Yoga Sutras of Patanjali · Chapter 2
The Chapter on Practice
55 verses · Patanjali turns from theory to practice, presenting kriya yoga of tapas, svadhyaya, and surrender, naming the five kleshas that bind, and unfolding the first five of the eight limbs — the ethical, postural, and breath foundations.
Chapter 2
साधन पादः
Sadhana Pada
2.1
Austerity, self-study, and surrender to the Lord — these together constitute Kriya Yoga,…
2.2
Kriya Yoga is undertaken for the cultivation of samadhi and for the attenuation of the…
2.3
Ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and clinging-to-life — these are the five kleshas,…
2.4
Ignorance is the field for the others, whether they are dormant, attenuated, intercepted,…
2.5
Ignorance is taking the impermanent for the permanent, the impure for the pure, the…
2.6
Egoism is the appearance of one and the same identity in the seer and in the instrument…
2.7
Attachment is what follows after pleasure
2.8
Aversion is what follows after pain
2.9
Clinging to life is sustained by its own momentum, and is rooted similarly even in the…
2.10
These kleshas, in their subtle form, are to be removed by involution — by being resolved…
2.11
The active modifications of the kleshas are to be removed through meditation
2.12
The reservoir of karmic latencies, rooted in the kleshas, is to be experienced either in…
2.13
While the root remains, its ripening produces birth, lifespan, and the experience of…
2.14
These ripenings bear fruit as joy or anguish, depending on whether their cause was…
2.15
To the discerning, all is suffering — because of the pain of change, the burning of…
2.16
The suffering that has not yet come is to be avoided
2.17
The cause of what is to be avoided is the conjunction of the seer and the seen
2.18
The seen has the nature of illumination, activity, and inertia; it consists of the…
2.19
The stages of the gunas are: the specific, the non-specific, the merely-marked, and the…
2.20
The seer is mere seeing — pure consciousness — and though pure, it appears to see through…
2.21
The very nature of the seen is to exist for the seer
2.22
Though the seen is destroyed for the one whose purpose is fulfilled, it is not destroyed…
2.23
The conjunction is the cause of recognising the powers of the owned and the owner — that…
2.24
The cause of the conjunction is ignorance
2.25
With the absence of ignorance, the conjunction ceases — and this cessation is the…
2.26
Unbroken discriminative discernment is the means to cessation
2.27
For the one in whom discernment has matured, wisdom unfolds in seven stages, reaching its…
2.28
Through the practice of the limbs of yoga, impurity is destroyed; the radiance of…
2.29
The eight limbs are: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and…
2.30
The five yamas are: non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and…
2.31
These yamas, when not limited by class, place, time, or circumstance, become the Great…
2.32
The five niyamas are: purity, contentment, austerity, self-study, and surrender to the…
2.33
When troubled by perverse thoughts, cultivate their opposites
2.34
Perverse thoughts such as violence — whether done, caused, or approved, whether arising…
2.35
When ahimsa is firmly established, enmity is abandoned in the presence of the yogi
2.36
When satya is established, action and its fruits come to rest on the yogi's word
2.37
When asteya is established, all manner of wealth presents itself to the yogi
2.38
When brahmacarya is established, the yogi gains vigour
2.39
When aparigraha is firmly established, knowledge of the how-and-why of birth arises
2.40
From shaucha arises a healthy distaste for one's own body and a non-mingling with others
2.41
Further fruits of shaucha are purification of the inner essence, cheerfulness of mind,…
2.42
From contentment comes unsurpassed happiness
2.43
From tapas, with the destruction of impurity, comes perfection of the body and the senses
2.44
From svadhyaya comes communion with the chosen deity
2.45
From surrender to the Lord comes the attainment of samadhi
2.46
Asana is a posture that is steady and comfortable
2.47
Asana is mastered by the relaxation of effort and by meditation on the infinite
2.48
From mastery of asana, the yogi is no longer afflicted by the pairs of opposites
2.49
With that established, the regulation of inhalation and exhalation is pranayama
2.50
Pranayama has three movements — outward, inward, and held in suspension — regulated by…
2.51
The fourth pranayama transcends the spheres of inward and outward
2.52
From pranayama, the covering over the inner light is destroyed
2.53
And the mind becomes fit for concentration
2.54
When the senses disengage from their own objects and follow the nature of the mind…
2.55
From pratyahara comes supreme mastery of the senses