Patañjali has often been called the first codifier of yoga, but it goes beyond Patanjali’s work. The Yoga Sūtra, a treatise on yoga, is based on the Sāṃkhya school and the Hindu texts of the Bhagavad-Gītā (see also: Vyāsa). Yoga is also found in the purāṇa and Upaniṣad.
However, his work is one of the major Hindu scriptures, and serves as the basis for what is called Rāja Yoga. In it, Patañjali analyzes psycho-physical principles and techniques in the form of propositions that are as general as possible. It is therefore not a manual for practicing yoga. Patañjali’s yoga is one of the six schools (or darśana) of Hindu philosophy. His sūtra provide us with the earliest reference to the term Aṣṭāṅga Yoga, literally “the eight limbs of yoga”; these are yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇayāma, pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna and Samādhi.
Among the most important interpretations of the Yoga Sūtra are Vyâsa’s commentary, Vācaspati Miśra’s glosses, and also Bhoja, Vijnanabhikshu and Nagoji Bhatta.
I bow to the noblest of sages, Patanjali, who brought serenity of mind through his work on yoga, clarity of speech through his work on grammar and purity of body through his work on medicine. I prostrate before Patanjali, an incarnation of Ādiśesa whose upper body is in human form, whose arms hold a conch and a disc, who is crowned by the thousand-headed cobra.
Gonika, a great yogini, despaired that her earthly life was coming to an end. Her desire to have a child would remain unfulfilled. One day, while doing her ablutions in the Ganges, she turned to the Sun God, the living witness of God on earth, and prayed to him: – If only I could have a child, a worthy child to whom I could pass on my knowledge and wisdom. She joined her hands in a cup, drew water from the hollow of her hands as an offering, closed her eyes and meditated on the Sun. Ananta, the cosmic serpent, had long wanted to learn the art of yoga. He immediately understood that Gonika would be a good mother. So he incarnated himself into a small being, half man, half snake, who was struggling in the palms of Gonika’s hands. She opened her eyes and to her great surprise discovered in her palms this little snake which quickly took a human form, And already, it prostrated itself before Gonika: – Oh, great yogini Gonika, I humbly ask you to accept me as your son and to teach me the art of yoga. Gonika, amazed, accepted and called him Patanjali: Pata means to fall and anjali means prayer hands. Patanjali became a great sage. He codified the art of yoga and wrote the yoga sutras.
