The path of Patanjali

This article is an extract from the book Yoga Sutras Simplified: A Soul-Searching Adventure with Patanjali by Vasudev Murthy, with a foreword by Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani

- Vasudev Murhy

When we think of ‘yoga’ today, we visualise practitioners performing various complicated postures or breathing exercises. But that’s far from the reality; yoga is much more than that. Yoga is beyond physicality and that the ‘soul’ of yoga lies in the spiritual dimension. The ultimate aim of yoga is the union of the individual soul with the universal soul (in fact, that is what ‘yoga’ means) or, in other words, Self-realisation.

For those who are interested in knowing a little more about this ancient Indian practice, the following tiny extract from Vasudev Murthy’s book will give them the impetus to dive deeper into the subject. (The sage Patanjali is the author of the Sanskrit work Yoga Sutras, a classical yoga text.) Enjoy it!

Section I The Merger—Samadhi Pada: Mastering the distractions to access the rewards

Is there a state of existence between the physical and the formless? 

Patanjali asserts that there is a state of disembodiment that some are in after leaving the physical body. They have no physical identity but are collections of formless intelligence. They have indeed transcended thought and engagement with sensory stimulation but still retain some past experiences, called samskaras in Sanskrit, or strong impressions of past experiences.

During the course of our lives, we may encounter persons who comment that the reason some other person was blessed or cursed was possibly because of his past samskaras.