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Patanjali Quotes on Knowledge

Patañjali (variously dated to between the second century BCE and the fourth century CE) is the conventional author of the Yoga Sūtras, the foundational text of the classical Indian philosophical school of Yoga and the principal extant compendium of the eight-limbed (aṣṭāṅga) practice through which discriminative knowledge (viveka-khyāti) of the distinction between the seer (puruṣa) and the seen (prakṛti) is progressively secured. The framework treats samādhi — the absorbed concentration of the highest limbs — as the means of valid knowledge proper to the supersensible objects with which classical Sāṅkhya-Yoga is concerned, and the long commentarial tradition headed by the Yoga-bhāṣya of Vyāsa supplied the canonical interpretation of the work for the subsequent millennium.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Patanjali:

    “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.”

  • “Patanjali , in “Yoga and You” [ citation needed ]”

    Yoga is the cessation of movements of the mind . Then there is abiding in the seer 's own form.
  • “Asanas bring perfection in body , beauty in form , grace , strength , compactness , and the harness and brilliance of a diamond .”

    Patanjali , in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 135.
  • “Patanjali , in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 135.”

    Asanas bring perfection in body , beauty in form , grace , strength , compactness , and the harness and brilliance of a diamond .
  • “Patanjali , in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 24.”

    The Yoga of action , leading to union with the soul is fiery aspiration , spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara .
  • “Patanjali , in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 136.”

    When right posture ( asana ) has been attained there follows right control of prana and proper inspiration and expiration of the breath .
  • “The posture assumed must be steady and easy”

    Patanjali , in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 133.
  • “Patanjali , in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom”, p. 133.”

    The posture assumed must be steady and easy
  • “The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.”

    Patanjali , in Hinduism , p. 63.
  • “Peace can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.”

    The Mahābhāṣya

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