With the utterance of the very word yoga, the name that automatically fills the mind with its presence is Patanjali. Patanjali is the great sage and the spiritual doyen who authored the basic treatise on yoga named Yogasutra, which gave yoga the status of an authentic and complete system of spiritual science. Earlier, it was only a science of practice being transmitted from the preceptor to the disciple traditionally under extremely secret and restricted circumstances. With the composition of Yogasutra, yoga secured a formal place among the major six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy.
The name Patanjali carries high respect and profound reverence in Indian tradition. He is paid obeisance as the incarnation of Sesa Naga, the great serpent, who holds the world on his thousand-fold hood. Patanjali, to boot this, is one of such esteemed personalities because of whom the respect of India is held high in the wide world with yogic exercises blazing abroad like wild fire and proving a magic wand against physical and psychological unsoundness.
But, like most intellectual and spiritual giants of ancient India who preferred reticence about their own identity and grandeur, very little is known about this grand personality whose contribution to India as well as to the world surpasses all comparison. This non-self projection of Patanjali has provided scholars with wide scope to invent manifold views with little, insufficient or even no proof or clue. Some hold that there were many Patanjalis, each serving separately in several ways to conservation, expansion and transmission of knowledge pertaining to Vedic culture. Some believe that one Patanjali is confused to be many because of his contributions to several disciplines separately. Some even think that like the Shankaracharya tradition there might be a complete tradition named Patanjali.
Although the name Patanjali is inseparably associated with yoga yet there are evidences which persuade one to think that there might be more than one personality bearing the same name. Evidences reveal that there were at least five Patanjalis in total.
Traditionally, Patanjali is accepted as the author of the Yogasutra, Mahabhasya and Charaka Samhita. Yogasutra is the basic literature of the yoga system of philosophy. Mahabhasya is the great commentary of Panini’s Astadhyayi, the basic book of grammar. Charaka Samhita is the redaction of Agnivesa Tantra, the great book on Ayurveda. Many people object to the theory that the three personalities are one and the same.
Although there is absence of an authentic, systematic and formal history of Patanjali yet basing upon clues available here and there some conjectures have been made about his parental and educational whereabouts. It is inferred that his father’s name was Vijay and his mother’s name was Gonika. He was an inhabitant of Kashmir and a disciple of Katyayana. He is also known as Gonardiya because he was practising penance near the river Saraswati, otherwise known as Gonarda. It is believed that when Patanjali was an infant, he was placed on the palm of Katyayana as a disciple who fostered as well as educated him as guru. like most of the great personalities of ancient India, the exact time of Patanjali has been a matter of serious debate among scholars.
Yogasutra, also known as Patanjala Yogasutra or Patanjala Yogadarsana, is a very simple and well-sequenced book with four chapters known as Padas dealing with various concepts. The first chapter, known as Samadhi Pada, deals with the definition of Yoga, Vrittis of the Chitta, methods of arresting the Vrittis of the Chitta viz. Abhyasa and Vairagya, Samadhi, Iswara and Iswara Pranidhana, obstacles on the path of yoga, methods to remove the obstacles on the way of Yoga, Samapatti and Nirbija Samadhi. Sadhana Pada, the second one, deals with Kriyayoga, Kleshas, Results of Kleshas, Chaturvyuha (the four divisions: Heya, Heyahetu, Hana and Hanopaya), the eight steps of yoga, results of the practice of Yama and Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara. Vibhuti Pada, the third one, deals with Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi and various Siddhis of the Yogi. More than thirty Siddhis have been enumerated in the chapter. Kaivalya Pada, the fourth one, deals with various causes of Siddhis, various types of Chittas, transmigration and process of liberation. A total number of 195 sutras are there in the book.
Yogasutra has a great tradition of commentaries authored for centuries among which Vyasa Bhasya is unanimously regarded as the most important and most authentic one. Almost all the authentic commentaries on Yogasutra have based themselves on the Vyasa Bhasya. Another important commentary is Tattvavaisaradi Tika, authored by Vachaspati Mishra, the great scholar of Indian philosophy and the great commentator of all the basic books of all the six orthodox philosophical systems. Bhaswati, a simple commentary is a very later work and is authored by Hariharananda Aranyaka. Raghavananda Saraswati’s Patanjala Rahasya is another commentary on the great work of Vachaspati Mishra. Yoga Vartika is the famous book written by the great scholar Vijnana Bhiksu and is a mixture of the tenets of Sankhya, Yoga and Vedanta. Rajamartanda Vritti is the famous book authored on Yogasutra by Bhojadeva. Bhavaganesha Vritti is authored by Bhavaganesha, a great scholar of the system. Maniprabha Vritti is written by Ramabhadra, Yogasudhakara Vritti by Sadasivendra. Nageshabhattiya laghuvritti is a work of Nagesha Bhatta. Sutrarthabodhini Vritti is authored by Narayana Tirtha and Padachandrika Vritti by Ananta Deva. There are also independent books like Yoga Siddhanta Chandrika and Yoga Karika written on the basis of the tenets of Yogasutra.
Apart from the above masterpiece commentaries of the Yogasutra, there are hundreds of commentaries written in Sanskrit and regional and foreign languages. Thus, the Yogasutra of Patanjali has enjoyed tremendous popularity, appreciation and reverence among scholars and yogis throughout millennia for its appeal, utility and importance.
(Dr Das is director of the Academy of Yoga and Oriental Studies, Bhubaneswar. indulatadas@gmail.com)