C H A P T E R F IV E

O T H E R H A T H A Y O G A T E X T S :

A C O M P A R A T I V E A C C O U N T
 191

CHAPTER FIVE

OTHER H A TH A Y O G A TEXTS: A

C O M PA R A TIVE ACCO UNT

1. I n t r o d u c t i o n

In the last chapt er, we tried a critical compa r i s on of

Hathayo^apradlptkd with P a t a nj a Iay oga , But t here are many

ot her texts of Hat hayoga In this chapt er , I woul d like to

consi der a few other Hat hayoga t ext s and compar e t hem with

Pat ahj al ayoga. Hat hayoga has a very long t r adi t i on. The signs

of some of the major part s of Hat hayoga are obt ai ned in the

Si ndhughat i civi l izati on and also in the Vedas and Upani sads .

But the whole credit of bri nging t oget he r all t hese c once pt s

serially in the form of a text goes to Acar ya Gor a ks a na t ha .

Gor aks anat ha has wri t t en about t went y eight Sanskri t t ext s in

Sanskri t l anguage out of which four are avai l abl e t oda y. - 1)

.Amaraugha sasanam, 2) Goraksa paddhati, 3) Goraksasataka and 4)

Siddha siddhantapaddhati. For the sake of brevity, I have chosen

Goraksasataka for consideration.

The next important text is Vasistha samhitd. Several

i mport ant concept s of Hat hayoga are descr i bed in gr eat detail

in \'as!sthasanih1 1d. \'asisthasamhitd is also i mpor t ant because

 192

V' asistha has been a c knowl e dged by Sva t ma r ama in

HL
i(hupraJJpIkd. So I have consi der ed the c ont e nt s of

Vasisthasamh1 1(1 and compar ed t hen with P a t a h j al ay o g a ,

The third i mport ant work which was pr obabl y wr i t t en in

the same period (13t h cent ur y) as Vasisthasamhita is

SI rasamill Id. 1 have made a survey of the cont ent s of this work

t oo The above t hr ee wor ks were probabl y pr i or to

Hathayogapradipikd. Hathayogapradipikd owes a lot to t hese

early works in terms of t hought s and t echni ques. But HP is

honor ed among the schol ar s and pr ac t i t i oner s of Hat hayoga as

the most systemat i c and scient i fic text of Hat hayoga. That is

why we discussed it with great detai ls and t ook it for a det ai l ed

compar i son in some of the pr evi ous chapt er s. In this chapt er ,

on the other hand, we are consi der i ng ot her Hat hayoga t ext s in

more or less in a passi ng way.

we shall also consi der Gheranda Samhitd, an i mpor t ant

Hat hayoga text which succeeded HP, in this chapt er , again in a

passi ng way. The reason is that we are really not i nt er es t ed in

compar i ng each and every detail of t hese texts. But the survey

of the main cont ent s of t hese t ext s woul d show how and how

far they similar to or different from the cont ent s of

Hathayogapradipikd and whet her the compar at i ve appr oach

with regard to HP and VS can be ext ended to the ot her

 193

Hat ha yog a t exts vi s-a-vis YS.

2 . G o r a k s a s a t a k a ni

The first i mport ant Yoga text, we shall exami ne here is the

Cioraksa salakam. Yogi Gor a ks a na t ha , the di sci pl e of

Mat s yendr anat ha, has descr i bed six limbs of Yoga - Asana,

Pr anasamyama, Pr at yahar a, Dhar ana, Dhyana and Sa madhi . '

Thes e l i mbs of Yoga a p p e a r to be t he s ame as t he l i mbs of

P a t a h j a I a y 0 g a , wi t h e xcl us i on of y a ma and n i y a ma . But

w h e t h e r t hey are a c t u a l l y so needs to be seen.

Gor aks anat ha pr oceeds to the first limb asana and

di scusses the main two asanas namely si ddhasana and

kamal asana( padmas ana) . The pr oce dur e s of t hese t wo asanas

arc similar to those of Sv atm d r a ma ’s descr i pt i on of t hese t wo

asanas The ot her name of padmasana is kamal asanaG

Gor aksanat ha also di scusses the vari ous cakras - Adhar a,

SvadhisHiana and Mani pur a and also their pl aces or site.

.According to him. Ad h fir a is the first cakra which lies at the

a tut s ' Svadhi st hana cakra is the s e c o n d c a k r a and it lies at the

l i nga-mul aA Mani pura is the third cakra which lies at the navel

r egi on. ' Gor aksanat ha also gives his view on the place of fire.

Thus, accordi ng to him, the place of fire is qua dr a ngul ar in

shape and is very bright and l uminous. This place of fire is

si t uat ed below the root o f t h e p e n i s .

 194

Amongst the 72, 000 nadi s pr esent in the human body, ten

are given due i mport ance. They are - Ida, which lies on the left

side Pihgala, which lies on the right side. Susumna, whi ch is

si t uat ed in the central regi on. Gandhar l , which ext ends to the

left eye/^ Hastijihva, which ext ends to the right eye. Pusa whi ch

ext ends to the right ear and the sevent h nadi YasasvinT ext e nds

to the left ear Al ambusa is the eight nadi which ext ends upon

the mouth.* Kuhu is the ninth nadi lying above the peni s whi l e

SaiikhinT - the tenth nadi is l ocat ed in the anus.

Gor aksa also di scusses the ten Vayus, namely. Pr ana,

Apana, Samana, Udana, Vyana, Naga, Kurma, Krkala, De v a d a t t a ,

and Dhanaiijaya.

Gor aks anat ha f ur t her says that kanda is a bul bous r oot

which is situat ed at the navel region."^ Above this kanda, the

kundal i nl - sakt i lies which is folded eight times. When this

dor mant kundal i nl - sakt i comes in cont act with the a r ous ed fire,

it gets awakened and rises up in the susumna and pi er ces the

susumna and rises up.' "

Gor aksanat ha also di scusses the mudr as and bandhas viz.

Mahamudr a, Nabhomudr a, Uddi yana, Jal andhar a, and

Mul a bandha . " These mudr as have already been di scussed in the

t ext s dealt with earl ier in this thesis.

The above a c c o u n t of a s a n a s gi ven by G o r a k s a c l e a r l y

 195

r e ve a l s t h a t G o r a k s a ’ s c o n c e p t of a s a n a is H a t h a y o g i c a nd

not t h a t of P a t a n j a l a y o g a . Gor aks a is i nt er es t ed in di f f er ent

pos t ur es yielding different resul t s in t erms of bodily heal t h. In

fact, he clearly says that one r emoves illness with the help of

asana, sins with the help of pr anayama and mental illness with

the help of p ra t y a ha ra( (/o/t/Ayc/ sat aka, 54). On the ot her hand,

we have seen that for Pat anj ali asana is any post ur e sui t abl e for

the purpose of meditation.

The next limb is pr anas amyama or pr anayama and has been

di scussed by Gor a ks a nat ha in a similar way as that di scussed by

ot her s

The next limb is pr at ya har a He defi nes pr at ya har a as the

pr act i ce in which the sun at the navel wi t hhol ds the nect ar

which flows from the moon at the base of the palate.' ^ Aga i n

t hi s d e s c r i p t i o n of p r a t y a h a r a is c l e ar l y d i f f e r e n t f r om t h a t

gi ven by P a t a n j a l i a nd is much cl os er to H a t h a y o g a model .

Now Gor aks anat ha pr oceeds fur t her to di scuss the ot her

remai ni ng cakras. Accor di ng to him the anahat a cakra is the

fourt h cakra which lies in the heart r e g i o n . ’' The vi sudd ha

cakra and ajha cakra are the fifth and sixth cakr as respect i vel y.

The pranas should be t aken upwar ds effort ful ly. When the pr ana

rises upwards and pi erces vi suddha and ajna cakras and finally

pierces the Br a hma r a dhr a , the yogi becomes immortal.He

 196

cont i nues t liat if one resi st s the nect ar from f 1owi ng into the

sun and gett i ng wasted then, one can c onquer death.

Dharana is the next limb of Yoga a ccor di ng to

Gor a ks a na t ha 1.ike the ot her HathayogTs he also s ugges t s to

medi t at e on the fi ve el ement s at their sites and thus to conquer

tlie respect i ve elements.' *’

Dhvana and its two t ypes viz. saguna and ni rguna di scussed

by Gor aks anat ha are the same as di scussed by in

]’as!s!hasatnh!ta. Gor a ks a nat ha furt her says that when the yogi

medi t at es upon the adhar a cakra, he becomes free from all

tvpes of sins. Similarly when the yogT medi t at es on the

s \ a dhi s t ha na cakra, he is freed from all t ypes of sins'"

Medi t at i ng on the mani pur a cakra, the yogi gets cont r ol over

the world In other words, he conquer s the wo r l d . ' ^ Me d i t a t i n g

on the anahata cakra, he can merge with the Brahman.^"

Medi t at i ng on the vi suddha cakra, one can merge compl et el y

with the Brahman and become one with it."’' Medi t at i ng on the

site in between the eyebr ows, the yogi becomes full of bliss and

happi ness Medi t at i ng on the ajha cakra, one becomes

c o m p I e t e I> free from all types of pains and sufferi ngs. ^’

The p r a c t i t i o n e I' can attain p e r f e c t i o n in Yoga when he

medi t at es deeply on the Adhar a cakra, Svadhi st hana cakra,

Mani pura cakra. Anahat a cakra, Vi suddha cakra, place bet ween
 197

the two eyebrows, Ajna cakra and Br ahmar andhr a. This t ype of

medi t at i on on these i mpor t ant sites gives the pr ac t i t i oner eight

miraculous powers^**

Finally due to t hese t ypes of medi t at i ons and awakeni ng of

kundalinT when prana becomes stable and mind becomes t r anqui l ,

the stage of samadhi is r eached where the i ndividual self uni t es

with the supreme-sel f Fur t her pr ogr es s in this samadhi st age

leads to liberation 26

Her e we find t h a t G o r a k s a ' s c o n c e p t i o n of s a m a d h i is

non-dualistic in character and is ver y s i mi l a r to t he

conception gi ven by Svatmarama. This refl ect s upon the

general t endency of Hat hayoga t ext s to under s t and samadhi in a

non- dual i st i c way, as a union of i ndividual self and supr eme

self This concept i on of samadhi is qui te di fferent from t hat of

Patahjali accordi ng to whom i ndividual s el f ( dr ast a) remai ns in

his own nature at the time of samadhi. Patanjali does not

identify the true nat ure of dr ast a with that of Isvara, nor does

he underst and Isvara as the omni pot ent God.

3 , V a sistlia S a m h ita

Now', we proceed fur t her to consi der the views of the great

sage Vasistha on the yogic pr act i ces and par t i cul ar l y the

Hat hayogi c practices.

Accordi ng to Vasi st ha, the Vedas di scuss two t ypes of

 19S

act i ons, viz Pr avar t aka ( mot i vat i ng) and Ni var t aka

( w i t h d i a w i n g ) ’' The Pr a var t aka act i ons i nspi re a per son to

perform his duties well and thus act i vat e him t owa r ds life and

ot her desires On the ot her hand, Ni var t aka act i on is that

because of which a person wi t hdr aws all his desi r es and t hus

remains compl etel y al oof from the worl dl y happeni ngs. Thus

Ni vart aka action t akes the person t owa r ds happi ness and

ul ti mat ely t owards l i berat i on. This Ni var t aka act i on can be

perf or med externally or internal l y. The ext er nal act i ons are

const i t ut ed of only the ext ernal physical acts while the int ernal

act i ons are const i t ut ed of the inner ment al act i ons done with

pure and devot ed mind which lead to the real happiness.^' ’ Thus,

the internal actions are consi der ed much more i mpor t ant and

effecti ve than the ext ernal ones. In fact the i nternal act i ons

lead to real knowl edge while the ext ernal act i ons are mere

act i ons where one may even get di ver t ed from o n e ’s act ual aim

of liberation

Vasi st ha further says that t hese i nternal act i ons lead to

knovv ledge and knowl edge is not hing but Yoga which leads the

pr act i t i oner t owards sel f - r eal i zat i on. ' ' Vasi st ha holds that Yoga

has eight limbs as has been di scussed earl ier in P a t a n j a l i ’s

ast ahgayoga ’'^ But Vasi st ha has e xpounded t hese limbs maki ng

some additions here and there and attaching sometimes new

 199

meani ngs to t hese terms We pr oceed to t hese eight successi ve

limbs serially

Yam a compri ses ten part s They are Ahimsa ( non- vi ol ence) ,

Satya (t ruth), Asteya (non- st eal i ng), Br ahmacar ya (cel i bacy),

Dhrti (calm courage) , Ksama ( f or gi venness) , Daya

(pity), Arjava (st rai ght f or war dnes s) , Mi t ahar a ( moder a t e diet)

and Sauca (purity)/^' Out of t hese, the first four part s are the

same as those in Pa t a n j a l i ’s a s t a hga yoga and have been

expl ai ned earlier. The fifth part of yama is Dhrt i (cal m cour age) .

One should always remain calm and have cour age to face

any such adverse si t uat i on Thus, one shoul d always possess

this fifth yama, Dhrti

Ksama is the sixth yama which is one of the excel l ent

quali t ies one should have. One should always have this quali t y

to forgive ot hers for any of thei r bad b e h a v i o u r . ’^

Also, one should have the feeling of Daya( pi t y) , which is

the seventh yama Pity t owar ds ever ybody - a friend or an

enemy - is a great quality fhi s quality puri fies the mi nd. ’*’

Arjava is the eighth yama which is the quali t y of

s t r ai ght f or war dnes s. fhus, one shoul d always be

st r ai ght f or war d in all three spheres i.e., mental, verbal and

practical.’’

Mi t ahara is the ninth yama which means that one should

 2(K)

t ake moder at e diet i e., a little less than o n e ’s capaci t y 38

Sauca is the tenth yama accor di ng to sage Vasi st ha. But as

can be seen that Sauca has been incl uded as the first ni yama in

Pa t a n j a l i ’s ast ahgayoga. Thus, Sauca has been expl ai ned ear l i er

in detail 39

Vasi st ha also di scusses ten t ypes of ni yamas viz. ( l ) T a p a s

( aus t er i t y) , ( 2) Sant os a ( sat i s f act i on) , ( 3) As t i kya ( t hei sm) ,

( 4) Dana (chert y), ( 5) I s wa r a Puj ana ( wor shi ppi ng di et y)

( 6) Si ddha nt a Sravana ( hear i ng the doct r i nes ) , (7)HrT ( modes t y) ,

( 8) Mat i (faith in scr i pt ur es) , ( 9) Japa ( r eci t at i on of a mant r a

with its meaning), and ( l O) Vr a t a ( f ol l owi ng vows strictly).'*^

Out of these ( l ) T a p a s and ( 2) Sa nt os a have al r eady been

di scussed in the niyamas of Pa t a n j a l i ’s As t ahgayoga. The t hird

niyama astikya suggest s the pr act i t i oner to have fai t h in

Dharma Thus, one shoul d know and have bel i ef that a good

deed leads to good resul t s while a bad deed leads to bad r esul t s

and hence one should never do bad deeds.

The fourt h niyama Dana is an excel l ent act in whi ch one

gives alms to the poor and needy people. Thus one shoul d do

this charity and help the needy people.**^

The fifth niyama viz. I svar apuj ana refers to ador i ng Visnu

with pleasant nature and devot i on as di r ect ed by scr i pt ur es and

also puri ficat i on of body, mind and speech. Thi s is d i f f e r e n t

 201

f r om I s v a r a p r a n i d h a i i a of P a t a n j a l i . As we have seen in the

chapt er on Pat ahj al ayoga, Patahj al l ’s I svara is not God of a

t heist and I s var apr ani dhana is not devot i on to God, In

\'asisthcisunih1 1a, on the cont r ar y ‘ I s v a r a ’ refers to Lord Vi snu

and ‘i s v a r a p u j a n a ’ st ands for devot i on to Him.

The sixth niyama Si ddhant a Sr avana suggest s t hat the

pr act i t i oner should study the Vedas and the vari ous ot her holy

t ext s and also to hear the d o c t r i n e s . I n this sense Si ddhant a

Sr avana is closely similar to what Pat anj ali calls svadhyaya.

HrT(modesty) is the next niyama which suggest s t hat the

pr act i t i oner should follow the sui t abl e and pr oper way of

leadi ng life and to perform ever yt hi ng that is pure and proper.' *’*

Mati is the eighth niyama which advi ses that one shoul d

believe in all the scr i pt ur es and holy t ext s and shoul d not do

anythi ng which has not been suggest ed in them.'*^

Japa the ninth niyama is the cont i nuous r eci t at i on of a

specific mantra along with its meaning. This r eci t at i on of

mant ra i e . Japa is of two types - Upa hs u( r e c i t a t i on in low

voice) and Manasa(si l ent r eci t at i on) . Out of t hese Manas a is

consi dered much bet t er than Upahsu. This is so because a silent

r eci t at i on is consi dered many times bet t er than a mur mur i ng

r eci t at i on 4<)

\ Gata is the last Niyama which means st rictly obser vi ng

 202

and f olio wing the vows/*^

Her e we fi nd t h a t Va s i s t h a is f ol l owi ng, e l a b o r a t i n g and

r e v i s i n g P a t a h j a l i wi t h r e s p e c t to t he f i r s t t wo l i mbs viz.

Ya ma and Niyania. But while di scussi ng asana and pr anayama,

Va s i s t h a ’s approach is cl oser to that of Svat mar ama.

Now we proceed to the vari ous asanas di scussed by sage

Vasi st ha These asanas are Svast i kas ana, Gomukhas ana,

Padmasana, VTrasana, Si mhasana, Mayur as ana, Kukkut a s ana ,

Bhadr asana and Muktasana/** These asanas have al ready been

di scussed by Svat mar ama and descr i bed earlier.

Pr anayama is the fourt h limb of Yoga. But befor e

pr act i si ng pr anayama, pur i f i cat i on of NadTs is very essential.'*^

Vasi st ha di scusses the body mechani sm and body s t r uc t ur e and

suggest s the met hods to purify the vari ous Nadi s.

Out of the seventy two t housand Nadi s, f our t een Nadi s are

consi der ed as the most i mpor t ant ones. These f our t een nadis

are Susumna, Ida, Pi hgala, Sar aswat i , Kuhu, Var ana, Yasasvi ni ,

Piisa, Payasvini, Sahkhi ni , Gandhar i , Hast i j i hva, Vi svodar a and

Alambusa. ' " Out of t hese f our t een nadis the t hree nadis - ida,

pi hgal a and susumna play a maj or role while out of t hese t hree

nadis also, susumna is consi der ed to be of supr eme i mpor t ance.

This susumna is the pat hway t owar ds l i ber at i on and is called as

vai snavi ( i . e. , which leads the prana t owa r ds v i s n u ) . ’’ We not i c e

 203

he r e that t he ol ogi c a l l y Vasisth asamhitd is Vaisnavaite

wh e r e a s HathayogapradJpikd is s a i v a i t e , b e c a u s e t he f o r m e r

i d e nt i f i e s s us uni na wi t h Vi s nu wh e r e a s t he l a t t e r wi t h t he

Sa kt i of Si va. All the ot her nadTs st art from t hese f our t een

main nadTs' " The ten vayus - Priina, Apana, Sam ana, Udana,

\ ' yana, Naga, K firm a, Krkara, Devadat t a and Dhanahj aya - flow

til rough all t hese vari ous nadTs in the body out of which the

first five vayus are the most i mpor t ant o n e s " Out of t hese five

vavus, pranavayu is of supr eme i mpor t ance as it is the i ndi cat or

of life in the human body. This prana moves in the whol e body

from the mouth, nostrils, heart, navel regi on till the toes.'**

For the puri ficat i on of nadTs, Vasi st ha has suggest ed the

same method as has been descr i bed earlier by Svat mar ama. Thus,

in this method one should inhale fully t hr ough the left nost ri l

and then exhale compl et el y t hr ough the right nostril. The nadTs

are purified and i ndicated by the signs like i ncrease in appet i t e

and lightness of body. ' '

Vasi st ha furt her explai ns the pr ocedur e of pr act i si ng

p r a n a y a ma with the si mul t aneous r eci t at i on of Pran a v a ( O M).

This is the same t echni que as has been expl ai ned by Gher anda,

the only di fference being that the subj ect s of medi t at i on are

different. Thus, here, duri ng the i nhal at i on( pur aka) one shoul d

medi t at e upon the Goddess GiiyatrT and reci te a pr ol onged “ A” .

 204

Then, in the r et e nt i on( kumbhaka ) phase one shoul d medi t at e

upon the Goddess Chakradhari nT and reci t e a pr ol onged “ U”

and finally in the exh a Iat i o n( recak a ) peri od one shoul d medi t at e

upon the Goddess SaraswatT( Goddess of knowl edge) and reci t e

a pr ol onged “ Ma” . The ratio of the i nhal at i on, r e t e nt i on and

exhal at i on, as seen be fore, shoul d be in the ratio 1 : 4 ; 2.^^

This type of pr anayama shoul d be cont i nued till r es pi r a t i on is

needed no more for the body and the yogi r eaches the st age of

“ keval a kumbhaka” ” This stage o f “ keval a k u mbha ka ” has been

expl ai ned by Svat mar ama in the earlier part.^**

Vasistha has also suggest ed the met hod of conquer i ng the

prana(pranajaya).' ^' ’ Accor di ng to this met hod one shoul d, with

an effort, wi thdraw the senses from their r espect i ve obj ect s and

concent r at e deeply on the inner Nada. One should close all the

sense organs forcibly up to o n e ’s capaci t y aft er which one can

hear a clear and di st i nct sound which will be very low and

tinkling at the beginni ng. This Nada( s ound) will go on

increasing as the c once nt r a t i on i ncreases and prana ent er s the

susumna and finally when prana reaches the Br ahmar andhr a, the

Nada pr oduced will be very loud. By this pract i ce, one at t ai ns

peace and conquer s the prana. 4'his technique closel y

r es embl es the nadanusandhana technique of S v a t m a r a m a .

One should then start reci ti ng the pranava j apa in mind. By this
 205

pr act i ce, the Apanavayu stays per manent l y in the regi on of fire.

The r eci t at i on of pr anava should be cont i nued and the mind

shoul d be concent r at ed on the fire regi on in the middle of the

n a v e l / ’’ By this, prana, which is staying in the fire pl ace as

Apana. rises to the kundalinT where the fire st art e bur ni ng and

then the sleeping kundalinT is awakened. ^’^ After this, the yogT

shoul d raise this prana along with the fire to the

Br ahmar andhr a with c ont i nuous r eci t at i on of the pranavajapa.*^’"

If one wishes to give up o n e ’s body one shoul d pi er ce the

Br ahmar andhr a through this prana and fire medi t at i ng on the

pr anava With this one becomes free from the birth - deat h

cycle. t'4

Then we come to Va s i s t ha ' s concept i on of pr at yahar a. As

obser ved by Swami Di gambarji and ot her e di t or s of

as!sthasumhi td, there are four types of pr at ya har a accor di ng

to Va s i s t h a / ’' They are descr i bed by Vasi st ha as fol l ows: The

wi t hdrawal of the s ense- or gans , which by nat ure i ndulge in the

sense-obj et s, is the first type. What ever one sees, all that

should be seen by one as Sel f within the Self. This is the

second type. The per f or mance of the obl i gat or y duties, ment all y

within the self and wi t hout any ext er nal ( ai ds) , that also is

pr at yahar a. Holding the air successi vel y at the ei ght een vital

points after pulling it from the pr ecedi ng point is the last type
 206

of pr at yahar a. of. verse 111. 5 7-62.

We i mme d i a t e l y see that out of t he s e f our t ype s of

piatyahara only t he fiist t ype t al l i es wi t h t he Patanjala

>' oga c onc e pt i on of p r a t y a h a r a . The ot her types over l ap with

some aspect s of Sel f - r eal i zat i on, dut y- c ons c i ous ne s s and

pratyahara

D ha rana , Dhy a na and Samadhi are the special t echni ques of

P a t a I'lj a 1a y o g a We fi nd that Va s i s t h a a c c e pt s t hes e

techniques but elaborates t hem wi t h mor e details and

classifications. He also mixes up Hat hayogi c expl anat i ons of

t hese t echni ques.

Vasistha says that Dhar ana is of five types.^’^’ In the first

t \ p e of d h ara ti a the mind becomes compl et el y stable in o n e ’s

own self d'he second type of dharariii is said to be the union of

the outer A k a s a ( v o i d ) with the inner A k a s a ( v o i d ). 1’ h u s , here,

the yogi can move in the inner void. The third type of dhararta

i n \ o i \ e s the five l et t ers la, va, ra, ya, ha, c once nt r a t ed on the

sites of earth, water, fire, air and void, the five basic elements

of which our body is made of The fourth dhararia i nvol ves the

concent r at i on of the five deit i es at the five sites of t hese five

element s r e s pe c t i ve l y/ ’^ It becomes clear from the above that

whereas Patarijali gives a general defi ni t ion of dhararia

\ ' a s i s t h a ’s approacli is more specific and rest ri ct i ve.

 207

The next limb is of Dhyana, Vasi st ha also defi nes

dhyana( medi t at i on) as knowi ng, with the help of the mind, the

true form of the Self. He di vides this dhyana in t wo t ypes; -

Saguna and N i r g u n a / ’*' The Ni rguna dhyana is wi t hout any

qual i t i es or at t r i but es. Thus, this is the medi t at i on on the

Brahma. Saguna dhyana is associ at ed with vari ous obj ect s and

vari ous features. The subj ect s of saguna dhyana have var i ous

qual i t i es and di st i ngui shi ng features.^*^ Thi s distinction

b e t we e n saguna and nirguna dhyana is not found in

P a t a n Jala yoga, though it is c o m p a r a b l e wi t h t he l a t t e r ’s

d i s t i n c t i o n bet ween s a m p r a j n a t a and a s a m p r a j h a t a s a m a d h i .

Though asampr aj hat a samadhi is r egar ded as higher, it is not a

medi t at i on on the Brahman. It is rat her an obj ect l ess medi t at i on.

Here we find that Vasi st ha is basi call y thi nki ng in t hei st i c

met aphysi cal f r amewor k and is cl oser to Hathayogapradlpika

than to Pat ahj al ayoga in that respect .

Finally, Vasi st ha di scusses samadhi which is a stage

difficult to attain. One who poss es ses yamas, has conquer e d

and cont rol l ed prana, cont r ol l ed all the senses and passed

t hr ough the stages of dhar ana and dhyana finally r eaches this

stage of samadhi.^" Vasi st ha has also given the defi ni t i on of

samadhi which is similar to one given by Svat mar ama. Thus

samadhi is nothing but the union of the i ndi vi dual - sel f with the
 208

supreme-sel f. ^' Vasisstlia also suggest s that one shoul d per f or m

o n e ’s duties sincerely wi t hout any e xpect at i on for resul t s. Thus

Vasi st ha explains tire eight limbs of Yoga.

V as i St ha furt her cont i nues that Atm a (soul ) is i mmor t al and

when it joins with body it is called JTva which is subj ect to

birth and death. This JIva is also aff ect ed by the sui t abl e and

unsui t abl e si tuations. 'Vasistha also di scusses five subs t ances,

the enjoyer, the enj oyabl e subject, the enj oyment , the bodi ly

site of enjoyment and the sense organs. Similarly t here are four

st at es - waking, dreaming, s ound( deep) sleep and t ur l ya s t a t e . ^

In the waking state the fitma and jiva are compl et el y awake. In

the dreaming state a t ma( s oul ) is half awake. In susupt i i.e.,

sound( deep) sleep the atm a remains compl et el y inact ive. In the

t uriya state the at ma(soul )^‘' becomes compl et el y free from the

worl d. After death the s oul ( at ma) remains in a very subt l e form

and enjoys some ot her body accor di ng to its own good or bad

deeds. Thus, the atma moves from one body to anot her body

until it comes to know about the actual ul t i mat e truth.

The atma gets purified after such a r eal i zat i on and it also

comes to know about its own self.^'

Vasistha furt her says that l iberat i on can be achi eved only

by the dhy ana -yoga by which one can also know bef or ehand

about the time of o n e ’s d e a t h . B y such a knowl edge one can

 209

become free from the fear of unt imely deatli and can pr ogr e s s

t owar ds the final goal.^^ Vasi st ha f ur t her di scusses some

i nternal signs and sympt oms by which one can know about o n e ’s

deat h beforehand.

Vasi st ha also suggest s that aft er gai ni ng for knowl e dge

about o n e ’s death one shoul d be fearl ess with stable and calm

mind and be cont ent ed. One shoul d cont i nue o n e ’s daily r out i ne

and also start pr act i si ng Yoga for s el f - r eal i zat i on and

real i zat i on of the supr eme reality by the pr oce dur e di scussed

e a r l i e r . ’** Thus, one shoul d medi t at e upon the omkar a and

cont i nuousl y recite the pr anava japa. By such r epeat ed and

cont i nuous medi t at i on one finally reaches the state of samadhi

where the i ndi vi dual - sel f uni t es with the s u p r e me - s e l f . ’'’

Only by such a pr act i ce one conquer s deat h and becomes

the true knower of Yoga.**'*

In this way we find that t hough V'asisthasamhita has

pecul i ar feat ures of its own if shares many f eat ur es with

Patafijalayoga on the one hand and Hat hayoga on the ot her . In

a sense we can say t h a t Vasisthasani hiia is an a t t e m p t to

e s t a b l i s h s ynt he s i s be t we e n Pa t a h j a I ay o ga and Hathayoga,**'

because it accept s the eight limbed f r amewor k of the f or mer

and puts it in the br ooder met aphysi cal f r amewor k of the l at t er

which is theistic and non- dual i st i c. In this pr ocess the

 210

Pat anj al ayoga concept s of dhyana and samadhi get t r a ns f or me d

in to theistic and non- dual i st i c concept s and hence they devi at e

from their original s ahkhya- s t yl e version. It may be not ed in

passi ng that the non- dual i sm of Vasi st ha is quali fi ed non­

dualism (like that of Ramanuj a) and not the absol ut e one(I i ke

that of Samkara) because he does not accept Br ahman to be

at t r i but el es s but r at her to be poss es si ng all s uper nat ur al

qualities.

4. Siva Samhita

We shall now pr oceed to consi der the opi nion of Siva-

samhita about yoga. This text Siva-samhi td is cons t i t ut ed of

five chapt ers. Out of t hese the first chapt er di scusses the “ Jiva-

t at t va", the second chapt er di scusses the “ knowl edge of t a t t v a ” ,

the third chapt er mainly deals with the “t at t va of Yoga

pr act i ces", the fourth chapt er di scusses “ m u d r a ” while the f i f t h

chapt er discusses “ Yo g a - Mi ma ms a ” .

Accordi ng to Siva-satnhitd, Jnana( r eal knowl edge) is the

only eternal existent and it is begi nni ngl ess or endless. All the

ot her aspect s are del usi ons and exist only because of false

ideas and sense- condi t i ons. But when all t hese false ideas and

sense- condi t i ons are r emoved and compl et el y dest r oyed then

only remains the Jnana.**‘

SI va-samil itd fur t her di scusses two types of syst ems -

 211

karma kanda( r i t ual i sm) and Jnana kanda(wisdom).**^ The karma

kanda const i t ut es of act i ons to be done ( i nj unct i ons ) and act i ons

to be abandoned totallyCprohibitions).*' * Out of t hese the

i nj unct i ons are of t hree t ypes - nitya ( r egul ar ) , nai mi t t i ka

( occasi onal ) and kamya( opt i onal ) . The nitya i.e., daily rites

shoul d be regularly per f or med, non- per f or ma nce being sinful.

The naimi tt i ka and kamya may be done or may not be done -

accor di ngl y it may prove mer i t or i ous or demeritorious. *^ The

pr ohi bi t i ons are the act i ons which shoul d be abandoned t ot al l y,

their perf or mance being sinful.*^’ Peopl e per f or mi ng good deeds

and act i ons go to heaven where they exper i ence bliss and

vari ous pleasures.*^ On the ot her hand, sinful and bad deeds

t ake a person to hell where vari ous t or t ur e s and suf f er i ngs are

i mposed upon him.**

The wise yogi shoul d not involve hi msel f in any of t hese

good or bad deeds and shoul d absorb hi msel f in the Jnana

kanda( r eal knowledge).*'^ Thus, one shoul d have the knowl e dge

that this world and all its rel ated concept s are j ust del usi on

while only the supreme spirit is the only real t ruth. Only this

supr eme spirit is infinite, eternal , al l - per vadi ng, blissful,

i ndescri babl e and can never be destroyed.*^ Maya( i l l usi on) is

the root cause of the i gnor ance and del usi on, but the compl et e

removal of this maya resul t s in the de s t r uct i on of the del us i ons

 212

a l s o / ” By such a removal of false ideas and del usi ons, a per s on

has the real izati on of the supr eme spirit and ul t i mat e t rut h.

When the yogT absorbs hi msel f in this ul t i mat e t r ut h and its

bliss - he at t ains samadhi 92

Siva, the aut hor of Siva-satnhita f ur t her says that the Lor d

wi shed to create the whol e uni verse. Siva also st at es the

sequence of evol ut i on of the uni verse Thus accor di ng to him,

Avidya was born out of the L o r d ’ s wish. Then by the uni on of

pure Brahma and Avidya Brahma was born. From

Brahma, Akasa was generated."*^ Akasa gave rise to air whi l e air,

in its turn pr oduced fire. From fire, wat er was ge ner a t e d and

wat er pr oduced the earth. ” Thus, Akasa gave rise to air. Then,

fire was born by the combi nat i on of Akasa and air. Akasa, air

and fire combined to give wat er while eart h was born from the

combi nat i on of the prior four el ement s viz. Akasa, air, fire and

water 95

Siva also di scusses the qual i t i es of t hese five Ma ha bhut a s

and also states their per cept i on sites. Thus, quality of et her is

only one i.e., sound and it is recei ved by the ear. The qual i t y of

air is sound and touch which are recei ved by the ear and the

skin. The quality of fire is form, t ouch and sound and its sense

sites are eyes, the skin and the ear. The quality of wat er is

t aste, sound, touch and form and its sense sites are t ongue, the
 213

ear, the skin and eyes. Wher eas, earth has five qual i t i es viz.

smell, taste, sound, touch and form which are recei ved by the

sense sites the nose, the t ongue, the ear, the skin and eyes

respectively.

Siva cont i nues that the reversal of the above evol ut i on is

also possible. Thus, the earth element can get abs or bed in

wat er, wat er can get absor bed in fire, fire can get abs or bed in

air. Akasa can absorb the air element while this Akasa can be

absor bed by Avidya which gets absor bed in the s upr eme

Br a h ma .

Siva also says that the avar ana force cover s the false maya

due to which maya presents itself as the i'ea1ity which is due to

the presence of vi ksepa force in all the beings.*^** Thus, t hese

two force viz vi ksepa force and avar ana force are st r ong

power s which give happi ness to all bei ngs and keep them in the

darkness of maya. ‘”

Siva also says that cr eat ur es are born by the union of Siva

and Sakti.'™’ The JTva is the i ntel l i gence prevai l i ng due to the

kar ma. "” This JIva ent ers the body so as to enjoy the fruits of

the various karmas and finally when all the karmas have been

enjoyed, the JTva uni tes with the supr eme Brahma.' "^ From the

above descri pt i on of the cont ent s of Siva-samhita it can be

seen that the aut hor of Siva-samhild accept s the f r amewor k of

 214

Advai ta. I'his Advaita has both the aspect s: One being t hat of

Mayavada and the ot her being that of the non- dual i sm of Siva

and Sakti The l a t t e r f or m of Ad v a i t a , we have seen, is close

to Ha t h a y o g a of Sv a t n i a r a n i a . But at t he s ame t i me it is

q u i t e r e mot e from t he Yoga of Pa t a i i j a l i . Siva c ont i nue s t hat

the real yogi knows that the Meru i.e., the spinal col umn is

sur f ounded by the seven islands. He also knows that in the body

t here are present vari ous seas, rivers, mount ai ns, fields, st ars,

pl anet s, the sun, the moon and the five el ement s etc.'°^ The

moon which is at the peak of the vert ebral column s ecr et es the

nect ar and is sur r ounded on one side by eight k a l a s , ’”"* At the

bot t om of the vert ebral column the sun is present whi ch has

t wel ve kalas.'**^ Accor di ng to Siva, There are 35 0 , 0 0 0 ( t h r e e

lakhs and fifty t housand) nadis out of which the f our t een pri me

nadls are Susumna, Ida, Pi ngala, Gandhar l , HastijihvTka, Kuhu,

Saras wati, Pusa, Sank h ini, PayaswanT, VarunT, Al ambusa,

Vi shwodari and Ya s a s wa n i . Descr i pt i on of the main t hree

nadis - Susumna, Ida and Pingala has been given in the earl i er

part.

Siva furt her says that the adhar a lotus lies in the regi on

two digits above the rect um and in it t here is the t r i angul ar

yoni pr es ent . "’^ The Goddess kundal i ni is pr esent in this yoni in

a dormant stage. This kundalini has t hree and a half coils and
 215

lies at the mouth of the susumnfi The susumna nadT is the

most i mportant nadi and the vouTs know that this susumna nadT

has SIX stages, six lotus and six t o r c e s .

Siva st ates that the abode of fire is in the middle of the

sun in the abdomen f h i s fire gives st r engt h, i ncr eases life and

make.> the body healthy by dest r oyi ng all t ypes of di s e a s e s . ' " ’

S i \ a s a Vs that the heart has a b e a u t i f u 1 lotus with t wel ve petal s.

1 h e s e twelve petals have t wel ve l et t er s viz K , K h, G , G h, N ,

C it, Chh, J, Jh, N, T, I h ” '. Siva furt her di scusses the ten vayus

which have been di scussed in the earl i er part. Siva also

st r esses the gui dance and t eachi ng of the (iuru

Siva also suggest s six fa c t o r s b y which a pr ac t i t i oner can

achi eve success in 't' oua He says that one should have fi rrn

bel i ef that o n e ’s pract i ce will be s u c c e s s i'u 1 Secondl y, one

should have faith in one' s pract ice, fhe third fact or is that one

should have respect for o n e ’s Ciuru One should also have a

feeling of e (| u a Ii t v for all creat ur es. One should also have

c m pi Ie t e control over' o n e ’s sense or gans Finally, the sixth

f a c t o r is to have moder at e diet""*

Siva lays down the pr ocedur e for pr anayama in a manner

Similar to that detailed bv the wri t ers dealt with earlier. He

adds that these kuinbhakas should be pr act i sed four times a day

viz. in the earl v m o r n i n u at sunrise, at m i d d a v, in the e v e n i n u

 216

at sun-set and at mi d-ni ght "" By such a pr at i ce the nadi s get

()urified within a few days and the yogi ent er s the

arambhavast h. V"' ’ Siva st at es that t her e are four st ages of

pr anayama viz Ar ambha - a vas t ha , Gha t a- a vas t ha , Par i caya-

avasthii and Ni s h p a t t i - a v a s t h a . " ’ The sympt om of ar a mbha-

avast ha is that the y o g i ’s body emits sweet f r agr ance and l ooks

beaut i ful . The next t hree avast has i.e., st ages remove all t ypes

of sor r ows and sufferings.''** These have been descr i bed l at er in

the text 11')

Siva asks the pr ac t i t i oner to avoid thi ngs whi ch might

di st r act him from his aim. Thus, he shoul d avoid spicy, oily and

salty food, early bat hi ng and over - wal ki ng, fasting and many

ot her things as suggest ed in the text.'""' Siva f urt her says t hat in

the second stage of pr anayama, the body st ar t s t r embl i ng while

in tlie third stage the body jumps like a frog. In the f our t h

stage, the body moves in the air '^' When the yogi pr ogr e s s e s in

tlie pract ice of pranayama, he gets many powers. He achi eves

the vayu-siddhi when he can leave the gr ound and rise in the

air '” He attains the Bhuchar l - si ddhi when he can move on the

gr ound as a frog moves.' "' Finally, the yogi should r est rai n his

senses and recite the pr anava “ OM" by di st i nct l y ut t er i ng A. U.

M. This dest roys all the sins and ot her obst acl es in the path of

Yoga. 124
 217

In tlie second stage of pranayai na i.e., gha t a - ava s t ha , t here

occur s the union of prana and a p a n a , nada and bTndu, j i vat ma

and par amat ma and the yogi at t ai ns ever yt hi ng that is at t ai nabl e

in this w o r l d ’’" In the pari cay a state, the prana remains stable

in the s u s u m n a n a d i and by the c ont i nuous pr act i ce the six

caki as are pierced and the yogi achi eves the kr i ya- sakt i ( i . e. ,

act i on power) Then, the yogi can dest r oy the vari ous kar mas

b> the devoted reci t at i on of p r a n a v a ( O M ) . in the fourt h st age

of prana yam a ie, in ni s pa t t i - ava s t ha, the yog! becomes

immortal as well his karmas and its fruits have been

destroyed i:s

Siva furt her di scusses the ways and met hods by which one

can achieve various power s and can also conquer death. These

met hods have already been di scussed in great detail.Now

Siva di scusses the four main asanas: - si ddhasana, padmasana,

ugr asana and s v a s t i k a sa n a . Thes e asanas and thei r p r oc e dur e s

have already been descr i bed earlier. Ugr asana is also cal l ed as

paschim tanas a n a ' ’’ Siva also explai ns the yoni mudra and its

method Siva consi der s this yoni m udra as a very i mpor t ant

pract ice which removes all types of sins and t akes the

practitioner towards liberation '

Siva says that the sl eepi ng kundalini at the e nt r a nce of

s u s u mn a should be awakened, so that it rises to the

 218

Br ahmar andhr a, piercint^ all the cakras, so that the yogi at t ai ns

success in Yoga For awakeni ng this sl eepi ng k u n d al i n i, he

suggest s the pract i ce of ten niudras viz. N4ahamudra,

Ma h a b a n d h a , Ma ha v e d h a , K h e c a r i, J a 1a n d h a r a , M u Ia b a n d h a ,

ViparTt akarana, Uddana, V'a jrondT and S hakt i cha 1a n a . Thes e

mudr as have already been expl ai ned in the earl i er part of this

thesis and so have not been dealt with here. Siva says t hat the

pract i ce of any one of t hese mudr as bri ngs success to the

pract i t i oner. ' ' ^

Siva di scusses the hi ndi ances in the path of Yoga. He says

that all comfort s, l uxuries, power s and ot her wor l dl y

enj oyment s are the hi nderi ng f act or s in the path of Y o g a . ' ’*’ The

“ Dharma" i.e , rel i gi ous beliefs also i mpose many hi ndr ances.

Thus religious beliefs, fast ing, vows, pi l gr i mages, cravi ng for

l iberat i on and other rel i gi ous sacri fi ces are the obst acl es due to

" Dh a r ma " . ' ” Some hi nderi ng f act or s arise from knowl edge. Thus

t rying to achieve success in Yoga forceful l y - by Hat hayogi c

pr act i ces may prove to be a hi nderi ng f a c t o r . ' ” Siva f urt her

makes clear that samadhi can not be at t ai ned by keepi ng to a

cert ai n, specific diet. He also clarifies that c ompany( ei t her

good or bad) does not affect a pi ac t i t i oner of Yoga in any

w a y i,;‘>

Accordi ng to Si va-Somhito, there are mainly four t ypes of

 219

> oga viz Mant r ayoga, Hat hayoga, Layayoga and Raj ayoga.

Also it savs that pr a c t i t i one r s ( s a dha ka s ) are of four t ypes: -

niild, moderat e, ardent and very ardent . ' ' ’"

The mild pr act i t i oner s are fi ckl e- mi nded, de pende nt ,

at t ached to people, helpl ess, timid and weak and come in the

cat egor y of mant rayoga. This type of pr ac t i t i oner s may succeed

in the path of Yoga after many years of r egul ar and cont i nuous

practice.

fhe moder at e pr ac t i t i oner s are st r onger , merciful, b r o a d ­

minded and i ndependent and are fit to follow Layayoga.

The ardent pr act i t i oner s are stable -mi nded, i ndependent ,

t ranqui l , st rong enough, forgi ving, t r ut hful , cour a ge ous ,

ent husi ast i c and are absor bed in the pr act i ce of Yoga. These

pr act i t i oner s are suitable for Hat hayoga '”

The very ardent pr act i t i oner s are very st rong, healthy,

c 1e a r - m i n d e d , moderat e in diet, fearless, sympat het i c, sat isfied,

f c»I g i v i n g , I' e 1i g i o u s , t r a ru| u i I, having full faith, free from any

t \' p e of disease, having f u II cont rol on their senses, char i t abl e

and are detached fiom the worldly at t achment s These

p 1 a c t i t i o n e r s fall into the cat egor y of Raj ayoga. ' ' ”

Siva f u r t h e r says that when one sees o n e ’s own shadow

refl ect ed in the sky then one becomes p u r e , ”^ when this shadow

is seen fully reflected in the sky then he conquer s the vayu

 220

clement and can move about in the s k y " ' ' One can see o n e ’s

sitadow bv liist l ooking at the neck regi on of o n e ’s shadow and

then looking in the sky By such a pract i ce, one is able to see

one ' s full grav shadow by which one achi eves bliss By such a

regul ar pract ice, one can see o n e ' s shadow in o n e ’s heart by

which one can even attain liberation."*'

When one closes o n e ’s ears with the t humbs, eyes with

fore-fi ngers, nostrils with middle fingers, pr esses the r emai ni ng

fi ngers on the upper and l ower lips and c onc e nt r a t e s on o n e ’s

own soul, one can vi suali ze o n e ’s soul in the form of light.""*

By such a regular pr act i ce, the yogi begins to hear

so u n d s( n a d a ) This type of pract i ce and heari ng of nada

sounds have been di scussed in the earl i er part in Vasistha-

samluta fhe citta gets absor bed in these nadas and becomes

fr e e fr o m all worldly s t a t e s . ’"

Siva cont i nues that the yogi should assume the padmasana

post ur e and concent r at e on the gullet pl aci ng the l ongue at the

base of the upper palate. By such a pract i ce, fee 1i ng of hunger

and thirst are removed If the yogi c once nt r a t es and thinks

cont i nuousl y assuming that he also has a third eye like Lord

Siva, then he feels a bright light on his f or ehead; conce nt r a t i ng

on this bright light removes all his sins and sorrows.'^' Siva

says that below the gullet there is a n a d I called karma.

 221

concentrating on which increases the thinking capacity and

power of the y o g i ' " t" o n c e n t r a t i o n on the s u n y a ( v o i d ) get s the

yogi absorbed in the a k a s a ' " Tliese types of c onc e nt r a t i ons are

no tiling but different types of dh a ran as Siva also says that out

ol‘ the food eaten, tlie chyle fluid is t r ans f or med into t hr ee

\ a i-i e t i es The finest part nour i shes the subtle body or 1i nga

sari ra I'he middle ext ract of the food nour i shes the gr oss body

while the most i n f e r i o r ext r act is t hr own out of the body as

e Xc r e 11 0 n

Siva furt her di scusses the six cakr as viz. Mul adhar a cakra,

S\ ; i dhi st hana cakra, Mani pur a cakra. Ana hat a cakra, Vi suddha

cakra, and Ajha cakra The sl eepi ng kundalini is known as the

seed(vi j a) It is bright, full of energy and lies at the ent r ance

of the susumna '" This kundali ni sakti is a great energy and is

also called the “ s w a y a m b h u - li n g a ” .

Siva says that Ida is the Ganges and P i n g a Ia is the J a m u n a

while s u s u m n a is the S a r a s w a t T. The j unct i on of t hese t hree

l ivers is the T r i \ e n i s a n g a m a ' ^T' h u s , when a y o g T medi t at es at

the j unct i on of these three naclTs, he becomes compl et el y pure

and reaches the highest end i e., s a l vat i on. " ’"

The sahasrara which is the i hous and- pet al l ed lot us is also

known as the kailasa mount.' "' Concent r at i ng on this sahasr ar a,

otie conquers death and frees onesel f from all sins and
 222

diseases. i(..’

Siva also explains about the R aj a d h i i a j ay oga Here, the

vogT should assume the s was t i kas ana post ur e in a lonely,

peacetdil place and pr act i se m ed i t a t i o n . He shoul d make his

mind stable, tranquil and independent."^’'* By such type of

medi t at i on with the mind fu n c t i o n 1e s s, he can achi eve supr eme

success He becomes free from all worl dl y b o n d a g e . S i v a in

a similar way as Svat mar ama, st at es that Raj ay oga can not be

obt ai ned without Hat hyoga and vi c e - ve r s a . " ’^

finally, Siva tells the yogi about the means to att ain

success fhis means is the j a p a ( r ec i t a t i o n ) of ma nt r a . " ’’^ The

whol e mantra is om, aim, klTm, st r i m. "’* The yogi should always

reci te om He should c once nt r a t e on the f o u r - p e t a 11e d

mul adhara lotus and reci te a i m . C o n c e n t r a t i n g on the anahat a-

lotus, he should recite klim while conce nt r a t i ng on the ajna-

l otus. he should recite strTm.'^' These r eci t at i ons shoul d be

done with stable and c once nt r a t ed mind.'^^ At the begi nni ng and

end of such a japa he should do homa.'^^

By such pr act i ces even a common hous e- hol der can live in

blissful happiness - in spite of staying with family.'^*

This Siva Samhita is a very i mpor t ant Hat hayogi c text

•According to Siva Samhita the form of Yoga can be descr i bed

in d i f f e rent ways, f h u s , the yogi who is const ant l y, devot edl y

 223

pr act i si ny 'I'oya becomes iu 11y pure and leaves all the subj ect s

rel at ed to himself' and his gross body He gets hi msel f det ached

from his soul and achi eves the highest goal of emanci pat i on 175

It becomes evident from the above account of

Sivasain hitu elaborates various techniques of Hathayoga

tr ad ition and also c o n t r i b u t e s many new techniques. He d o e s

not seem to try to establish any synthesis between

Patahjalayoga and Hathayoga.

5 . Cj h e r a ltd a S a m h i t a

Now, w' c will pr oceed to exami ne what the gr eat yogT

Gher anda says about Hat hayoga. Accor di ng to yogi Ghe r andha

Hat havoga has seven limbs viz. Sat kr yas, Asana, Mudr a,

Pr at yahar a, Pr anayama, Dhyana, and Samadhi. Gher anda

r ecommends s a t k ar ma s( s i x act i ons) fo r sod ha na ( pu r i fi cat i o n of

t he b o dy ) -

The sat karmas clean the body and make it pure by whi ch it

becomes ready for asanas Due to the practice of asanas, the

bod>' gets strong and tiealthy By the pract i ce of mudra,

stability of mind and body are achieved. Tranquillity and

cal mness can be achi eved by the regul ar pract i ce of pr at yahar a.

By the practice of pr anayama, one feels rel axed and

comfortab 1e By the practice of dhyana, one achieves self­

 224

r eal i zat i on and finally samadhi det aches one compl et el y from

e \ e r y t h i n g and one at t ai ns the f i n a I goal of Yoga which is

liberation ''

() h e r a n d a I'u rthei st at es that one shoul d perf or m the six

t \ p e s of s a t k a r ma s which are D h a u t i, B a s t i, N e t i, L a u 1i k T,

T rat aka and Kapal abhat i He furt her adds that the first t ype of

sat kar mas which is Dhauti is of four t ypes They are Ant ar-

dha ut i, 1) a n d a - d h a u t i, Hr d - d ha u t i and M u Ia s o d h a n a . Ant ar-

d h a u t i , in t u r ti, is of four types i . e ., va t a sa ra , v a r i sa ra ,

Va h n i s a r a and b a h i s k r t a 177 He also di scusses about the

t echni ques and benefits of each of t hese types.

G her an da further di scusses basti and its two types.

.According to him, the two types of basti are Ja 1abasti and

Gi s k a b a s t i 178

The otlier type of sat kar ma like neti, pr epar es tlte

prac t i t i 0 neI for the pr act i ce of k hecarT and wards off all the

p h I eg m - r e 1a t ed di seases and also i mpr oves eye- si ght . In

performi ng neti one has to insert a length of fine t hr ead into

one of the nostrils and take it out from the mouth. This t hr ead

is t w e n t \- t w o cent i met res long. '

1. a u 1i k T is anot her type of sat kar ma which is p e r f o r m e d by

moving the abdomen from one side to the ot her side and back

again quickly This pract i ce r emoves all t ypes of di seases. 180

 225

In t rat aka, one should gaze c ont i nuousl y at an obj ect

wi t hout wi n k i tig the eyes This should be done till t ear s come

into the eyes By this pr act i ce, the pr ac t i t i oner is pr epa r e d for

the srinibhavT mudra and eye- si ght is also improved.'**'

Kapai abhat i has t hree ways, namely, vatakranra, vyut kr ama

and si t krama Pract i si ng Kapai abhat i cures all phl egm- r el a t e d

di sor der s and the pr ac t i t i oner becomes f or ever young."*' Also,

the kapala( f or ehead) becomes radi ant - hence t er med

kapai abhat i Thus, it can be seen that the satkarrnas di scussed

by Gheranda are somewhat similar to t hose di scussed by

S Va t m a r a m a But there are d i f f e r e n c e s like the pr act i ce “ n a u 11”

has been termed as “ l aul i ki ’' by Gher anda. Also, he has given

vari eti es and types of the vari ous pr act i ces like dhauti , basti

and kapai abhat i Gher anda di scusses t hese pr act i ces in much

more detail Also, he has used the term “ Bh a l a b h a t i ” for

"kapaiabhati' Also, we see that Gheranda has given an

important place to these satkarinas and has introduced

satkarnia as the first limb of Hathayoga while Svatmarama

has just discussed these satkarrnas and has considered them

important for the purification of body before pranayama.

The other limbs of (ih e r a n d a ’s Hathayoga i.e., asana,

pranayama, mudra and sainadhi are the same as those in

Svatmaiai'ia’s Hathayoga e xc ept for few d i ff er enc es ; like e.g.

 226

G It e r a II d a l i a s d e s c r i b e d some more asanas than Svatmarama,

Ghcranda has also described some more niudras and

pranayamas and has also described some in greater detail.

As we have seen earlier he has also di scussed more limbs of

H a t h a y 0 g a like p r a t y a h a r a and d h y a n a

Now we may pr oceed f urt her to the next limb, asanas.

Apart from the asanas di scussed by Svat mar ama, Ghe r anda has

also discussed the fol l owi ng asanas: - Mukt asana, Gupt a s ana ,

Mat syasana, Vaj rasana, Gor a ks a s a na, Ut kat asana, Samkat asana,

Utt ana manduka Sana, Vr ksasana, Mandukas ana, Ga r udas ana ,

Vr ksasana, Sal abhasana, Makar asana, Us t r asana, Bhuj ahga s a na

and Y o g a s a n a .

We proceed furt her to consi der Gh e r a n d a ’s view about

Mudra Apart from the mudr as di scussed by Svat ma r ama ,

Gher anda has discussed some more mudr as like Na bho- mudr a ,

^'oni - mudra. Tad a gT - mudra, MandukT-mudra, As vi nl - mudr a,

Pa si III-mudra, KakT-mudra, Mat ahgT-mudra, BhujahginT-

m Lid1ra
-.IK^

Gheranda has di scussed pr at yahar a which r emoves all

desi res He says that the unst abl e mind shoul d be c ont r ol l ed

and wi t hdrawn from all the worl dl y aspect s and pI e a s ur e s . We

see here that G h e r a n d a ’s co n ce p ti on of pr a ty ah ar a is s i m i l a r

to that of Patanjali, yet it is different. For Pat anj ali

 Il l

piatvfihara is wi t hdrawal of senses from obj ect s and mer ger of

senses in mind f or Ciheranda it is wi t hdr awal of mind from

obj ect s Cl he ran d a ’s concept i on seems to be more i nsi ght ful

because wi t hdrawal of senses from obj ect is not possi bl e

without withdrawal of mind, because generally mind goes

wher ever senses go and if senses are to be wi t hdr awn, mind too

will h a e to be w i t h d r a w n

Gheranda has also expl ai ned about prana yam a which is the

f i f t h limb of H a t h y o g a accor di ng to him. Here, Gher anda also

suggest s about the sur r oundi ngs and the at mospher e sui t abl e

fo r t Ite practice of Yoga which has been expl ai ned by

S \' a t m a r a m a also In the begi nni ng of his lesson on a sa na ,

Gher anda also suggest s to the pr act i t i oner that he shoul d not

start the Yoga pr act i ce in the seasons of Hemant a , S i s i r a ,

G r Ts m a and \' a r s a 1^r a c t i s i n g Yoga in t hese seasons may j ust

prove futile Hence, for the maximum benefi ts, Gher anda

suggest s to start the pr act i ce of Yoga in the Vasant a and Sarad

seasons This is apart from suggest i ng about the sui t abl e diet

and other r e g u Ia i r out i nes - as has been s ugges t ed by

S Va t ma ra ma Gheranda also suggest s to the pr act i t i oner that he

should have a thick seat of kusa- gr as s or tiger skin and shoul d

face the North o i East di rect i on while pr act i si ng p r a n a y a m a .

But betore the pract ice of jr ra n a va tna, one should r emove all
 228

tlie impuri t i es of the nadis and make t hem clean and pure. 187

Gheranda says that nadTs can be puri fi ed in t wo ways - By

samanu which is done by c onc e nt r a t i ng on the Bi j amant r a and

by nirmanu wltich is done by the Dhaut y karmas as di scussed

earlier. Gher anda fur t her expl ai ns the pur i f i cat or y pr oce s s by

samanu in detail 188

After purifying the nadi s in this way one shoul d begin the

pr act i ce of pranayama. Gher anda suggest s eight t ypes of

kumbhakas - Sahita, S u r y ab h edh a, UjjayT, STtalT, Bhast r i ka,

Bhraniari, Murccha and Kevall, fhese are also expl ai ned by

Svat mar ama except that Gher anda has expl ai ned t hese in gr eat

detail Gheranda has di scussed the t wo types of Sahi ta

kumbhaka - Sagarbha kumbhaka and Ni gar bha kumbhaka. In

Sagarbha pranayama, the pr act i t i oner should sit in s ukhas ana

and face the East or Nort h di rect i on. Then he should medi t at e

on Brahma connect ed with rajas and inhale t hr ough the left

nostril reciting the Bija “ A” of OM( for sixteen count s) . Then

concent r at i ng on Visnu connect ed with sat tva, he shoul d ret ain

the breath and recite the Bija “ U” o f O M four times that reci t ed

duri ng inhalation period. After this, finally, he should medi t at e

on Siva associ at ed with t amas and reci t e the Bija “ Ma ” t wi ce

that ot inhalation r eci t at i on and si mul t aneousl y exhale slowly

t hr ough the right nostril. This pr ocess should be r epeat ed in a

 229

r ever se order i.e., i nhaling t hr ough the right nost ri l, r et ai ni ng

br eat h and exhaling t hr ough left nostril and si mul t aneous l y

r eci t i ng the specific suggest ed BTja-mantras.

Here we notice one point of comparison between the

theological approaches of H afhayogapradipika and

Gherandasamhita. We see in HP that Svat mar ama c or r e l at e s

t hr ee stages of Nadanus andha na with t hr ee deit i es namel y

Brahma, Visnu and Rudra. The begi nni ng st age is as s oci at ed

with Brahma knot, Ghat avas t ha is as s oci at ed with Visnu knot

and the last stage viz. Ni s pa t t i - a vas t ha is associ at ed with

Rudra. This is consi st ent witli S v a t ma r a ma ’s general appr oach

which is favourabl e to saivism In Gherandasamhita on the

cont r ar y Brahma, Visnu and Mahesa are cor r el at ed with t hr ee

gun as viz. Rajas, Sat tva and Tamas, Nat ural l y Visnu is gi ven

more i mport ance. In the last lesson Gher anda goes to the ext ent

to say that the n o n - du a 1i st i c revel at i on of a yogi consi st s in the

r eal i zat i on that the whole uni ver se is per vaded by

V\s\)u{Gherandasanih iId, 11 - I 8 ). This suggest s that

Gh e r a n d a ’s general appr oach is favorabl e to Vai snavi sm.

Gher anda also di scusses about the t hree t ypes of

p r a n d y a ma . Accordi ng to It i m, in the highest kind of p r a n a y a ni a ,

the p fi r a k a lasts for t went y rn a t r a s , k u m b h a k a for eighty m a t r a s

and recaka tor forty mat ras. This type of pr anayama leads the
 230

pr act i t i oner t owards l i berat i on In moder at e pr anayama, pur aka

lasts for sixteen mat ras, kumbhaka for s i xt y- f our mat r as while

r ecaka for thirty- two mat ras. This type of pr anayama gi ves the

pr act i t i oner a t rembl ing sensat i on. In the l owest t ype of

pr anayama, puraka lasts for t wel ve mat r as, kumbhaka for f or t y-

eight mat ras and recaka for t we nt y- f our mat ras. This t ype of

pr anayama makes the body war m"^‘^ KevalT kumbhaka is similar

to the kevala kumbhaka expl ai ned by Svat mar ama.

The sixth limb of Hat hayoga is dhyana or pr at ya ks a

accor di ng to Gheranda. This is of t hree t ypes - Sthul a dhyana is

of a material image, Jyoti dhyana of light and br i ght ness, and

Suksma dhyana of Brahman as a subtle point.

Thus, in the sthula dhyana, the yogT medi t at es upon the

gr oss bodily image of the wor s hi pped deity with all the

or nament s, etc. In the Jyoti dhyana or Tejo dhyana, one shoul d

medi t at e upon the kundalinT which is pr esent at the ent r ance of

the su s u m n a - n a d i . Then, one should medi t at e on the light

present between the two eye- br ows which is not hi ng but the

"OM". In the suksma dhyana, one shoul d medi t at e upon the

awakened kundalini which remains in Br ahmar andhr a. This

dhyana yoga can be achi eved only by a few and merges the

sel f(Ji vat ma) with the s upr e me( pa r amat ma) .

Samadhi is the last limb of Gh e r a n d a ’s Hat hayoga.

 231

Accor di ng to Cjheranda, the yogi who is fully confi dent about

the knowl edge achieved b>' his Guru and is enl i ght ened more

and more everyday, can achi eve this final stage of samadhi .

Here, the yogi remains compl et el y det ached and a l oof from any

lure, desire or events.

Gher anda furt her st at es that t here are six st eps and st ages

of samadhi These are Dhyana, Nada, Rasananda and Layasi ddhi .

I'he fifth stage can be achi eved by Bhakt i yoga while the sixth

st age is known as Manomur ccha.

In the dhyana stage, one should c onc e nt r a t e on the light

bet ween the two e v e - b r o w s and should merge o n e - s e 1f with the

supr eme bliss Then, one should inhale slowly, perf or m

B lira marl kumbhaka and exhale slowly. By this a sound is

ar oused internally. One should c oncent r at e on this sound which

is the second stage “ Na d a ” of samadhi. In the t hird st age of

Rasananda, one should upt urn the t ongue and suck the nect ar

fl owing from the moon in the mouth. In the f o u r t h st age

“ 1.ayasi ddhi ” , the yogi becomes full of bliss and feels that he

has merged with the Brahman. In the fifth stage, one should

medi t at e deeply on the wor s hi pped deity with great devot i on

which leads one t owards ManonmanT and final samadhi stage.

Finally, the yogi should merge hi msel f wholly with the supr eme

reality at all mental, physical, spiritual levels. In this way, the

 232

sevent h and final limb of Hat hayoga - samadhi is achi eved.

Here we see one importance point of comparison

between GherandaSani hita{(rS), Hat ha yog apr adlpi ki(HP ) and

Yoga sutra of Patanjali(YS). Like VS, GS also cons i der s

Dhyana and Samadhi separ at el y and sequent i al l y. The aut hor of

HP, however does not di scuss dhyana as a separ at e aspect of

Yoga. After discussi ng Mudra, he di rect l y goes to Samadhi .

The aut hor of HP rat her seems to mix up bet ween Dhyana and

Samadhi. The discussi on of dhyana in (JS also seems to be novel,

where the author classifi es dhyana into t hree kinds: gr oss

medi t at i on, medi t at i on of light and subt l e medi t at i on. It is

di fferent from the di scussi on of dhyana in VS also in t hat it

t akes up the met aphysi cal obj ect like Br ahman as the obj ect of

subt l e dhyana. This is because GS does ope r a t e within Advai t i c

met aphysi cal framework. The di scussi on of samadhi in GS,
t her ef or e can be seen as a nat ural cul mi nat i on of its c once pt i on

of subtle dhyana. Samadhi in this text is Advai ti c r evel at i on,

and is closer to the samadhi as concei ved in HP than to the one

concei ved in YS. Let us see, for i nst ance, how the aut hor of GS
descri bes samadhi.

“ Det achi ng the mind from the body one should make it one

with Paramat man. That is known as Samadhi which is not a

st at e of any kind of consci ous ness , as we under s t and this

 233

w o r d ” .(GW, VlI-3).

“ I am Brahman and not hi ng else Indeed 1 am Br ahman and

Br ahman alone. I know no sor r ow. 1 am Reality, Cons c i ous ne s s

and Bliss. 1 am always what 1 really am” .(G.V, VI l - 4)

In t hi s way (iherandaSamhita f o l l o w s IIP r a t h e r t h a n YS

in its essence, though it has some superficial similarities

with YS d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n Dhyana and Samadhi.

We saw in the pr evi ous chapt er that it is i ncor r ect and

mi sl eadi ng to identify the Yoga phi l osophi es of Pat anj ali and

Svat mar ama. This obser vat i on can be gener al i sed in the light of

our study of ot her Hat hayoga t exts. We can now' say that it is

i ncor r ect to identify the Yoga phi l osophi es de vel oped by

Pat anj ali on the one hand and t hose by Hat hayoga a ut hor s on

the other. The two t ypes of Yoga phi l osophi es can nei t her be

i dentified with each ot her nor synt hesi sed t oget he r very easily.

Here we saw that the aut hor of Vasisthasomhita pr esent s

his Yoga phi losophy by accept i ng the ei ght -l i mbed model of

Pat anj ali and placing it in the t hei s t i c- non- dual i s t i c f r amewor k

of Svat mar ama. 1 have also suggest ed that Vasisthasamhita can

be t r eat ed as an at t empt to est abl i sh a synt hesi s bet ween

Pat anj al ayoga and Hat hayoga. This synt hesi s of the two forms

of Yoga gives us one possi bl e way of bri nging the two forms

t oget her . In Vasisthasamhita, and also to some ext ent , in

 234

(iorak.sasalaka Hathayoga metaphysics and Hathayoga techniques

have been accepted as the framework and the P at anj al ay oga model

of eight -l i mbs has been adj ust ed and at t r i but ed within this

f r amewor k. This gives us one possibl e way of Yoga. But this is

not the only way. There are ot her ways equally open befor e us.

We will discuss two in the next, i.e., concl udi ng chapt er.
 235

\otes and References:

'GS 4

’ G S ; 7,8,9.

■' GS; 10-11.

^ GS: 14

■ G S 15

'' G S : 13

' GS. 20.

' G S : 2 1.

■' G S : 15

GS. 3 0-3 1.

" GS; 3 2.

’’ GS. 5 5

''' GS: 60.

GS; 6 1.
15 GS: 6;

GS: 68 to 74.
17 GS: 78

IS GS: 79

GS: 8 0

GS: 8 2

GS 8 3
 236

GS: 84.

GS 85.

- ‘ G S : 86,87,8:

GS 94.

GS: 101 .

V S:1-19
.’s VS; 1-20-2 1.

V S ;1-22-23 .

VS; 1-24.

VS; 1-3 1

VS; 1-3 3

VS; 1-38

VS: 1-46

VS 1-47

VS 1-48

VS .1-49

VS : 1- 5 0.

V s 1-5 1, Ch
40 :l-53.

v s 1-56

'' v s : 1- 5 7,
44 1-6 1.
44
1-62
 237

VS:l-63.

VS 1-64,
47 VSl - 66.

4S VS:I-67.

4'7 VS l - 8 4 .

VS ll-20-2 1,

" VS:ll-24-26.
52 VS:Il-4 1

' VS 11-42-43.

VS:lI-44.

” VS. 11-64,65,68,69.
56 VS: 111-5 to 12.

57 VS:lll-25 to 27.

58 Chapter 4: P 26 above.

57 VS: 111-33

60 VS lll-36 to 40

61 VS:lll-45,46,48

VS:lll-49-50.

V S : 111 - 5 1.
64
VSl l l - 54- 55

Ed. Swami Digambarji et al. Pub. Kaivalyadhama, S.M.Y.M. Samiti,

Lonavla, Pune. 1984, Introduction, p, 22.

VS :1V-1 .
 238

VS:IV-2 to 3

VS I V- 19
(i-)V S ; 1V - 2 5 e t s e q

70 VSl V- 58,

'' VS:lV-59.

VS: V-4,7.

VS V-8-9

VS: V - 10- 11.

VS: V- 12. I 3,1 4.

76 VS: V - 15-16.

77 VS : V-2 1.

7S VS : Vl-3-4.

7^)VS : Vl - 9- 10.

**"VS:Vl-57. , '

.A question can arise here It Vasistha is prior to Svatmarama(see

the Introduction to Vasistha Samhitd, p-37) then Vasistha

Sumhild can not give a synthesis of the Yoga system of Patanjali

and Svatmarama. We can respond to this question in two ways:

We can either hold that the present text of Vasistha Samhitd is

not the same as the original Vasistha Samhitd, but it is a

developed or revised version of it. In that case the original

Vasistha Samhitd must have influenced Svatmarama. But the

revised veision, i.e., the present version, might have synthesised

 239

both Patahjali’s Yoga and Svat mar ama’s Yoga. Or we can simply

say that Vasistha synthesised the Patahjala form of Yoga and the

form of Hathayoga which existed before Vasistha,

S S : 1-1.

SS:l-20.

SS:1-21 .

SS:I-23.

SS:l-22. .
87 SS.l-26.

88 SS:l-27-28.

8V SS l - 3 2

SSI - 60.
')] SS.1-64.

42 SS 1-62-63.

42 SS. 1-69-70.

44 S S I - 7 1.

95
SS;l-72
‘V. SS:l-73,74,75,76.

47 SS:l-78.

48 SS:l-79,

SS:l-80.
100
SS;l-92.

SSl - 93
 240

SS:I-94,95,96.

SS: ll -l , 2, 3.

SS:ll-6.

SS. 11-10.

SS I I-1 3, 14, 15.

SS:ll-2 1-22.
108 SS;lI-23

109 SSl l - 27.

110 SS. 11-32-33

S S . l l l - 1.

SS.llI-4
11.'! SS:I11-1 1 to 15.

114 S S . 111 -1 B.

115 SS:lll-25.

IK) SS. 111-27.

117 SS:Ill-29.

118 SS;lll-29-30.

119
SS:lIl-3:55 to 59(Ghata-avastha), 60 to 65(Paricaya-avastha), 66

to 67(Nishpattiavastha).

SS. 111-3 3,34,3 5.

121 SS;111-41 .

122
SS;lll-42.

SS:lll-46.
 241

KM SS l l I - 4 8

I SS 111-55-56

SS 111-60-6 1.

SS lll-62.

SS 111-66

SS; 111-68 to 83

SS:lll-84.

SS: 111-92.

SS:lV-6,7,9.

SS:1V-I 3- 14

SS;I V- 15,

SSl V- 5 8

SS;V-3.

SS:V-4.

"" SS:V-5.

SS:V-6-7.
140 SS : V-8-9.

141 SS: V-

SS : V - 12,

SS : V - 13.
144 SS:V-I4.

145 SS;V-I5-16.

14“ S S : V -1 8 .
 242

■'' SS:V 18-19

SS ; V 2 1

S S : V 22,

SS;V 26.

" SS:V -28.

SS : V -43.

” SS;V--45.

SS: V--44

SS:V--47.
56 SS : V-
-52.
57
SS.V--58-59.
158 g s . y .-133.

SS : V­-13 5.

S S : V­• 136, I 37
IM
•152.

SS: V-•15 4.

SS:V- 169
164 SS:V
170.

'"■ SS:V 17 1

S S : V 173.
167
18 1

SS.V 188.
16')
SS : V- 19 1
 243

170 SS \'- 100

SS;V-191

SS V-192

SS.V-195.

SS: V-2 12,

SS: V-39.

GHS:l-9, 10,1 1.

GHS:1-12.13,14.

GHS:I-44

GHS.1-49.

GHS:l-5 I .

GHS.I-52-53.

GHS:l-54.

GHS:l-58-59,

GHS:!l-3,4,5,6.

GHS: i n- l , 2, 3,

G H S : 1V- 4: 2,4, and Chapter 4: P 5 4 above.

GHS:V-2 to 33.

GHS : V-3 6-3 7.

180 GHS V-55-57