HRIH: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Language, English, Page 7

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Mark Giubarelli [ ] ( Site is online, Archive )
Translated and chanted (MP3) by Mark Giubarelli.
Welcome to this educational and inspirational translation of the Yoga Sutras. There are audio clips for you to listen to under each of the translations. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras have been divided into 4 chapters (padas). They contain the wisdom and instructions that have inspired Yoga practitioners for centuries. It is very hard to accurately translate the Yoga Sutras of Patanjalli, even for the most advanced Sanskrit Scholar. Therefore always be open to the tangent that these ancient and mystical text take though all those who translate them. It seems they were meant to be translated in many different ways.
With divine blessings on your journey. Enjoy! Mark Giubarelli
Read more. Language: Sanskrit, English.

The Yoga System of Patanjali by James Haughton Woods [ ] [ ] ( Site is online, Archive )
Or the Ancient Hindu Doctrine of Concentration of Mind. Embracing the mnemonic rules, called Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali and the comment, called Yoga-Bhashya, attributed to veda-Vyasa and the explanation, called Tattva-Vaicaradi, of vachaspati-Micra. Translated from original sanskrit by James Haughton Woods.

Goal of Concentration
i. 1-4. Yoga is the concentration which restricts the fluctuations. Freed from them, the Self attains to self-expression.
i. 1 Now the exposition of yoga [is to be made],
i. 2 Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of mind-stuff,
i. 3 Then the Seer [that is, the Self] abides in himself,
i. 4 At other times it [the Self] takes the same form as the fluctuations [of mind-stuff].

Forms of the mind-stuff
i. 5-11. The fluctuations are all exposed to attack from the hindrances and are five in number: 1. sources-of-valid-ideas; 2. misconceptions; 8. predicate-relations; 4. sleep; 5. memory.
i. 5 The fluctuations are of fire kinds and are hindered or unhindered,
i. 6 Sources-of-valid-ideas and misconceptions and predicate-relations and sleep and memory,
i. 7 Sources-of-valid-ideas are perception and inference and verbal-communication,
i. 8 Misconception is an erroneous idea not based on that form [in respect of which the misconception is entertained],
i. 9 The predicate-relation (vikalpa) is without any [corresponding perceptible] object and follows as a result of perception or of words,
i. 10 Sleep is a fluctuation of [mind-stuff] supported by the cause of the [transient] negation [of the waking and the dreaming fluctuations],
i 11 Memory is not-adding-surreptitiously to a once experienced object.

Read more. Language: English.

Patanjali's yoga sutra by practicing yogis (Gita Society) [ ] ( Site is online, Archive )
All four chapters of sage Patanjali's yoga sutra with original sanskrit verses and commentaries by practicing yogis in modern English.

1.1 atha yoganusasanam
- atha = now; yoganusasana = yoga- yoga and its practice = anusasanam- explanation

Now I give the explanation of (the discipline of) yoga and its practice. Discipline is the basis of meditation and yoga. The word "Anushasan" also means discipline and regularity absolutely necessary for success in any human endeavour.

Commentary:
Sri Patanjali began by the term atha which means now or at this time, I will do something. He took the task of giving the explanation of yoga and its practice, because before this time such an explanation was not laid out in an academic way. He gave the syllabus for yoga, thus breaking the monopoly of all those teachers who mastered yoga and who taught it to their students bit by bit over the years.

Whatever Sri Patanjali would say would be standard. It cannot be changed merely by a difference in philosophy. Just as a gasoline combustion engine manufactured in Japan will be quite similar to one manufactured in German, so yoga practice will be the same everywhere, because the human body is the same in each case, and the way of changing the subtle form which produced that gross one is also the same.

Notation: Some commentators have said that the word NOW implies that after some or much preparation, NOW this information is being presented.