Autodidact

Food for thought: Translation and commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Edwin F. Bryant.

Thanks to Igor for reminding me of the pleasures of being an autodidact (someone who is self-taught).

Today I spent hours poring over some difficult passages in the Yoga Sutras. This is the same book that Edwin Bryant was inscribing here. (I said it was the Bhagavad Gita because that's what we'd been studying last May, but it's actually Edwin's own book, pictured open in today's image, which I acquired for a workshop he taught in 2012.)

Sanskrit! Ancient Indic philosophical systems! Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are the 2,000-year-old foundation of yoga. Yoga is not just about deep breathing and twisting like a pretzel. If you enlarge these pages and read them, you can see that Edwin's 600-page book is not easy going. I'm amazed that I've learned enough over the years so that it makes sense to me. I love studying this text because it enhances my spiritual life. My yoga teacher and I make Patanjali a part of every yoga class. Hence, there's always food for thought.

The purpose of yoga, Patanjali tells us in the beginning of his text, is to quiet the mind, to restrain its incessant churning thoughts. Edwin's book translates each sutra and presents various ancient commentators on the text. Here is a quote from the portion I read today. I found it both comforting and encouraging. It takes a long time to develop oneself, as any autodidact can attest.

Vijnanabhiksu adds that changing the nature of the mind is a gradual process; it does not occur instantly, as anyone who has experimented with fixing the mind on one object for a prolonged period will know.

(Bryant, p. 319, commentary on Patanjali III.11)