Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Mukunda Stiles)
Doesn’t Cut the Mustard
[My 2-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as Interpreted by Mukunda Stiles” by Mukunda Stiles.]
Because I plan to eventually write my own book on the Yoga Sutras, I decided that I need to read more versions of this classic text. I had read four versions prior to this one – Prabhavananda and Isherwood’s, Vivekananda’s, Charles Johnston’s, and Hariharananda Aranya’s – so when I saw this version available for free at ScribdDOTcom, I downloaded it and quickly zipped through it (I’m a speed reader).
The Introduction was excellent, and I learned a few things about the history of the Yoga Sutras. Also, the author made it clear that he had studied the Yoga Sutras for thirty years and was familiar with all the major extant translations/commentaries.
But once I began the author's translation, it quickly became apparent to me that his poetic, Sankrit-term-free approach does not cut the mustard. For example, it starts out: “Yoga is experienced in that mind which has ceased to identify with its vacillating waves of perception” which immediately caused me to recoil, because “perception” is a misleading term to use here. The reality is that without using and elaborating Sankrit terms such as vrittis, chitta, buddhi, and ahamkara, no effective presentation of the Yoga Sutras is possible. Without Sanskrit terms and elaborating commentary, it’s pointless to write a Yoga Sutras text.
[My 2-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as Interpreted by Mukunda Stiles” by Mukunda Stiles.]
Because I plan to eventually write my own book on the Yoga Sutras, I decided that I need to read more versions of this classic text. I had read four versions prior to this one – Prabhavananda and Isherwood’s, Vivekananda’s, Charles Johnston’s, and Hariharananda Aranya’s – so when I saw this version available for free at ScribdDOTcom, I downloaded it and quickly zipped through it (I’m a speed reader).
The Introduction was excellent, and I learned a few things about the history of the Yoga Sutras. Also, the author made it clear that he had studied the Yoga Sutras for thirty years and was familiar with all the major extant translations/commentaries.
But once I began the author's translation, it quickly became apparent to me that his poetic, Sankrit-term-free approach does not cut the mustard. For example, it starts out: “Yoga is experienced in that mind which has ceased to identify with its vacillating waves of perception” which immediately caused me to recoil, because “perception” is a misleading term to use here. The reality is that without using and elaborating Sankrit terms such as vrittis, chitta, buddhi, and ahamkara, no effective presentation of the Yoga Sutras is possible. Without Sanskrit terms and elaborating commentary, it’s pointless to write a Yoga Sutras text.
