Sutra 4 says, वृत्तिसारूप्यमितरत्र ॥

vṛttisārūpyamitaratra ||

If the Purusa is established in itself, then what is the state of consciousness in the waking state?

This sutra answers the other part of the question raised in sutra 3.

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Undertake a systematic, comprehensive & comparative study of the commentaries of the Yogasutras

The course uploads a recorded session every day until the Yogasutras are complete i.e. all 195 sutras. Each lesson is one sutra with a comparative study of the six bhashyas. Each sutra is a capsule of 20 minutes or less for easy listening & retention.

Study the bhashyas of: Maharshi Ved Vyasa, Swami Vivekananda, BKS Iyengar, Swami Satyananda, Osho, Barbara Stoler Miller

Tara Das is an author, poet, and mind-body-spirit therapist. We are an alignment practice and use meditation, counselling, & bodywork to help you achieve your personal healing goals.

Sky Gazing is a channel by Shamah | शम:

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(c) Tara Das / Shamah | शम:

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तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपेऽवस्थानम् ॥

tadā draṣṭuḥ svarūpe' vasthānam ||

The seer is established as the witness.

The purpose of this sutra is to answer the question: what is the aim of yoga? It also completes the definition of yoga as begun in the first and second sutras and it reveals the unchanging nature of spirit.

Sky Gazing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Undertake a systematic, comprehensive & comparative study of the commentaries of the Yogasutras

The course uploads a recorded session every day until the Yogasutras are complete i.e. all 195 sutras. Each lesson is one sutra with a comparative study of the six bhashyas. Each sutra is a capsule of 20 minutes or less for easy listening & retention.

Study the bhashyas of: Maharshi Ved Vyasa, Swami Vivekananda, BKS Iyengar, Swami Satyananda, Osho, Barbara Stoler Miller

Tara Das is an author, poet, and mind-body-spirit therapist. We are an alignment practice and use meditation, counselling, & bodywork to help you achieve your personal healing goals.

Sky Gazing is a channel by Shamah | शम:

All appointments are available only through the website

(c) Tara Das / Shamah | शम:

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥२॥

yogaḥs citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ ||2||

Yoga is the cessation of mental modifications.

The purpose of this sutra is to work towards the inhibition or cessation of the Citta and to be careful about what it is you are blocking or inhibiting.

Sky Gazing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Undertake a systematic, comprehensive & comparative study of the commentaries of the Yogasutras

The course uploads a recorded session every day until the Yogasutras are complete i.e. all 195 sutras. Each lesson is one sutra with a comparative study of the six bhashyas. Each sutra is a capsule of 20 minutes or less for easy listening & retention.

Study the bhashyas of: Maharshi Ved Vyasa, Swami Vivekananda, BKS Iyengar, Swami Satyananda, Osho, Barbara Stoler Miller

Tara Das is an author, poet, and mind-body-spirit therapist. We are an alignment practice and use meditation, counselling, & bodywork to help you achieve your personal healing goals.

Sky Gazing is a channel by Shamah | शम:

All appointments are available only through the website

(c) Tara Das / Shamah | शम:

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

अथ योगानुशासनम् ॥१॥

atha yoga-anu-śāsanam ||1||

Now, the study of yoga.

The purpose of this sutra is to help us understand: What it is we are about to study? Why do the gurus say 'now'? Is it significant? Why?

Sky Gazing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Undertake a systematic, comprehensive & comparative study of the commentaries of the Yogasutras

The course uploads a recorded session every day until the Yogasutras are complete i.e. all 195 sutras. Each lesson is one sutra with a comparative study of the six bhashyas. Each sutra is a capsule of 20 minutes or less for easy listening & retention.

Study the bhashyas of: Maharshi Ved Vyasa, Swami Vivekananda, BKS Iyengar, Swami Satyananda, Osho, Barbara Stoler Miller

Tara Das is an author, poet, and mind-body-spirit therapist. We are an alignment practice and use meditation, counselling, & bodywork to help you achieve your personal healing goals.

Sky Gazing is a channel by Shamah | शम:

All appointments are available only through the website

(c) Tara Das / Shamah | शम:

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

Hello, if you’re following us on YouTube [do subscribe there if you haven’t yet] you will have noticed that we’re on Sutra no 38 now. I will also be updating this newsletter with the sutras for listeners on Spotify, Apple and other sources where you get your podcasts. This will be audio only, but you have the added advantage of using the transcript for your notes. I hope this is useful for those of you who are using it as a concerted form of study.

Impt: To avoid spamming you you will not be receiving email notifications until all 36 sutras are uploaded, so if you’re interested do check back for the next post.

Undertake a systematic, comprehensive & comparative study of the commentaries of the Yogasutras The course uploads a recorded session daily until the Yogasutras are complete i.e. all 195 sutras. Each lesson is one sutra with a comparative study of the six bhashyas. Each sutra is a capsule of 20 minutes or less each for easy listening & retention.

Study the bhashyas of: Maharshi Ved Vyasa, Swami Vivekananda, BKS Iyengar, Osho, Swami Satyananda, & Barbara Stoler Miller

This is the introduction. It answers the question: why are we studying six bhashyas at once, what is our intention, why these teachers specifically?

My work is completely unfunded so every share, like and subscription costs you no money and helps me to keep it free for everyone who benefits from it, so please do support with a share, like or subscribe, is my ask! Thank you.

Thanks for reading Sky Gazing! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Our other channels include The Enzo Circle [books] and Basics of Buddhism [philosophy] and guided meditations [coming shortly].

We’re also starting the new podcast The Seekers, which is about ordinary people from all walks of life, all of the world, their stories, where they come from, where they go to, what they practice, what their experiences are, and their purpose.

Do check back for the first episode in a few days. And if you’d like to sign up to be interviewed, you can contact us below:

Sky Gazing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

An update.

Some of you have been telling me the Yogasutra sessions are still quite dense. The sutras are complex and cryptic. Something I always tell fellow students is some of these texts are not meant to be understood at one go. If you stick with it past the not knowing, they reveal themselves in meaning and practice over time. It is important to keep studying despite the veil of ignorance. That’s how it eventually gets lifted. So, don’t give up yet. Let’s soldier on. Self work is hard. But we’re in it, on our individual journeys, together. The sense of community is why the monks and sages of yore insisted on the concept of the sangha. It helps when things don’t make sense or fit as easily as they should.

The Patanjali’s Yogasutras podcast will now first be taught as a live class on weekdays at 9 pm IST.

You can join in from wherever you are worldwide. We have a per class token fee that allows us to keep it going. You can join when you can without fear of wasting a massive signing up amount since this is an ongoing process through 196 sutras.

The 30 minute session will be divided up into teaching for 20 mins and with difficulties and questions for 10 minutes.

The recording of the session (without Q&A) will then be on the podcasts. You will still be able to access the handouts from the website whether you attend the class or not. You are also welcome to join the live class once in a while if you have doubts you’d like to bring in or simply have something to share.

I’d recommend joining the class once in a while if only to shake off the sense that you’re struggling through it alone.

As always I’d appreciate a share as well so this can reach as many people as possible.

Thank you for reading Sky Gazing. This post is public so feel free to share it.

New: Workshops

We also have new Zen Parenting workshops running in April; Ahimsa, for Therapeutic Writing in June and Virya, The Courage Workshops in July.

NB: A reminder that I’m away from the last week of April to the last week of May attending a meditation retreat. All sessions and classes will close on April 22 and continue from June 1, 2024.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

Sutra 5 is deceptively simple: There are five vrittis and they generate misery and non-misery. Let’s get to enumerating them then.

Aha. Not so fast. Do you really know what a vritti is? Swami Satyananda reminds you it’s going to keep coming up.

B.K.S. Iyengar and Maharshi Ved Vyasa offer different versions of whether misery and non-misery are oil and water. And why does B.K.S. Iyengar throw in something called cognizable and non cognizable now? Why? Isn’t it all complicated enough? Why do I need to know this? Because you think you know what pain is. Is sex pain? Or pleasure? Listen in.

And Osho tells you that Patanjali’s greatest insight is made evident through this sutra - something that western labs are still studying and trying to prove today as psycho somatic blah. Patanjali is telling you that the mind IS the body. They are not in fact separate. Do you get that connection? How deep it is?

You will after this.

Do remember to subscribe on Substack to get it as an audio file in your inbox, it has no ads. However, would request that you also hit subscribe on YouTube because the eventual monetisation over there is what enables me to keep this free. If you enjoy the episodes, sharing and subscribing are small actions with big results that comes at no cost to you, the listener. Thank you for your kindness. Also available where you get your podcasts.

The downloadable takeaway sheet is available from our website www.shamah.co (give it an hour to find it uploaded).

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

You’ve watched The Good Place, right? The American sitcom in which everyone thinks they’re in heaven? Well, would you know Maharshi Ved Vyasa also calls the place that is not the Good Place, ‘the other place’? How about that? If you’re not established in Witnessing Pure Consciousness, (and who amongst us is?) well, that’s where you are, the Other Place. How do you know you’re in the Other Place? Identification with sense objects.

Do remember to subscribe on Substack to get it as an audio file in your inbox, it has no ads. However, would request that you also hit subscribe on YouTube because the eventual monetisation over there is what enables me to keep this free. Also available where you get your podcasts.

The downloadable takeaway sheet is available from our website www.shamah.co (give it an hour to find it uploaded).

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

Today’s sutra is pithy and brief. It answers the question: If I do everything you ask me to do in sutras 1 and 2, what is the state of my Spirit going to be? And is it going to be in the same state when I have to go buy groceries from the market and do my cooking? If I no longer identify with sense objects, will I even perceive them anymore? Or does this state of higher consciousness, let’s say I achieve it, switch on and off like a light bulb? Incredibly, Patanjali answers.

Listen and come back for Sutra 4, also going up tonight.

The downloadable takeaway sheet is available from our website www.shamah.co (give it an hour to find it uploaded).

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com

This is lesson 2 of the Patanjali’s Yogasutras in which we study comparatively six bhashyas of the sutras. These six are by: Maharsi Veda Vyasa, Swami Satyananda, Swami Vivekananda, B.K.S. Iyengar, Barbara Stoler Miller. We upload one lesson every fortnight.

Lesson 1 is available here:

The introduction is available here:

All lessons are available as podcasts on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. I request you to please share and subscribe on any of the platforms, especially YouTube as the engagement allows us to keep the course free at no cost to you. You can download the takeaway sheet and seek additional resources from our website.

You can email questions to us and we will try to address them in the subsequent podcast session.

www.shamah.co

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit skygazing.substack.com