The Yoga philosophy is an invaluable gift of the great Indian sage Patanjali to all bent upon spiritual realisation. It is a great aid to those who wish to realise the existence of the spirit as an independent principle, free from all limitations of the body, the senses and the mind. It is known also as the Patanjala system after the name of its founder.

The Yoga-sutra or the Patanjala- sutra is the first work of this school of philosophy. Vyasa wrote a brief but valuable commentary on the Yoga-sutra called Yoga- bhasya or Vydsa-bhasya. Vacaspati’s Tattva-vaisaradi is a reliable sub-commentary on Vyasa’s commentary.

Bhojaraja’s Vitti and Yoga maniprabha is very simple and popular works on the Yoga system. Vijnanabhiksu’s Yoga-vartika and Yoga-sara sangraha are other useful manuals of the Yoga philosophy.

The Patanjala-sutra is divided into four padas or parts. The first is called the samadhipada and treats of the nature, aim and forms of yoga, the modifications of citta or the internal organ and the different methods of attaining yoga.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The second, viz. the sadhanapada, deals with kriyayoga as a means of attaining samadhi, the klesas” or mental states causing afflictions, the fruits of action (karmaphala) and their painful nature, and the fourfold theme of suffering, its cause, its cessation and the means thereof.

The third or vibhutipada gives an account of the inward aspects of yoga and the supernormal powers acquired by the practice of yoga and so forth.

The fourth part is called the kaivalyapada and describes the nature and forms of liberation, the reality of the transcendent self and the other world and so on.

The Yoga is closely allied to the Sankhya system. It is the application of the theory of the Sankhya in practical life. The Yoga mostly accepts the Sankhya epistemology and admits the three pramanas of perception, inference and scriptural testimony.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

It mostly accepts also the metaphysics of the Sankhya with its twenty-five principles, but believes in God as the supreme self distinct from other selves.

The special interest of this system is in the practice of yoga as the sure means of attaining Vivekananda discriminative knowledge which is held in the Sankhya as the essential condition of liberation.

The value of yoga as an important method of realising the spiritual truths of Indian philosophy has been recognised by almost all the Indian systems.

We have clear evidence of the recognition of yoga practices “even in the Upanisads, the Smithies and the Puranas. As long as the mind or the intellect of a man.