Patañjali’s terse aphorisms have always required explanation, so from early on they were read through substantial commentaries that effectively shaped what “Yoga” was understood to be. Vyāsa’s Yoga Bhāṣya offered the first major exposition, presenting the sūtras as a systematic path grounded in Sāṅkhya-style analysis of mind and liberation, while Vācaspati Miśra’s Tattvavaiśāradī elaborated this framework with careful philosophical clarification. Later, Bhoja Rāja’s Rājamārtaṇḍa introduced a more devotional tone, and Vijnānabhikṣu’s Yogavārttika articulated the system in a way that further integrated Sāṅkhya categories. Through these classical and medieval Sanskrit works, the sūtras came to be seen as a rigorous map of consciousness, ethics, and practice, even as the balance between dry analysis and devotional coloring subtly shifted.

With the rise of vernacular and regional traditions, the text was increasingly woven into broader currents of bhakti and tantra, and the emphasis in many circles moved toward lived practice rather than purely scholastic debate. In this period, the sūtras were not abandoned but were reread so that devotion, ritual, and subtle-body practices could find a home within their concise formulations. The same aphorisms that once served primarily as a philosophical skeleton thus became a flexible support for more experiential and devotional forms of yoga. This shows how the text’s very brevity allowed different ages to read their own spiritual priorities into it.

A new phase began when the sūtras were translated into European languages and modern English, first by Sanskrit scholars and then by reformers and teachers addressing global audiences. Early translators such as Rajendralal Mitra and James Haughton Woods tended to emphasize the philosophical and analytical dimensions, presenting Yoga as a coherent system of thought. Soon after, figures like Swami Vivekananda, in works such as Raja Yoga, reframed the text in psychological and quasi-scientific terms, speaking of mind-training and self-realization in a way that resonated with modern seekers. This interpretive move opened the door for readings that highlight inner experience, concentration, and transformation over strict adherence to classical metaphysics.

In more recent generations, both scholars and practitioners have continued to expand the range of interpretations. Academic translators such as Georg Feuerstein and Edwin Bryant have aimed at philological precision while also mapping the diversity of earlier commentarial voices. At the same time, influential teachers like B. K. S. Iyengar, T. K. V. Desikachar, and Swami Satchidananda have offered practice-oriented commentaries that relate each sūtra to ethical living, meditation, and even therapeutic concerns, often in dialogue with modern psychology. Contemporary readings span a wide spectrum: some remain close to traditional devotional and dualistic frameworks, while others recast the text in secular, psychological, or cross-cultural terms, all the while grappling with the difficulty of rendering key Sanskrit concepts without losing their depth.

Across these centuries, the Yoga Sūtras have functioned less as a fixed doctrinal code and more as a remarkably adaptable seed-text. Each major wave of translation and commentary has drawn out different facets—philosophical rigor, devotional surrender, psychological insight, or practical guidance—without exhausting the text’s suggestive power. The ongoing challenge of translating terms like samādhi, dhāraṇā, and pratyāhāra, and of deciding how to understand liberation and the role of Īśvara, has ensured that interpretation remains a living process rather than a closed chapter.