Foreword / B K S Iyengar -- Sanskrit pronunciation guide -- History of yoga -- Yoga prior to Patanjali -- Vedic period -- Yoga in the Upaniṣads -- Yoga in the Mahabharata -- Yoga and Saṅkhya -- Patanjali's yoga -- Patanjali and the six schools of Indian philosophy -- Yoga sutras as a text -- Commentaries on the Yoga sutras -- Subject matter of the Yoga sutras -- Dualism of yoga -- Saṅkhya metaphysics of the text -- Goals of yoga -- Eight limbs of yoga -- Present translation and commentary -- 1: Meditative absorption -- 2: Practice -- 3: Mystic powers -- 4: Absolute independence -- Concluding reflections -- Chapter summaries -- Appendix: Devanagari, transliteration, and translation of sutras -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Glossary of Sanskrit terms and names -- Word index -- Acknowledgments

From the Publisher: A landmark new translation and edition. Written almost two millennia ago, Patanjali's work focuses on how to attain the direct experience and realization of the purusa: the innermost individual self, or soul. As the classical treatise on the Hindu understanding of mind and consciousness and on the technique of meditation, it has exerted immense influence over the religious practices of Hinduism in India and, more recently, in the West. Edwin F. Bryant's translation is clear, direct, and exact. Each sutra is presented as Sanskrit text, transliteration, and precise English translation, and is followed by Bryant's authoritative commentary, which is grounded in the classical understanding of yoga and conveys the meaning and depth of the sutras in a user-friendly manner for a Western readership without compromising scholarly rigor or traditional authenticity. In addition, Bryant presents insights drawn from the primary traditional commentaries on the sutras written over the last millennium and a half

Text and commentary in English; Sanskrit text with English translation