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INTROVERT-CONCENTRATION
to late Buddhistic thought. This final book has been assigned, therefore, to the fifth century A.D.; but the argument is not yet closed. In any case, the four books of Patañjali's Yogo-sūtras, to gether with their ancient commentary (the Yoga-bhāşya, which is attributed to Vyāsa, the legendary poet-sage of the Mahabhārata), must be reckoned among the most astounding works of philosophical prose in the literature of the world. They are remarkable not only for the subject matter, but also, and particularly, for their wonderful sobriety, clarity, succinctness, and elasticity of expression.
We possess little information concerning Patañjali himself, and this little is legendary and replete with contradictions. For example, he is both identified with and distinguished from the grammarian-also named Patañjali-who composed the so-called “Great Commentary” (Mahābhāsya) to Kātyāyana's "Critical Gloss” (Värttika) on Pāņini's Sanskrit Grammar. He is regarded, moreover as an incarnation of the scrpent-king seșa, who surrounds and supports the universe in the form of the Cosmic Ocean. Occidental scholars have assigned him to the second century B.C., and yet the system that he is reputed to have founded certainly existed centuries before that time.
Introvert-Concentration
WHEN AMBITION, success, and the game of life (artha), as well as sex and the enjoyments of the senses (kāma), no longer produce any novel and surprising turns, holding nothing more in
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