A Commentary on Patanjala Yoga Sutra Named The Ambrosia of Yoga with the Yogasutras of Patanjali

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About the Author Born in a diksitar family of Vayalore in Nannilam Taluk of Tanjore district, Tamil Nadu, the Translator, Mr. S. Kothandaraman (S.K. Raman), is a Graduate in Arts from the Nagpur University and in Law from the Bombay University and is aged 79 years. Having served initially in various capacities in the State and Central Governments and the Rourkela Steel Project, he retired from M/s. Gammon India Ltd., Bombay, a Civil Engineering and Construction Company after serving that Company for a couple of decades. Since 1985, he is self-employed as a Consultant and Arbitration Counsel at the end of a contract with M/s. Makers' Enterprises on their prestigious Housing Project at Baghdad in Iraq. Acted also as an Arbitrator in adjudicating disputes of civil engineering nature. Was retained by M/s. STUP Consultants Ltd., as their Legal Adviser for quite some years is a life member of the Indian Council of Arbitrators and was an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London (U.K.). He also authored several articles on arbitral matters.

Foreword The science of Siva Yoga was gifted by Siva to this world from face No.1 of his five faces through his horripilatory manifestation of the excelling super-dancing God, Lord Nataraja, headquartered at Chidambaram in Daksina Bharat. To begin with, the gift of Siva was, is, and will ever be, demonstrated by Lord Nataraja on every thirteenth day of the two fortnights in a month (Pradosakala). This way of teaching the Yoga was, to most of the then generations, both inaccessible and ingraspable, being unintelligible. Out of the many followers of Lord Nataraja, the two sages, Patanjali and Vyaghrapada felt it as their supreme duty to write out a treatise on Siva's light-thought, gift of awareness and the demonstration that is the Science of Integral Yoga, received and treasured in the Kashmir Valley of Bharat.

2. Thus, the original Siva Sutras acted as beacons to the compilation by the sage, Patanjali in the form of Patanjala Yoga Aphorisms subdivided into four Padas or quadrants, namely: Samadhi- pada, Sadanapada, Vibhutipada and Kaivalyapada. A student of these yoga aphorisms is progressively invested with the possession of super- phenomenal or nominal intellective vision, to understand and digest the terse, abstruse and abstract contents in the aphorisms.

3. The untutored Siva Sutras are considered like the Vedas, a revealed book of the Yoga, a supreme identity of the individual self with the Divine.

A student stands to gain much more when this book, particularly mastered as the fountain-head of the spiritual practice, is assimilated in conjunction with direction of Vijnanabhairava or divine consciousness, Pratyabhi-jahrdayam, Spanda Sitras and the like.

Introduction 1. Life Sketch of Sadasiva:

1. The life sketch of Sadasiva, our commentator, like that of any other saintly philosopher in the Indian scene suffers from a dearth of reliable materials on which to depend, to give an authentic version. We have none else to blame except ourselves for this sorry state of affairs. We have had in the past no such systematic chronograph, much less a chronicle to record the eventful lives of many great saints during their lifetime, as we witness today. As for instance, Yogacharya Sri.. Krishnamacharya, a rare personality of a living legend, was born in November 1888 in Muchhukunte village in Chellakare Taluk of Chitradurga District in Karnataka State, who possesses knowledge of the sastras, Sanskrit Grammar, the Vedas and Yoga and whose ancestors are traced back to Nadamuni, one of the greatest of Sri Vaisnava Alwars, has been so-much-so chronicled for posterity by Bhavan's Journal (cf. Vol. 35, No. 11 January 15, 1989) that one need not have to fall back on hear- say versions for true details.

2. To attempt a biography of Sadasiva on modern lines, one has to look for what is available from the few published materials. Divergent synopses are offered by different pamphlets and journals and one has to sift the chaffs from the grains before one could get a clear picture of the life of Sadasiva. Even as regards the exact date of his life, which is not an antiquity, unnecessary confusion is created by exuberant enthusiasts by making a terse one-sentence statement that he lived a hundred and fifty years ago, without caring to verify the relevant facts. From reasonable records available, one can say certainly that he lived about three centuries ago and that the contrary is a misconception.

**Contents and Sample Pages**