The second sutra of the first book of Patanjali’s Yoga sutras offers a brief definition of yoga in Sanskrit: “Yogah citta vritti nirodhah.” There are many translations of this sutra, and they differ considerably. Here are but a handful of examples, with the essential bibliographic references only:

The restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga (Sri Swami Satchidananda, 2007, first published in 1978)

Yoga is the suppression of states of consciousness (Eliade, 2009, first published in 1958).

Yoga is the control of the (moral) character of thought (Ranganathan, 2008)

Yoga is the stilling of the changing states of the mind (Bryant, 2009)

The goal of yoga is the stilling of the mind (Bon, 2012).

No prize for guessing which translation is closest to my heart. Still, I am most impressed with Patanjali’s own definition, which excels in brevity. In Sanskrit, citta is “mind”; vritti is “whirlpool” or “fluctuation”; and nirodhah is “restraint” or “control.” Perfect, just perfect! What is more, who needs translation with such extraordinary brevity?