INVOCATION

Let us bow before the noblest of sages Patanjali, who gave yoga for serenity and sanctity of mind, grammar for clarity and purity of speech and medicine for perfection of health. Let us prostrate before Patanjali, an incarnation of Adisesa, whose upper body has a human form, whose arms hold a conch and a disc, and who is crowned by a thousand-headed cobra. Let us prostrate before Lord Adisesa who manifested himself on earth as Patanjali to grace the human race with health and harmony. Let us salute Lord Adisesa of the myriad serpent heads and mouths carrying noxious poisons, discarding which he came to earth as single-headed Patanjali in order to eradicate ignorance and vanquish sorrow. Let us pay our obeisance to Him, repository of all knowledge, amidst his attendant retinue. Let us pray to the Lord whose primordial form shines with pure and white effulgence, pristine in body, a master of yoga who bestows on us his yogic light to enable mankind to rest in the house if the immortal soul.