The Wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras - A new translation and guide

Throughout the ages innumerable books have been written since the invention of the script. Many of which could save our lives, if we would live according to the principles of the author. Of all the wonderful books I have read, I still find the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali the most valuable book. My first copy traveled with me in my bag pack when I hitch hiked through Europe at the age of 18 and since then I have read quite a few different translations and commentaries in several languages throughout the years. I have taught its philosophy for 30 years in my Raja Yoga Teacher Training Courses and wrote a translation of the Sutras myself.

It is a source book, like the Bible for the Christian, the Koran for the Muslim, the Dhamma Pada for the Buddhist. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are over 2000 years old and its wisdom is universal as well as applicable and nowadays, it has even become more actual than ever before. For the Yoga Sutras are about mind training and management of the mind. The Sutras take you from self-study to study of the Higher Self.

Since yoga has become a hype and the fastest growing 'sport' in the world and mindfulness has become a trademark, it is worthwhile for the serious practitioner to investigate its source and true meaning. For the serious reader the Sutras offer numerous most practical instructions to train our mind, to explore our higher consciousness and to access and unfold our true potential.

The Yoga Sutras are written in a pure and compact way, in order to convey its wisdom only to serious readers who can read with their heart as well as with their head and who can verify its universal truth by their own inner experience.

This wisdom can easily get tainted when the translator only has intellectual understanding of the material. In Ravi Ravindra's book this is not the case. Ravi writes and explains the Sutras from a deeper understanding and many years of experience. Ravi makes the Sutras very accessible for the reader who has just embarked on the journey of Yoga philosophy and he is able to integrate and illustrate many passages with his own experiences and insights.

He has studied under great teachers who have been close to the source themselves, like Krishnamurti and Madame Jeanne de Salzmann and he illustrates his explanations here and there with inspiring little anecdotes from his recollections of their teachings.

The following passage in the book is about a topic I personally find very valuable: the kleshas, causes of suffering:

Chapter II, sutra 10 & 11 These subtle kleshas can be overcome by reversing the natural flow and returning to the source. Their effects can be reduced by meditation.

… Yoga is, as is all spiritual teaching, for making a connection with the source of life, therefore its movement is against the automatic flow of nature. As a fact of our human condition (as in the Christian doctrine of "original sin"), we are all heirs to the unrefined state of prakrita. To be transformed into a refined or sanskrita being requires art, skill, education – in other words, this transformation requires yoga.

This is a book I can truly recommend. You won't need any other book for your spiritual development.