The Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā (हठ-योग-प्रदीपिका)
Executive summary
Svātmārāma (स्वात्माराम)’s Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā (हठ योग प्रदीपिका) is sat in four upadeśas (उपदेश): seventy, seventy-eight, one hundred thirty, and one hundred fourteen verses. He sets haṭha (हठ) as the stair toward rāja yoga (राज योग), which the Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) defines as the stilling of the mind’s activities. The seats that sūtra (सूत्र) 2.46 leaves unnamed are named here. A ten-chapter recension is another book.
नेपालीमा
स्वात्मारामको हठयोगप्रदीपिका चार उपदेशमा छ। श्लोक सत्तरी, अठहत्तर, एक सय तीस, र एक सय चौध छन्। उनले हठलाई राजयोगको सिँढी बनाउँछन्। योगसूत्रले त्यो उचाइलाई चित्तका वृत्तिको निरोध भन्छ। त्यस सूत्रले नाम नदिएका आसनको नाम यहाँ लिइएको छ। दस अध्यायको पाठ अर्कै पुस्तक हो।
This is Svātmārāma (स्वात्माराम)'s manual of haṭha (हठ), in four upadeśas (उपदेश). He sets it under rāja yoga (राज योग). The opening verse calls haṭha (हठ) the stair for someone who wants to climb to that height. Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 1.2 is Patañjali (पतञ्जलि)'s definition of that height: the stilling of the mind's activities.
One verse is one sitting. The verses are numbered as in the four-chapter pāṭha (पाठ): seventy, seventy-eight, one hundred thirty, and one hundred fourteen. Brahmānanda (ब्रह्मानन्द)'s Jyotsnā (ज्योत्स्ना) is his commentary on these verses. These sittings are the verses. A ten-chapter recension is another book.
What the four chapters do
- 1.1 through 1.18. The stair, the siddhas (सिद्ध), the hut, and his ten yamas (यम) and ten niyamas (नियम). Patañjali (पतञ्जलि)'s five and five are 2.30 and 2.32.
- 1.19 through 1.70. Āsana (आसन). Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 2.46 defines a seat as what is steady and easeful, and names no shape. This chapter names the shapes. The four he keeps as the essence are siddha (सिद्ध), padma (पद्म), siṃha (सिंह), and bhadra (भद्र), at 1.36.
- 2.1 through 2.78. Prāṇāyāma (प्राणायाम), the six cleansing acts, and the eight kumbhakas (कुम्भक). Their names are 2.44: sūryabhedana (सूर्यभेदन), ujjāyī (उज्जायी), sītkārī (सीत्कारी), śītalī (शीतली), bhastrikā (भस्त्रिका), bhrāmarī (भ्रामरी), mūrcchā (मूर्च्छा), plāvinī (प्लाविनी). Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 2.49 defines breath regulation as the cutting of the moving breath. This chapter fills that cutting with recaka (रेचक), pūraka (पूरक), and kumbhaka (कुम्भक), and then with kevala (केवल).
- 3.1 through 3.130. The ten mudrā (मुद्रा) seals, and the bandhas (बन्ध) inside them. The names are 3.6 and 3.7.
- 4.1 through 4.114. Samādhi (समाधि), and nādānusandhāna (नादानुसन्धान), the search for the inner sound. The four stages are 4.69. The sounds named as instruments are 4.85 and 4.86: ocean, thundercloud, kettledrum, jharjhara (झर्झर); then mardala (मर्दल), conch, bell, kāhala (काहल); then anklet, flute, vīṇā (वीणा), and bee.
The inner sound and the instrument
4.70 calls the first of those sounds anāhata (अनाहत), unstruck, a varied tinkling in the body. Śārṅgadeva (शार्ङ्गदेव)'s Saṅgītaratnākara (सङ्गीतरत्नाकर) builds song, instrument, and dance on nāda (नाद), and it distinguishes the struck sound from the unstruck. Sangeet Yatra is the practice of that śāstra (शास्त्र) at the instrument. These verses are the yogin's hearing of nāda (नाद) inside the body, and they name the same instruments. Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र) 1.27 names praṇava (प्रणव) as Īśvara (ईश्वर)'s signifying sound. That sentence and this chapter's nāda (नाद) can be read beside each other.
The order he gives
1.58 states the order of the practice: āsana (आसन), kumbhaka (कुम्भक), the act called mudrā (मुद्रा), then nādānusandhāna (नादानुसन्धान). 2.76 says haṭha (हठ) and rāja yoga (राज योग) come through together. 4.103 says every haṭha (हठ) means of laya (लय) is for the success of rāja yoga (राज योग).
The electronic file this pāṭha (पाठ) was checked against needed a few readings put back. The sittings read matsyanātha (मत्स्यनाथ) at 1.28, yuvā (युवा) at 1.67, dṛḍhe (दृढे) at 2.1, the pāda (पाद) break at 2.2, antaka-bhayāt (अन्तक-भयात्) at 2.39, the compound joint in vicitra-kumbhaka (विचित्र-कुम्भक) at 2.43, yogīndrāṇām (योगीन्द्राणाम्) at 2.68, sūryācandramasoḥ (सूर्याचन्द्रमसोः) at 4.45, antaḥstham (अन्तःस्थम्) at 4.67, and vismṛtya (विस्मृत्य) at 4.97.