A History of Sanskrit Literature c18.25

c18.25

The really distinctive part of the system is the establishment of the views prevailing in Patañjali's time with regard to asceticism and the mysterious powers to be acquired by its practice. *Yoga*, or "yoking" the mind, means mental concentration on a particular object. The belief that fasting and other penances produce supernatural powers goes back to remote prehistoric times, and still prevails among savage races. Bodily asceticism of this kind is known to the Vedas under the name of *tapas*. From this, with the advance of intellectual life in India, was developed the practice of mental asceticism called *yoga*, which must have been known and practised several centuries before Patañjali's time. For recent investigations have shown that Buddhism started not only from the theoretical Sānkhya but from the practical Yoga doctrine; and the condition of ecstatic abstraction was from the beginning held in high esteem among the Buddhists. Patañjali only elaborated the doctrine, describing at length the means of attaining concentration and carrying it to the highest pitch. In his system the methodical practice of Yoga acquired a special importance; for, in addition to conferring supernatural powers, it here becomes the chief means of salvation. His Sūtras consist of four chapters dealing with deep meditation (*samādhi*), the means for obtaining it (*sādhana*), the miraculous powers (*vibhūti*) it confers, and the isolation (*kaivalya*) of the redeemed soul. The oldest and best commentary on this work is that of Vyāsa, dating from the seventh century a.d.