If you wish to understand Patanjali...
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Your first obstacle will be to find a faithful translation of his Yoga Sutras. The Yoga Sutras were written in an extremely terse form so that the words do not even form complete sentances, and they can be interpreted in numerous ways. Consequently numerous translations have arisen which fail to convey the original meaning of the work. For instance, when describing the siddhis (supernatural powers which can be attained through certain meditative states), some translations interpret these as being simply metaphors. The translators may be learned scholars and doing their absolute best to offer their books in a spirit of devotion, but they simply do not understand the reality of what Patanjali was saying. BKS Iyengar has spent his life studying and teaching yoga. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject and this shines through in every page of his work. This book is a masterpiece!
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