Why do we have this carving in the yoga studio?
This statue is a mythical representation of the sage Pataljali, the author or the Yoga Sutras. Patanjali, over 1,500 years ago compiled the work which comprises a series of brief threads (sutras) teaching us how to live through the progression of the eight limbs or aspects of yoga. According to tradition, he was a great yogi and scholar who compiled the various teachings of yoga into a single, coherent system.
He is depicted as the god Adisesa who is half serpent. Patanjali may also have been a master of Sanskrit grammar and Ayurveda the medical sister science to Yoga.
In Iyengar yoga we sometimes invoke the recognition of Patanjali and the lineage of yoga teachers who have passed down the teachings of yoga through the centuries to modern times, with the following chant:
yogena cittasya padena vacam
To purify the mind (citta), purify the consciousness, Patanjali gave the science of yoga (yogena) to us. To purify our use of words (pada) and speech (vacca), he gave a commentary on grammar to us, so that our use of words and way of speaking is clarified, distinct and pure.
malam sarirasya ca vaidyakena
To remove the impurities (malam) of the body (sarira), he gave us the science of medicine (vaidyakena)
yopakarottam pravaram muninam
Let me approach the one who has given these things to us
patanjalim pranjaliranato’smi
Let me bow down my head with my folded hands to Lord Patanjali
abahu purusakaram
His upper body has the form (karam) of a human (purusa)
sankha cakrasi dharinam
His arms hold a conch (sankha) and a disc (cakra)
sahasra sirasam svetam
On top of his head (sirasam) he has a thousand (sahasra) headed cobra.
pranamami patanjalim
I bow down to Patanjali