Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Speaking of great audios--the learning CD in the back of your new Sutras book is a huge hit, not just with me, but with my friend Alex. I gave her the second copy of the book I'd bought from you and she just loves the CDs!!

Anne Jablonski, Yoga Teacher, Arlington, Virginia, U.S.A.

I certainly am feeling that the original reason underlying yoga, self-realization, liberation, is being lost with the way yoga is being introduced to people on a mass scale. While the physical benefits are certainly important and do help many, it is more than sad that so many people never become aware of the depth of what yoga is really all about. With a society that grasps at every self-help book, person, or pill that comes along touted to solve their problems and give them happiness, the core aspect of yoga is not being taught and therefore, some people will never be exposed to the concepts that might ultimately provide the answer(s) for them. Your work is very important and I think finding more avenues to present it in depth will be extremely valuable to many people. Let us continue this conversation. I am looking forward to reviewing your videos and I hope that they will be something that you can begin to market on a broader scale. And again, thank you so very much for all of your knowledge that you have shared with me and for your guidance. It is much appreciated.
best regards from
Me and Amiee

Dear Neel,
Firstly, let me thank you for a wonderful and extremely informative workshop. I enjoyed it immensely and am excited to be studying seriously again. Your idea for a one hour disc summarizing the four chapters is great, in my opinion. I know it would be of great value to me as a beginning student and particularly in light of the amount of information, technical as, oh, what is her name, put it this afternoon, which was covered during these workshops. I would more than delighted to help you with filming, and would be happy to help find a quiet and serene place to do so, if that would help out. Again, many thanks for your generous instruction.
Namaste,
Eileen

Patanjali's Yoga sutras is considered as one of the six Vedic philosophies and also called as Yoga Darshan. His text on Yoga is extremely important because his eight fold path is adopted in many of the Yoga sub-systems. Clear understanding of his sutras enables us to understand the Yoga philosophy in detail. There are many commentaries on his sutras. Each reflecting the author's view and comments. Recently one of my Yoga friend (actually he is very senior to me) Neel Kulkarni wrote a book about the same topic. Here is a brief review of his work.
The book "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Proper Translation and Chanting" by Neel Kulkarni is a very good handbook of Patanjali Yoga Sutras. The book is divided into the following parts:
* Original Sanskrit sutras along with English translation
* Key to pronunciation
* List of Yoga Sutras
* Prayer and a song
In the introductory part of the book the author has stated that this books is a "reference" book for Yoga philosophy course. The book truly stands by this claim. The sutras are presented in a specific way. First the complete sutra in Sanskrit is given, followed by its pronunciation in English. Then equivalent meaning of each Sanskrit word is given. Finally, the complete English translation of the sutra is presented. This arrangement is not only handy but caters to various flavors of the readers. For example, those who do not understand Sanskrit can simply skip the original Sanskrit sutra and read just the English translation. On the other hand readers who know Sanskrit can read the original sutra, meaning of each term therein along with the translation. The above mentioned style is of great help to Western readers. The English representation of how to pronounce the sutra will be of great help to such readers. The translation is simple, lucid yet accurate and reflect the efforts taken by the author.
As mentioned above each sutra is presented with its pronunciation in English. A complete guide to the pronunciation is given in the Appendix 1. For example, if the English representation of the pronunciation contains "aa" then it is to be pronounced like "a" as in "father". In my opinion this table should have been given at the beginning rather than at the end.
Once you are familiar with the sutras you can quickly locate a desired one for chanting or memorizing using the list of sutras given in Appendix 2.
The book ends with a small prayer and a song. The prayer as well as song is composed by Dr. Deviprasad Kharwandikar. There is, however, no translation of the prayer and the song. The translation would have been of great help to western readers.
There is an interesting add-on to the book - two CDs consisting of sutra chanting and author's instructions about the chanting. This will be a nice and helpful companion to the book.
Overall the book is very nicely and neatly organized. It reflects thorough study of the author and his urge to make the book useful to all possible levels of the reader. The binding and printing quality is also good. A page typically has only 2-3 sutras described which make the overall arrangement specious and neat.
I would like to suggest Neel that he can think of a sequel to this book that explains each sutra with the help of detailed commentary.

Bipin Joshi, www.yogavision.in

Anyone who would like to deepen the appreciation of their yoga
practice would gain deep insight by studying this translation of the
Yoga Sutras. I've found it to be clear and beautifully presented, and
the audio is a wonderful way to be introduced to Sanskrit as well as
chanting. It's valuable material, and I'd like to thank the author
for making it available.

Dearest Neel,
It's been a year of great insights, full of inspiring and noble people, and a richness that has come from Yoga and a chanting practice. Thank you again for the guidance and beautiful materials.
With gratitude and respect,
- David, 12/30/2007

We have seen both the DVDs. We have sincere appreciation similer to our session in pune for DVDs
also. We look forward to our continued association for our learning.
With kind regards.