My first long form treatise on philosophy of yoga

[gamebit07]

Hola HN,

Greetings on the international yoga day. Authored my first book-sort-of. A treatise on yoga.

I am finally releasing the first completed version of the philosophical essence of Patanjali yog Sutra - https://tini.es/21june2018

It has taken around 6 months of work in completing this 50 page document.

It's a philosophical commentary on yoga and meditation supplemented by thoughts of western thinkers from various discipline.

Do read and let me know your thoughts.

[andrei_says_]

I’m wondering —

Why did you do this?

Do you speak Sanskrit? Did you approach the Sutras in sanskrit or via translations?

What is your Yoga practice?

[gamebit07]

I approached them in Sanskrit. I am not a regular yoga practitioner, I wanted to explore meditation and was looking for a structural approach. Found this one, tried to combine my knowledge from other books and compile it at one place. Hence, this document.

[svat]

(Noticing this thread because of a search for "Sanskrit" on HN.)

On the one hand, it is good that you are thinking about these things, and trying to articulate your current thoughts. Good luck to you. On the other hand, in order to gain enough certainty about your thinking to be able to confidently recommend it to other people, you should probably discuss this with people more advanced in the path of yoga, and consider thoughtfully their differences.

Flipping to a random page in your document, I see:

> 5. Yama - Brahmacharya

> The literal meaning of the word Brahmacharya is unmarried.

Now, that is not the literal meaning, in either the etymological (yoga) or colloquial (rūdhi) sense. If I open a book on Yoga I highly recommend — The Sacred Tradition of Yoga (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1611801729 , https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/1611801729/ , https://www.shambhala.com/the-yoga-journey.html) — this is what it says on Page 116 under Brahmacarya:

> In Saṃskṛta, Brahma is “Eternal Truth”, and carya means “movement”. Brahmacarya literally means “moving towards the Eternal Truth”. […] Sometimes brahmacarya is incorrectly translated as control of sexuality, or celibacy. White it has a relationship to celibacy, it is not the same. True brahmacarya is the discipline of keeping the body and mind attuned for Realization.

Etc. (There are 14 pages devoted to Brahmacarya; the book main covers Yama and Niyama, but always in light of the full context of yoga.)

Good luck to you. Please consider reading other sources as well, and seeking the ideas of people well-versed in both yoga and Sanskrit — you don't have to agree with everything, but consider it, and something may spark more useful inputs for you.