The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali Audiobook By Edwin F. Bryant cover art

The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali

A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary

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The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali

By: Edwin F. Bryant
Narrated by: Keval Shah
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A landmark new translation and edition

Written almost two millennia ago, Patañjali's work focuses on how to attain the direct experience and realization of the purusa: the innermost individual self, or soul. As the classical treatise on the Hindu understanding of mind and consciousness and on the technique of meditation, it has exerted immense influence over the religious practices of Hinduism in India and, more recently, in the West.

Edwin F. Bryant's translation is clear, direct, and exact. Each sutra is presented as Sanskrit text, transliteration, and precise English translation, and is followed by Bryant's authoritative commentary, which is grounded in the classical understanding of yoga and conveys the meaning and depth of the sutras in a user-friendly manner for Western listeners without compromising scholarly rigor or traditional authenticity. In addition, Bryant presents insights drawn from the primary traditional commentaries on the sutras written over the last millennium and a half.

©2009 Edwin F. Bryant (P)2023 Tantor Eastern Hinduism Philosophy Spirituality Yoga Physical Exercise Meditation
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Thoroughly researched and densely annotated authoritative book on the most consequential Indian text in history. The author has published a great series of YouTube videos on Gita, but I hope to read a similar work by him on Gita soon!

As for the Audible narration, there are many errors in pronunciation of the Sanskrit words that feels weird and irritating. For example samsara is often mispronounced as samskara (both are entirely different in meaning). Bodhisattva is pronounced as bodhi"stava"! Ironically, the print version really has a beautiful pronunciation guide to Sanskrit at the beginning. But the narrators voice is pretty good to listen to on a treadmill or on a long meditative road trip, so I'm happy with this overall.

Excellent, Thoroughly Researched Book

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it's very long and it might be kind of advanced for most grounded individuals. audible already has yoga sutras free if you have a monthly subscription, but that one is much shorter and easier to understand. after listening to that a few times, I recommend this because it goes much deeper, since this book is mostly commentary expounding on the original text which is also included. very long book but a lot of good info. you might get enlightened reading it or it will help at least.

good

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I loved all aspects of this book. Cannot wait to listen to it again and again.

The clarity of the presentation

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A journey among the Sutras masterfully guided and engagingly presented. Illumination abounds through deep exploration, transmitting a peaceful alignment between Truth and understanding.

Brilliant!

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these are the yoga sutras, they're classic for a reason. the translator/editor covers the commentaries with quotations and his own explanations.

the problem is, the book is only organized by chapters. meaning you can't skip to individual sutras, instead you have to drag the time slider around the typically 9 hour chapters to find specific material (or pick up where you left off of you accidentally leave the book playing.)

great book, good audiobook version, poorly organized. 9 hr chapters and no further organization is insane

good, but but poorly organized

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