I am blessed to have gained my understanding from very eminent teachers, who are at the top of their fields, and I plan to share a few of these teachings with you. My approach towards these sutras is not a classical one, but I do have a very unique and creative perspective, where I explore the sutras from a very contemporary lens and wish to convey what I have lived, breathed, and enjoyed!

Without wasting words, in the first Sutra itself, Patanjali embarks on this journey of Self realization. The first sutra heralds the learning.