The Invocation to Patanjali



Image borrowed from collectindianstamps.com


"Welcome Back!" to the pioneering students of the first ever Meditation and Yoga Philosophy, Level Two class which began last night at Yoga for Today!

It was wonderful to hear how much you retained from  Level One, including chanting the first four lines of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras by heart!

In Level Two, we will continue with our meditation practice, mantras, Sanskrit reading and writing, stories, songs, and sutras. 

We will also be chanting the "Invocation to Patanjali" as I learned it from my teacher Swami Swaroopananda, the Acharya (Spiritual Director) of the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas.

We will learn the invocation little by little over the first four classes through the traditional method of "call and response" and group chanting. 

Feel free to write it down and bring it with you to class if you like.  See you next Wednesday!

The Invocation to Patanjali

पतञ्जलिप्रार्थनं॥

योगेन चित्तस्य पदेन वाचां मलं शरीरस्य च वैदिकेन ।

योपाकरोत्तं प्रवरं मुनीनां पतञ्जलिं प्राञ्जलिरानतोस्मि॥

yogena cittasya, padena vācāṃ,

malaṃ śarīrasya ca vaidyakena ।
yo'pākarot taṃ pravaraṃ munīnāṃ

patañjaliṃ prāñjalir ānato'smi ॥

I salute Patanjali, the highest among the sages,

who has presented the remedy for removing impurities of the body

through his treatise on Ayurveda (the Science of Life),

the remedy for removing impurities of the speech

through his treatise on grammar,

and the remedy for removing the impurities of the chitta (the mind stuff)

through his treatise on yoga; this, the Yoga Sutra.