A Patanjali Sutra-a-Day

On 1-11-11, Charlotte, North Carolina was a winter wonderland. We often feel cabin fever in the wintry weather, but this time, my family also cleaned out cupboards, enjoyed reading marathons, drew laboratories and goddesses, wrote spy tales, cooked delicious food, drank hot chocolate and composed music. Snow-boundedness at the beginning of the year also lends itself to refining our intentions, resolutions and goals. As a yogin, each time I come to my mat, I create intention. There is a beautiful root teaching in yoga that states, “Energy follows intent.” Some may think that since we create intention every day, there is nothing special about the beginning of the year. Let’s not miss out on this yearly opportunity to reach deeper, to create an intention that could last a whole year. 2011 for me is dailiness. To incorporate what I didn’t "have time for" in the past that I really want to be part of every day in this body, in my heart and in my mind. Every day in this life. One of my several resolutions for this year is to write each and every day. This practice is not to include emails, lists, checks, class plans, etc. Love letters, journal entries, creative pursuits, documentaries are all fair game.

As I recently planned for another weekend of Anusara Yoga Immersion, a thought struck me: What would it be like to contemplate and write each day about one of Patanjali’s sutras, in the context of my daily life? Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is perhaps the most popular and well read of yoga texts. As I looked back through old plans, notes, and the sutras, I realized that it would be nice to live with these more intimately this year, to get to know them better. I have enjoyed looking back at Patanjali from my favorite Tantric texts, like the Shivasutra, the Pratyabhijna Hrdyam, Vijnana Bhairava, and more, and noticing what is new and sparklingly true to me each time. The land of Yogasutra is quite austere and steep, and there is difficult climbing ahead, but the skies are clear and the lake is exquisitely placid. I am up for this yoga journey inside the workings of my heart-mind. To give structure to daily writing, I have chosen these particular sutras for their brilliance and clarity--they provide landmarks for a journey inside. A daily focus on these sutras over the course of half a year or so will also give structure to how I can be more conscious and more grateful for each day this year.

The project is really quite simple, in part thanks to the scholars who have dedicated countless hours to translate and interpret their meanings. I revere scholar-yogins who have been smitten by yoga teachings, and have committed to a lifelong love affair with these great teachings, and the great beings who wrote and lived them. These scholar-yogins make the teachings and the great beings who lived them come alive for us by re-contextualizing their meanings for today. They are also living these teachings, and teach us that this path is ours, that we too can aspire to such greatness as the likes of our very own Selves. Anything you can read today about yoga is certainly influenced in some way-directly or indirectly-by these scholars’ work. So from the beginning, I bow to Douglas Brooks, Paul Muller-Ortega, Sally Kempton, Bill Mahony, their teachers and so on, other scholars, Gurumayi, Baba Muktananda, and to John Friend who knows these teachings in his heart and mind and shares them from his experience. One of my favorite teachings from Douglas is that each of us is invited to make the teachings our own, that the teachings themselves invite and empower us to make them our own. Today, I hope you will join me on a journey to make the sutras our own.

As we begin, it is helpful to realize that the sutras are strung together as clusters, that they come in sets that go together as little packages. The order of the sutras is significant as the author leads us mindfully from his lofty goal and definition of yoga to the relentless practice with its pitfalls and rewards. It is also important to recognize that if we don’t know Sanskrit, we are at the mercy of those who do. Scholars and yogins have interpreted each word according to the rules of Sanskrit grammar, their own traditions, and to their own understandings of each word. Many words can have widely ranging meanings, so naturally it follows that the interpretations we receive are quite varied. Looking at a few translations side by side, we see that many sutras are identical, while others are radically different. Regardless of similarities or differences, we will have plenty to contemplate for ourselves. At the same time, when we really look at the differences, it will add a wonderful richness to our sutra study. Rather than trying to simply decipher an ancient text, I aim to let the sutra sit with me and reveal itself in my contemplation, meditation, and daily life. If you would like to contribute, then this practice will reveal our shared contemplations.