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Yoga Sutras

Patanjali · 195 sutras in four pādas, explained

195 readings

What Yoga Is · 1.1–1.4 · Samādhi Pāda

• Beginning the Teaching of Yoga · Yoga Sutras 1.1
• Yoga Is Stilled Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.2
• The Seer at Rest · Yoga Sutras 1.3
• Seer Takes Thought's Shape · Yoga Sutras 1.4

The Five Movements of the Mind · 1.5–1.11 · Samādhi Pāda

• Five Turnings of Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.5
• Five Turnings of Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.6
• Three Ways of Knowing Rightly · Yoga Sutras 1.7
• Taking One Thing for Another · Yoga Sutras 1.8
• Words With Nothing Behind · Yoga Sutras 1.9
• Sleep Is Also a Vritti · Yoga Sutras 1.10
• Keeping What Was Seen · Yoga Sutras 1.11

Practice and Dispassion · 1.12–1.16 · Samādhi Pāda

• Practice and Letting Go · Yoga Sutras 1.12
• Steadiness as the Aim · Yoga Sutras 1.13
• Firm Ground Through Time · Yoga Sutras 1.14
• Mastery Over Craving · Yoga Sutras 1.15
• Freedom From Thirst · Yoga Sutras 1.16

Kinds of Absorption · 1.17–1.22 · Samādhi Pāda

• Four Layers of Absorption · Yoga Sutras 1.17
• Absorption Without an Object · Yoga Sutras 1.18
• Rest Without a Body · Yoga Sutras 1.19
• Faith Leading to Insight · Yoga Sutras 1.20
• Intensity Brings It Near · Yoga Sutras 1.21
• Degrees Within Degrees · Yoga Sutras 1.22

Īśvara · 1.23–1.26 · Samādhi Pāda

• Surrender to Īśvara · Yoga Sutras 1.23
• The Untouched One · Yoga Sutras 1.24
• Seed of All-Knowing · Yoga Sutras 1.25
• Teacher Before Teachers · Yoga Sutras 1.26

Om · 1.27–1.29 · Samādhi Pāda

• Om, the Name · Yoga Sutras 1.27
• Repeat and Dwell · Yoga Sutras 1.28
• Two Things Follow · Yoga Sutras 1.29

The Obstacles · 1.30–1.32 · Samādhi Pāda

• What Scatters the Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.30
• Signs of a Shaken Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.31
• One Anchor Against Distraction · Yoga Sutras 1.32

Nine Ways to Still the Mind · 1.33–1.39 · Samādhi Pāda

• Four Attitudes, Clear Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.33
• Steadying Through the Breath · Yoga Sutras 1.34
• Experience as an Anchor · Yoga Sutras 1.35
• Sorrowless Inner Light · Yoga Sutras 1.36
• Resting on the Unattached · Yoga Sutras 1.37
• Dreams and Deep Sleep · Yoga Sutras 1.38
• Whatever the Heart Loves · Yoga Sutras 1.39

The Stages of Absorption · 1.40–1.51 · Samādhi Pāda

• Reach of the Steady Mind · Yoga Sutras 1.40
• The Clear Crystal · Yoga Sutras 1.41
• Word, Thing, and Idea Tangled · Yoga Sutras 1.42
• Memory Cleared Away · Yoga Sutras 1.43
• Absorption on Subtle Things · Yoga Sutras 1.44
• The Unmarked Limit · Yoga Sutras 1.45
• Stillness That Keeps a Seed · Yoga Sutras 1.46
• Clear Inner Calm · Yoga Sutras 1.47
• Insight That Carries Truth · Yoga Sutras 1.48
• Beyond Books and Reasoning · Yoga Sutras 1.49
• A Fresh Groove · Yoga Sutras 1.50
• The Seedless Stillness · Yoga Sutras 1.51

Kriyā Yoga and the Five Afflictions · 2.1–2.9 · Sādhana Pāda

• The Yoga of Action · Yoga Sutras 2.1
• Two Aims of Practice · Yoga Sutras 2.2
• Five Roots of Suffering · Yoga Sutras 2.3
• Ignorance as Soil · Yoga Sutras 2.4
• Four Mistaken Seeings · Yoga Sutras 2.5
• Seer Fused With Instrument · Yoga Sutras 2.6
• Clinging to Pleasure · Yoga Sutras 2.7
• Recoil From Pain · Yoga Sutras 2.8
• Clinging to Life · Yoga Sutras 2.9

Suffering, Its Cause, Its End · 2.10–2.27 · Sādhana Pāda

• Subtle Sorrows Traced Back · Yoga Sutras 2.10
• Meditation Stills Their Stirring · Yoga Sutras 2.11
• Roots of Stored Action · Yoga Sutras 2.12
• Fruit Ripens Only Rooted · Yoga Sutras 2.13
• Joy and Pain Rooted · Yoga Sutras 2.14
• Seen Through by the Discerning · Yoga Sutras 2.15
• Hurt Not Yet Arrived · Yoga Sutras 2.16
• The Knot Behind Suffering · Yoga Sutras 2.17
• The Nature of the Seen · Yoga Sutras 2.18
• Four Stages of Unfolding · Yoga Sutras 2.19
• The Witness Itself · Yoga Sutras 2.20
• Seen For Another's Sake · Yoga Sutras 2.21
• The World After Freedom · Yoga Sutras 2.22
• The Joining That Reveals · Yoga Sutras 2.23
• Root of the Binding · Yoga Sutras 2.24
• Freedom Named Plainly · Yoga Sutras 2.25
• Unwavering Discernment · Yoga Sutras 2.26
• Seven Stages of Insight · Yoga Sutras 2.27

The Eight Limbs · 2.28–2.32 · Sādhana Pāda

• Practice Clears the Sight · Yoga Sutras 2.28
• The Eight Limbs Named · Yoga Sutras 2.29
• Five Restraints Toward Others · Yoga Sutras 2.30
• The Great Vow · Yoga Sutras 2.31
• The Five Observances · Yoga Sutras 2.32

The Opposite Thought · 2.33–2.34 · Sādhana Pāda

• Meeting Harmful Thoughts · Yoga Sutras 2.33
• Anatomy of a Wrong Act · Yoga Sutras 2.34

What Yama and Niyama Bring · 2.35–2.45 · Sādhana Pāda

• Harmlessness Calms Hostility · Yoga Sutras 2.35
• Truth Carries Its Results · Yoga Sutras 2.36
• Wealth Comes Unasked · Yoga Sutras 2.37
• Continence Gives Vigor · Yoga Sutras 2.38
• Non-grasping and Birth · Yoga Sutras 2.39
• Cleanness and Distance · Yoga Sutras 2.40
• A Clear Mind's Gifts · Yoga Sutras 2.41
• Enough, and Its Joy · Yoga Sutras 2.42
• Tapas Refines Body, Senses · Yoga Sutras 2.43
• Study Opens Contact With Chosen Deity · Yoga Sutras 2.44
• Surrender Completes Absorption · Yoga Sutras 2.45

Seat, Breath, Withdrawal · 2.46–2.55 · Sādhana Pāda

• A Steady, Easy Seat · Yoga Sutras 2.46
• Loosening Effort, Resting Wide · Yoga Sutras 2.47
• Untouched by Opposites · Yoga Sutras 2.48
• The Breath's Course Parted · Yoga Sutras 2.49
• Breath Measured and Fine · Yoga Sutras 2.50
• Beyond Inside and Outside · Yoga Sutras 2.51
• The Veil Wears Thin · Yoga Sutras 2.52
• A Mind Made Ready · Yoga Sutras 2.53
• Withdrawal of the Senses · Yoga Sutras 2.54
• Highest Command Within · Yoga Sutras 2.55

Holding, Meditation, Absorption · 3.1–3.3 · Vibhūti Pāda

• Holding the Mind Steady · Yoga Sutras 3.1
• One Unbroken Stream · Yoga Sutras 3.2
• Only the Object Remains · Yoga Sutras 3.3

Samyama · 3.4–3.8 · Vibhūti Pāda

• Samyama: Three Held as One · Yoga Sutras 3.4
• Light After Mastery · Yoga Sutras 3.5
• Applied Stage by Stage · Yoga Sutras 3.6
• Nearer the Inside · Yoga Sutras 3.7
• Outer to the Seedless · Yoga Sutras 3.8

The Transformations · 3.9–3.15 · Vibhūti Pāda

• The Change Into Stillness · Yoga Sutras 3.9
• Calm Carried By Habit · Yoga Sutras 3.10
• Scatter Fades, Focus Rises · Yoga Sutras 3.11
• Past and Present Thought Match · Yoga Sutras 3.12
• Three Kinds of Change · Yoga Sutras 3.13
• The Bearer of Qualities · Yoga Sutras 3.14
• Sequence Makes the Difference · Yoga Sutras 3.15

The Powers · 3.16–3.49 · Vibhūti Pāda

• Samyama on Change · Yoga Sutras 3.16
• Untangling Word and Meaning · Yoga Sutras 3.17
• Knowing Earlier Births · Yoga Sutras 3.18
• Reading Another's Mind · Yoga Sutras 3.19
• The Thought, Not Its Object · Yoga Sutras 3.20
• Going Out of Sight · Yoga Sutras 3.21
• Knowing When Life Ends · Yoga Sutras 3.22
• Friendliness Becomes Strength · Yoga Sutras 3.23
• Strength Through Samyama · Yoga Sutras 3.24
• Light on the Hidden · Yoga Sutras 3.25
• The Sun and the Worlds · Yoga Sutras 3.26
• The Moon's Arrangement · Yoga Sutras 3.27
• The Pole Star · Yoga Sutras 3.28
• The Body's Arrangement · Yoga Sutras 3.29
• Hunger and Thirst Stilled · Yoga Sutras 3.30
• Steadiness Like a Tortoise · Yoga Sutras 3.31
• Light at the Crown · Yoga Sutras 3.32
• Knowing Without Steps · Yoga Sutras 3.33
• The Heart's Awareness · Yoga Sutras 3.34
• Experience Serves the Seer · Yoga Sutras 3.35
• Finer Senses Arise · Yoga Sutras 3.36
• Obstacles Within Reach · Yoga Sutras 3.37
• Entering Another Body · Yoga Sutras 3.38
• Rising Above Mire · Yoga Sutras 3.39
• Mastery of the Middle Breath · Yoga Sutras 3.40
• Hearing Joined to Space · Yoga Sutras 3.41
• Lightness and Travel Through Space · Yoga Sutras 3.42
• The Great Bodiless Turning · Yoga Sutras 3.43
• Mastery of the Elements · Yoga Sutras 3.44
• The Body's Perfections · Yoga Sutras 3.45
• Four Marks of Fitness · Yoga Sutras 3.46
• Five Stages of the Senses · Yoga Sutras 3.47
• Senses Mastered, Nature Ruled · Yoga Sutras 3.48
• Seeing Clarity Apart From Self · Yoga Sutras 3.49

Letting the Powers Go · 3.50–3.56 · Vibhūti Pāda

• Letting Go of Powers · Yoga Sutras 3.50
• Refusing the Heavenly Invitation · Yoga Sutras 3.51
• Knowing Through Moments · Yoga Sutras 3.52
• Telling Twins Apart · Yoga Sutras 3.53
• Knowing All at Once · Yoga Sutras 3.54
• Two Equal in Purity · Yoga Sutras 3.55

Where Minds Come From · 4.1–4.11 · Kaivalya Pāda

• Five Sources of Powers · Yoga Sutras 4.1
• Becoming Another Kind · Yoga Sutras 4.2
• The Farmer Opens the Channel · Yoga Sutras 4.3
• Minds Made From I-Sense · Yoga Sutras 4.4
• One Mind, Many Minds · Yoga Sutras 4.5
• Born of Meditation · Yoga Sutras 4.6
• Neither Bright Nor Dark · Yoga Sutras 4.7
• Only the Fitting Ripens · Yoga Sutras 4.8
• Impressions Cross Every Distance · Yoga Sutras 4.9
• Wanting Has No Beginning · Yoga Sutras 4.10
• What Holds Minds Together · Yoga Sutras 4.11

Mind and the Seer · 4.12–4.24 · Kaivalya Pāda

• Past and Future Are Real · Yoga Sutras 4.12
• Seen or Hidden, Three Strands · Yoga Sutras 4.13
• Why a Thing Is One Thing · Yoga Sutras 4.14
• Same Object, Different Minds · Yoga Sutras 4.15
• Objects Beyond One Mind · Yoga Sutras 4.16
• Known or Unnoticed · Yoga Sutras 4.17
• The Steady Witness · Yoga Sutras 4.18
• A Borrowed Light · Yoga Sutras 4.19
• Mind Cannot Know Both · Yoga Sutras 4.20
• Endless Watchers, Tangled Memory · Yoga Sutras 4.21
• Awareness Turned Toward Itself · Yoga Sutras 4.22
• The Fully Colored Mind · Yoga Sutras 4.23
• Mind Serves the Seer · Yoga Sutras 4.24

Aloneness · 4.25–4.34 · Kaivalya Pāda

• The Search Ends · Yoga Sutras 4.25
• Mind Slopes Toward Freedom · Yoga Sutras 4.26
• Gaps Let Old Thoughts In · Yoga Sutras 4.27
• Same Remedy, New Intruders · Yoga Sutras 4.28
• Wanting Nothing, Even Insight · Yoga Sutras 4.29
• Burdens Fall Away · Yoga Sutras 4.30
• Knowing Without Remainder · Yoga Sutras 4.31
• The Work Is Done · Yoga Sutras 4.32
• Time as Succession · Yoga Sutras 4.33
• Nature Folds Back · Yoga Sutras 4.34

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