हठयोग प्रदीपिका (योगी स्वात्माराम - ज्योत्स्ना टीका सहित सटीक)

40 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ number [of times practised on each side] is equal, then [the practice of] the Mudrā should be ended [for the time]. The practice is on the left side when the left leg is bent and the right leg stretched and on the right side when the opposite is done. 16. [For the practitioner of this] there is nothing wholesome or unwholesome. All things of whatever taste, even those which are insipid and even virulent poison, if consumed, are digested as if it were nectar. 17. The maladies of one who practises Mahā- mudrā—consumption, leprosy, constipation, abdominal diseases, indigestion, etc.—are overcome. 18. Thus has been described this Mahāmudrā which confers great siddhi-s upon men. This should be carefully kept secret and not revealed to any and every body. 19. Then MAHĀ-BANDHA [is described]: Place the heel of the left foot on the perineum and place the right foot upon the left thigh. 20. Having drawn in the breath, and pressing the chin steadily on the breast [in the Jālaṃdhara-bandha], contract the anus [in the Mūla-bandha] and fix the mind on the central Nāḍī (Suṣumnā). 21. Having retained the breath as long as possible, the air should be breathed out slowly. Having prac- tised well on the left side, then practise on the right side. 22. Some are of the view that the contraction of the throat (Jālaṃdhara-bandha) should be avoided

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 41 here and that the contraction effected by the tongue pressed against [the root of] the front-teeth (Jihvā- bandha) is preferable. 23. This [Jihvā-bandha in the course of the Māha-bandha] stops the upward course [of the Prāṇa] through all the Nāḍi-s [except the Suṣumnā]. This Mahā-bandha [helps to] confer great siddhi-s. 24. This is efficacious in freeing one from the great noose of Time (Yama). It brings about the union of the three streams [i.e. Nāḍi-s: Iḍā, Piṅgalā and Suṣumnā]. It enables the mind to reach Kedāra [the sacred seat of Śiva in the mystic centre between the eyebrows]. 25. As a woman endowed with beauty and charm is unfruitful without a husband, so are Mahā-mudrā and Mahā-bandha without the Mahā-vedha. 26. The MAHĀ-VEDHA [is described]: The Yogin, assuming the Mahā-bandha, should draw in the breath with concentrated mind and stop the [upward and down- ward] course of the Prāṇa, etc. by the Jālaṃdhara- bandha. 27. Placing the two palms straight upon the ground, he should strike [the ground] slowly with the buttocks. [Then] the Prāṇa, leaving the two Nāḍī-s [Iḍā and Piṅgalā] courses through the middle [Suṣumnā]. 28. Then takes place the union of the Moon, Sun and Fire (Iḍā, Piṅgalā and Suṣumnā) that surely leads to immortality. There is a death-like state; then the air should be exhaled [slowly].

42 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 29. This is Mahāvedha which, with practice, confers great siddhi-s. This staves off wrinkles, grey hair and trembling [consequent on old age], and the best of practitioners devote themselves [to it]. 30. These three, that ward off old age and death, increase the [gastric] fire and confer siddhi-s such as aṇiman, should be most carefully kept secret. 31. These are performed in eight different ways, every day at every yāma (three-hour period). They confer at all times the fullness of virtue and destroy the accumulation of sin (pāpa). Those who are well guided [by the teacher] in these should practise them gradually. 32. The KHECARĪ [is described]: When the tongue is turned back and enters the cavity leading to the skull, and the eyes are fixed between the eyebrows, this is Khecarī-mudrā. 33. By cutting, shaking and stretching, the tongue should be gradually elongated, till it touches the middle of the eyebrows. Then the Khecarī is successfully accomplished. The procedure for cutting is described in the following verses. Shaking means taking hold of the tongue with the fingers and moving it to left and right. Stretching means taking hold of the tongue and drawing it as one does the udders of a cow in milking it. 34. Taking a smooth, clean knife, very sharp like the leaf of the milkhedge plant, cut to a hair's breadth [the fraenum or tender membrane that connects the tongue with the lower part of the mouth].

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 43: 35. Then rub [the part] with [a compound of] powdered rock salt and Harītakī (yellow myrobalan). Then after seven days, cut [again] to the extent of a hair's breadth. The compound should be rubbed on both morning and evening. As salt is prohibited in the case of Yogin-s, they sub- stitute the burnt powder of Khadira or the woody cassia. In the text, salt is mentioned on the assumption that the Khecarī-mudrā should be practised before the beginning of the Haṭha-yoga practice. The cutting and medication should be done twice daily for seven days. On the eighth day, the cut should be a little deeper. And so on. 36. He should thus practise, gradually and skil- fully every day for six months. In six months the mem- brane which binds at the root of the tongue is severed. 37. Then turning back the tongue, it should be made to enter the junction of the three [Nāḍī-s, i.e. the cavity in the roof of the palate]. This is the Khecarī- mudrā. It is [also] called VYOMACAKRA. 38. The Yogin who remains even for half a kṣaṇa [i.e. for 24 minutes] with his tongue turned up- wards is saved from poisons, disease, death and old age. 39. For him who knows the Khecarī-mudrā there is no disease, death, [intellectual] torpor, sleep, hunger, thirst, or clouding of the intellect. 40. He who knows the Khecarī-mudrā is not afflicted by disease; not tainted by karman, and not affected by Time. The repetition of the results of Khecarī-mudrā is to impress upon the reader its importance.

44 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 41. This Mudrā is named Khecarī by the Siddha-s, because the mind moves in space [Ākāśa; in the centre of the eyebrows] and the tongue [also] moves in the Ākāśa [in the cavity above the palate]. Kha means Ākāśa and carī means ‘ to move ’, hence the word Khecarī. 42. When one has sealed the cavity in the upper part of the palate with the Khecarī-mudrā, his seminal fluid is not emitted even when embraced by a young and passionate woman. 43. Even though the fluid flows and comes down to the genital organ, still arrested by the Yoni-mudrā, it is taken by force upwards. Yoni-mudrā is another name for Vajrolī-mudrā (III. 83 ff.). As many of these Mudrā-s occur in the latter part of the book, it is necessary to give here a word of caution lest people take them literally. Though these descriptions of the Mudrā-s state that these processes involve intercourse with women still the thing carries on its face its contradiction. We cannot for a moment suppose that the terms women, sexual intercourse and seminal fluid are to be understood literally in the case of Yogin-s who have perfected themselves in Yama and Niyama. Moreover, in the same book it is stated that only after a certain stage in Samā- dhi is attained, Vajrolī-mudrā, etc. should be practised (IV. 14). So it seems that these refer to some internal mystical processes connected with the development of the mind. 44. The knower of Yoga, who being steady, has the tongue turned upwards and drinks the Soma juice doubtless conquers death in fifteen days. Above the palate, the Moon is said to be situated and the nectar that flows from it falls down and is consumed by the Sun

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 45 that is near the navel; but if the flow of the nectar is stopped by closing the aperture in the palate it prevents the decay of the body. Soma means the Moon. 45. In the body of the Yogin which is imbued daily with the nectar from the Moon, even though bitten by [the serpent] Takṣaka, poison does not spread. Takṣaka, possessing most virulent poison is one of the eight serpent-kings in Pātāla, the greatest of whom is Śeṣa or Ananta. 46. As fire does not go out so long as there is fuel, as a light does not die out so long as there is oil and wick [in the lamp], so also the dweller in the body does not quit the body as long as it is filled by the nectar of the Moon. 47. He may eat daily gomāṃsa [lit. the flesh of a cow] and he may drink amaravāruṇī [lit. strong liquor]. I consider him to be well born. Others ruin the family. The words in the text, gomāṃsa and amaravāruṇī, are explained in the next two verses. 48. By the word go is meant the tongue. Its entry [into the cavity] in the palate is gomāṃsabhakṣaṇa (eating the flesh of the cow). This destroys the five great sins. The five great sins are said to be: killing a brāhmaṇa, drinking intoxicating liquor, theft, adultery with the wife of a teacher, and associating with anyone guilty of these sins. 49. The nectar which flows from the Moon because of the heat produced by the entry of the tongue, that is amaravāruṇī.

46 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ The term vāruṇī means wine. In the above two stanzas is given an excellent instance of the way in which the Hindu occult writers veil their real meaning under apparently absurd symbols. The principle seems to be this. They thought that the very absur- dity of the symbol and its irrelevance to the subject in hand would force the reader to surmise that there was something behind it and so he should look deeper for an explanation of this absurdity. A misconception of this rule seems to have given rise to many absurd interpretations of really occult symbols, and many pernicious practices that propitiate animal tendencies and passions. Ex- amples of this may be multiplied, such as the relations between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā and the sixteen thousand gopī-s or cowherdesses; the five Pāṇḍu brothers marrying one woman, Draupadī; the stories of ṛṣi-s marrying wives and begetting children of mature understanding within an inconceivably short time; and the whole mystic terminology of the Tantra-s that has given rise to so many disgusting practices. 50. If the tongue constantly touches the cavity in the palate, making flow the nectar [of the Moon] that tastes salty, pungent and sour, comparable also to milk, honey, and ghee [in taste], all diseases are destroyed, old age is overcome, weapons are warded off, immortality and the eight siddhi-s are obtained and the damsels of the demi-gods (siddha-s) are attracted. 51. He who, with upturned face and tongue closing the cavity of the palate, contemplates the supreme Power (Kuṇḍalinī), and drinks the clear stream of nectar flowing in waves from the Moon from the head into the sixteen-petalled lotus [in the throat] through the control over Prāṇa, during the Haṭhayoga practice, that Yogin, freed from diseases, lives long with a body soft and beautiful as the lotus stem [at its root].

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 47 52. Within the upper part of Meru [i.e. Suṣumnā] in the cavity, which is the fountain-head of the Nāḍi-s, is secreted the nectar. He of pure intellect [Sāttvic in nature, unclouded by Rajas and Tamas] sees therein the Truth [his own Ātman]. From the Moon there flows out the nectar, the essence of the body, and hence death comes to man. Therefore one should practise the beneficial Khecarī-mudrā [to stop its downward flow]. If not, there can be no bodily perfection [endowing the body with beauty, grace, strength and self-control]. 53. The cavity is the conjunction of the five streams and confers divine knowledge. In the void of that cavity, untainted [by the effects of avidyā or nescience, grief and delusion] the Khecarī-mudrā is firmly lodged. The streams referred to in the above stanzas are the many Nāḍi-s, Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā, Gāndhārī, etc. which stand for the rivers Gaṅgā, Yamunā, Sarasvatī, Narmadā, etc. 54. There is only one germ of evolution [i.e. Oṃ]; there is only one Mudrā, Khecarī; only one deity, not dependent on anything; and only one [spiritual] state, Manonmanī. As the other things mentioned are the most important of their class, so is Khecarī the best of Mudrā-s. 55. Then the UḌḌĪYĀNA-BANDHA [is described]: Uḍḍīyāna-bandha is so called by the Yogin-s, for when it is practised the Prāṇa is arrested and flies through the Suṣumnā.

48 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 56. Because through this, the great bird [Prāṇa] flies up incessantly [through the Suṣumnā] it is the Uḍḍīyāna. This Bandha is now explained. Uḍḍīyāna comes from ut and ḍī meaning to ‘fly up’. 57. The drawing back of the abdomen above [and below] the navel [so that it is drawn against the back of the body and up towards the thorax] is called Uḍḍīyāna-bandha. It is the lion that kills the elephant Death. In this Bandha, the stomach is compressed within a span. The process seems to be this: By a very strong expiration the lungs are emptied and driven against the upper part of the thorax carrying the diaphragm along with them; and the intestines are pushed up and fill the vacant space. 58. He who constantly practises the Uḍḍīyāna- bandha as taught by the Guru so that it becomes natural, even though he be old, becomes young. 59. He should draw back with effort [the ab- domen] above and below the navel, and practise for six months. [Then] he conquers death without doubt. 60. Of all the Bandha-s, the Uḍḍīyāna is the most excellent. When this has been mastered, libera- tion follows naturally. When the Uḍḍīyāna-bandha has been mastered, the Prāṇa flows up through the Suṣumnā and reaches the Brahmarandhra. This results in Samādhi and leads to liberation. 61. Then MŪLA-BANDHA [is described]: Pressing the perineum with the heel, contract the anus so as to draw the Apāna upwards. This is Mūla-bandha.

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 49 62. By contraction [of the Mūlādhāra] the Apāna, whose course is downwards, is forced to go upwards [through Suṣumnā]. Yogin-s call that Mūla-bandha. 63. Pressing the anus with the heal compress the air forcibly and repeatedly until the breath [Apāna] goes upwards. 64. Through the Mūla-bandha, Prāṇa and Apāna unite with Nāda and bindu and confer perfection in Yoga. There is no doubt about this. The meaning seems to be this: Through the Mūla-bandha, the Prāṇa and Apāna unite and go into the Suṣumnā . Then the inner sound (Nāda) becomes audible and the Prāṇa and Apāna uniting with Nāda go above the heart and join the bindu, i.e. the anusvāra or the inaudible sound of the point in the sacred syllable Oṃ, symbolizing the transcendent Śiva. They then proceed to the head and thus the Yogin obtains perfection. Nāda is the mysti- cal inner sound proceeding from the Anāhatacakra or the cardiac centre. 65. By constant practice of the Mūla-bandha, a union of Prāṇa and Apāna is achieved. Urine and excrement decrease and even the aged become young. 66. When the Apāna rises upwards and reaches the sphere of fire, then the flame of the fire becomes lengthened, being fanned by Apāna. The sphere of the fire is said to be triangular in shape and is situated in the centre of the body, below the navel. In the case of animals it is rectangular, and circular in the case of birds. The flame of the fire referred to is the gastric fire. 67. When the Apāna and the fire join Prāṇa, which is by nature hot, then the heat in the body is greatly intensified.

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50 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 68. By reason of that, the Kuṇḍalinī which is asleep, feeling the extreme heat, is awakened, just as a serpent struck by a stick hisses and straightens itself. 69. Then it enters within the Suṣumnā, like [a snake] which enters its hole. Therefore the Yogin-s should every day and always practise Mūla-bandha. 70. Then the JĀLAṂDHARA-BANDHA [is described]: Contract the throat and hold the chin firmly against the chest [about four inches from the chest]. This is the Bandha called Jālaṃdhara which destroys old age and death. 71. Because it constricts the network (jāla) of Nāḍī-s and [arrests] the downward course of the flow of ambrosial water (jāla) [from the cavity in the palate], this Bandha is Jālaṃdhara. It destroys all the maladies of the throat. 72. When the Jālaṃdhara-bandha is practised, by contraction of the throat, the nectar does not fall into the [gastric] fire and the Prāṇa is not agitated [i.e. not misdirected]. 73. By the [firm] contraction of the throat the two Nāḍī-s [Iḍā and Piṅgalā] are deadened. Here [in the throat] is situated the middle Cakra (Viśuddhi). This binds the sixteen ādhāra-s (vital centres). They are the toes, ankles, knees, thighs, the perineum, the generative organs, the navel, the heart, the neck, the throat, the tongue, the nose, the centre of the eyebrows, the forehead, the head and the Brahmarandhra, i.e. the upper opening of the Suṣumnā Nāḍī in the skull.

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 51 74. Contracting the anus, practise the Uḍḍīyāna- bandha. Constrain the Iḍā and the Piṅgalā [by the Jālaṁdhara-bandha], and cause [the breath] to flow through the Suṣumnā. 75. By these means the breath becomes motion- less [in the Suṣumnā]; then there is no death, old age, disease, etc. 76. Yogin-s know these three excellent Bandha-s practised by the great Siddha-s, which are the means of success in the various Haṭha-yoga practices. 77. Here Viparītakaraṇī [is described]: What- ever nectar flows from the Moon which is of divine form, all that is swallowed up by the Sun. Hence the body becomes old. The Moon is situated at the root of the palate and pours down a stream of nectar; the Sun is situated near the navel and its fire consumes the ambrosial flow. 78. There is an excellent process (karaṇa) by which the Sun is duped. This should be learnt from the Guru, and not through theoretical study of the Śāstra-s. 79. When the Sun is above and the Moon below [of the practitioner] whose navel is above and palate below, it is the Viparītakaraṇī. It is to be learnt through the instructions of a Guru. 80. In the case of one who practises this daily, the gastric fire is increased, and the practitioner should always have plenty of food.

52 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 81. If he stints his diet, the fire quickly consumes [the body]. On the first day he should stand for a moment upon his head, with his feet above. The process is this. The body should be raised in the air by resting the back of the head and neck and shoulders upon the ground, supporting the hips with the hands, the elbows resting on the ground if required. 82. Practise this by increasing the duration gra- dually every day. After six months wrinkles and grey hair disappear. He who practises this for a yāma (i.e. three hours) daily, conquers death. 83. Then VAJROLĪ [is described]: Even someone living an unrestricted life, without the disciplines prescribed by Yoga, if he knows well [by practice] the Vajrolī, becomes the repository of the siddhi-s. 84. Here I mention two things that are difficult for anyone to obtain: the one is milk [at the proper time] and the other, a woman who acts according to one’s wishes. Attention is drawn to the previous note (III. 43) pointing out that such statements should not be taken literally. 85. At the time of [the emission of the seminal fluid during] sexual intercourse, practise slowly and well to draw [it] up. Thus a man or a woman will obtain success in Vajrolī. 86. Blow with effort into the hole of the penis through a prescribed tube very slowly so as to allow the passage of air.

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 53 The process as described by the commentator is as follows: ‘Obtain a very fine lead tube, fourteen aṅgula-s (finger-breadths) long, and practise inserting it into the urethra, at the rate of one aṅgula a day, until twelve aṅgula-s are introduced within leaving two aṅgula-s outside, bent to face upwards. Then get another fine tube and insert it into the above-mentioned tube, and blow through it softly. This will clear all impurities in the passage. Then practise drawing up water through the tube, and later on, draw up the semen. This succeeds only in the case of those whose breath is brought under control. When the Khecarī-mudrā and breath- control have been thoroughly mastered, then this will succeed, not otherwise. 87. The semen that is about to fall into the genital organ of a woman should be drawn up by practice [of the Vajrolī-mudrā]. If already fallen he should draw up his own semen [and the woman’s seminal fluid] and [thus] preserve it. 88. Thus the knower of Yoga should preserve his semen. He [thereby] conquers death. When the semen is expended, death ensues [in due course]; but there is [prolonged] life for him who preserves it. 89. By preserving the semen [by the Vajrolī- mudrā], a pleasant smell arises in the body of the Yogin. As long as the semen is well retained in the body, whence is the fear of death? 90. The semen of men is subject to control by the mind and life depends upon the semen. Therefore both semen and mind should be carefully preserved and controlled. 91. A person perfect in this practice should, by drawing up well [the fluids] through the penis, preserve

54 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ his own semen and that of the woman with whom he has intercourse. The commentator states that this verse is an interpolation. 92. Then SAHAJOLĪ [is described]: Sahajolī and Amarolī are varieties of Vajrolī, being one [in respect of the result attained]. Mix the ashes obtained by burning cow-dung [cakes] with water. 93. After intercourse in the Vajrolī, the man and woman, their activity being ended, should, while sitting in a happy frame of mind, besmear the excellent parts of the body [with this mixture]. The parts are mainly the head, forehead, eyes, heart, shoulders and arms. 94. This is called Sahajolī in regard to which Yogin-s should always have confidence. It is a bene- ficial process and bestows liberation though connected with sensual experience. 95. This process in Yoga succeeds only in the case of the virtuous, who are brave, who perceive the truth and are free from envy; and not in the case of envious persons. 96. Then AMAROLĪ [is described]: Discarding the first part of the flow of water as it increases bile, and the last flow as being without essence, when the cool middle part of the stream [of Amarī] is absorbed, that is Amarolī according to the Kāpālika sect. The commentator explains that the stream refers to Śivāmbu, which literally means 'water of Śiva'. It is called Amarī.

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 55 97. He, who drinks daily the Amarī and inhales it day by day, should practise well Vajrolī. This is called Amarolī. 98. He should mix ashes with the nectar flowing from the Moon by the practice [of Amarolī] and smear it on the principal limbs [of the body]. Then divine sight is obtained. Divine sight means ability to see the past, the present and the future, as also hidden things. 99. If a woman, making herself expert through sufficient practice, draws up the semen of man, and preserves her own through [the practice of] Vajrolī, she also becomes a Yoginī. 100. Without any doubt, even the least part of her seminal fluid is not lost. In her body, the Nāda becomes bindu itself. That is, the Nāda that begins at the Mūlādhāra goes to the heart and unites with the bindu. The following may perhaps throw some light on these processes. The seminal fluid of man is called bīja or bindu, and that of the woman, rajas. By the external union of these two, a child is produced. But, only when these unite inter- nally, i.e. when the things that are really denoted by these expres- sions, unite in the inner man, he is called a Yogin. The bindu is said to be of the nature of the Moon and rajas of the nature of the Sun. From the union of these, is attained the supreme state. The bindu is capable of giving svarga, meaning temporal pleasures, as also mokṣa, i.e. emancipation. It can lead a man into virtue or vice. In other words, understood literally, it leads to the attainment of worldly pleasures, and hence vice; but if understood and practised according to its inner sense, it leads to virtue and emancipation.

56 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 101. That bindu and that rajas, becoming united and remaining in the body by the practice of Vajrolī, confer all siddhi-s. 102. She who preserves by upward contraction her rajas is a Yoginī. She knows the past and the future and certainly attains perfection in Khecarī. 103. By the Yoga consisting of the practice of Vajrolī, bodily perfection is obtained [beauty, grace, and great strength]. This Yoga confers merit (puṇya), and though there is sensual experience, it leads to emancipation. 104. Now the ŚAKTICĀLANA [is described] : Kuṭi- lāṅgī, Kuṇḍalinī, Bhujaṅgī, Śakti, Īśvarī, Kuṇḍalī and Arundhatī are all synonymous words. 105. As one can fling open a door with a key, so the Yogin should through Haṭha-yoga open the door of liberation [i.e. the Suṣumnā] by [the power of] Kuṇḍalinī. 106. The great goddess (Kuṇḍalinī) sleeps closing with her mouth the entrance to the way by which the seat of Brahman (Brahmarandhra), where there is no pain, is to be reached. 107. The Kuṇḍalinī-śakti, who sleeps above the kanda, gives liberation to Yogin-s and bondage to the ignorant. He who knows her knows Yoga. The kanda is the place between the navel and the scrotum from where spring the 72,000 Nāḍī-s. See verse 113 below. 108. The Kuṇḍalinī is described as being coiled like a serpent. He who causes that Śakti to move

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 57 [from the Mūlādhāra upwards] becomes free, without doubt. 109. Between the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, there sits the Bālaraṇḍā [i.e. Kuṇḍalinī, literally, a young widow], practising austerity. She should be seized by force. That [leads to] the supreme seat of Viṣṇu. 110. Iḍā is the holy Gaṅgā and Piṅgalā is the river Yamunā. Between Iḍā and Piṅgalā, the young widow is Kuṇḍalinī. 111. By seizing the tail that sleeping serpent (Kuṇḍalinī) should be awakened. Then, that Śakti, throwing off her sleep, rises up with force. The commentator says that the secret of this process must be learnt from a Guru. 112. Having inhaled through the right nostril (piṅgalā), the recumbent serpent should be taken hold of by the process of paridhāna, and made to move daily for about an hour and a half, both morning and evening. The commentator adds that the process of paridhāna should be learnt from a Guru. The process described is the movement of the abdominal muscle from left to right and right to left in a spiral (see The Serpent Power, 1964, p. 207). 113. [The kanda] is twelve finger breadths (aṅgula-s) above [the anus] and four aṅgula-s in breadth, soft and white, and appearing as if it were a rolled cloth. Two aṅgula-s above the anus and two below the penis is the middle of the body. The kanda is nine aṅgula-s from the middle

58 HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ of the body. It is like an egg and is covered by membranous coverings. In the case of beast and birds it is in the middle of the abdomen. 114. Seated in the Vajrāsana posture hold firmly with the hands the feet near the ankles, and thereby put pressure on the kanda. 115. Seated in the Vajrāsana posture, the Yogin having caused the Kuṇḍalinī to move, should then perform the Bhastrikā Kumbhaka. Thus he will soon awaken the Kuṇḍalinī. 116. He should then contract the Sun [which is near the navel] and then cause the Kuṇḍalinī to move. Even though fallen into the mouth of death, he need not fear death. Contraction of the Sun is effected by contraction of the navel. 117. By moving [the Kuṇḍalinī] fearlessly for about an hour and a half, she is drawn into the Suṣumnā and upwards a little. 118. By this [process] Kuṇḍalinī certainly leaves [open] the mouth of the Suṣumnā, and therefore Prāṇa goes naturally through the Suṣumnā. 119. So one should move daily the Arundhatī (Kuṇḍalinī) that is calmly sleeping. By merely moving her the Yogin is freed from diseases. 120. The Yogin who moves the Śakti becomes the possessor of the siddhi-s. What further needs be said? He conquers Time (Death) as if it were mere play. 121. Only one who delights in the life of a celibate (brahmacārin), and always conforms to a moderate and

HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ 59 salutary diet, and who practises Yoga in the form of sti- mulating Kuṇḍalinī approaches siddhi within forty days. 122. Having set the Kuṇḍalinī in motion, the Bhastrikā Kumbhaka should be particularly practised. Whence is the fear of Death for the self-restrained [Yogin] who practises thus every day? 123. Except the practice of [causing to move] Kuṇḍalinī [through Śakticālana], what other means is there for clearing away the impurities of the seventy- two thousand Nāḍī-s? 124. This middle Nāḍī (Suṣumnā) becomes straight [for the easy passage of Prāṇa] by persevering practice by Yogin-s, by Āsana-s, Prāṇāyāma and Mudrā-s. 125. To those who are alert [and free from indolence] in practice, and whose minds are steadily held in a state of concentration (samādhi), the Rudrāṇī (Śāmbhavī) or other Mudrā confers a beneficial fulfil- ment (siddhi). 126. There is no earth (pṛthvī) without Rāja- yoga, there is no night without Rāja-yoga, and even a variety of Mudrā-s become useless without Rāja-yoga. Here pṛthvī stands for the firmness of the Āsana-s. Night stands for Kumbhaka, in which state everything is quiet. There is a pun on the words rāja-yoga. The earth does not flourish without the sovereign’s rule (rāja-yoga), the night does not shine in the absence of the moon (rājā) and the seal (mudrā) is of no use without being associated with the king (rājā). 127. All the breathing processes should be practised with a mind concentrated [on them]. The