Lesesaal

Yoga Sūtras (The Aphorisms of Yoga)

Patañjali

A treatise in 195 or 196 aphorisms (the number varies in the third chapter) divided into four pādas: Samādhi (51), Sādhana (55), Vibhūti (55 or 56) and Kaivalya (34). It defines yoga as the stilling of the movements of the mind and describes the states of concentration, the afflictions that cause suffering, the eight-limbed path, the powers that accompany absorption and the final isolation of consciousness from nature. It is the base text of the Yoga school, one of the six orthodox "views", and today the founding work invoked by yoga schools throughout the world.