3d (edited) • General discussion
Every morning, I begin again.
Yoga Sutra 1.1.
Atha yogānuśāsanam
Over the decades I’ve spent studying the Yoga Sutras, I keep returning to Sutra 1.1 with a new translation—or a new way of hearing the Sanskrit words. Like any spiritual or philosophical text, there is always more to unpack, reorganize, and repack.
Traditionally, the Sutra is translated: "Now, the study of yoga begins." But Sanskrit, like any language, carries layers of meaning. Words hold more than one door.
Morning is not mentioned in this sutra. But it is for me. In its blaring Now. In the poet's dawn. In the dawning of each day's moment.
"In every moment, I begin again."
There's always that opportunity.
"Right now, I can open to union."
Yoga has at its root "yuj"—to yoke. To bond. To come to union.
And so, breaking it down further, the translation can become:
"Now, union."
But what always brought me back here was Atha. Ah-ta. Now.
How spacious it is. How eager it is to gather our disparate parts together, like a gallant host. Now welcomes us in rather than judges us for arriving late. Now gathers what is scattered and receives all our parts. Now is gracious—it doesn’t shame the past or demand perfection first. Now has dignity and poise. It stands at the threshold ready to usher us inward.
Now.
What does "now" mean to you, right in this moment?
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Every morning, I begin again.
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