3 h 24 minAudiobook11 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 24 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the thoughts filling your mind are not the whole of who you are?
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali gathers short sayings about the mind and how it can come to rest. Traditionally attributed to Patañjali, this collection from ancient India looks beyond postures. It presents suffering as a confusion between who we are and what passes through our thoughts, then sets out a path toward freedom.
Its four chapters trace that path: Samadhi explores deep absorption; Sadhana turns to practice and the roots of suffering; Vibhuti examines concentration and warns against distracting powers; Kaivalya returns to freedom. These compact teachings invite reflection. Their few words open large questions about conduct, meditation, and the difference between the seer and the mind.
What you’ll discover
- Stillness as a starting point Meet a definition of yoga that places the mind, rather than postures, at its center.
- The roots of suffering Explore the five root afflictions through which the text explains suffering and the need for practice.
- Eight limbs of practice Follow a path that begins with conduct toward others and leads toward deep absorption.
- Attention without distraction Discover why the text treats powers along the meditative path as distractions, not the goal.
- The question of freedom Consider the text's distinction between the seer and the thoughts that pass through the mind.
Who will love it
For yoga students, meditators and curious readers who enjoy exploring how the mind works and what yoga practice was built on. For anyone drawn to meditation, ethics and the path to inner freedom.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Yoga means stilling the mind's movements
- Suffering grows from five root afflictions
- Eight limbs lead from conduct to absorption
- Concentration deepens, and powers are a distraction
- Freedom means seeing the seer apart
- How the sutras have been read and challenged
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Die Yoga-Sutras des Patañjali
by Patañjali
Patanjali maps a path from the mind's restless movements to stillness, tracing suffering and the goal of freedom.
Challenging2–5 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a collection of about one hundred and ninety-six very short sayings on how the mind works and how it can be brought to rest. The text is credited to a sage named Patanjali and was set down in Sanskrit in ancient India.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Yoga means stilling the mind's movements
The first chapter explores deep absorption. Yoga, says Patanjali, is the stilling of the movements of the mind. When those movements settle, the one who sees rests in its own true nature. Until then, we identify with whatever the mind is doing.
Patanjali sorts the mind's activity into five kinds. They are right knowledge, mistaken knowledge, imagination, sleep and memory. The point is not that some thoughts are sinful. The point is that all of them are movements that can pull us along and cloud our view.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 11 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 2 h 15 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Patañjali. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali.
Patañjali. (2026). The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali
Patañjali. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali.
@book{patanjali2026yoga,
author = {Patañjali},
title = {The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali}
}
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What are the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali about?
They are short sayings on how the mind works and how to calm it. They cover the causes of suffering, the eight limbs of yoga, deep meditation, special powers and the goal of freedom.
What are the eight limbs of yoga?
They are restraints, observances, posture, breath control, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation and absorption. Patanjali teaches them in that order, moving from conduct toward inner stillness.
Who was Patanjali and when was the book written?
Patanjali is the traditional author, but little is known of him. Scholars place the text around the start of the common era, give or take some centuries, and debate whether one person wrote it.
The author
Patañjali
Ancient Indian scholar
Patanjali is the ancient Indian sage traditionally credited with compiling the Yoga Sutras, the foundational text of classical yoga philosophy. Little is known of his life — even his dates are debated — but the aphorisms gathered under his name have guided practitioners for some two thousand years.
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