Description
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is one of the most important and foundational texts of classical Yoga philosophy, and where many yoga students begin their study. Also referred to as Raja Yoga, or Ashtanga Yoga, the yoga sutras, compiled by Patanjali in the early centuries CE (about the same time the Buddha lived) ultimately teach us how to understand the mind and train the mind.
The Yoga Sutras are a collection of “sutra” philosophy, short statements, neither poetry nor prose, which describe an eight-fold path (ashtanga) which culminates in samadhi, or liberated state. This is considered the Royal Path because it is the most difficult and important path to train or tune our minds. Our mind alone is the cause for freedom and also the cause for attachment and bondage. Therefore, the yogi wishes to train his/her own mind.
In this course you will study the sutras of the first chapter in detail. We will explore the 5 thought waves or categories of thought, the stages or realisation, the stages of realisation, and how to overcome obstacles in the mind and practice of yoga. Join us for a fun and clear exploration of these sutras by a highly experienced teacher.
The course includes 4.25 hours total of instruction, over 7 modules.
This is a theory course, suitable for all students of yoga. No experience is necessary and no physical practice of yoga is involved. A downloadable pdf is included with all sutras of chapter 1 in Sanskrit and transliteration for ease of study.
Srinivas Pulluri
Srinivas Pulluri, a traditional teacher of Yoga, Vedanta, and Sanskrit for more than 20 years, completed the three years residential Vedanta course under Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam.
Srinivas is a senior faculty member in the Sivananda Advanced Teachers’ Training Courses in India and Thailand and serves as an Examiner for the Yoga Exams launched by the Government of India’s Ministry of AYUSH. He has taught more than 50,000 school students under Aarsha Samskriti’s ‘SUMEDHA’ project, a life skills development contest.
Srinivas conducts online courses in Vedanta and Sanskrit and is the founder of ‘Aarsha Samskriti’ and ‘Threesandya Yogalaya’ in Hyderabad, and travels frequently to teach courses in India, Thailand, Japan, and Russia.
Module 1:
Introduction, Sutras 1 – 2
Module 2:
Chitta Vrittis / 5 Categories of Thought, Sutras 3 – 11
Module 3:
Nirodhah / Restraining the Vrittis, Sutras 12 – 16
Module 4:
Samadhi / Stages of Realisation, Sutras 17 – 26
Module 5:
Obstacles Overcome by Japa, Sutras 27 – 31
Module 6:
Sadhana Asthaka Sutras / 8 Tools for Practice, Sutras 32 – 39
Module 7:
4 Stages of Samadhi, Sutras 40 – 51