(The lamp that flames forth: what Hatha Yoga is)
It means “one who delights in one’s Atman,” indicating the achievement of a state of bliss.
You’ve no doubt heard of Hatha Yoga. The word pradipika comes from the Sanskrit verb “to flame forth” and means a light, lamp, or lantern.
Furthermore, I recommend that you learn Hatha Yoga under the guidance of an experienced teacher, not solely from this book. Some practices in this book I don’t recommend at all.
In Svatmarama’s use of language, time equals death, nadis are rivers or streams, chakras are lotuses, sun and moon each refer to multiple things, and the fluid said to drip from a cavity in the skull is variously called soma, nectar, essence, juice, liquor, or crescent water. Kumbhaka means pranayama in general (verse 3.126), breath retention in particular (verse 2.71), and eight specific practices (verse 2.44). Objects means “objects of the senses,” and “without objects” more literally means “independent” or “without support.”
The science of Hatha should be kept top secret by the yogi desirous of success. It is potent when concealed and impotent when revealed.
Living in this hut, free of all anxieties, one should earnestly practice Yoga as taught by one’s guru.
(Conditions that destroy and conditions that sustain the practice)
Yoga perishes by these six: overeating, overexertion, talking too much, performing needless austerities, socializing, and restlessness.
Yoga succeeds by these six: enthusiasm, openness, courage, knowledge of the truth, determination, and solitude.
Asanas are described first because they are the first step of Hatha. They give steadiness, health, and lightness of body.
(Asanas as the first foundation: steadiness, health, lightness)
The masters know that Siddhasana is the best of all asanas, just as moderate diet is the foremost yama and nonviolence is the fundamental niyama.
Of the eighty-four asanas, always practice Siddhasana. It removes impurities from the seventy-two thousand nadis.
The yogi will obtain fulfillment through self-contemplation, eating moderately, and practicing Siddhasana regularly for twelve years.
There is no asana like Siddha, no kumbhaka comparable to Kevala, no mudra equal to Khechari, no laya like nada.
One who is a brahmachari, a moderate eater, a renouncer, and intent on Yoga will be an expert after a year. In this there is no doubt.
A moderate diet means eating satisfying, sweet food for Shiva’s pleasure, while leaving the stomach one-quarter empty.
(Pranayama: the breath as master of the mind)
When the breath is unsteady, the mind is unsteady. When the breath is steady, the mind is steady, and the yogi becomes steady. Therefore one should restrain the breath.
Therefore always do pranayama with a sattvik mind so that impurities in the Sushumna nadi attain purity.
Coughing, asthma, enlargement of the spleen, leprosy, and twenty other phlegm diseases vanish because of the power of Dhautikarman. In this there is no doubt.
The breath splits open the mouth of the Sushumna and enters easily once all the nadis are purified by restraining prana correctly.
bandha named Jalandhara is to be done at the end of inhalation. Uddiyana is to be done at the end of kumbhaka and the beginning of exhalation.
The prana will enter the Brahma nadi when contraction of the throat,5 contraction beneath,6 and retraction in the middle7 are done.
Having raised the apana upwards, the yogi should guide the prana below the throat. Being liberated from old age, he will be a youth of sixteen.
Pranayama is said to be of three kinds: exhalation, inhalation, and kumbhaka. Kumbhaka is thought to be of two kinds—Sahita and Kevala. Until such time as Kevala is mastered, one should practice Sahita.
Abandon exhalation and inhalation. Hold the breath comfortably. This pranayama is the one called Kevalakumbhaka.
Then the cleared path2 becomes the royal road for prana. Then the mind is without objects. Then death is tricked.
They are to be done eight times every day, every three hours, with few repetitions in the beginning. They give a wealth of merit and always destroy a heap of sins for those who receive proper instruction.
(Bandhas, Khechari, and the management of inner energies)
The semen does not flow (even when embraced by a passionate woman) if the cavity above the soft palate is sealed with the Khechari.
The knower of Yoga—tongue above, steady, drinking soma9—undoubtedly conquers death in half a month.
The knower of Yoga should preserve his semen and thereby conquer death. Emission of semen is death; preservation of semen is life.
Preservation of semen produces a good fragrance in the body of the yogi. As long as the semen is firmly in the body, where is the fear of death?
(Samadhi: when prana, mind, and breath dissolve into one)
This state of unity—when the prana decreases and the mind dissolves—is called samadhi.
Samadhi appears automatically in the yogi whose shakti is awake and who has abandoned all actions.
Like milk and water blended together, mind and breath have the same action. Where there is breath, there is thinking. Where there is mind, there is breathing.
The mind is the lord of the senses, but the breath is the lord of the mind. Laya is the lord of the breath, and that laya depends on nada.
They say, “laya laya.” What is the nature of laya? Laya is forgetting objects because vasanas don’t recur.
If it is obtained from the grace of a guru, then that Reality, which is other than void or not void and belongs to Shambhu, manifests.
Do not worship the Atman by day. Do not worship the Atman at night. Always worship the Atman by halting day and night.
(Nada: the inner sound that dissolves the mind like a hunter)
As a bee drinking honey ignores the fragrance, so the mind dissolved in nada surely doesn’t desire objects.
Nada is like a net that catches the deer of the mind. It’s also like a hunter who kills the deer of the mind.
Upon hearing nada, the snake of the mind quickly forgets everything, becomes absorbed, and doesn’t slither anywhere.
Whatever is heard in the form of nada is definitely shakti. The formless, who is the end of the elements, is indeed the highest Lord.
Accumulated sins are eliminated by always concentrating on nada. Mind and breath definitely dissolve in the unstained.
The yogi who is completely released from all states and free of all thoughts remains as if dead. He is liberated. Here there is no doubt.