The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali (Cliff Hartranft)

Buddhism Meets Patanjali

[My 2-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation with Commentary” by Chip Hartranft.]

If you’re of a Buddhist bent – a pop Buddhist bent – you’ll doubtless appreciate author Cliff Hartranft’s attempt to frame the Yoga Sutras in a quasi-Buddhist context. But if, like me, you rail at the all-pervasive dumbing down of Buddhism, you won’t. Moreover, if, like me, you also prefer the Yoga Sutras presented in its classical Hindu context, you’ll also have problems with this translation.

In addition to the aforesaid problems, another is that it is just a translation, and bereft of commentary. Reading the Yoga Sutras without commentary is like eating a sandwich with nothing between two slices of bread.

In goosestep with most modern Buddhism writers, Hartranft is allergic to capitalization. Hence, Self and Seer are reduced to self and awareness. This is absurd, because animals naturally practice thought-free awareness, and they are not Self-realized. Moreover, the transcendental Self is hardly the phenomenal self.

To get an idea of how Hartranft’s Buddhism flavors his translation, I’ll compare his translation of 1- 9 with Swami Hariharanananda Aranya’s in his “Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali.”

Hartranft:  “Conceptualization derives from linguistic knowledge, not contact with real things.”

Aranya:  “The modification called ‘vikalpa’ is based on verbal recognition in regard to a thing which does not exist (It is a kind of useful knowledge arising out of the meaning of a word but having no corresponding reality.)”

In my opinion, Hartranft’s translation of this sutra misses the boat with its Buddhist-like attempt to denigrate conceptualization in general.  Whereas Hartranft wrongly defines vikalpa as “conceptualization,” Aranya rightly provides us with a nuanced description of the term.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the positives of Hartranft’s translation: The writing is crisp and clean, and he provides a translation of each of Sanskrit words in each sutra. That said, the book’s negatives outweigh its postives, and I can only, in good conscience, give the text two stars.