The Haá¹Âha Yoga Pradëpikà( or Light on Hatha Yoga) is a classic fifteenth-century Sanskrit manual on haá¹Âha yoga, written by SvÃÂtmÃÂrÃÂma. In the text, SvÃÂtmÃÂrÃÂma traces the lineage of the teachings to Matsyendranath of the Natha tradition. It is among the most influential surviving texts on haá¹Âha yoga, being one of the three classic texts alongside the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita.
More recently, eight works of early hatha yoga that may have contributed to theÃÂ Hatha Yoga Pradipika have been identified.
Different manuscripts offer different titles for the text, including Haá¹ÂhayogapradëpikÃÂ, Haá¹ÂhapradëpikÃÂ, Haá¹Âhapradë, and Hath-Pradipika. It was composed by SvÃÂtmÃÂrÃÂma in the 15th century as a compilation of the earlier haá¹Âha yoga texts. SvÃÂtmÃÂrÃÂma incorporates older Sanskrit concepts into his synthesis. He introduces his system as a preparatory stage for physical purification before higher meditation or Raja Yoga.
The Hatha Yoga Pradëpikàlists thirty-five earlier Haá¹Âha Yoga masters (siddhas), including ÃÂdi NÃÂtha, MatsyendranÃÂth and Goraká¹£anÃÂth. The work consists of 389 shlokas (verses) in four chapters that describe topics including purification (Sanskrit: á¹£aá¹Âkarma), posture (ÃÂsana), breath control (prÃÂá¹ÂÃÂyÃÂma), spiritual centres in the body (chakra), kuá¹Âá¸Âalinë, energetic locks (bandha), energy (prÃÂá¹Âa), channels of the subtle body (nÃÂá¸Âë), and energetic seals (mudrÃÂ).
It runs in the line of Hindu yoga (as opposed to the Buddhist and Jain traditions) and is dedicated to The First Lord (ÃÂdi NÃÂtha), one of the names of Lord à Âiva (the Hindu god of destruction and renewal). He is described in several NÃÂth texts as having imparted the secret of haá¹Âha yoga to his divine consort PÃÂrvatë.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika presents two contradictory models of how Hatha Yoga may lead to immortality (moksha), both culled from other texts, without attempting to harmonise them.
The earlier model involves the manipulation of Bindu; it drips continually from the moon centre in the head, falling to its destruction either in the digestive fire of the belly (the sun centre), or to be ejaculated as semen, with which it was identified. The loss of Bindu causes progressive weakening and ultimately death. In this model, Bindu is to be conserved, and the various mudras act to block its passage down the Sushumna nadi, the central channel of the subtle body.
The later model involves the stimulation of Kundalini, visualised as a small serpent coiled around the base of the Sushumna nadi. In this model, the mudras serve to unblock the channel, allowing Kundalini to rise. When Kundalini finally reaches the top at the Sahasrara chakra, the thousand-petalled lotus, the store of Amrita, the nectar of immortality stored in the head, is released. The Amrita then floods down through the body, rendering it immortal.
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is the hatha yoga text that has historically been studied within yoga teacher training programmes, alongside texts on classical yoga such as Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. In the twenty-first century, research on the history of yoga has led to a more developed understanding of hatha yoga's origins.
James Mallinson has studied the origins of hatha yoga in classic yoga texts such as the KhecarëvidyÃÂ. He has identified eight works of early hatha yoga that may have contributed to its official formation in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. This has stimulated further research into understanding the formation of hatha yoga.
Jason Birch has investigated the role of the Hatha Yoga Pradëpikàin popularizing an interpretation of the Sanskrit word haá¹Âha. The text drew from classic texts on different systems of yoga, and SvÃÂtmÃÂrÃÂma grouped what he had found under the generic term "haá¹Âha yoga". Examining Buddhist tantric commentaries and earlier medieval yoga texts, Birch found that the adverbial uses of the word suggested that it meant "force", rather than "the metaphysical explanation proposed in the 14th century Yogabëja of uniting the sun (ha) and moon (á¹Âha)".