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- Nice! I presume you mean Ashtanga Yoga as given in the Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Edwin Bryant's translation based on traditional commentaries is a must read. One interesting old classic on psychological application is Geraldine Coster's Yoga And Western Psychology : A Comparison - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.238168/page/n3...
You might also find this previous comment of mine useful - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41538322
- The Original "Classical Samkhya" is Atheistic and Dualistic Realism. It is only in later modifications/extensions that the concept of "God" was added in, which is strictly speaking not necessary. Wikipedia gives the debate - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya#Views_on_God See the texts Samkhya Karika/Panchasikha Sutram/Kapila Sutras in the magnum opus by Nandalal Sinha titled The Samkhya Philosophy (contains a translation of all extant Samkhya texts in over 700 pages!). Also see the books of Gerald Larson (one of the foremost western scholars on Samkhya) to get an idea of the evolution of the entire Samkhya School.
In Patanjali Yoga Sutras the concept of "God" is merely used as an entity and technique to help you in your practice to break out of your self-identity (i.e. Ahamkara). It is just one among a set of techniques. There is only half a dozen sutras which even mention god in the entire text (see this succinct translation by Bon Giovanni - https://sacred-texts.com/hin/yogasutr.htm). It is in the later commentaries on the text that you find an elaboration according to the pre-existing beliefs of the author.
- There are lots of english translations of "Patanjali Yoga Sutras" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali#Trans...)
To see how succinct they are, read Bon Giovanni's translation at https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yogasutr.htm
If you are new to the subject start with Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga which is a very loose but accessible overview.
For a detailed study with notes from various commentaries, see The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali trans. by Edwin Bryant.
The above two should give you a solid foundation after which you can move on to even more exhaustive translations with specific commentaries.
- Mark Singleton wrote that everyone misunderstood his argument. It’s not that Yoga is Scandinavian, it’s that a bunch of modern asana isn’t all that old. Because westerners really only have encountered the Krishnamacharya (through Iyenger and Jois) and Ghosh (through Bikram) practices, they think of yoga as a whole to be only asana, and always including the standing postures. Some of those standing postures look like western gymnastic practices.
Asana is only one specific part of the entire practice. It’s a good beginning point. But it’s also very clear from texts like Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Vasistha Samhita, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, Vajrayana Buddhist yoga texts, and others that yoga definitely isn’t a Scandinavian invention.
- Sanskrit is considered a "refined" language, implying serious effort to systematize phonemes, grammar, declension and even verb classification distinguishing recipient of actions (1-10 ganas, PP/AP padas, etc.). Refinement can give subtlety, accuracy, concision etc. but does not automatically and objectively mean "universal", "perfect" or "excellent", even though proponents conflate those aspects.
IMO, Sanskrit persisted as the language of metaphysical and scientific treatises for a long time because of practical advantages. A large library of concepts, allowed easy reuse and concision [1]. Being trained in Vedanga (phonetics, metre, grammar, etymology, etc.) allowed practitioners to compose new sutras easily, much like PhD students using mathematical notations and proofs in papers.
It was used conversationally, at least in courts and debates. Its decline into a quasi-venerated read-only language over the last 1000 years would be an interesting (and contentious) topic for dissertation.
[1] Patanjali Yoga Sutras http://www.arlingtoncenter.org/Sanskrit-English.pdf
