Reading the Yoga Sūtra
In my early days studying at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, Pattabhi Jois would give regular theory classes, which he would almost always conclude by saying:
“If you want to understand yoga in depth, you have to study the Yoga Sūtra!”
Considering Ashtanga Yoga to be an integral teaching of the Sūtra, I took this message to heart and for the first decade of my practice I dedicated nearly all my study time to this project…
I read every translation, every commentary, attended every seminar… eventually I was moved to study Sanskrit and make my own translation and dedicate time to chanting the Sūtra every day.
At some point I came across a most wonderful translation and commentary—that of Hariharānanda Āraṇya. It is still the source of inspiration more than thirty years later. Āraṇya’s commentary is unique and significant for several reasons.
Āraṇya belonged to an order of Sāṃkhya monks. Sāṃkhya is significant because it represents the theoretical counterpart to yoga, which is considered to be a practical art or science. In fact, the Yoga Sūtra manuscript has never been found without the Sāṃkhya commentary of Vyāsa. This has led some to suggest that the author of the Sūtra and the Vyāsa commentary are the same person.
In any case, the fact that Āraṇya comes from this perspective is especially illuminating. He was also a deep practitioner. He spent years meditating in isolation. The insights found in his commentaries are profound, and he also makes some wonderful suggestions with regard to prāṇāyāma and meditation.
Vyāsa’s dates are uncertain, but his is the first commentary made not too long after the composition of the Sūtra. Āraṇya died in 1947, so I never had the good fortune of meeting him, though I have read everything he has written that has been translated. Although I met several other teachers along the way, there is only one who has had a meaningful impact on my understanding—Dr KLS Jois.
The teacher is practically the key. Nothing can show the way like a realised teacher. You can read and read, but without someone who knows the significance of what is being read, one’s individual saṃskāras stand in the way of understanding.
Only the teacher knows how to present the teaching in an appropriate way for each student.