YOGA SUTRAS

Austerity, study and to God dedication

Is Yoga in action.

Such practice removes afflictions

That are obstacles to the state of absorption

Ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and desire

Are the afflictions

Ignorance, for other obstacles the source

Dormant, visible, intercepted or exposed

Ignorance is the mistaking of non-eternal, impure and painful

As eternal, pure and gainful.

Egoism is false identity

With the power to see

Attachment

follows pleasure

Aversion is the result of pain

From memories domain.

Desire for life arise

Even in the wise.

The afflictions, subtle, be erased

Lest they resurface. 

Such modification

Be avoided through meditation

Past, present or future actions and their fruits

Have in afflictions their roots.

As long as afflictions and their roots remain

So long will rebirth be expressed as class, life span, pleasure or pain  

Actions with vice or virtue as its root

Results in pain or pleasure as its fruit

The discriminating know all actions lead to pain

Or change, anxiety or memory and hence give no gain

It is possible to say good-bye

To the pain yet to come by.

To be avoided then, is the cause for pain,

Identification of the seer with the seen

The perceived include object, mind and senses

With qualities; clarity, activity and heaviness

The qualities involved:

Gross, subtle, primal and un-evolved 

Seer, the power of seeing, is pure

Albeit appearing to be mixed up with the impure

he purpose of the object, the seen

Is to serve the Self, the seer

To the one who is absorbed

Obstacles remain dissolved

But for others in the queue

Objects remain true. 

Nature of the owner and the owned,

On their conjunction, is known.

The cause of conjunction

Is misapprehension

With ignorance destroyed

Identifications ceases

With freedom from bondage

Clarity increases. 

Discrimination and awareness

Are means of avoiding ignorance

Such a one attains knowledge in stages seven

Advances towards the ultimate heaven.

When Yoga practice destroys impurity

There is correct cognition and clarity.

Development towards self and external, a right attitude

Adherence to practice of posture and breath control, with fortitude

Withdrawal  of senses from objects external and seen

Capacity to remain steadfast and serene

Ability to merge with the object to be known

And to get united, there remaining nothing unknown

The norms of self restraint are abstention,

From violence, falsehood, theft, incontinence and acquisition

The norms to follow,

Constitute the great vow.

Conditioned are they,

By class, time , occasion or place nay. 

Observances constitute: Purity, contentment, austerity,

Devotion to God and self-study.

When troubled by thoughts ill,

Ponder over the opposites, well

Improper thought and emotion

Its origin; desire, anger or delusion.

Violence done, caused or approved

Mild, medium or intense they prove.

Result always in pain.

Never do they bring gain. 

When one shuns violence,

Hostility ceases in his presence  

He who speaks, ever the truth

Reaps always good fruit 

To him, who is ever honest

Reach jewels, best 

When one is chaste and restrained

Vitality is gained.

The one with a non-greedy nature

Gains knowledge of past, present and future 

Purity results in aversion,

For physical contact, disinclination   

The results of purification

Cheerful mind and power of concentration

Control of passion and fitness for vision

Contentment results

In happiness

Removal of impurity makes one perfect

Sensory perceptions are then free from defect.

Reflection promotes kinship

With chosen object of worship.

Surrendering to God

Helps one achieve goal.

Posture is

That which keeps one steady and at ease. 

State of attention

Without tension

is achieved by reflection

on postures and one's reaction. 

With practice begets on tranquility

Remains undisturbed by duality

Posture practice helps breath regulation

Inhalation, exhalation and suspension.

Inhale, exhale and retention process is kept prolonged and subtle

With activity, place, duration and number settled.

The inhalation exhalation and retention process one transcends

A fourth state he then ascends

As practice proceeds, affliction recedes

Inner light gets revealed

Mind is made fit

On a chosen object to sit

With self to its own nature drawn

Senses from objects seem withdrawn