1:1 atha yoganusasanam

Carrera: Now, the exposition of Yoga

Iyengar:  With prayers for divine blessings, now begins an exposition of the sacred art of yoga

Taimni:  Now, an exposition of yoga (is to be made).

Edwin Bryant mentioned the importance of the word “now” and Carrera mentions this too.  It brings the point of focus on yoga – not the past or future but now.  The sutra implies that yoga has a body of knowledge associated with it already.

The yoga sutras are only 196 lines and contain a wealth of information.  The word sutra has a root meaning of a string of pearls and each sutra has a wealth of meaning. 

I personally love Iyengar’s artful translation. 

Comments

[Louise]

I took a Relax and Renew training with Judith Lasater last month. She is a student of Iyengar. She began all of our classes by chanting atha yogaanusasanam. Her translation, as I remember it, was:
Now begins the yoga. She emphasized that it was important for all of us to understand that what we were about to learn and experience was sacred.