Sutra translations by I.K. Taimni, The Science of Yoga
Poetry copyright Shelley Lynne Cummins

The yoga sutras were the first known documentation of the arts of yoga.
Yoga means union, combining all parts into wholeness. Sutra means thread or cord.
Each sutra is a drop of truth merging into the ocean of unity.
These truths are to be sung, chanted, reverberated, contemplated, danced, and celebrated into all layers of existence.

Yoga Sutra 1

Ata Yoga Nusashanam (atah~yoga~new~sa~sha~nam)

Now the Discipline of Yoga

Disciple of life
Living as me
The guide through layers of existence
Live now
Enter in
Know eternity

Yoga Sutra 2

Yogas chitta-vritti nirodhah
(Yoga ~schitah~vritee~ni~ro~da~ha)

Yoga is the selective awareness of the waves of the mind

When awake
I watch
The dream of night and day
When awake
I choose
To live as a radiating
All encompassing light

Yoga Sutra 3

Tada drastuh svarupe ‘vastanam
(Ta~da~drash~tu~sva~ru~pay~vash~tanam)

The seer is established in his or her own essential and fundamental nature

The gold at the seat of the rainbow
A moving foundation
Knowing
I Am
All~ways at home

Yoga Sutra 4

Vritti-sarupyam itaratra
(Vritee~sa~rupyum~i~tara~tra)

In states of mind other than yoga, the seer is identified with the waves of the mind

As parts of me dispatch and flee
Dreams go on endlessly
Company of asuras I keep
In sufferings and rebirth
Yet in an instant
I can choose anew
Re~membering
I Am free, gone, and beyond
Only as the One

Yoga Sutra 5

Vrttayah pancatayyah klistaklistah
(Vritya~pancha~taya~klistah~klistah)

The waves or modifications of the mind are five-fold and are painful or non-painful.

A pendulum the mind
Ability to live extreme
A pleasure and a pain
Great God within
Chose to know
All experience of all terrains

Yoga Sutra 6

Pramana-viparay-vikalpa-nidra-smrtayah
(Pra~manah~vi~paray~vi~kalpah~ni~dra~smar~ta~yah)

They are right knowledge, wrong knowledge, fancy, sleep, and memory.

I know
The truth within
The falsity of my lie
The wisdom from my process
Illusions flying in my mind
My karmas acting out in astral worlds
And my forever changing past
All are there for me to know, use, and grow

Yoga Sutra 7

Pratyaksanumanagamah prmanani
(Pratyak~shanum~anag~amah~praman~ani)

Facts of right knowledge are based on direct cognition, inference, or testimony.

Truth
Is that
Found within the well of you
Drunken till all is wet
& experiences
have paved the lessons
and the way

Yoga Sutra 8

Viparyayo mithya jnanam atad ~rupa~pratistham
(Vipar~ya~yo~mit~ya~janan~am~rupa~prat~ish~tam)

Wrong knowledge is a false conception of a thing whose real form does not correspond to such a mistaken concept.

When the well is hidden
Mortal liquids still are found
Yet only divine nectar
Can quench a never~ending thirst

Yoga Sutra 9

Sabda~jnananupati~vast~sunyo vikalpah
(Shabda~janan~anupati~vast ~shunyo~vi~kal ~pah)

An image conjured up by words without any substance behind it , is fancy.

Oh words
That wander far from home
Picking up colorful delusions
As they stray
Truth awaits the real thoughts
Sent to form
From the eternal home

Yoga Sutra 10

Abava-pratyayalambana vrittir nidra
(A-bava-pratya-ya-lam-bana-vrit-tir-ni-dra)

That modification of the mind which is based on the absence of any content in it is sleep.

There is a part
In me
That can live ignorantly free
A sleepwalking giant
Unaware
In duality & suffering

Yoga Sutra 11

Anubhata-Visayasampramosah smrith
(Anu-ba-tah-Vishaya-sam-pramosh-ah-smir-ti)

Memory is not allowing an object which has been experienced to escape.

My prisoner
refusing to evolve
Journey to new
Until I release the past
Forgive, allow the now
Reforming my prisoner
Into my beloved true

Yoga Sutra 12

Abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah
(A-biyasa-varigya-biyam-tan-ni-ro-di-ha)

The selective awareness of mental waves is brought about by persistent practice and non-attachment.

How do I choose
The absolute of truthfulness?

Death of desires
And everything I knew
Immortality appears
And dawns the wishes which have always been here
In the blessed now

Yoga Sutra 13

Tatra Sthitau yatno bhyasah
(Ta-tra-Shtit-ow-yat-no-bi-ya-sah)

Abhaysa is the effort for being firmly established in the yogic state.

A quality of the beyond
The desire to be
An all encompassing self
This unity lives in me
I free this lord
Into now

Yoga Sutra 14

Sa tu dirgha-kala-nairantarya-satkarasevito drdha-bhumih
(Sa-tu-dir-gha-ka-la-nairan-tar-ya-satkar-ashi-vi-to-dir-dah-bu-mih)

Steady practice becomes firmly grounded on being continued for a long time,
without interruption and with reverent devotion.

Truth takes it’s roots
Blooms & perfumes
With constant sun,
Watering, maintenance,
And love

Yoga Sutra 15

Drstanusravika-visaya-vitrsnasya vasikara-samjna vairagyam
(Drish-stanu-shra-vika-vish-aya-vitra-shna-sya-va-shikara-sam-jna-va-rigyam)

The consciousness of perfect mastery of desires in the case of one who has ceased to crave for objects, seen or unseen, is Vairagya.

As the wishes
For worldly charms
And ideas of such
Be simple play

A yogi’s inner garden blooms
All truth is cared for
Grown, ingested,
And showered out to others

This place of bliss
Heaven has an earthly temple
Inside this glorious vehicle
Known as me

Jai! Sri Yogis… Praise to the Beloved One!