घेरण्ड संहिता (महर्षि घेरण्ड - सप्ताङ्ग हठयोग सटीक)

INTRODUCTION xi to bodily purification and in the number of purificatory practices it describes. The chapters on asanas and mudras are similarly unparalleled in the number of practices taught. The difference between asanas and mudras is not made clear by Gheranda—several of the mudras seem to be no more than asanas. We are told in the first chapter that asanas lead to strength and mudras to steadiness. In other texts, however, the purpose of mudras is said to be the awakening of Kundalini. In five of the twenty-five mudras listed this aim is made explicit, but awakening of the Goddess is also given as one of the fruits of pranayama in verse 5.57. A further unique aspect of this book lies in its position- ing of the chapter on pratyahara before that on pranayama. In the classical system, the last six limbs are successively more subtle, moving from the physical realm to the mental. Pranayama is, of course, a more physical practice than pra- tyahara, but here the Bhramari pranayama is said to lead to samadhi; indeed, it is one of the six varieties of Raja Yoga or samadhi given in the final chapter. This may account for the position of the chapter on pranayama. Most of the rest of the chapter is similar to other texts, apart from the teaching of the Ajapa Gayatri, the mantra constantly but involuntarily repeated by all living beings. The sounds of the in- and out- breaths are said to be sa and ham, whose implicit combina- tion is the Vedantic dictum so'ham, “I am that.” The chapter on dhyana teaches three successively more subtle visualizations, starting with a gross dhyana of the yogi’s guru on a beautiful island, followed by a luminous dhyana, visualization of a light between the eyebrows, and a