The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Translated)
By Svatmarama and Brian Dana Akers
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- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book has essencial bases for any yoga practice with an efficient and clear translation.
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The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Translated) - Svatmarama
Contributors
Introduction
O VER THE last half millennium, one book has established itself as the classic work on Hatha Yoga—the book you are holding in your hands. An Indian yogi named Svatmarama wrote the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in the fifteenth century C.E. Next to nothing is known about him, although his name may provide a clue. It means one who delights in one’s Atman,
indicating the achievement of a state of bliss. Drawing on his own experience and older works now lost, he wrote this book for the student of Yoga. He wrote this book for you.
to flame forth
and means a light, lamp, or lantern. Its extended meaning, since one is throwing light on a subject, is an explanation or commentary. Therefore, the title means An Explanation of Hatha Yoga.
Even though I’ve worked hard to make it understandable, this book, like Yoga itself, will require some effort from you. It is chock-full of metaphors, synonyms, and analogies. (Perhaps it also contains a bit of hyperbole.) It is not a smooth, modern narrative, but rather an esoteric work, purposely oblique at times, from medieval India. Furthermore, I recommend that you learn Hatha Yoga under the guidance of an experienced teacher, not solely from this book. Some practices in this book I don’t recommend at all. (You’ll know them when you read them.) This is nothing new. Looking at verses 2.37 and 3.22, you can see there have long been different opinions on what should and shouldn’t be practiced.
This book is divided into four chapters. In chapter 1, Svatmarama salutes his teachers, says why he is writing this book, who he is writing it for, where and how Yoga should be practiced, describes fifteen asanas, and recommends dietary habits. In chapter 2, he establishes the connections between breath, mind, life, nadis, and prana, then describes the six karmans and the eight kumbhakas. In chapter 3, Svatmarama says what mudras are for, then describes the ten mudras. In chapter 4, he discusses samadhi, laya, nada, two mudras, and the four stages of Yoga.
The Sanskrit original is complete and correct. I carefully examined four previous editions of the text word by word—in fact, letter by letter—to produce the best, most aesthetically pleasing version of the original Sanskrit ever published. I favored more sandhi over less, and took the liberty of simplifying and standardizing the sentence that concludes each chapter. Lines and verses were grouped the way they were translated, but the numbering was left unchanged. I utilized Arabic numerals and left the translation unnumbered to avoid clutter. While including the Sanskrit for the benefit of scholars, students, and posterity, its inclusion—allowing easy comparison with the English—is also a statement of confidence in the quality of the translation.
The English translation is both accurate and accessible. To make it accurate, I stayed in the background and put myself at the service of the author and the text. I suppressed any urges to coin neologisms and employ fleeting usage, or to add my own comments and interpretations. The verse was made the unit of translation to stay off the slippery slope of paraphrase. Where the meaning is open to interpretation, I followed the tradition, specifically Brahmananda’s Jyotsna commentary. Due to the