घेरण्ड संहिता (महर्षि घेरण्ड - सप्ताङ्ग हठयोग सटीक)

xii INTRODUCTION subtle dhyana, visualization of Kundalini. In the final chapter Gheranda teaches six very different ways to samadhi. Three mudras, Shambhavi, Khechari, and Yoni, lead to three types of samadhi: dhyana, bliss through rasa (“taste” or “sensation”), and laya (resorption into the Ultimate Reality by means of Kundalini’s rise up the Sushumna, or central channel). Bhramari pranayama, as noted above, leads to samadhi through nada, the inner sound. The Murccha, or “trance” pranayama also leads to samadhi. Finally, we are told that samadhi can arise through bhakti, “devotion,” and this is another feature that sets this book apart from all other texts on Hatha Yoga. Nothing is known about Gheranda and Chanda. The name Gheranda is not found anywhere else in Sanskrit lit- erature. Like many other works on Hatha Yoga, the work is framed as a dialogue, suggesting that it has been overheard and then written down. Thus the identity of the author (or whoever overheard Gheranda) is not revealed. Chanda’s full name, Chandakapali, means “fierce skullbearer.” The epithet kapali, “skullbearer,” immediately brings to mind the sect of the Kapalikas, skull-bearing followers of Shiva infamous for antinomian practices. Kapali and Kapalika are both mentioned as past masters of Hatha Yoga in the list given in verses 1.4-8 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. (In fact, some manuscripts of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika prefix the name Kapali with Chanda, rather than Khanda, the more common reading.) However, as we shall see below, the practices taught in this book are tame compared to some of those taught in other works on Hatha Yoga, and Gheranda