Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Patañjali NULL

Indian Philosopher and Compiler of Yoga Sūtras and the Mahābhāṣya, Patañjali is a Sanskrit proper name. Several important Sanskrit works are ascribed to one or more authors of this name, and a great deal of scholarship has been devoted over the last century or so to the issue of disambiguation

"By cultivating friendliness towards happiness and compassion towards misery, gladness towards virtue and indifference towards vice, the mind becomes pure."

"Being unconditioned by time He is Teacher even of the Ancients."

"By (or from) self-study union with the desired deity."

"Being held together by cause and effect, substratum and object- the tendencies themselves disappear on the dissolution of these bases."

"By direct perception through Samyama of the image occupying the mind, knowledge of the mind of others."

"By mastering it (Samyama) the light of the higher consciousness."

"But not also of other mental factors which support the mental image for that is not the object (of Samyama)."

"By direct perceptions of the impressions a knowledge of the previous birth."

"By mastery comes wisdom."

"By one established in continence, vigor is gained."

"By mastery over Samana blazing of gastric fire."

"By performing Samyama on Rupa (one of the five Tanmatras), on suspension of the receptive power, the contact between the eye (of the observer) and light (from the body) is broken and the body becomes invisible."

"By performing Samyama on the relation between Akasa and the ear super-physical hearing."

"By mastery over Udana levitation and non-contact with water, mire, thorns etc."

"By non-attachment even to that, on the very seed of bondage being destroyed, follows Kaivalya."

"By performing Samyama on the light under the crown of the head vision of perfected Beings."

"By performing Samyama on the relation between the body and Akasa and at the same time bringing about coalescence of the mind with light (things like) cotton down (there comes the power of) passage through space."

"By performing Samyama on the three kinds of transformations (Nirodha, Samadhi and Ekagrata) knowledge of the past and future."

"By performing Samyamaon friendliness etc. (comes) strength (of the quality)."

"By performing Samyamaon the heart, awareness of the nature of the mind."

"By performing Samyamaon the Kurma-nadi steadiness."

"By performing Samyamaon the gullet the cessation of hunger and thirst."

"By performing Samyamaon the strengths (of animals) the strength of an elephant etc."

"By performing Samyamaon the pole-star knowledge of their movements."

"By performing Samyamaon the moon knowledge concerning the arrangement of stars."

"By performing Samyamaon the navel centre knowledge of the organization of the body."

"By performing self-control on friendliness, the strength to grant joy arises."

"By relaxation of effort and meditation on the `Endless' (posture is mastered)."

"By relaxation of effort and meditation on the infinite (asanas are perfected)."

"By self-control on any mark of a body, the wisdom of the mind activating that body arises."

"By self-control on the changes that the sense-organs endure when contacting objects, and on the power of the sense of identity, and of the influence of the attributes, and the experience all these produce- one masters the senses."

"By self-control on the light in the head one envisions perfected beings."

"By self-control of the nerve-currents utilizing the life-breath, one may levitate, walk on water, swamps, thorns, or the like."

"By self-control on the mind when it is separated from the body- the state known as the Great Transcorporeal- all coverings are removed from the Light."

"By self-control on the Moon comes knowledge of the heavens."

"By self-control on the navel arises knowledge of the constitution of the body."

"By self-control on the form of a body, by suspending perceptibility and separating effulgence therefrom, there arises invisibility and inaudibilty."

"By self-control on the perception of mental impressions, knowledge of previous lives arises."

"By self-control on the Polestar arises knowledge of orbits."

"By self-control on the pit of the throat one subdues hunger and thirst."

"By self-control on the Sun comes knowledge of spatial specificities."

"By self-control on the tube within the chest one acquires absolute steadiness."

"By self-control on the relation of the ear to the ether one gains distant hearing."

"By self-control on the primal activator comes knowledge of the hidden, the subtle, and the distant."

"By self-control over any kind of strength, such as that of the elephant, that very strength arises."

"By self-control over the relation of the body to the ether, and maintaining at the same time the thought of the lightness of cotton, one is able to pass through space."

"By self-control over these three-fold changes (of property, character and condition), knowledge of the past and the future arises."

"By self-control over the maintenance of breath, one may radiate light."

"By self-control over single moments and their succession there is wisdom born of discrimination."

"By study comes communion with the Lord in the Form most admired."