Patanjali Quotations

Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind.

Knowledge born of the finest discrimination takes us to the farthest shore. It is intuitive, omniscient, and beyond all divisions of time and space.

Ignorance is the failure to discriminate between the permanent and the impermanent, the pure and the impure, bliss and suffering, the Self and the non-Self.

The cause of suffering is that the unbounded Self is overshadowed by the world.

Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.

When you are steadfast in your abstention of thoughts of harm directed toward yourself and others, all living creatures will cease to feel fear in your presence.

The activities of the liberated soul transcend the pairs of opposites.

When there is firm conquest over covetousness, they who have conquered it wake up to the how and why of life.

Yoga is mind wave quieting.

Yoga takes you into the present moment, the only place where life exists.

Yoga is a practical method for making one's life purposeful, useful and noble.

Just as the pure crystal takes color from the object which is nearest to it, so the mind, when it is cleared of thought-waves, achieves sameness or identity with the object of its concentration.

The obstacles that distract thought are disease, apathy, doubt, carelessness, indolence, dissipation, false vision, failure to attain a firm basis in yoga, and restlessness.

Sexual activity, and the thoughts and fantasies of sex, use up a great portion of our vital force. When that force is conserved through abstinence, it becomes sublimated as spiritual energy.

The Yoga of action, leading to union with the soul is fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara.

The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.

With great respect and love, NOW the blessings of Yoga instruction are offered.

Perfection in asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.

Asanas bring perfection in body, beauty in form, grace, strength, compactness, and the hardness and brilliance of a diamond.

Chanting is one of the most traditional and first Yoga practices. It helps to open the throat area and is a great way to learn some Sanskrit and the Yoga Sutra.

The way to eliminate ignorance is through steady, focused discrimination between the observer and the world.

The longest journey begins with a single step.

Sloth is the great enemy -- the inspirer of cowardice, irresolution, self-pitying grief, and trivial, hairsplitting doubts. Sloth may also be a psychological cause of sickness. It is tempting to relax from our duties, take refuge in ill-health and hide under a nice warm blanket.

Everything is sorrow for the wise.

It is only when the correct practice is followed for a long time, without interruptions and with a quality of positive attitude and eagerness, that it can succeed.

The heart and mind can find peace and harmony by contemplating the transcendental nature of the true self as supreme effulgent life.

In deep meditation the flow of concentration is continuous like the flow of oil.

Yoga is the cessation of mind.

For those who have an intense urge for Spirit and wisdom, it sits near them, waiting.

Progress is mediation comes swiftly for those who try their hardest.

Yoga is the cessation of the movements of the mind. Then there is abiding in the Seer's own form.

Be happy for those who are happy, have compassion towards the unhappy, and maintain equanimity towards the wicked.

Aversion is a form of bondage. We are tied to what we hate or fear. That is why, in our lives, the same problem, the same danger or difficulty, will present itself over and over again in various prospects, as long as we continue to resist or run away from it instead of examining it and solving it.

Peace can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.

Here is, in truth, the whole secret of Yoga, the science of the soul. The active turnings, the strident vibrations, of selfishness, lust and hate are to be stilled by meditation, by letting heart and mind dwell in spiritual life, by lifting up the heart to the strong, silent life above, which rests in the stillness of eternal love, and needs no harsh vibration to convince it of true being.

It is not enough to have intuitions; we must act on them; we must live them.

If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience Yoga.

Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.

A mind free from all disturbances is Yoga.

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations; your conscious expands in every direction; and you find yourself in a great, new and wonderful world.

Yoga is the practice of quieting the mind.

Success is nearest to those whose efforts are intense and sincere.

There is always a light within us that is free from all sorrow and grief, no matter how much we may be experiencing suffering.

Where the heart is full of kindness which seeks no injury to another, either in act or thought or wish, this full love creates an atmosphere of harmony, whose benign power touches with healing all who come within its influence. Peace in the heart radiates peace to other hearts, even more surely than contention breeds contention.