Ishvara pranidhana, devotion or surrender to the divine, is the fifth and final niyama, the dedication of one's actions and their fruits to Ishvara rather than to the self. Patanjali names it, alongside tapas and svadhyaya, as one of the three practices of kriya yoga, and credits its cultivation with the attainment of samadhi, the culminating absorption of the eightfold path.
Facts
Disputed
Origin PeriodDated by scholars anywhere from the second century BCE to as late as the fourth or fifth century CE, the same span debated for the Yoga Sutras as a whole: an early dating follows the tradition's own attribution to a single ancient sage, while a late dating, argued by scholars such as Philipp Maas, reads the surviving text as a composite assembled together with its own earliest commentary. 1 The Yoga Sutras' date is disputed among scholars, from a single ancient author around the second century BCE to a later compilation as late as the fourth or fifth century CE; the debate turns on whether the text and its earliest surviving commentary were composed together or centuries apart. Attributed Author / CompilerTraditionally attributed to Patanjali, the compiler of the Yoga Sutras; scholarship debates whether this is the same Patanjali credited with the Sanskrit grammatical treatise of that name. 1 Whether the Patanjali credited with the Yoga Sutras is the same figure credited with the Sanskrit grammatical treatise of that name, and whether the text as it stands is the work of one author or a later compilation, are both disputed. Origins
Place of OriginIndia; nothing internal to the text fixes a specific region of composition. 1 Origin of the NameSanskrit ishvara, lord or supreme being, and pranidhana, deep devotion or surrender, from the root ni-dha, to place or set down, here in the sense of laying one's actions before the divine. 1 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceDevotion or surrender to the divine, the dedication of one's actions and their fruits to Ishvara rather than to the self; the fifth and final niyama. 1 Status
Status Within the TraditionStandard teaching, not formally defined 1 Doctrinal Status DetailPatanjali names it, alongside tapas and svadhyaya, as one of the three practices of kriya yoga (Yoga Sutra 2.1) and credits its cultivation with the attainment of samadhi, the culminating absorption of the eightfold path (Yoga Sutra 2.45). 1 Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Source The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and CommentaryEdwin F. Bryant
Opposes
Originates in Language
Source The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and CommentaryEdwin F. Bryant
Same As
Hindu Niyama virtue linked to its own doctrine article, matching the Yama pattern above.
Sources
1. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary
Edwin F. Bryant, North Point Press, 2009
Take a Related Quiz
- Virtues: BeginnerIncludes a question about Ishvara Pranidhana (Devotion to the Divine).
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