Philosophy and Edwin Bryant		Satya Narayana Dasa
About Devotional Chanting

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the classical ancient Indian treatise on the practice of Yoga. While Yoga conjures up images of bodily postures and stretches in popular western culture, this aspect of yoga, the asanas, is only the third limb of the eight limbs outlined in the Yoga Sutras -- and, indeed, Patanjali pays only passing attention to this aspect of the system.

Dr. Edwin Bryant & Teaching

Coming soon: A monthly series of postings, taken from Edwin Bryant's forthcoming translation and commentary of the text. It will consist of a close reading of Patanjali's original text, focusing on the opening section of the work, wherein Yoga is defined and the state of samadhi, liberation, described, as well as on the eight limbs of yoga covered in the heart of the text, which outline the step by step methods for attaining this enlightened state. Attention will be paid to the pre-modern commentaries of the text, thus exposing students to the traditional understanding of the practice of classical Yoga and its goals.

Edwin Bryant

Edwin Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University, taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is presently the professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu Philosophy, Bhagavad Gita, Sanskrit, Yoga and other related subject matter. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, and, in addition to numerous articles, is the author of six books, three of them in print, two in press, and one, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and their traditional commentators, in the final stages of revision. While some of his books are academic in tone and published by university presses, his Penguin World Classics translation of the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, which is the traditional source for the story of Krishna’s incarnation, is aimed at the general public interested in Hinduism, as well as the yoga community. His forthcoming translation of the Yoga Sutras is specifically dedicated to the Yoga community and contributes to the growing body of literature on Yoga by providing extracts form the traditional commentaries on Patanjali’s text.

Edwin’s personal involvement with yoga as an initiated practitioner in a traditional Vaishnava sect who has practiced bhakti yoga for 25 years, a number of them in India. He has done a number of workshops on the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras aimed specifically at practitioners of yoga. He thus combines academic scholarship and rigor with the perspectives and experience of a life-long yogi.