The Yoga-śāstra Translation Course:
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A 12th-century manuscript of Hemacandra's Yogasastra in Sanskrit.
The Yoga-śāstra Translation Course:
Arihanta Institute’s Leadership in Sanskrit, Jain Yoga, and Linguistic Research
11/07/2025
Context and Vision
At Arihanta Institute, advanced Sanskrit study is more than the memorization of grammar or vocabulary—it is a living research practice that unites philology, linguistics, and contemplative philosophy. Through rigorous translation, interpretive dialogue, and textual analysis, students engage directly with the intellectual and spiritual legacy of the Jain tradition in dialogue with other world philosophical, linguistic, theological, and contemplative traditions.
At Arihanta Institute, advanced Sanskrit study is more than the memorization of grammar or vocabulary—it is a living research practice that unites philology, linguistics, and contemplative philosophy. Through rigorous translation, interpretive dialogue, and textual analysis, students engage directly with the intellectual and spiritual legacy of the Jain tradition in dialogue with other world philosophical, linguistic, theological, and contemplative traditions.
Our upper-level courses—Sanskrit 3 and Sanskrit 4 (with prerequisites of Sanskrit 1 and 2 or equivalent), which I teach at Arihanta Institute—form a continuous sequence built around Ācārya Hemacandra’s Yoga-śāstra and his Svopajña-vivaraṇa (auto-commentary). These twelfth-century texts represent one of the most comprehensive Jain treatments of yoga, ethics, and liberation, and they serve as the centerpiece of Arihanta’s growing focus on advanced translation and yoga studies. Within this sequence of language courses, the classroom becomes a translation laboratory where students and faculty work collaboratively to translate and decode Hemacandra’s Sanskrit and explore its philosophical dimensions. Each verse invites reflection on how Jain thinkers articulated yogic discipline, nonviolence, and self-realization in conversation with their Hindu and Buddhist contemporaries.
In addition to classical philology, students gain experience with emerging technologies for the study of manuscripts and textual archives—including the use of optical character recognition (OCR) for Devanāgarī—and are trained to experiment with AI-assisted transliteration and translation tools. These digital approaches complement the humanistic precision of traditional philology, enabling students to participate in a field that now bridges the ancient and the contemporary. In this way, the Yoga-śāstra Project exemplifies Arihanta Institute’s mission to merge scholarship, language training, and contemplative practice, preparing a new generation of researchers to connect textual precision with lived philosophical inquiry.
Inside the Course: Method and Focus
The Yoga-śāstra translation courses function much like any conventional, advanced South Asian language class but also more like a collaborative research workshop. Each session unfolds as a translation laboratory, where students and faculty read Hemacandra’s Sanskrit line by line, annotate grammatical structures, and debate interpretive nuances in real time. This process trains students to recognize how Sanskrit syntax itself encodes philosophical reasoning—how a compound or case ending can carry subtle implications about causality, ethics, or states of consciousness. Through this integrative approach, linguistic study becomes a form of hermeneutics.
The Yoga-śāstra translation courses function much like any conventional, advanced South Asian language class but also more like a collaborative research workshop. Each session unfolds as a translation laboratory, where students and faculty read Hemacandra’s Sanskrit line by line, annotate grammatical structures, and debate interpretive nuances in real time. This process trains students to recognize how Sanskrit syntax itself encodes philosophical reasoning—how a compound or case ending can carry subtle implications about causality, ethics, or states of consciousness. Through this integrative approach, linguistic study becomes a form of hermeneutics.
The text at the heart of the course, Hemacandra’s Yoga-śāstra with its Svopajña-vivaraṇa commentary, is one of the most comprehensive Jain integrations of yoga philosophy, drawing on and refining the comparative vision of Jain yoga articulated by earlier thinkers such as Haribhadra-sūrī. It brings the ascetic ideal of ahiṃsā (non-violence) into dialogue with the broader South Asian yogic traditions of Pātañjala Yoga, Advaita Vedānta, and Buddhist Abhidharma. In the fall semester, our previous course, Sanskrit 3, guided students through Hemacandra’s poetic opening, his exposition of the ratna-traya (right faith, knowledge, and conduct), and the anuprekṣā or twelve contemplations. Sanskrit 4, offered this coming spring 2026, will continue the translation through his advanced discussions of āsana, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna, kevalajñāna, and mokṣa—the culmination of his vision of ethical and contemplative perfection. Across both courses, the text reveals how Jain thought re-imagines yoga not as physical technique alone but as the moral purification of perception and intention.
Pedagogically, the course invites students to move from language study to developing the skills necessary for publication-ready research. Weekly commentary workshops emphasize close reading of compounds, comparison of manuscript variants, and contextual philosophical analysis. Alongside this traditional philological training, participants learn to apply digital tools—shared annotated documents, transliteration software, OCR for Devanāgarī, and emerging AI-assisted transliteration and translation aids—to support critical editing and analysis. These technologies, used judiciously and reflectively, extend the precision of classical philology into new collaborative possibilities, showing that the careful study of an ancient language can stand at the forefront of twenty-first-century scholarship.
Research Insights and Classroom Discoveries
So far in Sanskrit 3 course, our translation work undertaken in the Yoga-śāstra has revealed important philological and philosophical insights. On the textual side, students have resolved a number of difficult compounds and instrumental constructions that can be puzzling for novice translators, revealing subtle grammatical logic behind Hemacandra’s theology. Our close analysis has also illuminated the author’s distinctive Sanskrit style, which fuses the concise precision of śāstric argumentation with the rhythmic elegance of narrative poetry. In comparing manuscript evidence, students have documented minor textual variants, gaining firsthand experience in the critical methods that underlie every reliable edition.
So far in Sanskrit 3 course, our translation work undertaken in the Yoga-śāstra has revealed important philological and philosophical insights. On the textual side, students have resolved a number of difficult compounds and instrumental constructions that can be puzzling for novice translators, revealing subtle grammatical logic behind Hemacandra’s theology. Our close analysis has also illuminated the author’s distinctive Sanskrit style, which fuses the concise precision of śāstric argumentation with the rhythmic elegance of narrative poetry. In comparing manuscript evidence, students have documented minor textual variants, gaining firsthand experience in the critical methods that underlie every reliable edition.
Beyond philology, the class has traced significant philosophical themes emerging from the text. One of the most striking is mādhyasthya, or equanimity, which Hemacandra presents not merely as ethical neutrality but as an epistemic condition—the cultivated balance of perception that allows knowledge to become non-reactive and liberating. Another is the subtle presence of bhakti-ātisaya, a “devotional excellence” that reframes the Jain yogin’s reverence for the enlightened teacher as a legitimate, transformative emotion, an important instance of the fusion of Jain yoga and bhakti. The familiar triad of ratna-traya—right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct—has likewise been re-examined as a progressive meditative discipline rather than a static doctrinal schema. Comparative discussions have linked Hemacandra’s treatment of mental stillness to Patañjali’s nirodha, to Buddhist jhāna psychology, and to Vedāntic reflections on the realization of ātman—showing how Jain thought both converses with and critiques its Indian counterparts.
Another line of inquiry has focused on linguistic and historical continuities. Students have begun mapping key terms of Jain yoga across the Indo-Aryan spectrum—from their Sanskrit formulations to their Prakrit and Apabhraṃśa counterparts, and comparing them to modern vernaculars such as Gujarati, Hindi, Rajasthani, and others—revealing how shifts in language mirror evolving conceptions of mind and morality. Discussion has also touched on Hemacandra’s role as a linguist in his own right: his grammatical theories anticipate later Jain philologists who sought to unify Sanskrit and the vernaculars within a single intellectual system. Together these findings highlight how advanced Sanskrit study at Arihanta not only refines textual interpretation but also contributes to a broader understanding of the linguistic ecology of Jainism—a living continuum from the canonical Prakrits to the philosophical Sanskrit of Hemacandra and beyond.
Arihanta Institute at the Forefront of Jain Yoga Research
Today, Arihanta Institute stands among the very few institutions in North America offering graduate-level Sanskrit courses dedicated to Jain textual translation. What distinguishes Arihanta’s approach is its integration of language pedagogy, digital humanities, and contemplative practice into a single, coherent curriculum. Students are not only trained in the linguistic and philosophical intricacies of the Jain canon but also introduced to the tools of digital scholarship—methods that allow ancient texts to be studied, preserved, and shared with new precision and accessibility. The Yoga-śāstra course embodies this innovative model, demonstrating how advanced philology and technology can together illuminate the spiritual insights of a centuries-old tradition.
Today, Arihanta Institute stands among the very few institutions in North America offering graduate-level Sanskrit courses dedicated to Jain textual translation. What distinguishes Arihanta’s approach is its integration of language pedagogy, digital humanities, and contemplative practice into a single, coherent curriculum. Students are not only trained in the linguistic and philosophical intricacies of the Jain canon but also introduced to the tools of digital scholarship—methods that allow ancient texts to be studied, preserved, and shared with new precision and accessibility. The Yoga-śāstra course embodies this innovative model, demonstrating how advanced philology and technology can together illuminate the spiritual insights of a centuries-old tradition.
Beyond the academy, this work contributes to the expanding field of comparative contemplative studies, where Jain perspectives on ethics, yoga, and liberation enrich global dialogues on mind, consciousness, and moral life. Through translating and interpreting Hemacandra’s treatise, students enter a conversation that reaches into modern questions of psychology, ecology, and compassion. The act of translation itself becomes a contemplative discipline—an exercise in attention, empathy, and non-violence toward understanding itself. At the same time, it affirms the enduring value of an ancient tradition that, like many other indigenous knowledge systems, has often been marginalized and must continually seek relevance in a world inclined to displace it. In this way, Arihanta’s Sanskrit program not only advances research but also embodies a living expression of ahiṃsā and inquiry.
Conclusion
Looking ahead, Arihanta invites eligible students, scholars, and practitioners (who have met the prerequisites of Sanskrit 1 and 2 or the equivalent) to join this evolving project through Sanskrit 4: Translation and Reading of Jain Texts, beginning in Spring 2026. The course continues the translation of Hemacandra’s Yoga-śāstra, deepening engagement with the doctrines of meditation, omniscience, and liberation. Participants will gain experience in advanced Sanskrit translation, comparative philosophy, and digital textual research, with opportunities for collaboration, publication, and professional development. Through such programs, Arihanta Institute continues to shape the future of Jain studies—bridging classical learning with contemporary inquiry, and positioning Jain yoga as a vital voice in the global study of contemplative traditions.
Looking ahead, Arihanta invites eligible students, scholars, and practitioners (who have met the prerequisites of Sanskrit 1 and 2 or the equivalent) to join this evolving project through Sanskrit 4: Translation and Reading of Jain Texts, beginning in Spring 2026. The course continues the translation of Hemacandra’s Yoga-śāstra, deepening engagement with the doctrines of meditation, omniscience, and liberation. Participants will gain experience in advanced Sanskrit translation, comparative philosophy, and digital textual research, with opportunities for collaboration, publication, and professional development. Through such programs, Arihanta Institute continues to shape the future of Jain studies—bridging classical learning with contemporary inquiry, and positioning Jain yoga as a vital voice in the global study of contemplative traditions.
Our Yoga-śāstra translation courses represent far more than a reading of an ancient text. They are a collective exploration of how language itself can serve as a vehicle for self-understanding and spiritual development. Through Hemacandra’s Sanskrit, students encounter a worldview that links moral clarity, intellectual rigor, and contemplative stillness—qualities that remain urgently relevant in today’s world of constant distraction and fragmentation. By training students to approach texts with both critical precision and reverence, Arihanta Institute is cultivating a generation of scholars who can sustain the dialogue between classical wisdom and contemporary scholarship. Each translation session becomes an act of mindfulness; each discussion a bridge between centuries. As Arihanta continues to expand its offerings in Sanskrit, Jain studies, and South Asian linguistics, the Institute reaffirms its commitment to rigorous, inclusive, and transformative education—an education that honors both the precision of philology and the depth of lived philosophy.
If you are interested in learning more on this topic, consider taking Course 8004 | Sanskrit 4 with Dr. Cogen Bohanec. Spring 2026 (January 26 – May 4, 2026) | Tuesday 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. PT and Friday 8:00 - 9:30 a.m. PT | Learn More.
Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD holds the position of Assistant Professor in Sanskrit and Jain Studies at Arihanta Institute where he teaches various courses on Jain philosophy and its applications. He received his doctorate in Historical and Cultural Studies of Religion from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California where his research emphasized comparative dharmic traditions and the philosophy of religion. He teaches several foundational self-paced, online courses based in Jain philosophy, yoga, ecology, languages, and interfaith peace-building.