Several people, like Deepak Chopra and Dr. Wayne Dyer, mentioned this book, and don't let the title fool you - it has nothing to do with religion. It does tell you that you can do things you never thought you could - or any human could, apart from X-men. It's a yellow brick road, if you will. If you realize that anything like this is possible and quite achievable, then you would know God.

A timeless classic, to be returned to throughout one's life, throughout the year, to frame the day. My copy dates to the first printing, Dec. 1969, one of the survivors from countless relocations. The commentary draws on a rich variety of other sources to illuminate Patanjali's Sutras, such as this one, from Taoist scriptures: "Heaven arms with compassion those whom it would not see destroyed." Patanjali's yoga aphorisms (otherwise known as Sutras) are cumulative, and are clarified by the commentators' scholarship and frequent references to the explanations of Swami Vivekananda, who held classes on Patanjali's Sutras in the early 20th century.

1. Best book on spiritual growth and Yoga I have ever read, by far, out of many dozens. I would give it 20 stars if I could. This book is spot on. Brief, to the point, and powerful. No new Age fru fru stuff in here - this is for someone who really wants to start a disciplined spiritual practice that really will lead them somewhere. Amazing.

2. Those of you who still think putting your foot behind your head and holding perfect mula banda makes you an advanced Yogi need to read this book. Yoga has little to do with postures, and Patanjali, the patron saint of Yoga, makes that clear. Patanjali is to Yoga what Lao Tsu is to Confucianism. There are only two references to asanas in the entire body of sutras (186 of them) and both of those refer only to a sitting position.

3. In India, this book is sold by the Ramakrishna Math as "Patanjali Yoga Sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, and then it mentions Christopher Isherwood as a co-author. so its unclear to me who actually wrote the commentary.

The first I heard of Patanjali's aphorisms was through George Harrison's song 'Brainwashed' which captions thoughts on the Soul. Intrigued, I searched this book out and had a beautiful and subtle enhancement to my meditation practices as a result.

I recommend this book, which was co-authored by two Vedanta followers (for more about Vedanta please see http://www.vedanta.org/wiv/overview.html)of quite diverse backgrounds. It is an exceptionally readable text.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali have here been freely translated, in an understandable way, avoiding too many technicalities often found in translations of Sanskrit works. Terms from Vedanta philosophy, better known to many, have been used, and in the comments other interesting sources are quoted, e.g. 'The Way of a Pilgrim' and Sri Ramakrishna. Highly recommendable.