Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga

One could easily spend a lifetime exploring Vedic literature and still barely scratch the surface in terms of the wisdom that’s available to us. Between the four Vedas, Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda and Yajur Veda, the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, the six schools of Vedic philosophy, and countless other written and oral texts or translations, there’s no shortage of avenues to explore.

And even if you could absorb them all in a lifetime, you’d probably need to reread them to understand them from a more evolved point of view.  

Fortunately, the Vedic worldview is that all this wisdom is experiential, and we can shortcut the process of attaining wisdom through “knowledge of the Knower.” 

Thom provides an example of this in this assessment of Patanjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, a subset of The Yoga Sutras. 

Thom clarifies that the piecemeal approach of trying to check off the eight limbs through our actions in order to attain the state of Yoga, is a misguided approach to take, and that practicing Vedic Meditation provides an express route that accelerates our personal evolution.

Episode Highlights:

[00:45] The Yoga Sutras

[02:36] Ashta Anga

[03:44] Yoga - Unification

[06:27] Samadhi

[07:39] The Simultaneous Arrival of Balance

[09:57] 1. Yama and Its Five Qualities

[13:21] Outcomes vs Causes

[15:05] 2. Niyama and Its Five Observances

[20:18] 3. Asana - The Sequential Elaboration of Limbs

[23:32] Asana for Transcendence

[24:51] 4. Pranayama - Administration of Breath

[27:00] 5. Pratyahara - Inward Intentionality

[29:31] Reversing Habits of the Senses

[32:05] 6. Dharana - Inward Movement

[33:41] 7. Dhyana - Arriving at the Subtlest Layer of Thought

[35:14] 8. Samadhi - Being Knows Itself

[36:50] Samadhi Affects Yama

[39:50] Spontaneous Self-Sufficiency

[41:34] Samadhi Affects Niyama

[45:09] Samadhi Affects All Other Limbs

[46:56] A Process of Verification and Validation

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