Reading room

Sādhanapāda (Chapter on Means)

Patañjali

It sets out the yoga of action (kriyāyoga: austerity, study and surrender to īśvara), the five afflictions —ignorance, sense of I, attachment, aversion and clinging to life— and the doctrine of karma. It analyses the conjunction of seer and seen as the cause of avoidable pain and begins the exposition of the eight limbs: restraints, observances, posture, breath control and withdrawal of the senses.