Gheranda Samhita

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Guptāsana in verse 2.20 of the text.[1]
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There are no fetters like those of illusion (maya),
no strength like that which comes from discipline (yoga),
there is no friend higher than knowledge (jnana),
and no greater enemy than egoism (ahankara).

—Gheranda Samhita, 1.4
Translator: Srisa Chandra Vasu[2]

Gheranda Samhita (

critical edition was published in 1933 by Adyar Library, and the second critical edition was published in 1978 by Digambarji and Ghote.[6] Some of the Sanskrit manuscripts contain ungrammatical and incoherent verses, and some cite older Sanskrit texts.[6]

It is likely a late 17th-century text, probably from northeast India, structured as a teaching manual based on a dialogue between Gheranda and Chanda.

shlokas (verses).[8]

Book

The Gheranda Samhita calls itself a book on ghatastha yoga, which literally means "vessel yoga", wherein the body and mind are depicted as vessels that carry and serve the soul (atman, purusha).

Yogasutras, the six-limbed yoga of the Goraksha Samhita, and the four-limbed yoga in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.[3] It declares its goal to be the perfection of an individual's body, mind and soul through a seven step lifelong continuous self-development. The means of this goal include self purification, thirty two asanas it details for building body strength, twenty five mudras to perfect body steadiness, five means to pratyahara, lessons on proper nutrition and lifestyle, ten types of breathing exercises, three stages of meditation and six types of samadhi.[12]

The text reverentially invokes Hindu god

satcitananda); I am eternally free".[13]

Structure

Gheranda Samhita is a step by step detailed manual of yoga taught by sage Gheranda to student Chanda.[14] Unlike other hatha yoga texts, the Gheranda Samhita speaks of a sevenfold yoga:[15][16]

The text itself follows this division in seven chapters, and has a focus upon the

dharana
). The closing stanzas on samadhi teach different methods than those described by Patanjali.

The earliest translation of the text into English was by Srisa Chandra Vasu.[4][17]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  2. ISBN 978-8121507349
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  4. ^ a b B. Heimann (1937), Review: The Ǧheraṇda Saṁhitā. A Treatise on Haṭha Yoga by Śrīś Chandra Vasu, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press, No. 2 (Apr., 1937), pp. 355-357
  5. ISBN 978-0-8348-2292-4
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-81-208-1706-7
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-8348-2292-4
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-87249-855-6
    ., Quote: "The Gheranda Samhita, Siva Samhita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika are three of the most important Hatha Yoga texts and are intimately connected with the practice of Nada Yoga as propounded by Gorakhshanath and his school."
  12. ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-313-39704-2
    .
  15. ISBN 978-0-9716466-3-6
    .
  16. ISBN 978-1-58394-472-1
    .
  17. ^ Gheraṇḍa; S.C. Vasu (Translator) (1895). The Gheranda Sanhita: A Treatise on Hatha Yoga. Bombay Theosophical. {{cite book}}: |author2= has generic name (help)

Sources

External links
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