Home›Articles›Patanjali, and the Eight LimbsArticlesPatanjali, and the Eight LimbsCitation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Patanjali, and the Eight Limbs." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/articles/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali-patanjali-and-the-eight-limbs.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Patanjali, and the Eight Limbs. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/articles/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali-patanjali-and-the-eight-limbsCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-patanjali-and-the-eight-limbs, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Patanjali, and the Eight Limbs}, year = {2026}, url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/articles/the-yoga-sutras-of-patanjali-patanjali-and-the-eight-limbs}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXLearn MoreCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Learn MorePatanjali, and the Eight Limbs The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are the classical text of the Yoga school of Hindu philosophy: a set of about 196 terse aphorisms (sutras) in four chapters that define yoga as citta-vritti-nirodha, "the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind," and lay out the means to it. Its best-known scheme is the eight limbs (ashtanga): the ethical restraints (yama) and observances (niyama), posture (asana), breath-control (pranayama), withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana) and absorption (samadhi). The text is generally dated to around the early centuries CE (commonly the second to fourth), and it systematises meditative practice within a dualist metaphysics, the Samkhya distinction of consciousness (purusha) from matter (prakriti), so that liberation is the disentangling of the seeing self from the mental and material processes it mistakes for itself.Cross-Tradition ConnectionsArticle OnThe Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Esoteric Texts Well-attested Source Divinity Atlas Long-Form Articles, First Editiontier 1SourcesDivinity Atlas Long-Form Articles, First Editiontier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year