The Yoga Sutras, which tradition attributes to Sage Patanjali, set out the teaching of yoga in 195 short Sanskrit sutras — 196 in some editions — arranged in four padas, or parts. They are the key text of Yoga, one of the six darshanas, the classical schools of Hindu philosophy, and they build on the Samkhya school's account of spirit and matter. The four padas take their names from their themes: samadhi, absorption; sadhana, practice; vibhuti, the powers that arise; and kaivalya, freedom.
The second sutra gives the definition the text is known for: yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind, and then, says the next, the seer abides in its own form. The second pada names the eight limbs of yoga — yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi — and the five yamas that open them: non-violence, truthfulness, not stealing, chastity and non-possession, which it calls a great vow that holds whatever one's birth, place, time or circumstance. The closing sutra describes kaivalya as the qualities of nature, their purpose served, coming to rest — or as the power of awareness established in its own nature.
Through the centuries the sutras have been read with the Yoga Bhashya, which tradition attributes to Sage Veda Vyasa, and with the commentaries of Vachaspati Mishra, King Bhoja and Vijnanabhikshu; Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga, published in 1896, gave them a free English translation with his own commentary. Since 2015, 21 June has been marked around the world as the International Day of Yoga, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2014. In this collection, one tradition places Sage Patanjali's samadhi at Rameswaram, where a shrine to him stands in the Ramanathaswamy temple.