Introduction to the Vedhas, Darśhanas, Sūthras and  Sage Pathanjali – (Compiled by L Vasudev under the guidance of Sri Sridhar of Yoga Rakshanam) 

• Vedhas emanated from god as revealed directly to various Ṛṣhis. They were put together by Vedha Vyāsa and that is how we have them today. Vedhas comes from the word ‘vidhu’ meaning ‘to know’. Each Vedha has a meter, a Ṛṣhi associated with it and a presiding Devathā.

• While Jainism believed in heaven but not God, Vedhic teaching believed in the ‘ultimate’. Those who believe in Vedhic teaching are called Āsthikas and those who do not Nāsthikas .

• Vedhas have two parts namely Gnyāna and Karma i.e. knowledge and action or precept and ritual.

• At the same time, there was the school of Chāruvāka (also pronounced Chārvāka) which claimed that there was ‘nothing before and nothing after’. His school highlighted the absurdity of the Vedhas by the story of a horse sacrifice where the priests expounded that whilst the sacrificial horse would go straight to heaven, those that caused the sacrifice would benefit on earth. Chārvāka asked why those that cause the sacrifice should not themselves jump into the sacrificial fire and go straight to heaven instead of languishing on this earth!

• Commentaries on the Vedhas were called Darśhana and consist of the following:

• ‘Nyāya’ or logic
• ‘Vaiśheṣhika’ or ‘how to prove’
• ‘Samkhya’ or ‘to know very well’
• ‘Yoga’
• ‘Pūrva mīmānsa’ or ‘rituals’
• ‘Vedhāntha’ meaning ‘after, end or essence of the Vedhas’

• Any man made text (to differentiate from the Vedhas from God) followed the structure given below:

1. ‘Pūrvapakṣha’ or ‘statement of issue’.
2. ‘Khhaṇḍanam’ or ‘criticism of the issue’
3. ‘Siddhāntha’ or ‘the correct view’, and
4. ‘Uttharapakṣha’ or conclusion

• Next came the ‘Sūthras’:

1. Sūthras are characterized by a short form (like power point presentations!), less importance to verbs or grammar and, most importantly, required to be explained by a preceptor.
2. Sūthras are discontinuous sometimes.
3. Sūthra also means a garland of beads where the beads reveal the thread, and the thread in turn, represents continuity of the idea.
4. Sūthra also means direction.

• The six rules for Sūthras are:

1. Economy of words (with no unnecessary words)
2. Direction should be very clear
3. Essence (i.e. no frills)
4. Universal in application or ‘viśhwathomukhham’ i.e. manifold faces
5. Capable of being proved (i.e. no poetic freedom)
6. No criticism of another point of view       but strictly confined to stating only your chosen point of view

• Sage Pathanjali is the author of the Yoga Sūthras. The story of this sage is as follows:

1. When the world was in turmoil and people prayed to Lord Viṣhṇu, he decided to send Ādhi Śheṣha down to earth to assess the situation.
2. Ādhi Śheṣha took the form of a human up to the shoulder and a snake with a thousand hoods above, and fell into a devotee’s hands held in supplication. His hoods were white and he held a ‘Śhankhha’, ‘Chakra’ and a knife in three of his four hands.
3. Therefore the name Pathanjali where ‘Path’ means to fall into and ‘Anjali’ refers to the mudhrā of supplication

• Pathanjali found three ailments namely of health, speech and the mind. He prescribed Ayur Vedha for health, Grammar for speech and Yoga for the mind.

• The story about the Yoga Sūthras goes that:

1. Pathanjali offered to teach the Yoga Sūthras to one thousand students at the same time. But on one condition, that there would be a cloth screen separating him from the students and that no one should attempt to look at him or leave without permission.
2. After the class began, with each student being taught differently by each of Pathanjali’s 1000 heads, one student walked away bored. Another got curious about the person behind the screen and one emboldened to lower the screen, only to have himself and all other cohorts destroyed!
3. Pathanjali then went in search of the one student who had walked away to fetch him and instructed the Yoga Sūthras to a very reluctant student.
4. That is how we have the Yoga Sūthras today!

• The Yoga Sūthra text has 195 Sūthras divided over 4 chapters.