A few observations on īśvara-praṇidhānād vā ||
I made a quick trip to Rishikesh to get some of the books that I had in the library there. I offered to give a talk and was asked by Adhikariji to talk on Yoga-sūtra 1.23, īśvara-praṇidhānād vā , which is a rather significant sūtra for theists and devotees, since this is a rare direct mention of God. The phrase īśvara-praṇidhāna appears no less than four times in the YS, making it well worthy of attention, but we would be mistaken to read to much into it. After all, devotion to God is not the primary purpose of the YS, worship of God serves the end of liberation. But from a devotee's point of view, it is an opportunity to discuss the subject of God. But since it is not the subject most interesting to the yogis, it presents an interesting challenge, one that I have faced since the beginning of my relationship with SRSG . I worked on the revised first volume of the YS written by Swami Veda Bharati (SVB), which is the main text that is followed by his disciples, so I spoke ...