Classical Yoga · compiled by Patanjali
Yoga Sutras 2.1
Kriya yoga: discipline, self-study, surrender
तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः॥
Austerity, self-study, and surrender to the Supreme constitute the yoga of action.
What this verse points to
The opening of the second book, and its subject is the practitioner who is not yet steady — which is to say, almost everyone. Tapas, svadhyaya, ishvara-pranidhana: doing what is hard, examining yourself honestly, and releasing the outcome.
The three cover body, intellect, and grip respectively. Patanjali presents them as a set for people in the middle of ordinary life rather than as monastic requirements.
Sit with it
Choose one of the three for this week and make it concrete — a specific discipline, a specific reading, a specific thing released.
About the Yoga Sutras
The Yoga Sutras are 196 terse aphorisms compiled by Patanjali, organised into four books: samadhi (absorption), sadhana (practice), vibhuti (attainments), and kaivalya (liberation). The style is deliberately compressed — each sutra is a memory-thread meant to be unpacked by a teacher — and the text is the foundational statement of the eight-limbed (ashtanga) path.
References to this text are given as book.sutra — here, 2.1.