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86 reviews for:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda
Swami Satchidananda
4.22 AVERAGE
86 reviews for:
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda
Swami Satchidananda
4.22 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This is not a book you read from start to finish. It a book that sits on your self and every once in a while you read from it and need to ponder what you've read. I love owning this book.
The Yoga Sutras, split into four books, explains reincarnation and how a person filled with faith can ascend into the spirit world. Within each book there are a set of numbered instructions for how to attain spiritual bliss, enlightment, or peace once a person has died. The instructions aren’t concrete, instead it’s more like guidance for someone to lead a more beneficial life. For example, in Book II the means of yoga are mentioned and one of them are the “commandments.” The commandments include “…truthfulness, abstaining from stealing, from impurity…” The book presents these commandments as goals to aspire to, and as a way to live a wholesome life.
Where in Book I the idea of reincarnation was introduced, Book II begins to detail how a person would accept rebirth for themselves. Starting here the book used several anecdotes to clarify philosophical and religious ideas. This was helpful to me, because I’m only partially familiar with Hinduism and the concept of reincarnation. Even when a quote from William Shakespeare was used to explain man’s limitation, it was a comparison I was more familiar with.
Book III is about the attainment of man’s psychic abilities. Whenever I saw the word “psychic” being used, I had to remind myself that it wasn’t what I usually associated with psychics. Instead of carnival soothsayers, this use of the word was related to religious belief. I found the scientific anecdotes to be the most surprising comparisons in the text. In most of books I read, science and religion stay far away from each other. However, in The Yoga Sutras, it supports the idea that everything is connected. Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are described as almost reaching a meditative state because they were so focused on discovering something unknown to science. These anecdotes served as reassurance for me while reading. The book presented the idea that anyone, when focused, could reach a meditative state; it just takes practice.
Book IV summarizes man’s journey to rebirth and the steps it took for him to get there. The parts I most enjoyed in the book were the references to Buddhism, famous scientists, and the brief mentions of yoga. When the connection was made between the similarities in Christian and Buddhist religions, it really struck a chord with me. I thought the book did a fine job of supporting the idea that everything is connected and shares similarities. There were some concepts about reincarnation that confused me, but that was partially because the language describing it was so sophisticated. In short, The Yoga Sutras was an eye-opener to the many aspects of reincarnation and how everything connects back to a person’s soul.
Where in Book I the idea of reincarnation was introduced, Book II begins to detail how a person would accept rebirth for themselves. Starting here the book used several anecdotes to clarify philosophical and religious ideas. This was helpful to me, because I’m only partially familiar with Hinduism and the concept of reincarnation. Even when a quote from William Shakespeare was used to explain man’s limitation, it was a comparison I was more familiar with.
Book III is about the attainment of man’s psychic abilities. Whenever I saw the word “psychic” being used, I had to remind myself that it wasn’t what I usually associated with psychics. Instead of carnival soothsayers, this use of the word was related to religious belief. I found the scientific anecdotes to be the most surprising comparisons in the text. In most of books I read, science and religion stay far away from each other. However, in The Yoga Sutras, it supports the idea that everything is connected. Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are described as almost reaching a meditative state because they were so focused on discovering something unknown to science. These anecdotes served as reassurance for me while reading. The book presented the idea that anyone, when focused, could reach a meditative state; it just takes practice.
Book IV summarizes man’s journey to rebirth and the steps it took for him to get there. The parts I most enjoyed in the book were the references to Buddhism, famous scientists, and the brief mentions of yoga. When the connection was made between the similarities in Christian and Buddhist religions, it really struck a chord with me. I thought the book did a fine job of supporting the idea that everything is connected and shares similarities. There were some concepts about reincarnation that confused me, but that was partially because the language describing it was so sophisticated. In short, The Yoga Sutras was an eye-opener to the many aspects of reincarnation and how everything connects back to a person’s soul.
A must read for any yoga instructor, practitioner, or anyone interested in yoga. If you want to understand what yoga actually is, read this book. From cover to cover. Yoga isn't a religion. It isn't just Asana. It is a way of life.
While on the one hand it’s my own fault for not reading more carefully, I was interested in the sutras themselves, not on the author’s modernizing commentary.