Abstract

MARTINO, Gabriel. The Notion of Karman in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra. Introduction and Annotated Translation of Sūtra II,12-18 with Their Corresponding Bhāṣya. Estud. Asia Áfr. [online]. 2023, vol.58, n.2, pp.343-374.  Epub June 26, 2023. ISSN 2448-654X.  https://doi.org/10.24201/eaa.v58i2.2761.

The Pātañjalayogaśāstra is the key text of what is known as the yoga-darśana. It comprises two different textual layers: a sūtra, the Yogasūtra attributed to Patañjali, and a bhāṣya or commentary traditionally ascribed to Vyāsa. The problem regarding the authorship of the two texts has been widely discussed, and even some scholars defend the theory of a common author for both who would have lived around 400 AD. The present work is an annotated translation, accompanied by an introduction, of a significant passage of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra (II,12-18) relevant to understanding the notion of yoga contained in the treatise and, particularly, its conception of action or karman.

Keywords : Yogasūtra; Vyāsa’s commentary; action; karman; saṃskāra.