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Hatha and Raja Yoga
Whatever the origins of Hatha-Yoga may have been, the close relationship between it and Tantra is difficult to question given the extent to which the principles and practices of both traditions overlap. However many modern commentators and practitioners are more interested in Hatha-Yoga’s relationship to Raja-Yoga, which in this context is used as a synonym for the classical Yoga system of Patanjali, than its connections with Tantra. This is most likely because of the enduring authority and pre-eminence of the Yoga-Sutra.
In the West the popular usage of the term Raja-Yoga seems to begin with the influential book of the same name by Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902). Originally published in 1896, Vivekananda’s ‘Raja-Yoga’ was his attempt to reinterpret and re-present the classical Yoga of Patanjali to both Western and Indian readers. In doing so he brought together an eclectic mix of influences that included the dominant Hindu philosophy of Vedanta, a selection of Hatha teachings, European philosophy, Western esotericism, and what he knew of the sciences of his time.
Those who take Vivekananda’s novel synthesis as an authentic rendering of the Hindu Yoga tradition are unaware of important philosophical distinctions that were overwritten in the process. In the context of this article, the most important of these is the strongly dualistic position that informs Patanjali’s Yoga-Sutra in which the Self (purusa) is ultimately unrelated to the manifest universe (prakrti), and the Tantric position that flows into Hatha-Yoga which conceives the Self as ultimately nondifferent to the fundamental unity that underlies all experience.
The term ‘raja-yoga’ doesn’t appear in the Yoga-Sutra, which makes it none the easier to discern what is meant by its usage in various Hatha texts. For instance, the following verses or slokas are consistent with an interpretation of Raja-Yoga as either the higher stages of Yoga practice as codified in the Yoga-Sutra, or as a synonym for the culminating state of samadhi (complete meditative absorption).
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Salutations to the glorious primal (original) guru, Sri Adinath (Lord Siva), who instructed the knowledge of Hatha Yoga which shines forth as a stairway for those who wish to ascend to the highest stage of Yoga, Raja Yoga. (Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika: 1.1)
There is no success in Raja-Yoga without Hatha, nor in Hatha without Raja-Yoga; therefore the practice of both brings completion (nispatti). (Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika: 2.76)
I bow to that Lord Primeval who taught in the beginning the science of the training in hardiness [Hatha-Yoga] – a science that stands out as the first rung on the ladder that leads to the supreme heights of Raja-Yoga. (Gheranda-Samhita: 1.1)
Success in Raja-Yoga is not possible without Hatha, and vice versa. Therefore, one should practice Hatha first with firm resolve under the guidance of a guru until the state of nispatti (samadhi) dawns. (Hatha-Tatva-Kaumudi: 1.28) |
The terms Hatha- and Raja-yoga also appear in a number of texts, including the Siva-Samhita, as parts of a four-fold Yoga that also includes Mantra- and Laya-Yoga, with other texts such as the Yoga-Bija and Hatha-Ratna-Avali incorporating these into one comprehensive or Maha-Yoga. However taken together, these and other relevant works do not all agree on either the meanings conveyed by the two terms or the relationship between them.
What seems to be the case is that when Raja-Yoga is interpreted as a synonym for samadhi, then Hatha-Yoga is thought to be a complete system that has as its central practices asana, sat-karma, paranyama, mudra and bandha, as well as more meditative techniques such as nadanusandhana (which will be described below). In contrast, when Raja-Yoga is understood as the higher, meditative stages of the practice of Yoga, then Hatha-Yoga becomes more of a preparatory stage that readies the aspirant for the rigours of the final three ‘internal limbs’ (antar-anga) of Patanjali’s astanga (‘eight-limbed’) Yoga.
Some of those who support the latter interpretation tend to overlook the philosophical differences (mentioned above) between the principles that inform the approaches taken by Hatha- and Raja- (Patanjala-)Yoga, and argue that the ‘eight-limbs’ of Patanjali’s system is comprehensive enough to include the practices of Hatha-Yoga.
This position meets with at least three objections, the first of which is that even though asana and pranayama are included as the third and fourth of the eight limbs, they receive scant attention when compared to the detail provided in Hatha texts such as the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika and the Gheranda-Samhita. One plausible response is that the terseness of the sutra-style employed by Patanjali makes it unsurprising that he mentions only the essential qualities of the practice of asana and pranayama, leaving instructions on how to perform particular exercises to an aspirant’s guru. Indeed what Patanjali has to say about asana and pranayama, though brief, in no way no contradicts Hatha teachings, and there is no way to prove that the diverse practices detailed in Hatha texts were unknown to him.
The second objection is that practices such as the sat-karma, mudras, and bandhas, and subtle phenomena such as the cakras and kundalini, all of which are central to Hatha-Yoga, are not mentioned at all in the Yoga-Sutras. A common response to this objection relies upon interpreting particular sutras in such a way as to make them seem inclusive of subjects that are not explicitly addressed. For instance the sat-karma (cleansing practices) are said to be implied in the first of the niyamas (moral observances), namely sauca, which means ‘purity’ or ‘cleanliness’. However it is difficult to square Patanjali’s statement that the practice of sauca leads to feelings of disgust (jugupsa) towards the body (YS: 2.40) with the emphasis placed on the cultivation of the body by the Hatha tradition; and this is just one of many places where the philosophical differences that inform the two approaches cannot be ignored.
The third objection is another, and has to do with the role of yama (ethical restraints) and niyama (moral observances) in Hatha-Yoga. In the Yoga-Sutras yama and niyama comprise the first two of the eight limbs of Patanjali’s system, and so are considered to be an essential foundation for the practice of Yoga. Together their role is to promote sattvic (pure) intentions and actions that are conducive to withdrawing our attention from the world of sense-objects and accompanying desires in order to steady citta (individuated awareness). Even though yama and niyama are not included in the explicitly stated ‘limbs’ or aspects of various Hatha systems, and as the following quotes demonstrate, many Hatha texts support their inclusion as important prerequisites for Hatha practice.
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The ancients have recommended the course of Hatha preceded by yama etc., to be practiced to awaken her [the latent kundalini]... (Hatha-Tatva-Kaumudi: 5.37)
… practice of the six-fold [Hatha-] Yoga cannot be had without these two [yama and niyama] ... The practitioners of Hatha can attain sattva through yama and niyama. (Hatha-Tatva-Kaumudi: 6.8) |
However Swami Satyananda Saraswati, a significant contemporary source of knowledge of both Hatha-Yoga and Tantra, argues in his commentary on the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika that the explicit practice of yama and niyama requires a degree of self-control that intensifies an already existing ‘split’ in one’s personality.
| Why do you fight the mind first? You have no power to wrestle with the mind, yet you wrestle with it, thereby creating a pattern of animosity towards yourself. There are not two minds, there is one mind trying to split itself in two. One wants to break the discipline and the other wants to maintain it. (6) |
In order to avoid this Satyananda claims that self-control should start with the body, and that the safest and most effective approach to purifying the mind is to first purify the body. Unless the three dosas or bodily humours are already in balance, Satyananda argues that practice should begin with the sat-karma in preparation for asana and pranayama, the overall effect of which is to release blocks in the flow of prana throughout the body. When the various pranas are controlled and balanced in this way there is no need to struggle against oneself, as the self-control required for more focused states of awareness is produced indirectly due to the intrinsic relationship between between prana and citta. With the cultivation of prana and the subtle body generally, therefore, pratyahara (sense withdrawal) arises quite naturally, from which then follows dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi. And significantly for Satyananda, the Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika structures the practice of Yoga in just this fashion.
Consistent with his interest in Tantra, Satyananda’s approach demonstates how the philosophical principle that the Self is ultimately nondifferent to the fundamental unity that underlies all experience leads to practices that begin with the body, and work from the gross to the more subtle with the aim of awakening the latent kundalini. In contrast, when it is understood as an elaboration of Patanjali’s approach in which the Self (purusa) is ultimately unrelated to the manifest universe (prakrti), Hatha-Yoga cannot be conceived as the cultivation of the body, but as the disciplining of one’s physical nature so that it ceases to be an obstacle to the development of pure (sattvic) awareness.
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