---
type: Reference
title: "Yoga Sūtra (Patañjali)"
description: "Patañjali's aphorisms on yoga; the locus of the yama-niyama list (2.30-45) and of kriyā-yoga (2.1), with Vyāsa's bhāṣya as the authoritative gloss."
darshana:
  - Yoga Darśana
tags:
  - primary-source
  - yoga
  - sutra
timestamp: "2026-06-25"
okf_version: "0.2"
license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

# Yoga Sūtra (Patañjali)

## What It Is

The foundational text of the Yoga Darśana, roughly 196 aphorisms in four pādas. Its second pāda sets out the practical path: kriyā-yoga (2.1, tapas + svādhyāya + īśvara-praṇidhāna), then the eight limbs (aṣṭāṅga), of which the first two are the yamas (2.30-31, 2.35-39) and the niyamas (2.32, 2.40-45). For each restraint and observance, Patañjali states the siddhi-like fruit that arises when it is firmly established (pratiṣṭhā), which is the textual basis for reading the yama-niyama as transformative disciplines rather than commandments. Vyāsa's bhāṣya is the standard commentary.

## Why It Matters Here

The primary source for ten of this bundle's fifteen concepts: the five yamas (ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha) and the five niyamas (saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, ishvara-pranidhana). The "when established, this fruit follows" structure (2.35-45) is the bundle's evidence that dharmic ethics is alignment and transformation, not rule-obedience.
