In exploring the historical roots of the Sutras, we can find the following interesting reference to its Buddhistic roots:

“The Yoga Sutras are built on a foundation of Samkhya philosophy and are generally seen as the practice while Samkhya is the theory. It is clear that the Yoga philosophy has its origins in the Shramana philosophies of ancient India dating back to the Indus Valley days which emphasized individual effort in liberating oneself from worldly concerns.

Many schools originated over the centuries that had common philosophical and mystical roots derived from the early Indus Valley period. Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta, Jainism and Buddhism can all be seen as having a common origin in the Shramana traditions because of which they share common ideals and methodologies for individual liberation. These are in contrast to the Bhakti traditions and Vedic ritualism which were also prevalent in Ancient India.

The Sramana traditions, Idol worship and Vedic rituals can be seen as three broad branches of the spiritual traditions of that time and can be identified with the Jnana marga, Bhakti marga and the Karma marga respectively that are outlined in the Bhagavad Gita.

Karel Werner writes that “Patanjali’s system is unthinkable without Buddhism. As far as its terminology goes there is much in the Yoga Sutras that reminds us of Buddhist formulations from the Pāli Canon and even more so from the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma and from Sautrāntika.”[9] Robert Thurman writes that Patanjali was influenced by the success of the Buddhist monastic system to formulate his own matrix for the version of thought he considered orthodox.[10]” (from Wiki)

Understanding how serving others (karma yoga) is key to Buddha’s teaching and ultimately part of a yogi’s retiring from incurring personal karma that could impede one’s progress in freeing the mind, shows how useful and practical karma yoga can be for one’s personal liberation. Also, as a yogi experiences the resolution of the modifications in the mindstuff (“Yogaś citta-vritti-nirodhaḥ”), the clear mind provides the real vision of oneness with others. This naturally leads to serving others as a direct compassionate response to the higher states of unity with all. After all, the radiant self resides within all things in the manifest universe.

Thank you…Om Shanthi
Jeeva