Essay name: Yoga-sutra with Bhashya Vivarana (study)
Author:
Susmi Sabu
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Department of Sanskrit
This essay studies the enduring and relevance of Yoga in India, highlighting its evolution from a comprehensive philosophy to primarily a physical practice. It further underscores the importance of studying Yoga texts to understand its historical trajectory. Special attention is given to the Patanjala Yogasutra Bhashya Vivarana, a significant work attributed to Adi Shankaracharya.
Chapter 2 - Origin and Development of Yoga Philosophy
49 (of 76)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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praty膩h膩ra, dh膩ra峁嘺, dhy膩na and sam膩dhi. In addition to these eight limbs, hathayoga prescribes muscular contractions (bandha), 224 gestures (mudra) and purificatory practices." As shown before,
postures have special significance in hathayoga, a great variety of
it is described. It is said that there are 84 main 膩sanas and four of
them (padma, siddha, svastika and ugra) are considered as very
important. Bandhas are complementary to pr膩峁嚹亂膩ma. The most
important bandhas are three viz., m奴la-bandha, j膩landhara-bandha
and uddy膩峁嘺-bandha. There are 25 mudras described for practice;
but in 艢iva samhita there are only ten. The purificatory
practices are six in number viz., dhauti, vasti, neti, lauliki, tr膩峁璦ka
and kap膩labh膩ti
.226
225 Hathayogapradipika (c.1350 C.E), Gheranda
samhita (c.1650 C.E) and 艢iva samhita (c.1750 C.E) are regarded
as the most relevant for the study of hathayoga. Other treatises are
Vi艣vako艣a and Anubhavaprak膩艣a.
Layayoga: Layayoga aims at awakening the 'nature energy' i.e.,
the kundalini and making it rise through the six centres along the
central artery of the subtle body. The journey is from the root at
the base of the spinal code to the sahasr膩ra-padma (thousand-
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