He merely rehandles the Sāṃkhya philosophy in its broad outlines, adapting it to a rather superficial theism and exalting the practical value of meditation. The Yoga and Sāṃkhya
darśanas are so much alike that most of the assertions made by the one are valid for the other. The essential differences between them are two: (1) Whereas Sāṃkhya is atheistic, Yoga is theistic, since it postulates the existence of a "Lord" (Īśvara); (2) Whereas according to Sāṃkhya the only path to final deliverance is that of metaphysical knowledge, Yoga accords marked importance to techniques of purification and meditation.
Thanks to Patañjali, Yoga, which had been an archaic ascetic and mystical tradition, became an organized "system of philosophy." Nothing is known of the author of the Yoga Sūtra, not even whether he lived in the second or third century BCE or in the fifth century CE, although claims to both datings have been vigorously defended. The earliest commentary known is the Yogabhāṣya of Vyāsa (seventh to eighth century CE), annotated by Vācaspatimiśra (ninth century) in his Tattvavaiśāradī. These two works, indispensable for understanding the Yoga Sūtra, are complemented by two works of later centuries.
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