The Yoga Sutras Explained: Patanjali's 4 Chapters in Plain English

What are the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali?

The Yoga Sutras are a short Sanskrit text of about 195 verses that lays out a method for calming and training the mind. Tradition credits a sage called Patanjali, and the text is still the classic source teachers turn to when they define yoga.

The Sanskrit word sutra means thread. Each verse is a thread of only a few words, often with no verb at all. Students once learned the threads by heart, and then a teacher unpacked them aloud. So almost nobody reads the Yoga Sutras alone. You read them with a commentary, and the commentary on one line can run for pages. Having the Yoga Sutras explained by someone who has practised with them for years is still the clearest way in.

Most editions count 195 verses, while some count 196, because manuscripts and editors divide a few lines differently. The text also talks about the three gunas, the qualities of nature that our school is named after. You can read more about them on our page on what Triguna means.

Who wrote the Yoga Sutras, and when?

Patanjali is named as the author, but almost nothing is known about him as a person. Most scholars see him as a compiler who gathered older ideas into one tight system, rather than the inventor of yoga.

Dates, however, vary widely. Britannica places the Yoga Sutras in the 2nd century BCE and calls them the earliest surviving textbook on yoga. Other scholars argue for the first centuries CE. Britannica also notes that most scholars now treat this Patanjali as a different person from the famous grammarian of the same name. For a student, the useful summary is simple: the text is roughly 2,000 years old, give or take a few centuries.

The ideas sit close to Samkhya, one of the six classical schools of Indian philosophy (darshanas). Samkhya divides reality into purusha, pure awareness, and prakriti, nature, which moves through the three gunas. Yoga takes that map and adds a practice for living it.

What are the four padas of the Yoga Sutras?

The four padas, or chapters, are Samadhi Pada on absorption, Sadhana Pada on practice, Vibhuti Pada on the powers of concentration and Kaivalya Pada on freedom. Each chapter builds on the one before it.

The order surprises many readers. Chapter 1 seems written for someone whose mind is already fairly steady. Chapter 2, however, starts with the struggles of ordinary people, so many teachers begin beginners there. The third chapter lists unusual powers, but it also warns that they can become obstacles. Finally, the fourth chapter is the most abstract, so it is best read last.

What does chitta vritti nirodha mean?

Chitta vritti nirodha is the second sutra and the text's definition of yoga: stopping the mind from breaking into restless waves. In Sanskrit it reads yogash chitta vritti nirodhah, and those four words carry the whole book.

"Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Chitta) from taking various forms (Vrittis)." (Yoga Sutras 1.2, translated by Swami Vivekananda in Raja-Yoga, 1896)

Chitta is the whole field of the mind. A vritti is a movement in that field, like a ripple on water. Nirodha, then, means stilling or holding back. Vivekananda used the picture of a lake: when the surface is calm, you can see the bed below. In Patanjali's terms, you then see your own nature clearly, which sutra 1.3 describes as the seer resting in itself.

Next, Patanjali lists five kinds of vritti: correct knowledge, error, imagination, sleep and memory. Sleep is on the list, which is why practices such as Yoga Nidra for sleep treat it as something you can watch. Then sutra 1.12 gives the two tools for the whole path: abhyasa, steady practice, and vairagya, letting go.

What are the kleshas in the Yoga Sutras?

The kleshas are five afflictions that Patanjali names in chapter 2 as the roots of suffering. Ignorance comes first, because the other four grow out of it.

• Avidya: ignorance, taking the passing for the lasting and the body for the self.
• Asmita: ego-sense, the feeling that "I" am my thoughts and roles.
• Raga: attachment, chasing what once gave pleasure.
• Dvesha: aversion, pushing away what once gave pain.
• Abhinivesha: clinging to life, the fear of death that even the wise feel.

The answer comes at the start of the chapter. Patanjali offers kriya yoga, the yoga of action, in three parts: tapas (discipline), svadhyaya (self-study) and ishvara pranidhana (surrender to a higher principle). These weaken the kleshas over time. For a modern student, the benefit of this chapter is practical: notice the craving, notice the resistance, keep practising.

How do the eight limbs fit into the Yoga Sutras?

The eight limbs appear in sutra 2.29 as Patanjali's step-by-step path, from ethics to full absorption. Five limbs close chapter 2, and the last three open chapter 3.

The eight are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Our yoga teacher training guide sets them out one by one. In Sanskrit, eight limbs is ashtanga. So the modern Ashtanga Vinyasa style borrows the name, but it is a different thing: a set sequence of postures. Our article on Hatha vs Ashtanga yoga explains that style.

Asana, in fact, gets only three verses. The posture should be steady and comfortable, and effort should relax into it. Pranayama follows in five short verses. In other words, the text that gave yoga its definition says very little about postures. Instead, it treats the body as a stable seat for the work of the mind.

Are the Yoga Sutras religious?

The Yoga Sutras do not belong to one religion, and students of every faith or none study them. The text mentions Ishvara, a special kind of pure awareness, as one possible focus for practice.

However, Patanjali offers devotion to Ishvara as an option, not a rule. Sutra 1.23 introduces it with an "or", after other routes to stillness. He also names OM as the sound that expresses Ishvara, and he suggests repeating it with attention to its meaning. That is the root of much mantra practice in yoga classes today. Still, the text never asks a reader to join a group, follow rituals or accept a creed. It reads more like a manual for observing the mind.

How do the Yoga Sutras differ from the Bhagavad Gita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika?

The Yoga Sutras focus on the mind, the Bhagavad Gita on action and devotion, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika on the body and breath. Teacher trainings often study all three, because each fills a gap in the others.

Unlike the Sutras, the Gita is a story with characters: Krishna advises the warrior Arjuna on a battlefield. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, on the other hand, is far more physical. It describes cleansing practices and breath work, and it presents Hatha as a ladder towards the meditative state that Patanjali describes. If you want the physical side, read our explainer on what Hatha yoga is.

How are the Yoga Sutras explained on a teacher training?

At Triguna in Rishikesh, philosophy is a daily class, not an extra. On our 100, 200 and 300 hour courses, yoga philosophy runs from 10:00 to 11:00 AM, after the morning Shatkarma and asana practice.

Our founder and lead teacher, Yogi Prakash, teaches yoga philosophy (Yoga Darshana) through texts such as the Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. The ideas are explained in plain language and linked to everyday life, from handling stress to treating other people well. On the 200 hour course the day also holds Shatkarma at 6:30 AM, Hatha practice and meditation at 6:00 PM, so students can test an idea from the morning class on the cushion the same evening.

The course pages put it this way:

"Yoga philosophy is the foundation of our yoga practice and is the key to earn yogic strength." (Triguna Yoga School, 200 hour teacher training page)

The 100 hour course lasts 12 days, and the 200 hour course lasts 23 days. The 300 hour course lists the Patanjali Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in its syllabus. Dates and fees are listed on each course page. Philosophy is also part of the wider standard: Yoga Alliance's standards for registered schools include a Yoga Humanities category, formerly called Yoga Philosophy, Lifestyle and Ethics.

How should a beginner start reading the Yoga Sutras?

Start slowly, with one translation and a commentary, and read a few verses at a time. Seen this way, the Yoga Sutras explained in small pieces make far more sense than a cover-to-cover read.

1. Choose one translation with notes. A free, public-domain option is Swami Vivekananda's Raja-Yoga on Wikisource.
2. Begin with sutras 1.1 to 1.16. They define yoga, list the five vrittis and give the pair of practice and letting go.
3. Move to chapter 2. Read the kleshas and kriya yoga, then the eight limbs.
4. Take one sutra a day. Write it down, read the commentary, and carry it through the day.
5. Compare a second translation when a word puzzles you. Different renderings often show what the Sanskrit leaves open.
6. Test it in practice. Sit for 10 minutes and simply watch which vrittis arise. Our guide to pranayama for beginners offers a calm breath to start with.