Secret of the Yoga Sutra Book Club, Part 4: Ishvara, Our Eternal Guide

The sages tell us that Ishvara pranidhana—trustful surrender to higher reality—is a highly refined practice and the gateway to samadhi. In the study of Yoga Sutra 1:23–1:29 (the “Ishvara sutras”), Ishan Tigunait demystifies the concept of Ishvara. Listen to this lecture to discover how connecting ourselves to this all-pervading, omniscient field of awareness through mantra japa and related practices is the key to inner transformation.

To prepare for the next session, please read sutras 1:30–1:35 in Pandit Tigunait’s The Secret of the Yoga Sutra: Samadhi Pada (for key terms and self-study questions, download the PDF Study Guide.

(Note that sutra 1:35 will be studied in greater depth in the context of 1:36, “The Lotus of the Heart: Our True Abode,” which is Session 6.)

Further Reading

The Secret of the Yoga Sutra: Samadhi Pada

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The Secret of the Yoga Sutra is the first practitioner-oriented commentary of the Yoga Sutra which is fully grounded in a living tradition. It shares the essence of Pandit Tigunait’s rigorous scholarly understanding of the Yoga Sutra, through the filter of experiential knowledge gained through decades of advanced yogic practices, and enriched by the gift of living wisdom he received from the masters of the Himalayan Tradition.