The Yoga S\u016btras of Pata\u00f1jali are full of lessons rooted in ancient wisdom, all of which can be applied to your everyday life for more ease and peace of mind.\u00a0Today, we\u2019re breaking down one of Kino\u2019s newest Yoga\u00a0S\u016btra lessons here on the blog \u2013 Yoga\u00a0S\u016btra 1.23 \u2013 \u00a0\u012a\u015bvara \u00a0Pranidh\u0101n\u0101d V\u0101. <\/p>\n
T<\/span>o understand this Yoga S\u016btra, you will first need a brief philosophical lesson from the S\u0101nkhya school of thought, and a little background information about Pata\u00f1jali\u2019s approach to this philosophy. S\u0101nkhya is a dualistic philosophy that is directed towards discovering and understanding the truth of life from a non-theistic point of view \u2013 one that is not rooted in devotion to the Divine. This dualism says that there are two fundamental natures of reality \u2013 the spirit, and the material \u2013 P\u016bru\u015ba and Prakruti \u2014 and that these two remain eternally separate.<\/p>\n What does this have to do with your\u00a0yoga practice?<\/p>\n First, the whole premise of yoga, according to Pata\u00f1jali, seeks to remove the confusion between spirit and material. The root of suffering is the conflation of the spirit with the material. In other words when P\u016bru\u015ba thinks it is Prakrti, it loses its true sense of self, which basically means, you don\u2019t know who you really are.<\/p>\n Yoga is also more than just a physical practice \u2013 it’s a lifestyle and it’s\u00a0an act of devotion. As Pata\u00f1jali spent time considering the philosophy of S\u0101nkhya, he looked to the traditional teachings of the Vedas, and decided to re-integrate the concept of a Higher Power \u2013 \u012a\u015bvara. Until that point in time, God was simply not something that was presented through S\u0101nkhya. This is where yoga and devotion come together.<\/p>\n As Pata\u00f1jali developed his Yoga S\u016btras, he used this approach to S\u0101nkhya philosophy, which\u00a0included his added\u00a0representation of a Higher Power.<\/p>\n And Pata\u00f1jali says, \u012a\u015bvara \u00a0Pranidh\u0101n\u0101d V\u0101\u00a0\u2013\u00a0surrender to the Divine can lead to the same peace of mind that we strive for every day through the steady practice of yoga.<\/p>\n Want to learn more? Kino has an entire series of videos devoted to studying the Yoga S\u016btras available to all OmStars subscribers.\u00a0Access the full lesson behind this Yoga S\u016btra with Kino and check out her\u00a0Yoga S\u016btra Study course to learn more.<\/p>\n By Alex Wilson <\/p>\n