About this version by Octavian Sarbatoare - (Australia) -
The present version on Yoga Sutras of Patanjali has a rational interpretation of what Patanjali meant in the cryptic presentation of his aphorisms on Yoga. Thus, the fabulous descriptions of yogic abilities to perform actions in defiance of the laws of nature were eliminated. It is particularly in the area of the supernormal powers (siddhis or vibhutis), that the interpretation of the yogic abilities has to come to the common sense of understanding that a yogi is not the one who can overcome the laws of physics by levitation of the body or disappearance (invisibility) by a disintegration of the molecular structure.
The Yoga discipline is primarily about attaining quality of human life experience, both physical and mental. Thus, at physical level, a yogi has acquired purification of the body (i.e. elimination of the toxins, etc.) that allows him/ her to have an acute perception of things, yet still using the same body instrumentality like senses, etc., that is typical for a human body. On the other hand, at the mental level, the experience of a yogi has acquired such a qualitative level that the supernormal abilities, the yogic powers, become a remarkable achievement.
It is on the account that the mind has the ability to stretch anywhere and on any particular point on the arrow of time (past, present and by induction in the future), that Yoga, as a discipline, is very different from any other abilities obtained by the ordinary ways of training. In essence, Yoga allows the empowerment of the mind through the ability of a practice named samyama (directed awareness). In so, a yogi is the one who makes the most out of a qualitative perception of human life experience, that philosophical quale (pl. qualia), Yoga calls liberation (kaivalya).
The present version of Yoga Sutras adds the wordings that are not present in the original text, but are presumed implied. Thus, the interpretation has a subjective view like any other versions on Yoga Sutras, yet for the same reason, the subjective interpretation of the cryptic text of Yoga Sutras will continue ad infinitum.
Octavian Sarbatoare, Sydney, Australia, 2002
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