How Well Do You know Your Yoga Sutras? 7-Question Quiz!

How about a small pop-quiz on the Yoga Sutras? since, well, it's on our minds. 

If you are a new-comer to the blog, some background info: Patanjali, a sage and a genius, compiled a book on four chapters which is pretty much the "Bible" of Yoga. He called it the "Yoga Sutras of Patanjali", which consists of 196 short sentences. He was a list-lover!

Good-old Patanjali would love to have the results from the quiz shipped to wherever cage he might be in, maybe Krishnamacharya will be checking, who knows?... all is valid, even looking at books!, see how you do.  (answers at the bottom):

Question 1

"Atha Sadhanapadah Padah", the title of the second chapter of the Yoga Sutras, means:

a) On Practice

b) On Liberation

c) On the 8 Limbs of Yoga

d) On Tapas of Purification

Question 2 

There is a sutra in the third chapter that outlines the one-and-only super-power a yogi must seek -as it leads to enlightenment- which sutra?

a) 3.12

b) 3.21

c) 3.36

d) 3.52

Question 3: 

There is one sutra that outlines how asana or poses should be done, which one is it?

a) 2.16 Heyam duhkamanagatam

b) 2.46 Sthirasukhamasanam

c) 2.24 Tasya heturavidya

d) 2.51 Bahyabhyantarasatambharttirdesaksepi caturthah

Question 4: 

The root Sanskrit word for Kaivalya (title of the fourth chapter) means:

a) Enlightenment

b) Liberty

c) Being Alone

d) Extraordinary Powers

Question 5:  

Patanjali has a hint on how to calm the mind when he is talking about meditating on "a light within the heart to dispel darkness".  He offers this tip in which Chapter?

a) Chapter 1

b) Chapter 2

c) Chapter 3

d) Chapter 4

Question 6: 

The title of the Third Chapter: "Atha Vibhutipadah" means:

a) On Liberation

b) On Higher Goals

c) On Strong Effort

d) On Extraordinary Powers

Question 7: 

Patanjali suggests that if you have a religion practice, or worship something already in your life, that you stick to it, in which sutra?

a) 1.39

b) 3.11

c) 4.14

d) 2.22

There you have it!

In the meantime and just so that you are not so tempted to scroll down so quickly, I thought I would ask you a question. It might be a bit of “too much info”, but I wonder if you have experienced this:

For the past week I have felt an electric shock of sorts go through the back of my right leg, actually more like in the buttock, I don’t know what it is, it seems like the electric shot produced by two poles of batteries for car-starters, or what would happen if you got two fillaments of electric wires and had them touch,  you know the sound?  Bzzz, bzzz.   I am no electrician so a picture may describe it better:

Bzzz Bzzz

Well that is how it feels.  Do you have any idea how to release that, how to make it stop?

On another front, I was able to practice this morning at 5 AM.  Have not done that since who knows when, and let me tell you, my practice felt circa 2007, that is how stiff my body was.  

The interesting “other side” is that I had to go much slower, and therefore breathe slower and even ended up staying very long in the inversions.  

I think I can do 6 counts a minute in shoulder-stand these days.  Quite an accomplishment!

So! Did you get your answers?  Here come the results.  Let me know how you did!

1)  (a), The title of chapter two means "on practice".  Chapter two is for the rest of us, all people who cannot focus on an object for longer periods of time right away, we therefore need "a practice" in order to get there.

2) (c) Sutra 3.36, I wrote a post on how it is important to remember this one, which is the end-goal!

3) (b) Sutra 2.46 pronounced something like: “stira sukam asanam” - really good to know this one!

4) (c )  Ramaswami changed the game completely for me when he announced at the Yoga Sutra 20-hour workshop that the Sanskrit root of the word means “Being Alone”, which does not mean lonely. Who knew?

5) (a) Chapter 1, Sutra 36: visoka va jyotismati.  Ironically this is a tip intended for very advanced practitioners of yoga, as those that can go into Chapter one and into complete focus just like that... with no previous preparation

6) (d) The title of the third chapter is: "On Extraordinary Powers", or all those super powers that come as a result of deep practice done for a long time… like being able to walk on water, become invisible, or tele-transport.

7) answer is 1.39, or (a)

How did you do?

picture from here