Key idea of the Yoga Sūtras
īśvara · the Lord
A distinct self, never bound, teacher of the ancients, named by Om.
Īśvara enters the text as a second road: absorption comes 'or through devotion to Īśvara' (1.23). Patañjali then defines Īśvara precisely. Īśvara is a distinct self, untouched by afflictions, actions, their ripening and their residues (1.24). In Īśvara the seed of all-knowing is unsurpassed (1.25). Not limited by time, Īśvara is the teacher even of the ancients (1.26). Īśvara's name is Om (1.27), and repeating it while dwelling on its meaning brings realisation of the inward self and removes the obstacles (1.28–1.29). Devotion to Īśvara returns in kriyā yoga (2.1), among the observances (2.32), and as the source of perfection in absorption (2.45). The sūtras say nothing of Īśvara creating the world. Vyāsa adds that Īśvara, won over by devotion, inclines toward the yogi and favours them (on 1.23). This is where Yoga most clearly parts from classical Sāṃkhya, which has no Īśvara.
Vyāsa
“Then there are those who have obtained Isolation; and those who are in Isolation (kevalin) are many. … But He is at all times whatsoever liberated and at all times whatsoever the Īśvara.”
Vyāsa's Yoga-bhāṣya in J. H. Woods' translation (1914), p. 49–50.
How it has been read
Readers disagree on how theistic this is. Some take Īśvara as God in a full sense; others as a perfect self who serves as model, teacher and object of devotion. Vyāsa holds that Īśvara's eminence is known from scripture (on 1.24).
A common misreading
Īśvara is often equated with a creator God, or dismissed as a mere symbol. The sūtras define Īśvara as a distinct, never-bound self (1.24) and make devotion a real means to absorption (1.23, 2.45), without describing creation.
Where the text defines it
- 1.23 Or through devotion to Īśvara.
- 1.24 Īśvara is a distinct self, untouched by afflictions, actions, their ripening and their residues.
- 1.25 In Īśvara the seed of all-knowing is unsurpassed.
- 1.26 Not limited by time, Īśvara is the teacher even of the ancients.
- 2.1 Discipline, study and devotion to Īśvara are the yoga of action.
- 2.45 From devotion to Īśvara comes perfection in absorption.