{"id":633,"date":"2018-02-23T18:02:22","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T12:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/blog\/?p=633"},"modified":"2018-02-23T18:02:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T12:32:22","slug":"yoga-suthras-an-intro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/2018\/02\/23\/yoga-suthras-an-intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoga Suthras &#8211; an Intro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-634\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/patanjali-1.jpg\" alt=\"patanjali\" width=\"740\" height=\"1317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/patanjali-1.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/patanjali-1-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/patanjali-1-575x1024.jpg 575w, https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/patanjali-1-624x1111.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Introduction to the Vedhas, Dar\u015bhanas, S\u016bthras and \u00a0<\/strong><strong style=\"line-height: 1.7; font-size: 1rem;\">Sage Pathanjali &#8211; (Compiled by L Vasudev under the guidance of Sri Sridhar of Yoga Rakshanam)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vedhas emanated from god as revealed directly to various \u1e5a\u1e63his. They were put together by Vedha Vy\u0101sa and that is how we have them today. Vedhas comes from the word <em>\u2018vidhu\u2019<\/em> meaning \u2018to know\u2019. Each Vedha has a meter, a \u1e5a\u1e63hi associated with it and a presiding Devath\u0101.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>While Jainism believed in heaven but not God, Vedhic teaching believed in the \u2018ultimate\u2019. Those who believe in Vedhic teaching are called <em>\u0100sthikas<\/em> and those who do not <em>N\u0101sthikas<\/em> .<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Vedhas have two parts namely <em>Gny\u0101na <\/em>and <em>Karma<\/em> i.e. knowledge and action or precept and ritual.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>At the same time, there was the school of Ch\u0101ruv\u0101ka (also pronounced Ch\u0101rv\u0101ka) which claimed that there was \u2018nothing before and nothing after\u2019. His school highlighted the absurdity of the Vedhas by the story of a horse sacrifice where the priests expounded that whilst the sacrificial horse would go straight to heaven, those that caused the sacrifice would benefit on earth. Ch\u0101rv\u0101ka asked why those that cause the sacrifice should not themselves jump into the sacrificial fire and go straight to heaven instead of languishing on this earth!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Commentaries on the Vedhas were called D<em>ar\u015bhana <\/em>and consist of the following:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u2018Ny\u0101ya\u2019<\/em> or logic<\/li>\n<li><em>\u2018Vai\u015bhe\u1e63hika\u2019 <\/em>or \u2018how to prove\u2019<\/li>\n<li><em>\u2018Samkhya\u2019 <\/em>or \u2018to know very well\u2019<\/li>\n<li><em>\u2018Yoga\u2019<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u2018P\u016brva m\u012bm\u0101nsa\u2019 <\/em>or \u2018rituals\u2019<\/li>\n<li><em>\u2018Vedh\u0101ntha\u2019 <\/em>meaning \u2018after, end or essence of the Vedhas\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Any man made text (to differentiate from the Vedhas from God) followed the structure given below:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li><em>\u2018P\u016brvapak\u1e63ha\u2019<\/em> or \u2018statement of issue\u2019.<\/li>\n<li>\u2018<em>Khha\u1e47\u1e0danam\u2019<\/em> or \u2018criticism of the issue\u2019<\/li>\n<li>\u2018<em>Siddh\u0101ntha\u2019<\/em> or \u2018the correct view\u2019, and<\/li>\n<li><em>\u2018Uttharapak\u1e63ha\u2019<\/em> or conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Next came the \u2018<em>S\u016bthras\u2019:<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>S\u016bthras are characterized by a short form (like power point presentations!), less importance to verbs or grammar and, most importantly, required to be explained by a preceptor.<\/li>\n<li>S\u016bthras are discontinuous sometimes.<\/li>\n<li>S\u016bthra also means a garland of beads where the beads reveal the thread, and the thread in turn, represents continuity of the idea.<\/li>\n<li>S\u016bthra also means direction.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>The six rules for S\u016bthras are:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Economy of words (with no unnecessary words)<\/li>\n<li>Direction should be very clear<\/li>\n<li>Essence (i.e. no frills)<\/li>\n<li>Universal in application or <em>\u2018vi\u015bhwathomukhham\u2019<\/em> i.e. manifold faces<\/li>\n<li>Capable of being proved (i.e. no poetic freedom)<\/li>\n<li>No criticism of another point of view \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 but strictly confined to stating only your chosen point of view<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Sage Pathanjali is the author of the Yoga S\u016bthras. The story of this sage is as follows:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>When the world was in turmoil and people prayed to Lord Vi\u1e63h\u1e47u, he decided to send \u0100dhi \u015ahe\u1e63ha down to earth to assess the situation.<\/li>\n<li>\u0100dhi \u015ahe\u1e63ha took the form of a human up to the shoulder and a snake with a thousand hoods above, and fell into a devotee\u2019s hands held in supplication. His hoods were white and he held a <em>\u2018\u015ahankhha\u2019, \u2018Chakra\u2019<\/em> and a knife in three of his four hands.<\/li>\n<li>Therefore the name Pathanjali where <em>\u2018Path\u2019<\/em> means to fall into and \u2018<em>Anjali<\/em>\u2019 refers to the mudhr\u0101 of supplication<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Pathanjali found three ailments namely of health, speech and the mind. He prescribed Ayur Vedha for health, Grammar for speech and Yoga for the mind.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The story about the Yoga S\u016bthras goes that:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Pathanjali offered to teach the Yoga S\u016bthras to one thousand students at the same time. But on one condition, that there would be a cloth screen separating him from the students and that no one should attempt to look at him or leave without permission.<\/li>\n<li>After the class began, with each student being taught differently by each of Pathanjali\u2019s 1000 heads, one student walked away bored. Another got curious about the person behind the screen and one emboldened to lower the screen, only to have himself and all other cohorts destroyed!<\/li>\n<li>Pathanjali then went in search of the one student who had walked away to fetch him and instructed the Yoga S\u016bthras to a very reluctant student.<\/li>\n<li>That is how we have the Yoga S\u016bthras today!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Yoga S\u016bthra text has 195 S\u016bthras divided over 4 chapters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to the Vedhas, Dar\u015bhanas, S\u016bthras and \u00a0Sage Pathanjali &#8211; (Compiled by L Vasudev under the guidance of Sri Sridhar of Yoga Rakshanam)\u00a0 Vedhas emanated from god as revealed directly to various \u1e5a\u1e63his. They were put together by Vedha Vy\u0101sa and that is how we have them today. Vedhas comes from the word \u2018vidhu\u2019 meaning [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,4],"tags":[13,14,19,126,127,25,128],"class_list":["post-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellness","category-yoga","tag-eambalam","tag-life-skills-in-schools","tag-life-art-education","tag-lifeskills","tag-sage-patanjali","tag-yoga","tag-yoga-sutras"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifearteducation.in\/laeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}