The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali – A Visual Meditation

Book Four, Kaivalya Pādaḥ

On the Only-ness of the Seer

Paintings, Translations, and Commentary

by Melissa Townsend

ENGAGING WITH KAIVALYA PĀDA was wildly exuberant, ecstatic, and joyful. As a result, this book, with the paintings and translations of Kaivalya Pāda, Book Four of the Yogasūtra of Patañjali, is slightly different than the three books that precede it. The format is the same: there is a two-page spread for each sūtra, with the painting of the sūtra on the right facing page and the written material on the left. However, the commentary opposite the painting is not the typical prose exposition as it is in the other three books and as it is in most translations. I could not find a way to do justice to the depth and astonishing beauty of Book Four in a prose exposition. Thus, my commentary takes the form of a free verse contemplation or devotion intended to lead you, the reader into the multifaceted richness of the sūtra. In a sense, each two-page spread contains three translations of the sūtra: oneinto English, one into the language of visual art, and one into a form of verse. Immediately following the main body of the book, there is a section with more conventional expositions of the sūtras, accompanied by thumbnail images of the paintings. Because Kaivalya Pāda is the culmination of the entire text of the Yogasūtra of Patañjali, this book is the culmination of my project, The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali – A Visual Meditation. Therefore, I have included four full-page spreads with all of my paintings for all four books of the Yogasūtra of Patañjali.