structural:summarization, structural:expansion
Philosophical sutras

Yoga is discussed in the foundational sutras of Hindu philosophy. The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra of the Vaisheshika school of Hinduism, composed between the sixth and second centuries BCE, discusses yoga. According to Johannes Bronkhorst, the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra describes yoga as "a state where the mind resides only in the Self and therefore not in the senses". This is equivalent to pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses). The sutra asserts that yoga leads to an absence of sukha (happiness) and dukkha (suffering), describing meditative steps in the journey towards spiritual liberation.

The Brahma Sutras, the foundation text of the Vedanta school of Hinduism, also discusses yoga. Estimated as completed in its surviving form between 450 BCE and 200 CE, its sutras assert that yoga is a means to attain "subtlety of body". The Nyaya Sutras —the foundation text of the Nyaya school, estimated as composed between the sixth century BCE and the secondcentury CE —discusses yoga in sutras 4.2.38–50. It includes a discussion of yogic ethics, dhyana (meditation) and samadhi, noting that debate and philosophy are also forms of yoga.