Patanjali

Yoga sutra è la prima opera organica della storia della letteratura sull'essenza dello Yoga e sulla natura della concentrazione. Attraverso l'approccio suggerito da Patañjali questa disciplina, spesso ritenuta in Occidente una semplice pratica salutistica, riconquista il suo originario carattere di percorso di conoscenza. Per sconfiggere la tirannia della mente e accedere alla dimensione dell'esperienza pura.

Approximately two thousand years old, The Yoga-Sutra of Patañjali is the landmark scripture on classical yoga. The translation and commentary provided here by Georg Feuerstein are outstanding for their accessibility and their insight into the essential meaning of this ancient and complex text.

About the Author:

A scholar of international renown who has studied and practiced yoga since the age of fourteen, Feuerstein also brings to The Yoga-Sutra of Patañjali his experience as a professional show more indologist. His faithful and informed rendering of the aphorisms (sutras) is based on extensive personal research into the Sanskrit sources. Each word is explained so that the entire text becomes readily available to the western reader and student of yoga.

"This is certainly one of the most profound and original contributions to the understanding of classical yoga." - (Professor Mircea Eliade, University of Chicago, author of Yoga: Immortality and Freedom ). show less

This relatively short text is a buddhistic interpretation/commentary of Patanjali's Yoga-Sutra. The basic concepts are readily explained in the introduction; I believe that this helped my understanding a lot. The core part groups several verses together and elaborates on their meaning. Various appendices provide a contemporary perspective.

Since, the text is seriously written and dense, I often had to read paragraphs multiple times. Although, most parts are clear/understandable it also show more contains sentences like "[...] attention must narrow its scope [...] to just those impressions that evoke the felt sense of the body [...]" (end of p.42) that I could not endow with any meaning. Those parts that I could understand seemed logically sound and chapter 3 (about schamanic powers) is treated with an amount of distance that I found almost appropriate.

Given the subject at hand, the level of clarity achieved by the commentator is very respectable. show less

A classic work of Indian philosophy that succinctly spells out how the mind works and what is needed to attain liberation.