It is one of India's typical paradoxes that the greatest book ever written on the spiritual aspect of Yoga also conceals any details about its author. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are only 196 terse aphorisms in number, but for over two and a half millennia they have been the ultimate authority on the subject. All the stranger therefore that we have no details about the author of this work of genius that has any historical certainty. In any case, India has always preferred mythical narrative over historical drudgery, and Patanjali has been fitted out with a sufficiently impressive myth. Historically, we are aware that about 500 BCE, an unusually intelligent man named Patanjali codified into a text of brilliant compression the fundamental and vital principles of the practice of Yoga. He is also supposed to have been the man who wrote the first commentary on the famous Grammar of Panini, who was his guru. From the evidence available the two seem to have been different people sharing the same name, a common enough practice, with later commentators using a more distinguished predecessor's reputation to gild their particular lily. Traditionally, Patanjali is supposed to have written three important works; his commentary on the grammar called the Mahabhasya, a work on the ancient Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda, and the work he is most well known for, the Yoga Sutras. The Yoga Sutras are in alignment with the spiritual impulse pervading India at the time - a turning away from the socially oriented ritualistic practice of religion to the personal exploration of the inner reality to grasp the nature of Absolute Reality, held to be identical with the Self by most belief systems. Having said this, we have shot our bolt where the historicity of Patanjali is concerned. New evidence might surface; India is prone to such surprises but at the moment this is all we know. The mythical origin is in any case much more interesting. Patanjali is held to be the avatar of Anantha - the Infinite Cosmic Serpent upon whom Vishnu rests. Anantha takes avatar with Vishnu too, his two most famous manifestations being as Laxmana, the brother of the Rama avatar and Balarama, the elder brother of the Krishna avatar. He was born as Patanjali to teach the world Yoga, a secret till then known only to the gods. Once Anantha, also Known as Adi Shesha, had found Vishnu's weight unbearable as they were watching a dance by Shiva, the lord of Yoga. Vishnu explained later that he had been in sympathetic harmonious vibration with Shiva's energy state owing to the practice of Yoga. Hearing about the other uses and value of Yoga, he sought to be born amongst humans to teach them this great spiritual method. On earth a great Yogini called Gonika was praying for a worthy son to transmit her knowledge. Patanjali, as a tiny snake, fell from the heavens into her palms as her reward, hence his name. 'Pata' means to fall and 'Anjali' is hands cupped in prayer. In certain other stories he is supposed to have fallen into the hands of his Guru Panini the Grammarian. To bring some consistency, a few say that Panini and Gonika were married and each were enlightened beings in their own light and hence Patanjali had two great mentors. Of course, there is much superficial parsing of his name to convey inner truths like folding hands in prayer is how one rises from the inherent human tendency to fall. These are amusing but irrelevant interpretations, especially considered in the light of what he actually taught. This myth does explain the peculiar iconography of the great Master however. He is always depicted as a four-armed man up to the waist, after which his body becomes a great serpentine triple coil. The triple coil of the body represents the dormant Kundalini Shakti, the primal energy of creation. Two hands in the rear, symbolizing spiritual attributes, hold up the emblems of Vishnu, the conch and the discus. His front hands are folded in Anjali mudra more commonly known as the Namaste, India's ancient and powerful spiritual greeting. (For details on the myriad symbolism behind the Namaste please go to our glossary section.) The conch represents the Air Element and the Discus, made of the sun's rays, the Fire Element. This is appropriate as Yoga as a spiritual discipline does utilize these two great Elements primarily. The serpent hoods forming a royal umbrella over his head are normally seven in number, signifying his transcendence of the Five Elements and the achievement of Enlightenment and Liberation. In good images the snake actually rises along the back of the spine as the Kundalini energy does when it is activated. When the Kundalini reaches the chakra above the head in the etheric body, full Enlightenment and Liberation is achieved. Patanjali is thus not subject to rebirth; he is a great soul who chose to take birth to serve humanity. There is also commonly an archway depicted behind his back to announce his role as a threshold guardian, a guide who takes you through the Gateway of Consciousness to the experience of the Self. continue>> Archive