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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.
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