A Lamp on Śivayoga: The Union of Yoga, Ritual, and

Devotion in the Śivayogapradīpikā

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Powell, Seth. 2023. A Lamp on Śivayoga: The Union of Yoga, Ritual, and Devotion in the
Śivayogapradīpikā. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences.

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 HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

DISSERTATION ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE

The undersigned, appointed by the

Committee on the Study of Religion

have examined a dissertation entitled

oga: The Union of Yo ivayogapra

presented by

candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and hereby

certify that it is worthy of acceptance.

Franci X. Cloone , SJ
Signature __________________________________________
Francis X. Clooney, SJ (Apr 21, 2023 09:46 EDT

Typed name: Prof. Francis X. Clooney

Diana Eck
Signature __________________________________________
Diana Eck Apr 22 2023 1 3 EDT

Typed name: Prof. Diana Eck

Jame Malli
Signature __________________________________________
James Mallinson Apr GMT

Typed name: Prof. James Mallinson

Date: April 20, 2023

 A Lamp on Śivayoga:

The Union of Yoga, Ritual, and Devotion in the Śivayogapradīpikā

A dissertation presented

by

Seth David Powell

to

The Committee on the Study of Religion

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in the subject of

The Study of Religion

Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

April 2023
© 2023 Seth David Powell

All rights reserved.

Dissertation Advisor: Francis X. Clooney Seth David Powell

A Lamp on Śivayoga: The Union of Yoga, Ritual, and Devotion in the Śivayogapradīpikā

Abstract

This dissertation centers around the study of a lesser-known Sanskrit yoga treatise from south India

entitled the Śivayogapradīpikā, or the “Lamp on Śivayoga.” The text was written by an author named

Cennasadāśivayogin, who my research shows likely lived in Andhra Pradesh in the first half of the

fifteenth century, and who belonged to a religious tradition known as the Vīraśaivas, or the “Heroic

Devotees of Śiva,” which flourished in the late-medieval Deccan. Little scholarly attention has yet been

brought to bear on the Śivayogapradīpikā, although its prominence within south-Indian yoga

traditions is attested by its reception history and citations in numerous early modern texts on yoga and

Vīraśaivism. Read closely against the broader textual record of yoga and Śaiva literature, this

dissertation offers the first text-critical study of the Śivayogapradīpikā through an investigation of its

history, doctrine, praxis, intertextual relations, and authorial strategies of production. I argue that in

codifying the Śivayogapradīpikā, Cennasadāśivayogin sought to reconcile different systems of yoga on

the horizon in fifteenth-century south India—including Mantrayoga, Layayoga, Haṭhayoga, and

Rājayoga—together within a unified framework of Śaiva ritual worship (pūjā) and devotion (bhakti),

conceived as Śivayoga. It is the distinctly ritual and devotional orientation of this yoga, produced

within a Vīraśaiva bhakti context, that makes the teachings of the Śivayogapradīpikā most unique—

and indeed what differentiates Śivayoga from other well-known systems of yoga.

iii
 Table of Contents

Abstract iii

Table of Contents iv

Acknowledgements v

Dedication viii

List of Tables and Figures ix

Section Headings xi

Part 1: Historical and Textual Background 1

1. Introduction 2

2. Yoga, Śaivism, and Śivayoga in Premodern India 14

3. Vīraśaivism and Yoga: Śivayogins as Heroic Devotees of the Lord 64

Part 2: Analysis of the Śivayogapradīpikā 106

4. Authorship, Dating, and Textual History of the Śivayogapradīpikā 107

5. The Ritualization of Śivayoga: The Four Yogas and Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Śivapūjā 162

6. Conclusion 260

Appendix 1: Critical Edition of the Śivayogapradīpikā 264

Appendix 2: Translation of the Śivayogapradīpikā 314

Bibliography 343

iv
 Acknowledgements

This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance and support of many incredible

teachers, colleagues, friends, and family who have shaped these pages and nurtured my education at

every step of the journey. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to formally thank these wonderful

people. I am grateful to Stephen Jenkins, Karen Harris, and the Religious Studies department at

Humboldt State University for first planting the seeds of Harvard, India, and a life of inspired and

compassionate scholarship. At the University of Washington, I thank the many excellent professors I

had the opportunity to study with, but especially my advisor Christian Novetzke for initiating me into

the “public” of graduate school and South Asian studies. I am grateful to all of my Sanskrit teachers, in

the U.S. and in India, for their endless patience and wisdom including Collett Cox, Richard Salomon,

Timothy Lenz, Heidi Pauwels, Victor D’Avella, Gokul Madhavan, and Madhura Godbole.

There are many at Harvard I wish to thank who have shaped this dissertation and my graduate

career. I offer my gratitude to my late doctoral advisor, Anne Monius, who unexpectedly passed away

during the summer of 2019. From day one at Harvard, Anne had been unwavering in her support of

this project, and of my work on yoga in south India—and I have no doubt that this dissertation is less

than what it would have been without her keen insights and sharp critique. To Francis Clooney I am

grateful for his steady guidance and commitment to close textual readings, and for helping steer the

doctoral ship—keeping me on track towards completion. To Diana Eck I am thankful for her inspiring

teaching and for enthusiastically joining my doctoral committee, even at such a late date. To Jinah Kim,

I am grateful for initiating me into South Asian art history and for first bringing me to the Deccan.

Thanks to Richard Delacy for his passion for teaching Hindi-Urdu with great wit and humor.

v
 I offer my heartfelt thanks to James Mallinson, not only for being an external examiner for this

dissertation, and for his astute comments on everything I have written, but for his inspiring

scholarship, mentorship, and friendship over the years since our first meeting at the AAR in San

Francisco back in 2011. Jim’s pioneering research on Haṭhayoga in many ways is what inspired me to

pursue graduate school, and it has been a privilege to have him on my doctoral committee. A special

thanks as well to Jason Birch, who was instrumental in first introducing me to the Śivayogapradīpikā

and its significance. Both Jason and Jim have been more than generous in sharing manuscripts,

transcriptions, and other unpublished work, and have set such a high standard of philological rigor in

their scholarship. This dissertation was born out of conversations with Jim and Jason, when as a

master’s student at the University of Washington I asked each of them if they would recommend a

Sanskrit yoga text they deemed suitable for a future PhD project. Independently, they both suggested

the Śivayogapradīpikā. In retrospect, this was sage advice, for which I will always be grateful.

I would like to thank the numerous colleagues and friends who have inspired, supported, and

kept me sane throughout my graduate school years, including: Daniela Bevilacqua, Daniel Brusser,

Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Keith Cantú, Bennett Comerford, Daruka Das, Philip Deslippe, Sonali

Dhingra, Finnian Gerety, Jacqueline Hargreaves, Kate Hartmann, Varun Khanna, Borayin Larios,

Philipp Maas, Axel Marc Oaks Takács, Jason Melrose, Adrian Muñoz, Sophia Nasti, Antonia Ruppel,

Stuart Sarbacker, and Ben Williams. A special thanks to Gil Ben-Herut and Shubha Shantamurty for

their help with the Kannada materials, and to Jamal Jones for his assistance with the Telugu materials.

While carrying out this dissertation I was fortunate to cultivate a meaningful livelihood and

vocation through teaching and sharing research online at Yogic Studies. I am tremendously grateful to

all of the Yogic Studies students around the world who have believed in this project and who are

passionate connoisseurs of yogic knowledge. I wish to extend my gratitude to all of the excellent

vi
instructors who have graced the platform with their fine teaching and scholarship, and especially to my

fantastic team at Yogic Studies who help run the day to day operations: Katherine Bennett, Sabbi Lall,

Anna Lee White, Rob Zabel, and especially Kate Burns.

The greatest support I received throughout the many years of academic training came

undoubtedly from my family. I am grateful to all of my parents and step-parents—Jodi, Deborah,

Debra, Vivi, and Allen Ray—for their endless love and belief in me. I am thankful to my parents-in-

law, Laurie and Veronica, for their constant support, good humor, many meals, and child care. To all of

my brothers, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and all of my nieces and nephews, I am grateful for your

love and for providing such a rich extended village to raise kids and create a meaningful life within.

Finally, I am grateful beyond measure to my wife Charlotte and children Ruben and Leah—who

empower everything I do. I can’t imagine being able to do this work without Charlotte’s steadfast love,

support, and positive encouragement—especially during times when the dissertation felt

insurmountable. Ruben, who is now 9 years old, is the same age as this dissertation. Leah, who is now

6, was actually born on campus, at Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions—a special place

and community which greatly shaped both my academic and personal life in Cambridge. Becoming a

father while a graduate student has been one of my greatest joys and challenges. I am truly thankful to

my family for their patience while “Papa works on his dissertation.” This work is dedicated to them.

vii
 Dedication

for

Charlotte, Ruben, and Leah

viii
 List of Tables and Figures

Tables

Table 1: Haṭhayoga Corpus Prior to 16th Century 38

Table 2: Śivayogapradīpikā Chapter 1 Colophons 113
Table 3: Śivayogapradīpikā Chapter 3 Colophons 113
Table 4: Notable parallels between Śivayogapradīpikā and Śivayogasāramu 122
Table 5: Textual Adaptations of the Śivayogapradīpikā 125
Table 6: Commentaries on the Śivayogapradīpikā 125
Table 7: Textual Parallels in the Śivayogapradīpikā 134
Table 8: Textual References to the Śivayogapradīpikā 142
Table 9: Summary of Teachings in the Śivayogapradīpikā 164
Table 10: Yogāṅgas with Dhyāna before Dhāraṇā 166
Table 11: Four Yogas as the Four Prāṇāyāmas (ŚYP 2.26) 175
Table 12: Four Yogas as the Four Stages (ŚYP 5.51) 176
Table 13: Fivefold Śaiva Cosmology (ŚYP 1.22–26) 181
Table 14: Internalization of Ritual Elements (ŚYP 1.48–50) 186
Table 15: Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Ritual Elements (ŚYP 2.6-7) 189
Table 16: Yama Chart 194
Table 17: Niyama Chart 196
Table 18: Āsana Chart 201
Table 19: Cakra Chart 214
Table 20: 16 Ādhāras Chart 220
Table 21: Five Dhāraṇās (ŚYP 3.36–42) 226
Table 22: Aṣṭāṅgayoga as the Ṣaṭsthala (ŚYP 3.60–64) 233
Table 23: Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Rājayoga (ŚYP 4.4–11) 236
Table 24: Chart of the 25 Tattvas (ŚYP 4.20–25) 240
Table 25: Worshipping Śiva as Consciousness (ŚYP 5.27–28) 250

ix
Figures

Figure 1: Map of Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions 22

Figure 2: Yogin in Siddhāsana with Sun and Moon Motif 43
Figure 3: Cover for Shivayoga: Technique of Opening the Third Eye 62
Figure 4: Sadāśiva Brahmendra and Saccidānanda Śivābhinava Narasiṃha Bhāratī 111
Figure 5: Gaṇapatideva Family Tree According to the Śivayogasāramu 124
Figure 6: Folio 1a Śivayogapradīpikāsāra. C.821/E.35140 128
Figure 7: Title Page of the Sri Vidya Press Edition Belonging to Col. H. S. Olcott 158
Figure 8: Nine Cakras (ŚYP 3.7-16) 213
Figure 9: Sixteen Ādhāras (ŚYP 3.17-32) 219

x
 Section Headings

1. Introduction 2
1.1 Preliminary Remarks 2
1.2 Medieval Yoga Studies 3
1.3 Existing Scholarship on the Śivayogapradīpikā 6
1.4 Methodology 7
1.5 The Need for a Critical Edition 10
1.6 Scope of the Dissertation 12

2. Yoga, Śaivism, and Śivayoga in Premodern India 14

2.1 Preliminary Remarks 14
2.2 Defining Yoga: Not One, But Many Yogas 16
2.3 Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions 21
2.4 Yoga in the Śaiva Traditions 24
2.5 The Rise of Haṭhayoga 33
2.6 Yogaśāstras in the Deccan 42
2.7 Rājayoga Versus Haṭhayoga 45
2.8 The Four Yogas 46
2.9 A Genealogy of Śivayoga 48
2.9.1 Śivayoga° Titles 58
2.9.2 Modern Śivayoga: Iṣṭaliṅgadhāraṇā 61

3. Vīraśaivism and Yoga: Śivayogins as Heroic Devotees of the Lord 64

3.1 Vīraśaivas, Vīramāheśvaras, and Liṅgāyatas: A Brief History 64
3.2 Locating a Vīraśaiva Yoga 74
3.3 The Temple and the Body: Yoga in the Vacanas 76
3.4 Yogi Tales: The Bhakti Critique of Haṭha Yoga in Hagiographical Sources 81
3.4.1 Allama Prabhu and Siddharāma 84
3.4.2 Allama Prabhu and Gorakṣa 91
3.4.3 The Rājayoga of Basavaṇṇa 97

xi
3.4.4 Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara 99
3.5 In Praise of the Śivayogin: Yoga in the Vīraśaiva Sanskrit Texts 101
3.5.1 The Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 101
3.5.2 The Pārameśvarāgama 102
3.6 Vīraśaivism in the Śivayogapradīpikā 103
3.7 Concluding Remarks 105

4. Authorship, Dating, and Textual History of the Śivayogapradīpikā 107

4.1 Preliminary Remarks 107
4.2 Authorship Confusion: Sadāśiva Brahmendra? 107
4.3 Cennasadāśivayogin 112
4.4 Nūkanārādhya, Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva, and the Telugu Śivayogasāramu 117
4.5 The Pāramārthaprakāśike 125
4.6 The Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke 126
4.7 The Śivayogapradīpikāsāra 127
4.8 Textual Heritage of the Śivayogapradīpikā 130
4.8.1 The Amanaska 135
4.8.2 The Dattātreyayogaśāstra 137
4.8.3 The Vivekamārtaṇḍa 137
4.8.4 The Śārṅgadharapaddhati 138
4.8.5 The Kriyāsāra 139
4.9 Reception History of the Śivayogapradīpikā 140
4.9.1 The Yogacintāmaṇi 142
4.9.2 The Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha 143
4.9.3 The Haṭhatattvakaumudī 143
4.9.4 The Yogasārasaṅgraha 144
4.9.5 The Yogatārāvalivyākhyā 145
4.9.6 The Śivatattvaratnākara 146
4.9.7 The Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya and Rājayogāmṛta 146
4.9.8 The Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 147
4.9.9 The Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad and Rājayogabhāṣya 152

xii
 4.9.10 The Pañcaratnavyākhyā 153
4.9.11 The Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 154
4.10 Dating the Śivayogapradīpikā 155
4.11 The Śivayogapradīpikā in Modernity 157

5. The Ritualization of Śivayoga: The Four Yogas and Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Śivapūjā 162
5.1 Preliminary Remarks 162
5.2 Structure of the Text 163
5.3 A Note on the Auxiliaries of Yoga 167
5.4 The Hierarchical Inclusivity of Śivayoga 168
5.5 The Four Yogas 169
5.6 Rājayoga and Śivayoga 178
5.7 Śaiva Cosmology 180
5.8 Twofold Meditation on Śiva 181
5.9 Importance of the Guru 182
5.10 Twofold Worship of Śiva 183
5.11 Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Śivapūjā 187
5.12 The Outer Auxiliaries 190
5.13 Yama and Niyama 190
5.14 Āsana 198
5.15 The Yoga Hermitage 202
5.16 Prāṇāyāma 203
5.17 The Ajapā Mantra 205
5.18 The Triple-Confluence 207
5.19 The Three Bandhas 209
5.20 The Inner Auxiliaries 211
5.21 Pratyāhāra 212
5.22 Dhyāna 212
5.23 Nine Cakras 215
5.24 Sixteen Ādhāras 218
5.25 Dhāraṇā 223

xiii
5.26 Samādhi 226
5.27 Twelve-Year Sequence of Siddhis 229
5.28 The Ritualization of Aṣṭāṅgayoga 231
5.29 Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Ṣaṭsthala 233
5.30 Tripartite Rājayoga 235
5.31 Sāṅkhya Rājayoga 239
5.32 Tāraka Rājayoga 242
5.33 Amanaska Rājayoga 244
5.34 Method of Worshipping Śiva as Consciousness 249
5.35 Concluding Verses 256
5.36 Review of the Teachings 258

6. Conclusion 260

xiv
Part 1: Historical and Textual Background

1
 1. Introduction

1.1 Preliminary Remarks

This dissertation centers around the study of a lesser-known Sanskrit yoga treatise from south India

entitled the Śivayogapradīpikā, or the “Lamp on Śivayoga.” The text was written by an author named

Cennasadāśivayogin, who my research shows likely lived in a Telugu-speaking region of Andhra

Pradesh in the first half of the fifteenth century, and who belonged to a religious tradition known as the

Vīraśaivas, or the “Heroic Devotees of Śiva,” which flourished in the late-medieval Deccan. Little

scholarly attention has yet been brought to bear on the Śivayogapradīpikā—nor to the yoga of the

Vīraśaivas—although its prominence within south-Indian yoga traditions is attested by its reception

history and citations in numerous early modern texts on yoga and Vīraśaivism.

This dissertation argues that in codifying the Śivayogapradīpikā, Cennasadāśivayogin sought to

reconcile systems of yoga on the horizon in fifteenth-century south India—in particular a fourfold

classification of yogas including Mantrayoga, Layayoga, Haṭhayoga, and Rājayoga—together within a

unified framework of Śaiva ritual worship (pūjā) and devotion (bhakti). While it has been argued that

other medieval Yogaśāstras1 which teach the methods of Haṭhayoga largely eschew specific sectarian

markers, ritual, or religious affiliation in favor of a certain type of yogic universalism (e.g. MALLINSON

2014; BIRCH 2014, 408), I contend that the Śivayogapradīpikā represents an intentionally Śaiva,

devotional, and ritualized approach to the theory and praxis of yoga—framed as Śivayoga. The

Śivayogapradīpikā uniquely teaches a system of eight auxiliaries of yoga (aṣṭāṅgayoga) cultivated as a

form of internal Śivapūjā. I describe this as both the “yogification” of Śaiva ritual, and the

1 In this dissertation I employ Yogaśāstra

as an emic term used self-reflexively by the texts themselves. See, for
example, Dattātreyayogaśāstra 169, Yogayājñavalkya 8.4, Śivayogapradīpikā 5.58–59, Śivasaṃhitā 1.17, 1.19, 5.150,
Haṭhapradīpikā 1.18, etc.

2
“ritualization” of yoga. Indeed, it is the distinctly ritual and devotional orientation of this yoga,

produced within a Vīraśaiva bhakti context, that makes the teachings of the Śivayogapradīpikā most

unique—and indeed what differentiates Śivayoga from other well-known systems of yoga.

In this first chapter I will offer a brief précis of existing scholarship on medieval yoga texts and

the Śivayogapradīpikā, discuss the method for the present dissertation, address the need for a critical

edition, and lay out the scope of this project through a chapter-by-chapter outline.

1.2 Medieval Yoga Studies

The literature on yoga is vast—both popular and scholarly.2 Scholarship on yoga within India’s

formative medieval period however still remains in its infancy.3 Although the study of yoga has been a

parcel of the practice of Indology since the Orientalist scholars of the nineteenth century, most of the

early scholarship on yoga was centered around the philosophical traditions of Sāṅkhya and

Pātañjalayoga4 in a quest for what historian of religion Louis de la Vallée POUSSIN termed “le yoga

Pur” (see WHITE 2009, 42). Indeed, the overwhelming emphasis on the yoga of Patañjali as the

representative of a supposed original, pure, classical, or authentic yoga tradition, has overshadowed and

stinted other important areas of yoga research for many years. One result of this assumption has been

the common scholarly opinion that yoga texts and traditions, including (and especially) medieval

Haṭhayoga, that exist outside of the “orthodox” purview of Pātañjalayoga are looked down upon as

2 For example, see Karl POTTER’s well-known online bibliography of Indian philosophy which lists some 800

entries under “yoga.” http://faculty.washington.edu/kpotter/xsec.htm#[Y]. Accessed October 9, 2019. By

“popular” I refer to publications aimed at the general public or lay reader, and not the success or reception of a
given work. These include yoga primers, how-to-manuals, self-help guides, etc.
3 I use the term “medieval” to reference the large period between 600–1600 CE, and specifically “late-medieval”

to denote its upper terminus between 1200–1600 CE. This latter period is of particular significance to this study
as it witnessed the flourishing of numerous Sanskrit and vernacular texts on Haṭhayoga and Rājayoga. These
periodic divisions however are largely heuristic. For an historiographical analysis of the limits of the medieval
period in India, see WEDEMEYER (2012, 58–66).
4 For an excellent overview of early Indological research on Pātañjalayoga, see MAAS (2013).

3
subordinate or “satellite” systems in juxtaposition to the so-called “classical” system of Pātañjali.5 There

is a specific history as to why Haṭhayoga and Haṭha yogins especially were deemed unfavorable and

philosophically impure by nineteenth and twentieth-century scholars and intellectuals both in India

and the west—a history which as been expertly chronicled by Mark SINGLETON (2010) and need not be

recounted here. The results, however, of certain anti-haṭha attitudes, and the valorization of Patañjali’s

Yogaśāstra over and above all other systems of yoga, has diminished the relevance of “other” premodern

yoga texts within Indological circles, especially those concerned with the Śāśtraic intellectual disciplines

of premodern India.6

Until quite recently, our understanding of yoga traditions in medieval India had been mediated

through a small handful of Sanskrit texts that were edited and translated during the late nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries, especially those which were published by the Theosophical society.7 The past

few decades, however, have witnessed a major resurgence in text-critical scholarship on yoga traditions

—thanks in large part to the recent efforts of the scholars at the Haṭha Yoga Project (2015–2020) at

SOAS, the University of London,8 as well as at institutions in India such as Kaivalyadhama and the

5 See e.g. LARSON & BHATTACHARYA (2008, 434–586). On the shortcomings of the category of “classical” for
India and yoga, see O’BRIEN-KOP (2021).
6 For example, in the “Knowledge Systems on the Eve of Colonialism” project spearheaded by Sheldon

POLLOCK, which restricts itself to seven intellectual disciplines during the early modern period of 1550–1750,
yoga is notably absent. The disciplines comprise: “vyākaraṇa (language analysis), mīmāṃsā, nyāya (logic and
epistemology), dharmaśāstra (law and moral philosophy, broadly speaking), alaṅkāraśāstra (poetics), āyurveda
(life science), and jyotiḥśāstra (astral science).” According to POLLOCK (2011, 20–21), these seven disciplines “have
been selected for their centrality to Sanskrit culture (language and discourse analysis), for their comparative and
historical value (life and astral sciences), or for the new vitality the system seems to have demonstrated during
these centuries (logic and epistemology).” From this perspective, Yogaśāstras are not really Śāstras.
7 In particular for Haṭhayoga I am thinking of the Haṭhapradīpikā, Śivasamḥitā, and Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā. Thanks
in no small part to the translations made available by the Theosophical Society in the late nineteenth century,
this triptych of Sanskrit texts soon became representative of a Haṭhayoga “canon.”
8 I am grateful to MALLINSON and BIRCH for sharing with me many of their working Sanskrit editions from the
Haṭha Yoga Project which greatly inform the present study.

4
Lonavla Yoga Institute in Pune. As more and more unpublished manuscripts are being dusted off the

shelves of the Indian archives, digitized, edited, and translated, our understanding of the history and

development of yoga traditions in premodern India is rapidly improving. Indeed, thanks to the

dedicated work and momentum of a growing collective of yoga scholars, it has been difficult to keep

this present study updated and fresh with the latest findings as I have toiled over this dissertation for

the past ten years.

The present dissertation certainly would not have been possible without the groundbreaking

philological work especially of Christian BOUY, James MALLINSON, and Jason BIRCH, who have laid

the textual foundation for a project of this nature to exist. BOUY’s pioneering study, Les Nātha-yogin et

les Upaniṣads (1994), was the first of its kind to use philology to map out the textual network of

medieval and early modern Yogaśāstras. Through a rigorous study of the intertextual relationships of a

corpus referred to as the “Yoga Upaniṣads,” BOUY’s research revealed that many of these Upaniṣads

were composed in south India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and that their redactors had

extensively borrowed and adapted verses from earlier Haṭhayoga and Rājayoga texts—tailored for a

new Brāhmaṇical Advaitavedānta audience. Based on a large number of unpublished Sanskrit

manuscripts, BOUY’s study provided a philological blueprint and new historical timeline for future

scholars to improve upon.

Over the past two decades, the pioneering and prolific research of MALLINSON has made major

advances within the field of medieval Haṭhayoga studies. Building upon BOUY (1994), MALLINSON’s

dissertation involved a critical edition, study, and translation of a key early Śaiva work on Haṭhayoga,

the Khecarīvidyā (2001; later published in 2007). He has since critically edited and translated numerous

Sanskrit works on yoga including the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā (2004), Śivasaṃhitā (2007), Gorakṣaśataka

(2012), Amṛtasiddhi (co-edited with Péter-Dániel SZÁNTÓ, 2021), Dattātreyayogaśāstra (forthcoming),

5
and Vivekamārtaṇḍa (forthcoming). MALLINSON has combined the use of textual criticism, art

history, and ethnography to create a more holistic understanding of yoga’s past. These editions

alongside the numerous chapters and articles he has written (see Bibliography) have radically altered

and improved our understanding of the history of Haṭhayoga in premodern India. Alongside the work

of MALLINSON, the trailblazing scholarship of BIRCH has pushed forward new horizons in our

understanding of medieval and early modern yogas—especially Rājayoga. BIRCH’s excellent dissertation

which is a critical edition, translation, and study of the twelfth-century Rājayoga text, the Amanaska

(2013), was a major source of inspiration for my study of the Rājayoga of the Śivayogapradīpikā. BIRCH

has since published numerous articles as well as edited and translated several key texts including the

Amaraughaprabodha (forthcoming), Yogabīja (forthcoming), and the Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati (co-

edited with SINGLETON, forthcoming). Both MALLINSON and BIRCH were doctoral students of

Professor Alexis SANDERSON at Oxford University, where they applied the same textual criticism to

yoga as SANDERSON and his students and colleagues have done for the history of Śaivism. Another of

SANDERON’s students, Somadeva VASUDEVA (2004) also provides an erudite model for approaching a

Śaiva yoga text, which informs this dissertation, in his brilliant study of the yoga of the

Mālinīvijayottaratantra. Other important contributions to the study of medieval yogas which inform

this dissertation include: BRUNNER (1994), WHITE (1996), KISS (2009), SANDERSON (2009b),

BÜHNEMANN (2011), and MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017), among others.9 Much of this work will

be explored further in the coming pages.

1.3 Existing Scholarship on the Śivayogapradīpikā

9 This is by no means an exhaustive literature review of scholarship on yoga during India’s medieval period, but

rather a brief summary of the major works which have informed this dissertation.

6
Due in part to the historical forces mentioned above, the Śivayogapradīpikā has remained largely

unknown to scholars. There has been very little scholarship to-date directly on the Śivayogapradīpikā,

save for a few important exceptions. Nijalingamma KOPPAL, whose dissertation at Karnatak University

was entitled “A Study of Śivayoga as Preached and Practiced by Vīraśaiva Mystics” (1968) devotes

attention to the Śivayogapradīpikā, which was also featured in a stand-alone article in the journal

Pathway to God, “Śivayoga according to the Śivayogapradīpikā” (1988). KOPPAL’s study, though

limited, was an excellent starting point, and helped to establish the Vīraśaiva context of the author, as

well as the text’s relation with other contemporaneous works in Telugu and Kannada. In BOUY’s

philological study (1994) of the Yoga Upaniṣads and their relations with other Yogaśāstras, he observes

several textual parallels and quotations of the Śivayogapradīpikā in later yoga compendiums such as the

Yogacintāmaṇi and Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha, and includes it within his timeline of yoga texts (1994, 119).

This data was picked up by BIRCH (2013) in his dissertation on the Amanaska, wherein he provides a

detailed summary of the Śivayogapradīpikā including: an overview of its dating, known textual

parallels, and a survey of the text’s teachings, especially in relation to the Rājayoga of the Amanaska.

MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017) provide translations and discussion of a few passages from the

Śivayogapradīpikā in their important anthology Roots of Yoga (2017),10 and include it in their timeline

of yoga texts (2007, xl). Beyond this, there has been virtually nothing within secondary scholarship

written about the Śivayogapradīpikā except for occasional mentions or references.11

1.4 Methodology

Inspired by the work of the above scholars, this dissertation will draw upon a text-critical historical

method that seeks to understand the Śivayogapradīpikā by reading it closely within a larger textual

10 MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017, xxiii, 15, 33, 93, 263, 355).

11 Examples include: NANDIMATH (1979, 158), SANDERSON (2014, 85), MAHADEVAN (2018), CANTÚ (2021).

7
network of Sanskrit Yogaśāstras and Śaiva scriptures that encircle it. The Śivayogapradīpikā does not

exist in a religio-cultural, literary, or social vacuum. It can be conceived as part of a larger corpus of

Sanskrit Yogaśāstras which were being composed after the twelfth century, many in south India, and

likely within institutional contexts of the monastery (maṭha). Tracing the doctrinal and

methodological sources of Cennasadāśivayogin, and parallels with other coeval yogic literature, is

essential to understand the workings of a given text and the discursive strategies of production of a

particular author.

In addition to the numerous physical books and scans of manuscripts and printed editions, this

study has been aided by advancements in the digitization of Sanskrit texts. Here I must again state my

immense thanks to both MALLINSON and BIRCH for constantly and generously supplying me with

transcriptions of available texts, and to BIRCH especially for helping me to “jumpstart” my personal

library of Sanskrit e-texts. The ability to quickly “search and find” through hundreds of Sanskrit texts

within seconds allows for a comparative philology unimaginable to previous generations of textual

scholars. Acknowledgements must again also be given to the Muktabodha Indological Research

Institute and its team of philologists in India, whose vast archive of searchable e-texts on Śaivism and

yoga, as well as their transcriptions, and scans of unpublished manuscripts from the Institut Français de

Pondichéry (IFP)—all made freely available for the public—has been a treasure trove of knowledge and

has greatly enhanced the research for this dissertation.

One of the main arguments of this dissertation is that central to Cennasadāśivayogin’s project

in composing the Śivayogapradīpikā is the synthesis of multiple yoga systems convergent with a

Vīraśaiva ritual and devotional soteriological framework. Towards this aim, our author uses various

textual strategies—lists, hierarchies, internal versus external divisions and correspondences, and

importantly a system of eight auxiliaries (aṣṭāṅgayoga). How might we better understand the textual

8
operations employed in the Śivayogapradīpikā’s synthesis of numerous religio-yogic doctrines, texts,

and systems of praxis? Here, I propose we can draw on scholar of Japanese religion, Jason JOSEPHSON’s

model of “hierarchical inclusion”12 as a useful way in to thinking about the Śivayogapradīpikā’s strategy

of yogic reconciliation.13 JOSEPHSON (2012, 26) describes hierarchical inclusion as “an asymmetrical

technique for reconciling difference… by which I mean an operation for dealing with alterity that

works by subordinating marks of difference into a totalizing ideology, while still preserving their

external signs.”14 This is especially fruitful for thinking about the deliberate ways in which

Cennasadāśivayogin draws together the various competing systems of yoga, Śaiva and non-Śaiva

terminology, together with Śaiva devotional and ritual worship traditions. In this way, Śivayoga

becomes a “totalizing ideology” that incorporates all other yogas. By subsuming, rather than rejecting,

the other systems of yogic and religious praxis, the author preserves “their external signs,” infused with

Śaiva ritual and devotional meaning. Keeping in mind the strategy of hierarchical inclusivity will be

particularly fruitful when we get to our textual analysis in Chapter 5.

12 JOSEPHSON notes that his theory of “hierarchical inclusion” is indebted to Paul HACKER’s earlier notion of

“inklusivismus,” in reference to the “appropriation of central concepts of ‘alien’ systems into one’s
own” (JOSEPHSON 2012, 273, n.16). Such a strategy of reconciliation and appropriation is indeed an Indian
textual strategy not unique to the Śivayogapradīpikā; it can be traced back at least to the homological reframing
of Vedic ritual in the Upaniṣads, the theological supersessionism of the Bhagavadgītā, and is moreover, a
hallmark of the textual world of Śaivism. The Śaivasiddhānta addition of eleven further metaphysical levels of
reality (tattva) to the standard twenty-five of classical Sāṅkhya is a well-known example (GOODALL 2016). Here,
the earlier metaphysical blueprint of Sāṅkhya is not refuted or rejected, but rather hierarchically assimilated into
a “higher” ontological understanding of reality. It is in this same fashion, that Svātmarāma in his fifteenth-
century Haṭhapradīpikā begins by declaring Haṭhayoga to be “like a stairway for one who desires to ascend the
lofty peak of Rājayoga” (Haṭhapradīpikā 1.1 cd: pronnatarājayogam āroḍhum icchor adhirohiṇīva).
13 CLOONEY (2003) has spoken of a more expansive and modern expression of “hierarchical inclusion” in the

Hindu universalist writings of Swami Vivekananda.

14 While JOSEPHSON uses this framework to better understand Japan’s early modern encounter with non-

Japanese, and specifically non-Buddhist, religio-cultural traditions, I suggest that hierarchical inclusion is a very
useful theory for understanding the hermeneutics of medieval Sanskrit Yogaśāstras and the Śivayogapradīpikā’s
strategy for reconciling yogic difference and alterity within a ritual framework of Śivayoga.

9
 Two brief periods of fieldwork in south India in 2015 and 2020 provided me the opportunity to

visit libraries, manuscript archives, as well as some Vīraśaiva maṭhas and temples. These essential travels

in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh allowed me to collect the unpublished Sanskrit manuscripts which

inform the critical edition of the Śivayogapradīpikā (Appendix I), in addition to providing me with

opportunities to engage with contemporary Vīraśaiva communities.

1.5 The Need for a Critical Edition

Though printed editions of the Śivayogapradīpikā exist, these editions are highly flawed as they are

filled with numerous spelling errors and erroneous editorial interpolations. The existing printed

editions in Devanāgarī script also do not provide manuscript witnesses or any variant readings, and so

it is unclear what sources the editors were viewing. For these philological reasons it has been necessary

to attempt to reconstruct the text based on new unpublished manuscript data I have gathered through

my field work in India. Based on four unpublished manuscript sources, together with three printed

editions, and selections of later texts which quote major portions of our text, this dissertation will

produce the first critical edition of the Śivayogapradīpikā (Appendix I) along with a complete English

translation of text (Appendix II).15 This critical edition does not propose to be the “original” or ur-text,

but rather based on readings taken directly from the manuscript sources themselves, I have managed to

make major corrections to the readability and internal logic of the text. Three key examples of

improvements should suffice for now:

1.
antaryāgo bahiryāgo dvividhaṃ tac chivārcanam |
mukhyā cābhyantare pūjā sā ca bāhyārcanoditā || 1.38

38a antaryāgo bahiryāgo ] N T1 T2 T3 Ked ; antaryogo bahiryogo Ped SVed

15 For further information on the witnesses utilized in the critical edition, see Appendix I.

10
 That worship of Śiva (śivārcana) is twofold: internal worship and external worship. Internal
worship is most important and it arises from external worship.

The reading of 1.38a for the printed Ānandāśrama Pune edition (Ped) and the Sri Vidya edition (SVed)

is antaryogo bahiryogo, whereas the reading adopted for the critical edition, which is consistent in all

other witnesses is antaryāgo bahiryāgo. Such a change of technical terms, from yogo → yāgo has

important implications for the text, from “yoga” → “worship.” Within the context of these verses, the

author is clearly stating that there are two types of ritual worship of Śiva (śivārcana): internal worship

(antaryāga) and external (bahiryāga). Later in paṭala 2 the author will discuss the inner and outer

auxiliaries of yoga in the context of Aṣṭāṅgayoga.

2.
ākuñcayet gudādhāraṃ sadā saṃkocanena tu |
apānamarutasthairyaṃ jāyate tat tṛtīyakam || 3.19

19d tat tṛtīyakam ] T1 T3 YC ; tat tritīyakam T2 , tad dvitīyakam Ped SVed

One should clench the anus support (gudādhāra). By continually contracting [the anus],
there is the stabliztion of the apāna breath—that is the third.

Here in 3.19 we are in the context of a sequential list of the sixteen mental supports (ādhāra) for

dhyāna within Aṣṭāṅgayoga. The anus support (gudādhāra) is clearly the third in the list (tṛtīyaka), as

supported by the manuscript witnesses, including the Yogacintāmaṇi (YC). All witnesses, including the

printed editions, have 3.18 as the second (dvitīya) support in the previous verse, so this is an obvious

and careless mistake of reduplication by the editors.

3.
pratyāhāreṇa saṃyuktaḥ prasādīti na saṃśayaḥ |
dhyānadhāraṇasaṃyukto śaraṇasthalavān sudhīḥ || 3.62

62d śaraṇasthalavān ] N T2 T3 ; caraṇasthalavān T1 Ped SVed

11
 One who is yoked through pratyāhāra [attains] the graceful [stage], there is no doubt. Yoked
through dhyāna and dhāraṇ[ā], the wise attains the ref uge stage.

This is perhaps one of the most semantically important examples of change across our variant

witnesses, which occurs during a key moment in the text where the author is reinterpreting the

traditional eight auxiliaries of Aṣṭāṅgayoga within the devotional Vīraśaiva framework of the ṣaṭsthala,

or the “six stages” of devotion (bhakti). While the printed editions (likely drawing on a source like T1)

present the reading for 3.62d as caraṇasthalavān, N, T2, and T3 importantly preserve the correct

reading of śaraṇasthalavān, a technical Vīraśāiva term for one attaining the “refuge stage,” the fifth and

penultimate stage of bhakti—just prior to “oneness with Śiva” (liṅgaikya), which occurs as samādhi in

the following verse. These are just a few of many improvements that have been made to the text by

reconstructing the critical edition.

1.6 Scope of the Dissertation

Having established this philological foundation through the careful reconstruction of the critical

edition, we can then better proceed with a responsible study of the text, its author, the historical

context, and so on. Part one of the dissertation provides an historical and textual overview to supply

the necessary background to understand the composition of the Śivayogapradīpikā and its yogas.

Chapter 1 reviews existing scholarship on medieval yoga texts and the Śivayogapradīpikā, introduces the

method and scope of the present dissertation, and addresses the need for a critical edition. Chapter 2

situates the Śivayogapradīpikā within the broader histories, texts, and traditions of yoga and Śaivism in

premodern India, giving attention to the various definitions and systematizations of yoga, followed by

a genealogy of Śivayoga. Chapter 3 takes up the specific case of Vīraśaivism in south India, assessing the

tradition’s unique relationship to bhakti and yoga, and locates their development within medieval

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the latter being the region of production for the Śivayogapradīpikā.

12
 Part two will then proceed with an analysis of the Śivayogapradīpikā based on the critical

edition. Chapter 4 provides an overview of the available evidence pertaining to the Śivayogapradīpikā’s

dating, authorship, textual relations, and reception history. Chapter 5 offers a detailed analysis of the

doctrine and praxis of the Śivayogapradīpikā, with particular focus on the four yogas—Mantra, Laya,

Haṭha, and Rājayoga—envisioned as Śivayoga (paṭala 1); the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section and its ritualization

as Śivapūjā—including teachings on the subtle body system of nine cakras and sixteen ādhāras, the

powers (siddhi) that arise from successful practice, and the Vīraśaiva and Rājayoga re-rendering of

Aṣṭāṅgayoga (paṭalas 2–3); concluding with an analysis of the text’s unique tripartite teachings on

Rājayoga and its soteriology (paṭalas 4–5). A conclusion in Chapter 6 will offer final summaries and

reflections about the findings and main arguments of this dissertation, and its unique contributions

towards our understanding of the history and development of yoga in premodern India. Two

appendices to the dissertation will include the Sanskrit critical edition followed by a complete English

translation of the text.

While such a study is inevitably focused on the particular textual, religious, philosophical, and

social milieu of one lesser-known text and author from fifteenth-century south India, it is my hope that

this dissertation might offer a valuable model for thinking about the creative and dynamic ways in

which religious doctrine and praxis, tradition and innovation, are constructed and performed in a text.

I hope that this study will be of interest to both scholars of religion in South Asia, as well as specialists

and practitioners of yoga.

13
 2. Yoga, Śaivism, and Śivayoga in Premodern India

2.1 Preliminary Remarks

The history of the study of yoga and Śaivism is explicably bound due to what is in all likelihood one of

the great blunders of early Indology. Ever since the writings of Sir John MARSHALL (1931), the director-

general of the Archeological Survey of India, the ancient Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2600–1900 BCE)

of northwestern south Asia has been held as the origins point not only for yoga, but for the religious

traditions of Hinduism and Śaivism as well.16 Until rather recently, the vast majority of secondary

scholarship, university textbooks, yoga teacher training manuals, and so on, have made the unequivocal

claim that yoga is a five-thousand year-old tradition—based primarily on MARSHALL’s identification of

clay seal figures depicting a proto-Śiva deity who is seated in a “peculiar Yogī-like posture.” According

to MARSHALL, in his archeological survey of the Mohenjo-Daro site:

The second feature of this pre-Āryan god that links him with the historic Śiva is his peculiar
Yogī-like posture, with feet drawn up beneath him, toes turned down, and hands extended
above the knees. Śiva is pre-eminently the prince of Yogīs—the typical ascetic and self-
mortifier, whence his names Mahātapaḥ, Mahāyogī. Primarily, the purpose of yoga was the
attainment of union (yoga) with the god by mental discipline and concentration; but it was
also the means of acquiring miraculous powers, and hence in [the] course of time the yogī
came to be regarded as a magician, miracle-monger, and charlatan. Like Śaivism itself, yoga
had its origin among the pre-Āryan population, and this explains why it was not until the
Epic Period that it came to play an important role in Indo-Āryan religion (1931, 53–54).

While later Epic and Purāṇic textual sources would indeed describe Śiva as the Great Lord of Yoga

(mahāyogeśvara) and the Lord of Yogins (yogīśvara), there is nothing intrinsic to the Indus Valley

figures that would suggest that this is who, or what, we are looking at in these prehistoric clay figures.

Some scholars have interpreted the figure as a buffalo, others as an ithyphallic male god, other scholars

16 For an overview of the evidence and historiographical debates surrounding yoga and the Indus Valley material

culture, see SAMUEL (2008, 1–14) and WHITE (2009, 48–59).

14
have argued the figure is not ithyphallic but rather has an extended belt, while others say its not a male

god at all, but a female deity.17 As Geoffrey SAMUEL writes, “The only reasonable conclusion is that we

do not actually know how to interpret the figure, nor do we know what he or she represents” (2008, 4).

Thomas MCEVILLEY (1981) and Yan DHYANSKY (1987) would later take MARSHALL’s yoga thesis

further, identifying the postures themselves with āsanas from medieval Sanskrit texts on Haṭhayoga

and pairing the seals against black and white photographs of twentieth-century Indian yoga masters

such as Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and his brother-in-law B.K.S. Iyengar. According to these scholars,

seal no. 420 from Mohenjo-daro is thus none other than mūlabandhāsana as found in contemporary

yoga—despite the fact that we have no evidence of an āsana named as such prior to the early twentieth-

century. The problem with this line of thinking, of course, is that without any deciphered Indus Valley

script or textual context to read against, the early material culture of artifacts from Mohenjo-daro is

highly ambiguous, and interpretations are almost always troubled by projecting much later traditions

anachronistically back onto the past. The gap between the early Indus Valley material culture and the

later Vedic and post-Vedic textual culture of Hinduism and yoga is substantial. More recent scholarship

has since offered a critical reassessment of these earlier historiographical claims, and today most

Indologists agree that MARSHALL’s description of an Indus Valley yoga is speculative at best. As

SAMUEL (2008, 8) concludes, “the evidence for the yogic […] practices is so dependent on reading later

practices into the material that it is of little or no use for constructing any kind of history of practices.”

This is especially so when we consider that the very concept of yoga likely did not arise until nearly two

thousand years after the civilizations at the heart the Indus Valley.

17 See SAMUEL (2008, 3–4).

15
2.2 Defining Yoga: Not One, But Many Yogas

The Sanskrit word yoga refers to a set of ideas and practices indigenous to the civilizational complexes

of ancient India, which over the past two thousand years or more have been adapted, innovated, and

spread transnationally around the globe. Its etymology derives from the Sanskrit verbal root √yuj

which can mean “to yoke, unite, hitch, bind, etc.,” and as an Indo-European term is thus cognate with

the English word “yoke,” the German joch, the French joug, and so on. However, a secondary form of

the root √yuj can mean “to concentrate,” as in the sense of binding or yoking the mind to one place.

This dual meaning of √yuj as “union” and “concentration” was pointed out long ago by the important

Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini, in his “Book of Verbal Roots,” the Dhātupāṭha.

yuj samādhau | Dhātupāṭha 4.68

√yuj in the sense of “concentrated mental absorption” (samādhi).

yujir yoge | Dhātupāṭha 7.7

√yuj in the sense of “yoke” (yoga).

For the philosophy of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, it is the first √yuj that Patañjali had in mind, while for

other texts and traditions such as the Bhagavadgītā, the Purāṇas, the Tantras, and many medieval

Yogaśāstras, it is typically the latter. Thus for Patañjali, the word yoga does not mean “yoke” or

“union,” while for other authors it did.18 It is at least in part because of the wide semantic range and

dual meaning of the root √yuj that the word yoga was understood, defined, and expressed differently

by various authors and texts, especially during yoga’s formative phases.

The earliest literary occurrences of the Sanskrit word yoga and its verbal relatives are to be

found in the oldest Sanskrit text, the Ṛgveda. Here we typically find the word denoting its most

common usage in the sense of yoking two disparate things together. For example, the bringing together

18 Patañjali’s yoga is in fact one of disjunction (viyoga): the separation of pure consciousness (puruṣa) from

primordial matter (prakṛti).

16
of a word and its meaning is said to be yoga. Or, more commonly, the hitching of a horse to its draft or

chariot is described as yoga. This yoking of animals and chariots had agricultural and even wartime

significance in ancient India. As David WHITE has highlighted, a common phrase found in the

Mahābhārata is yogayukta, the “yogic hitching” and apotheosis of a warrior, who rides his chariot into

the sun at the time of death.19 These early expressions of the term yoga in the Vedic corpus however do

not yet express a soteriological system of yoga, though they semantically pave the way for such an idea.

Yoga as a soteriology—a set of ideas and practices aimed at human transcendence and liberation from

suffering—would not arise until towards the end of the so-called Vedic period of India, sometime

around the fifth and sixth centuries BCE. Here along the Gangetic plains of northern India, in the

region Johannes BRONKHORST (2007) calls Greater Magadha, yoga appears to have arisen through the

confluence of Vedic Brāhmaṇical and non-Vedic Śramaṇa renunciate traditions such as the Buddhists,

Jains, Ājivikas, and others. This early yoga is often framed as the practice or state of meditative

concentration (dhyāna, jhāna, samādhi), though in the early Buddhist and Jain sources the term yoga

is notably absent. As many scholars have observed, it is in the sixth chapter (vallī) of the Kaṭhopaniṣad,

where we find perhaps our earliest description of a soteriological yoga defined as yoga.

When the five perceptions are stilled together with the mind (manas),
And not even reason (buddhi) bestirs; they call it the highest state.
When the senses (indriya) are firmly reigned in (dhāraṇā), that is thought to be yoga.
Then one becomes undistracted. For yoga is the arising and falling away.20

This early definition of yoga in the Kaṭhopaniṣad features several important elements that we find

echoed throughout the numerous yoga texts and traditions which would follow. It introduces the

fundamental mind-body dyad that can be altered through yogic discipline. By manipulating the

19 See WHITE (2009, 101–102).

20 Kaṭhopaniṣad 6.10–11:
yadā pañcāvatiṣṭhante jñānāni manasā saha | buddhiś ca na viceṣṭati tām āhuḥ
paramāṃ gatim || tāṃ yogam iti manyate sthirām indriyadhāraṇām | apramattas tadā bhavati yogo hi
prabhavāpyayau ||.

17
physical body (e.g. reining in the sense-organs from their respective sense-objects), one can in turn

affect the condition and state of the mind—and vice versa.21 By reining in the senses of his body—like a

charioteer reins in the horses of his chariot—the yogin22 can control and even completely still the

activity of the mind. The Ṛg Vedic yoking of a horse to its chariot, was interiorized in the Kaṭha to the

person yoking their wild horse-like senses (indriya).23 Yoga is here described as that state in which the

senses have been firmly reined in (dhāraṇā), when not even reason or the faculty of discernment

(buddhi) bestirs. It is a state of complete stillness, concentration, and free of all mental distractions

(apramattas). Finally, it is a state which arises, but also ceases. For the Kaṭha, yoga is thus not necessarily

a permanent state, but a special and mentally exalted one, which one can attain through disciplined

mental and physical practice.

Several features and terminology from the Kaṭha's definition of the state of yoga are highly

similar to the classical formulation of yoga in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, or the Yogasūtra of Patañjali (c.

400 CE).24 As has been well-documented, the Pātañjalayogaśāstra represents an important

culmination and synthesis of prior yoga and meditative traditions, bridging together Sāṅkhya,

21 This would later turn into a yogic triad: mind-breath-senses or mind-breath-bindu (e.g. Haṭhapradīpikā 4.28).

22 In this dissertation, I use the word “yogin” when referring to Sanskrit texts and traditions and “yogi”
when
referring to both contemporary practitioners as well as those in vernacular texts, for example in Chapter 3.
23 Elsewhere in theKaṭhopaniṣad we find the famous analogy of the chariot, an early expression of a Sāṅkhya
metaphysical philosophy and teaching on the levels of reality (tattva). This type of interiorization of earlier
concepts within the mind-body of the practitioner is a hallmark of Indic yoga traditions, as we will later explore
in the Śivayogapradīpikā.
24 In this dissertation I follow MAAS (2013, 2020) who has convincingly argued that the author of the Yogasūtra

was also the author of its earliest commentary known as the Bhāṣya or Yogabhāṣya, often times ascribed to Vyāsa
or Vedavyāsa. According to MAAS the sūtras together with the bhāṣya were likely composed together by a single
author around 400 CE and that together the text was known as the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, or “Patañjali’s
Authoritative Treatise on Yoga.” In general I will refer to the text by its full name Pātañjalayogaśāstra, however,
if I am referring to specific sūtra portions only I may use Yogasūtra.

18
Buddhist, and Jain philosophies of spiritual praxis within a Brāhmaṇical soteriological framework.

Patañjali famously defines the subject matter of his treatise as follows:

yogaś cittavṛttinirodhaḥ | Pātāñjalayogaśāstra 1.2

Yoga is the stilling of the turnings of the mind.

The commentary (bhāṣya) on Pātāñjalayogaśāstra 1.1 importantly tells us that the word yoga means

samādhi, a concentrated state of “mental absorption” (yogaḥ samādhiḥ). For Patañjali too then, yoga

refers to a state—a state which is known by the technical term of samādhi. Patañjali’s yoga treatise

would come to represent a philosophical system (darśana) that would be commented on by Sanskrit

scholars of various schools (especially Vedānta) down through the present day.25 Despite its legacy,

Patañjali would not, however, have the final word on yoga, and during the centuries of the first

millennium the theory and praxis of yoga was adopted and adapted widely across the major religious

traditions of India. Important early textual sources for yoga include the Mahābhārata epic, especially

the Bhagavadgītā and Mokṣadharma sections, the Upaniṣads such as the Kaṭha, Śvetāśvatara, and the

Maitrī, the Purāṇas such as the Śivapurāṇa, Viṣṇupurāṇa, and Bhāgavatapurāṇa, Buddhist Yogācāra

texts, and more. These early expressions of yoga are closely linked with ancient forms of Indian

asceticism and the cultivation of tapas, or spiritual “heat”—wherein the ascetic pushes his mind-body

up to and beyond its physical capacity in order to generate spiritual powers, eradicate karma, or even

attain liberation from cyclic existence (saṃsāra). For much of Indian history, yoga remained a

specialized religious activity practiced by celibate, male renunciates, who disengaged from normative

society. Over time, however, the idioms and practices of yoga could be detected across many vectors of

Indian texts and society—in elite Sanskrit poetry, in prescriptions of prāṇāyāma for Brāhmaṇas in

25 The influential doxographical work, the Sarvadarśaṇasaṃgraha (c. 14th century), composed under the
patronage of the Vijayanagara court, outlines the doctrines of sixteen different systems of Indian philosophy.
Yoga is described as second only to Advaitavedānta.

19
Dharmaśāstra literature, and especially in the stories of great kings and sages in the Purāṇas in their

quests for mokṣa. Within the vast Tantric scriptural corpus of the sixth through twelfth centuries, yoga

is often understood as a method of meditation or concentrated visualization practice (dhyāna),

however, soteriological definitions and methods of yoga would vary widely during this formative

period. The author of the twelfth-century Śāradātilakatantra acknowledges this multiplicity of yogas,

providing definitions from four different views:

Now I shall teach yoga, with its auxiliaries, which bestows understanding. The experts in yoga
say that yoga is union of the vital principle (jīva) and the self (ātman). Others say that it is
knowledge of Śiva and the self as not being different. Those who know the Śaiva scriptures say
that it is knowledge of Śiva and Śakti. Other wise ones say that it is knowledge of the person
(puruṣa).26

As MALLINSON AND SINGLETON (2017, 4–5) observe, the Sanskrit term yoga can refer to a discipline or

set of practices, or it can refer the state and soteriological goal of said practices. This dual sense of yoga

as both practice and goal is indicated playfully by the following verse, which is an anonymous quote

found in the bhāṣya of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra:

yogena yogo jñātavyo yogo yogāt pravartate |

yo ’pramattas tu yogena sa yoge ramate ciram ||

Through yoga, yoga is to be known. Yoga arises from yoga. He who is undistracted by
means of yoga, delights in yoga for a long time.27

This dual sense of “yoga by means of yoga” raises further complications when we try to interpret

compound terms such as mantrayoga, layayoga, haṭhayoga, rājayoga, śivayoga, buddhiyoga, jñānayoga,

etc., as we find throughout the literature on yoga. MALLINSON AND SINGLETON suggest that the term

haṭhayoga, for example, can be translated as either “[the state of] yoga [achieved] by means of force

(haṭha)” or “the forceful yoga [practice]” (2017, 5, emphasis original). They favor the former, given

26 Śāradātilakatantra 25.1a–3b, trans. MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017, 22).

27 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.6.

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“the predominance in the texts of yoga-as-goal” rather than yoga-as-method. We will keep this in mind

when we get to Śivayoga.

As a soteriological complex of ideas and practices aimed at liberation from human suffering

and attaining extraordinary powers, yoga has long been a pan-Indic phenomenon—found across many

religious traditions including Buddhists, Jains, Vaiṣṇavas, Śaivas, Śāktas, Sūfīs, and more. The Śaiva

traditions, however, have always had a special affinity for yoga, which is not surprising as the deity Śiva

himself in his iconography and lore is often depicted as the great ascetic and Lord of Yoga (yogeśvara),

or the Lord of Yogins (yogīśvara). The following section will provide a brief overview of Śaivism,

especially in its Tantric iterations, which will allow us to better locate Śaiva forms of yoga.

2.3 Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions

Śaivism represents the complex of Indic religious traditions whose doctrine and practices center around

the worship of the deity Śiva, the goddess Śakti, and their many manifestations. Some scholars have

followed Marshall’s identification of the Mohenjo-daro clay seal number 420 as the earliest depiction of

Śiva in his form as Pāśupati, or the “Lord of the Beasts.” Others have pointed to Rudra, the

antinomian “howler” of the early Vedic pantheon as early evidence for Śiva, or a proto-Śiva deity.

However, the preeminent scholar of Śaiva traditions, Alexis SANDERSON (2013, 219) has refuted these

claims, arguing that the earliest conclusive evidence for Śaivism is found in the Mahābhāṣya of the circa

second-century BCE grammarian Patañjali (not to be confused with the later author of the

Pātañjalayogaśāstra).28 SANDERSON and other specialists have spent the better part of the past five

decades excavating the history of Śaivism through its vast record of textual and epigraphical sources.

He has convincingly demonstrated that from about the fifth through thirteenth centuries Śaivism

28 According to SANDERSON (2013, 219), Patañjali “refers in passing to images of Śiva, to devotees of Śiva

(śivabhāgavataḥ), and to the pairing of Śiva with the deity Vaiśravaṇa.” SANDERSON cites Mahābhāṣya 5.399,
5.276, and 6.3.26 (2013, n.3).

21
 Figure 1: Map of Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions.

represented the dominant forms of religion in India—during a period SANDERSON (2009) has named

the “Śaiva Age.” In this section I will attempt to offer a brief summary of this history based primarily

on SANDERSON (1988, 2013), so that we can better locate the place of yoga therein.29

There are three main divisions of Śaiva traditions. The first are public traditions of lay devotion

to Śiva, for example as we find in the corpus of texts known as the Śivadharma, and which offer

devotees the promise of ascension to the heavenly paradise of Śiva (śivaloka) and desirable rebirths.

Then there are the initiatory forms of Śaivism which view themselves as higher than the Śaivism for the

laity in that they offer the individual practitioner the reward of spiritual liberation (mokṣa). This

initiatory Śaivism can be understood as comprising two divisions, the first of which is known as the

Atimārga, the “Outer Path,” and includes the traditions known as the Pāśupatas (which SANDERSON

terms Atimārga I), the Lākulas, who are also known as the Kālamukhas (Atimārga II), and finally the

Kāpālikas (Atimārga III). The Atimārga traditions place emphasis on a counter-cultural asceticism and

29 SANDERSON’s groundbreaking article “Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions” (1988) radically reshaped how

scholars in the field view and speak about Śaivism by drawing upon an emic terminology found within the texts
themselves (e.g. Atimārga, Mantramārga, etc.). For a reflection on the impact of this and Sanderson’s overall
corpus of scholarship, see the recent festschrift for SANDERSON whose title, Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions:
Essays in Honour of Alexis G.J.S. Sanderson (GOODALL et al. 2020), was inspired by the 1988 article.

22
as we will see, especially the Pāśupatas, incorporated early forms of yoga. Their ascetic practices were

intended only for male Brāhmaṇas who had passed their upanayana ceremonies.

The second division of initiatory Śaivism is what secondary literature commonly refers to as

“Tantric Śaivism” but which the tradition refers to itself as the Mantramārga, the “Path of Mantras.”

The Mantramārga itself is made of two primary divisions. The first is known as the Siddhānta, the

“Doctrines,” or what is commonly called Śaivasiddhānta, the “Doctrines of the Worshippers of Śiva.”

The second, which is rooted in the scriptures, doctrines, and rituals of the Siddhānta, includes the

traditions known as the Trika, the Kaula, and the Krama. Both Mantramārga systems share a common

ritual and doctrinal foundation. The Śaivasiddhānta theologians developed a sophisticated dualistic

Śaiva philosophy which understands the individual soul and Śiva to be ontologically and eternally

distinct. According to Śaivasiddhānta there are three categories of existence, namely the Lord (pati), the

soul (paśu), and the material universe or “fetters” (pāśa) which binds them together. Through ritual

action and through Śiva’s grace, the individual soul can be freed from the fetters of the world, and

attain liberation (mokṣa) from saṃsāra. The liberated being becomes omniscient and attains a divine

status “like Śiva” (śivatulya), however remains ontologically distinct from Śiva. This is in contrast with

the Non-Saiddhāntika traditions of the Mantramārga such as the Trika and Kaula, whose theologians

developed highly complex systems of non-dual Śaiva monism, and which view the individual soul and

Śiva to be inseparable aspects of a single unified reality. The Śaivasiddhānta worships Śiva alone

(without his consort) in his more pacified form as Sadāśiva, whereas the Non-Saiddhāntika traditions

include a range of Śākta-Śaiva worshipping cults including more wrathful and ferocious manifestations

of Śiva such as Bhairava (worshipped with his consort, Aghoreśvarī or Bhairavī, and often standing on

top of Sadāśiva), or in the more Śākta-centered traditions, wrathful forms of the Goddess who is herself

often enthroned or standing on Bhairava—superseding the male deity. Both the Saiddhāntika and

23
Non-Saiddhāntika forms of the Mantramārga place extreme importance on ritual praxis, which is only

to be undertaken by a practitioner (sādhaka) who has undergone the proper initiatory rites from a

qualified teacher (ācārya). A key difference is the degree to which these traditions adhere to normative

Brāhmaṇical notions of caste and purity—the Śaivasiddhāntins sticking more closely with the

traditional varṇāśrama regulations, whereas the Non-Saiddhāntikas sought to transgress these rules of

purity, especially in the more Śākta-oriented systems. Both of these forms of “Tantric Śaivism” are

rooted in a vast Sanskrit literature of scriptural revelations known as the Tantras and Āgamas. Tantric

Śaivism is thus the complex of traditions which are derived from the tantras. Finally, the last division is

known as the Kulamārga, the “Path of the Clans [of Godesses],” which is the most transgressive and

Śākta-centered of all the Śaiva traditions. Unlike the Śaivasiddhānta and the other Non-Saiddhāntika

traditions of the Mantramārga, it utilizes its own distinct ritual system. It has its own scriptural sources

in the Kulaśāstras as well as draws on the more Śākta-oriented scriptures of the Mantramārga.

With this rudimentary overview of the complex worlds of Śaivism and Tantra behind us, let us

now turn our attention to the role of yoga therein. The role of yoga within the vast world of Śaivism is,

like Śaivism itself, exceedingly complex, multifaceted, and still surprisingly understudied.30 In what

follows I will offer a brief synopsis of this yoga in so far as it provides a useful background for our study

of Śivayoga and the Śivayogapradīpikā.

2.4 Yoga in the Śaiva Traditions

The first systematization of a Śaiva yoga can be found within the Pāśupata tradition of the Atimārga,

whose main surviving source text is the Pāśupatasūtra (c. 2nd century CE) and its commentary by

Kauṇḍinya (c. 5–6th century). Unlike the classical yoga of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra (c. 5th century),

30 A comprehensive critical history of yoga in the Śaiva traditions still remains. The absence of such a study is in

large part due to the nature of the vast amount of Śaiva texts which remain unpublished and unedited. Major
contributions towards this history include: SANDERSON (1999), VASUDEVA (2004, 2017), and BRUNNER (1994).

24
which famously defines yoga as the “stilling of the fluctuations of the mind” (yogaś

cittavṛttinirodhaḥ),31 the early Pāśupata tradition understood yoga as the ultimate soteriological union

(saṃyoga) with Śiva:

ātmeśvarasaṃyogo yogaḥ |
Yoga is the communion of the individual self with the Lord (i.e. Śiva).32

According to Pāśupata doctrine, yoga occupies one of the five primary categories (pañcārtha), namely:

1) the individual soul (paśu), also known as the effect (kārya); 2) the Lord (pati), also known as the

cause (kāraṇa); 3) the union between the two (yoga); 4) the prescribed regimen of practice to attain

yoga (vidhi); and 5) the end of suffering (duḥkhānta)—which arises from yoga. According to Minoru

HARA (1999, 598), this union is made possible on both sides—that of the aspirant practitioner

(sādhaka) through various practices, or indeed, from the side of the Lord through his injunction

(codanā). From the attainment of this saṃyoga with Śiva, the sādhaka is said to attain the eight

extraordinary powers (siddhi, aiśvarya), which have parallels with the third pāda of the

Pātañjalayogaśāstra and other texts. 33

As Peter BISSCHOP (2010, 485) has argued, outside of the Pāśupatasūtra and Kauṇḍinya’s

commentary—which was aimed at life-long ascetic sādhakas—a corpus of texts displaying a more

public Śaivism included Pāśupata teachings for the uninitiated and non-ascetic lay community. These

texts include early Śaiva Purāṇas as well as the collection of texts commonly referred to by specialists as

the “Śivadharma corpus.”34 For example, within the Kūrmapurāṇa, in the section also referred to as the

31 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.2.

32 Pañcārthabhāṣya p. 6, 8–9; Kauṇḍinya on Pāśupatasūtra 1.1.

33 For a more detailed overview of the role of yoga within the Pāśupatasūtra, see HARA (1999).

34 This corpus of texts includes: the Śivadharmaśāstra,

Śivadharmottara, Śivadharmasaṃgraha,
Umāmaheśvarasaṃvāda, Uttarottaramahāsaṃvāda, Śivopaniṣad, Vṛṣasārasaṃgraha, and the Dharmaputrikā.
For an overview of the manuscript history and the making of the Śivadharma corpus, see DE SIMINI (2016b).

25
Īśvaragītā, or “Song of the Lord,”35 we find a twofold classification of yogas, namely: Abhāvayoga, the

“yoga of non-being” and Mahāyoga, the “great yoga." The former results in the realization of the Self

(ātman) and is suggestive of a Pātañjalayoga path with its goal of the independence (kaivalya) and

realization of the inner puruṣa. Whereas the latter is described as the union (aikya) with Śiva.36 In a

passage from the Vāyavīyasaṃhitā of the Śivapurāṇa, we find further discourse on Pāśupatayoga, and

an expanded fivefold classification that includes: Mantrayoga, Sparśayoga, Bhāvayoga, Abhāvayoga,

and Mahāyoga—which is said to be greater than all the others. Here yoga is defined as that state in

which “all other mental activities are restrained and the mind is steady in Śiva.”37 Mantrayoga is

understood as restraining the mind through the practice of mantras. Sparśayoga is the practice of

mantras with the contact (sparśa) of prāṇāyāma. That prāṇāyāma alone without the contact of mantra

is said to be Bhāvayoga. Abhāvayoga is described as absorption in the form (rūpa) of the limbs of the

universe. The fifth, Mahāyoga is described as the contemplation of the mind solely on Śiva without any

conditioning attributes.38 The Śivapurāṇa then goes on to describe an Aṣṭāṅgayoga comprised of the

usual auxiliaries of yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi.39

35 See NICHOLSON (2014).

36 Kūrmapurāṇa 11.5–7: yogastudvividho jñeyo hyabhāvaḥ prathamo mataḥ | aparastu mahāyogaḥ

sarvayogottamottamaḥ || śūnyaṃ sarvanirābhāsaṃ svarūpaṃ yatra cintyate | abhāvayogaḥ sa prokto
yenātmānaṃ prapaśyati || yatra paśyati cātmānaṃ nityānandaṃ nirañjanam | mayaikyaṃ sa mahāyogo
bhāṣitaḥ parameśvaraḥ ||.
37 Śivapurāṇa Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.6–7: niruddhavṛttyantarasyaṃ śive cittasya niścalā | yā vṛttiḥ sa samāsena
yogaḥ sa khalu pañcadhā || mantrayogaḥ sparśayogo bhāvayogas tathā paraḥ | abhāvayogas sarvebhyo mahāyogaḥ
paro mataḥ ||.
38 Śivapurāṇa Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.8–11: mantrābhyāsavaśenaiva mantravācyārthagocaraḥ |avyākṣepā manovṛttir
mantrayoga udāhṛtaḥ || prāṇāyāmamukhā saiva sparśe yogobhidhīyate | sa mantrasparśanirmukto bhāvayogaḥ
prakīrtitaḥ || vilīnāvayavaṃ viśvaṃ rūpaṃ saṃbhāvyate yataḥ | abhāvayogaḥ saṃprokto anābhāsād vastunaḥ
sataḥ || śivasvabhāva evaikaścintyate nirupādhikaḥ | yathā śaivamanovṛttir mahāyoga ihocyate ||.
39 Śivapurāṇa Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.14–67.

26
Unsurprisingly for the Śivapurāṇa, the state of samādhi is ultimately described as the ātman being

absorbed in Śiva.40

In the Skaṇḍapurāṇa we find further public teachings of the Pāśupatas, including a section on

yoga (yogavidhi) in Skaṇḍapurāṇa 174–183 which provides teachings on a Pāśupatayoga that

differentiates itself from Sāṅkhya in that it recognizes a twenty-sixth tattva in Īśvara, and teaches yogic

methods including āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhyāna, and dhāraṇā. Elsewhere in Skaṇḍapurāṇa

Yogavidhi 1.12–14 we find an interesting definition of yoga in explicitly Śaiva terms:

Learn the definition (lakṣaṇa) of yoga I will now state, through the repeated practice
(abhyāsa) of which the fetters of the bound soul (paśupāśa) are cut off, great sage! When
mind (manas) abides in the Self (ātman), removal of the mental condition[s] (pratyaya)
regarding the outer world (bahis) takes place, as well as the integration (abhisandhi) of the
Lord (īśvara) and the Self in the highest (para). Vyāsa, this was declared to be yoga by
Śambhu to the suppliant gods in former times. [It is] subtle and destroys rebirth in
existence.41

According to BISSCHOP et al. (2021, 5), The Śivadharmaśāstra (c. 6-7th century) reflects an attempt by

the early Śaiva communities to systematize a public form of Śaiva religion for non-ascetic lay people,

integrating the Brāhmaṇical ideas of dharma from the Dharmaśāstras together with the practices and

ideals of Śiva devotion (bhakti). A part of this project was the consolidation of Śaiva teachings on yoga,

which again, seem to be coming from Pāśupata sources. For example, the following passage in chapter

ten of the Śivadharmaśāstra:

Having enjoyed enjoyable things as he pleases [in Śiva’s paradise] with twenty-one
[generations of] kin, he attains the union [that comes from] knowledge (jñānayoga), and
gets liberated then and there. From union (yoga) one attains the end of suffering
(duḥkhānta); yoga proceeds from knowledge (jñānāt); knowledge arises from [observing]
Śivadharma; and Śivadharma [comes] from praising Śiva (śivārcanāt). Thus has been

40 Śivapurāṇa Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.65cd: evaṃ śive vilīnātmā samādhistha ihocyate ||.

41 Skandapurāṇa Yogavidhi 1.12–14: lakṣaṇaṃ viddhi yogasya procyamānam idaṃ mayā | chidyanti paśupāśāni
yasyābhyāsān mahāmune || pratyayasya bahir lopo manasy ātmani saṃsthite | abhisandhiḥ pare caiva
īśvarasyātmanaś ca ha || eṣa yoga iti vyāsa kīrtitaḥ śambhunā purā ||. Translation by BISSCHOP & YOKOCHI
(2016).

27
 declared to you who are roiling in the sea of saṃsāra a progressive means of attaining Śiva’s
liberation for those who practice Śiva’s discipline (śivāśrama).42

Here we see the familiar Pāśupata premise that the end of suffering (duḥkhānta) occurs from the

attainment of union (yoga) with Śiva. This yoga, however, is said to arise from knowledge (jñāna), as

BISSCHOP et al. takes the compound jñānayoga to mean the “union [that comes from] knowledge.”

This jñāna is said to arise from Śivadharma, which in turn arises from praising or worshipping Śiva

(śivārcana). As she observes, the salvific progression is thus as follows: śivārcana → śivadharma →

jñāna → yoga → duḥkhānta (BISSCHOP et al. 2021, 9).

Leaving aside the Atimārga and the lay Śaiva traditions, let us turn to the Mantramārga. Within

the vast scriptural forest of Śaiva Āgamas and Tantras that comprise the basis for the Śaivasiddhānta,

yoga is commonly taught as one of four primary religious subjects or pādas, namely: jñāna (gnosis),

kriyā (ritual), caryā (conduct), and yoga. However, the distribution of topics across pādas is not always

organized so precisely with these categories in mind and so the distinction between them is not always

useful (BRUNNER 1994, 427). In most tantric scriptures, the methods of yoga are typically understood

as a means of self-purification (ātmaśuddhi) and considered preliminary to the more soteriologically

powerful and primary acts of ritual (kriyā, pūjā), or the attainment of true knowledge of reality (jñāna,

śivatattva). Indeed, in tantric Śaivism, it is characteristically ritual (especially high-level initiation, or

dīkṣā) that is believed to be the key soteriological and liberatory act.43 Speaking of the importance of

42 Śivadharmaśāstra 10.45–47: trisaptakulajaiḥ sārdhaṃ bhogān bhuktvā yathepsitān | jñānayogaṃ samāsādya sa

tatraiva vimucyate || yogād duḥkhāntam āpnoti jñānād yogaḥ pravartate | śivadharmād bhavej jñānaṃ
śivadharmaḥ śivārcanāt || ity eṣa vaḥ samākhyātaḥ saṃsārārñavavartinām | śivamokṣakramopāyaḥ
śivāśramaniṣevinām ||. Translation by BISSCHOP et al. (2021, 9).
43 As ISAACSON (1998, 6) has observed, one of the primary differences between tantric Śaiva and Buddhist

Vajrayāna traditions is the soteriological efficacy of ritual initiation (dīkṣā) and empowerments (abhiṣeka). He
notes that the “Śaiva ritual of initiation (dīkṣā) is in general thought to be itself, directly salvific—not in the
sense that the initiand is immediately thereby liberated, but rather that in the ritual the bonds that hold the soul
in its non-liberated condition are cut, with the exception of a tiny portion that gradually decreases (if the post-
initiatory observances are kept correctly) until death, when the soul becomes fully liberated.” For the Buddhists,
on the other hand,“it was in general repeated practice of tantric meditation that brought about liberation.”

28
the jñāna and kriyā sections (pāda) in the Śaiva Āgamas, Richard DAVIS (1991, x) writes, “The other

two sections, dealing with yogic disciplinary practices [yogapāda] and proper day-to-day conduct

[caryāpāda], are also necessary but clearly subordinate in importance to the first two.”

What is the nature of yoga in the Āgamas? Hélène BRUNNER (1994) provides an important

analysis of these teachings as found in texts such as the Kāraṇa, Suprabheda, Mṛgendra, and

Mataṅgapārameśvara. According to BRUNNER, overall the term yoga within the Āgamas refers to

either yoga as the final goal of the devotee, or more commonly yoga as a means to an end (i.e. a

technique). As a goal, or final soteriological state we find the common description that yoga is the

oneness (aikya) between the ātman and Śiva, or even yoga as the oneness between the one who

contemplates and the one who is to be contemplated.44 These usages of yoga are however not the

preferred terms for the soteriological goals in the Āgamas, which prefer mokṣa, mukti, siddhi, śivatva,

etc. More common in the Āgamas is to find the word yoga used as a technique or method of practice.

Sometimes the practice referred to by the term yoga is vague, while at other times it appears to denote a

system of practice comparable with others such as Pātañjalayoga. Again, BRUNNER notes that the latter

is more rare. Within most Āgamas, the yoga taught is aimed primarily at the sādhaka who has

undergone the proper levels of initiation (dīkṣā). This yoga involves a knowledge of the subtle body

with its technical terminology of nāḍīs, prāṇas, and granthis (similar to ādhāras or cakras). The

practices are aimed at forcing an ascension of prāṇa up through the central channel, the suṣumṇā,

which pierces the energetic knots (granthi) one by one. Sometimes this is referred to as the feminine

“coiled” energy known as kuṇḍalinī or kuṇḍalinīśakti, however, other times she is unnamed, and

according to BRUNNER (1994, 438) this is not the fully-fledged Kuṇḍalinī-based yoga as we find in later

Śākta traditions—though certainly a forerunner.

44 BRUNNER (1994, 429) cites a commentator on the Sarvajñānottara, who is quoted by Nirmalamaṇi in his own

commentary on the Aghoraśivapaddhati p. 361–362: yogaḥ dhyeyadhyānalakṣaṇasaṃbandhaḥ.

29
 BRUNNER (1994) discusses the role of yoga within Śaiva ritual (pūjā) and initiations (dīkṣā)

which are infused with yogic practices such as the repetition of mantras (japa), prāṇāyāma, dhyāna,

and dhāraṇā—especially for example as preliminary practice of self-purification (ātmaśuddhi) or the

purification of the elements (bhūtaśuddhi). However, she raises the important question as to whether

in these ritual cases these practices should necessarily be considered yogic methods, or if they can exist

independently of yoga within the ritual syntax. That is to say, is dhyāna always an aspect of yoga? Or

can something like dhyāna function independently as ritual? As we will encounter in the

Śivayogapradīpikā, the methods of yoga become the ritual itself, and so the question becomes void.

As SANDERSON (1999) has observed, the Saiddhāntika scholar, Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha (10th

century), in his Mṛgendratantravṛtti, provides an important definition of what it means to be a yogin,

from a Śaiva perspective:

2a. To have self -mastery [is] to be a yogin (yogitvam). The term Yogin means ‘one who
is necessarily conjoined with’ (<√yuj) the manifestation of his nature[. A yogin], in other
words, [is one who must experience] the Śiva-state (śivatvam). It is being a yogin [in this
sense] that is the invariable concomitant of self-mastery. It should be understood, therefore,
that the term Yoga derives its meaning not from √yuj ‘to be absorbed [in contemplation]’
but from √yuj ‘to join’. This is supported by the fact that Yoga in the form of absorption
(samādhiḥ) is taught [separately] as one of its auxiliaries.45

For Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha, to be a yogin is to have experienced, through self-mastery, own’s own state as the

state of Śiva (śivatvam). He makes the critical point that the yoga of the yogin derives its meaning not

from the “mental absorption” or samādhi ← √yuj (à la Patañjali), but from the “yoking” or

“conjoining” ← √yuj.46 Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha contends that this view is supported when we acknowledge

45Mṛgendratantravṛtti Yogapāda 2a: tadātmavattvaṃ yogitvaṃ yujyate śivatvalakṣaṇayā

svasvarūpābhivyaktyāvaśyam iti yogī, tasya bhāvo yogitvam ātmavattvāvinābhāvi | ata eva yujir yoga ity asya
dhātor yogaśabdo jñeyo natu yuja samādhāv iti, asya samādhirūpasya tadaṅgatveneṣṭatvāt |. Translation by
SANDERSON (1999, 4); emphasis original. See also VASUDEVA (2004, 236).
46 See discussion above, p. 16.

30
that samādhi is itself one of the auxiliaries or “limbs” of yoga (yogāṅga).47 Another Saiddhāntika

commentator Nirmalamaṇi in his gloss on the Aghoraśivapaddhati makes this very same point.48

Unlike Pātañjalayoga which teaches eight auxiliaries through its well-known Aṣṭāṅgayoga

schema, the majority of Āgamas and Tantras of the Mantramārga teach systems of six auxiliaries, or

Ṣaḍaṅgayoga, for example as can be found in the Raurava, Kiraṇa, Mataṅga,

Svāyambhuvasūtrasaṃgraha, and Mālinīvijayottaratantra (see VASUDEVA 2017, 5).49 Typically this

Ṣaḍaṅgayoga includes: pratyāhāra, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, samādhi, and tarka (“spiritual

discernment”)—not always in that order. When compared to Aṣṭāṅgayoga, it appears that yama,

niyama, and āsana are missing in most cases, though according to VASUDEVA (2017, 25–26), these

teachings often “do appear in most Śaiva yoga systems, but as preliminaries, and not as ancillaries

(aṅga).” The most unique auxiliary in Ṣaḍaṅgayoga is obviously tarka, which is not found in yoga

systems elsewhere. Its highly specific meaning as “judgement,” or which I translate as “spiritual

discernment,” is summarized by VASUDEVA (2017, 6) as follows:

The most characteristic aṅga is called judgment (tarka). By this ancillary the yogin is able to
assess his progress and prevent himself from stagnating on the path of yoga. The exegete
Abhinavagupta also interprets it as the key element differentiating Ṣaḍaṅgayoga from other,
non-Ṣaḍaṅgayoga yogas. Through tarka, the yogin can evaluate his attainment and, by
realising it is not the ultimate level taught in Śaiva scripture, reject it and motivate himself to
make efforts to advance to the next, higher, level of attainment. The levels traversed are the
stages of six (or more or less) paths or six ontologies. By far the most discussed is the path of
the Śaiva tattvas that are derived from the tattva system of the Sāṃkhya. Th[e] gradual
ascent through these levels is called the conquest of the reality leveles (tattvajaya) [sic].

Other auxiliaries, though familiar are also taught differently within the Śaiva context than for Patañjali

or others. Dhyāna, for example, is not just contemplation on any object of the yogin’s choosing, but

47 As we’ve seen, Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.1 states that yoga is samādhi (yogaḥ samādhiḥ). Yet, samādhi is also taught
as the eighth and final auxiliary of aṣṭāṅgayoga.
48 Aghoraśivapaddhati pp. 361–362: na tu pātañjalāder iva samādhirūpaḥ | tasya yogāṅgatvena śruteḥ, as quoted
in BRUNNER (1994, 429, n.10).
49 For a detailed philological study of the yoga system of the Mālinīvijayottaratantra, see VASUDEVA (2004).

31
contemplation of Śiva and his nature. Or, as we find in the Netratantra (c. 700–850), dhyāna involves a

complex visualization program of a subtle-body involving: centers (cakra), supports (ādhāra), targets

(lakṣya), voids (śūnya, vyoman), knots (granthi), powers (śakti), lights (dhāman), and channels (nāḍī).50

Drawing on scriptural texts like the Netratantra, Mālinīvijayottaratantra, Svacchandatantra,

and others, the Non-Saiddhāntika traditions of the Mantramārga such as the non-dual monistic Trika

adopted a more gnoseological approach than their Saiddhāntika heirs. For Kashmirian exegete

Abhinavagupta (fl. c. 975–1025), the core Śaiva rituals of the Siddhānta, both daily rites and high-level

initiation (dīkṣā), are still considered foundational—yet they are overpowered by a mystical theory of

gnosis (jñāna) and the descent of power (śaktipāta) from the guru, the chief promulgator in the

individual’s realization of liberation (see WALLIS 2014). For Abhinavagupta, the only true means

(upāya) for attaining liberation is that which serves the realization of consciousness—which is

understood as non-different from the nature of Śiva. In fact, in the fourth chapter of his Tantrāloka,

Abhinavagupta issues a pretty scathing critique of the Aṣṭāṅgayoga of Patañjali.51 All of the yogāṅgas of

Pātañjalayoga, including yama, niyama, āsana, etc,. are said to have “no direct use for [realizing]

consciousness” (saṃvidam prati no kañcit upayogaṃ samaśnute).52 He goes through each aṅga and

explains its irrelevance based on this premise. As TORELLA (2019, 648) states, “the whole of non-

dualistic Śaiva tradition agrees that only knowledge is entitled to be an upāya to liberation.” Are all of

the yogāṅgas truly useless then? For Abhinavagupta it is only the yogāṅga of tarka, spiritual

discernment, that is considered a useful means (upāya).53 However, as TORELLA (2019, 655) points out,

50 VASUDEVA (2017, 7).

51 For a study of Abhinavagupta’s attitude towards Aṣṭāṅga and Pātañjalayoga, see TORELLA (2019).

52 E.g. Tantrāloka 4.95: tad

eṣā dhāraṇādhyānasamādhitritayī parām | saṃvidaṃ prati no kañcid upayogaṃ
samaśnute |. Quoted in TORELLA (2019, 647).
53 Tantrāloka 4.86ab: evaṃ yogāṅgam iyati tarka eva na cāparam |.

32
the commentator Jayaratha (c. 13th century) at least attempts to resurrect some dignity to the other

auxiliaries of yoga in at least so much as they can lead to the cultivation of tarka. “Their usefulness is,

so to speak, an indirect one” in that “they can support the arising of tarka” (TORELLA 2019, 656). In

the end, however, Abhinavagupta himself attempts to soften the blow by stating that common

people54 can still follow yoga in the context of āṇavopāya (the lowest means), “with the motivation that

after all everything is made of everything, and, as the [Mālinīvijayottaratantra] teaches, ‘nothing is to

be prescribed, nothing to be prohibited’” (TORELLA 2019, 658).55

Other Non-Saiddhāntika divisions of the Mantramārga, such as the Śākta-oriented Kaula

traditions, developed a more favorable stance towards yoga and its methods. Most notable are the

teachings found in the Kubjikāmatatantra, the principle scripture of the Kaula branch which refers to

itself as the Paścimāmnāya, or the “Western Transmission.” The Kubjikāmatatantra centers around the

worship and propitiation of the Goddess Kubjikā, the “Crooked One” who is also associated with

Kuṇḍalinī as the supreme Goddess (DYCZKOWSKI 1988, 88–89). The Kubjikāmatatantra is perhaps

most famous for introducing the well-known system of six cakras, namely: ādhāra, svādhiṣṭhāna,

maṇipūra, anāhata, viśuddhi, and ājñā.56 The Kubjikā and other Kaula traditions would have a strong

influence on later yogic traditions, especially the Nāthas—one of the early progenitors of Haṭhayoga.

2.5 The Rise of Haṭhayoga

54 It’s important to note, as TORELLA (2019, 647) does, that Abhinavagupta’s attitude towards yoga is the

product of his elitist environment: “A major characteristic of the aristocratic attitude—and I would not know
how to better define the flavor that pervades the whole of Abhinavagupta’s work—is the downgrading of all
painful effort, seen as a plebeian feature. The aristocrat intends to show that what inferior people can achieve
only at the cost of long and painful exercises is accessible to him promptly and very easily.”
55 Abhinavagupta in Tantrāloka 4.217 quoting Mālinīvijayottaratantra 18.77cd–78ab.
56 For a more detailed discussion about this and another other cakra systems, see pp. 213–218.

33
Around the turn of the second millennium of the common era, a corpus of new Sanskrit treatises

began to emerge, codifying the psychophysical practices of a tradition known commonly as Haṭhayoga,

“yoga by means of force.” Drawing on older ascetic models of yoga infused with bodily ideals and

metaphysics from the Tantras, Haṭhayoga offered a new synthesis of yoga sādhana centered around the

body and the manipulation of its vital energies, utilizing physical techniques such as bodily seals

(mudrā), breath-control (prāṇāyāma), and increasingly complex physical postures (āsana). As the

“Śaiva Age” was coming to an end around the thirteenth century, we might also say that this marked

the rise of the “Haṭhayoga Age.” As MALLINSON states:

[Although Mircea] Eliade declared the period from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century
CE to be the “Triumph of Yoga”… yoga’s true triumph came during the first half of the
second millennium CE. It is then that, thanks to the composition of the hathayogic corpus,
yoga’s practices ceased to be the preserve of ascetics or initiates into tantric cults… (2014, 238).

MALLINSON and others (e.g. BOUY 1994; KISS 2009; BIRCH 2015) have highlighted how the earliest

Haṭhayoga texts reveal a reform and transition from the initiatory tantric doctrinal traditions involving

elaborate rituals, initiations, mantras, deities, and other tradition-specific religious praxis that

constitutes the yoga taught in the Āgamas and Tantras, to a more inclusive and universalizing

Haṭhayoga. Csaba KISS views the circa thirteenth-century Kaula scripture, the Matsyendrasaṃhitā, for

example, as documenting an important transitory phase in this development—

The Matsyendrasaṃhitā can thus be seen as a manifestation of an important phase in the

history of yoga, of the process of its gradual separation from ritualistic Śaiva Tantra... This
process can be seen as an abandonment or concealment of sectarian marks in yogic teachings
that gradually leads to the early formative period of pan-Indian haṭhayoga (KISS 2009, 3).

The Matsyendrasaṃhitā was likely written in south India, likely in the Tamil or Konkan regions,57 and

recorded the teachings of Matsyendranātha, a great yogin and tantric siddha, known to

57 KISS (forthcoming, 32); cited in MALLINSON (2019, 7).

34
Abhinavagupta, who likely lived in the ninth century.58 According to tradition, one of his famed

disciples was Gorakṣanātha (Hindi: Gorakhnāth), the alleged founder of what would later be known as

the Nātha (Hindi: Nāth) saṃpradāya. The Nāthas were an important group of Śaiva yogins during

this period who likely originated in the Deccan, however, their origins are disputed by scholars. While

the majority of secondary scholarship on the Nāthas tends to identify a distinct unified “Nāthism,”

sampradāya, or panth, organized around the central teachings and personality of Gorakṣanātha,59

MALLINSON (2011b) has challenged the historical claims of such an institutionalized saṃpradāya.

Although its historical gurus, Matsyendranātha (c. 9th century) and his disciple Gorakṣanātha (c. 12th

century), are known to have lived much earlier, according to MALLINSON, “The earliest references to

the Nāth ascetic order as an organized entity date to the beginning of the 17th century” (2011b). During

the interim historical period, “there are numerous references to both ascetic and householder Nāths in

texts, inscriptions, iconography, and historical reports” (MALLINSON 2011b), however, according to

MALLINSON these refer to a loose body of charismatic individuals, teachings, and practices, not to any

systematized Nātha doctrine or school.

These charismatic figures are often referred to as Siddhas, those “adepts” or masters of yogic

and tantric sādhana. The Siddhas cannot be bound to a single religious tradition or order. Legends and

lists of Siddhas abound across the medieval Sanskrit and Tibetan literature of Haṭhayoga, Śaiva Tantra,

and Vajrayāna Buddhism—and throughout the Indian subcontinent and Himalayan regions.60 The

early fifteenth-century Haṭhapradīpikā, for example, which is often hailed as a Nātha text, is better

58 WILLIAMS (2017, 134–143) makes an important distinction between the Kaula Matsyendranātha (also known

as Macchandra) known to Abhinavagupta and his commentators, and his afterlife as the Matsyendranātha
associated with the Gorakṣanātha tradition. This distinction helps to explain the perhaps three-hundred year gap
between these figures.
59 See, for example, BRIGGS (1938); DAS GUPTA (1946); BANERJEA (1962); LORENZEN & MUÑOZ (2011).

60 For an overview of Siddha lists in such texts, see WHITE (1996, 78–89) and MALLINSON (2019).

35
understood as a Siddha text, as MALLINSON (2014) has argued. Although its author Svātmārāma

invokes a lineage beginning with Ādinātha (Śiva, as the primordial “Lord”) and Matsyendranātha, he

lists a total of twenty-nine great adepts (mahāsiddha)61—all of whom are said to “roam the world,

having conquered death through the power of Haṭhayoga.”62 While Nātha figures such as Gorakṣa and

Cauraṅgī are featured on Svātmārāma’s list, by no means can we say that all of these mahāsiddhas

belonged to a single Nātha order. The list is not a paraṃparā, if you will, or an order of disciplic

succession. Several of the figures such as Manthānabhairava, Kākacaṇḍīśvara, Pūjyapāda, and others

belong to the alchemical traditions of Rasāyana siddhas.63 Another figure, Allama Prabhu is one of the

most revered śaraṇas of the Vīraśaiva tradition. As we will encounter in the next chapter, Vīraśaiva

hagiographies recount a story of Allama defeating Gorakṣa in a yogic battle of siddhis. Many Siddhas

like Virūpākṣa, are revered by both Śaiva and Buddhist traditions.64 The Siddhas then, in their

transregional and transreligious nature were exemplars of yogic ideals of Tantra and Haṭhayoga and are

representative of the diverse sectarian origins of the practice.

While many of the early Sanskrit works on Haṭhayoga are attributed (at least in name) to

Gorakṣanātha, recent scholarship has shown that it was not only the tantric Śaiva traditions where

Haṭhayoga developed. BIRCH (2011) and MALLINSON (2020) have found that the origins of the

Sanskrit term haṭhayoga emerges within the context, not of Śaiva sources as previously thought, but

61 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.4-9.
62 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.9: ity ādayo mahāsiddhā haṭhayogaprabhāvataḥ | khaṇḍayitvā kāladaṇḍaṃ brahmāṇḍe
vicaranti ||.
63 See WHITE (1996, 83).

64 For a detailed study on Virūpākṣa, and the interchange between Śaiva Nāthas and Buddhist Vajrayānas,

especially in the Deccan, see MALLINSON (2019).

36
rather Buddhist Vajrayāna texts—dating from the eighth century and onwards.65 MALLINSON (2020)

has identified at least seventeen occurrences of the phrase haṭhayoga in Vajrayāna texts ranging from

the eighth through twelfth centuries, including the Sarvabuddhasamāyogaḍākinījālaśaṃvara (c. early

8th century), Guhyasamājatantra (c. 8th century), Abhidhānottaratantra (c. 10th century), and many

more.66 In many of these texts haṭhayoga might simply mean the “application of force,” however,

some texts associate it with a practice, such as the mastery of bodhicitta (i.e. bindu, semen) within ritual

contexts (MALLINSON 2020, 4). As was first observed by BIRCH (2011, 535), the earliest known

definition of haṭhayoga is found in the Vimalaprabhā (c. 1030) of Puṇḍarīka, a commentary on the

Laghukālacakratantra—within the context of an elaborate sexual rite. According to MALLINSON

(2020, 8), this verse (4.119) states that “if the siddhi desired by mantra-practitioners does not arise as a

result of purification, yogic withdrawal, and so forth, it should be achieved by the practice of nāda and

by forcefully (haṭhena) restraining bindu, i.e. semen, in the glans of the penis when it is in the vagina.”

Puṇḍarīka then glosses the word haṭhena with haṭhayogena and describes it as a last-resort system—

when the other auxiliaries of yoga such as dhyāna, prāṇāyāma, etc. do not work, one should

“forcefully” make the breath flow into the central channel by means of the internal resonance (nāda),

when the penis enters the vagina.67 As MALLINSON (2020, 8) notes, the restraint of bindu, the

“forcing” of prāṇa into the central channel, and the association with nāda are all features of Haṭhayoga

shared with later non-Buddhist texts.

Beginning around the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a surge of Sanskrit Yogaśāstras which

teach the methods of Haṭhayoga began to emerge, the extant manuscripts of which have only recently

65 A much earlier mention of the phrase haṭhayoga is found in the Yogācāra Bodhisattvabhūmi (c. 3rd century),
however, as MALLINSON (2020, 2–3) suggests, this occurrence with the negative particle, na haṭhayogena, simply
means “not by the application of force.”
66 See the complete list of Vajrayāna texts using the term haṭhayoga in MALLINSON (2020, 3–4).
67 See MALLINSON (2020, 8) and BIRCH (2011, 535).

37
 Table 1: Haṭhayoga Corpus Prior to 16th Century

Amṛtasiddhi c. 11th century

Amaraughaprabodha c. 12th century

Gorakṣaśataka c. 12th century

Gorakṣayogaśāstra c. 12th century

Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā c. 12th century

Dattātreyayogaśāstra c. 13th century

Vivekamārtaṇḍa c. 13th century

Yogabīja c. 14th century

Śivasaṃhitā c. 14th century

Śivayogapradīpikā c. 15th century

Yogatārāvalī c. 15th century

Haṭhapradīpikā c. 15th century

been critically studied, edited, and translated (see Table 1). Scholars have come to refer to this genre of

texts as the “Haṭhayoga Corpus,” in that these texts teach or promote the methods and system of

Haṭhayoga. The use of the phrase “Haṭhayoga Corpus,” though heuristically useful, is limited however

in categorizing this literature for at least the following four reasons: 1) prior to the composition of the

Haṭhapradīpikā, there is less uniformity as to what haṭhayoga consists of, and sometimes the texts do

not use the term at all; 2) Haṭhayoga is often not the only, or even the most soteriologically effective,

type of yoga taught in the texts; 3) the texts do not belong to a single Haṭhayoga tradition or

saṃpradāya; and 4) many texts which teach the methods associated with Haṭhayoga do not employ the

name haṭha. Nonetheless it is still instructive to think of these texts as consisting of a type of corpus—

or a network of Yogaśāstras—as it is clear the redactors of these texts were highly aware of one another

and borrowed extensively across the texts.

38
 According to MALLINSON & SZANTO (2021), the earliest explicit teachings on Haṭhayoga are

to be found in the Buddhist Vajrayāna Amṛtasiddhi (c. 11th century) of Mādhavacandra—whose

teachings are attributed to the Siddha Virupākṣa—though it should be noted that the text does not in

fact use the term haṭhayoga. The Amṛtasiddhi is the first text to teach the core practices of

mahāmudrā, mahābandha, and mahāvedha, which were in turn taught in Śaiva works such as the

Amaraughaprabodha (c. 12th century)—where they were first identified with Haṭhayoga (MALLINSON

2020, 12; BIRCH 2019). According to MALLINSON, the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (c. 13th century) then

adopts these teachings from the Amaraughaprabodha and states that Haṭhayoga is of two kinds, both

of which are said to be equal in merit: an eight-limbed yoga (aṣṭāṅgayoga) which was first practiced by

Yājñavalkya and others,68 and a second Haṭhayoga practiced by Kapila and other Siddhas. This second

Haṭhayoga teaches the three mudrās of the Amaraughaprabodha along with khecarīmudrā,

viparītakaraṇī, and the three bandhas—jālandharabandha, uḍḍiyāṇabandha, and mūlabandha.69

Verses teaching these techniques were then assembled by Svātmārāma and grouped together as the ten

mudrās in the Haṭhapradīpikā (c. 1400). Similar to the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, as we will see, the

Śivayogapradīpikā describes the practitioner of Haṭhayoga in a twofold manner: as one who masters

the breath either through Aṣṭāṅgayoga or through kevalakumbhaka (the breathless state associated

with samādhi) by means of mudrās, karaṇas, and bandhas.70 Similarly, in the Haṭhapradīpikā,

Svātmārāma describes the proper Haṭhayoga sequence (anukrama) of practice as including: āsanas,

68 This Aṣṭāṅgayoga is consistent in name and order with the eight auxiliaries of Patañjali, namely: yama,
niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi. On Aṣṭāṅgayoga being attributed to
sages like Yājñavalkya and others, rather than Patañjali, see WHITE (2014, 51, 114).
69 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 132–158.
70 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.7.

39
kumbhakas, actions (karaṇa) called mudrās, and also concentration on the inner resonances

(nādānusandhāna).71

It is evident from their writings that the authors of these Yogaśāstras belonged to a diverse

range of religious orders, and yet it is also clear that in many cases the compilers of these texts were

aware of each other, and likely had access to a collection of manuscripts, as there is a high degree of

borrowing and adaptation among and between this particular group of texts. The most poignant

example of textual borrowing within this network of Yogaśāstras is the composition of the

Haṭhapradīpikā, which BOUY (1994) and MALLINSON (2014) have shown to be largely a compilation,

sourced from twenty or more prior texts on yoga.72 The Haṭhapradīpikā thus represents a curated

survey of the techniques of medieval yoga en vogue during the middle of the second millennium.

Svātmārāma’s synthesis become an important touchstone, a locus classicus for the Haṭhayoga traditions,

as evidenced from the number of later works and commentaries that hold it in such esteem.73

Contrary to the view held by previous generations of yoga scholars, it has now been well-

established that this textual corpus cannot be understood as representing a single unified tradition or

yogic order.74 While many of the early Haṭhayoga treatises are attributed to Gorakṣanātha—including

the Amaraughaprabodha, Vivekamārtaṇḍa, Yogabīja, and Gorakṣaśataka—other yoga texts are

71 Haṭhapradīpikā
1.56: āsanaṃ kumbhakaṃ citraṃ mudrākhyaṃ karaṇaṃ tathā | atha nādānusandhānam
abhyāsānukramo haṭhe ||.
72 For a list of Svātmārāma’s source texts and borrowed verses in the Haṭhapradīpikā, see MALLINSON (2014,

239–244).
73 For example, Yogacintāmaṇi (16th century), Basavārādhya’s commentary on the Śivayogapradīpikā (c. 16/17th
century), Haṭharatnāvalī (17th century), Jogapradīpyakā (18th century). Commentaries on the Haṭhapradīpikā
include the Jyotsnā by Brahmānanda (c. 1830), Yogaprakāśikā by Bālakṛṣṇa (19th century), and the Marathi
Haṭhapradīpikāvṛtti by Bhojātmaja (1852). See BOUY (1994), BÜHNEMANN (2007, 8), BIRCH (2011, 548).
74 See for example, WHITE (2012, 17) who notes, “All of the earliest Sanskrit-language works on haṭha
yoga are
attributed to Gorakhnāth… the Nāth Yogīs were and remain the sole South Asian order to self-identify as yogis.”
This follows the earlier view set forth by ELIADE (1958, 228–29).

40
attributed to a variety of authors, and reveal the stamps of numerous medieval religious and

philosophical traditions. We see the techniques of Haṭhayoga described in Vajrayāna Buddhist texts

such as the Amṛtasiddhi, Vaiṣṇava texts such as the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, Śrīvidyā texts such as the

Śivasaṃhitā, Vīraśaiva texts such as the Śivayogapradīpikā, Vedāntic texts including the late Yoga

Upaniṣads (BOUY 1994), and even Islamic Sūfī texts such as the Baḥr al-ḥayāt (ERNST 2005). By

focusing on the methods of Haṭhayogic praxis, above and beyond any particular religious doctrine or

complex philosophical discourse, many of the redactors of the early Haṭha texts make an appeal to a

certain pragmatic yogic universalism, in which anyone, regardless of sectarian or religious affiliation, or

physical and mental aptitude, is proclaimed capable of engaging in yoga, so long as they do the practice.

A case in point, is in the Dattātreyayogaśāstra,

Even a young person or someone old or diseased gradually obtains success in all yogas
through practising tirelessly. Whether brahmin, ascetic, Buddhist, Jain, Skull-bearer
(kāpālika) or materialist (cārvāka), the wise man endowed with conviction, who is
constantly devoted to his practice obtains complete success. Success happens for he who
engages in the activity [of yoga]. How could it happen for one who is not active [in yoga]?75

Still, one must question the ecumenical and universal rhetoric of such authors, for elsewhere in the

same text the yogin is instructed to behave as an ascetic—to preserve his bindu through celibacy

(brahmacarya),76 and to practice yoga in an isolated hut (maṭha) that is “free from the company of

other people” (parasaṅgavivarjita).77 Unlike the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, however, for the

Śivayogapradīpikā, as its name implies, its teachings on yoga are aimed specifically at devotees of Śiva.

75 Dattātreyayogaśāstra40–42: yuvāvastho ’pi vṛddho vā vyādhito vā śanaiḥ śanaiḥ | abhyāsāt siddhim āpnoti
sarvayogaeṣv atandritaḥ || brāhmaṇaḥ śramaṇo vāpi bauddho vāpy ārhato ’pi vā | kāpāliko vā cārvākaḥ
śraddayā sahitaḥ sudhīḥ ||. Translation by MALLINSON.
76 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 84–88.
77 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 58.

41
2.6 Yogaśāstras in the Deccan

While the critical study, dating, and provenance of many of these texts is currently undergoing

investigation,78 it is becoming increasingly clear that many of these Yogaśāstras were likely written in

south India and the larger Deccan region. For example, the Amṛtasiddhi is thought to have been

written in the Deccan (MALLINSON & SZANTO 2021, 3). The Amaroughaprobha was likely written at

Kadri in Mangalore (MALLINSON 2020, 11). Jñānadeva’s Marathi Jñāneśvarī (c. 13th century), whose

sixth chapter describes the Haṭhayogic bandhas and ascent of kuṇḍalinī, was composed in

Maharashtra, wherein Jñānadeva traces his spiritual lineage to several key Nātha yogis, including

Matsyendranātha and Gorakṣanātha.79 It is likely that the Haṭhapradīpikā of Svātmārāma (c. 1400) was

composed in Andhra Pradesh (REDDY 1982, 15), possibly at or around Srisailam (MALLINSON

forthcoming). Śrīnivāsa, the author of the Haṭharatnāvalī (17th century), resided in the Tirabhukta

region of Andhra, and according to REDDY (1982, 14), was likely a Telugu Brahmin. Furthermore,

many of the late-medieval Yoga Upaniṣads were compiled in the south by followers of Śaṅkara’s

Advaitavedānta (BOUY 1994). These texts indicate the presence of the techniques and traditions that

comprise Haṭhayoga (even if they did not always call them haṭha) in south India from at least the

thirteenth century. By the early sixteenth century, Śaiva yogins performing highly complex Haṭhayogic

āsanas were being sculpted onto the Vijayanagara temple pillars at important temple sites like Hampi,

Śṛṅgerī, and Srisailam, further attesting to the strong southern presence of these traditions (POWELL

2018, forthcoming). In the following chapters we will explore evidence that places the

Śivayogapradīpikā likewise in Andhra Pradesh, within the Vīraśaiva community of Srisailam.

78 A total of ten texts are currently being (or have been) edited and published under the auspices of the Haṭha

Yoga Project (2015-20) held at SOAS, University of London. http://hyp.soas.ac.uk/. Accessed March 19, 2023.

Jñāneśvarī 18.1733-1742, we find the following spiritual lineage: Matsyendranātha, Gorakṣanātha,

79 In

Gahininātha, Nivṛttinātha, Jñāndeva (KRIPANANDA 1989). Thus, Jñāndeva’s guru's guru was a disciple of
Gorakṣanātha, or to put it otherwise, Gorakṣanātha was Jñāndeva’s great-grandfather-guru.

42
 Figure 2: Yogin in Siddhāsana with Sun and Moon Motif.
Mallikārjuna temple prakāra at Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh. Photograph by author.

Srisailam is an important temple site in the Nallamala hills, above the banks of the Kṛṣṇā river, in

modern-day Andhra Pradesh. It has been long-renowned as a great center and pilgrimage destination

for Hindu and Buddhist Siddhas and yogins. Numerous sculpted reliefs along the walls (prākāra) of

the famous Mallikārjuna temple at Srisailam feature extensive yogic narratives and iconography (e.g.

Figure 2), including the legends of Nāthas like Matsyendra, Gorakṣa, and Cauraṅgī—celebrating the

power of yoga in the region.80 As JONES (2018, 223–24) has detailed, in the fourteenth and fifteenth

centuries, Srisailam was home to the powerful Bhikṣāvṛtti maṭha whose pontiffs or “kings” (rāyas)

“emerge in this period as not just patrons of literature and other arts, but potentates holding significant

political, economic, and perhaps even military power in the great Srisailam region.”81 MALLINSON

(forthcoming), has recently argued, drawing especially on the historiographical work of Manu

80 See for example, SHAW (1997), LINROTHE (2006), REDDY (2014), and POWELL (2018, 2023).
81 Bhikṣāvṛtti rāyas, such as Muktiśānta, commissioned many literary works at Srisailam including the Telugu

Navanāthacaritramu. See Chapter 3, and JONES (2018).

43
DEVADEVAN (2016), that it is most likely within the environment of the south Indian maṭhas (monastic

institutions)—such as the Bhikṣāvṛtti maṭha at Srisailam—where medieval Yogaśāstras, such as the

Haṭhapradīpikā and the Śivayogapradīpikā, were likely produced. He writes:

The rise of monasteries in southern India and the Deccan is the most likely reason for the
appearance in the 11th to 15th centuries of a corpus of texts on haṭhayoga in which ascetic
practices were codified in manuals that could be used by students, scholars and aspiring
yogis of any tradition.82

In general, authors of medieval Yogaśāstras were not concerned with providing exhaustive accounts of

yogic theory and practice,83 but rather were keen to integrate disparate traditions and techniques of

yoga and attempt to synthesize them in a coherent and systematic manner84—perhaps for an

institutional or more public audience. From this perspective, a Sanskrit Yogaśāstra might have served to

codify the teachings of a particular lineage, and the text may have served as part of the curriculum to be

studied by monastic yogins. These texts are largely prescriptive and proscriptive soteriological treatises

authorizing instructions for the aspiring yogin in matters of lifestyle and diet, the proper locale for

praxis, a rudimentary metaphysics and theory of the body and its subtle energy channels, and overall,

mapping a progressive curriculum of yogic practice, outlining the techniques said to culminate in the

liberative state of samādhi. Although we cannot be certain of the material life and function of medieval

yoga manuscripts, it is unlikely that they would have been used by practitioners as how-to-guides, or to

replace the oral instruction of a personal guru. Instead, the texts offer us historical moments of

codification, synthesis, and reform, visions of what were perhaps oral renunciate traditions being

recorded for the first time, or as was often the case, reinterpretations of techniques from earlier Sanskrit

82 MALLINSON (forthcoming).

83 Although later texts would resemble more encyclopedic compendiums, collating quotations from earlier

works, e.g. the Yogacintāmaṇi, Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha, and the Yogasārasaṅgraha (BOUY 1994, BIRCH 2020).
84 See, for example, Svātmārāma’s impulse for unification in Haṭhapradīpikā 1.3.

44
texts—detectable from the authors’ highly intertextual borrowing of shared verses. It is also clear that

at the time there was considerable disagreement, rivalry, and debate as to which systems of yoga were

more soteriologically efficacious. Some authors like Svātmārāma appear to display an apologetic

awareness and even defensiveness in championing Haṭhayoga as a legitimate path.

2.7 Rājayoga Versus Haṭhayoga

Alongside the teaching of Haṭhayoga, this period is also witness to the emergence of Rājayoga. Despite

the term’s more ubiquitous connotations today with Aṣṭāṅgayoga and the yoga system of Patañjali, as

the excellent research by BIRCH (2014, 401) has demonstrated,

The history of the term “rājayoga” reveals that it did not derive from Pātañjalayoga. Indeed,
it was not until the sixteenth century that this term was used in a commentary on the
Yogasūtra. The earliest definition of Rājayoga is found in the twelfth century, Śaiva Yoga text
called the Amanaska, which proclaimed Rājayoga to be superior to all other Yogas and
soteriologies prevalent in India at that time. From the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries,
Rājayoga was mainly used as a synonym for samādhi, yet after the sixteenth century, the
textual evidence reveals many attempts to reinterpret the name and connect it with different
systems of Yoga.

According to BIRCH (2014, 406) the Amanaska (c. 12th century) calls its yoga rājayoga for two reasons:

first, because it is “the king of all yogas”—a line repeated by Cennasadāśivayogin in the

Śivayogapradīpikā85—and second, because it enables the yogin to attain the “luminous king” (rājānaṃ

dīpyamānaṃ), the imperishable supreme Self (paramātman).86 The Rājayoga of the Amanaska is

taught in the text as an effortless and spontaneous technique that leads the practitioner to the “no-

mind” (amanaska) state of samādhi. The Amanaska adopts a jñāna or gnoseological focus, contending

that yogins need not waste their time with external or overtly physical practices, which can in fact be

harmful to the body and soteriologically counterproductive. Only true knowledge of the Self (ātman)

85 Amanaska 2.3cd: rājatvāt yogānāṃ rājayoga iti smṛtaḥ | = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.12cd.

86 Amanaska 2.4: rājānaṃ dīpyamānaṃ taṃ paramātmānam avyayam | dehinaṃ prāpayed yas tu rājayogaḥ sa
ucyate ||.

45
will lead to liberation—similar to Abhinavagupta’s view on tarka as discussed above. The text

denigrates core Haṭhayoga techniques such as prāṇāyāma in favor of internal meditation practices

which, unlike the “force” of Haṭhayoga, are believed to require little effort from the practitioner.

Svātmārāma, in his fifteenth-century Haṭhapradīpikā is clearly responding to such critiques, and

sought to reconcile Haṭha and Rājayoga together. In several key moments throughout the text,

Svātmārāma goes out of his way to demonstrate that not only are Haṭha and Rājayoga complimentary,

but that their synthesis is the ideal pathway to the liberatory state of samādhi. For Svātmārāma,

Haṭhayoga is considered the stairwell that leads the yogin to the lofty peak of Rājayoga (i.e. samādhi).87

Those who practice Haṭhayoga alone without aiming for success in Rājayoga, he considers to be

wasting their time.88 Likewise, as we shall see in the Śivayogapradīpikā, Cennasadāśivayogin seeks to

integrate a vision of four yogas, including Haṭha and Rājayoga—together with its devotional and

ritualized vision of Śivayoga.

2.8 The Four Yogas

By the thirteenth century, within the discourse of the Yogaśāstras, Haṭhayoga was often presented as

one of four major systems, or approaches to yoga. This tetrad of medieval yogas includes, Mantrayoga,

Layayoga, Haṭhayoga, and Rājayoga. This classification of four yogas is first presented in the

thirteenth-century Amaraughaprabodha, followed by other texts like the Dattātreyayogaśāstra,

Yogabīja, Śivasaṃhitā, and Śivayogapradīpikā, among others. Some texts such as the

Dattātreyayogaśāstra and Śivayogapradīpikā present the four yogas as a progression and hierarchy, with

all yogas leading to the final practices and aims of Rājayoga. The Śivayogapradīpikā maps the four yogas

87 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.1.

88 Haṭhapradīpikā 4.79.

46
onto the four stages (avasthā) of yogic practice.89 It is clear that Vīraśaivas had knowledge of this

categorization of four yogas beyond the Śivayogapradīpikā. The Śaivaratnākara of Jyotirnātha (c. 13–

14th century) favorably mentions one who knows the four yogas,90 while the Kannada Prabhuliṅgalīle

(c. 1450–1500) mentions them in a more derogatory manner, as obscuring the true teachings of

Śivabhakti.91 In both of these texts, it is interesting to note that the order given is: Mantra, Haṭha, Laya,

Rājayoga—the order which is also found in the Yogabīja and the Śivasaṃhitā. It is possible that this

may have been an older classification order, however, by the fifteenth century, and as Haṭhayoga

assumed a more favorable reception—due in part to texts like the Haṭhapradīpikā—it may have moved

up in ranks, so to speak, as its practices eclipsed those of Mantra and Laya in terms of importance in the

minds of most authors. It is clear that the grouping of the four yogas indicated competition and

soteriological debate as to the efficacy of which methods are most spiritually efficacious for the yogin

seeking liberation. The ways in which authors strategically grouped these yogas together, and the order

in which they did so, is revealing of certain yoga polemics. In the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, Mantrayoga is

described as an easy or even inferior practice for simpletons and the lowliest of aspirants.92 A similar

claim is found in the Śivasaṃhitā.93 Elsewhere in the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, mantra sādhana is also listed

as an obstacle to practice alongside laziness, associating with rogues, alchemy, and digging for buried

treasures.94 Such a view stands in stark contrast from the elevated role of mantras prescribed in the

Mantramārga traditions, with their deity-specific mantras and ritual syntax.

89 See below, p. 176.

90 Śaivaratnākara 1.39ab: tan mantrayogahaṭhayogalayākhyayogaśrīrājayogaviditaḥ paramārthavedī |.

91 Prabhuliṅgalīle 21.29.
92 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 13–14.
93 Śivasaṃhitā 5.16.
94 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 51–53, cf. Śivayogapradīpikā 4.16.

47
 As will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 5, the Śivayogapradīpikā provides descriptions of

the practitioner of each of the four yogas:

(1.5) A Mantrayogin should always recite the one-syllable, two-syllable, or even the six-
syllable or eight-syllable [mantra] for the purpose of liberation.

(1.6) A Layayogin is surely one whose mind becomes dissolved in its object of meditation,
together with the mental organ and breath, or in the internal resonance (nāda).

(1.7) A Haṭhayogin is one who has mastery of the breath through the eightfold (aṣṭāṅga)
path or in kevalakumbhaka by means of mudrās, karaṇas, and bandhas.

(1.8) A knower of Rājayoga is one who attains the realization of Brahman through the three
gazing points (lakṣya), or who is free from the turnings of the mind through gnosis (jñāna).95

Cennasadāśivayogin, the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā understands the four yogas, however, not as

four separate disciplines, but in fact as four divisions (caturvidham) of Śivayoga. That is to say, four

yogic approaches for attaining the ultimate soteriological union with Śiva. In the Śivayogapradīpikā, I

argue that Śivayoga is envisioned then, not simply as another system of yoga, but for Śaivas, it is the

apotheosis of all other yogas. In order to locate the specific mechanics of this Śivayoga, a brief survey of

its history will be in order.

2.9 A Genealogy of Śivayoga

We have already discussed Śaiva forms of yoga in a general sense. In this section, however, I wish to

explore the specific textual history of the Sanskrit compound śivayoga. We will see that throughout its

history there are at least four different ways in which this term has been used within the context of

Śaiva and yoga traditions: 1) śivayoga as a noun, as the soteriological state characterized by the liberatory

union (saṃyoga, aikya) or equality (samānatā) with Śiva and/or his divine qualities; 2) śivayoga as a

bahuvrīhi compound, used adjectively in the general sense of something which is yoked or enfused

with Śiva, and not necessarily within a yogic context; 3) Śivayoga in the sense of an organized system of

95 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.5–8, see Chapter 5.

48
yoga in distinction from other yogas such as Haṭhayoga, Layayoga, etc.; and 4) Śivayoga as a system of

yoga characterized by the Vīraśaiva practice of meditative concentration on one’s personal emblem of

God (iṣṭaliṅgadhāraṇā).

The earliest occurrences of the term śivayoga are likely to be found in the oldest surviving Śaiva

Tantra scriptures. In its early attestations, śivayoga refers not to a particular method or discipline of

yoga, but rather to the soteriological state of yoga which is characterized by either the yogin’s union

(saṃyoga) with Śiva, or an experiential gnosis (jñāna) of the supreme nature of Śiva’s Reality

(śivatattva). Perhaps one of the first occurances of the term śivayoga is found in the Niśvāsakārikā, a

supplement to the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā (c. 6th century)96—considered by specialists to be the earliest

surviving Śaiva Tantra (GOODALL et al. 2015). The Niśvāsakārikā only survives in the transmission of

the south-Indian manuscripts. It is difficult to date, but portions of it seem to have been known by the

redactors of the Brahmayāmala (c. 650–750)—another of the earliest surviving Śaiva Tantras.97 In the

Niśvāsakārikā, yoga is described as a soteriological state (avasthā) characterized by the bliss which is the

direct experience of the Self (ātmasākṣika):

manasaś ca sulīnaś ca yatsukhaṃ hy ātmasākṣikam |

yogāvasthā parā hy eṣā prāhur yogavido janāḥ || Niśvāsakārikā 32.34

Completely absorbed in the heart, that bliss which is the experience of the Self.
People who are knowers of yoga say that this is the supreme state of yoga (yogāvasthā).

Then Śivayoga is described as a state which transcends all attributes and form:

96 There is one verse in the earlier core Nayasūtraportion of the Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā where the ninth-century
Nepalese palm-leaf manuscript reads śivayāge (worship of Śiva), whereas all three of the much later twentieth-
century copies report śivayoge. This is however a common scribal error of mistaking the akṣaras of yāga for yoga
that we also find in the transmission of the Śivayogapradīpikā (see pp. 10–11). Niśvāsatattvasaṃhitā 4.150:
śivātmakaiś ca mantraiś ca śivayāge tu pūjayet | aprāpya śivasadbhāvaṃ paṭhato pi hi saṃhitām ||. śivayāge ] N ;
śivayoge KTW (GOODALL et al. 2015, 231).

Niśvāsakārikā, see GOODALL et al. (2015, 23–27). On its relationship with the Brahmayāmala, see
97 On the

HATLEY (2018, 88–92).

49
 nirādhāro nirvikalpaḥ sarvālayavivarjitaḥ |
nirguṇo lakṣya rahitaḥ śivayogaḥ prakīrtitaḥ || Niśvāsakārikā 32.38

The [state of] union with Śiva (śivayoga) is proclaimed as a secret which is to be known
without support, without discursive thought, devoid of all levels, [and] without form.

Here the term śivayoga is characterized by the yogin’s direct non-discursive experience of the supreme

nature of Śiva’s Reality (śivatattva). Other early attestations of the compound śivayoga or its declined

forms (śivayogaḥ, śivayogam, śivayogāt, etc.) can be found in the Brahmayāmala, where again the term

means a fusion or union with Śiva, for example in the Goddess’ cosmogonical union with Śiva.98

Outside of this milieu of early Mantramārga Śaivism, we can also find attestations of śivayoga

in the more public teachings of the Pāśupatas found in the Śaiva Purāṇas and Śivadharma corpus. As

discussed above, these texts provide detailed teachings on yoga, and we find several occurances of the

śivayoga. For example, the final ten chapters of the Skandapurāṇa present a section of the text called the

pāśupatayogavidhi, or “teachings on Pāśupatayoga,” where Vyāsa is initiated into the Pāśupata

observance by Sanatkumāra and given teachings on yoga (BISSCHOP 2021, 56). Here we find an

interesting occurrence of śivayoga in the instrumental (i.e. śivayogena) within the context of the

Pāśupata vow (vrata):

ātmānam uddharet vyāsa yaḥ snānam bhasmanā caret |

bhasmanā śivayogena mucyate pāśabandhanāt || Skandapurāṇa 180.17

One should raise up the Self (ātman), O Vyāsa. One who bathes with sacred ashes, by means
of the ashes which are infused with Śiva (śivayoga), [he] is liberated from the bond of fetters
(pāśa).

Here Sanatkumāra is describing the Pāśupata observance of smearing sacred ashes on the yogin’s body

(bhasmasādhana). The ashes in the instrumental case (bhasmanā) are equated with śivayogena, also in

the instrumental, which I take to mean that the ashes are enjoined, infused, or yoked with the divine

98 Brahmayāmala 72.114: śā śakti kurute yasyāc chivayogād varānane | picusaṃjñācalā śambhuyuktā proktā
varānane ||. See also Brahmayāmala 50.103, 61.72.

50
nature of Śiva. This usage of the term yoga as the second member of the compound is thus used in a

more general way and not associated with the soteriological state or discipline of yoga.

Elsewhere in this section of the Skandapurāṇa we see the usage of the term śivayogin or in the

nominative plural, śivayoginaḥ, for example in one of the concluding verses:

na evam etat param brahma anye vindanti yoginaḥ |

mahādevam prapannāḥ ye tān muktvā śivayoginaḥ || Skandapurāṇa 181.51

Not in this way do other yogins know the supreme Brahman. Those other than them who
reach Mahādeva are Śivayogins.

For yogins who are not able to fulfill the Pāśupata observance (vrata), Vyāsa is told they can still obtain

the supreme Brahman. However, for those Śaiva yogins who practice according to the Pāśupata

teachings, and who worship (prapanna), literally those who “fall” (← √pat) at the feet of Śiva—

attaining liberation (mokṣa) in this way they are known as Śivayogins.

As argued by BISCCHOP (2010, 485) and DE SIMINI (2016b, 234, n.1) the twelfth and final

chapter of the Śivadharmottara can also be viewed as part of this extended corpus of public Pāśupata

teachings, “containing norms of behaviour for śivayogins and lay followers that in many points recall

the prescriptions for the Pāśupata observance.” We find for example the following passage:

A Śivayogin is proclaimed as one who by means of the yoga with six auxiliaries
(ṣaḍaṅgayoga) is possessed with knowledge (jñāna) and dispassion (vairāgya), [and] is yoked
to Śiva with a calm mind.

From Śivadharma arises knowledge (jñāna). From knowledge arises dispassion (vairāgya).
Union with Śiva (śivayoga) is known as the [state of being] yoked to knowledge and
dispassion.

And from union with Śiva (śivayoga) one becomes eternally omniscient, complete, and
pure, abiding in one’s Self, all-pervading like Śiva.99

99 Śivadharmottara 12.31–33: jñānavairāgyasaṃpannaḥ śivaṃ śāntena cetasā | yuktaṣ ṣaḍaṅgayogena śivayogī

prakīrtitaḥ || śivadharmād bhavej jñānaṃ jñānād vairāgyasaṃbhavaḥ | jñanavairāgyayuktasya śivayogaḥ
pravartate || śivayogāc ca sarvajñaḥ paripūrṇas tu nityaśaḥ | svātmany avasthitaś śuddhaḥ śivavatsarvago bhavet
||.

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For the public lay audience of the Śivadharma, however, one does not necessarily have to become an

ascetic Śivayogin oneself in order to attain the same spiritual benefits of Śivayoga. The community is

taught that simply through the ritual worship (pūjā) of Śivayogins, they too can reap the merit (puñya):

The fruit which arises through the merit produced by means of all the sacrifices (yajña),
asceticism (tapas), and donations (dāna), all of that fruit is obtained through the ritual
worship (saṃpūjya) of the Śivayogin.100

Throughout the chapter the Śivayogin is described as the ideal archetype of a liberated Śaiva, who

embodies the teachings of the Śivadharma, and to whom praise and worship is to be directed for the

benefit of the entire community. Similar teachings on śivayogins can also be found in the related

Śivopaniṣad,101 and as we will see in the next chapter, in the corpus of texts belonging to the Vīraśaivas.

In later Śaiva Tantras and Āgamas, we find further attestations. In the Kālottaratantra, for

example, we find the verse, “This union with Śiva (śivayoga) is a divine secret which is not revealed.”102

Like we saw in the Niśvāsakārikā, the state of śivayoga is here described as secret (rahasya) and thus,

unlike the Śivadharma corpus, perhaps not for the general uninitiated public. Indeed, in the

Svacchandatantra, within a chapter on initiatory rites, we find the following verse:

athābhiṣeka ācārye śivayogād anantaram |

pañcabhiḥ kalaśair bhadre sitacandanalepitaiḥ || Svacchandatantra 4.455

After union with Śiva (śivayoga), when there is the consecration by the preceptor (ācārya),
then, O goddess, one is blessed by means of white sandalwood and five water pots.

Commenting on this verse, Kṣemarāja glosses śivayoga as “joining” (yojana) (with Śiva) and says that

the method of initiation (dīkṣāvidhi) follows that.103

100 Śivadharmottara12.38: sarvayajñatapodānaiḥ kṛtaiḥ puñyais tu yatphalam | tatphalaṃ labhate sarvaṃ

saṃpūjya śivayoginam ||.
101 See for example, Śivopaniṣad 6.213–221 and elsewhere.
102 Kālottaratantra 65.34ab: śivayogam idaṃ divyaṃ rahasyaṃ na prakāśitam |.
103 Kṣemarāja on Svacchandatantra 4.455: śivayogo yojanānto dīkṣāvidhis tasya paścāt ||.

52
 Thus far we have seen that in the earliest textual attestations of the Sanskrit compound

śivayoga, from roughly the sixth through tenth centuries, most texts do not refer to śivayoga as a

codified system of yoga vis-à-vis other systems of yoga. The phrase śivayoga—typically found in the

nominative (śivayogaḥ), accusative (śivayogaṃ) or genitive (śivayogāt) case endings—either refers to 1) a

soteriological state defined as the union (yoga, yukta, aikya, etc.) with Śiva—which may be secretive

and associated with initiation in certain tantric contexts; 2) a state of being yoked to Śaiva ideals such as

jñāna and vairāgya; or 3) sometimes when used in the instrumental (śivayogena), yogena as the second

member of the compound may mean something more general like “infused,” “enjoined,” or

“connected” with Śiva—as in, the yogin’s ashes (bhasma) being infused with the nature of Śiva

(śivayogena).

Elsewhere in south India, and even beyond the linguistic horizon of Sanskrit literature, we can

also detect the usage of śivayoga. For example, the Tamil Tirumandiram attributed to Tirumular

includes teachings on civayōga (i.e. Śivayoga). This text is difficult to date, and some portions may be

much older—however, as MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017, xxv) observe the similarity of its teachings

compared with “certain Sanskrit haṭha texts suggests that they were composed in approximately the

thirteenth century.” The Tirumandiram teaches a version of Aṣṭāṅgayoga that also includes teachings

on Kuṇḍalinī. As a Śaiva devotional text, it is not surprising that it frames the soteriology of its yoga in

terms of union with Śiva—and employs the Tamil civayōga (← Sanskrit śivayoga). For example:

If one exists free from action, the bliss of Śiva occurs. Those without action will not seek
union with Śiva (civayōga). Those without action will not join with the world. To those
without action, the message of wisdom reaches.104

Likewise, the guru is said to have attained the state of Śivayoga:

104 Tirumandiram 2319: ceyalaṟṟ(u) irukka-c civānandam ākum ceyalaṟṟ(u) iruppār civayōgam tēḍār |
ceyalaṟṟ(u) iruppār cekattoḍum kūḍār ceyalaṟṟ(u) iruppārkkē ceytiuṇ ḍāmē ||. Translation by KANDASWAMY
(2010), slightly modified.

53
 The guru is one who has attained supreme bliss as indicated by the Vedas and Āgamas and
who has observed union with Śiva (civayōga). His mind is rooted in one thing [and] he has
removed the fetters. It is beneficial to find refuge in him.105

Again, here as well in the Tamil tradition, the term civayōga does not appear to refer to a particular

system of yoga, but rather to the state of union. As we will encounter in the next chapter, this

framework of śivayoga was also heavily adopted by the Vīraśaivas, and can be found throughout both

their Sanskrit and vernacular literatures—including the Śūnyasampādane, Prabhuliṅgalīle,

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi, and many more.106 It is also of course the subject matter of our primary text, the

Śivayogapradīpikā of Cennasadāśivayogin.

According to Śivayogapradīpikā 1.3–4, Śivayoga is a supreme secret (paraṃ guhyam) passed

down by Śiva to the great Siddhas and taught as the fourfold yoga: Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga.

According to the Vīraśaiva scholar Basavārādhya, in his commentary on Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4,

“Śivayoga is the state of equality (samānatā) with Śiva.”107 As we will discuss, the Śivayogapradīpikā

thus does not necessarily conceive of Śivayoga as a fifth or distinct system of yoga, but rather as the

essence and devotional orientation of all other yoga systems—specifically for Śaivas. “In reality, there is

no difference (bheda) between Śivayoga and Rājayoga,” Cennasadāśivayogin tells us. “Yet for those who

worship Śiva [a difference] is thus declared, in order to increase wisdom (buddhi).”108 At the same time,

the text describes Śivayoga as being comprised of five components:

(1.15) Śivayoga is five-fold, indeed: gnosis (jñāna) comprised of Śiva, devotion (bhakti) to
Śiva, meditation (dhyāna) comprised of Śiva, Śaiva religious observance (vrata), and worship
of Śiva (arcā).

Tirumandiram 2057: kuruven pavanē vēdāga maṅkūṛum paravinpa nākic civayōgam pāvit | torucintai yinṛi
105

uyarpāsa nīkki varunal kuravanpāl vaikkalu māmē ||. Translation by KANDASWAMY (2010), slightly modified.
106 See Chapter 3.

107 Śivayogapradīpikāṭīkā 1.4.

108 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.13.

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That is to say, union with Śiva (śivayoga) arises from these five practices. A similar fivefold Śivayoga is

found quoted in Anādivīraśaivasārasaṃgraha 25.82, however, attributed to the Vīrāgama—only

“Śaiva conduct” (śivācāraḥ) takes the place of “meditation comprised of Śiva” (dhyānaṃ

śivātmakam).109

As we approach the later medieval and early modern texts, we can see examples of authors

beginning to speak of Śivayoga not simply as “union with Śiva” but rather as a unique system of yoga

in relation to others such as Haṭhayoga, Mantrayoga, Layayoga, etc. The Śivatattvaratnākara, for

example, which quotes heavily from the Śivayogapradīpikā, in quoting verse 1.4 from the

Śivayogapradīpikā adapts it to include Śivayoga or “Śaiva yoga” as the fifth yoga.110 One of the most

salient examples of treating Śivayoga as a distinct system of yoga is to be found in the

Yogasiddhāntacandrikā of the scholar Nārāyaṇatīrtha (c. 17th century), a commentary on the sūtras of

the Pātañjalayogaśāstra—whose unique teachings on Śivayoga calls for some analysis. The

Yogasiddhāntacandrikā is an ambitious work that attempts to unify a vast array of doctrines within the

framework of the Yogasūtras of Patañjali. In particular, Nārāyaṇatīrtha attempts to synthesize fifteen

different systems of yoga within the first chapter (pāda). All of these are believed to result in the state of

Rājayoga, which Nārāyaṇatīrtha understands as synonymous with the nididhyāsana of Vedānta and

the asaṃprajñātasamādhi of Pātañjalayoga.111 The fifteen yogas are as follows: 1) Kriyāyoga, 2)

Caryāyoga, 3) Karmayoga, 4) Haṭhayoga, 5) Mantrayoga, 6) Jñānayoga, 7) Advaitayoga, 8) Lakṣyayoga,

9) Brahmayoga, 10) Śivayoga, 11) Siddhiyoga, 12) Vāsanāyoga, 13) Layayoga, 14) Dhyānayoga, 15)

109Anādivīraśaivasārasaṃgraha 25.82: vīrāgame | vijñānaṃ śive bhaktiḥ śivācāraḥ śivavratam |

śivaliṅgārcanajñaptiḥ śivayogo hi pañcadhā ||. This verse is not found, however, in the Vīrāgama manuscript I
have been able to consult (IFP/EFEO transcript T.0029 = Muktabodha M.00253).
110Śivatattvaratnākara 15.3 mantro layo haṭho rājā śaivaś cety api pañcadhā | yogāḥ pūrvaiḥ samākhyātāḥ
siddhaiḥ śambhupracoditaiḥ ||. See p. 146 for more on the Śivatattvaratnākara.
111 For a detailed overview of the Yogasiddhāntacandrikā see PENNA (2018), and specifically pp. 80–81 for a
summary of its teachings on Śivayoga.

55
Premabhaktiyoga.112 Śivayoga thus is tenth on his list and appears after Brahmayoga. For both of these

yogas he locates their meaning in Yogasūtra 1.36:

viśokā vā jyotiṣmatī |
Or [the mind is steadied by fixing it on something] luminous which is beyond sorrow.

For Brahmayoga, Nārāyaṇatīrtha explains that Brahman dwells in an eight-petalled lotus within the

heart in the form of nāda, the internal resonance. In reference to Yogasūtra 1.36, Brahman is described

as the meditative object (viṣaya) as it it gives rise to knowledge (saṃvid) comprised of consciousness

(cit) and bliss (ānanda), located within the nāda—and thus it is luminous (jyotis). It is absent of

suffering (duḥkhaśūnya), or viśokā, on account of the practice of many different methods.

Nārāyaṇatīrtha then describes a detailed visualization practice involving prāṇāyāma and the three

letters A-U-M comprising the sound of the mantra oṃ.113

Nārāyaṇatīrtha uses this same Yogasūtra 1.36 to describe Śivayoga. Here however one is to fix

the gaze on the space between the brows (bhrūmadhya) which produces a luminous form (jyotīrūpa).

The luminous form we learn is in fact a realization of the Self (ātman). This Śivayoga is said to be viśokā

in the sense that it is “devoid of the miseries (kleśarahita) which are born from the labors of [practices]

such as Haṭhayoga, etc.”—an interesting statement considering that he has just previously integrated

Haṭhayoga in a positive manner with Yogasūtra 1.34. Furthermore, he tells us, this Śivayoga is also

known as śāmbhavīmudrā.114 This point is significant, and perhaps is a connection with the Śivayoga of

112 Yogasiddhāntacandrikā p. 2.
113 Yogasiddhāntacandrikā p. 54.
114Yogasiddhāntacandrikā p. 55: athavā bhrūmadhyādau jyotīrūpe pratyagātmani bahirdṛṣṭibandhena manasaḥ
saṃyamād viśokā | haṭhayogādāv ivāyāsakṛtakleśarahitā jyotirṣmatī sākṣiviṣayā saṃvin manasaḥ sthairyahetur
iti śivayogaḥ | ayam eva śāmbhavī mudrety ucyate |.

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the Śivayogapradīpikā, as we will see later in Chapter 5. Nārāyaṇatīrtha then quotes a verse from the

Amanaska, without attribution:115

The point of focus is internal, [yet] the gaze is outward and free from closing and opening
the eyes. Indeed, this is śāmbhavīmudrā, which is hidden in all the Tantras.116

Nārāyaṇatīrtha says that this śāmbhavīmudrā can be achieved through various practices including:

yogic postures (yogāsana) and other mudrās such as cāñcarī, bhūcarī, khecarī, agocarī, and

nirvāṇamudrā—and that these are to be learnt directly from the guru. Here he says Self-realization

(ātmasākṣāt) has already occurred, which is then to be practiced for the purpose of cultivating supreme

dispassion (paravairāgya). The difference (bheda) between Śivayoga and Brahmayoga then, is that the

former enables the mind to be fixed on the object itself (svaviṣaya)—or the self as its object—whereas

the latter enables the mind to be fixed on other objects (anyaviṣayaka). This seems to suggest that in

Śivayoga the object of meditation is the Self (ātman), whereas in Brahmayoga the object is that which is

luminous (jyotiṣmatī).117 What is peculiar about this depiction of Śivayoga is that it really has nothing

to do with Śiva. The viṣaya of meditation is the realization of the Self (ātmasākṣāt), not the

paramātman or Śiva. It is thus more like a form of Rājayoga, involving śāmbhavīmudrā, and which

does not contain bhakti or yield a union with Śiva. Perhaps this is because the fifteenth and final yoga

system he integrates is called Premabhaktiyoga—yoga by means of love and devotion to the Lord.

115 Elsewhere throughout the text Nārāyaṇatīrtha cites numerous texts by name, so it is possible that he was not

sure where this verse came from.

Amanaska 10: antar lakṣyaṃ bahir dṛṣṭir nimeṣonmeṣavarjitā | eṣā hi śāmbhavī mudrā sarvatantreṣu gopitā ||.
116

Translation by BIRCH (2013, 287), slightly modified. The Yogasiddhāntacandrikā edition reads: antarlakṣyā.
117 Yogasiddhāntacandrikā p. 55: iti | sā ca yogāsanacāñcarībhūcarīkhecaryagocarīnirvāṇamudrābhi siddhyati |
prakāras tu gurumukhād avagantavyaḥ | yady apy anenātmasākṣātkāreṇa kṛtārthatvān nāsya
sthitiviśeṣatayopanyāso yuktas tathāpi kṛtātmasākṣātkāreṇa ’pi paravairāgyārtham abhyāsāpekṣaṇāt tathoktam |
svaviṣayasthairyahetutvāc cānyaviṣayakasthairyahetoḥ pūrvayogād bheda iti saṃkṣepaḥ ||.

57
2.9.1 Śivayoga° Titles

In my research I have encountered a number of different published texts and unpublished manuscripts

with Śivayoga° in the title, which speak to the proliferation and systematization of Śivayoga in

premodern India. Many of these texts will be discussed in the coming pages. These include the:

• Śivayoga118
• Śivayogapradīpikā (and variants such as Śivayogadīpikā)
• Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke (Sanskrit and Kannada)119
• Śivayogapradīpikāsāra120
• Śivayogasāramu (Telugu)121
• Śivayogaratna122
• Śivayogasāra
• Śivayogapaddhati123
• Śivayogadarpana

Both the Śivayogaratna and the Śivayogasāra are texts attributed to an author named Jñānaprakāśa (c.

16th century), a Śaiva ācārya and śūdra originally from Śrī Lanka who travelled to south India and was

initiated in Śaivism in Tamil Nadu. A voluminous author and scholar,124 Jñānaprakāśa’s theology can

118 See p. 116.

119 See pp. 126–127.

120 See pp. 127–130.

121 See pp. 117–125.

122 An edition and French translation of the Śivayogaratna was published by Tara MICHAEL (1975).
123 The Śivayogapaddhati is a small Saiddhāntika tract also known as the Pañcasādākhya. It is not a text on yoga
per se, but rather a collection of verses on the fivefold principle of sadākhya, one of the aspects of Śiva’s nature
according to Śaivasiddhānta theology.
124 Numerous Sanskrit works are attributed to Jñānaprakāśa including the: Śivayogaratna,Śivayogasāra,
Prasādadīpikā, Pramāṇadīpikā, a certain Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi Śivajñānabodhavyākhyāna,
Śivāgamādimāhātmyasaṃgraha, and the Ajñānavivecana. This is a different Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi and is not to
be confused with the Vīraśaiva text attributed to Rēṇukācārya/Śivayogīśivācārya. On the œuvre of Jñānaprakāśa,
see MICHAEL (1975, 2–3).

58
be classified as non-dual Siddhānta, or what is termed Śuddhādvaita Śaivasiddhānta. According to

MICHAEL (1975, 8-9), in the Śivayogaratna, Jñānaprakāśa does not take the word yoga in the sense of

union. Given the metaphysical position of the author, it is not strictly speaking a question of “union

with Śiva,” in the sense that there would exist two distinct entities. MICHAEL suggests that yoga rather

means “method, approach, or way” and that Śivayoga is then the process by which all sense of

distinction between the individual ātman and the supreme Śiva is abandoned, which results in the

realization of identity with Śiva. This “identification” is termed sāyujya, and is the goal of practice for

Jñānaprakāśa.125 It manifests when the triple impurity is removed and the very nature of oneself as Śiva

reveals itself. In this non-dual way, Śiva is both the means and the goal. In the Śivayogaratna, “Śivayoga

is described as that which is without diversity (niṣprapañca) and without support (nirālamba).”126 In

terms of its yoga, the Śivayogaratna includes basic teachings on prāṇāyāma—including

sahitakumbhaka and kevalakumbhaka—pratyāhāra, dhyāna, and samādhi, as well as mudrās such as

śāmbhavī, khecarī, cinmudrā, and maunamudrā, however it does not provide many details about these

practices. Jñanaprakāśa states that these teachings can be found in the Śaivāgamas, which seems to be

the source for his knowledge of yoga.127

Śivayogasāra offers a rich engagement with yoga philosophy. Written in prose, Jñānaprakāśa

provides a thorough comparison of yoga as found in the Śaivāgamas—which he quotes from

extensively— to that of Pātañjalayoga. Like Nārāyaṇakaṇṭha in the Mṛgendratantravṛtti, Jñānaprakāśa

makes the important claim that for the Śaivas, the meaning of the word yoga from comes the root

“yujir yoge” and not “yuj samādhāu” as for Patañjali. Yoga can’t be samādhi he explains because it is

125 Śivayogaratna 97.

126 Śivayogaratna 26ab: niṣprapañcaṃ nirālambaṃ śivayogam itīritam |.
127 Śivayogaratna 131.

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one of the yogāṅgas like dhyāna. He states that for Śaivācāryas, samādhi is the state which is superior to

dhyāna, whereas for Patañjali, samādhi is yoga, understood as the restraint of the activities of the mind

(cittanirodha).128 He continues with a discourse that runs for many pages. The Śivayogasāra is thus a

fascinating example of comparative yoga theology. More work remains to be done on the Śivayogasāra,

the scope of which is beyond this study. As far as I can tell, there is no discernible relationship between

Jñānaprakāśa’s works on Śivayoga and the Śivayogapradīpikā of Cennasadāśivayogin.

The Śivayogadarpana is a short compendium on yoga in only twenty six verses, ascribed in its

colophon to Gorakṣa.129 A palm-leaf manuscript in Grantha script (R.E.25192) is held at the Institut

Francais de Pondichery, and a scan of a printed edition in Devanāgarī can be found online.130 The tract

provides teachings on Haṭha and Rājayoga, as well as Tāraka and Amanaska, some of which parallel the

terminology found in the Śivayogapradīpikā and the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati.131 Its author borrows

verses from the Yogatārāvalī, Haṭhapradīpikā, and also shares a verse with both the

Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha and Yogasārasaṅgraha.132 These latter two texts are also yoga anthologies and thus

the direction of influence is unclear. Based on its shared verses, the Śivayogadarpana clearly postdates

the fifteenth century and possibly the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Although it is attributed to

Gorakṣa in name, in cannot be grouped together with the earlier texts on Haṭhayoga attributed to

Śivayogasāra p.6: tataḥ khalu yujiryoge iti dhātor asmākaṃ yogaśabdaniṣpattiḥ | na tu pātañjalānām iva yuj
128

samādhāv iti dhātor yogaśabdaniṣpattiḥ | samādher api yogāṅgadhyānasyeva yogāṅgatvena prasiddheḥ |

dhyānotkarṣāvasthaiva samādhir iti śaivācāryaḥ || pātañjalānāṃ cittanirodhaḥ samādhiḥ sa eva yogaḥ |.
129 iti śivagorakṣakṛtaśivayogadarpaṇaṃ sampūrṇam ||.
130 http://hatharaja.blogspot.com/2011/09/shiva-yoga-darpana.html. Accessed March 21, 2023. Unfortunately, I

have not yet been able to locate this printed edition of the Śivayogadarpana.

Śivayogadarpana 10: dvādaśāṅguladūre 'smin śirodeśe mahāprabhaṃ | prādeśamātravyāyāmaṃ

131 E.g.

jyotiḥpuñjaṃ mahādbhutam || cf. Śivayogapradīpikā 4.45, Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.24.

132 For a discussion and dating of these yoga anthologies, see Chapter 4.

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Gorakṣa such as the Amaraughaprabodha, Vivekmārtaṇḍa, etc. Beyond this not much can be said

about the Śivayogadarpana at this time.

2.9.2 Modern Śivayoga: Iṣṭaliṅgadhāraṇā

Finally, another expression of Śivayoga one commonly finds today within the world of Vīraśaiva

religious praxis (sādhana)—and in fact this is perhaps the most popular understanding of Śivayoga

within contemporary south India today—is the Vīraśaiva ritual practice of iṣṭaliṅgadhāraṇā. Here the

Vīraśaiva practitioner places their iṣṭaliṅga—their own personal emblem of God—on the palm of their

hand and cultivates meditative concentration (dhāraṇā) upon it. When speaking with Vīraśaiva

adherents in Karnataka during my fieldwork, typically when I mentioned the subject of Śivayoga, this

was the form of practice that they associated with the term. A small booklet entitled Shivayoga:

Technique of Opening the Third Eye (1985) by Sri KUMARASWAMIJI is exemplary in this regard.

KUMARASWAMIJI speaks of Śivayoga as ancient Śaiva practice whose history dates back to the Indus

Valley civilization but which attained its crystallization during the twelfth century movement of the

vacana saints such as Allama Prabhu—whom he associates with the practice. The text and practice of

Śivayoga is framed as in congruence with the latest findings of modern science, as the forward to the

pamphlet, written by a Dr. Bhagwandas Tiwari, explains:

The present booklet, “Shiva Yoga: Technique of Opening the Third Eye,” is a concise,
precise and authentic interpretation of Prachina Yoga-Animisha Yoga-Piyusha Yoga or Shiva
Yoga. In the following five chapters, His Holiness Mahatapasvi Shri Kumarswamiji, on the
basis of his profound experience, sound knowledge and deep concentration, has not only
dealt with the history, practice and philosophy of Shiva Yoga, but has also proved that Shiva
Yoga is strictly in accordance with the principles of Electricity, Light and Magnetism. It is
not a matter of devotional practice only, but its results are entirely scientific, logical and
universal [sic] (KUMARASWAMIJI 1985, i).

Interestingly, KUMARASWAMIJI (1985, 24) speaks of Śivayoga as one of the five yogas alongside Mantra,

Laya, Haṭha, and Rāja—similar to the fivefold classification in the Śivatattvaratnākara. As the title

61
 Figure 3: Cover for Shivayoga: Technique of
Opening the Third Eye (KUMARASWAMIJI 1985).

suggests, for KUMARASWAMIJI the practice of Śivayoga is a technique for opening the third eye, which

he understands as the pituitary gland. In language that one might describe as a mix of Hindu

Orientalism and New Thought, KUMARASWAMIJI details the practice and its benefits of Śivayoga as

follows:

The proper time to practice Shiva-yoga is before sunrise and after sunset. Sitting in a lotus
pose or in an easy pose, take out the Ling and gently rub it for a while on the linen cloth.
Place the Linga on the palm of the left hand so raised as to come in a line with the centre of
the eyebrows. Behind the back and just above the shoulder, an oil-fed lamp or a candle
should be placed so that the light is reflected in the coating of Linga. With half closed eyes
the aspirant should fix his attention upon that light reflected in the Linga, the coating of
which is blue-black or indigo serving to widen and deepen concentration. Then one will
begin to see the aura around the Linga with different colours. By intense practice one will
even see the flame of light thereby the mind becomes calm and thoughts become clear. The
concentrated gaze generates psychic heat or Tapas which stirs into activity the pineal gland.

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 This produces psychic light or Tejas which, in turn, leads to the release of Ojas or thought
force which is at once a power of vision and a power of execution. Shiva yoga lands one into
a region of effective will and intuitive knowledge, where to will is to create, to think is to see.
There is no harm of whatsoever in practicing Shiva yoga. Every one is eligible to practice
this. The practice of Shiva yoga improves physical health and spiritually one gains insight
into the psychic being [sic] (KUMARASWAMIJI 1985, 40-41).

For KUMARASWAMIJI and other contemporary Vīraśaivas, this Śivayoga is thus synonymous with the

practice of iṣṭāliṅgadhāraṇā—and thus has little to do with the Śivayoga of the Śivayogapradīpikā and

other texts surveyed throughout this study. Although KUMARASWAMIJI locates this type of Śivayoga in

the religious praxis of the twelfth-century Vīraśaiva saints, I have been unable to locate the term

śivayoga used in this manner in any premodern text. However, as we will see in the next chapter, the

Vīraśaivas did adopt various forms of yoga, including Śivayoga, and played a significant role in the

development of yoga during the late medieval period of south India.

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 3. Vīraśaivism and Yoga: Śivayogins as Heroic Devotees of the Lord

3.1 Vīraśaivas, Vīramāheśvaras, and Liṅgāyatas: A Brief History

The Śivayogapradīpikā is attributed to an author named Cennasadāśivayogin, who was affiliated with

the late medieval Śivabhakti traditions centered in the Deccan region of southern India known, among

other names, as the Vīraśaivas, or the “Heroic Devotees of Śiva.” While the early history of this

tradition is debated, most scholars are in agreement that the south-Indian Vīraśaivas are an outgrowth

and reform movement of earlier traditions of public and initiatory Śaivism that was catalyzed by

twelfth-century religious leaders in northern Karnataka such as Basavaṇṇa, the statesman turned poet-

saint of the Kālacuri dynasty. Epigraphical and archeological evidence suggests that in many cases,

Vīraśaivas overtook or inherited what were previously Kālamukha (i.e. Atimārga) temples and sites

within the Deccan (LORENZEN 1972), some of which are still inhabited by living traditions and

maṭhas.133 However, as we will see, it is clear that Vīraśaiva theologians also drew upon Mantramārga as

well as Vedic sources in the construction of their own religious identity and traditions. Today in the

modern state of Karnataka, Vīraśaivas comprise around ten to fifteen million people, accounting for

roughly seventeen percent of the population,134 however they also have a considerable presence in

nearby Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, as well as institutional centers in northern India.135

133 For example, the Kedareśvara temple in Balligavi (Baḷḷigāve), Karnataka, which I visited during fieldwork in

January, 2020, is a former Kālamukha site which is now run by Vīraśaivas. The Vīraśaiva saint Allama Prabhu is
said to have been born in Balligavi (see Naikar 2010, 8).
134 See RAMASWAMY (2017). These demographic numbers from the 2011 census depend on a range of complex

religious and caste identity issues surrounding the overlapping of the categories of Vīraśaivism, Liṅgāyatism, and
Hinduism. See below.
135 The four major Vīraśaiva centers are found at Srisailam, Varanasi, Kedarnath, and Ujjain.

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 While this cluster of Śivabhakti traditions is not typically remembered for its yoga, as we will

see, there is significant evidence to suggest that Vīraśaivas were not only practitioners of yoga systems

including Aṣṭāṅga and Haṭhayoga, but that they, along with the Nāthas and other ascetico-yogic

groups in medieval south India, were influential in the development of Haṭhayoga and in the

codification of its teachings in Sanskrit and vernacular (especially Kannada and Telugu) treatises. This

is most evident in the Śivayogapradīpikā, but can also be detected across a wider Vīraśaiva textual

corpus. Today in Karnataka, there remain living orders of Śivayogis, some itinerant, and some studying

and training at maṭhas and institutional centers such as the Śivayoga Mandir Maṭha in Badami,

Karnataka.136 The history of the yoga of the Vīraśaivas has to-date been largely overlooked in secondary

scholarship, and the following sections will attempt to begin to fill in this lacuna. In order to properly

locate and understand the Śivayogapradīpikā and its author, we must first locate its yoga, and its bhakti,

within the Vīraśaiva religious, literary, and historical context.

The Vīraśaivas can be best understood as part of a regional south-Indian religious and cultural

tradition centered on Śivabhakti—devotion to God, expressed in the form of Śiva—that arose in the

south-western Deccan around the twelfth century. The history and genesis of this particular Śivabhakti

tradition is complicated by the fact that its origins are remembered differently by various texts and

modern communities. There is historical ambiguity regarding the term vīraśaiva as a marker of

religious identity prior to the fifteenth century. The early literature also refers to adherents of this

tradition as Vīramāheśvaras, the “Heroic Devotees of the Great Lord”—for their staunch devotion to

Śiva. Today they are commonly known as Liṅgāyatas, the “Bearers of the liṅga”—for their

136 When I visited the Śivayoga maṭha in February, 2020 I was able to meet some young Śivayogis, teenage boys
who are living and studying at the center in Badami. They informed me that they practice āsanas as part of their
daily sādhana each morning. A video which is available on YouTube highlighting the activities of the maṭha
displays the rigors of their yogāsana practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PHZllOyCUg. Accessed
January 21, 2021.

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characteristic wearing of a small Śivaliṅga, the emblem of God, typically held in a necklace on their

bodies.137 The personal emblem or iṣṭaliṅga is thought to be the living and moving (jaṅgama) aspect of

divinity as opposed to the static and immobile (sthāvara) dimension. The relation between these names

of religious identity, and the question as to whether they are synonymous is a historically complex, and

today, politically contentious question that has increasingly serious stakes in contemporary

Karnataka.138 Some Liṅgāyata communities have attempted to assert religious autonomy not only from

broader Hindu communities in Karnataka, but from other Vīraśaivas as well. Some Vīraśaiva

communities recognize Liṅgāyatas as a distinct tradition,139 whereas other communities take a more

ecumenical stance, asserting that there is no difference between Vīraśaivas and Liṅgāyatas—only in

name.140 I will not attempt to wade into this complex debate of origins and identity politics here.

Most histories of the Vīraśaiva traditions begin with the devotional, social, and literary

activities in twelfth-century Kalyāṇa, the capital of the Cālukya kingdom in the norther region of what

is today the state of modern Karnataka. Here under the reign of the insurgent Kālacuri king Bijjaḷa II

(r. 1130-1167), a Brāhmaṇa-born minister named Basavaṇṇa is believed to have become the leader of a

disruptive social and religious movement. Basavaṇṇa is said to have rejected the Brāhmaṇism and

sacred thread (upanayana) of his family, to embrace a more unmediated and personal connection with

Śiva, in his form as the Lord of the Meeting Rivers (kūḍalasaṅgama). The story goes, after a mystical

experience at the Kuḍalasaṅgama temple, he began to preach in Kalyāṇa not only to men, but to

vīraśaiva or liṅgāyat in the early

137 As BEN-HERUT observes (2015, n.14), there is a marked absence of the terms

Kannada literature, which favors the more general terms śivabhakti and śivabhakta. Early Sanskrit textual sources
often employ the terms vīraśaiva and vīramāheśvara interchangeably (e.g. Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 5.16–17).
138 See LANKESH (2017).

139 This was the view expressed to me by Aravind Jatti, president of the Basava Samithi in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Personal correspondence, February, 2020.

140 This was the view expressed to me by Sri C.C. Haremath of the Śiva Yoga Mandir Maṭha in Badami,

Karnataka. Personal correspondence, February, 2020.

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women as well; not only to mendicants, but to householders from all strata of society—all ardent

worshippers of Śiva were welcome. Though Basavaṇṇa is often hailed as the founder of this movement,

there are other important saints and influential figures including his guru Allama Prabhu, Basavaṇṇa’s

nephew Cennabasavaṇṇa, a female ascetic named Akka Mahādēvi, and other itinerant figures such as

Siddharāma, Dēvara Dāsimayya, among others. These saintly figures are often referred to within the

tradition as śaraṇas—those who take refuge and surrender to Śiva—as well as vacanakāras—expression

poets. These influential poet-saints are remembered—both within the tradition and much of the

secondary literature—as revolutionary and egalitarian bhaktas, who critiqued the political power and

hegemony of the state, as well as objecting to the institutionalized doctrines and practices of the

Brāhamaṇical Smārta tradition, as well as Jainism.141 In the words of Raymond ALLCHIN:

The great aim of its promulgators was to free religion from the clutches of what they saw
as an outworn ritualism and to guide it towards a purer doctrine of mysticism and
spirituality. Their purpose was not to establish a philosophical system, even if their theology
provides the raw materials upon which such a system might be built (1971, 343).

The Śivabhakti poet-saints are understood to have composed their vacanas in the quotidian vernacular

of Kannada, the linguistic medium of the people, in opposition to the register of classical Sanskrit, the

language of the elite. Like other regional traditions and literature of bhakti throughout the

subcontinent, the south-Indian vacanakāras are renowned for their intensely personal and evocative

devotion to God. The literary themes of their Kannada lyrics challenge the normativity of

institutionalized religion, politics, caste, temple worship, ritual, gender, and even yoga. The

vacanakāras espouse an unfiltered and unwavering personal devotion to Śiva as their iṣṭadevatā, known

to each poet by the deity’s own unique name and personal attributes.

141 On the complex relationship between Vīraśaivas and Jains in Karnataka, see BEN-HERUT (2012); on Śaiva and

Jain violence more broadly within Tamil south India, see MONIUS (2004).

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 The poetry of the vacanakāras, and through them the devotional worldview of Vīraśaivism,

was made known to the world most famously by A.K. RAMANUJAN in his influential book of English

translations, Speaking of Śiva (1973). RAMANUJAN interprets Vīraśaiva doctrine and poetry using a

western model of Protestant Christianity. The vacana lyrics are viewed as forms of social and religious

protest, and the poets are seen as revolutionaries, leading a protestant movement and reacting to the

catholicism and orthodoxy of a ritually and scripturally-based, elitist Brāhmaṇism. As RAMANUJAN

writes:

The Vīraśaiva movement was a social upheaval by and for the poor, the low-caste and the
outcaste against the rich and the privileged; it was a rising of the unlettered against the
literate pandit, flesh and blood against stone (1973, 3).

Prithvi Datta CHANDRA SHOBHI in his important 2005 dissertation on the subject, called into

question how reliably we can retrieve an original twelfth-century Vīraśaiva or Liṅgāyata tradition

through the vacana corpus alone. Through a careful study of the extant vacana literature, anthologies,

as well as modern print culture, CHANDRA SHOBHI drew attention to the early fifteenth century at the

capital of the Vijayanagara empire. Here at Hampi, a group of learned Śaiva ascetic bhaktas known as

viraktas were responsible for collecting, editing, and interpreting the earlier vacanas—which had

perhaps remained until then in oral form. According to CHANDRA SHOBHI, these virakta scholars

provided a structured theological basis to the numerous and disparate vacanas, organizing them

according to the soteriological schema known as the ṣaṭsthala (“six stages”)—a unique Vīraśaiva

doctrine and soteriological roadmap which leads the individual soul (aṅga) from devotion (bhakti) to

the ultimate union with Śiva (aikya).142 Through this re-contextualizing of the vacanas and the writing

of new hagiographical works like the four versions of the Śūnyasampādane (c. 15–16th century), the life

narratives and devotional careers of the vacanakāras became idealized to form the central doctrines and

142 The six stages of ṣaṭsthalaare: bhakti, maheśa, prasāda, prāṇaliṅga, śaraṇa, and aikya. See Chapter 5, where
the ṣaṭsthala is encoded in a reinterpretation of Aṣṭāṅgayoga at Śivayogapradīpikā 3.60–64.

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practices of a distinctive religious community. “It is only at this stage that community, both as a

normative ideal and as a concrete social group, is historically discernible” (2005, 7).

CHANDRA SHOBHI argues that in the twentieth century, when an institutionalized Liṅgāyata

religion in modern Karnataka sought to retrieve its origins in the twelfth-century vacana movement,

they did so through the “consciousness of the past” produced by the Vijayanagara-era viraktas

(CHANDRA SHOBHI 2005, 7). That is to say, because the earliest corpus of the vacanas was codified

only after 1420 at Vijayanagara, more than two hundred years distance from twelfth-century Kalyāṇa,

and because they were thus inflected with the social, political, and community-building impulses of

fifteenth-century Vijayanagara, it is nearly impossible to locate a purely “original” Vīraśaiva tradition

through the vacanas. When taken, however, as the hybrid literary products of twelfth-century Kalyāṇa

and fifteenth-century Vijayanagara, I argue that the vacanas are thus still important for understanding

the tradition that would follow. While we cannot date the vacana corpora with great philological

precision, we can safely say that much of the literature was composed prior to, or redacted by, the

fifteenth-century viraktas at Vijayanagara. They thus predate or are even contemporaneous with the

composition of the Śivayogapradīpikā. As the attitudes and practices of the vacanakāras, as virtuous

poet-saints, became ideal models of the devotional path for the Vīraśaiva traditions which would

follow, the vacana corpus I suggest is thus still highly important for an emic understanding of the

tradition—and as we will see, for locating early Vīraśaiva views on yoga and the body.

Within Vīraśaiva scholarship, the emphasis on vacanas, and the primacy of Basavaṇṇa and

other vacanakāras as representative of the tradition, resulted in the neglect of other important literary

works and voices of the traditions, especially as found in hagiography. R. Blake MICHAEL’s The Origins

of Vīraśaiva Sects (1992) offers an important study on the Kannada Śūnyasaṃpādane, a highly

69
influential text in shaping of the Vīraśaiva community.143 The Śūnyasaṃpādane, as well as the

Prabhuliṅgalīle written by the poet Cāmarasa, utilized the vacanas to develop a narrative of the lives of

the saints, centered around the central figure and miraculous tales of Allama Prabhu (we will explore

episodes of these texts below). Both of these seminal Vīraśaiva works were composed at Vijayanagara.

Michael has shown that at least four different versions of the Śūnyasaṃpādane were redacted and

edited during the fifteenth through sixteenth centuries, under Vijayanagara patronage (MICHAEL 1992,

28–30). These hagiographical works are seminal to understanding the ways in which Vīraśaiva authors

were constructing a more formative religious identity, community, and social ideals during the

Vijayanagara period.

In the monograph, Śiva’s Saints (2018), Gil BEN-HERUT provides another important

intervention in Vīraśaiva historiography, through a cogent and detailed study of Harihara’s Ragaḷegaḷu

(13th century), composed in Kannada at Hampi nearly two hundred years prior to the viraktas. BEN-

HERUT articulates a proto-Vīraśaiva ethos which he refers to by the more general term of a

“Śivabhakti” tradition, following Harihara. The writings of Harihara challenge certain elements that

are taken for granted in a post-Vijayanagara Vīraśaivism including the dispensation with ritual and

temple-worship. All of this complicates unitary or static notions of the tradition, and point to the

multiplicity of premodern Vīraśaiva communities.

143 Despite his stated best intentions, MICHAEL, like RAMANUJAN before him, still fails to extricate the study of

Vīraśaivism from the epistemological lenses of Protestantism. MICHAEL sought to move away from the language
of “church” and “sect” to something which is “sect-like” (1992, 1). He writes, “a comparison which attempts to
see Vīraśaivism against the norm of Protestant Christianity is doomed to failure in any effort at truly
understanding what Vīraśaivism means to the persons who know the most about that movement—namely,
Vīraśaiva individuals” (1992, 15); and yet, MICHAEL ironically retains this comparative language in the very title
of the monograph: The Origins of Vīraśaiva Sects. For a recent overview of the historiography of Vīraśaiva
studies and the ways in which it has played into the narrative of Protestant “protest” movement, see FISHER
(2019).

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 With important exceptions, the majority of scholarship to-date on Vīraśaivism has focused

primarily on the Kannada vacana as well as Kannada and Telugu hagiographical literature —to the

extent that one might think the vernacular materials were exhaustive and expressive of all Vīraśaiva

literary activity.144 Like other forms of regional bhakti, it is routinely acknowledged that the early

literature was composed explicitly in the vernacular of Kannada, the regional language of Karnataka (as

well as Telugu in Andhra lands) in conscious opposition to the Brāhamaṇical “orthodoxy” of Sanskrit,

as part of a counter or “protest” movement. As J. P. SCHOUTEN writes in Revolution of the Mystics: On

the Social Aspects of Vīraśaivism:

The Vīraśaiva movement was also characterized by a specific kind of literature, suited for its
ideals of propagating devotion among the masses. Sanskrit scriptures were, of course, not
useful for this purpose: for only the small upper caste of Brāhmaṇas was familiar with that
sacred language. For that reason the Vīraśaiva leaders expressed their thoughts in the
vernacular language of the region: Kannada” (1995, 11).

In this way, Kannada and the vernacular lyrical expressions (vacana) become equated with the very

essence of the Vīraśaiva devotional mentalité. The tradition is viewed not only as anti-Brāhmaṇa, but

anti-Sanskrit. What this historical approach of vernacular dissent overlooks, however, is an extensive

corpus of Vīraśaiva literature written in Sanskrit—which challenges simplistic claims to Brāhmaṇical

opposition. The Vīraśaiva Sanskrit corpus has to-date been very little studied or taken seriously by

scholars.145 This lacuna in Vīraśaiva studies was already acknowledged by John Nicol FARQUHAR in his

An Outline of the Religious Literature of India (1920). In chapter six on “Bhakti” FARQUHAR includes

a brief section on the Vīraśaiva tradition, before concluding:

144 Exemplary translation work has been done on the Telugu Basavapurāṇamu of Pālkurikĕ Somanātha (c. 13th

century) by Velcheru Narayana RAO and Gene H. ROGHAIR (2014) which recounts the narrative lives of the
Vīraśaiva saints. Eric STEINSCHNEIDER (2016) has recently brought to light works of Tamil Vīraśaivas (Tamil:
vīracaivam) from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries such as the Avirōtavuntiyār and its commentary.
145 For a basic overview of the Vīraśaiva Sanskrit corpus, see SANDERSON (2014, 84–85).

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 But the whole early history is still very obscure; and until the early literature, Sanskrit,
Kanarese, and Telugu, has been carefully read and compared with the inscriptions, this
darkness is likely to remain (1920, 260).

FARQUHAR’s dark sentiment was echoed by Jan GONDA some fifty years later (1977, 225), as pointed

out more recently by Tiziana RIPEPI who laments the state of the field:

We have on one side a list of edited works in Sanskrit, partly object of the brief sketches by
Farquhar and Gonda, and on the other side a number, still not estimated, of manuscripts,
mainly in the libraries of South India, it would seem, which bear Vīraśaiva titles or,
according to the descriptive catalogues, show Vīraśaiva contents. As for the edited works, it
must be noticed that they are mostly published by religious institutions and that the only
academic Institute that has been editing Vīraśaiva Sanskrit texts is the Oriental Research
Insitute of Mysore (1997, 169–170).

The recent work of Elaine FISHER (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) has made important advances on this front.

Her work not only identifies and makes visible more of the Sanskrit Vīraśaiva corpus from the archives,

but also reveals how some of these Sanskrit works were composed hand in hand beside the vernacular

literature,146 while also drawing extensively on the earlier scriptures of Śaivism. FISHER’s scholarship has

brought to light an important body of early Sanskrit and Telugu textual production authored by

scholars of a lineage known as the Vīramāheśvaras, centered at Srisailam, the famous mountain

pilgrimage destination of northern Andhra which became an important institutional and monastic

site. These Vīramāheśvaras, according to FISHER, “seem to have been comprised at least in part by

communities now referred to as Ārādhya brahmins, although our extant texts do not use this term for

self-identification in the early period” (FISHER 2019, 3–4). From the twelfth through fourteenth

centuries, these Brāhmaṇical Vīramāheśvara scholars had begun systematizing a distinct Vīraśaiva

146 For example, Pālkurikĕ Somanātha (13th century) who is best known for his championing of Telugu language

and literature in the Basavapurāṇamu, also composed important theological works in Sanskrit, such as the
Vīramāheśvarācārasāroddhārabhāṣya. Later Vīraśaiva authors in Karnataka also participated in this multilingual
textual production. For example, Maggeya Māyidēva, (c. 14 century), a prolific author who composed śataka
works in Sanskrit (i.e. the Bhaktiśataka, Jñānaśataka, and Vairāgyaśataka) and translated them into Kannada
himself under different titles. The latter were commented upon in Kannada by Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅga Dēśika. See
RIPEPI (1997, 175–76, n.42).

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theology in Sanskrit works, drawing strongly on the philosophical traditions of both the Śaiva Āgamas

and Vedānta. FISHER writes:

By composing a canon of literature that was at once adamantly Vedicizing and thoroughly
Śaiva, they provided the earliest textual foundation for a number of ritual and theological
concepts that were to become normative in post-Vijayanagara Vīraśaivism (2019, 4).

Many of the Vīramāheśvara Sanskrit works, such as the Śaivaratnākara of Jyotirnātha (c. 13–14th

century) and the Vīramāheśvarācārasanġraha of Nīlakaṇṭha Nāganātha (c. 14th century),147 draw upon

and pay homage to earlier Vedic and Śaiva sources, including a distinctive corpus of Vīraśaiva tantric

scriptures in the form of Āgamas such as the Kāraṇa, Candrajñāna, Makuṭa, Pārameśvara,

Vātulaśuddha, and Vīra/Vīrottara.148 Likewise, Telugu poetry and literature was being composed in

ways that were both traditionally Sanskritic and newly Telugu. The Sarvēśvaraśatakam (c. 1242) of

Yathāvākkula Annamayya, an Ārādhya scholar and poet, is a Telugu work infused with Sanskrit, and

which contains teachings on Śivayoga and bhakti. According to Yazdani, it “is perhaps the best

composition of its kind produced during the age.”149 As we will discuss in more detail in Chapter 4,

there is strong evidence to suggest that the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā belonged to this

Vīramāheśvara community of Ārādhya brahmins at Srisailam.

By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Sanskrit Vīraśaiva works were by no means limited to

Srisailam or Andhra, but were being written elsewhere in the western Deccan. Two influential ritual

and theological treatises typically dated to the fourteenth-century include the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi of

Rēṇukācārya, also known as Śivayogīśivācārya, and the Anubhavasūtra of Maggeya Māyidēva—both of

which served to codify the ṣaṭsthala doctrine. We also find important philosophical works like the

147 For an overview and preliminary dating of the Vīramāheśvara Sanskrit textual corpus, see FISHER (2019, 2021).

148 Considerably more work remains to be done on the dating and analysis of the Vīraśaiva Āgamas and the

degree to which these are recycling or innovating from previous Saiddhāntika and non-Saiddhāntika sources.
149 YAZDANI (1960, 702).

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Brahmasūtrabhāṣya of Śrīkaṇṭha (c. 13th century), Śrīpati Paṇḍitārādhya’s Śrīkarabhāṣya (c. 13th

century) and the Kriyāsāra of Nīlakaṇṭha Śivācārya (c. 1400–1450).150 These latter works display a rich

and prolonged Vīraśaiva engagement with Vedānta, cementing a non-dual philosophical Vīraśaivism,

sometimes referred to as Vīraśaiva Śivādvaita or Śaktiviśiṣṭādvaita (FISHER 2018). Later seventeenth-

century longer encyclopedic and ritual manual works include the Anādivīraśaivācārasaṃgraha of

Sampādanasiddha Vīraṇaśivayogin, and the Vivekacintāmaṇi of Liṅgarāja. As SANDERSON writes,

This later literature is heavily dependent on the doctrinal sources of the Saiddhāntikas, both
their scriptures and such exegetical or secondary works as the Tattvaprakāśa, the
Siddhāntaśekhara, and the Siddhāntasārāvalī, but it also looks for support to the
Śivadharma, the Śaiva Purāṇas, the Upaniṣads, and works on Yoga” (2014, 85).

Alongside the vernacular literature then, the production of these Sanskrit works represents an

important part of the consolidation of Vīraśaiva identity, doctrines, community, and practice

throughout the pre- and post-Vijayanagara period. This multilingual, translocal, and Sanskrit inclusive

Vīraśaiva textual corpus challenges the false dichotomy of “classical” versus “vernacular,” “big” versus

“little” traditions, that characterize so much of the secondary literature in South Asian and Vīraśaiva

studies. As we will see—and most relevant to this project—these texts also contain unique teachings on

the doctrine and praxis of yoga, integrated within the Vīraśaiva devotional world.

3.2 Locating a Vīraśaiva Yoga

With this brief historiography in mind, we can thus understand the formative Vīraśaiva literary canon

in three heuristic divisions. The Kannada vacanas (c. 12–15th century), the Kannada and Telugu

hagiographical literature (c. 13–16th century), and the Sanskrit theological and ritual treatises (c. 13–16th

century). As we’ll see in the following pages, in each of these literary genres the idioms and language of

yoga are featured, especially in discourses regarding views of the body, devotion (bhakti), soteriological

150 For discussions on the dating and authorship of these texts, see FISHER (2018).

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knowledge (jñāna), ritual worship (pūjā), and within overarching systems of religious doctrine and

practice. In looking across this broad textual landscape of Vīraśaivism, there are notable distinctions to

the ways in which yoga and yogis are featured within each of these three literary genres. As we shall see

in the following pages, in the early vacana lyrics, the idioms and imagery of yoga are, on the one hand,

framed positively as literary devices to convey an inner attitude of true renunciation, devotion, and

soteriological attainment. While at the same time, the outer and more physical practices of yoga (e.g.

bodily postures) are shunned in favor of interior and mental qualities of bhakti. In the vernacular

hagiographical literature, yoga and yogis (yogī, yōgī, jogi, etc.)—especially the more physically oriented

Haṭha yogis (not always by name)—are often targeted as the object of ridicule, scorn, or defeated in

battles of yogic attainment (siddhi), highlighted in the meeting of two revered saintly figures. These

discourses are often framed around an ontological discourse of the body, and the proper role of the

body in the cultivation of the highest bhakti and jñāna. Finally, in the Sanskrit theological treatises,

various forms of yoga are framed more technically and discursively within doctrinal systems of practice.

Here, considerable mention and descriptions of the Śivayogin are also provided as the archetypal

Vīraśaiva ascetic, often equated with the figure of the itinerant jaṅgama. Looking synchronically across

the Sanskrit materials, there is less uniformity as to what yoga or Śivayoga consists of—however it

features prominently within Vīraśaiva religious and philosophical discourse.

The following survey of yoga across the vast Vīraśaiva textual record is needless to say far from

exhaustive. It is also admittedly weakened by my sparse knowledge of Kannada and Telugu. For the

Sanskrit, I have provided my own translations. For the vernacular materials, I have relied on the

available English translations and published editions. It is my wish that this brief survey can

nonetheless be a useful point of entry and stepping stone for other scholars of yoga who possess the

requisite south-Indian language skills capable to explore the vernacular source texts further. There is, in

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my opinion, a great deal more to learn about yoga in south India by taking the vernacular texts

seriously alongside the Sanskrit sources.

3.3 The Temple and the Body: Yoga in the Vacanas

The Kannada vacanas were widely popularized in English—and the Vīraśaiva tradition is perhaps best

known today—by the highly influential book of translations, Speaking of Śiva (1973) by RAMANUJAN.

The text opens with what has perhaps become the most cited and well-known of all the vacanas, titled

by RAMANUJAN, “The Temple and the Body”:

The rich
will make temples for Śiva.
What shall I,
a poor man,
do?
My legs are pillars,
the body the shrine,
the head a cupola
of gold.
Listen, O lord of the meeting rivers,
things standing shall fall,
but the moving ever shall stay.

— Basavaṇṇa 820151

On this selection, RAMANUJAN himself states:

If one were to choose a single poem to represent the whole extraordinary body of religious
lyrics called the vacanas, one cannot do better than choose the above poem of Basavaṇṇa’s.
It dramatizes several of the themes and oppositions characteristic of the protest or
‘protestant’ movement called Vīraśaivism (1979, 1).

Verses like this are often interpreted by RAMANUJAN and others to exemplify the Vīraśaiva critique of

Brāhmaṇical temple worship, though the degree to which all Vīraśaivas held such negative views about

151 RAMANUJAN (1979, 1).

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temple worship has been questioned by BEN-HERUT (2016).152 While Basavaṇṇa's vacana 820 may be a

critique of wealth and class, and a certain type of institutionalized temple building and worship—the

lyric is also a celebration of the individual, the divinity within the human body, and the efficacious role

of the body within religious praxis. Many vacanas echo this sentiment and, I argue, utilize the idioms

and syntax of an interiorized and ritualized bodily yoga in espousing the ideal of bhakti.153 Take for

example the following vacana of the female poetess, Akka Mahādēvi:

Breath for fragrance,

who needs flowers?
with peace, patience, forgiving and self-command,
who needs the Ultimate Posture?
The whole world becomes oneself
who needs solitude,
O lord white as jasmine.

— Mahādēviyakka 120154

Challenging conventional objects for external ritual worship, Mahādēvi questions the need for flowers;

she substitutes the yogic equivalent—the interior and superior devotional offering—the breath itself.

Rather than focusing one’s attention on outer demands of practice, Mahādēvi further challenges yogic

conventions. Forget the physical posture. The ultimate posture for Mahādēvi is cultivated in the mind

—through the qualities of “peace, patience, forgiving, and self-command.”

The breath within the body is also a common thread in the vacanas, as a hidden link between

one’s self and Śiva, between the body of the devotee and the body of God. This is a common theme

expressed in the vacanas of Dēvara Dāsimayya,

152 BEN-HERUT (2016) has shown in his work on early Kannada hagiographic literature a more nuanced view of

early Vīraśaiva views on temples and temple-worship practices, revealing a more favorable and sacrosanct
attitude which counters this dominant narrative.
153 As we shall see, the inner-outer exchange of ritual and yogic practices or objects is a key theme and textual

strategy that is employed in the Śivayogapradīpikā.

154 Translation by RAMANUJAN (1979, 110).

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 I’m the one who has the body,
you’re the one who holds the breath.
You know the secret of my body,
I know the secret of your breath.
That’s why your body
is in mine.
You know
and I know, Rāmanātha,
the miracle
of your breath
in my body.

— Dēvara Dāsimayya 120155

Other poets feature even more explicit songs on yoga. In the vacanas of Cennabasavaṇṇa we see a

complex display of yoga theory and practice. On the one hand, the experience of yoga—as well as the

body, the prāṇas, etc.—is limited, like all other temporal forms of knowledge and fleeting experiences.

Unless one is filled with the experience of the liṅga (i.e. Śiva), they are not considered true śaraṇas.

Those with experience of the body

are liberated in the body.
Those with experience of the jīva
are liberated in the jīva.
Those with experience of the prāṇa
are liberated in the prāṇa.
Those with experience of the breath
are liberated in the breath.
Those with experience of yōga
are liberated in yōga.
How can I say that they can match
those with experience of the liṅga?
O Kūḍala Cennasadāśivayoginsaṅga
Those only are Thy Śaraṇas;
Who live in liṅga, and have become
The undivided self-luminous Light!

— Cennabasavaṇṇa 937156

155 Translation by RAMANUJAN (1979, 88). On the body, see also Dēvara Dāsimayya’s vacanas 24, 45, 96, 123.
156 Trans. MENEZES & ANGADI (2016, 485–86).

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Elsewhere for Cennabasavaṇṇa, a detailed knowledge of yogic physiology is displayed including

multiple cakra systems157 and even Aṣṭāṅgayoga.

As the liṅga in the anus ascends

Six fingers above the navel sphere
And brings the downward lotus to look up;
When the rays of the sun that’s like
The soul of consciousness, which dwells
Within the firmament we call
‘Sky swelling in the navel’ depart,
And at their touch the lotus opens out,
Seeing the splendour of the light of heart
That’s like the radiance of many gems,
Hugging Śiva-knowledge and
The eight steps of yōga called
Yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāṃa,
Pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇā and samādhi;158
If you would know the secret of
The individual and the supreme soul,
Dwelling on the twin lotus on
The middle of the brow
Horizoning the forehead,
‘One who erases the distinction between
Jīvātma and Paramātma attains the supreme status;
The soul which knows becomes immortal.’
‘On a tree are perching two birds,
One enjoying fruits, the other fasting.’
This being so, when both the individual and the supreme soul,
Are unified,
Thy Śaraṇa, O Kūḍala Cennasadāśivayoginsaṅga,
Exercises upon the Brahma-nerve,
And opening the door of skull,
Becomes absolute Void!

— Cennabasavaṇṇa 1068159

157 There is a description of nine cakras at vacana

953 (which is different than the nine cakras of the
Śivayogapradīpikā, which will be covered in Chapter 6) and a detailed seven cakra system in vacana 1097.

dhyāna and dhāraṇā as the sixth and seventh auxiliaries of Aṣṭāṅgayoga. This is a
158 Notice the reverse order of

special feature of the Aṣṭāṅgayoga of the Śivayogapradīpikā, as we will explore in Chapter 5.

159 Translation by MENEZES & ANGADI (2016, 538-39).

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Here Aṣṭāṅgayoga is a means to traverse the inner cakras, from the anus below to the Brahmarandhra

above, through which the jīvātman and paramātman are merged into the absolute void (śūnya). This

language is congruent not only with Vedānta, but much of the Sanskrit Haṭhayoga literature and its

descriptions of Samādhi and Rājayoga. We also find here the reference of the two birds (i.e. the

jīvātman and paramātman) as found in Muṇḍakopaniṣad 3.1–3.

However, it is bhakti itself that is praised as the highest ideal for Cennabasavaṇṇa, above and

beyond all other religious practices. Yoga is typically viewed as subsidiary, and only useful towards the

cultivation and perfection of bhakti.

The Śivabhakti is itself,

Look you, the means to Śiva’s grace!
And Śiva’s grace itself is means
For acquisition of the great bliss
In this world and the next.
To witness:
‘Devotion is greater than yōga,
Prasāda is greater still; by means of Prasāda
People become liberated and equal to Śiva.’
Do Lord Kūḍala Cennasadāśivayoginsaṅga’s Śaraṇas approve
Of witless fools who cannot see ahead,
Who, paying no heed to this,
Cling to the arrogant conceit
Of corporal sense that says
One can acquire all joys
By one’s own faith, by one’s own vows and rites?

— Cennabasavaṇṇa 494160

Here in vacana 494, on the soteriological hierarchy, Śivabhakti is praised as higher than yoga. Higher

still is prasāda, the grace and favor of the guru or Lord, typically in the form of consecrated food—but

also in the Vīraśaiva context, the fifth of the so-called eight “aids to faith” (aṣṭāvaraṇa).161 In vacana 1311

160 Translation by MENEZES & ANGADI (2016, 265).

161 The eight aids to faith (aṣṭāvaraṇa) are: guru, liṅga, jaṅgama, pādodaka, prasāda, vibhūti, rudrākṣa, and
mantra (NANDIMATH 1979, 31–39).

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Cennabasavaṇṇa describes the ideal śaraṇa as a Śivayogi, “free from all illusion,” this “śaraṇa dwells in

this world and yet his way is out of it!” Elsewhere in vacana 1314 he warns of the “fraudulent yogi” who

doesn’t know the secret of the inner air. Only the śaraṇa knows.

Throughout the vast literary corpus of the Kannada vacanas, then, we see occurrences where

yoga is praised as soteriologically valuable, as well as subsumed within the interior and higher

dimensions of bhakti. Overall, the idioms of yoga theory and praxis—such as the internal channels

(nāḍī), bodily centers (cakra), vital breaths (prāṇa), as well as the system of Aṣṭāṅgayoga—are utilized

in a favorable way to describe the knowledge and even practices of the ideal Śivabhakti. However, there

are also warnings of the “fraudulent yogi” and a critique of physical postures, ritual, and yogic

experience devoid of bhakti.

3.4 Yogi Tales: The Bhakti Critique of Haṭha Yoga in Hagiographical Sources

When we turn to the vernacular hagiographical literature, composed in Kannada and Telugu, the

critique of physical or “outer” yoga practice becomes noticeably louder. Here too we find consistent

usage of the language and idioms of yoga. As in other bhakti poetical and hagiographical literature

throughout the sub-continent during this period, while the language of an interiorized yoga is

championed, there is an explicit and consistent critique of what are deemed “outer” and physically-

oriented yoga practices, especially of the Haṭhayoga variety.162 Here the figure of the ascetic Nātha or

Haṭha yogi is commonly denigrated as spiritually inferior. The bodily techniques of Haṭhayoga are

often viewed as merely physical, overtly bodily-centered, or fixated simply on the attainment of

spiritual powers (siddhi). There are several hagiographical tales within the Vīraśaiva sources that are

162 The Bhakti critique of Haṭhayoga and Tantra, specifically through ridiculing the yogi (especially Nātha)

figure, is however not limited to south India and functions as part of a larger literary and rhetorical device in
constructing Bhakti identity vis-à-vis a religious “other.” On the yogic “enemies” of Bhakti in the north, see
PAUWELS (2010) and BURCHETT (2012, 2013, 2019).

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exemplary in this regard, and which highlight certain disparities between the religious ideals of bhakti

and yoga (especially Haṭha or Nātha yoga), respectively. In many cases, I suggest these notions of yoga

theory and praxis—especially views regarding the body and bodily practices—are utilized as narrative

devices; they shape the boundaries of religious identity, where the text seeks to frame an argument

regarding Vīraśaiva versus non-Vīraśaiva devotional doctrine and practices. What is unique here,

moreover, especially as compared with our northern sources,163 is that at the expense of Haṭha (or other

varieties of yogas deemed inferior), is often the valorization of Śivayoga as the highest yoga. Śivayoga is

here envisioned as the supreme state of union (yoga) of the individual with Śiva, and the Śivayogi is one

who cultivates, through a devotional yogic practice, this soteriological union.

To circumscribe our analysis, we will focus on the exemplary narratives surrounding the

miraculous tales and exploits of Allama Prabhu, popularly known as Prabhudēva—one of the most

important yet mystifying of the early Vīraśaiva poet-saints. Allama is the teacher’s teacher. He is the

guru to many of the śaraṇas including Basavaṇṇa. Narrative accounts of Allama’s life and teaching are

found throughout the late-medieval literature of Kannada.164 Here we will focus our attention on two

of the most well-known texts—the Śūnyasampādane and the Prabhuliṅgalīle.

The Śūnyasampādane is an important Kannada hagiographical work surrounding the life of

Allama and the śaraṇas, composed in twenty-one chapters during the Vijayanagara period. This

important compilation of vacanas was part of the Vīraśāiva scholarly activity which flourished under

the rule of king Devarāya II (1419–1447). As many as four different editions were redacted during

fifteen through sixteenth centuries by various Vīraśaiva scholars. The first was compiled by Śivagaṇa

Prasādi Mahādēvayya and comprises 1012 vacanas. The second was made by Halageyadēva, containing

163 For example, in the writings attributed to Kabīr, which are particularly critical of the bodily-oriented yoga and

yogīs associated with Gorakhnāth (see e.g. BURCHETT 2019, 243–48).

164 See NAIKAR (2010, 7–16).

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1599 vacanas. The third version was compiled by Gummaḷāpura Siddhaliṅgēsa Śivayōgi, a disciple of

Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara, containing 1439 vacanas. The fourth version was made by Gūḷūra

Siddhavīraṇārya (c. 1510), with a total of 1543 vacanas (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, xi).165 At the end of the

Śūnyasampādane the text is hailed as follows:

This is the best guide, the philosophical system of the exalted Vīraśaiva doctrine. This is that
which expounds and firmly establishes the Vīraśaiva practice. This is the crest-jewel of the
divine Vedānta. This is the chief mirror of all the sciences. This is the teaching of the highest
Experience to promote the supreme knowledge. This is a catalogue of those who, endowed
with all kinds of religious practice, have attained the Height. This is a treasury of the
attainment of the great Rājayoga. This is a happy feast of the ambrosial essence of Existence-
Consciousness-Bliss, eternal and perfect. This great conference of Prabhudēva on the
attainment of the Void (śūnyasaṃpādaneya)—an instrument acting as an ointment to
remove the blindness of ignorance.166

Not only is the text said to teach the exalted Vīraśaiva doctrine (siddhānta) and practice (ācāra), but it

is also the crest-jewel (śirōmaṇi) of Vedānta, and the treasury of the attainment of the great Rājayoga

(paramarājayōga).

Another important source is the Prabhuliṅgalīle, which was composed in Kannada by the

court poet Cāmarasa (c. 1450–1500),167 after the rendition of the first two versions of the

Śūnyasampādane. It is an epic poem composed in six-line stanzas called ṣaṭpadi. In our readings of the

Śūnyasampādane and Prabhuliṅgalīle, we will largely restrict our focus here to two noteworthy stories

of Allama Prabhu—detailing two yogic encounters—one with the Śivayogi Siddharāma, and the other

with the famous Haṭhayogi Gorakṣanātha. Both of these tales of encounters are important not only for

165 This fourth version of the Śūnyasampādane

is the text which was edited and translated by NANDIMATH et al.
(1965) and published by the Department of Kannada at Karnatak University, Dharwad, and is the version of the
text I will be drawing from throughout.
166 iduparamaguru paramavīraśaivasiddhānta tattvajñāna. idu vīraśaivācārapratiṣṭhāpanācārya. idu
divyavēdāntaśirōmaṇi. idu samastaśāstramukhyamukhadarpaṇa. idu mahājñānapravardhana
paramānubhāvasaṃbōdhe. idu sarvācārasaṃpannasamārūḍhasaṅgraha. idu paramarājayōgasādhyasaṃpādana.
idu saccidānandanityaparipūrṇarasāmṛtaprasannaprasāda. idu ajñānatimirāñjanatantravappaprabhudēvara
śūnyasaṃpādaneya mahāprasāṅgamam (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 459–60).
167 See NAIKAR (2010, 1).

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illuminating Vīraśaiva views on yoga, but serve within the narrative to shape Vīraśaiva doctrine and

practice vis-a-vis a religious “other.”

3.4.1 Allama Prabhu and Siddharāma

This narrative occurs in the third chapter of the Śūnyasampādane168 and chapter (gati) thirteen of the

Prabhuliṅgalīle.169 The major differences across these literary accounts will be noted accordingly. The

story recounts the meeting of Allama Prabhu and the yogī Siddharāma, also known as Siddharāmayya

or Siddharāmeśvara.

The tale begins when Allama disguises himself as an itinerant jaṅgama and enters the village of

Sonnalāpura/Sonnalige, where the yogi Siddharāma had settled and was involved in building countless

temples and water tanks to Śiva with the help of the locals. Allama arrives looking for a confrontation

and begins badmouthing Siddharāma to the stonemasons and village people, saying how the yogī is so

worldly, concerned with his reputation, and in the Śūnyasampādane version, he is criticized for

building a stone temple for Śiva.

You make of stone a house;

You make an idol of stone.
If stone falls down on stone,
Where should the poor god go?
Guhēśvara, the arch-hell
Is for them who set up
A liṅga! (vacana 3.3)170
Again,
When the body itself is the temple of God,
Why ask for a temple else?
When the breath itself has become the Liṅga,
Why ask for a liṅga else?
It is not for lips to tell,

168 Following the edition and translation of NANDIMATH et al. (1965, 217–360).

169 Following the edition and translation of NAIKAR (2010, 91–110).

kalla maneya māḍi, kalla dēvara māḍi, ā kallu kalla mēle keḍedare dēvaretta hōdaro? liṅgapratiṣḥeya
170

māḍidavarige nāyakanaraka, guhēśvarā (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 220).

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 It is not for ears to hear.
O Guhēśvara, if you should turn
Into a stone,
What should I be? (vacana 3.4)171

The villagers take offense at this rude jaṅgama who is insulting their spiritual master with such harsh

words, and and hurl stones at him, but they cannot harm Allama’s incorporeal body.172 They go and

fetch Siddharāma. When he arrives, Siddharāma becomes angry and swollen with pride, at which

Allama questions why such a great yogi would be filled with so much anger. This of course, only

intensifies Siddharāma’s anger. Infuriated, and to quiet Allama’s slander, Siddharāma opens his third

eye and flames emit from his forehead. However, instead of reaching Allama, the flames go right

through the feet of his incorporeal body and scorch the onlooking villagers.173 Allama insults

Siddharāma with more harsh words at falling victim to his anger, and pointing out the devastation

which follows from such lack of control over one’s emotions. He immediately halts the flames and

sends them retracting back into Siddharāma’s third-eye. Embarrassed and ashamed of himself,

Siddharāma immediately realizes his anger and pride got the better of him, and repents to Allama.

Recognizing the spiritual advancement of Allama, Siddharāma bows at his feet and requests teachings.

In the Prabhuliṅgalīle version he asks how to control his mind. Siddharāma admits that he still suffers

from a sense of discrimination and judgement between high and low people. He asks Allama how can

one attain such equanimity towards living beings? Allama replies that one can achieve equanimity and

samādhi only if one becomes a true yogi. Like Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna, Allama tells Siddharāma he must first

171 mattaṃ: dēhave

dēgulavāgiralu, bēṟe matte liṅgavēkayya? hēḷalilla, kēlalilla. guhēśvarā, nīnu kallādare
nānēnappenayya? (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 221).
172 In the Śūnyasampādane, the stones ricochet off of Allama’s body and return to hit the stonemasons
themselves.
173 In the Śūnyasampādane, the flames are absorbed into Allama’s feet, upon which Siddharāma falls in humility.

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control his senses. Only then can he attain equilibrium of the mind.174 Allama takes Siddharāma to a

secluded place and affectionately teaches him the esoteric knowledge of the body and its relationship to

the senses, and the power of bhakti that unites the individual self with God. In the Śūnyasampādane,

Allama clarifies the nature of yoga and Śivayoga.

Again,
There be [those] who prattle of Yōga and Śivayōga;
But who can know the way it goes?
Unless you cast the one who moves,
Flitting
From petal to petal in the heart’s lotus,
How can your yōga be attained?
If you can dwell where the breath of life
Has her own mansion, set above
The six abodes, yes, poring over
The two and fifty characters:175
That undoubtedly is yōga!

Look you, Siddharāmayya: because

The motion of your breath is still,
Because you live as if your mind were not,
Before Guhēśvaraliṅga I say
You are both free and resolute (vacana 3.64).176

Allama continues:

How can I know all yōga’s ways?

Yōga’s nothing if not a union
Of Śiva and Śakti; with them apart,
No manner of yōga can ever be.
It is you alone who can rest serene,
Unflitting

174 Cf. yoga as samatvam in Bhagavadgītā 2.48.

175 The editors note that this is a reference to the fifty-two combined petals representative of the six cakras, from

the mūlādhāra to the ājñā. The fifty petals represent the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet from a to ha, plus
the two bīja syllables haṃ and kṣaṃ on the two petals of the ājñācakra. This results in the Śivayoga synthesis of
fifty-two petals. See NANDIMATH, et al. (1965, 448).
176mattaṃ, yōga śivayōgavendeṃbaru; yōgada holabanāru ballarayyā? hṛdayakamalada patradalli bhramisuvana
kaḷedallade yōgaventappudo? aivatteraḍakṣarada lipiya nōḍi nōḍi, āṟu nelaya mēlippa maṇimāḍadoḷage
iraballaḍe adu yōga. ‘sōhaṃ’ eṃballi suḷuhaḍagi, mana naṣṭavāgiraballa kāraṇa guheśvaraliṅgadalli nīnu
svatantradhīraneṃbudu kāṇabandittu kāṇā, siddharāmayyā (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 280–81).

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 Within the lotus of the heart.
Apart from you, no freedom for me,
O Kapilasiddha Mallikārjuna! (vacana 3.65)177

In the Śūnyasampādane, Siddharāma then proceeds to perform the act of devotional service to Allama,

however the entire process of worship is described through an interiorized and ritualized language of

yoga.178

Should You not come, O Lord,

What yearning should be mine!
But should You hear my moan
And, whizzing like the wind,
Hasten on wings of love,
What wonder should be mine!
I then would raze all sin,
And place, for You to sit,
The blanket of my heart!
With water from the pool
Of my exalted soul,
I’d wash Your blessed feet;
Twin-petalled lotus should
Your two feet decorate;
To You I’d wave a lamp
Enkindled at my eyes;
For incense You should have
The fragrance that exhales
From my suspended breath;
Food I’d offer You
In the platter of my crown;
And You would taste it, Lord,
Yet not consume a crumb!
And when You clean Your mouth,
You would, scrupulously, wipe it
But with Your garment’s hem;
With closed lips You would take
The triple betel-nut (tāṃbūla)
Made of my three senses;
And I’d, prostrate, receive

177 yōgada
holaba nānetta ballenayyā? yōga śivaśakti saṃpuṭavāgippudallade, śivaśaktiviyōgavappa yōgavillavayyā.
hṛdayakamaladoḷage bhramisade ippāta nīneyallade enage bēṟe svatantravilla kēḷā, kapilasiddha mallikārjunā
(NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 281).
178 See Chapter 5 on the ritualization of Aṣṭāṅgayoga in the Śivayogapradīpikā.

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 The water from Your feet,
Who has plucked from my eyes
The blinkers of desire;
I’d spread my garment’s hem
To take Your offered grace,
And, eating it, rejoice.
O Kapilasiddha Mallikārjuna,
How could I tell in words
The way I gained the grace
Of Prabhu, Thy Śaraṇa! (vacana 3.74)179

Each step of the devotional service is thus rendered into yogic terminology. The blanket of

Siddharāma’s heart becomes the seat (āsana) of devotion. The pool of the nectar of his soul becomes

the sacred water to wash Prabhudeva’s feet. The two-lotus petalled cakra located at the plexus becomes

the flower to place on his feet. The eye’s vision becomes the lamp for ārati. The incense is his controlled

and suspended breath. The food he offers is the nectar of his crown cakra, an ambrosia which is never

exhausted. The betel-nut (tāṃbūla) represents Siddharāma’s three “senses” in thought, speech, and

action (NANDIMATH et. al. 1965, 451).

Allama continues to illuminate the fleeting nature of the material world and the bondage of

one’s attachment to it—including a fixation on external liṅga worship—and points towards an internal

yoga which is beyond speech and mind.

No man I see who knows

The art of telling what
Is yoga, what it’s not.
It is not yoga, to say

179 ayyāayyā, nīvu bāradirdaḍe antu haṃbalisuttidde. nīvenna haṃbala kēḷi karuṇadinda bhōrane bandare,
ānu taḷaveḷagāgi avaguṇaveṃba rajava kaḷedu, kaṃbaḷiya pīṭhavanollade hṛdayapīṭhavanikki, mēlupparigeya
oṟateya tandu pādārcaneya māḍi, eraḍesaḷa kamalavaneraḍu pādakke pūjisi, kaṅgaḷa tiruḷa tegedu āratiyanetti,
usura nuṅgida parimaḷada dhūpava bīsi, nettiya pariyāṇadoḷiṭṭu bōnava gaḍaṇisidare, sayadāna saveyade
ārōgaṇeya māḍi, uṇḍa bāya toḷedare sandēhavādudendu mēluseraginoḷu toḍedukoṇḍu, bāya muccaḷa tegeyade
trikaraṇaveṃba tāṃbūlavanavadharisida. bhāvada kannaḍava haṟidu hāykida. ātana pādakke nānu śaraṇendu
pādōdakava koṇḍe. ātana prasādakkenna seṟaga hāsi ārōgisi sukhiyādenu. kapilasiddha mallikārjunayyā,
nimma śara[ṇ]a prabhudēvara karuṇavenage sādhyavāda pariyanēnendupamisuvenu! (NANDIMATH et al. 1965,
290–92).

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 You know the subtle way
The nine nerves move.
It is not yoga to say
You have been able to scan
The two and fifty characters
And have been caught within
The lotus of the heart.
If you say He’s without,
He must be quite inert!
If you say He’s within,
Well then, He is beyond
The range of mind and speech!
Look you, Siddharāmayya,
Guhēśvaraliṅga does not need
The six cakras for His prop! (vacana 3.114)180

As elsewhere, Allama demonstrates a knowledge of subtle yogic physiology of cakras and lotuses—but

only to dismiss such knowledge as mundane. He is especially critical of yogis who boast about such

knowledge and experiences. He continues,

Hear me, O Lord!

I am not one to see you in my heart.
Hear me, O Lord!
I am not one to chaffer you in the world.
Lo, I have climbed the summit of the path
That leads along the central nerve, and have
Enthroned you in the thousand-petalled bower,
O Kapilasiddha Mallinātha (vacana 3.115).181

Immeasurable is the loss of those who say

They have sat in the comfortable lotus pose,
Have broken the rigour of the spinal cord,
Have, with the aid of faith, opened the path
Behind, and eaten the ambrosial fare.
When you see what the scriptures say,

180 yōgaviyōgaveṃba holaba ballavaranāranu kāṇenu. navanāḷada suḷuha tiḷidiheneṃbudu yōgavalla.

aivatteraḍakṣarada śāsanava tiḷidu nōḍi hṛdayakamalakarṇikeyalli sikkideneṃbudu yōgavalla.
bahiraṅgaveṃbare kriyārahita, antar[a]ṅgaveṃbare vāṅgmanōtīta guhēśvaraneṃba liṅgavu ṣaḍucakrada mēlilla
kāṇā, siddharāmayyā (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 229–30).
181 antaraṅgadalli
nimma nōḍuvanalla kēḷu kaṇḍā, ele ayyā. bahiraṅgadalli baḷasuvanalla kēlu kaṇḍā, ele ayyā.
suṣumnada baṭṭeya tudiyanaḍari sāviradaḷada maṇṭapadalli nimma nelegaṇḍippe nōḍā, kapilasiddha
mallināthayyā (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 331).

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 That He’s past the ten-finger measurement,
Can you establish Him by touch?
Can you, indeed, know Him in the Brahmarandhra,
The Absolute that is beyond such words
As signify position and measurement?
Listen to me, Siddharāmayya,
Our Guhēśvaraliṅga transcends
Imagination’s reach! (vacana 3.116)182

Allama continues to challenge the categories of both duality and non-duality, and the constraints of

language and mental formations.

Fool, does a Śivayōgi have a mind?

Has he a mind to merge it again?
If, saying the mind, which is not, is,
You talk of merging it in Him,
It only proves the mind exists!
No talk of appearance or disappearance
Is possible for the devotee
Who once has known Guhēśvara (vacana 3.122).183

Come, tell me, Sir, where is the fallacy

If I refer to mind-absorbing yōga?
And what’s so wonderful in speaking of
A Brahman without mind and utterly void?
If difference shows up in the spoken words,
Is it apparent in the meaning too,
O Kapilasiddha Mallinātha? (vacana 3.123)184

The Śūnyasampādane version concludes with a discussion and initiation into the secrets of the

Iṣṭaliṅga—the contemplative practice of placing one’s personal liṅga on the palm of the hand and

svastha padmāsanadalli kuḷḷirdu, neṭṭeluva muṟidu, niṣṭheyinda hindaṇa baṭṭeya tegedu

182

amṛtavanuṇḍiheneṃbavara kēḍiṅge kaḍeyilla. atyatiṣṭhaddaśāṅgulaveṃba śrutiya nōḍalu, muṭṭi nelegoḷisuva

ṭhāvuṇṭe? sthānamānaveṃba mātiṅge dūravāda ghanava brahmarandhradalli kaṇḍenendare kāṇabahude?
namma guhēśvaraliṅgavu kalpitakke dūra kēḷā, siddharāmayyā (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 332-33).
183 mana uṇṭe maruḷe śivayōgige? mattomme mana magna uṇṭe śivayōgige? illada manavanuṇṭendu nuḍidu,
aḍagisideneṃba mātu manava nelemāḍi tōṟuttade. guhēśvarananaṟida śaraṇaṅge tōṟalilla aḍagalilla kēḷā
(NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 339).
184 manamagnayōgavendaḍēnu koṟate? hēḷā, ele ayyā. manavillada baccabaṟiya bommavendaḍēnu heccu? hēḷā,
ele ayyā. nuḍida mātinalli vivara tōṟuttade endaḍe tātparyavantappude, kapilasiddha mallinātha?
(NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 340)

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developing concentration upon it. Siddharāma asks why this external “symbol” and form of the Lord is

important, given Allama’s lengthy discourse on the limitations of phenomenal reality and his criticism

of external ritual. Allama describes how the ancient lineage of masters and their attainments are

embodied in the Iṣṭaliṅga, how the six stages (ṣaṭsthala) of the devotee are found within it, and how it

leads to the unity between the individual (aṅga) and the supreme Lord (liṅga). The Śūnyasampādane

ends here, with Allama inviting Siddharāma to depart together. In the Prabhuliṅgalīle, a more

conclusive resolution is offered. Siddharāma’s doubts are finally expelled, and he is said to now

understand “the nature of the nine lotuses that bloomed in his body.”185 Siddharāma’s pride and

attachment to the external world completely dissolve and his consciousness rests in itself where he

remains blissful and now able to impart true happiness to others. In the following chapter of the

Prabhuliṅgalīle, Siddharāma then accompanies Allama to go visit Basavaṇṇa in Kalyāṇa to carry out

the teachings to others.

3.4.2 Allama Prabhu and Gorakṣa

Our second story is more well-known. It involves the meeting of Allama Prabhu and the great Haṭha

yogi Gorakṣa, or Gorakṣanātha—and the latter’s defeat and conversion by the former. This encounter

is told in several texts including chapter twenty-one of the Śūnyasampādane, chapter nineteen of the

Prabhuliṅgalīle, as well as the fifth canto of the Telugu Navanāthacaritramu.186

The Navanāthacaritramu is a Telugu work authored by the court poet Gauraṇa (fl. 1375–1445)

at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, at the request of his patron Muktiśānta Bhikṣāvṛttirāya. It is the first

literary account of the storied lives of nine prominent Nātha yogis, beginning with the seminal Nātha

cakra system. See Chapter 6. The Śūnyasampādane earlier mentions the nine
185 Likely a reference to a nine

channels within the yogi wherein the vital air no longer moves (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 279).
186 See MICHAEL (1992, 56–57), DEVADEVAN (2016, 71), and JONES (2018, 194–95), respectively.

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guru, Matsyendra, Gorakṣa, Cauraṅgi, and others. It is perhaps surprising then to find the inclusion of

the story of Allama and Gorakṣa in the fifth and final canto of Navanāthacaritramu, a notable tale

wherein Allama debates, defeats, and initiates Gorakṣa. However, as the work of Jamal JONES (2018) has

shown, Gauraṇa’s text is not, despite its title, entirely a Nātha text. Gauraṇa’s patron Muktiśānta is

believed to be affiliated with the Vīramāheśvara or Vīraśaiva tradition, and the inclusion of Allama

Prabhu as one of the central figures of the Navanāthacaritramu complicates claims to an explicitly

Nātha sectarian agenda. JONES has argued that beyond “doctrinal exposition or promotion of a

particular sectarian tradition,” the Navanāthacaritramu is a text which “elaborates the problems faced

by ascetic siddhas in the world,” in particular the tensions between ascetic power and kingship. He

suggests there may be avenues of connection with the social and political realities of the Bhikṣāvṛtti

leaders who were vying for power at Srisailam (JONES 2018, 185). Like the Haṭhapradīpikā’s inclusion of

both Allama Prabhu and Gorakṣa on its list of mahāsiddhas, these connections are perhaps indicative

of a shared Śaiva and Siddha yoga culture in the Deccan during this period, especially in environments

like that of Srisailam.

JONES observes that the Allama and Gorakṣa story “occupies an underwhelming narrative

position; that is to say, Gorakṣa’s defeat is not the end of the story.” In the Navanāthacaritramu, the

“text goes on to include two more tales which have little to do with doctrine” (JONES 2018, 184). This is

not the case, however, for the Vīraśaiva Śūnyasampādane, where the episode occupies a more

significant place in the final act of the twenty-one chapter narrative of the life of Allama Prabhu.

Unlike the Navanāthacaritramu then, I argue that in the Śūnyasampādane this story, and others like it,

do serve more doctrinal and sectarian aims. That is to say, these encounters with yogic and religious

“others” serve as narrative frames for articulating and promoting the Vīraśaiva yogi and bhakta ideal—

in the form of Allama Prabhu—who stands in stark opposition to the lesser ways of his interlocutor—

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in this case, the Haṭhayogi Gorakṣa. Like the Navanāthacaritramu it is also a tale which warns about

the limitations of yogic power displayed in the world, but viewed from the perspective of a higher

devotional soteriology of Śivabhakti.

The story as told in the Śūnyasampādane begins with Allama instructing the śaraṇas—

including Basavaṇṇa, Cennabasavaṇṇa, and Maḍivāḷayya—that their time has ended, that they cannot

continue their mission during the Kaliyuga, and that they should retire and carry out their life in

respective sacred locales. Allama announces that he will find his final peace in the plantain grove of

Srisailam. On his way to the holy mountain, he encounters the accomplished Haṭhayogi called

Gorakṣa. In the Navanāthacaritramu Gorakṣa is already residing in a cave at Srisailam practicing his

yoga, and Allama arrives from Kalyāṇa. Likewise in the Prabhuliṅgalīle, Gorakṣa is already dwelling

upon the holy mountain when he sees Allama arrive; rather than bow at his feet, he questions Allama’s

purpose. Allama replies that he is spreading the teachings of bhakti to the people of this part of the

world, to cure them of their worldliness. Gorakṣa, feeling threatened, begins to assert his own yogic

accomplishments and mastery over his body.

“I am my body and my body is myself. This is the kāpāla way of understanding myself. The
method of knowing myself is not unknown to me. Sir, I am not a mere talker.”187

Gorakṣa here refers to his understanding of the body as the nature of the self as the kāpāla way of

understanding, that is, the way of the Kāpālikas. From the viewpoint of the Prabhuliṅgalīle, Gorakṣa

thus represents the more Śākta and siddhi-oriented path of yoga. Allama declares this as an inferior

yoga and not the proper path for the śaraṇas. Allama retorts, challenging the worth of the body:

“Can a man ever understand his self if he identifies himself with his body, which is a mass of
dirt, like bones and marrow; urine and excreta; pus and blood? Is it justified in the kāpāla
way?”188

187 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.21.

188 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.22.

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Gorakṣa replies, defending his view and mastery of the body:

“This body is a mass of dirt for a man, who does not know how to handle it, but for a man,
who knows how to handle it, it is, indeed, a gem. Sir, please know that I do not believe in
blackmailing māyā or teasing death. I am an expert in controlling my body.”189

Gorakṣa claims that the body is only a mass of dirt for the ignorant, for one who has not mastered it

through bodily yoga. Allama retorts that the body itself is the abode of death (kāla) and says that he is

still trapped by māyā. Unconvinced, and to display his yogic mastery of the body, Gorakṣa challenges

Allama to strike him with a sword to see if he can harm him. Reluctantly, not wanting to injure

Gorakṣa, he agrees—knowing that he will revive him if the sword kills him. Allama, taking the sword,

strikes the yogi Gorakṣa’s body with all his might, “the earth, rocks, and mountains quaked, but it

could not hurt even a single hair of Gorakṣa’s body.”190 Allama acknowledges that Gorakṣa has achieved

the hardness of a “diamond body” (vajrakāya), but questions whether he can master dissolution (laya)

with this attainment. Allama tells him that because the sword made a metallic sound when it struck his

body, his attainment is not very impressive. Gorakṣa replies:

“My diamond-body is unaffected by the extremities of cold and heat; bolt of thunder or
strokes of swords. Is it not an achievement? If that is not an achievement, tell me, what else
is? What is the mark of a man, who has achieved spiritual expertise? If you know that, please
demonstrate it rather than merely boast about it, Gōrakṣa challenged Allama.”191

Allama implores Gorakṣa to take the same sword and strike his body to see what happens. Gorakṣa

happily obliges, thinking this will surely end the debate. But when he strikes Allama, the sword passes

right through his body as if it were ephemeral. The Navanāthacaritramu describes it as a śūnyadeha.

Unlike Gorakṣa’s body which made a loud metallic sound upon impact, with Allama’s body, not a

189 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.23.

190 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.29.

191 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.32.

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sound was made. Gorakṣa felt “as if he was striking the Void.” He immediately recognizes Allama as his

guru.192 Gorakṣa bows down with reverence at his feet in repentance and requests that Allama teach

him the true path. It is at this stage in the narrative that the Śūnyasampādane picks back up with the

vacanas of Allama.

Again:
Go to, your yoga of trickery and fraud,
With roots and fibres, is no yoga!
Go to, it is no yoga to have
The Samādhi of body, senses, and the soul!
The real and natural Samādhi
Is Guhēśvara! (vacana 21.5).193

Study of alchemy
May give you mastery over metal, but
Surely not over alchemy itself!
Study of magical effects of many sorts
Such as to make yourself invisible,
Is physical accomplishment; does it mean
Perfection of the soul?
Battles of wit are strings of words,
They don’t involve the self.
When one thinks of You and I, you became me,
But I do not turn into you!
Though you became Gōrakṣapālaka Mahāprabhu
Siddhasōmanāthaliṅga,
Yet I do not turn into you!
Though you became Gōrakṣapālaka Mahāprabhu
Siddhasōmanāthaliṅga,
This merging does not make me Liṅga itself (vacana 21.6).194

Again:
In the root-plexus, Kuṇḍali called,

192 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.35.

mattaṃ, nārubērina kuṭilakuhakada kapaṭada yōgavalladu nilliro! kāyasamādhi karaṇasamādhi jīvasamādhi

193

yōgavalladu nilliro! nija sahajasamādhi guhēśvara (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 390).

rasavādaṅgaḷa kalitalli lōhasiddhiyallade rasasiddhiyādudilla. nānā kalpayōga adṛśyakaraṇaṅgaḷa kalitalli,

194

kāyasiddhiyallade ātmasiddhiyāduduṇṭe? nānā vāgvādaṅgaḷinda hōri mātina māleyāyittallade, ātma

nihitavādudilla. nīnānendalli nīnu nānādeyallade, nānu nīnādudilla. gōrakṣapālaka
mahāprab[h]usiddhasōmanāthaliṅgavādeyallade, nānu nīnādudilla. gōrakṣapālaka
mahāprabhusiddhasōmanāthaliṅgavādeyallade, līyavāgi ā liṅgave ādudilla (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 391–92).

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 By the conjunction of these three—
Fire, water, air—a water-pot arose.
It has six handles and three mouths.
As one drinks water through one spout,
And one’s soul, quenched of thirst,
Is fully satisfied of its desire,
The Great Lord’s two-and-fifty strings
Are burst; the six-and-thirty gems
Perish; the five-and-twenty gems
Roll in one heap; I do not know
Where disappear the six important gems.
I see three jewels: one burns,
one utters sounds, and one’s light
Is extinguished. So since, at sight of these
Three substances, I could not thread
The jewels of this nature one by one,
Gōrakṣapālaka Mahāprabhu Siddhasōmanāthaliṅga,
Do show me where is the expanse
Of the jewel of the day (vacana 21.7).195

What sort of knowledge is it now,

When consciousness has ceased, to say
“Wonder has seized me?”
When you say, “I am not” who is this “I?”
When you say, “Who am I” who was this “I” before?
When you say, “I am Parabrahma” what was this “I” before?
What is this chain of births
Fashioned by “I”-ness, which proclaims
“I am the Consciousness?”
What is the reason why we droop
Fast cleaving to the word that says
“Silence is Brahma,” O Guhēśvara? (vacana 21.8)196

In the Prabhuliṅgalīle, Allama tells Gorakṣa that he is the Lord Guhēśvara himself, who is merely

acting as sport (līlā) for the spiritual upliftment for the world. He describes how he is embodied in the

195 mattaṃ, kuṇḍaliyeṃba ādhāradalli jata tēja vāyuveṃba trividhakūḍi kamaṇḍala huṭṭittu. adakke bāyi
mūṟu, hiḍiyāṟu. jūḷi ondaṟalli udakava koḷuttiraalāgi, ā asuvina tṛṣeyaḍagi bayake sale battidalli,
mahāgaṇanāthana aivatteraḍu sara haṟidavu. mūvattāṟu maṇi keṭṭavu. ippattaidu maṇi puñjavāyittu. āṟu
nāyaka ratnavella aḍagittendaṟiye. mūṟu ratnava kaṇḍe. ondu urivudu, ondu ulivudu, ondu beḷagu nandihudu.
intī trividhaṅgava kaṇḍu, ī aṅgada maṇiya ondonda pavaṇisalāṟade, ī dinamaṇiya viraḷava tōṟisā gōrakṣapālaka
mahāprabhusiddhasōmanāthaliṅgave (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 392–93).
196aṟivaṟatu beṟagu hattitteṃba jñānavidēno? nāhaṃ eṃballi tānāro? kōhaṃ eṃballi munnāro? parabrahma
sōhaṃ eṃballi munna tānēnāgirda? cidahaṃ eṃba hammina bhavamāle idēno? ‘niśśabdaṃ brahmamucyate’
eṃba śabdaviḍidu baḷaluba kāraṇavidēnō guhēśvarā? (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 394).

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Iṣṭaliṅga, which he places on the palm of Gorakṣa’s hand and initiates him.197 In the Śūnyasampādane

version, Allama teaches Gorakṣa about the ultimate unity between the aṅga and liṅga. Allama bids

Gorakṣa farewell and then heads off into the plantain grove at Srisailam, where he crosses over into the

ultimate bliss and tranquility of merging into the Absolute (i.e. physical death). The other śaraṇas like

Basavaṇṇa and Cennabasavaṇṇa and others sing vacanas of praise for the great Prabhudeva.

In the Prabhuliṅgalīle, after accepting Allama as his guru and receiving Iṣṭaliṅga initiation,

Gorakṣa is liberated from the bonds of māyā and begins to cultivate “the discipline of Rājayoga.”198 He

is declared to have “conquered his gross and subtle bodies and settled in the causal body and dwelt

luxuriously in the Absolute Truth.”199 The final verse says that the “diamond-bodied” (vajrakāya)

Gorakṣa then attained the ethereal body through meditation upon Allama, “just as a wasp becomes a

bee itself by constant meditation upon it.”200 The next chapter begins by stating that after enlightening

Gorakṣa, Allama awarded him the title of nātha and accepted his service as a devotee. Allama then

departs to go spread the teachings to others.

This encounter between yogic rivals reveals many things of the religious imaginaire of the

medieval Deccan: competing religious and yogi orders, philosophical debates concerning the ontology

of the body, the efficacious power of sound and its relation to the body, a hierarchy of inner and outer

truth-claims, and the critique of bodily-oriented yoga traditions, especially those belonging to what are

perceived as more tantric Śākta-oriented traditions concerned with the pursuit of power.

3.4.3 The Rājayoga of Basavaṇṇa

197 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.52–56.

198 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.57.
199 Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.58.

Prabhuliṅgalīle 19.59. For an excellent study on the various attainment bodies within Nātha literature, see
200

ONDRAČKA (2015).

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In chapter twenty-one of the Prabhuliṅgalīle, after Allama converts Gorakṣa, and then goes on to

spread the teachings to many others, Cāmarasa describes the yogic activity of Basavaṇṇa who, after

being initiated by Allama, was practicing Rājayoga in Kalyāṇa. Basavarāja is said to have purified and

conquered his mind, mastered his internal organs, and through his Rājayoga, straightened the coiled

serpent of Kuṇḍalinī. As an external display of his internal attainment of samādhi, Basavaṇṇa erects

what the text refers to as the “Lion’s Throne of the Void” (śūnyasiṃhāsana). An elaborate description

of the throne is provided, including being ornamented with glistening gold and gem stones, with steps

of moonstone, nine types of gems and seven metals, and numerous doors. The throne established by

Basavaṇṇa is said to symbolize the stabilization of the six cakras, the five elements plus the soul, and the

six stages (ṣaṭsthala). The throne was marveled at by onlookers, but only true devotees could fathom its

greatness. Then the text makes a very interesting statement:

The verbal experts and market advertisers of mantrayōga, haṭhayōga, layayōga and rājayōga,
the magicians, the pretending philosophers and such others can never understand the
importance of the Lion’s Throne of the Void (śūnyasiṃhāsana) created by Basava, the Great
(Prabhuliṅgalīle 21.29)201

The inclusion of the four yogas together in the Prabhuliṅgalīle is significant, as it appears to be one of

the earliest vernacular sources to do so.202 The text here is, of course, scornful of yogis, as well as

magicians and pretend philosophers, who merely expound yogic discourse; those who profess to be

great adepts, or perhaps even those who have attained great yogic powers, but who have not attained

the necessary inner development to truly understand the greatness of Basavaṇṇa’s āsana of the Void.

On the one hand, the text is valorizing a certain kind of Rājayoga in the perfection of Basavaṇṇa’s

mastery, and on the other, ridiculing Rājayoga and other forms when merely discursive or even

201 Translation by NAIKAR (2010), slightly emended.

202 It is also worthy of note that the order of the four yogas is given as Mantra, Haṭha, Laya, and Rāja—a reversal

of the order of Haṭha and Laya as it is typically taught in the majority of the Sanskrit literature. This order is also
given in the Śaivaratnākara and the Yogabīja (see previous chapter).

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promotional. In the following chapter twenty two, Allama, Basavaṇṇa’s guru, arrives and ascends the

Lion’s Throne of the Void. Seated upon it, devotees sing and dance, and declare “victory!”

What are we to make of these hagiographical stories? The character of Allama Prabhu presents

us with a complex view of yoga and yogis. On the one hand, he is dismissive of yogic practices which

have an overt focus on the body, or which result in the attainment of powers (siddhi). However,

elsewhere in the first chapter of the Śūnyasampādane, among other illustrious and impressive

descriptors of Allama’s divine personage, he is described as being “illumined with Great Knowledge,

the Lord of the eightfold yōga—yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇ[ā] and

samādhi” (NANDIMATH et al. 1965, 55).203 He demonstrates a comprehensive knowledge of subtle yogic

physiology including cakras, nāḍīs, and bīja mantras—language he employs throughout his vacanas—

only to show their spiritual limitations. He challenges both the language of duality and non-duality.

He challenges yogis who succumb to anger and pride. Allama is thus presented as one who has

mastered yoga, and yet is also beyond yoga.

3.4.4 Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara

Another important, though later, figure in locating a Vīraśaiva yoga, and who appears within the

vernacular sources is Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara (alias Tōṇṭada Siddhēśvara or Siddhaliṅgayati).204

Tōṇṭada was an influential saint and virakta figure who lived during the reign of the Vijayanagara rāya

Virūpākṣa, during the latter half of the fifteenth century.205 His name Tōṇṭada (“of the garden”) in

203 Again, note the reversed order of dhyāna and dhāraṇā in this Vīraśaiva schema of Aṣṭāṅgayoga.
204Not to be confused with Tōṇṭadārya/Tōṇṭadadēśika/Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅga Śivayōgīndra (c. 16th century),
author of Kaivalyasāra and Śaivasañjīvana, or Maritōṇṭadārya (c. 18th century) who authored the
Vīraśaivānandacandrikā and the Tattvapradīpikā, an important commentary on the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi. On
the confusion of Vīraśaiva texts attributed to authors with the epithet “Tōṇṭada,” see the cogent analysis of
RIPEPI (1997).
205 RICE (1921, 71) dates Virūpākṣa from 1467–1478.

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Kannada is so-called “since for a long time he had practiced Śivayoga in a garden on the bank of the

Nāginī river, near Kagere.”206 According to tradition, he was born to parents named Jñānāṃbe and

Mallikārjuna in the village of Haradanahaḷḷi, Cāmarājanagara district to the south of modern Mysore.

He was sent at the age of eight to the Gōsala maṭha to become an ascetic, where he lived and studied

with his guru, Cennabasavēśvaradēva, the pontiff of the monastery. Eventually Tōṇṭada was appointed

pontiff himself, however, always a renunciate at heart, he left the position for a life as an itinerant

wanderer and miracle worker. Numerous stories recount the power of his miracles and healing.207

Eventually, after a decade of the itinerant śaraṇa life, Tōṇṭada came to rest at a temple in Yeḍiyūru,

which today houses his samādhi tomb.208 According to a 1480 inscription, a maṭha was established at

the site in his memory.209

Attributed to Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara is a Kannada work on Vīraśaiva soteriology in 700

vacanas, entitled the Ṣaṭsthalajñānāmṛta.210 The author records his spiritual lineage as beginning with

Anādigaṇēśvara, and ending with his direct guru, Cennabasavēśvaradēva211—the latter’s samādhi resides

at Haradanahaḷḷi (MENEZES & ANGADI 1978, ix). The remarkable life and miracles of Tōṇṭada

Siddhaliṅgēśvara, the Śivayogin, are remembered in two hagiographical works in Kannada written by

206 RIPEPI (1997, 173) quoting RICE (1921, 71).

207 For a brief summary of the life of Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara, see DEVADEVAN (2016, 134).

208 DEVADEVAN suggests that this Yeḍiyūru temple “owns substantial orchard lands, where coconut cultivation

yields an impressive income. The temple was one of the earliest establishments in southern Karnataka to engage
in what Max Weber would call monastic landlordism” (2016, 134).
209 RIPEPI (1997, 173); inscription KG 49 in Epigraphica Carnatica vol. XII, ed. RICE (1903).
210 According to RIPEPI (1997, 173), the Ṣaṭsthalajñānāmṛta “illustrates the soteriological path that leads the aṅga

or jīvātman to the union whit [sic] the Absolute, known as liṅga, through six progressive stages or sthalas.” The
Kannada work has been edited and translated into English under the title, Essence of Ṣaṭsthala: Vacanas of
Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅgēśvara, Edited with Introduction, Translation, Notes and Comments by Armando Menezes
and S. M. Angadi (1978).
211 This may importantly be the same Cennabasavēśa who is the guru of Basavārādhya, who produced an

important Kannada commentary (ṭīke) on the Śivayogapradīpikā. This will be discussed in Chapter 4.

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his disciples: the Siddhēśvarapurāṇa of Virakta Tōṇṭadārya (c. 1560) and the

Tōṇṭadasiddhēśvarapurāṇa of Śāntēśa (c. 1561).212 The vacanas attributed to him and his legends

abound with countless tales of yoga and devotion.

3.5 In Praise of the Śivayogin: Yoga in the Vīraśaiva Sanskrit Texts

Reading the vernacular materials alone, however, does not constitute the full picture of Vīraśaivaism

and yoga during this period. We must also turn to the Sanskrit sources.

3.5.1 The Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi

The Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi of Śivayogīśivācārya (c. 13–14th century),213 is a pivotal ritual and theological

treatise for the Sanskrit Vīraśaiva tradition—“recognized today as the principal scripture of Pañcācārya

Vīraśaivism (FISHER 2018, 3). That the author’s name is “Śivayogin” Śivācārya itself is telling, and is

suggestive of an older yoga tradition. The first chapter of the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi begins by invoking a

lineage of four such Śivayogins: Śivayogin (I), Muddadeva, Siddhanātha, the son of Muddadeva, and

Śivayogin (II), the son of Siddhanātha and the author of the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi. The

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi is profuse with general teachings on Śivayoga, and filled with the imagery, ideals,

and praise of the Śivayogin figure. For example, in the eleventh chapter:

Those who, on account of Śivayoga, are completely free from the touch of impurities, who
look upon the net of the world as the nature of consciousness, they are known as Śivayogins.

Those who [possess] gnosis of Śiva (śivajñāna), which is the cause for the destruction of the
darkness of terrible transmigration (saṃsāra), they are regarded as Śivayogins.214

212 See RIPEPI (1997, 173); RICE (1921, 71).

213 On the dating of the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi, see SANDERSON (2014, 84, n. 344).
214 Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 11.37–38: yepaśyanti jagajjālaṃ cidrūpaṃ śivayogataḥ | nirdhūtamalasaṃsparśās te
smṛtāḥ śivayoginaḥ || ghorasaṃsāratimiraparidhvaṃsanakāraṇam | yeṣām asti śivajñānaṃ te matāḥ śivayoginaḥ
||.

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In the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi, the Śivayogin is synonymous with the jaṅgama, the itinerant ascetic figure

to whom, along with the guru and the liṅga, the Vīraśaiva devotee extols praise and worship. From

merely the sight (darśana) of such a Śivayogin, a devotee is said to attain complete success

(sarvasiddhikara).215 While the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi includes yogic language throughout, it is more

broadly speaking a treatise on Vīraśaiva doctrine and ritual praxis, which sought to establish an

emergent Vīraśaiva theology that was consistent with both the Śaiva Āgamas and the Vedas.216 It does

not include any discussion of the four medieval yogas, nor Aṣṭāṅgayoga.

3.5.2 The Pārameśvarāgama

Another influential Sanskrit Vīraśaiva scripture which includes numerous teachings on yoga is the

Pārameśvarāgama.217 Its seventh chapter describes “Yogaśaiva” as the fifth of a seven-stage progression

of the Śaiva devotee, progressing hierarchically towards the ultimate state of “Vīraśaiva.”218 The tenth

chapter is dedicated to the methods and description of Śivayoga (śivayogavidhāna). Pārameśvarāgama

10.13-19 describes a twofold Śaiva yoga: meditation with form (sākāra) and without form (nirākāra);

noting that the latter is superior. The chapter goes on to describe a unique rendering of a yoga with

eight auxiliaries (yogāṣṭāṅgāṇi) known to “Yogaśaivas who bear the liṅga” (yogaśaivasya liṅginaḥ). This

eight-part yoga consists of: devotion (bhakti), dispassion (vairāgya), repetitive practice (abhyāsa),

meditation (dhyāna), residing in a secluded place (ekāntasevana), alms begging (bhikṣāṭana), liṅga

215 Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 11.43–45.

216 See, e.g. Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 3.85–87.

217 The Pārameśvarāgama is part of a corpus of Vīraśaiva Āgamas “such as the Kāraṇa, Candrajñāna, Makuṭa,
Pārameśvara, Vātulaśuddha, and Vīra (Vīrottara)” which according to SANDERSON (2014, 84; italics added) all
“have the names of early Saiddhāntika scriptures in spite of their Vīraśaiva content, which is for the most part
the detailed prescription of the rituals of daily worship and initiation.”
218 ThePārameśvarāgama’s seven progressive stages are: anādiśaiva, ādiśaiva, anuśaiva, mahāśaiva, yogaśaiva,
jñānaśaiva, and finally, the vīraśaiva.

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worship (liṅgapūjā), and the constant remembrance (smaraṇa) of Śiva. These more psychophysical

yogic methods, however, are transcended once one has obtained the penultimate Jñānaśaiva stage (just

prior to the Vīraśaiva stage), where in chapter twelve, it is the Jñānayogin who is extolled for his

gnoseological experience of the Reality of Śiva. Ultimately, however, for the Pārameśvarāgama, in the

penultimate twenty-second chapter on the glory of devotion (bhaktimāhātmya), both knowledge and

yoga are subsumed within devotion, the source from which both are said to arise.

From the practice of devotion (bhakti), knowledge (jñāna) arises and becomes firmly
established. By means of knowledge, yoga is obtained. Through both [yoga and
knowledge], the adept is liberated.219

The chapter ends with Śiva telling Devī that in the end, the Śaiva devotee is to direct all of his mental

efforts towards Him, and that “this total control of the mind is the supreme yoga.”220

As we will discuss in more detail in the following chapter, there are also a number of later

Vīraśaiva Sanskrit theological compendiums such as the Pañcaratnavyākhyā and

Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi that contain teachings and quotations of earlier texts of yoga, including

the Śivayogapradīpikā. These texts are further evidence of the growing trend of Vīraśaiva scholars who

drew on the lexicon of yoga in their broader project of merging Vedic and Āgamic sources into a

coherent Vīraśaiva theology and praxis.

3.6 Vīraśaivism in the Śivayogapradīpikā

On what grounds can we say that the Śivayogapradīpikā is a Vīraśaiva-inflected text, or that its author

was a Vīraśaiva? This identification may not be immediately obvious to a casual reader, and in fact, was

219 Pārameśvarāgama 22.61: bhaktyabhyāsāt samutpannaṃ jñānaṃ ca sudṛḍhaṃ bhavet | jñānena yogam āpnoti
tābhyāṃ siddho vimucyate || cf. Śivayogapradīpikā 2.2.
220 Pārameśvarāgama 22.105: eṣa vai paramo yogo manasaḥ saṅgrahaḥ śive | damyasyaivārtato yatnād upalabdhyā
manojñayā ||.

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likely lost on the editors of Ped and SVed and the translator of the Brahmavādin.221 In many aspects,

the text reads like a work pertaining to a broader Śaivism, and does not contain specific Vīraśaiva

doctrines such as the aṣṭāvaraṇa or the ritual praxis of iṣṭaliṅgadhāraṇā. In this sense,

Cennasadāśivayogin does not exactly wear his Iṣṭaliṅga on his sleeve, as it were. A more careful reading

of the manuscripts, however, has made the sectarian identity of our author quite clear. The most telling

clue comes at the very end of the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section, in Śivayogapradīpikā 3.60-64 wherein the entire

Aṣṭāṅga path is recast to coincide with the Vīraśaiva theological framework of the ṣaṭsthalas, or the “six

stages” of devotion (bhakti). As highlighted in Chapter 1, some of the manuscript witnesses were

corrupted and obscure the specific Vīraśaiva terminology. We will discuss the importance of these

verses in more detail in Chapter 5. What is important to note for now is that in this section we find two

mentions of the term vīraśaiva.222 When the yogin performs Aṣṭāṅgayoga in the ritual manner

prescribed in the text, and in accordance with the ṣaṭsthala, they are said to become a Vīraśaiva, or a

“Heroic Devotee of Śiva.”

(3.63) Through the samādhi of motionless oneness, the Self [attains] the non-dual state of
the oneness with Śiva (liṅgaikya) [stage]. In this way, by means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, a person
becomes a Vīraśaiva. (3.64) Therefore, through every kind of effort, whether by means of
action or gnosis, even you, by means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga can be a Vīraśaiva, O faultless one!

As will be discussed in the following chapter, it also appears that our author Cennasadāśivayogin draws

upon the important Vīraśaiva theological treatise, the Kriyāsāra for a verse on the eight internal flowers

of devotion. Overall throughout the text, the framework of integrating the various systems of yoga as

Śivayoga through ritual and devotion, and yoga taught as the interiorization of Śivapūjā echoes the

Vīraśaiva critique of external ritual worship. In addition to the above, as we will see, the reception

221 This is likely the case as the editors were mistaken about the authorship of the text, and also transmitted faulty

witnesses of the ṣaṭsthala verses obscuring their Vīraśaiva nature. See Chapter 1.
222 Interestingly in Śivayogapradīpikā 3.64d, only N has the reading vīraśaivo. The other witnesses have śivayogī

and śivayogaṃ.

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history of the text, and its relationship with other vernacular and commentarial works born out of a

Vīraśaiva community make the Vīraśaiva identity of our author all the more clear.

3.7 Concluding Remarks

This survey of yoga within Vīraśaiva vernacular and Sanskrit literary sources is needless to say far from

exhaustive. Many texts, especially unpublished manuscripts throughout south Indian archives, await

further critical study. As we’ve seen, the Kannada and Telugu vernacular sources display both favorable

and pejorative attitudes towards systems of yoga, but overall promote an interiorized Śivayoga that is

compatible with Śivabhakti. There is not much praise, however, for the more physical methods of

Haṭhayoga, which makes its significant inclusion in the Śivayogapradīpikā all the more interesting. One

important exception, which was noted in the previous chapter, is the line from the Śaivaratnākara of

Jyotirnātha (c. 13-14th century), which in passing, favorably mentions one who knows the four yogas.

While the Sanskrit sources attest to the positive role of Aṣṭāṅga and Śivayoga, and the ideal of the

Śivayogin within an emergent Vīraśaiva theology—the disparate teachings on yoga still lacked

consistency, leaving room for a more systematic treatise or Yogaśāstra. A succinct work like the

Śivayogapradīpikā was perhaps still desired—a text that brought together the disparate systems of yoga

on the horizon on the late medieval Deccan (e.g. Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga) championed

together with the heroic bhakti of the Vīraśaiva. I argue that the Śivayogapradīpikā is best understood

within this broader project of Sanskrit Vīraśaiva textual and doctrinal systematization, alongside the

emergence of the Sanskrit Haṭhayoga corpus (see previous chapter). The text’s championing of both

Haṭha and Rājayoga within a Śivayoga devotional framework is a testament to the rising popularity of

these yoga systems beyond a strictly Nātha sectarian context in the Deccan of late medieval south India.

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Part 2: Analysis of the Śivayogapradīpikā

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 4. Authorship, Dating, and Textual History of the Śivayogapradīpikā

4.1 Preliminary Remarks

This chapter will provide an analysis of the available evidence regarding the dating and history of the

Śivayogapradīpikā, its authorship, geographical provenance, intertextual relations, and reception

history. Based on the evidence surveyed in this chapter, I argue that the Śivayogapradīpikā was likely

composed by an author named Cennasadāśivayogin, in a Telugu-speaking region of Andhra Pradesh,

sometime between 1400–1450 CE.

4.2 Authorship Conf usion: Sadāśiva Brahmendra?

Let us begin with the question of authorship. From the very first printed edition of the

Śivayogapradīpikā, there has been confusion regarding the identity of the author. This uncertainty was

first expressed by AIYAR in his preface to the Sri Vidya Press printed edition (SVed),223 where he

suggests the hypothesis that the author of the text may have been the eighteenth-century south-Indian,

Sadāśiva Brahmendra, from Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu.

I came across the accompanying book about the year 1884. It is valued in different parts of the
South of Madras by people who have real interest in Yoga. It contains a short compass the four
different kinds of Yoga treated in a simple and lucid style. About its authorship nothing more is
known than what appears in the book itself which reveals that it is ascribable to one Sadasiva
Yogiswara—Is he the same personage as Sadasiva Brahman the reputed Guru of Pudukota
Rajas? [sic]224

223 The date of the Sri Vidya Press edition (SV

ed) is unknown, though it was likely published sometime between
1884–1903. The English translation of the Śivayogapradīpikā published in the Brahmavādin journal which
spanned from 1903–4 based its translation on this edition.
224 AIYER’s preface in the printed edition (SV
ed).

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Other scholars since have incorrectly attributed the text accordingly to Brahmendra,225 which as we will

see, the textual record demonstrates to be historically implausible. Let us examine the evidence.

Sadāśiva Brahmendra (d. 1755), also known as Sadāśivendra Sarasvatī, was born Śiva Rāmakṛṣṇa

near Kumbakonan, Tamil Nadu. He was the disciple of Paramaśiva Brahmendra (also known as

Paramaśivendra Sarasvatī II), the fifty-seventh Śaṅkarācārya Jagadguru of the Kāñcī Kāmakoṭi Pīṭha,

the author of the Daharavidyāprakāśikā, and who was likely a contemporary of Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita.226

Brahmendra was a celebrated Advaita philosopher-ascetic, prolific Sanskrit author and commentator,

as well as accomplished poet and Karnāṭak music composer.227 No less than a dozen Sanskrit works are

attributed to him, including a commentary on the Yogasūtra known as the Yogasudhākara, and a

commentary on the Brahmasūtra called the Tattvaprakāśikā.228 Brahmendra was also known for being a

great yogin and avadhūta—having “shaken off” the fetters of the world, including rejecting clothing as

a fully nude saṃnyāsin. Many miracles are attested in his hagiographies, including a popularized

account in Paramahansa YOGANANDA’s infamous Autobiography of a Yogi.229

Despite Brahmendra’s impressive track record, there is nothing within his written works nor

the manuscript history of the Śivayogapradīpikā to suggest that he was the author of the text. Yet, in

225 See, for example, REDDY (1982, 43), MAHADEVAN (2018, 67), and the online encyclopedia of Indian

Philosophy of POTTER (https://faculty.washington.edu/kpotter/xtxt4.htm, accessed October 9, 2019. The

Wikipedia entry for Sadāśiva Brahmendra also incorrectly lists the Śivayogapradīpikā as one of his literary works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadasiva_Brahmendra#Books, accessed December 22, 2020.
226 See RAGHUNATHAN (1968, 302) and FISHER (2018).

227 On the life story and career of Sadāśiva Brahmendra, see RAGHUNATHAN (1968), KAMALA (2004), and

MURUGAN (2012); none of which, importantly, mention the Śivayogapradīpikā within Brahmendra’s oeuvre.

Advaitarasamañjari, Advaitatārāvalī,
228 Other Sanskrit titles attributed to Sadāśiva Brahmendra include the

Ātmavidyāvilāsa, Dakṣiṇāmūrtidhyāna, Manoniyāmana, Navamaṇimālā, Navavamaratnamālā, Svapnoditam,

Svānubhūtiprakāśikā, and the Śivamānasikapūjā, among many others (see POTTER’s bibliography cited above).
229 The relevant passage is found in YOGANANDA (2001 [1946], 388–391). Upon visiting one of Sadāśiva

Brahmendra’s samādhi shrines in Tamil Nadu, YOGANANDA tells several intriguing hagiographical tales,
including one where a naked Sadāśiva Brahmendra has his arm cut off abruptly by a Muslim chieftain, having
stormed into his tent unannounced, only to miraculously pop it back on to his bloody stump.

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the introduction to the Ānandāśrama Pune (ĀPTE 1907) printed edition of the text (Ped), the editor

Hari Nārāyaṇa ĀPTE appears to conflate the authors—likely following the original conjecture of

AIYAR. As this seems to be the source of the problem for the later misidentification in secondary

scholarship, I will quote this passage in full:

sana 1884 mitasaṃvatsarārambhe śivayogadīpikākhyo granthaḥ 'puḍukoṭā' saṃsthāne prāptaḥ |

madrāsa ilākhāntargatadakṣiṇabhāge drāviḍadeśe bahusthaleṣu etad granthasya pustakāni
vartante |

The text known as the Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā230 was obtained in the city of “Puḍukoṭā” (i.e.
Pudukkottai) in the beginning of the year equal to 1884.231 The manuscripts of this text reside
in many places in the Dravidian country in the southern part of the Madras region.

asmin granthe saṃkṣepeṇa mantralayahaṭharājākhyacaturvidhayogānāṃ saulabhyena

spaṣṭatayā ca varṇanaṃ kṛtvā vyavasthānirṇayo 'sti |

In this text, having produced a description of the four types of yoga—namely Mantra, Laya,
Haṭha, and Rāja—with concision, accessibility, and clarity, there is a determination of [their]
arrangement.

uparinirdiṣṭagranthasya kartā ka ity asmin viṣaye pramāṇatayaitad granthaṃ vinā ’nyat

sādhanaṃ nāsti | granthasya232 nāmnā sadāśivayogīśvaraḥ karteti anumīyate |

Who is the author (kartā) of the text detailed above? In this matter, there is no other means [to
answer this question] authoritatively beyond this text. It is deduced (anumīyate) that the
author of the text is named Sadāśivayogīśvara.

'puḍukoṭā' saṃsthāne ye sadāśivabrahmanāmnā prasiddhā avadhūtayogīśvarā abhavaṃs ta

evaita iti pratibhāti | kim ca sāgragranthanirīkṣaṇenāpi etādṛśamahātmānaṃ yogīśvaraṃ vinā
’nyaḥ ko 'pi etādṛganubhavapratipādakagranthalekhako bhaved ity anumātum na śakyate |

It appears that this is none other than the well-known ascetic lord of yoga named
Sadāśivabrahma who lived in the place called Puḍukoṭā. Moreover, even by examining the
entire text, it is not possible to think of anyone other than a great-souled master yogin like him
who could be a writer of a book which can bring about such experience.

ed lists the title as Śivayogadīpikā rather than °pradīpikā, despite the author in verses 1.2 and 5.58 referring to
230 P

the text as the Śivayogapradīpikā—and virtually all of the manuscript colophons which spell it this way.
231 This appears to be a reference AIYAR’s editorial preface, as noted above.

232 granthasya ] em. ; granyasya P

ed.

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 yato ‘smin granthe sarvayogabhūmikānāṃ sūkṣmāṅgapratyaṅgavibhāgena yathā vivecanaṃ
kṛtaṃ dṛśyate tathā sulabhatayā saṃkṣiptatayā ca varṇanaṃ kartuṃ
sadāśivabrahmayogīśvarān avadhūtān vinā ko 'pi anubhavasiddhas taddeśe bhūtapūrva iti na
śrutam |

Because other than the ascetic lord of yoga Sadāśivabrahma, there is no record of anyone in that
region who has become perfected through experience [and is thus able] to describe all the
stages of yoga clearly and concisely in the same way that their analysis is seen to have been
carried out in this text by means of division into subtle auxiliaries and subdivisions.

On the one hand, ĀPTE infers that the author’s name is Sadāśivayogīśvara. Indeed, on the title page and

chapter colophons of Ped, this is the appellation given to the author (sadāśivayogīśvaraviracitā).

However, ĀPTE seems unclear. In the absence of knowledge beyond the text itself, given the location of

the manuscripts that were available to him in Pudukkottai (puḍukoṭā),233 and following AIYAR before

him, the editor suggests that the ascetic lord of yoga named Sadāśivabrahma (i.e. Sadāśiva Brahmendra)

must have been the one to have penned the text.

Owing further to this confusion, in addition to the five-chapters of the Śivayogapradīpikā, the

first edition of Ped (1907)234 also includes Sadāśiva Brahmendra’s short autobiographical poetic work on

the experience of being liberated while living (jīvanmukta), the Ātmavidyāvilāsa, followed by a short

hymn of praise to the avadhūta, entitled the Śrīsadāśivabrahmendrapañcaratnam, which was

composed by Saccidānanda Śivābhinava Narasiṃha Bhāratī (r. 1879–1912)—the thirty-third

Śaṅkarācārya Jagadguru of the Śṛṅgerī Śāradā Pīṭha—upon visiting Sadāśiva Brahmendra’s samādhi

shrine in Nerur. This special relationship between the Jagadguru Bhāratī and Brahmendra is further

highlighted in the printed edition by placing images of the two figures side by side (Figure 4).

By bundling the Śivayogapradīpikā printed edition together with Sadāśiva Brahmendra’s

Ātmavidyāvilāsa and Narasiṃha Bhāratī’s Pañcaratnam hymn to the latter, confusion was further

233 P
ed does not describe the nature or locale of the manuscripts more than this, nor do the editors provide any
variant readings throughout the printed edition.
234 The second edition (1978) omits the Ātmavidyāvilāsa.

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cemented for readers. This misidentification reveals, however, more about the early modern influence

of institutionalized Vedānta and the Śaṅkarācārya networks of power than it does about the original

author and milieu of the Śivayogapradīpikā.235 Unfortunately, nowhere in the Sanskrit introduction of

Ped does ĀGEŚE make mention of the manuscript chapter colophons, which typically name the author

of the text.

Figure 4: Sadāśiva Brahmendra (left) and Saccidānanda Śivābhinava Narasiṃha Bhāratī

(right). Opening pages of ĀPTE (1907, 1–2).

235 On the Śaṅkarācārya Jagadgurus’ relation to yoga, and for a treatment of Sadāśiva Brahmendra and

Saccidānanda Śivābhinava Narasiṃha Bhāratī, see SCHWARTZ (2017, 352–356).

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4.3 Cennasadāśivayogin

The manuscript titles and chapter colophons I have surveyed reveal multiple names for the author of

the Śivayogapradīpikā (Tables 2–3). Alternatively we find: Sadāśivayogin, Sadāśivayogīśvara,

Sadāśivayoginātha, Cannasadāśivayogin, or Cennasadāśivayoginātha.236 The Telugu Śivayogasāramu,

which will be discussed in detail in the following section, calls him Cannagurusadāśivayogi or

Cannasadāśivayogīndra. The Kannada Pāramārthaprakāśike refers to the author as

Cennasadāśivayogin,237 while the Kannada commentator Basavārādhya calls him

Cennasadāśivayogīśvara. There is thus a wide range of variability in name for our author. Given the

available options in the colophon witnesses, and because of the close proximity between the root

Sanskrit text, and the later vernacular works (as we will see more below), I have settled for the name

Cennasadāśivayogin as the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā.

The adjective cenna is a Kannada word meaning “lovely, fair, beautiful,” or “a valiant or brave

person”238 and within Vīraśaiva traditions is commonly placed at the beginning of a Sanskrit name,

such as the name of the deity, Cennamallikārjuna. It can also serve as a diminutive, for example in the

name of the vacana poet Cennabasavaṇṇa, the nephew of Basavaṇṇa. RAO & ROGHAIR (2014, 269,

n.6) notes that this word is “frequently added to the names of deities… [and] is also found as a name

among men, often of nonbrahmin castes.”239 Such a hybrid Kannada-Sanskrit name,

2 we find gurusadāśivayoginātha in paṭala 1, sadāśivayogin in paṭala 2,

236 Curiously in the colophons for T

Cennasadāśivayoginātha in paṭala 3, sadāśivayoginātha in paṭala 4, and no author attribution in paṭala 5.

237 KOPPAL quotes the Paramārthaprakāśika
as follows: “Tarka Brahmopadeshadyakhila rahasyopadeshikanada
Chennasadashivayogishwaranenisuvaacharyanu…Sivayogapradeepika yamba yogashastrawam…” [sic] (1988,
48, n. 2).
238 KITTEL (1894, 658); REEVE (1993 [1858], 432).

239 This does not appear to be the case with our author who was most likely a Brahmin Ārādhya scholar.

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 Table 2: Śivayogapradīpikā Chapter 1 Colophons

Witness Colophon
N iti śrīsadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ yogaśāstre prathamaḥ paṭalaḥ | śrī śivāya namaḥ |

T1 iti śrīsadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ śivayogadīpikāyāṃ ābhyantarapūjāvidhir nāma

prathamapaṭalikā |

T2 iti śrīgurusadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ yogaśāstre śivayogapradīpikāyām

ābhyantarapūjāvidhir nāma prathamaḥ paṭalikā |

T3 iti śrīcannasadāśivayogiviracitāyāṃ śivayogapradīpikāyām ābhyantaraśivapūjāvidhānaṃ nāma

prathamaḥ paṭalaḥ | śrī sadāśivārpaṇam astu |

Ped iti śrīsadāśivayogīśvaraviracitāyāṃ śivayogadīpikāyāṃ prathamaḥ paṭalaḥ |

Table 3: Śivayogapradīpikā Chapter 3 Colophons

Witness Colophon
N iti sadāśivayogiviracitāyāṃ śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ yogaśāstre tṛtīyaḥ paṭalaḥ || śrī
sām[b]asadāśivārpaṇam astu ||

T1 iti śrīsadāśivayogināthaviracityāyāṃ yogaśāstre śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ

aṣṭāṅgaśivapūjāvidhānaṃ nāma tṛtīyapāṭalikā ||

T2 iti śrīcennasadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ yogaśāstre śivayogaśāstre śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ

aṣṭāṅgapūjāvidhir nāma abhyantaraśivapūjāvidhānam tṛtīyapaṭalikā ||

T3 iti śrīcannasadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ tṛtīyaḥ paṭalaḥ ||

Ped iti śrīsadāśivayogīśvaraviracitāyāṃ śivayogadīpikāyāṃ tṛtīyaḥ paṭalaḥ ||

Cennasadāśivayogin, or the “Lovely Eternal Śiva Yogi,” is suggestive of the Deccan provenance and

Vīraśaiva milieu of the text.

Who is Cennasadāśivayogin? In my research, I have not found any other works attributed to an

author by this or any of the other colophon names. Within the text itself, there is very little in the way

of autobiographical details about our author—which is quite common for this genre of Sanskrit yoga

literature—save for a few benedictory verses to the author’s guru. However, as we’ll see there are a few

vernacular works in Telugu and Kannada which shine important light on our author, his family

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lineage, and even geographical locale. Let us begin with the internal evidence. The Śivayogapradīpikā

opens with the following panegyric verses:

paramayogimanombujaṣaṭpadaṃ trividhakāraṇakāraṇam avyayam |

saguṇanirguṇatattvam anāmayaṃ gurusadāśivaliṅgam ahaṃ bhaje ||

(1.1) I worship the liṅga of the guru Sadāśiva, who is a bee to the heart-lotuses of supreme
yogins, the imperishable cause of the threefold causes, whose Reality is with and without
form, and is free from disease.240

śrīmadguruprasādena yogaṃ jñātvā śivātmakam |

vakṣyāmi suprabodhāya śivayogapradīpikām ||

(1.2) By the grace of the illustrious guru, having learned the yoga comprised of Śiva’s
[nature], I will teach the Lamp on Śivayoga for the purpose of easy awakening.

The Sanskrit is somewhat ambiguous here regarding the the identity of the author’s spiritual preceptor.

At first glance, it is not entirely clear if the author’s guru is a human teacher named Sadāśiva, whose

liṅga is being worshipped by the author (ahaṃ bhaje), or if the invocation is to the liṅga which is the

deity Sadāśiva, the Lord Śiva himself. It is likely that this ambiguity is in fact intentional, as the guru is

understood to be a manifestation of Śiva; and likewise Śiva is understood as the original primordial

guru. I have taken the verse to mean that the author worships the liṅga of his human guru, Sadāśiva,

who is likened to a bee (ṣaṭpada) attracted to the nectar of lotuses which are the hearts of the great

yogins before him. The Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha which quotes this verse in full also provides a gloss,

describing those supreme yogins as “Sanaka, Śuka, Yājñavalkya, and so on.”241 By the grace of his own

240Compare this with the opening lines of the Basavapurāṇamu: “He is the divine guru. He is supremely
endowed with worshipful qualities. He is the sun that opens the lotuses of the hearts of great yogis” (translation
RAO & ROGHAIR 2014). According to RAO & ROGHAIR (2014, 269, n.1) on this verse, the subject “He: refers to
the author’s guru, who is understood to be Śiva. All the epithets apply equally to Śiva and the guru.” The
imagery of bees, lotus flowers, and yoga is ripe in the Basavapurāṇamu. For example, elsewhere we find a great
sage Saṅganāmātya described as a “bee that feeds on the luxurious, delicate, fragrant lotus feet of his teacher. His
inner lotus heart constantly shines with the likeness of that Śivayogi” RAO & ROGHAIR (2014, 43).
241 Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha: paramayogimanoṃbujaṣaṭpadaṃ paramayoginaḥ sanakaśukayājñavalkyādayaḥ …

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teacher, the author Cennasadāśivayogin has also learned this Śivayoga, and is now imparting it to his

audience in the form of the Śivayogapradīpikā, for easy spiritual awakening (suprabodha).

In the fourth paṭala, we find the second internal reference to the author’s preceptor:

yatsarvagaṃ śrutiśiraḥ param ekam ādyaṃ jyotirmayaṃ dṛḍhaviraktajanābhigamyam |

gosaṃsthitaṃ gurusadāśivayogināthaṃ liṅgasvarūpam aham anvaham āśrayāmi ||

(4.1) Day after day, I take refuge in the guru Sadāśivayoginātha, in his true form on earth as a
liṅga—who is all-pervading, the pinnacle of the Vedas, the unparalleled supreme one, made
of light, accessible to living beings with firm dispassion.

Here the guru’s name is invoked as Sadāśivayoginātha,242 rather than simply Sadāśiva as in the opening

benediction. Again there is ambiguity. The phrase gurusadāśivayogināthaṃ could mean “the teacher

Sadāśiva who is the Lord of Yogins,” again invoking the deity and not the person, but it seems more

likely that the title Sadāśivayoginātha does appear to be a human guru. KOPPAL (1988, 48) understands

the guru Sadāśivayogin as an historical figure, but laments that “we cannot gather any more

information from the text other than the above lines.” The Kannada commentator Basavārādhya

likewise appears to understand the guru as a human figure. He begins his ṭīke by praising the author of

the Śivayogapradīpikā, as follows:

The ācārya called Cennasadāśivayoginsadāśivayogīśvara, who was skilled in the jñāna, kriyā,
caryā and yoga [pādas] of the Śivāgamas, which are the means of personal liberation, who had
the intellect capable of grasping the Veda and Vedānta, who was not caught up in the
confusion of the many Śāstras such as the Sāṅkhya and Pātañjala, who was accomplished in the
eternal true yoga, who could visualize the many worlds such as bindu and nāda in the middle
of his body (piṇḍa), who was an expert in mantra, whose mind was absorbed in laya, who was
devoted to haṭha, who was worthy of worship in Rājayoga, who was an expert practitioner and
who was knowledgeable in many branches of learning such as Tāraka and the teachings on
Brahman (brahmopadeśa), engaging in creating the Yogaśāstra called the Śivayogapradīpikā in
order to illuminate the inner soul of those desirous of liberation. In order that this intended
text be completed without hindrance, [he] created this hymn of praise to the guru, who is
Mahājñānaśakti, indistinguishable from Śiva, embodied as guru for the purpose of bestowing

242 This is the name of authorship given in the colophons of both T

1 and T2 , which seems implausible as the
author of the Śivayogapradīpikā himself states in the first person that he takes refuge daily in the guru by such
name (… aham anvaham āśrayāmi).

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 grace on all, and made famous by the phrase “there is nothing higher than the guru” (na guror
adhikam).243

Here we learn more about our author—at least from the perspective of the commentator

Basavārādhya. Notable in this panegyric description is the synthesis of Vedic and Śaivāgama knowledge

systems, central to the Vīraśaiva, or Vīramāheśvara, theological project. Likewise, one detects a certain

jab at the more philosophical Śāstraic systems of Sāṅkhya and Pātañjalayoga, which the author is said to

not be confused or caught up in. The author is said to be not only a scholar then, but one who has

attained direct experience and mastery over the four systems of yoga—Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and

Rājayogas—as well as Tāraka and the practices which lead to knowledge of Brahman (the primary

topics of the Śivayogapradīpikā). Basavārādhya notes that the author’s guru is “indistinguishable from

Śiva” but is “embodied as [a human] guru for the purpose of bestowing grace.” Basavārādhya thus

confirms my own line of thinking about the nature of Cennasadāśivayogin’s guru. If his guru was

named Sadāśivayoginātha then it would also make sense for the student to add the diminutive cenna°,

and to be aptly named Cennasadāśivayogin—in honor of his teacher.

In the introduction to the Kannada printed edition (1976, xv) of Basavārādhya’s

Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke (Ked), the editors assert that Cennasadāśivayogin’s guru is Sadāśivayogin and

that he himself is the author of a different Sanskrit treatise titled Śivayoga, which is quoted in the

Yogacintāmaṇi of Godāvaramiśra (c. 16th century). Could it be that our text was composed with the

intention of shining “light on,” or “illuminating” (pradīpikā) an original Śivayoga treatise? The New

Catalogus Catalogorum (DASH 2014) does provide a listing for a text titled Śivayoga, but it is unclear if

243 I am grateful to Shubha Shantamurthy for her assistance in translating this and other Kannada passages from

Basavārādhya’s commentary.

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this is different than the Śivayogapradīpikā.244 As we will discuss below, later yoga compendiums such

as the Yogacintāmaṇi often referred to texts with abbreviated or alternate names, including direct

quotations of the Śivayogapradīpikā attributed as Śivayoga. It remains unclear if there was an earlier

text titled simply Śivayoga, or whether these references refer to other texts whose titles begin with

Śivayoga°.245

The editors of Ked (1976, xv), and other scholars including KOPPAL (1988, 49), have made the

important observation that Cennasadāśivayogin also went by the alias of Nūkanārādhya (or

Nūkārādhya, Nūkārya), and moreover, that his direct disciple was one Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva, the

author of an important Telugu treatise, the Śivayogasāramu, which was itself inspired by

Cennasadāśivayogins’s Śivayogapradīpikā.246 As I will argue, there is compelling evidence to support

this guruśiṣya theory between the authors of the Śivayogapradīpikā and the Śivayogasāramu, making

the latter not only an important terminus ante quem for the Śivayogapradīpikā, but also providing

crucial insight into the author’s family lineage and geographical milieu. Let us examine the matter

further.

4.4 Nūkanārādhya, Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva, and the Telugu Śivayogasāramu

244 The New Catalogus Catalogorum (DASH 2014, 152) listing states three locations of a Śivayoga manuscript:
Burnell 112b. French Institute IV.429/1, and Thiruvavadu 535. A Classified Index of Sanskrit Manuscripts in The
Palace at Tanjore (BURNELL 1880, 112) confirms a Śivayoga manuscript, in Telugu script, complete, folios 61–73.
It is possible that these entries are in fact more Śivayogapradīpikā witnesses.
245 See discussion above on texts with the title Śivayoga°, pp. 58–61.

246 This is also observed by DEVI (1995, 164).

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The Śivayogasāramu is a notable vernacular work of Telugu poetics and Vīraśaiva theology,247

attributed to Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva (also known as Gaṇapārādhya)—an esteemed Telugu poet, Ārādhya

Brahmin of the Kauṇḍinya gotra, and one of the last known heirs of the Indulūri chiefs of Andhra

Pradesh.248 Several historical studies of Andhra Pradesh draw upon the Śivayogasāramu as an

important literary source text.249 The introductory section (avatārikā) of the text contains nearly one

hundred Telugu verses and includes important genealogical, political, and other historical information

about the Kākatīya dynasty, and in particular about the Indulūri chiefs.250 As we will see, the avatārikā

is also revealing about the author’s religious lineage, his poetical and literary skill, and his connection to

the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā, who is in fact Gaṇapatideva’s own cousin and guru.251

In the avatārikā Gaṇapatideva tells us that another name for his guru Nūkanārādhya is

“Cannagurusadāśivayogi” (i.e. Cennasadāśivayogin).252 This is also confirmed in the colophon, which

247 In 1935 M. Ramo RAO wrote that the “first complete copy of the first part of this rare Śaiva work was recently
found and is now deposited in the Gautami Library, Rajahmundry [i.e. the Sri Gowthami Regional Library]
(1935, 587).” RAO later edited the avatārikā portion of this manuscript, which was published in an Appendix to
an edition of the Kākatīya Sañcika (RAO 1935). I am grateful to Jamal JONES for helping me to track down a
copy of this publication. A published edition of Part 4 of the Śivayogasāramu from 1927 from the Jangamwadi
Maṭh, Varanasi has kindly been made available to me by Elaine FISHER via Jason BIRCH, and was transcribed by
Avula Priyanka, an assistant for the Haṭha Yoga Project in December, 2019.
248 See DURGA (1985, 176).

249 See, for example, YAZDANI (1960), SASTRY (1978), DURGA (1985), DEVI (1995).

250 According to RAO, the Śivayogasāramu,“is the only literary source that contains many valuable facts which

are otherwise unknown, about the history of the Andhra country from the 11th to 14th centuries. It is of special
importance to the history of the Kākatiyas of Warangal” (1935, 587). On the Kākatīya dynasty, see (YAZDANI 1960
Part IX, 575-713).
251 I am grateful to JONESfor his expert assistance in reading and making sense of the avatārikā passages. The
following transcriptions and translations from the Śivayogasāramu have all been generously provided by JONES.
252 Śivayogasāramu 85:
sīsapadyamu. śrīguruṃḍagu yajurvedaguruvulanaṃd(anuḍunu) briyaśiṣyatamuḍunaṭṭi
pūrvalāmunaṃdu bhūteśu śaṃkaru pūjiṃpanercina buṇyuḍaṭṭi
sakalavedapurāṇaśāstrārthasārasaṃvijñātayaina sarvajñuḍaṭṭi śrīgurukṛpajesi siddhamataṃbunan
adhyātmasaṃvettayayyĕnaṭṭi kāśikādeśamukhyapradeśamula jariṃci kulakoṭula nuddhariṃcĕ
cannagurusadāśivayogi nā baragunaṭṭi yiṃdūri nūkayyakevvarīḍu ||.

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describes Gaṇapatideva as a devotee of “Śrīgurucannasadāśivayogīndra.”253 Moreover, we learn that the

two are related by kinship, and that Nūkanārādhya is the older cousin to Gaṇapatideva—

Nūkanārādhya’s mother Gaurī is the sister of Gaṇapatideva’s father. The avatārikā describes

Nūkanārādhya as referring to Gaṇapatideva as “my maternal uncle’s son, my younger cousin”254 (see

Figure 5). Indeed, the avatārikā begins with Gaṇapatideva’s praise of his guru, Nūkanārādhya (i.e.

Cennasadāśivayogin). After praising his guru, he uniquely invokes poets (kavi) from both the Sanskrit

and Telugu traditions, which as JONES (2022, 4) observes, “joins the classical lineages stretching from

Vyāsa and Vālmīki to the founding fathers of Telugu poetry (the three Mahābhārata poets: Nannaya,

Tikkana, and Eṟṟana)—with what can only be described as the rival tradition of Vīramāheśvara /

Śivabhakti poets centered at Srisailam.” According to JONES, this literary move is “remarkable” within

the domain of Telugu poetry as it attempts to harmonize Sanskritic, Telugu, and Vīraśaiva traditions

specific to Andhra.255 In particular, Gaṇapatideva pays homage to Pālkurikĕ Somanātha, the author of

the Basavapurāṇamu (c. 13th century), who is considered a pioneer of the Vīramāheśvara/Vīraśaiva

Telugu poetry centered at Srisailam.256 According to JONES, this is a strong indication that Kŏlani

Gaṇapatideva and his guru Nūkanārādhya were affiliated with the Ārādhya Vīramāheśvara/Vīraśaiva

community at Srisailam.257 The fact that their names (Gaṇapārādhya and Nūkanārādhya) are often

affixed with °ārādhya only underscores this point.

253 idi
śrīgurucannasadāśivayogīndrapādāravinda madhukarāyamānaniraṃtaraśivabhaktisamādhīna
kŏlaniyādimūla nāmātyaputra anyastutiparāṅmukha śivastutisumukha kavijanamitra
sarasakavitviracitaprabhāva gaṇapatidevapraṇītaṃbaina śivayogasāraṃbu |.
254 mā mātulaputruḍavu menamaradivi.
255 For more on the novelty of the Telugu poetics displayed in the Śivayogasāramu, see JONES (2022).

256 According to JONES, the homage to Somanātha is a strong indication that Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva and his guru

Nūkanārādhya were affiliated with the Ārādhya

257 Personal communication with JONES, March 30, 2023. On the Ārādhya Vīramāheśvara/Vīraśaiva community

at Srisailam see Fisher (2019, 2021), and the discussion in Chapter 3.

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 Gaṇapatideva continues, providing important genealogical and family records for the

Indulūris. Towards the end of the avatārikā, Gaṇapatideva describes the inspiration for writing the

Śivayogasāramu by recounting the following story.258

Śrī Nūka the noble, glorious guru and lord of Sadāśiva yogi, was one day
genuinely and intensely considering what good work to do,259

and then called me–his younger cousin, his student widely

respected in Kaudinya's clan…260

The guru Nūkanārādhya beckons Gaṇapatideva near and addresses him. He praises his uncle’s son, his

younger cousin as his most beloved student, who is skilled in the “new” form of Telugu poetics, as

being most knowledgable about Śaiva doctrines and for his ability to present them clearly in Telugu.

Then Nūkanārādhya states,

I have already fixed a compendium on the essence of the Śaiva yoga sciences;
You should compose it anew in the [Telugu] idiom for the good of the whole world.261

If, with compassion for the ignorant, one speaks on the proper meaning of
verses in books on knowledge of Śiva, shouldn’t there be a good measure?262

And since it’s pleasing to the world, isn’t my work by my grace a fitting template?
So now make this work in [Telugu] and call it “The Essence of Śivayoga.”263

The avatārikā ends with Gaṇapatideva bringing Śiva to mind in meditative absorption, and preparing

his mind to compose the text. This story is quite remarkable within the context of medieval yoga

258 This story is told in Śivayogasāramu 87–96.

ka. śrīguruḍaina sadāśiva, yogīṃdruḍu nūkanāryuḍŏkanāḍu mahā rāgaṃbuna nŏkkahito, dyogamu seyaṃga
259

nātmanūhiṃci tagan. Translations from the Telugu by JONES (2022), with minor emendations.
260 sī. tana menamariduyu tana śiṣyuḍunu loka, mānyuṃḍunaina kauḍinyagotru…
261 gī.
śaivayogaśāstrasārasamuccayaṃ, bemu munnu niścayiṃci nā(ra) madi tĕnuṃgu bhā(ṣa)
nakhilalokopakā,rārthamuga raciṃpumabhinavamuga.
262 ka.
ila yajñānulayĕḍa kṛpa, galigi śivajñānapustukaślokamunaṃ galugu yathārthamu cĕppina, galugu
sukṛtamunaku mera kalade talapan.
263ka. lokānuraṃjanaṃbuga, mā kṛpa matkṛtiyu dagina mātṛkagāde vekāviṃpumu tĕnuguna, naukṛti
śivayogasāramanu nāmamunan.

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literature for a number of reasons. Rarely do we find such a personal and biographic account of the

author of a Sanskrit Yogaśāstra as we see displayed here in the Telugu vernacular. The personal

narrative of the affectionate teacher and student, who are also cousins, stands out. The relationship

between the Sanskrit and Telugu languages is also quite interesting, as has been highlighted by JONES,

and Gaṇapatideva repeatedly emphasizes the importance of the Telugu bhāṣā for bringing this Śaiva

knowledge, held within the books and ślokas of Sanskrit literature (śivajñānapustukaślokamunaṃ), to

the broader non-Sanskrit speaking public of Andhra. While the narrative does not name the

Śivayogapradīpikā specifically—the guru states that he has already written “a compendium on the

essence of the Śaiva yoga sciences” (śaivayogaśāstrasārasamuccayaṃ)—I argue that we can reasonably

understand this to refer to the Śivayogapradīpikā, when he says to use his own Sanskrit work as a

“fitting template” for the composition of the Śivayogasāramu in Telugu. We have already confirmed

that Nūkanārādhya is none other than Cennasadāśivayogin, the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā.

Moreover, there is certainly a shared textual relationship between these two works—in both content

and structure—that further supports the claim that the Śivayogasāramu was indeed modeled after the

Śivayogapradīpikā. Several of the verses of the Śivayogasāramu, not to mention the structure itself,

parallel with the Śivayogapradīpikā. Notable examples can be found in Table 4.264

Having established the intimate relationship and direction of influence between these texts, it is

clear that the Śivayogasāramu becomes an important terminus ad quem for the Śivayogapradīpikā.

What is the date of composition, then, for the Śivayogasāramu? Various propositions have been made

in the existing secondary literature, but little if any justification has been provided for the date. Yashoda

DEVI suggests a provenance of the fourteenth century (1995, 164). G. YAZDANI (1960, 606) dates the

264Śivayogasāramu line: 111 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 4.12ab, Śivayogasāramu lines: 1720–1723 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā

5.27–28, Śivayogasāramu lines: 1801–1804 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 5.20, Śivayogasāramu lines: 1808–1811 ≈
Śivayogapradīpikā 5.23, Śivayogasāramu lines: 1815–1818 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 5.24–25. More work remains to be
done comparing the content and structure of the Śivayogapradīpikā and the Śivayogasāramu.

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 Table 4: Notable parallels between Śivayogapradīpikā and Śivayogasāramu

Śivayogapradīpikā Śivayogasāramu
ataḥ śṛṇu mahāścaryaṃ rājayogābhidhānakam | maivelayun rājayoga māścaryamugan | ŚYS line: 111
ŚYP 4.12ab
niścintaiva śivadhyānaṃ niṣkriyā tasya pūjanam | gambhīram besagam bradakṣiṇa manam gā
pradakṣiṇaṃ niścalatvaṃ so 'haṃbhāvo namaskriyā niścalatvambu sohambhāvambu
|| maunaṃ saṃkīrtanaṃ tasya japas tu paripūrṇatā lasatpraṇāmavidhiyam drāryottamul mouna
| kṛtyākṛtyajñatā śīlaṃ nirvāṇaṃ samadarśanam || visrambhambā śiva kīrthanambu japama śrāntambu
ŚYP 5.27–28 santoṣamun jṛumbhipambaripūrṇamaustitiyanam
jennundu jodyambugān | ŚYS lines: 1720–1723
bhāvayogam asaṃkalpavikalpāspadam adbhutam | garimameraya sankalpa vikalpaśūnyamai
saṃprāpto yas tasya bhaved avasthā conmanī hi sā || vicitrāspadambaina bhāvayogamalavadaga nevvaniki
ŚYP 5.20 galgu nammahātmunakurayammuna siddincu
nayyavasta | ŚYS lines: 1801–1804
aṇumātraṃ yadi bhaved astitvaṃ viduṣāṃ bhuvi | attiyogi varyudastitva maṇumātramaina galguneni
tad eva bandhahetutvāt bhāvābhāvāv ubhau tyajet || nadiyu bandhahetuvaguta nirṇainchi bhāvamuna
ŚYP 5.23 bhāvambu santya jimpa valayunanta. | ŚYS lines:
1808–1811
jñānajñeye dhyānadhyeye lakṣyālakṣye bhāvābhāvau sarvāvastala yandu nakṛta prayatnudagucu jñāna
| ūhāpohau yo dṛgdṛśye sarvaṃ tyaktvā jīvanmuktaḥ jñeyambulunu dhyāna dhyeyambulunu lakṣyā
|| sarvāsv avasthāsv akṛtaprayatno niścintabhāvo lakṣyambulunu, nūhapohambulunu dṛśyā
mṛtavat sa tiṣṭhan | kallolahīnāmbudhivan dṛśambulunu sarvambunu vidici niścittundaiyunna
nivātapradīpavat tattvamayaḥ sukhī syāt || ŚYP yatandu jīvanmuktundu. | ŚYS lines: 1815–1818
5.24–25

text to the fifteenth-century, as does Cynthia TALBOT (2001, 273, n. 3), who mentions the

Śivayogasāramu in passing in a footnote, again without any justification. M. Venkata REDDY & B.

Rama RAO date Gaṇapatideva and the Śivayogasāramu to circa 1400 based on the genealogy in the

avatārikā (1983, 7). REDDY (1982, 42) also notes that the authors of the Haṭhapradīpikā,

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Haṭharatnāvalī, and the Yogaratnapradīpikā all “followed the earlier tradition” of the Śivayogasāramu

(REDDY 1982, 42).265

Within the avatārikā section of the Śivayogasāramu, we learn that the author Kŏlani

Gaṇapatideva’s great-great-grandfather was Indulūri Sōmaya, who was an important minister

(mahāpradhāna) and commander for the Kākatīya ruler Gaṇapatideva (1199–1261), and who appointed

him as the governor of Kolanu, modern-day Ellore/Eluru, in the West Gōdāvarī district of Andhra

Pradesh. He was succeeded by his son Kŏlani Rudradeva (Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva’s great-grandfather),

who was also a mahāpradhāna and talented general of the last Kākatīya ruler, Pratāparudra

(1295-1323).266 According to YAZDANI (1960, 662), Rudradēva “was given the surname of Kŏlani (or

Kŏlanu)” on account of his official connection with “and continued residence in that town.”267

Inscriptions attest that Kŏlani Rudradeva outlived the collapse of the Kākatīyas until at least 1327, and

fought in battles against the Muslim Sultānate forces, as well against other rivaling southern chieftains

in Andhra.268 Based on these inscriptions and the family genealogy presented in the avatārikā, we can

surmise the following family tree (Figure 5). Depending on the lifespans of each of these men, and

265 According to REDDY & RAO (1983, 8), the following statement on two traditions of āsana is found in the
Śivayogasāramu: “Āsanas are accepted by sages like Vasiṣṭha and also by siddhas like Matsyendra, etc.” [sic]. This
verse is indeed found in Haṭhapradīpikā 1.18 and repeated in Haṭharatnāvalī 3.6. Likewise, REDDY & RAO
observe that in the Śivayogasāramu, Gaṇapatideva considers the postures vajrāsana, muktāsana, and guptāsana
to be synonyms for siddhāsana. This too is a verse found in Haṭhapradīpikā 1.37. These parallel verses suggest
that Svātmārāma is following the Śivayogasāramu, though it is posssible that “both might have drawn this from
another common source” (1983, 8). It is also possible that the Śivayogasāramu was borrowing from the
Haṭhapradīpikā here, however, because of the very close proximity in dating, it is difficult to tell.
266On the reign of Pratāparudra and decline of the Kākatīyas, see YAZDANI (1960 Part IX, 642–665) and EATON
(2005, 9–32).
267 YAZDANI (1960, 662, n.6) cites the Kākātīyasañcika, p.15.
268 A stone inscription at Santamāgulūr which dates Saka 1248/1326 CE records a gift for the merit of the king

Kŏlani Rudradeva (SARMA 1948, 41), codified perhaps right before his demise, captured at the hands of the
invading Sultānates. The inscription describes Kŏlani Rudradeva as the “Mahāpradhāna of Kākatīya
Pratāparudra.” A second inscription of Prōlayavēma Reḍḍi at Nakarikallu which dates 1327, “proves that
[Reḍḍi] withstood the invasion of Kŏlani Rudra and emerged himself as the supreme lord over the coastal
plains, south of the river Kṛṣṇā.”

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 Figure 5: Gaṇapatideva Family Tree According to the Śivayogasāramu.

depending on how early they fathered their sons, a date of between the late fourteenth and early

fifteenth century for Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva and the composition of his Śivayogasāramu is very

plausible.269 It is not clear if Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva, despite his namesake, was born in the Kolanu

(modern-day Eluru) region, nor whether his cousin and guru Nūkanārādhya (i.e. Cennasadāśivayogin)

—the author of our text—resided in that same area. However, as discussed above, the account

269 If for example, we give an estimated lifespan of 40 years to the great-grandfather Kŏlani Rudradeva his life

would be c. 1288-1328. If he and each subsequent man fathered their son at the age of twenty-five (a conservative
estimate, knowing that many would have had children at an earlier age), we might end up with the following
birthdates: grandfather (b. 1313), father (b. 1338), Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva (b. 1363).

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provided in the avatārikā of the Śivayogasāramu provides strong evidence that the Śivayogapradīpikā

was composed in a Telugu-speaking region of Andhra Pradesh, likely near Srisailam.

Table 5: Textual Adaptations of the Śivayogapradīpikā

Date Text Language Author

c. Early 15th century Śivayogasāramu Telugu Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva

c. 15–16th century Pāramārthaprakāśike Kannada Nijaguṇa Śivayogin

c. 16–18th century Śivayogapradīpikāsāra Sanskrit Attrib. Sadāśivayoginātha

Table 6: Commentaries on the Śivayogapradīpikā

Date Text Language Author

c. 17th century Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke Kannada Basavārādhya

4.5 The Pāramārthaprakāśike

While the Śivayogapradīpikā may have been written in Sanskrit in a Telugu-region of Andhra, it is also

certain that the text had an early impact in other Kannada-regions of the Deccan. Two commentaries

written in Kannada are important for the reception of the Śivayogapradīpikā, and for establishing the

date and authority of our author. The first is a work known as the Pāramārthaprakāśike, attributed to

Nijaguṇa Śivayogin, an important Vīraśaiva scholar and theologian who also authored the encyclopedic

Vīraśaivacintāmaṇi, among other works.270 According to Kannada scholar E.B. RICE, Nijaguṇa

Śivayogin,

lived at some time between 1250 and 1655. His date cannot at present be more accurately given,
but he falls somewhere within the period which we are considering. He was a great scholar and
prolific writer. He was the ruler of the country [a]round Śambhuliṅga hill near Yelandūr, and
finally retired to that hill and lived there as a Śiva-yogi. In all his works he extols Śambhuliṅga.
He did not write, like the others in [ṣ]aṭpadi, but employed tripadi, sāṅgatya, ragaḷe and prose
(RICE 1921, 71).

270 On the eight works attributed to Nijaguṇa Śivayogin, see SIDDHASHRAMA (1992).

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RICE observes that Nijaguṇa’s Pāramārthaprakāśike was “written especially for the benefit of those

ignorant of Sanskrit who desire emancipation” (1921, 71),271 an appeal which strongly echoes the story

of Nūkanārādhya and Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva—only here for a Kannada-speaking population rather

than Telugu. RICE’s entry for Nijaguṇa Śivayogin is repeated by NANDIMATH who also states that

Nijaguṇa’s purpose in authoring the Pāramārthaprakāśike “was to help those members of the order

who could not read or understand Sanskrit texts, but yet were desirous of knowing in essentials of

religious philosophy” [sic] (NANDIMATH 1942, xxxv–xxxvi). According to SIDDHASHRAMA (1992, 31)

the Pāramārthaprakāśike is the first comprehensive treatise on yoga written in Kannada. He notes that

while the text is based on the Sanskrit Śivayogapradīpikā, “it has been developed as an independent

work in itself due to Śrī Nijaguṇa’s highly original and intuitive scholarship and spiritual experience”

and moreover, that Nijaguṇa himself calls it a prakaraṇa text (SIDDHASHRAMA 1992, 31–32).

SIDDHASHRAMA gives a basic summary of the five chapters of the Pāramārthaprakāśike which accord

with the five chapters of the Śivayogapradīpikā. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to locate a

manuscript or printed edition of the Pāramārthaprakāśike.272 It is unclear what the nature of this

“commentary” is then, and whether it is not simply a Kannada prose re-working of the

Śivayogapradīpikā or more of an “independent work” as SIDDASHRAMA states.

4.6 The Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke

As mentioned previously, there is an important exegetical commentary on the Śivayogapradīpikā

authored in Kannada known as the Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke which is attributed to a Vīraśaiva scholar

named Basavārādhya. There are several extant manuscripts which contain this ṭīke and it has been

271 This statement is repeated by historian Nilakanta SASTRI (1955, 385).

272 SIDDHASHRAMA (1992) provides the following listing:Pāramārtha Prakāśike of Nijaguṇa Śivayogi. 1974.
Prof. G.M. Umāpathiśāstri, ed. Publ. Sharada Bhavan, Bagalkot.

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edited and printed in Ked (KALABURGI et al. 1976). Overall it is a highly erudite work, and the author

makes reference to a wide corpus of Sanskrit Śaiva and yoga literature, as well as conveys an expansive

knowledge of ritual and mantric practice. The commentary is an important testament to the reception

history of the Śivayogapradīpikā within a scholastic Vīraśaiva community, and throughout the ṭīke

Basavārādhya interprets the text through a Śivādvaita Vīraśaiva philosophical lens.

In his Sanskrit benedictory verse in the Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke, Basavārādhya praises his guru

whom he names as Cennabasavēśa (cannabasaveśa),273 and who may possibly be the same

Cennabasavēśvaradēva who is the guru to the Śivayogin, Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅga (15th century).274 The

editors of the Kannada edition however believe this connection is tenuous, arguing that the

Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke shows a clear influence of the Pāramārthaprakāśike of Nijaguṇa Śivayogin

(which they believe post-dates Tōṇṭada Siddhaliṅga). They suggest that the ṭīke is of a date later than

1600.275

4.7 The Śivayogapradīpikāsāra

A paper manuscript held at the Oriental Research Institute in Mysore labeled C.821/E.35140 is titled

the Śivayogapradīpikāsāra, or the “Essence of the Lamp on Śivayoga.” The manuscript is in good

condition though it is incomplete, and contains only the first three (of likely five) paṭalas. It is undated,

however, given the style of paper, does not appear to be very old.276 The colophons attribute the text to

273 Śivayogapradīpikāṭīke
1.1–2: vande śivām śivānanyām śaktim vāgīśvarīm tathā | tattvasyodbodhane śaktam
ācāryottamam anvaham || vidyādānanidhim vivekalatikādhāraikakalpadrumam pītāśeṣaviśeṣadoṣavibudhaiḥ
samsevyamānam sadā |viśveśānanajātatāntrikakalādīkṣaikadakṣam
śivajñānonmīlanakāricannabasaveśākhyam gurum saṃśraye ||.
274 See Chapter 3.

275 I am grateful to Gil BEN-HERUT for his assistance in reading the Kannada introduction to the printed

edition. Personal communication, September 22, 2016.

276 MALLINSON suggests perhaps eighteenth century at the earliest. Personal communication, May 3, 2023.

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 Figure 6: Folio 1a Śivayogapradīpikāsāra. C.821/E.35140.
Oriental Research Institute, Mysore. Author’s photograph.

Sadāśivayoginātha and state that the Yogaśāstra is a “conversation between teacher and student.”277

Indeed the structure of the text takes the form of a dialogue between the guru, Sadāśivayoginātha and a

disciple named Sahajānandayogin. Several manuscript colophons of the Haṭhapradīpikā state that a

certain Sahajānanda is the guru of Svātmārāma,278 however it is unclear if there is any relation between

these two figures.279

The Śivayogapradīpikāsāra has long-puzzled me. As a sāra text, one would expect it to follow

or be inspired directly by the Śivayogapradīpikā itself—perhaps not unlike the Śivayogasāramu.

However, in terms of its teachings, and the dialogue that unfolds between guru and śiṣya, it appears

only loosely related to our text. Nonetheless there are some interesting passages and connections. Let

277 Śivayogapradīpikāsāra f. 2b: iti śrīsadāśivayogināthaviracite yogaśāstre śivayogapradīpikāsāre guruśiṣyasaṃvāde

prathamaḥ paṭalaḥ |.
278 Personal correspondence, James MALLINSON. May 9, 2021.

279 On the possible relations between the Śivayogapradīpikā and the Haṭhapradīpikā, see page 156.

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us look at its opening verses. The Śivayogapradīpikāsāra begins with the benediction, “homage to the

lotus feet of the illustrious guru, Sārvabhauma Śrīveṅkaṭārya.”280 The student Sahajānandayogin then

bows down and venerates his guru, Sadāśivayogin:

Sahajānandayogin, who has set out on the path of Nirvāṇa, bowing down to his own
teacher the illustrious Sadāśivayogin, the refuge of the past, present, and future, whose final
goal is Śivayoga, which is taught as fivefold, who is well-versed in the yoga which has four
divisions of practice, [and] who is well-versed in gnosis (jñāna).281

Śivayoga is here described as fivefold (pañcadhā), likely in reference to the fivefold Śivayoga as described

in Śivayogapradīpikā 1.15. The yoga with four divisions likely refers to instead to Mantra, Laya, Haṭha,

and Rājayoga, as described in Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4. The text continues,

One who is equal (tulya) in nature with Śaṅkara (i.e. Śiva) by means of Śivayoga, is on the
path of the Siddhas on the earth with Dattātreya [and] the sage Kapila.

Homage to Śrī Gurunātha, the single cause for the bliss of one’s own Self; whose nature is
sahajā, the moon of the illustrious Sadāśiva, the lord of yogins.

In this manner, the Śivayogapradīpikā was spoken by Śrī Gurunātha. Having heard that, the
disciple, possessed with knowledge, said to the guru:

Disciple:

Having been instructed by nothing other than [these] 287 verses refined with excellence, I
have attained higher knowledge of all the yogas.282

Sahajānandayogin says his aims have been fulfilled by the guru’s grace, yet questions still remain. He

asks the guru to tell him the characteristics of renunciation (tyāgalakṣaṇa) which was previously taught

280 Śivayogapradīpikāsāra
f. 1a: śrīmatsadgurusārvabhaumaśrīveṅkaṭāryacaraṇāravindābhyāṃ namaḥ ||. On the
name Śrīveṅkaṭārya—a person named Śrīveṅkaṭārya is said to be the father of the Mādhavabhāṭṭa (c. 10th
century) who wrote a commentary on the Ṛgveda, the Ṛgarthadīpikā. This is certainly a different person.
281Śivayogapradīpikāsāra 1.1: svācāryaṃ pañcadhākhyānaṃ śivayogaparāyaṇaṃ caturvidhābhyāsayogaśīlinaṃ
jñānaśīlinaṃ | pūrvāparaparāmaṭhaṃ śrīsadāśivayoginaṃ praṇamya sahajānandayogī nirvāṇamārgagaḥ ||.
282 Śivayogapradīpikāsāra 1.2–5: saśaṅkarātmanā tulyaḥ śivayogena bhūtale | dattātreyena kapilamuninā
siddhavartmani || namaḥ śrīgurunāthāya svātmānandaikahetave | śrīsadāśivayogīndracandrāya sahajātmane ||
itthaṃ śrīgurunāthoktaśivayogapradīpikāṃ | śrutvā vijñānasaṃpannaḥ śiṣyo gurum uvāca taṃ || śiṣyaḥ ||
trayodaśonatriśataślokaiś ca bhavasaṃskṛtaiḥ | ananyaśikṣitaḥ sarvayogavijñānavān ahaṃ ||.

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by him. This then sets up the discourse for the remainder of the text. The presentation here thus does

appear to ascribe authorship of the Śivayogapradīpikā to the guru Sadāśivayogin, whose name appears

here variously as Śrīsadāśivayogin, Sadāśivayogin, Śrīsadāśivayogīndra, and the more general

Śrīgurunātha. This set of names is similar to some of the names we find in the colophons of the

Śivayogapradīpikā manuscripts (see Tables 2–3). It seems likely that we are referring to the same

Cennasadāśivayogin, which would make Sahajānandayogin his disciple.283 Sahajānandayogin’s

statement in Śivayogapradīpikāsāra 1.5 that he is learned in all the yogas by means of the 287 Sanskrit

ślokas is telling. Depending on the manuscript, the Śivayogapradīpikā contains either 287 or 288

verses.284 This might be taken to suggest that his guru was in fact Cennasadāśivayogin. The remainder

of the text, however, bears little resemblance to the Śivayogapradīpikā.

4.8 Textual Heritage of the Śivayogapradīpikā

Unlike the Haṭhapradīpikā which is largely a compilation, the majority of the Śivayogapradīpikā’s

verses appear to be unique compositions to Cennasadāśivayogin—however, the author is clearly

drawing on a deep archive of Śaiva and yogic textual knowledge. In fifteenth-century Andhra, it is likely

that he had access to a wide variety of Sanskrit manuscripts. There are a few occurrences in the text

where the author directly quotes or borrows from earlier sources (see Table 7).285 In some instances it is

obvious that the author is drawing on an earlier text, but as it is not a direct quotation, the source

remains unclear. It is clear that Cennasadāśivayogin draws on a number of Śaiva scriptures including

283 Another possibility is that the guru of Sahajānandayogin, Sadāśivayogin (among other names in the

Śivayogapradīpikāsāra), is the author not of the Śivayogapradīpikā, but of the supposed Śivayoga—a work
proposed by the Ked editors and discussed earlier. This theory would make Cennasadāśivayogin and
Sahajānandayogin “brothers” of the same guru.
284 The exact number of total verses varies according to the manuscripts I have consulted, but the overall

consensus, and my edition contains a total of 288.

285 It is likely there are more occurrences of intertextual borrowing that I have not yet identified. As is common

in this type of Sanskrit literature, the author does not cite his sources.

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both Saiddhāntika and Non-Saiddhāntika sources. Śivayogapradīpikā 1.26 employs a common Śaiva

template of progressive states which arise out of Śiva’s cosmic creation: cessation (nivṛtti), foundation

(pratiṣṭhā), knowledge (vidyā), peace (śānti), and beyond peace (śāntyatītā). Śivayogapradīpikā 1.26ab is

found in the Brahmayāmala 85.48ab and Kubjikāmatatantra 15.24ab directly, and variant forms of this

verse are also found in Netratantra 22.31ab, Vīrāgama 9.85cd, Kālotarāgama 16.46cd, Kāmikāgama

6.62ab, and numerous other Śaiva tantras.286 In describing the person who attains liberation through

the worship of Śiva, Śivayogapradīpikā 1.30 appears to share a verse with the Karmasāramahātantra,

though they both may be drawing on an earlier Śaiva source.287 On the relationship between yoga and

jñāna, Śivayogapradīpikā 2.1ab shares a line with the Īśvaragītā of the Kūrmapurāṇa.288 Descriptions

for visualizing the deity in a “throne of worship” in Śivayogapradīpikā 1.40 is quite similar to a passage

found in the Śivadharmottara, which is a likely source-text.289

The Śivayogapradīpikā includes a distinct set of five metaphysical yogic teachings—on cakras,

ādhāras, lakṣyas, and vyomans—which is certainly a much older tantric Śaiva paradigm as evinced by

the Netratantra (c. 700–850) and other related texts.290 In his commentary on Netratantra 7.1–2,

286 Some of these texts such as the earlier Brahmayāmala only lists the first four states and does not include
beyond peace (śāntyatītā), whereas later texts like the Kubjikāmatatantra include it.
287 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.30 ≈ Karmasāramahātantra 1.2, yas taṃ śivaṃ kevalacitsvarūpaṃ
sūryyenduvaiśvānaramaṇḍalasthaṃ | guruprasādāt trimala (!) kṣayitvā (!) jñātvā yajet mokṣasukhaṃ sa yā[[ti]]
||. SANDERSON (2014, 67, n. 254) notes that this text is “undoubtedly a product of the Newars of the late
medieval period or later.” It is thus very unlikely that it is the source for the Śivayogapradīpikā, and probable that
there was an earlier Śaiva source that both texts are drawing from.
288 Śivayogapradīpikā 2.1ab = Kūrmapurāṇa 2.2.41ab (= Īśvaragītā 11.3). This verse is also found in

Triśikhibrāhmaṇopaniṣad 19.
289 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.40 ≈ Śivadharmottara 10.81cd–83.
290 This was first observed by BIRCH (2013, 148, n. 627). The Netratantra in fact presents these five methods as
part of a larger schema of subtle meditative visualization (sūkṣmadhyāna) which includes: six cakras, sixteen
ādhāras, three lakṣyas, five vyomans, twelve granthis, three śaktis, three dhāmas, and three nāḍīs. Netratantra
7.1–2: ataḥ paraṃ pravakṣyāmi dhyānaṃ sūkṣmam anuttamam | ṛtucakraṃ svarādhāraṃ trilakṣyaṃ
vyomapañcakam || granthidvādaśasaṃyuktaṃ śaktitrayasamanvitam | dhāmatrayapathākrāntaṃ
nāḍitrayasamanvitam ||. On the dating of the Netratantra, see SANDERSON (2004, 293).

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Kṣemarāja (c. 11th century) lists six cakras and sixteen ādhāras,291 then quotes an anonymous text

further describing the ādhāras.292 Kṣemarāja states that this is according to the Kaula tradition

(kulaprakriyā), as opposed to the Mantramārga tradition (tantraprakriyā). In his Tantrāloka, the

Kashmirian scholar Abhinavagupta (fl. c. 975–1025) also mentions this fivefold paradigm as including

six cakras, sixteen ādhāras, three lakṣyas, and five vyomans or khas293—surely drawing on the

Netratantra. His commentator Jayaratha (c. 13th century) quotes the same anonymous verse on the

ādhāras as Kṣemarāja. Another quote by Kṣemarāja states that the three lakṣyas are the interior

(antarlakṣya), exterior (bahirlakṣya), and intermediate (madhyalakṣya),294 which is also what we find

in the Śivayogapradīpikā. Numerous other Śaiva tantras especially from the Krama and Kaula

traditions also make mention of a sixteen ādhāra system (ṣoḍaśādhāra).295 These teachings were

adopted by the progenitors of the Nātha tradition, as we find in the Vivekamārtaṇḍa:

291 Netroddyota 7.5

: ṛtavaḥ ṣaṭ janmanābhihṛttālubindunādasthānāni nāḍimāyāyogabhedanadīptiśāṇtākhyāni
nāḍimāyādiprasarāśrayatvāt cakrāṇi yatra, svarāḥ ṣoḍaśa
aṅguṣṭhagulphajānumeḍhrapāyukandanāḍijaṭharahṛtakūrmanāḍīkaṇṭhatālubhrūmadhyalalāṭabrahmarandhr-
advādaśāntākhyā jīvasyādhārakatvādādhārā yatra, yadi vā sarvasahatvādasya nayasya kulaprakriyayā |.
292Netroddyota 7.5: meḍhrasyādhaḥ kulo jñeyo madhye tu viṣasaṃjñitaḥ | mūle tu śāktaḥ kathito
bodhanādapravartakaḥ || agnisaṃjñastataścordhvamaṅgulānāṃ catuṣṭaye | nābhyadhaḥ pavanādhāre
nābhāveva ghaṭābhidhaḥ || nābhihṛnmadhyamārge tu sarvakāmābhidho mataḥ | sañjīvanyabhidhānākhyo
hṛtpadmodaramadhyagaḥ || vakṣaḥsthale sthitaḥ kūrmo gale lolābhidhaḥ smṛtaḥ | lambhakasya sthitaścordhve
sudhādhāraḥ sudhātmakaḥ || tasyaiva mūlamāśritya saumyaḥ somakalāvṛtaḥ | bhrūmadhye gaganābhoge
vidyākamalasaṃjñitaḥ || raudrastālutalādhāro rudraśaktyā tvadhiṣṭhitaḥ |
cintāmaṇyabhidhānākhyaścatuṣpathanivāsi yat || brahmarandhrasya madhye tu turyādhārastu mastake |
nāḍyādhāraḥ paraḥ sūkṣmo ghanavyāptiprabodhakaḥ || ityuktāḥ ṣoḍaśādhārāḥ || iti |.
293 Tantrāloka 19.15: ṣoḍaśādhāraṣaṭcakralakṣyatrayakhapañcakāt | kvacid anyataratrātha prāguktapaśukarmavat
||.
294 Netroddyota 7.5: antarlakṣyaṃ bahirlakṣyaṃ madhyalakṣyaṃ tṛtīyakam | iti ca |.

Kubjikāmatatantra 15.9, Kramasadbhāva 1.24, Ūrmikaulārṇava 2.184, 3.20, Kulārṇavatantra

295 See for example,

13.69, Ciñcinīmatasārasamuccaya 4.55, 8.18, Śrīkhacakrapañcakastotra 85.

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 How can yogins attain success if they do not know the six cakras, sixeen ādhāras, three
lakṣyas, and the five vyomans within their own body?296

The Vivekamārtaṇḍa describes the six cakras297 however it does not detail the sixteen ādhāras, nor the

three lakṣyas and five vyomans. However, a commentary on the Vivekamārtaṇḍa titled the

Yogataraṅgiṇī (c. 17–18th century),298 provides descriptions of the sixteen ādhāras by quoting a text it

calls the Nityanāthapaddhati. These sixteen ādhāras are extremely similar to the ṣoḍaśādhāra system

found in both the Śivayogapradīpikā and the later Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, which will be discussed

in the next chapter (see Table 20). The author of the Yogataraṅgiṇī also quotes the

Nityanāthapaddhati for descriptions of the lakṣyas299 and the five vyomans,300 teachings which are also

shared with the Śivayogapradīpikā and Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati. It is possible that what the

Yogataraṅgiṇī refers to as the Nityanāthapaddhati, may in fact be another name, or a different

recension, for the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati.301 The Gorakṣasiddhāntasaṃgraha (c. 17th century)302

which quotes the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati extensively, refers to as having been authored by

296 Vivekamārtaṇḍa 13: ṣaṭcakraṃ ṣoḍaśādhāraṃ trailokyaṃ vyomapañcakam | svadehe ye na jānanti kathaṃ
sidhyanti yoginaḥ || ≈ Haṭhatattvakaumudī 24.1: ṣaṭcakraṃ ṣoḍaśādhāraṃ dvilakṣyaṃ vyomapañcakam |
svadehe ye na jānanti kathaṃ siddhyanti yoginaḥ || ≈ Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad 4.5: navacakraṃ ṣaḍādhāraṃ
trilakṣyaṃ vyomapañcakaṃ | samyag etan na jānāti sa yogī nāmato bhavet ||.
297 Vivekamārtaṇḍa 1.15–17: mūlādhāra, svādhiṣṭhāna, nābhi, hṛd, kaṇṭha, bhrūmadhya, plus the thousand-
petaled (sahasradala) at the brahmarandhra. This six cakra system thus parallels the Kubjikā system, plus the
sahasra.
298 On the dating of the Yogataraṅgiṇī, see BIRCH (2013, 146, n. 618).
299 The Nityanāthapaddhati as quoted in the Yogataraṅgiṇī in fact only teaches two lakṣyas, one internal and
one external. Yogataraṅgiṇī 13: atha dvilakṣyam | lakṣyaṃ dvividham | bāhyam ābhyantaraṃ ca | tatra bāhyaṃ
nāsāgrabhrūmadhyādi | ābhyantaraṃ mūlādhārahṛtpadmādi |.
300 Yogataraṅgiṇī
13: atha vyomapañcakaṃ | tad uktaṃ nityanāthapaddhatau, ākāśaṃ ca parākāśaṃ
mahākāśaṃ tṛtīyakam | tattvākāśaṃ caturthaṃ syāt sūryākāśaṃ ca pañcamam || śvetaṃ raktaṃ tathā
dhūmraṃ nīlaṃ vidyunnibhaṃ punaḥ | ekaikaṃ jyotīrūpaṃ tu sa bāhyābhyantaraṃ smaret ||. Cf.
Śivayogapradīpikā 4.49.
301 I am grateful to MALLINSON for bringing this to my attention. Personal communication, May 3, 2023.

302 See BOUY (1994, 19).

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Gorakṣanātha,303 however, elsewhere quotes the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati and refers to it as having

been authored by Nityanātha.304 Moreover, one of the mahāsiddhas listed by Svātmārāma in

Haṭhapradīpikā 1.7 is named Nityanātha, who was perhaps the same Nityanātha Siddha attributed as

the author of an alchemical text called the Rasaratnākara.305 While it remains possible that there was a

text called the Nityanāthapaddhati which existed prior to the Haṭhapradīpikā (c. 1400) and thus prior

to the Śivayogapradīpikā, because of the late date of the Yogataraṅgiṇī and the

Gorakṣasiddhāntasaṃgraha, and the lack of other earlier texts’ awareness of such a work, it is more

probable that the so-called Nityanāthapaddhati is a later composition. It thus more likely that the

Śivayogapradīpikā is the source, or at least an intermediary, for the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati/

Nityanāthapaddhati, a subject which we will explore further in the next chapter.

Table 7: Textual Parallels in the Śivayogapradīpikā

Date Text Verses

c. 6–7th century Śivadharmottara 10.81cd–83 ≈ ŚYP 1.40

c. 8th century Kūrmapurāṇa 2.2.41ab = ŚYP 2.1ab

c. 650–750 Brahmayāmala 85.48ab = ŚYP 1.26ab

c. 10th century Kubjikāmatatantra 15.24ab
c. 11–12th century Amanaska 2.3cd = ŚYP 1.12cd
2.72 ≈ ŚYP 5.47
c. 13th century Dattātreyayogaśāstra 29 cf. ŚYP 1.7
54 cf. ŚYP 2.16
c. 13th century Vivekamārtaṇḍa 42ab cf. ŚYP 2.29ab
85 ≈ ŚYP 2.42
144–152 cf. ŚYP 3.7–16
c. 1400–1450 Kriyāsāra p. 231, lines 17126–7 ≈ ŚYP 5.12

303 Gorakṣasiddhāntasaṃgraha p. 60: siddhasiddhāntapaddhatau śrīgorakṣanāthena. See also BOUY (1994, 19).
304 Gorakṣasiddhāntasaṃgraha p. 9: śrīnityanāthakṛtasiddhasiddhāntapaddhatau.
305 See WUJASTYK (1984).

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4.8.1 The Amanaska

An important text for our author is the Amanaska, which BIRCH (2014, 406) dates to prior to the

twelfth century, and is clearly a source for the Śivayogapradīpikā’s teachings on Amanaska Rājayoga.

The Amanaska is a gnostic (jñāna) yoga text which promotes a Rājayoga that leads to a supra-cognitive

“no-mind” (amanas) state of liberation and is highly critical of other yogic and religious paths

including Mantra and Haṭhayoga. Śivayogapradīpikā 1.12cd directly borrows a significant line from

Amanaska 2.3cd, which describes Rājayoga as such because “it is the king of all yogas.”306

Śivayogapradīpikā 1.11 shows parallels with Amanaska 2.2, however important differences remain. The

Amanaska describes its yoga as twofold:

bahirmudrānvitaṃ pūrvaṃ bahiryogaṃ ca tan matam |

antarmudrāḍhyam aparam antaryogaṃ tad eva hi || Amanaska 2.2

The preliminary [yoga] is furnished with external mudrās and [thus,] it is regarded as an
external yoga. [Whereas] the other [yoga] is richly endowed with an internal mudrā [and]
for that reason, it alone is the internal yoga.307

The Śivayogapradīpikā appears to have adapted this verse to accommodate its threefold classification of

Rājayoga, here describing the upper two divisions of Tāraka and Amanaska:

bahir mudrāparijñānād yogas tāraka ucyate |

antar mudrāparijñānād amanaska itīritaḥ || Śivayogapradīpikā 1.11

On account of the gnosis attained by external mudrā, [Rāja]yoga is called Tāraka.

On account of the gnosis attained by internal mudrā, it is called Amanaska.

While the north-Indian manuscripts of the Amanaska do not include teachings on Tāraka, as BIRCH

discovered, a distinct south-Indian recension of the Amanaska which includes extra verses does include

teachings on Tāraka. Along with the Śivayogapradīpikā, these may represent the earliest teachings on a

Rājayoga known as Tāraka. BIRCH (2013, 146, n. 619) observes in an important footnote:

306 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.12cd: rājatvāt sarvayogānāṃ rājayoga iti smṛtaḥ | = Amanaska 2.3cd.
307 Translation by BIRCH (2013, 283), slightly modified.

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 Apart from the Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā, the earliest extant source of Tārakayoga may be the
south-Indian recension of the Amanaska. Since it is clear that the redactors of the
Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā were integrating earlier yoga traditions (i.e., Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, etc.),
it is likely that an earlier source on Tāraka yoga existed before the Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā and,
as I argue below, this source is probably no longer extant. Other yoga texts which mention
Tārakayoga are the Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣat, the Advayatārakopaniṣat, the
Rājayogabhāṣya and the Nandikeśvaratārāvalī (based on a quotation of this text in the
Yogasārasaṅgraha p. 60). These texts may all derive from south-India.308

It is possible that this earlier source for Tārakayoga that influenced the Śivayogapradīpikā was in fact

the Amanaska. Śivayogapradīpikā 4.51ab on the term tāraka meaning to “cross over” draws on

Amanaska 1.11ab:

tāraṇāc ca guruśiṣyayor dvayos tārako 'yam iti yogasaṃjñikaḥ | Śivayogapradīpikā 4.51ab

And this yoga is called Tāraka because it causes the teacher and student to “cross
over” (tāraṇa).

tārako 'yaṃ bhavāmbhodhau tāraṇād guruśiṣyayoḥ | Amanaska 1.11ab

This is [called] Tāraka because it causes the teacher and student to “cross over” (tāraṇa) the
ocean of existence.309

Another verse Śivayogapradīpikā 5.47 appears to be an adaptation of a similar verse Amanaska 72:

yathecchayā mano gacchet svayam eva nivartate |

niraṅkuśena vidhinā karaṭīva madotkaṭaḥ || Śivayogapradīpikā 5.47

The mind shall wander according to its desires, stopping by itself alone, just as a rutting
elephant [wanders and stops] without the means of a goad.

yathā niraṅkuśo hastī kāmān prāpya nivartate |

avāritaṃ manas tadvat svayam eva vilīyate || Amanaska 2.72

Just as an elephant without a goad, having obtained [his] desires, stops [wandering], so the
mind, unobstructed, dissolves by itself.310

308 We will discuss these other south-Indian texts which teach Tāraka below.

309 Translation by BIRCH (2013, 388), slightly modified.

310 Translation by BIRCH (2013, 324). For other textual references to the control of the mind being likened to an

elephant with its goad, see BIRCH (2013, 377, n.92).

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Based on this evidence it is thus very likely that the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā had access to the

south-Indian recension of the Amanaska.

4.8.2 The Dattātreyayogaśāstra

Another text that has strong parallels with the Śivayogapradīpikā is the Vaiṣṇava treatise known as the

Dattātreyayogaśāstra (c. 13th century), one of the earliest texts of Haṭhayoga. Although there is no

direct borrowing of verses, it seems that Cennasadāśivayogin has been influenced by this text on several

accounts. Like the Śivayogapradīpikā, the Dattātreyayogaśāstra uses the schema of the four yogas

(Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga) as well as the four stages (avasthā) of practice (ārambha, ghaṭa,

paricaya, and niṣpatti). Dattātreyayogaśāstra 29 describes two different paths of Haṭhayoga—one

comprised of nine mudrās and associated with the sage Kapila, and another Haṭhayoga comprised of

Aṣṭāṅgayoga and associated with Yājñavalkya. These two different understandings of Haṭhayoga are

echoed in the definition of the practitioner of Haṭhayoga found in Śivayogapradīpikā 1.7. Another

parallel between these two texts include their similar descriptions of the ideal yoga hut (yogamaṭha).311

MALLINSON has argued that the Dattātreyayogaśāstra was likely composed in the Deccan region

around the thirteenth century, making this a likely source text for Cennasadāśivayogin.

4.8.3 The Vivekamārtaṇḍa

Another early text of Haṭhayoga, the Vivekamārtaṇḍa (c. 13th century), has some interesting parallels

with the Śivayogapradīpikā. Again, there are no direct citations evident, though at least one verse

appears to have been re-adapted:

trayo vedās trayo devās trayo lokās trayo guṇāḥ |

om ity ekākṣare mantre parabrahmaṇi santi vai || Śivayogapradīpikā 2.42

311 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 54 cf. Śivayogapradīpikā 2.16.

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 The three Vedas, the three gods, the three worlds, and the three guṇas reside in the one-
syllable mantra oṃ, which is the supreme Brahman itself.

trayaḥ kālās trayo vedās trayo lokās trayaḥ svarāḥ |

trayo devāḥ sthitā yatra tat paraṃ jyotir om iti || Vivekamārtaṇḍa 85

In that which the three times, the three Vedas, the three worlds, the three accents, and the
three gods reside, that is the supreme light oṃ.

Likewise, there are shared teachings on the ajapā Gāyatrī mantra.312 We mentioned above how both

texts teach a metaphysical system of cakras, ādhāras, lakṣyas, and vyomans within the yogic body.

Although the Vivekamārtaṇḍa formally teaches six cakras, elsewhere the text speaks of nine

dhyānasthānas, or bodily places for meditative visualization. As I will discuss in more detail in the

following chapter, I believe it is likely that these nine dhyānasthānas in the Vivekamārtaṇḍa inform the

system of nine cakras (navacakra) taught in the Śivayogapradīpikā.313

4.8.4 The Śārṅgadharapaddhati

The Śārṅgadharapaddhati is a large anthology with verses on a wide range of subjects composed by

Śārṅgadhara in 1363, likely in Rajasthan.314 In a chapter on the body (śarīra), the text provides an

overview of teachings on yoga, drawing on earlier Yogaśāstras including the Dattātreyayogaśāstra and

Vivekamārtaṇḍa. The Śārṅgadharapaddhati mentions the classification of the four yogas, in a verse

very similar to the one found in the Śivayogapradīpikā—only it does not appear to group them in a

hierarchy as we find in the Śivayogapradīpikā and elsewhere. Here the order is Mantrayoga, Layayoga,

Rājayoga, and Haṭhayoga.315 The Śārṅgadharapaddhati mentions two types of Haṭhayoga—an eight-

312 Vivekamārtaṇḍa 42ab cf. Śivayogapradīpikā 2.29ab.

313 Vivekamārtaṇḍa 144–152 cf. Śivayogapradīpikā 3.7–16.
314 On the dating of the Śārṅgadharapaddhati, see STERNBACH (1974, 17).
315 Śārṅgadharapaddhati 4347: mantrayogo layaś caiva rājayogo haṭhas tathā | yogaś caturvidhaḥ prokto yogibhis
tattvadarśibhiḥ || ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4.

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limbed (aṣṭāṅga) system mastered by Mārkaṇḍeya and other ṛṣis, and another six-limbed (ṣaḍaṅga)

system mastered by Gorakṣa and others.316 Under the teachings on Layayoga, the Śārṅgadharapaddhati

describes a system of nine cakras (navacakra) nearly identical to the sequence found in the

Śivayogapradīpikā,317 which is said to be “mastered by Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana and others.”318

Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana is another name for Vyāsa or Vedavyāsa, the purported author of the Mahābhārata,

which as BIRCH (2013, 51) suggests “appears to affiliate the practice with more orthodox sources (i.e.

smṛti) rather than tantric ones.” Because the yoga verses in the Śārṅgadharapaddhati are largely a

compilation from earlier treatises, it is likely that there is an earlier source text for this navacakra

system, and again this may be the nine dhyānasthalas of the Vivekamārtaṇḍa. The fact that

Śārṅgadhara utilizes the Vivekamārtaṇḍa elsewhere for his understanding of Haṭhayoga further

supports this hypothesis.

4.8.5 The Kriyāsāra

Another text that Cennasadāśivayogin may have had access to is the Kriyāsāra of Nīlakaṇṭhaśivācārya,

a lengthy philosophical and ritual treatise and work of Vīraśaiva Vedānta exegesis—however the

direction of borrowing is not entirely clear. The parallel verse is on the eight flowers (puṣpāni) of

worship (Śivayogapradīpikā 5.12 ≈ Kriyāsāra p. 231)319 as follows:

puṣpāṇy ahiṃsendriyanigrahaś ca dayākṣamājñānasamāhvayāni |

dhyānaṃ tapaḥ satyam amībhir eva prapūjayed ātmani siddhaliṅgam ||

316 Śārṅgadharapaddhati 4372: dvidhā haṭhaḥ syād ekas tu gorakṣādisusādhitaḥ | anyo mṛkaṇḍaputrādyaiḥ
sādhito 'niśam udyataiḥ ||
317 Śārṅgadharapaddhati 4351–4360 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.8-16. See Table 19.
318 Śārṅgadharapaddhati 4350: kṛṣṇadvaipāyanādyais tu sādhito layasaṃjñitaḥ | navasv eva hi cakreṣu layaṃ
kṛtvā mahātmabhiḥ ||.
319Śivayogapradīpikā 5.12 is also quoted by the later Vīraśaiva compendium, Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi
7.202, see below, p. 154.

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 (5.12) The [eight] flowers are named: non-harming (ahiṃsā), restraint of the senses
(indriyanigraha), compassion (dayā), patience (kṣamā), gnosis (jñāna), meditation (dhyāna),
austerity (tapas), and truth (satyam). With these alone, one should worship the Siddhaliṅga
within the Self.

ahiṃsendriyanigrahakṣamādayājñānatapassatyabhāvarūpair aṣṭabhiḥ puṣpair abhyarcayet |

One should worship with the eight flowers which take the form of non-harming (ahiṃsā),
restraint of the senses (indriyanigraha), patience (kṣamā), compassion (dayā), gnosis (jñāna),
austerity (tapas), truth (satyam), and contemplation (bhāva).320

The Kriyāsāra passage is written in prose, while the Śivayogapradīpikā in verse. The order of the eight

flowers has slightly changed, and while the Kriyāsāra includes contemplation (bhāva), the

Śivayogapradīpikā lists meditation (dhyāna). It also remains possible that both texts could be drawing

from an earlier Vīraśaiva source. FISHER (2018) has shown that the Kriyāsāra of Nīlakaṇṭhaśivācārya,

can be dated to c. 1400–1450, based on the works cited of the author’s predecessors.321 She writes that

the text is self-styled as a Vīraśaiva commentary on the Brahmasūtra and that it “reads like a practical

manual for applied Vedānta, commingling exegesis on Bādarāyaṇa’s Sūtras with how-to instructions for

executing meditations on the Brahmavidyās” (FISHER 2017, 17). If Cennasadāśivayogin is indeed

borrowing from the Kriyāsāra, this then becomes a likely terminus a quo for the Śivayogapradīpikā.

4.9 Reception History of the Śivayogapradīpikā

320 Kriyāsāra p. 231.

321 There are ongoing debates regarding the dating of the Kriyāsāra. SANDERSON (2015, 38) has dated

Nīlakaṇṭhaśivācārya and the Kriyāsāra to a broad period between 1350–1530. Some scholars have suggested that
the Kriyāsāra postdates Appaya Dīkṣita’s Śivārcanacandrikā (16th century) as the two share many strong textual
parallels. Jonathan DUQUETTE (2021, 18) for example, pushes back the Kriyāsāra to as far as the seventeenth or
early eighteenth century, “since its author reuses Appaya’s ritual manual, the Śivārcanacandrikā, and since the
Kriyāsāra is quoted with attribution in an eighteenth-century Vīraśaiva work, the Vīraśaivānandacandrikā.”
FISHER (2018) has argued compellingly that this cannot be the case, and that it is Appaya in fact who
appropriates extensively from the Kriyāsāra: “An attempt to date the Kriyāsāra as an entirety posterior to
Appayya Dīkṣita in the seventeenth century must also refute the attestation that the Kriyāsāra is quoted in the
Kannada-language Vīraśaivāmṛtamahāpurāṇavu by Gubbi Mallaṇārya in 1530” (FISHER (2018, 16, n.40). Further
philological work remains to be done on the dating of the Kriyāsāra and related texts.

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We have already discussed the influence of the Śivayogapradīpikā on successive authors and regional

texts which were contemporaneous with Cennasadāśivayogin or lived shortly thereafter, including his

disciple and younger cousin, Kŏlani Gaṇapatideva and his Telugu Śivayogasāramu, the Kannada-

rendition Pāramārthaprakāśike of Nijaguṇa Śivayogin, the exegetical Sanskrit-Kannada commentary

of Basavārādhya, and the curious case of the Sanskrit Śivayogapradīpikāsāra. It is clear, however, that

the Śivayogapradīpikā, as an authoritative work on Śivayoga, and in particular its teachings on yogic

subtle physiology (cakras, ādhāras, etc.), had a considerable influence beyond this milieu, and beyond

the Deccan. Table 8 outlines the direct references and citations of the Śivayogapradīpikā as I have

identified in subsequent Sanskrit texts. The following section will offer an overview of this literature

and its engagement with the Śivayogapradīpikā.

One text that does not make this list but is worthy of noting is a Vīraśaiva treatise called the

Kaivalyasāra attributed to a Tōṇṭadārya (c. 16th century).322 The Kaivalyasāra twice quotes a text

named the Śivayogapradīpikā, however, in both instances the quoted verses do not belong to our text.

In one instance the verse which is attributed to the Śivayogapradīpikā is also found verbatim in the

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi.323 The second occurrence contains a verse which I have not been able to identify

elsewhere.324 This problem raises the possibility that there was another text known by the same name,

or perhaps there was another recension of the text with additional verses.

322 The author of the Kaivalyasāra refers to himself in the introductory verses of the text as Tōṇṭadadeśikendra

and in the colophons as Tōṇṭadārya. According to RIPEPI (1997, 179), he is the same person known as Tōṇṭada
Siddhaliṅga Śivayōgīndra, the author of the Śaivasañjīvana, and he may in fact also be identical to Virakta
Tōṇṭadārya, the author of the Siddhēśvarapurāṇa who lived in the sixteenth century.

Kaivalyasāra 2.53: kiṃca || śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ || nityaṃ bhāti tvadīyeṣu yā te rudra śivā tanūḥ | aghorā
323

pāpakāśīti śrutir āha sanātanī || = Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 10.76. The Liṅgadhāraṇacandrikā likewise attributes a
version of this (aghorā pāpakāśinī yā te rudra śivā tanuḥ) to the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi.
324Kaivalyasāra 3.50: tathā śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ || vṛttam || dhanyāni tāni nagarāṇi nirāmayāni nityotsavāni
vijayottarabhūpatīni | eko'pi yatra śivayogasamāhitātmā padbhyāṃ pavitrayati pāvanapādukābhyāṃ ||.

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 Table 8: Textual References to the Śivayogapradīpikā

Date Text Author

c. 16th century Yogacintāmaṇi Godāvaramiśra

c. 17th century Yogacintāmaṇi Śivānanda

c. 16–17th century Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha Unknown

c. 17th century Haṭhatattvakaumudī Sundaradeva

c. 18th century Yogasārasaṅgraha Unkown

c. 18th century Yogatārāvalivyākhyā (Rājatarala) Rāmasvāmipaṇḍita

r. 1696–1714 Śivatattvaratnākara King Basavarāja of Keladi

c. 17–18th century Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya Unknown

c. 17–18th century Rājayogāmṛta Unknown

c. 17–18th century Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati Attrib. to Gorakṣanātha or

Nityanātha
c. 18th century Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad Unknown

c. 18–19th century Rājayogabhāṣya Attrib. to Śaṅkara

c. 18–19th century Pañcaratnavyākhyā Unknown

c. 18–19th century Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi Añjaṇācārya

4.9.1 The Yogacintāmaṇi

The Yogacintāmaṇi is a large anthology of over three thousand verses which quotes numerous earlier

Yogaśāstras, Epics, Purānas, Upaniṣads, and other religious texts. There are in fact two Yogacintāmaṇis

—the first is attributed to Godāvaramiśra (c. 16th century) who was a “chief minister (mantrivara) and

preceptor (rājaguru) to the Orissan king Pratāparudradeva” (BIRCH 2020, 465). The second

Yogacintāmaṇi is an expanded text based on the first, and is attributed to Śivānanda (c. 17th century)

who likely lived in Varanasi.325 Both versions of the Yogacintāmaṇi quote the Śivayogapradīpikā twice

325 On the dating of the two Yogacintāmaṇis, see BIRCH (2013, 140–146; 2020, 465–468) and BOUY (1994, 14, 119).

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for its teachings on cakras and ādhāras, respectively, and name the text as Śivayoga—as was observed by

BOUY (1994, 17, n.38) and BIRCH (2013, 147).326 It is clear that by the sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries, manuscripts of the Śivayogapradīpikā had been circulating as far as Orissa and Varanasi.

4.9.2 The Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha

The Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha is a large Sanskrit anthology comprised of twenty four chapters, attributed

to an author named Śivayogīndra (c. 16–17th century).327 Like the Yogacintāmaṇi, it quotes directly

many earlier texts on yoga. As was first observed by BOUY (1993, 90), the Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha quotes

the Śivayogapradīpikā numerous times.328 Unlike the Yogacintāmaṇi which refers to it by an

abbreviated name (śivayoge) the Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha reports the full title (śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ). As

mentioned previously in this chapter, in some instances the author of the Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha also

provides a commentarial gloss on select verses of the Śivayogapradīpikā, including the opening

benediction, which has proved useful for my own translation.

4.9.3 The Haṭhatattvakaumudī

The Haṭhatattvakaumudī is another large anthology on yoga with over two thousand verses. The text

is attributed to a Brahmin named Sundaradeva who lived in the Deccan sometime during the mid-

seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century, and who also wrote the Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā.329 The

Yogacintāmaṇi of Śivānanda, Yogacintāmaṇi p.120–22 = Śivayogapradīpikā 3.8–16, Yogacintāmaṇi p.115–

326 In the

16 = Śivayogapradīpikā 3.17–32. In the Yogacintāmaṇi of Godāvaramiśra, Yogacintāmaṇi folio 114 =

Śivayogapradīpikā 3.8–3.13c , Yogacintāmaṇi folio 113–114 = Śivayogapradīpikā 3.27–32. The citations by
Godāvaramiśra for whatever reason do not quote the full cakra and ādhāra sections of the Śivayogapradīpikā. I
am grateful to Jason BIRCH for alerting me to the citations of the Śivayogapradīpikā in Godāvaramiśra’s work.
327 On the dating of the Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha, see BOUY (1993, 90-91).
328 BOUY (1994, 90, n. 374) records the following citations: Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha p. 19.1–9 = Śivayogapradīpikā
1.1; Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha p. 22.2–9, pp. 22.10–25.3 = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.31-33, 37ab, 37c–51;
Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha pp. 34.12–35.1, 35.3–5 = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.21, 2.32, 2.24; Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha p. 35.11–14
= Śivayogapradīpikā 2.46; Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha p. 38.12–15 = Śivayogapradīpikā 3.33.
329 On the dating of the Haṭhatattvakaumudī and the Haṭhasaṅketacandrikā see Birch (2013, 162–164).

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Haṭhatattvakaumudī is similar to the Yogacintāmaṇi, Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha, and other large

compendiums of the era in that it quotes a wide range of yogic and other religious texts. The

Haṭhatattvakaumudī includes teachings on the sixteen mental supports (ādhāra) which strongly

parallel the system found in the Śivayogapradīpikā and Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati however the verses

are not identical.330

4.9.4 The Yogasārasaṅgraha

The Yogasārasaṅgraha is another late-medieval yoga anthology. BIRCH (2020, 464, n. 43) assigns an

estimated date of the eighteenth century for the Yogasārasaṅgraha, as the text appears to postdate and

show the influence of Śrinivāsa's Haṭharatnāvalī (c. 17th century). The Yogasārasaṅgraha quotes the

Śivayogapradīpikā several times. In some of these occurrences, the redactor of the Yogasārasaṅgraha

provides the quote with the attribution śivayoge (i.e. in the Śivayoga).331 This supports the claim that

the Śivayogapradīpikā is also known by the abbreviated name Śivayoga, as we see in other texts like the

Yogacintāmaṇi. At the same time, there are other occurrences of quoted verses in the Yogasārasaṅgraha

with the attribution śivayoge which are not found in the Śivayogapradīpikā which may challenge this

view,332 however, it is possible they are referring to a different text whose title begins with Śivayoga°.

Moreover, there is set of verses describing the yogic hermitage (maṭha) which are found in the

Śivayogapradīpikā but that the redactor of the Yogasārasaṅgraha cites as haṭhayoge (i.e. in the

Haṭhayoga° or in Haṭhayoga).333 It is thus possible that in the Yogasārasaṅgraha the locative

compounds śivayoge and haṭhayoge—which prefigure these quoted verses—do not always refer to titles

330 Haṭhatattvakaumudī 24.8–22 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.17–32.

331 Yogasārasaṅgraha p.29 = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.8, Yogasārasaṅgraha p.53 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 1.7,
Yogasārasaṅgraha p.60 = Śivayogapradīpikā 5.3.
332 Yogasārasaṅgraha pp. 11, 42, 80.
333 Yogasārasaṅgraha p. 10 = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.15–2.18, attributed to Haṭhayoga.

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of texts, but rather to systems of yoga (i.e. this verse is found in Śivayoga, or in Haṭhayoga). Another

verse in the Yogasārasaṅgraha appears to be a quote from the Śivayogapradīpikā however it is attributed

to the Nandikeśvaratārāvalī.334 Perhaps the Nandikeśvaratārāvalī is borrowing from the

Śivayogapradīpikā, or vice versa? There appears to be a confusion of south-Indian titles ending with

°tārāvalī that are attributed to a Nandikeśvara.335

4.9.5 The Yogatārāvalivyākhyā

The Yogatārāvalivyākhyā (also known as the Rājatarala) of Rāmasvāmipaṇḍita, a commentary on the

Yogatārāvali, quotes directly from the Śivayogapradīpikā a total of six times and cites the text by name

(śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ).336 The commentator Rāmasvāmipaṇḍita most likely lived near Srisailam in

Andhra Pradesh as evinced by his invocatory verses and conclusory colophon.337 The Śivayogapradīpikā

is a clear source for his knowledge of the four yogas and especially the teachings of Rājayoga—

including the tripartite division of Rājayoga into Śāṅkhya, Tāraka, and Amanaska.

334 Yogasārasaṅgraha p.60 = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.11, attributed to the Nandikeśvaratārāvalī.

335 KAIVALYADHAMA (2005) lists a manuscript with the title Nandikeśvaratārāvalī (TSM 6388-D), located in
Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, consisting of 140 folios (very fragile; c. 1650 CE), and describes it as a text on Amanaska
Yoga. LARSON & BHATTACHARYA (2008, 574) note that verse 6 of the Yogatārāvalī is quoted in the
Yogacintāmaṇi of Śivānanda, but attributed to the Nandikeśvaratārāvalī. Indeed, BIRCH (2011, 528, n.19) notes
that the Yogatārāvalī (c. 14th century) is attributed variously across the different manuscript colophons, one of
which names the author as Nandīśvara (Nandikeśvara). There is also a manuscript listed in the New Catalogus
Catalogorum (vol. 34) entitled the Śivayogasārāvalī and attributed to Nandikeśvara (Deo 253). There thus seems
to be a connection between these texts, but further philological work remains.
336 Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.3v = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4ab, 1.9–1.10ab, Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.9v = Śivayogapradīpikā
2.32, Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.11v = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.41, Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.14r = Śivayogapradīpikā 5.26–
5.27ab, Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.31v = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.59, Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.46r = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.17.
Another set of verses describing the three bandhas refer indirectly to the Yogacūḍāmaṇī and the
Śivayogapradīpikā as its sources (Yogatārāvalivyākhyā f.21r).
337 See MAHADEVAN (2018, 67–68).

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4.9.6 The Śivatattvaratnākara

The Śivatattvaratnākara is a large compendium attributed to a king named Keḷadi Basavabhūpāla (also

known as Basavarāja, Basavāppa Nāyaka I) who reigned from 1696–1714 in Ikkeri, Karnataka. In the

seventh chapter of the Śivatattvaratnākara, in a section providing instructions on yoga for the king, a

large portion of the Śivayogapradīpikā is quoted.338 The Śivatattvaratnākara also at times provides

further details or interpretations of the verses, for example, supplying the mantras referred to in

Śivayogapradīpikā 1.5.339 The text thus provides an intriguing early modern example of the adapation of

yoga in a non-ascetic and courtly environment.

4.9.7 The Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya and Rājayogāmṛta

The Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya and the Rājayogāmṛta are two later texts on Rājayoga from south

India, both of which directly quote the Śivayogapradīpikā, though not by name.340 According to

BIRCH (2014, 413), the Rājayogāmṛta is based on and is nearly identical to the

Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya. Related is a text called the Rājayogasāra which also shares several verses

with the aforementioned two, and another known as the Rājayoga of Agastya. All four of these texts

have unpublished manuscripts in Tamil Nadu and “indicate a revival of Rājayoga in South India in

perhaps the eighteenth century or later” (BIRCH 2014, 413).341 The fact that this surge of early modern

338Śivatattvaratnākara 7.15.115–188 = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.19–31, 33–52, 5.1–5.17, 25–24 (order reversed), 26–43, 45,
48–50, 52. I am grateful to Somadeva VASUDEVA for first bringing the opening verses quoted by the
Śivatattvaratnākara to my attention.
339 See p. 170.

340 Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya 90–95a = Śivayogapradīpikā 5.14, 3.33, 3.5, 4.19, 5.43, 5.48. Rājayogāmṛta 2.50b—51
= Śivayogapradīpikā 5.14–15.
341 On the dating of these Rājayoga texts, BIRCH (2014, 414) writes: “All four of these South Indian texts on

Rājayoga appear to be late works, because, as far as I am aware, they have not been cited in other texts and are
conspicuously absent in compendiums such as the Yogacintāmaṇi Yogasārasaṅgraha, and Sundardeva’s
Haṭhatattvakaumudī. Unfortunately, none of the catalogs report a date of completion for any manuscript of
these Rājayoga texts.”

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Rājayoga textual production looked to the Śivayogapradīpikā as an authoritative source on the subject

is indicative of the text’s status in the minds of such authors, especially in, but not limited to south

India.

4.9.8 The Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati

Another text which is closely related and likely indebted to the Śivayogapradīpikā is the

Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati—one of the principle Sanskrit scriptures of the modern Nātha Sampradāya,

which is attributed, at least in name, to Gorakṣanātha. There has been some disagreement about the

dating of the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati in secondary scholarship. Because of the many shared

teachings featured between the two texts, the date of the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati is of great

importance for establishing the order of relations. WHITE (2003, 224) has dated the text to as early as

the twelfth century accepting its authorship by the historical Gorakṣanātha. BOUY (1994, 19) places the

text during the first half of the seventeenth century, c. 1600-1650 based on it being quoted by the

Gorakṣasiddhāntasaṃgraha, which he dates to the first half of the seventeenth century. More recently

MALLINSON has pushed back this date, arguing that “the composition of the

Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati in the early 18th century was the first textual legitimization of the Nāth

Sampradāya” (2011b, 18). The Saubhāgyalakṣmyupaniṣad, which postdates the Haṭhapradīpikā (c. 15th

century) borrows the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati's verses on the nine cakras.342 The text is also quoted

by Brahmānanda in his Haṭhapradīpikājyotsnā (c. 1830). MALLINSON believes that a terminus ad quem

of the first half of the eighteenth century is likely for the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, slightly earlier than

its oldest known manuscripts, at a time when the Nātha Sampradāya was becoming institutionalized

and a more systematic and sectarian religious text was needed.343 If we accept the logic of this dating,

342 Saubhāgyalakṣmyupaniṣad 3.1–9 = Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.1–9 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.8–16.

343 Personal communication, James MALLINSON. December 04, 2020. See MALLINSON (2011b).

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then the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati most certainly postdates the Śivayogapradīpikā—perhaps by as

much as three centuries.

As BIRCH (2013, 147–48) first observed in his thesis, there are numerous parallel verses shared

between these two texts, including: teachings on the nine cakras,344 sixteen ādhāras,345 three lakṣyas and

five vyomans,346 a twelve-year sequence of siddhis,347 and the Rājayoga interiorization of

Aṣṭāṅgayoga.348 As discussed above, the set of five metaphysical yogic teachings—on cakras, ādhāras,

lakṣyas, and vyomans—is a much older tantric Śaiva paradigm, however, the schema of nine cakras and

sixteen ādhāras as found in both the Śivayogapradīpikā and Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati is more specific

and the direct source of these teachings are not entirely clear. As previously mentioned, the fourteenth-

century Śārṅgadharapaddhati also describes a system of nine cakras (navacakra) which is nearly

identical to the sequence found in both the Śivayogapradīpikā and the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, and

which was attributed to Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana (i.e. Vyāsa) and others. It is significant to note that in the

Śivayogapradīpikā’s presentation of the nine cakras, Kāmarūpa pīṭha is not included as a description of

the first brahmacakra—whereas for both the Śārṅgadharapaddhati and the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati

it is. This may suggest that the Śārṅgadharapaddhati was the source for the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati’s

teachings on the navacakras, and not the Śivayogapradīpikā, however as discussed above, the

Śārṅgadharapaddhati’s verses on yoga are largely a compilation and so it is likely drawing from an

earlier source which is currently unknown. It is possible that both the Śivayogapradīpikā and the

Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati were drawing their knowledge of the navacakras from this other source.

344 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.1–9 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.8–16.

345 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.10–25 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.17–32.

346 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.26–31 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 4.36–50.

347 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 5.34–41 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.51–57.

348 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.32–39 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 4.4–11.

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 Likewise, as discussed earlier in this chapter, the system of sixteen ādhāras found in both the

Śivayogapradīpikā and the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati (with some variations) is also detailed in the so-

called Nityanāthapaddhati as quoted in the Yogataraṅgiṇī—which may in fact be another recension of

the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati. When verses from these three texts are read together their commonality

is obvious—the direction of influence however is not. The first thing one observes is that the

Śivayogapradīpikā is composed in verse, while this section of the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati and

Nityanāthapaddhati is written in non-metrical prose.349 For example:

atha te ṣoḍaśādhārān kathayāmi viśeṣataḥ |

tejo dhyānaṃ padāṅguṣṭhe kuryād dṛṣṭiḥ sthirā bhavet || Śivayogapradīpikā 3.17

Now I will describe to you the sixteen mental supports (ādhāra) in all their detail. [First]
visualize a light on the big toe (padāṅguṣṭha). This makes the vision steady.

atha ṣoḍaśādhārāḥ kathyante | tatra prathamaḥ pādāṅguṣṭhādhāraḥ | tatrāgratas tejomayam

dhyāyet | dṛṣṭiḥ sthirā bhavati || Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.10

Now we will describe the sixteen ādhāras. The first is the ādhāra of the big toe
(pādāṅguṣṭha). There at the tip [of the toe] one should visualize a light. This makes the
vision steady.

tatra prathamaṃ pādāṅguṣṭhādhāraṃ tatra tejo dhyāyet | dṛṣṭiḥ sthirā bhavati |

Nityanāthapaddhati

The first is the ādhāra of the big toe (pādāṅguṣṭha). There one should visualize a light. This
makes the vision steady.

One can see that the language of the two Paddhati texts is very close, though the descriptions in the

Nityanāthapaddhati are considerably shorter. At other times, it is clear that changes have been made to

the texts, in one direction or another. For example:

meḍhrādhāre daṇḍasaṃkocanena brahmagranthīṃs trīn samutpāṭya paścāt |

cetovāyvor brahmanāḍyāṃ praveśād bindustambhaḥ saṃbhavaty eva siddham ||
Śivayogapradīpikā 3.20

349 This is a literary feature of the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, which utilizes a combination of both prose and

verse—itself highly unusual for the genre of premodern Yogaśāstras, and is suggestive of its later dating.

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 At the penis support (meḍhrādhāra), having severed the three knots of Brahmā
(brahmagranthī) by contracting the penis, as a result of the mind and breath entering the
brahmanāḍī (i.e. suṣumṇā)—the arresting of bindu is surely accomplished.

caturtho meḍhrādhāraḥ | liṅgasaṅkocanena brahmagranthitrayaṃ bhitvā bhramaraguhāyāṃ

viśramya tata ūrdhvamukhe bindustambhanaṃ bhavati | eṣā varjolī prasiddhā ||
Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.13

The fourth is the penis support (meḍhrādhāra). Having severed the three knots of Brahmā
(brahmagranthī) by contracting the penis, resting in the “cave of the bees” (bhramaraguhā),
then when drawn upwards the bindu is stabilized. This is celebrated as vajrolī.

caturthaṃ meḍhrādhāraṃ | tasya saṅkocam abhyaset | paścimamārgeṇa

vajragarbhākhyanāḍyāṃ praviṣṭaḥ pavano brahmagranthitrayaṃ bhitvā bhramaraguhāyāṃ
viśrānta ūrdhvataḥ śaṅkhabinduṃ staṃbhayati || Nityanāthapaddhati

The fourth is the penis support (meḍhrādhāra). One should practice its contraction. When
the breath enters the nāḍī known as the vajragarbha by means of the “western
path” (paścimamārga), having severed the three knots of Brahmā (brahmagranthī), resting in
the “cave of the bees” (bhramaraguhā), then the bindu of the conch (i.e. penis?) is stabilized
by drawing it upwards.

Both the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati and Nityanāthapaddhati instruct the yogin to contract the penis

and let it rest in the “cave of the bees” (bhramaraguhā). The Nityanāthapaddhati says to bring the

breath into the “nāḍī known as the vajragarbha by means of the ‘western path’ (paścimamārga)” which

may be a reference to the Kaula paścimāmnāya school—a tradition renowned for its sexually

transgressive tantric practices. Indeed the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati says that this technique is

celebrated as vajrolī, a yogic practice which involves the male (or female) yogin extracting and drawing

upwards seminal fluid through the generative organ.350 It is notable that the author of the

Śivayogapradīpikā did not include these more transgressive teachings in its description of the penis

support (meḍhrādhāra). Rather than the penis resting in the “bee cave” bhramaraguhā) or the breath

entering the vajragarbha, the breath and mind is said to enter the brahmanāḍī, which is likely a

reference to the suṣumṇā, the central channel.

350 For a detailed study of vajrolī, see MALLINSON (2018).

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 How we can we ascertain the direction of influence here? Was the Śivayogapradīpikā borrowing

from the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati or Nityanāthapaddhati, or vice versa? Given the evidence for

dating the texts as discussed above, it is not possible that the Śivayogapradīpikā was borrowing from

the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, and very unlikely that it was borrowing from the so-called

Nityanāthapaddhati. While it remains possible that there was another intermediary text, or an earlier

source text which was perhaps also drawn upon in the Śārṅgadharapaddhati (c. 1363)—as discussed

above—it is very possible that the Śivayogapradīpikā was the source text for the more well-known

Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati and the Nityanāthapaddhati as well. The distinct twelve-year sequence of

siddhis,351 and the verses which describe the interiorization of Aṣṭāṅgayoga,352 appear to be unique to

the Śivayogapradīpikā and Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati alone, as I have not found parallels elsewhere. I

believe the Śivayogapradīpikā is the original source text for these passages.

The most curious and perhaps telling connection between these two texts, however, is the

penultimate verse of the Śivayogapradīpikā—where Cennasadāśivayogin in fact describes his text as a

“siddhasiddhāntapaddhati”:

yogaśāstrarahasyārthā siddhasiddhāntapaddhatiḥ |
saṃkṣepataḥ kṛtā bodhyā śivayogapradīpikā || Śivayogapradīpikā 5.58

The manual to the doctrines of the Siddhas, which [contains] the hidden meaning of the
Yogaśāstras, has been made concisely and is to be known as the Lamp on Śivayoga.

Perhaps this is merely coincidence—Cennasadāśivayogin was in a general way, describing the

Śivayogapradīpikā as a manual (paddhati) on the doctrines (siddhānta) of the yogic adepts (siddha).

However, given the immense textual parallels between these two works, and the considerably later date

351 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 5.34–41 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 3.51–57.

352 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.32–39 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 4.4–11.

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of composition of the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, it is possible that the Nāthas appropriated not only

the shared verses from the Śivayogapradīpikā, but the very title for their scripture.

4.9.9 The Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad and Rājayogabhāṣya

The Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad is part of the later textual corpus often known as the “Yoga

Upaniṣads,” most of which were written in south India and which fused together earlier texts on

Haṭha and Rājayoga together with the teachings of Vedānta. BOUY (1994, 44) dates the

Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad to the first half of the eighteenth century. It is closely related to the

Advayatārakopaniṣad, both of which teach Rājayoga with Tāraka and Amanaska varieties. According

to BIRCH (2013, 158), “The eighteenth-century south-Indian commentator, Upaniṣadbrahmayogin,

who wrote commentaries on both these Upaniṣads, understood their system of yoga to be Rājayoga.

However, the term rājayoga is absent in both Upaniṣads, and it is quite possible that

Upaniṣadbrahmayogin was aware of the classification of Tāraka and Amanaska as two types of

Rājayoga in earlier texts such as the Amanaska's south-Indian recension and the Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā.”

The Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad takes the form of a dialogue between the sage Yājñavalkya and

the Lord Nārāyaṇa, the latter who provides teachings on yoga. The text is divided into five sections and

is written mainly in non-metrical prose Sanskrit, however, with some verses being exceedingly concise.

It is highly Vedāntic in nature, promoting a gnoseological path and system of Rājayoga. Like the

Śivayogapradīpikā it structures its teachings within an eightfold (aṣṭāṅga) system, however it provides

only very terse descriptions of its auxiliaries. In the Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad, Tārakayoga is highly

simlilar to that taught in the fourth paṭala of the Śivayogapradīpikā, especially the teachings on the

three lakṣyas and five vyomans.353 The Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad states that a yogin should know the

353 Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad 1.2.6–14 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 4.37–50.

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nine cakras, six ādhāras, three lakṣyas, and five vyomans,354 which seems to be an updated version of the

verse found in Vivekamārtaṇḍa 13—where we now have nine instead of six cakras. A commentary on

the Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad titled the Rājayogabhāṣya, which is ascribed to an author named

Śaṅkara, provides more details and at times also reveals further parallels with the Śivayogapradīpikā,

including a unique list of negative obstacles the yogin is said to transcend upon liberation.355

4.9.10 The Pañcaratnavyākhyā

An unpublished Vīraśaiva compendium entitled the Pañcaratnavyākhyā356 quotes the

Śivayogapradīpikā by name eight times, including its verses defining the practitioners of the four

yogas.357 It quotes a single verse, Śivayogapradīpikā 4.31 three different times, for its phrase “from gnosis

alone comes liberation” (jñānād eva mokṣa ity). The Pañcaratnavyākhyā also quotes many other texts

including the Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, Śaiva Āgamas, and several texts on yoga including the Bhagavadgītā,

Yogajāgama, Yogabīja, Siddhāntaśekhara, Tejobindopaniṣad, Dhyānabindūpaniṣad, and

Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad, among many others. Because the redactor of the Pañcaratnavyākhyā

quotes texts within the corpus of late south-Indian Yoga Upaniṣads, it is unlikely that this text was

composed before the middle of the eighteenth century.

354Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad 4.5: navacakraṃ ṣaḍādhāraṃ trilakṣyaṃ vyomapañcakaṃ | samyag etan na jānāti

sa yogī nāmato bhavet ||.
355 Rājayogabhāṣya 5.9 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 5.53. I am grateful to Jason BIRCH for bringing this textual parallel to

my attention.
356 IFP transcript T.00658 copied from ms. GOML D.5087 = Muktabodha M.00603. According to Dr. Anirban

DASH and the Muktabodha staff this manuscript is divided into four texts which all refer to themselves as the
Pañcaratnavyākhyā—the Tantrasāraprakāśikā (pp. 1–21), Tārakadīpikā (pp. 22–28), Śivatattvaprakāśikā (pp.
29–36), and Śrutyarthaprakāśikā (pp. 37–66).
357 Pañcaratnavyākhyāp. 19 = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.5–8, 5.14, Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 20 = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.31,
Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 26–27 = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.35cd, Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 28 = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.31,
Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 51 = Śivayogapradīpikā 2.29, 2.32, Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 58 = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.30,
Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 58 = Śivayogapradīpikā 5.9, Pañcaratnavyākhyā p. 61 = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.31.

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4.9.11 The Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi

The Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi is another Vīraśaiva compendium which draws together Vedāntic,

Āgamic, Purāṇic, and yogic materials, attributed in its colophons to a figure named the

“cruel” (niṣṭhūra) Śrīmat Añjaṇācārya.358 The author quotes numerous texts including the Vīraśaiva

Āgamas, the Anubhavasūtra of Māyideva, the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi, and the

Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad. Like the Pañcaratnavyākhyā, its terminus a quo is thus likely the middle

of the eighteenth century. The Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi quotes extensively from the

Śivayogapradīpikā and names it as such.359 In three instances there is a verse attributed to the

Śivayogapradīpikā which is not found in our text, twice citing a single verse,360 and a third occurrence

citing two more unknown verses.361 This is similar to the situation mentioned above with the

Kaivalyasāra. Because the redactor of the Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi clearly had access to a version

of the text similar to our own, as evidenced by the extensive direct citations, it seems probable that the

redactor may have also had access to an extended version of the text with these three additional verses—

and this may have been the version of the Śivayogapradīpikā known to Tōṇṭadārya, the sixteenth-

century author of the Kaivalyasāra. Another section of the Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi quotes the

introductory verses of the Śivayogapradīpikā on the classification of the four yogas and the fivefold

358 Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi:
iti śrīvedavedāntaśivāgamasmṛtipurāṇetihāsagītāśāstrapurātanoktisārabhūta-
vīramāheśvarācārasāroddhāre śivācārakathane niṣṭhūraśrīmannaṃjaṇācāryaviracite
śrīmadvedāṃtasāravīraśaivaciṃtāmaṇau uttarakhaṃḍe vīramāheśvarānteṣṭikakramo
nāmaikaviṃśatiprakaraṇaṃ sampūrṇam ||.
359 Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 7.189, 7.190–192, 7.193–195, 7.196, 7.197–202, 7.203 = Śivayogapradīpikā 4.32,
4.34–36, 5.1–3, 5.5, 5.7–12, 5.17.
360 Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi
15.25, 15.216: śivayogapradīpikāyām- āmastakaṃ pādatalāvasānam
antarbahiścarmapaṭāvanaddham | tatkṛtsnam evāmṛtarūpam āhuścidrūpam ātmānam amartyarūpam ||.
361 Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi16.55–56: śivayogapradīpikāyām- jñānākāraṃ jñeyaṃ kṣāṃtidṛśā prāpya
cinmayaṃ sarvam | antaryāge vidvān havir iti juhuyāt tadātmāgnau || itthaṃ sakalavikalpān pratibuddho
bhāvanāsamīreṇa | ātmajyotiṣi dīpte juhvan jyotirmayo bhavatīti ||.

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Śivayoga, however, attributes the verses to the Yogajāgama.362 The manuscript of the Yogajāgama I have

been able to consult does not contain these verses363 and, as far as I can tell, they are all original to the

Śivayogapradīpikā. Although the Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi cites the Yogajāgama, at the end of this

section of parallel verses with the Śivayogapradīpikā, we find the following paragraph:

This yoga is taught in small measures in the Saṃhitās of the Purāṇas such as the
Sūtasaṃhitā, etc., in the yoga sections (pāda) of the Śaivāgamas, and is to be seen in detail in
the Śivayogapradīpikā. The yoga which is to be practiced among all Vīraśaivas, it is not
written [completely] out of fear of making [this] text too long.364

4.10 Dating the Śivayogapradīpikā

With the analysis above we are now in a more solid position to assess the dating of the

Śivayogapradīpikā. KALABURGI et al. (1976) and KOPPAL (1988) both date the Śivayogapradīpikā to the

fifteenth-century based on the text’s genealogical relationship to the Telugu Śivayogasāramu and the

Kannada Paramārthaprakāśika. This date is also suggested by BOUY (1994, 119) and SANDERSON (2014,

85). Important contributions to the dating of the Śivayogapradīpikā were advanced by BIRCH (2013) in

his doctoral thesis on the Amanaska. At the time, BIRCH (2013, 146) suggested that the terminus a quo

for the Śivayogapradīpikā is unknown, “though it us unlikely to predate the fifteenth-century

Haṭhapradīpikā, because there are no significant parallels between these two texts. Seeing that both

works were affiliated with Śaivism and teach Haṭhayoga, one would expect the anthological

Haṭhapradīpikā to have borrowed from the Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā, had the latter been the earlier text.”

362Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.28 ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4 , Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.29ab ≈

Śivayogapradīpikā 1.9ab, Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.29cd–30ab ≈ Śivayogapradīpikā 1.5,
Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.30cd–31ab = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.6, Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.31cd–
32ab = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.7, Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.32cd–33ab = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.8,
Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi 12.33 = Śivayogapradīpikā 1.15.
363 Yogajāgama IFP/EFEO transcript T.0024 = Muktabodha M.00250.
364 Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi12.34: ity atra yogo di"nmātreṇoktaḥ sūtasaṃhitādipurāṇasaṃhitāsu
śaivāgamayogapādeṣu ca śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ ca vistarato draṣṭavyaḥ sarveṣāṃ vīraśaivānāṃ yogaḥ kartavyaḥ
atra granthavistarabhayān na likhyate ||.

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BIRCH also importantly notes that the Śivayogapradīpikā’s verses on Tārakayoga may be telling. He

writes, “As far as I am aware, Tārakayoga is not found in a yoga text prior to the sixteenth century,

which somewhat confirms that the Śivayoga[pra]dīpikā is unlikely to predate the

Haṭhapradīpikā” (2013, 146). As we’ve seen in Chapter 2, the Haṭhapradīpikā was an immensely

influential text, the so-called locus classicus for medieval Haṭhayoga. Svātmārāma’s text has been shown

by BOUY (1994) and MALLINSON (2014) to be largely a compilation of borrowings and adaptations

from a wide range of earlier Sanskrit texts. As we have also seen, there is good reason to believe that

Svātmārāma may have redacted the text in Andhra Pradesh, within the vicinities of, if not directly at,

Srisailam. MALLINSON has dated the Haṭhapradīpikā to c. 1400 based on its earliest surviving

manuscripts sources and citations.365 As a Śaiva-inflected Siddha text on Haṭha and Rājayoga, codified

in Andhra, if the Śivayogapradīpikā was in fact composed prior to the Haṭhapradīpikā, one would

expect Svātmārāma to borrow from it—as he does so freely from other texts which he had access to in

his collection. In my analysis, the two texts do not show evidence of direct intertextual borrowing,

beyond the general topics of the fourfold yogas and related themes. BIRCH’s suspicions were correct, I

believe, on this front. It is quite possible however, and in fact likely, that both Pradīpikās were

composed within a very short time of one another, and thus neither had the “shelf life” of impact to

become reflected in the writing of either authors—Svātmārāma or Cennasadāśivayogin.

Based on the philological analysis above, I suggest that a possible terminus a quo for the text is

the Kriyāsāra (c. 1400–1450) which Cennasadāśivayogin appears to borrow a verse from.366 Birch had

365 MALLINSON notes that BOUY (1994) infers an upper limit for the Haṭhapradīpikā from its earliest known

citation, a 1524 manuscript of the Saṃsārataraṇi of Mummaḍideva Vidvadācārya. The earliest extant manuscript
of the Haṭhapradīpikā is from the Sampūrṇānanda Library, Ms. No. 30109, which is dated to Saṃvat 1553, or
1496 CE; a digital copy is currently held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre of the Arts, New Delhi.
Interestingly, this text contains only the first three of the four chapters (upadeśa) typically presented in the
Haṭhapradīpikā. Personal communication, James MALLINSON, May 15, 2020.
366 See pp. 139–140.

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previously identified a terminus ad quem for the Śivayogapradīpikā as the Yogacintāmaṇi of

Godāvaramiśra (c. 16th century) which cites the Śivayogapradīpikā.367 These citations are important,

and along with the many texts we will analyze below attest to the continued influence and reception of

the Śivayogapradīpikā beyond the life of its author. However, as we have seen, it is the vernacular works

that are most closely connected with the life and date of our author, and I believe we can confidently

accept the Telugu Śivayogasāramu (c. early 15th century) as the terminus ad quem. I propose that the

likely date of composition for the Śivayogapradīpikā of Cennasadāśivayogin is circa 1400–1450—likely

during the early first-half of the fifteenth century.

4.11 The Śivayogapradīpikā in Modernity

The reception history of the Śivayogapradīpikā in modern terms is the result of its history of printed

Sanskrit editions and a lone English translation of the text. There are at least two printed editions of

the Śivayogapradīpikā which were published in Devanāgarī script,368 and another in Kannada. The first

Devanāgarī edition was published by Sri Vidya Press (SVed) under the title Śivayogadīpikā and was

edited by A. Krishnaswami AIYAR sometime between 1884–1903.369 A personal copy of this edition

belonging to the famous co-founder and first president of the Theosophists, Colonel Henry Steel

367 I’m grateful to Jason BIRCH for sharing with me the Godāvararamiśra manuscript and identifying the

Śivayogapradīpikā verses. In his dissertation BIRCH (2013, 146) had previously identified the Yogacintāmaṇi of
Śivānanda (c. 17th century) as the terminus ad quem of the Śivayogapradīpikā, noting (2013, 146, n.620) that he
had not yet confirmed the citations from Godāvararamiśra, which are mentioned by P.K. GODE (1953, 472–73).
However, we have since made this confirmation by consulting the manuscript directly.
368 I have only been able to locate two of the Devanāgarī printed editions. A third is listed in the New Catalogus
Catalogorum (Vol. 34, 153) as being published by Vidyāvinodinī Press, Tanjore in 1915.
369 The exact date of SV
ed is unknown. In his preface to the edition, AIYAR states that he found the manuscripts
for the Śivayogapradīpikā in the year 1884. The English translation of the Śivayogapradīpikā published in the
Brahmavādin journal which spanned from 1903–04 based its translation on this edition, and so it must have
been published before.

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Olcott (1832–1907), is held in the archive of the Adyar Library and Research Centre in Madras—which

was in fact founded by Olcott in 1886 (see Figure 7).370

Figure 7: Title Page of the Sri Vidya Press Edition

Belonging to Col. H. S. Olcott.

The next printed edition in Devanāgarī was published by Ānandāśrama in Pune in 1907 and edited by

ĀPTE (Ped). A second edition by Ānandāśrama was printed in 1978 which unfortunately introduced

further errors into the text. I have thus utilized the first edition as Ped in the critical edition. Ped is

clearly based on SVed though ĀPTE and his team of editors appear to have integrated other manuscript

370 My thanks to Jason BIRCH and Vishwanath Gupta for kindly providing me with a scan.

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witnesses. Unfortunately they do not mention any manuscripts specifically, and the edition provides

no variants. Because of the success of Ānandāśrama and their Sanskrit publications series, Ped has

become the primary printed edition for modern scholars. As discussed in the introduction, there are,

however, extensive textual problems with this edition, which demand for a new critical edition.

Another printed edition of the Śivayogapradīpikā in Kannada script, which also includes the

commentary of the Vīraśaiva scholar Basavārādhya, was published in Dhāravāḍa by the Karnāṭaka

Viśvavidyālaya, and was edited by KALABURGI in 1976 (Ked). This edition has proven much more

reliable and is clearly based on a wider range of manuscripts witnesses.

The first and only existing translation of the Śivayogapradīpikā into English was published by the

Madras-based Vedānta journal, the Brahmavādin, spread across two volumes and spanning two years

from 1903-04.371 It is unclear who the translator was, as the work remains anonymous. However,

Alasinga Perumal (1865–1909), the founder of the Brahmavādin, and a contemporary and advocate of

Swami Vivekānanda, was the editor of the journal at the time. The Brahmavādin translation gives no

information on manuscripts or editions, however, judging from the text and the timeline it seems likely

to have been based on the Sri Vidya Press edition (SVed). In addition to the translation, a lengthy

theological commentary is provided in the footnotes of the journal. While this translation has proved

useful at times as a basis for comparison, its language is highly outdated, misleading, and filled with

interpolations. At times the bias of the translator is apparent, for example when translating the

important term vīraśaiva as “bigoted and staunch devotee of Śiva” (BRAHMAVĀDIN 1904, 691) in

Śivayogapradīpikā 3.63—in what is, indeed, a key verse in the text.

371 The Brahmavādin was published from September 1895 to April 1914 (Volumes 1–19) by the Brahmavādin
Press in Madras. The Brahmavādin was eventually succeeded by the Vedanta Kesari (1914–present) which is run
by the Ramakrishna Mission in Madras (i.e. Chennai). See https://chennaimath.org/the-vedanta-kesari.
Accessed March 10, 2023. I wish to thank Keith CANTÚ for first bringing my attention to the Brahmavādin
translation of the Śivayogapradīpikā. Personal correspondence, December 14, 2015.

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 Nonetheless, the Brahmavādin translation enabled the Śivayogapradīpikā to enter into the

awareness and lexicon of English-language readers in the spritual-intelligentsia movements of

twentieth-century United States and Europe—what scholars of religion refer to as the occult or

western esotericism.372 Verses from the Brahmavādin translation, including Śivayogapradīpikā 3.4, 5.1,

and 5.13 may be found quoted in the International Journal of the Tantrik Order (BERNARD 1906, 4-5,

169), a publication edited by Dr. Pierre Arnold BERNARD (1875–1955)—also known as the

“Omnipotent Oom”—who is said to have created the first “Tantrik order in America” (URBAN 2006,

106). Kenneth GRANT (1924–2011), an English author, magician, and student of renowned occultist

Aleister Crowley, in his book Cults of the Shadow (GRANT 1975), quotes the same Brahmavādin

translation of Śivayogapradīpikā 3.4 (perhaps taking it from the International Journal of the Tantrik

Order) for his discussion of the cakras as flowers in relation to female sexuality:

Worship my dear friend, the auspicious emblem of Siva always within thine own heart with
various kinds of flowers made of conditioned and unconditioned concepts—flowers that
are the multiform and beautifully coloured lotuses consisting of nerve centres such as,
Mūladhāra or the basic plexus, as also those of jasmines that shine brilliantly in the middle
of them [sic].373

The English spiritual author Raphael Hurst (1898–1981), better known by his pen name Paul

BRUNTON,374 in one of his notebooks titled The Peace Within You (BRUNTON 1988, 80), quotes

Śivayogapradīpikā 5.26–28 for its descriptions of the interiorized worship of Śiva as consciousness

(cicchivapūjā)—or what the Brahmavādin translator calls “the method of worshipping Shiva who is

372 See CANTÚ (2021). According to CANTÚ, it is possible that the nineteenth century Śaiva yogin from Madras,

Śrī Sabhāpati Svāmī, was aware of the Śivayogapradīpikā and drew upon it among many other sources for his
synthesis he calls Śivarājayoga.
373 Translation in BRAHMAVĀDIN (1904, 620), quoted in BERNARD (1906, 4); GRANT (1975, 69). I am grateful to

Jackson Stephenson for bringing the GRANT citation to my attention. Personal correspondence, October 27,
2015.
374 Paul BRUNTON is best known for his book A Search in Secret India (1934). His notebooks were published
posthumously following the author’s death in 1981.

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made of Intelligence.” Despite these few literary references within western esoteric circles, however, the

Śivayogapradīpikā has largely gone unnoticed within the transnational yoga boom of the twentieth and

twenty-first centuries.

In contemporary India, the situation appears largely the same. However, in specific Vīraśaiva

communities it is possible that the Śivayogapradīpikā may still have a more elevated role. According to

KOPPAL (1988, 56), traditionally Vīraśaivas accept the Śivayogapradīpikā “as an authoritative work” on

Śivayoga. She states that the Vīraśaiva guru “blesses” their disciple “with a copy of this work at the time

of initiation” along with the Śūnyasaṃpādane of Prabhudeva, the Karanahāsige of Cennabasavaṇṇa

and the vacanas of Basavaṇṇa. Unfortunately, I have been unable to verify this claim. The Vīraśaivas I

was able to speak with at maṭhas and religious institutions in south India had not heard of the

Śivayogapradīpikā.375

375 My fieldwork among contemporary Vīraśaiva communities was admittedly very limited, as this was not the

focus of my study. More work is needed to assess the role of the text among Vīraśaivas today.

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5. The Ritualization of Śivayoga: The Four Yogas and Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Śivapūjā

5.1 Preliminary Remarks

This chapter offers a detailed analysis of the doctrine and praxis of the Śivayogapradīpikā, and considers

the strategies of production of its author, Cennasadāśivayogin. Understanding this text as part of a

larger discursive network of Yogaśāstras (as shown in the previous chapter), attention will be given to

the parallels, borrowings, and key differences between the Śivayogapradīpikā and other relevant texts

on yoga and Śaivism. Especially in regards to the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section of the text, comparisons will be

drawn with the Pātañjalayogaśāstra—the locus classicus for the Aṣṭāṅgayoga schema. Throughout this

analysis, we will observe the various theological and literary tactics employed by the author in his

attempt to synthesize and “ritualize” the various systems of yoga being taught—under the banner of

Śivayoga. I argue that in codifying the Śivayogapradīpikā, Cennasadāśivayogin sought to reconcile the

various systems of yoga on the horizon in fifteenth-century south India—in particular the fourfold

division of Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga—together within a unified framework of Śaiva ritual

worship (pūjā) and devotion (bhakti). While it has been argued that other medieval Yogaśāstras which

teach the methods of Haṭhayoga largely eschew specific sectarian markers, ritual, or religious affiliation

in favor of a certain type of yogic universalism, I contend that the Śivayogapradīpikā represents an

intentionally Śaiva, devotional, and ritualized approach to the theory and praxis of yoga—framed as

Śivayoga. I suggest that for Cennasadāśivayogin, Śivayoga is both the soteriological goal of this system

(i.e. union with Śiva), and it is also a special orientation by which all yogas can be cultivated. It is the

distinctly ritual and devotional orientation of this yoga, produced within a Vīraśaiva bhakti context,

that makes the teachings of the Śivayogapradīpikā most unique—and indeed what differentiates

Śivayoga from other well-known systems of yoga.

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5.2 Structure of the Text

The Śivayogapradīpikā is comprised of 288 Sanskrit ślokas (verses), spread across five paṭalas (chapters).

The verses are written in Sanskrit meter, most commonly the anuṣṭubh, or classical “śloka,” but others

as well including vasantatilakā (e.g. ŚYP 2.6), upajāti or indravajrā (e.g. ŚYP 2.10), śārdūlavikrīḍita

(e.g. ŚYP 3.49), and even sragdharā (e.g. ŚYP 3.50)—one of the longest meters in Sanskrit literature.

The style of written Sanskrit is quite similar to other Yogaśāstras of the time, especially the

Haṭhapradīpikā and Śivasaṃhitā.376 Unlike the Haṭhapradīpikā, however, in which the majority of its

verses are borrowed from earlier yoga texts, the Śivayogapradīpikā’s verses appear to be mostly original

to its author, Cennasadāśivayogin. That is not to say that our author does not quote from earlier texts,

or that he does not borrow ideas and practices from earlier traditions (to the extent possible, we will

acknowledge these texts and sources throughout this study), as is the common Sanskrit literary

convention of the time; but unlike the Haṭhapradīpikā, which is largely a compilation, the

Śivayogapradīpikā is an independent work and the vast majority of its verses appear to be original.

The bulk of the text features prescriptive (and proscriptive) teachings on the various systems,

ideas, and practices of yoga. By prescriptive I mean that the author is declaring what certain yogic

practices or behaviors should be like; how a Śivayogin should cultivate a yogic ritual, in an idealized and

literary fashion. He is not necessarily describing how yogins actually are behaving or practicing (in a

descriptive historical sense)—though yogins very well may have been doing exactly the types of

methods prescribed, in the very idealized manner our author is prescribing. The prescriptive nature of

the text, like other medieval Yogaśāstras, is primarily indicated by the common use in Sanskrit of verbs

in the optative mode. One should worship (pūjayet), one should practice (samācaret), one should abide

376 For a detailed study and analysis of the Sanskrit meters of the Haṭhapradīpikā, see MORGAN (2011).

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(āśrayet), and so on, which of course is grounded in an understanding of the author’s orthopraxy—the

notion that there is indeed a proper and true way to practice.

The five paṭalas of the text are structured in a logical and progressive manner, though there are

some inconsistencies we shall pay attention to. After an introduction to the text and the various

systems of yoga, we are presented with a Śaiva metaphysics and cosmogony of the universe to extol the

greatness of Śiva’s Reality (śivatattva). As the many teachings are presented, we vacillate between

external and internal methods, the latter ultimately being praised as more subtle and advantageous for

the Śivayogin. The text builds from external meditative rituals to internal ones, with Aṣṭāṅgayoga itself

being taught as a means of internal Śivapūjā. This Aṣṭāṅgayoga is then further divided into external

and internal auxiliaries (aṅga), culminating in a tripartite Rājayoga—comprised of the progressive

stages of Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, and finally Amanaska, the supra-cognitive “no-mind” state of samādhi. The

following table is a brief overview of the Śivayogapradīpikā and its main teachings, which may serve as a

map to orient our reading of the text.

Table 9: Summary of Teachings in the Śivayogapradīpikā.

Verses Content

1.1–12 Introduction, invocation to the guru, descriptions of the practitioner of the four yogas (Mantra,
Laya, Haṭha, Rāja), the three types of Rājayoga: Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, Amanaska.

1.13–1.16 Śivayoga, fivefold definition, importance of Śaiva worship.

1.17–1.30 The reality of Śiva, Śiva-Śakti cosmology (including the five elements and the five deities) and the
unfolding of creation.

1.31–1.53 Twofold Śivadhyāna (with qualities and without qualities, internal and external), importance
and worship of the guru, twofold worship of Śiva (śivārcana, internal and external), method of
internal Śivapūjā.

2.1–2.9 A further method of Śivapūjā as Haṭhayoga; Aṣṭāṅgayoga as the interiorization of ritual

elements and praxis.

2.10–12 Ten yamas and ten niyamas.

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Verses Content

2.13–15 Ten āsanas.

2.16–20 Description of the ideal yoga hut (maṭha).

2.21–60 Prāṇāyāma—threefold: natural (prākṛta), modified (vaikṛta), and beyond the two (i.e.
kevalakumbhaka), followed by the no-mind state; the four yogas equated with the four stages of
prāṇāyāma; descriptions of the three bandhas.
3.1–3.3 Pratyāhāra.

3.4–33 Dhyāna—descriptions of the nine cakras and sixteen ādhāras for Śaivadhyāna.

3.34–45 Dhāraṇā—five concentrations (pañcadhāraṇā) on the five elements (pañcabhūmi) with

corresponding bīja mantras, deities, and other visualizations.
3.46–3.50 Samādhi—descriptions of the state of samādhi.

3.51–57 Twelve-year sequence of powers attained from Aṣṭāṅgayoga.

3.58–59 Concluding verses on Aṣṭāṅgayoga; described as an auxiliary (aṅga) of Śivapūjā.

3.60–64 Vīraśaiva ṣaṭsthala rendering of Aṣṭāṅgayoga.

4.1–11 Re-interiorization of Haṭhayoga with eight auxiliaries (aṣṭāṅga).

4.12–18 Introducing the teachings on Rājayoga and its threefold division.

4.19–31 Sāṅkhya—cultivating the knowledge of the levels of reality (tattvajñāna).

4.32–5.12 Tāraka—teachings on the three gazing points (lakṣya): external, internal, and intermediate
lakṣyas; the inner lakṣya with khecarīmudrā and śāmbhavīmudrā; vision of the internal
Śivaliṅga.
5.13–25 Amanaska—descriptions of the no-mind state (unmanī); the yogin becomes a jīvanmukti;
description of the ritual worship of Śiva as consciousness (cicchivapūjā); sahajāmudrā as
Amanaska; further descriptions of Rājayoga, Amanaska, samādhi, and the progression of
yogas leading to the ultimate state.
5.58–59 Concluding verses.

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 Table 10: Yogāṅgas with Dhyāna before Dhāraṇā

Pātañjalayogaśāstra Śivayogapradīpikā Jayākhyasaṃhitā Śaiva Tantras Buddhist Tantras Vāyupurāṇa

Maitrāyaṇīyopaniṣad Raurava Guhyasamāja
Kiraṇa Kālacakra
Mataṅga

Aṣṭāṅga Aṣṭāṅga Ṣaḍaṅga Ṣaḍaṅga Ṣaḍaṅga Pañcāṅga

1. Yama 1. Yama 1. Prāṇāyāma 1. Pratyāhāra 1. Pratyāhāra 1. Prāṇāyāma

2. Niyama 2. Niyama 2. Pratyāhāra 2. Dhyāna 2. Dhyāna 2. Dhyāna

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3. Āsana 3. Āsana 3. Dhyāna 3. Prāṇāyāma 3. Prāṇāyāma 3. Pratyāhāra
4. Prāṇāyāma 4. Prāṇāyāma 4. Dhāraṇā 4. Dhāraṇā 4. Dhāraṇā 4. Dhāraṇā
5. Pratyāhāra 5. Pratyāhāra 5. Tarka 5. Tarka 5. Anusmṛti 5. Smaraṇa
6. Dhāraṇā 6. Dhyāna 6. Samādhi 6. Samādhi 6. Samādhi
7. Dhyāna 7. Dhāraṇā

8. Samādhi 8. Samādhi

This table is inspired by VASUDEVA (2004).

5.3 A Note on the Auxiliaries of Yoga

Many Sanskrit texts on yoga utilize a system of aṅgas or “auxiliaries” to structure their path and

teachings.377 While most Śaiva texts are known to favor Ṣaḍaṅga schemas, the Śivayogapradīpikā utilizes

an Aṣṭāṅgayoga template, and indeed there is a wide range of variability in both number of aṅgas and

their scope across texts and traditions. VASUDEVA (2004, 375–76) offers an extremely valuable survey of

yogāṅga schematics throughout Śaiva literature:378

While the majority of surviving Śaiva scriptures generally agree on which these six auxiliaries
are, there is no consensus as to their order, their definition or even their subdivisions. Such
disagreement reflects doctrinal divergences in the various Śaiva Tantras and also indicates
deliberate shifts of emphasis. It is important to realise that despite their superficial mutual
similarities, and the evident terminological overlap with the Aṣṭāṅgayoga of Patañjali, these
systems are not simply indiscriminately reshuffled versions of an original “correct” order.
Many Śaiva scriptures have invested considerable effort in the reformulation of yoga. Upon
deeper familiarisation, the internal logic of the respective systems proves their coherence.

As we will see in this chapter, the Aṣṭāṅgayoga of the Śivayogapradīpikā differs in several ways from the

“classical” Pātañjala model379—most obviously in that it reverses the order of the aṅgas of dhyāna and

dhāraṇā. As VASUDEVA suggests, and I agree, this is not just indiscriminate reshuffling, but rather

377 Here and throughout this dissertation I translateaṅga as “auxiliary” rather than more common “limb”
following SANDERSON (1999, Appendix 2) on “The Meaning of the Term yogāṅgam.” According to
SANDERSON, the yogāṅgas are not “the constituents of Yoga but the actions by means of which one is able to
accomplish Yoga. This technical usage derives from the terminology of Mīmāṃsā, where it refers to the various
secondary factors in ritual necessary for (sādhanam) the success (siddhiḥ) of the principal (pradhānam, aṅgī). See
also VASUDEVA (2004, 367, n. 1), MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017, 7).
378 For an overview of yogāṅga systems see VASUDEVA (2004, 367–382) and MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017, 7–
11).
379 I have selected thePātañjalayogaśāstra in this chapter as a point of comparison as it is the earliest and most
influential codification of the aṣṭāṅgayoga schema. It is not clear, however, if the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā
was drawing on the Pātañjalayogaśāstra per se, though we do know that other Śaivas of this period such as
Jñānaprakāśa (c. 16th century) were in fact engaging with it. By the fifteenth-century, Aṣṭāṅgayoga had in many
ways become divorced from Patañjali, as we find in the Purāṇas and other texts where it is often associated with
sages such as Yājñavalkya and others. While there are certain verses in the text which bear resemblance to
Pātañjalayoga—for example, the knower of Rājayoga being described as “one who is free from the turnings of
the mind” (manovṛttirahita, Śivayogapradīpikā 1.8bc)—this is not a clear homage to Patañjali, as such phrases
had become something of a Sanskrit cliché by this period (see BIRCH 2014, 411).

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serves a particular soteriological purpose which we will explore in the pages below. As can be found in

VASUDEVA (2004, 380–381), other notable examples of dhyāna appearing before dhāraṇā in yogāṅga

systems include: the Ṣaḍaṅga of the Jayākhyasaṃhitā and Maitrāyaṇīyopaniṣad, the Ṣaḍaṅga featured

in several Śaiva Tantras including the Raurava, Kiraṇa, and Mataṅga, the Ṣaḍaṅga found in Buddhist

Tantras including the Guhyasamāja and Kālacakra, as well as the perhaps more archaic Pañcāṅga

schemas found in texts like the Vāyupurāṇa (see Table 10). Nowhere else however, outside of the

Vīraśaivas, have I found in my research an Aṣṭāṅgayoga system with dhyāna and dhāraṇā reversed as

we find in the Śivayogapradīpikā.380 As discussed in the previous chapter, there are mentions of this

Aṣṭāṅgayoga order in other vernacular works of the Vīraśaivas, which can be dated to roughly the same

century or two as the Śivayogapradīpikā. I thus propose that this is a uniquely Vīraśaiva reformulation,

which draws its inspiration from many of these earlier yogāṅga schemas.

5.4 The Hierarchical Inclusivity of Śivayoga

Central to Cennasadāśivayogin’s project in composing the Śivayogapradīpikā is the synthesis of

multiple yoga systems convergent with a Vīraśaiva ritual and devotional soteriological framework.

Towards this aim, our author uses various textual strategies—lists, hierarchies, internal versus external

divisions and correspondences, and importantly a system of eight auxiliaries (aṣṭāṅgayoga) as a yogic

blueprint to structure and emplot the various systems and teachings of yoga within. Likewise the

division of four yogas—Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rāja—become another hierarchical schema used to

map on other aspects and progressive levels of yogic practice such as the four stages of prāṇāyāma and

the four stages of yogic development (avasthā).

380 One exception to this may beNyāyabhāṣya 4.2.46 which teaches an “eightfold” system of yoga (however does
not use the terminology of aṅgas) that includes: yama, niyama, tapas, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhyāna,
dhāraṇā, and prasaṃkhyāna. I am grateful to Philipp MAAS for bringing this to my attention. Personal
communication, March 30, 2023.

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 How might we better understand the textual operations employed in the Śivayogapradīpikā’s

synthesis of numerous religio-yogic doctrines, texts, and systems of praxis? As proposed in Chapter 1, I

suggest we may draw on JOSEPHSON’s model of “hierarchical inclusion” as a useful way in to thinking

about the Śivayogapradīpikā’s strategy of yogic reconciliation. JOSEPHSON (2012, 26) describes

hierarchical inclusion as “an asymmetrical technique for reconciling difference… by which I mean an

operation for dealing with alterity that works by subordinating marks of difference into a totalizing

ideology, while still preserving their external signs.” This is especially fruitful for thinking about the

deliberate ways in which Cennasadāśivayogin draws together the various competing systems of yoga,

Śaiva and non-Śaiva terminology, together with Śaiva devotional and ritual worship traditions. In this

way, Śivayoga becomes a “totalizing ideology” that incorporates all other yogas. By subsuming, rather

than rejecting, the other systems of yogic and religious praxis, the author preserves “their external

signs,” infused with Śaiva ritual and devotional meaning. As we move through our analysis of the text,

we will keep the strategy of hierarchical inclusivity in mind.

5.5 The Four Yogas

After praising the guru and stating his spiritual intention for writing the text, Cennasadāśivayogin sets

out to explain the secret nature of Śivayoga for devotees of Śiva—but only on account of the

seriousness of their devotion (bhakti).381 He begins by making an interesting claim:

(1.4) Instructed by Śiva, the ancient sages, the Siddhas, declared it [i.e. Śivayoga] to be of four
kinds—Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga.

The four yogas are to be understood as four different kinds (caturvidhaṃ) of Śivayoga. They are said to

already be ancient, having been passed down by the realized Siddhas, those accomplished yogins, who

381 ŚYP 1.3. The final verse of the text, ŚYP 5.59, also emphasizes the “unwavering devotion” (bhaktisuniścala) of

the aspirant. Thus, the Śivayogapradīpikā begins and ends its teachings on Śivayoga with the importance of
bhakti.

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themselves received this yoga directly from Śiva. In this way the four yogas are authorized as timeless,

beyond human (apauruṣeya), and as distinctly Śaiva. Whatever follows is understood to have been

originally declared by Śiva himself (śaṃbhuprabodhita), passed down by the Siddhas.382 In this way, the

four yogas are presented as four different pathways for attaining Śivayoga. The next four verses provide

succinct definitions of the yogin who practices each of the four yogas.383

(1.5) A Mantrayogin should always recite the one-syllable, two-syllable, or even the six-
syllable or eight-syllable [mantra] for the purpose of liberation.

According to Śivatattvaratnākara 15.5, commenting on this verse, the one-syllable mantra is oṃ, the

two-syllable is haṃ-sa, the six-syllable is the mūlamantra (oṃ namaḥ śivāya), while the eight-syllable is

the mūlamantra (prefixed by) the three māyās (i.e. oṃ hṛīm hrūṃ).384 Basavārādhya likewise

comments that the eight-syllable mantra is: oṃ hrīṃ hrūṃ namaḥ śivāya. Despite this inclusion of the

Mantrayogin reciting Śaiva japa, like most other medieval Yogaśāstras, the Śivayogapradīpikā does not

go on to teach this type of mantra practice. Rather, as we will see in the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section, this type

of mantra japa was interiorized completely into a yogic prāṇāyāma practice known as the ajapā, the

mantra of the inhalation and exhalation. Next the practitioner of the yoga of “dissolution” (laya) is

described.

(1.6) A Layayogin is surely one whose mind becomes dissolved in its object of meditation,
together with the mental organ and breath, or in the internal resonance (nāda).

382 This is similar to the opening of the Haṭhapradīpikā,

which states that Haṭhayoga was first taught by
Ādinātha (i.e. Śiva) and was then passed down to Matsyendra, Gorakṣa, and other great Siddhas.
Haṭhapradīpikā 1.1–9.
383 As far as I am aware, the Śivayogapradīpikā is the only text to provide such descriptions of the yogins of the
four yogas.

Śivatattvaratnākara 15.5: ekākṣaraṃ syāt praṇavo haṃsas tu dvyākṣaro manuḥ | ṣaḍakṣaro mūlamantro
384

māyābhis tv aṣṭavarṇakaḥ ||.

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The term laya is often synonymous with samādhi, or one of its stages385—as we find in the

Haṭhapradīpikā which lists laya as a synonym for samādhi and Rājayoga.386 The first chapter of the

Amanaska describes laya as a result of the no-mind (amanaska) state387 and provides detailed

descriptions of the yogin who has attained a state of laya and the results of many different absorption

techniques (layena). The Dattātreyayogaśāstra declares that there are eighty million esoteric techniques

(saṃketa) of Layayoga taught by Śiva.388 The Śivayogapradīpikā’s definition of the Layayogin who

dissolves his mind through the internal resonance or sound (nāda) echoes the teachings found in

chapter five of the Śivasaṃhitā and the nādānusandhāna of chapter four of the Haṭhapradīpikā. Here,

through the practice of śāmbhavīmudrā, the yogin closes off the senses from contacting external objects

and begins to perceive a series of gross and subtle inner sounds.389 The Haṭhapradīpikā states that the

“concentration on inner sounds” (nādānusandhāna) is considered the best of all Laya techniques.390 In

a similar fashion, the Śivayogapradīpikā later states,

(5.48) Nāda alone is the best among the [techniques of] Laya, while khecarī is the best
among the mudrās. Best among the gods is He who is without support (nirālamba) [i.e.
Śiva], while the no-mind (manonmanī) is [best] among the states (avasthā) [of Rājayoga].

385 For a detailed discussion on the meaning of laya and Layayoga, see BIRCH (2013, 37–54).
386 Haṭhapradīpikā 4.3.
387 Amanaska 1.21–24.
388 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 15.
389 Haṭhapradīpikā 4.70–76 maps the nādas onto the four stages (avasthā) of practice, following the earlier

tradition of the Amṛtasiddhi and Amaraughaprabodha (see MALLINSON & SZÁNTÓ 2021, 18–20). In the
ārambha stage, a charming musical sound is heard. In the ghaṭa stage, sounds of a kettle drum are heard. In the
paricaya stage the yogin hears the sounds of a mardala drum. And in the niṣpatti stage musical notes of a vīṇā
are heard. Then mind alone remains, resulting in the state of samādhi.
390 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.55.

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Unlike the Haṭhapradīpikā and the Śivasaṃhitā however, the Śivayogapradīpikā does not provide

detailed descriptions of nādānusandhāna. The importance of nāda is acknowledged, but not stressed

in the text.391 Next, is the practitioner of Haṭhayoga.

(1.7) A Haṭhayogin is one who has mastery of the breath through the eightfold (aṣṭāṅga)
path or in kevalakumbhaka by means of mudrās, karaṇas, and bandhas.

Here we are given two descriptions of the Haṭhayogin. First, is the yogin who controls the breath

through the path of Aṣṭāṅgayoga including the techniques of mudrās, karaṇas, and bandhas. Second is

the yogin who controls the breath by means of the exalted technique of kevalakumbhaka. The defining

feature here for both is “breath control” (vaśānila). Through physical techniques such as bodily seals

(mudrā), actions (karaṇa), or energetic locks (bandha) the Haṭhayogin is able to maneuver and control

the breath. Or, for some (more advanced practitioners), no physical action is required at all, and

through kevalakumbhaka—a prāṇāyāmic state beyond the physiological retention of the breath—the

breath is completely restrained. Later in the text, Śivayogapradīpikā 2.46 returns to the twofold

description of the Haṭhayogin when it questions the use of karaṇas, mudrās, and bandhas for the

person who has already attained kevalakumbhaka.

The term karaṇa in ŚYP 1.6 and ŚYP 2.46 is somewhat ambiguous, as in other yogic texts.

Basavārādhya in his commentary takes karaṇa to refer to the six purificatory acts of Haṭhayoga, or the

ṣaḍkarmāṇi—dhauti, basti, neti, trāṭaka, nauli, and kapālabhāti—quoting directly from

Haṭhapradīpikā 2.22. The Śivayogapradīpikā, however, does not teach these well-known cleansing

techniques known to the Haṭhapradīpikā and other texts. It is possible that the term karaṇa in ŚYP 1.6

refers to the ten āsanas or “yogic postures” taught later in the text (ŚYP 2.13–15), however, it could also

refer to other physical practices not described in the text, such as viparītakaraṇa, the “reversing action.”

391 Śivayogapradīpikā 2.27, 2.58, 3.22, 3.33.

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The Śivayogapradīpikā’s description of the Haṭhayogin is similar to the sequence of Haṭha practice as

outlined in Haṭhapradīpikā 1.56, which also mentions karaṇa:

Various āsanas, kumbhakas and actions (karaṇa) called mudrās, then concentration on the
inner resonances (nādānusandhāna)—this is the proper sequence of practice in
Haṭhayoga.392

Here in the Haṭhapradīpikā, the term āsana is clearly distinguished from karaṇa, where the latter is

associated with the mudrās. However, karaṇa is clearly distinct from mudrā in the Śivayogapradīpikā’s

definition, as mudrā is listed separately in the dvandva compound (mudrākaraṇabandhanaiḥ). It is

possible that practices such as viparītakaraṇa and the three bandhas, which would come to be grouped

together as mudrās in texts like the Haṭhapradīpikā and Śivasaṃhitā, were still considered distinct for

the author of the Śivayogapradīpikā.393 The Haṭhapradīpikā also lists nādānusandhāna under the

sequence (krama) of Haṭhayoga, whereas as we’ve just seen the Śivayogapradīpikā relegates the

dissolution of the mind through nāda under the rubric of Layayoga. Fourth and last we have the

definition of the Rājayogin.

(1.8) A knower of Rājayoga is one who attains the realization of Brahman through the three
gazing points (lakṣya), or who is free from the turnings of the mind through gnosis (jñāna).

The knower of Rājayoga (rājayogavit) is described here in two ways: one who attains Brahman through

the three lakṣyas, or “gazing points,” or who is free from the turnings of the turnings of the mind

through jñāna, or “gnosis.” This first definition involving the three lakṣyas refers to the attainment of

samādhi through a unique system of external (bāhya), internal (antar), and intermediate (madhya)

“gazing points.” As we will see, the lakṣyas are features of the systems of Tāraka and Amanaska

Rājayoga and are detailed in the final two paṭalas of the text. The second description of the Rājayogin

392 Haṭhapradīpikā
1.56: āsanaṃ kumbhakaṃ citraṃ mudrākhyaṃ karaṇaṃ tathā | atha nādānusandhānam
abhyāsānukramo haṭhe ||.
393 I thank MALLINSON for suggesting this possibility. Personal correspondence, May 3, 2023.

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suggests a special type of soteriological knowledge or “gnosis” (jñāna) that results in the stilling of

mental activity and relates to what the text refers to as Sāṅkhya Rājayoga. This description of the

Rājayogin offers a striking parallel with Patañjali’s famous definition of yoga (i.e. the state of samādhi):

jñāne vā ‘tha manovṛttirahito rājayogavit |

Or, the knower of Rājayoga is one who is free from the turnings of the mind through gnosis.394

yogaś cittavṛttinirodhaḥ |
Yoga is the stilling of the turnings of the mind.395

For Cennasadāśivayogin, Rājayoga represents the soteriological state of samādhi. Although Patañjali

does not use the term rājayoga anywhere in his text, samādhi is likewise understood as a state in which

mental activity (cittavṛtti) is restrained (nirodha), or more, completely abandoned (rahita). For the

Śivayogapradīpikā, this samādhi is the result of a special type of jñāna. Likewise for Patañjali, samādhi

is preceded by a certain discriminative discernment (vivekakhyāti) and a special type of wisdom

(prajñā) or gnosis (jñāna). In Pātañjalayoga, the entire practice of Aṣṭāṅgayoga is done in order to

destroy one’s mental and physical impurities in order to illuminate the “lamp of gnosis” (jñānadīpti).396

For Patañjali and the Sāṅkhyans of course, this gnosis is an experienced knowledge of the true

ontological nature and separateness of the puruṣa and prakṛti. Whereas for the Śivayogapradīpikā, this

jñāna is none other than Śivajñāna, knowledge of Śiva’s true ultimate reality (śivatattva), and the

yogin’s oneness with Śiva.

Having defined the practitioner of each of the four yogas, Cennasadāśivayogin informs readers

that they should be understood as a soteriological hierarchy.

(1.9) Due to the superiority from one to the next, indeed, the yogas are four. Among them,
one alone is eminent—this is Rājayoga, the best of the best.

394 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.8cd.

395 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.2.

396 Pātañjalayogasāstra 2.27–28.

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The four yogas are to be understood hierarchically and sequentially from Mantrayoga to Rājayoga,

with the latter hailed as eminent (mukhya), the “best of the best” (uttamottama). Similar to the

Haṭhapraḍīpikā, all roads lead to Rājayoga in the Śivayogapradīpikā.397 This important structure of the

four yogas is utilized in other places throughout the text to creatively structure the stages of yogic

development. This type of “hierarchical inclusivity” is a salient feature of the text. In paṭala two, within

the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section, the four yogas are mapped onto four stages of prāṇāyāma. Mantrayoga is said

to be natural (prākṛta), Layayoga is modified (vaikṛta), Haṭhayoga is equated with kevalakumbhaka,

where “complete breath retention” remains, and Rājayoga is equated with the “no-mind” state,

amanas or amanaska (ŚYP 2.26). This process begins with the unpronounced mantra, the ajapā, that is

the natural (prākṛta) flow of the inhalation and exhalation. This is then modified (vaikṛta) by

dissolving (laya) the breath in or through the internal resonance (nāda). This then leads to steadiness

of mind and breath (manonilasthira). And finally all thoughts dissolve in the no-mind state where

there is an absence of [mental] turnings (vṛttiśūnya, ŚYP 2.27).

Table 11: Four Yogas as the Four Prāṇāyāmas (ŚYP 2.26).

Type of Yoga Type of Prāṇāyāma Description

Mantrayoga Natural (prākṛta) Unpronounced mantra (ajapā)

Layayoga Modified (vaikṛta) Dissolution (laya) of breath in internal

resonance (nāda)
Haṭhayoga Complete breath retention Steadiness of mind and breath
(kevalakumbhaka) (manonilasthira)

Rājayoga No-mind [state] (amanas) Absence of [mental] turnings

(vṛttiśunya)

397 The Haṭhapradīpikā does not explicitly teach or mention Mantrayoga or Layayoga, though teachings on Laya
are integrated into its fourth chapter on Rājayoga. Haṭhayoga is said to be a “stairway” to Rājayoga
(Haṭhapradīpikā 1.1).

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 Table 12: Four Yogas as the Four Stages (ŚYP 5.51).

Type of Yoga Stage (avasthā)

Mantrayoga Beginning (ārambha)
Layayoga Pot (ghaṭa)
Haṭhayoga Accumulation (paricaya)
Rājayoga Full completion (samaniṣpatti)

Towards the end of the text, in the fifth paṭala, the four yogas are mapped onto the four stages

(avasthā) of yogic practice. Mantrayoga is said to be the beginning (ārambha) stage, Layayoga is the pot

(ghaṭa) stage, Haṭhayoga is the accumulation (paricaya) stage, and Rājayoga is known as the full

completion (samaniṣpatti) stage (ŚYP 5.51). This hierarchy of four stages is perhaps first mentioned in

the Amṛtasiddhi (19.2) which was adopted by the Amaraughaprabodha (52–53) and other texts such as

the Dattātreyayogaśāstra (9–11), Śivasaṃhitā (3.31), and the Haṭhapradīpikā (4.70–77). The

Dattātreyayogaśāstra lists the four yogas, followed by the four avasthās, however does not explicitly

correlate them as the Śivayogapradīpikā does.

After describing the four yogas, the Śivayogapradīpikā provides another hierarchical schema,

further distinguishing its Rājayoga into a tripartite system of Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, and Amanaska, each of

which are defined as follows:

(1.10) Further, that [Rājayoga] exists as three types: Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, and Amanaska. Gnosis
of the twenty-five Tattvas is that [Rājayoga] called Sāṅkhya.

(1.11) On account of the gnosis attained by external mudrā, [Rāja]yoga is called Tāraka. On
account of the gnosis attained by internal mudrā, it is called Amanaska.

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This threefold division of Rājayoga appears to be unique to this text, however, is known by later

authors such as Bhāskararāya (c. 18th century) who is said to have traveled to south India.398 As

observed above (see Chapter 4), the teachings on Amanaska show clear influences of the twelfth-

century text by that name, the Amanaska. The Rājayoga of Sāṅkhya is described as a gnoseological

method involving the progressive knowledge of the twenty-five levels of reality (tattva) culminating in

the epistemological discernment of the Self (ātman) from all other ontological phenomena. It is, in a

word, a path of Jñānayoga, as our author calls it (ŚYP 4.31)—in ways reminiscent of the Bhagavadgītā

and classical Sāṅkhya-Yoga. The Rājayoga of Tāraka is said to arise from the external bahirmudrā,

while the Rājayoga called Amanaska is attained due to the internal antarmudrā. More detailed

teachings of all three Rājayogas are presented in paṭalas four and five. We will see that Tāraka involves

the aforementioned three lakṣyas (external, internal, and intermediate)—all of which may be

considered “external” mudrās as they involve psychosomatic visualizations within the mind-body of

the yogin. The internal mudrā of Amanaska is an even more subtle internal gazing point (antarlakṣya)

which is neither inside nor outside the yogin’s mind-body and which is characterized by direct

perception (aparokṣa, ŚYP 5.1–2). This inner lakṣya leads the yogin to an internal khecarīmudrā, also

described as śāṃbhavīmudrā, and ultimately to a supracognitive non-dual “no-mind” (amanaska) state

of samādhi. The threefold Rājayogas are framed in a progressive hierarchy:

(1.12) Tāraka is more praiseworthy than Sāṅkhya, while this Amanaska is superior even to
Tāraka. Because it is the king of all yogas, it is known as Rājayoga.

398 See BIRCH (2013, 149, n. 633) who notes that Bhāskararāya mentions the four yogas and the three Rājayogas in

his commentary on the Lalitāsahasranāmastotra 180: sa ca mantro layo haṭho rājeti caturvidhaḥ | rājayogo 'pi
sāṅkhyatārakāmanaskabhedāt trividhaḥ ||. This appears to be a reference to Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4ab, 1.10ab,
however, Bhāskararāya does not name the Śivayogapradīpikā, whereas he does name the titles of other texts he
quotes from (including Patañjali: yogaścittavṛttinirodha iti pātañjalasūtraṃ ca).

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As discussed previously, the second line is a direct quote from the Amanaska.399

5.6 Rājayoga and Śivayoga

After this brief description of the four yogas and the three Rājayogas, our author anticipates that some

may be wondering how all of this relates to Śivayoga, the primary subject of our treatise. He states the

following:

(1.13) In reality, there is no difference between Śivayoga and Rājayoga. Yet for those who
worship Śiva [a difference] is thus declared, in order to increase wisdom.

(1.14) The difference between the two is to be explained for those souls who delight in Śiva.
Therefore, Śivayoga is to be grasped by wise sages alone.

Truly, Cennasadāśivayogin explains, there is no difference (na bhedaḥ)400 between Śivayoga and

Rājayoga. Both yogas are understood to lead to the highest soteriological state of liberation. Similarly

in the Yogasārasaṅgraha, we find a quote attributed to the Nandikeśvaratārāvalī which states that the

terms rājayoga, śivayoga, samādhi and other such as unamanī, manomanī, amanaska, and more, are all

synonyms (ekavācaka).401 In this way, these authors were clearly trying to find harmony between

various traditions and technical yogic terminology. However, for Cennasadāśivayogin, and for

Śivayoga, ultimately a difference (bheda) does remain. For Śaivas there is an important distinction, we

are told, in order to increase wisdom, or one’s faculty of discernment (buddhi). Śivayoga, as taught in

the Śivayogapradīpikā, I argue is not a fifth system of yoga outside of or beyond the other four. It is a

399rājatvāt sarvayogānāṃ rājayoga iti smṛtaḥ | Śivayogapradīpikā 1.12cd = Amanaska 2.3cd. On Rājayoga being
defined as the “king of all yogas,” see BIRCH (2014, 406).
400 P
ed reads nābhedaḥ which would mean that there is “no non-difference,” that is, framed positively, there is a
“difference between Śivayoga and Rājayoga.” This reading however does not make sense within the context of
this verse, and is not confirmed by any other manuscript witnesses.
401 Yogasārasaṅgrahap. 60: rājayogaḥ samādhiś conmanī ca manonmanī | śivayogo layastatvaṃ śūnyāśūnyaṃ
nirañjanam || amanaskaṃ yathā caitannirālambaṃ nirañjanam | jīvanmuktiś ca sahajam ity adir hy
ekavācakam ||. These verses are extremely similar to the lines found in Haṭhapradīpikā 4.3–4, though śivayoga is
notably absent from the Haṭhapradīpikā verses.

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distinct goal-orientation, rather, towards all other systems of yoga, specifically for devotees of Śiva—a

Śaiva hierarchical inclusion. Śivayoga, that is, the “union with Śiva,” arises for a yogin who cultivates

the practice of yoga with a Śaiva ritual and devotional orientation. According to Cennasadāśivayogin,

Śivayoga is said to consist of the following five components:

(1.15) Śivayoga is five-fold, indeed: gnosis (jñāna) comprised of Śiva, devotion (bhakti) to
Śiva, meditation (dhyāna) comprised of Śiva, Śaiva religious observance (vrata), and worship
of Śiva (arcā).

That is to say, union with Śiva (śivayoga) arises from these five practices. A very similar fivefold Śivayoga

is found quoted in Anādivīraśaivasārasaṃgraha 25.82 and attributed to the Vīrāgama, only “Śaiva

conduct” (śivācāraḥ) takes the place of “meditation comprised of Śiva” (dhyānaṃ śivātmakam).402

Cennasadāśivayogin may have been drawing from the Vīrāgama stock, adding the importance of

dhyāna. Outside of an explicitly yogic context, the idea of a fivefold division of Śaiva worship is also

found in the Vāyavīyasaṃhitā of the Śivapurāṇa 10.48ab, and is quoted in the Vīraśaiva works the

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 9.21 and Pārameśvarāgama 12.13—here the worship (bhajana) of Śiva is said to be

comprised of austerity (tapas), ritual action (karma), mantra repetition (japa), meditation (dhyāna),

and gnosis (jñāna).403 Given his penchant for lists, definitions, and systematization, one might expect

Cennasadāśivayogin to further describe each of the fivefold elements of Śivayoga. He does not.

However, of the five constituents of Śivayoga—gnosis (jñāna), devotion (bhakti), meditation (dhyāna),

religious observance (vrata), and worship (arcā)—it is dhyāna and especially worship (arcā, pūjā) that

the author emphasizes. He concludes this section of the text with the following warning:

402Anādivīraśaivasārasaṃgraha 25.82: vīrāgame | vijñānaṃ śive bhaktiḥ śivācāraḥ śivavratam |

śivaliṅgārcanajñaptiḥ śivayogo hi pañcadhā ||. This verse is not found, however, in the Vīrāgama manuscript I
have been able to consult (IFP/EFEO transcript T.0029 = Muktabodha M.00253).
403 Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 9.21: tapaḥkarma japo dhyānaṃ jñānaṃ cety anupūrvakam | = Pārameśvarāgama 12.13)
= Vāyavīyasaṃhitā of the Śivapurāṇa 10.48ab.

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 (1.16) One who is devoid of the worship of Śiva, is just a bound soul, there is no doubt. He
will be perpetually reborn in this [endless] cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra).

Again we are reminded that this is a text and a system of practice for Śaivas. The commentator

Basavārādhya emphasizes this further: without Śivapūjā, there is no liberation. On the one hand,

Cennasadāśivayogin appears to maintain a certain ecumenicism—implying there is surely no difference

between Rājayoga and Śivayoga. On the other hand, he suggests that Śivayoga provides a unique

orientation to the systems of yoga specific to Śaivas, and importantly that it includes the worship of

Śiva (śivārcā, śivapūjā)—without which a person merely remains a bound soul (paśu) stuck in the

endless cycle of saṃsāra. It is this emphasis on Śaiva ritual worship that makes the Śivayogapradīpikā

particularly distinct from other medieval Yogaśāstras such as the Dattātreyayogaśāstra or the

Haṭhapradīpikā. Before going on to describe the yogic methods for worshipping Śiva, the text provides

a map of Śaiva cosmology and metaphysics as a foundation for approaching Śiva’s divine nature.

5.7 Śaiva Cosmology

ŚYP 1.17–1.30 describes the divine nature of Śiva’s Realty (śivatattva) and Śiva’s cosmogonic acts

including his creation of the world through the power of his Śakti. From Śiva springs Śakti, and from

Śakti springs the five action deities (karaṇeśvara) along with the corresponding five elements and kalās.

From Brahmā then arose the other gods, divinities, sages, humans, animals, insects, trees, mountains,

rivers, and so on. Thus the entire universe unfolds from Śakti and according to Śiva’s command

(śivājñā). The five karaṇeśvaras, namely Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Īśvara, and Sadāśiva, are corresponded

to the five elements, earth, water, fire, air, and ether, respectively. Within each of these deities likewise is

located one of five kalās, namely cessation (nivṛtti), foundation (pratiṣṭhā), knowledge (vidyā), peace

(śānti), and beyond peace (śāntyatītā). These five kalās are well-known to tantric Śaivism and are

featured in scriptures like the Brahmayāmala 85.48, Kubjikāmatatantra 15.24, and the Netratantra

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22.31. This schema is also found in Vīrāgama 9.85—further evidence of the Vīraśaiva incorporation of

earlier doctrinal tantric Śaivism.

Table 13: Fivefold Śaiva Cosmology (ŚYP 1.22–26).

Deity Element Kalā

Sadāśiva Ether Beyond peace (śāntyatītā)

Īśvara Air Peace (śānti)

Rudra Fire Knowledge (vidyā)

Viṣṇu Water Foundation (pratiṣṭhā)

Brahmā Earth Cessation (nivṛtti)

It is only through knowing and worshiping Śiva, we are reminded, that a person truly attains the bliss

of liberation (mokṣa).

(1.30) One who, from the destruction of the three kinds of impurities through the guru’s
grace, knows Him, whose essence is pure consciousness, who is situated in the maṇḍala of
the sun, moon, and fire—that person who worships Śiva attains the bliss of liberation.

How is a yogin to know Śiva directly? Through meditative visualization, or Śivadhyāna.

5.8 Twofold Meditation on Śiva

In the first paṭala, meditation on Śiva (śivadhyāna) is described as twofold—meditation with qualities

(saguṇa) and without qualities (nirguṇa).404 Cennasadāśivayogin states that the yogin should first

meditate on Śiva with qualities, and then proceed to meditation without qualities (ŚYP 1.31). Saguṇa

meditation is described as manifold, with its focus being either external (bāhya) or internal

(ābhyantara). However, nirguṇa meditation cannot be perceived by the sense-organs, it is said to be

difficult to grasp, like the sky (ŚYP 1.32). Both of these types of meditation however are only to be

properly known by a qualified guru.

404 Further detailed teachings on dhyāna are provided in the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section of the text in the third paṭala.

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5.9 Importance of the Guru

Throughout the text the importance of an authentic spiritual preceptor, not just a teacher, but a “true

teacher” (sadguru), is valorized. “For those desiring liberation, the sadguru is to be worshipped” (ŚYP

1.33cd). In paṭala four, Cennasadāśivayogin defines a guru as follows:

(4.18) One who knows through their very own nature, the Self (ātman)—which has no
equal, is without end, unparalleled, stainless, a motionless eternal flame, the supreme
immortal nectar of bliss comprised of consciousness—he alone is a guru.

Without such a guru, Cennasadāśivayogin asks rhetorically, how is one to enjoy the fruits of “long-life,

freedom from disease, abundant powers, knowledge, fame, the joy of heaven, and liberation

(mokṣa)?” (ŚYP 1.34). One is to worship such a guru with “actions, mind, and speech” (karmaṇā

manasā vācā) just as one would worship Śiva (ŚYP 1.35cd).

(1.36) Therefore, because of the guru alone, [for] one who is initiated, who seeks refuge in
Śiva, the happiness obtained through the fruits of the fourfold [aims of life] rests in his
hand.

The fourfold aims of life seem to suggest the well-known puruṣārthas, or the four aims of human life—

righteousness (dharma), wealth (artha), pleasure (kāma), and liberation (mokṣa)—which is indeed

how our commentator Basavārādhya interprets the verse.405 Of course for yogins, who are desirous of

liberation (mumukṣu, ŚYP 1.33c), it is only mokṣa they seek. However, this verse is also interesting in

that it suggests Śaiva yogins are to be initiated (dīkṣita) by the guru. While this may seem like an

obvious characteristic of Indic yoga traditions, it is in fact less than common for medieval yoga texts to

mention initiation as a prerequisite to practice. Within the world of Śaivism, of course, this is all too

405 Basavārādhya describes the caturvargaphala as dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa.

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common, and there are numerous levels and types of Śaiva dīkṣā.406 This is the only such mention of

initiation in the Śivayogapradīpikā, and it is a rather general one at that. Nonetheless, it continues to

impress the importance of the guru, without whom, the text reminds us time and again, success in

yoga, let alone liberation, is not possible.

5.10 Twofold Worship of Śiva

After worshipping the guru, we are given instructions for the worship of Śiva (śivārcana). The devotee

is instructed to worship Śiva once, twice, or even three times a day according to the instructions of the

guru. Śiva is said to consist of consciousness (cit). Like the above Śivadhyāna, the worship of Śiva

(śivārcana), is said to be twofold—consisting of internal worship (antaryāga) and external worship

(bahiryāga). Internal is said to be most important, though it arises (uditā) from external worship. The

text goes on to only describe the nature of internal worship (antaryāga) and even criticizes the “feeble-

minded” (alpadhīḥ) who worship Śiva only through external rituals (bāhyakriyā) and external images

(ŚYP 1.39). The internal worship that is described is an internal Śivadhyāna, involving a detailed

visualization of Śiva described in a very tantric manner.407

(1.40) Having visualized in this manner—[one’s] heart as a lotus, possessed with śivadharma
as its bulb, true gnosis as its stem, while the eternal powers are the eight petals which [shine]
like the moon, dispassion is the true pericarp, and it is curled with the filament of Śrī
Rudreśvara—in the center of that [heart-lotus], situated in the discs of the sun, moon, and
flaming-fire, one should meditate on Śiva, who consists of consciousness.

406 Basavārādhya glosses dīkṣitaḥ

as follows: “having obtained śaiva dīkṣā—that śaiva dīkṣā is of three types—
samayadīkṣā, sādhakadīkṣā, and ācāryābhiṣēka—though it may be of many kinds, such as, sadyonirvāṇadīkṣā,
asadyonirvāṇadīkṣā, śivadharmiṇī, lokadharmiṇī, bhautikī, naiṣṭhikī and other forms of mantra and kriyā.
Among these, the samayadīkṣā is given to one who is incapable, sādhakadīkṣā is given to the capable, and among
sādhakas, the special teachers are given ācāryābhiṣēka; therefore, initiation may only be obtained from ācāryas
and not from others—this is the meaning.”
407 See GOODALL (2011) for a detailed study of the “throne of worship” as found in Saiddhāntika literature.

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This language of Śaiva meditative visualization (dhyāna) is very consistent with the ritual syntax of the

earlier Mantramārga. Here the yogin mentally constructs what GOODALL (2011, 222) has called, the

“throne of worship” and which is “an almost universal feature of tantric cults.” The deity is installed

on a seat (pīṭha) which consists of a lotus—here in the Śivayogapradīpikā envisioned as the yogin’s own

heart-lotus. Typically the legs of the throne are envisioned with “the four positive qualities of the

buddhi, namely, dharma, jñāna, vairāgya and aiśvarya” (GOODALL 2011, 222)—which here are the

botanical elements of the lotus flower: śivadharma is the bulb, jñāna is the stem, the powers (aiśvarya)

are the eight petals, and vairāgya is the pericarp. This visualization program is also very similar to what

we find in the Non-Saiddhāntika Śivadharmottara, which I suspect is a likely source for

Cennasadāśivayogin. As GOODALL translates:

… the divine lotus of Control (aiśvaryapaṅkajam), twelve finger-breadths in extent, pure,

blossoming, white. Its stalk, rising from the bulb at the navel, is eight finger-breadths long.
The eight petals of the lotus are to be understood to be the eight supernatural powers
beginning with the capacity to become minuscule (aṇimādiguṇāṣṭakam), its pericarp is
Dispassion (vairāgyam), its stalk is the Knowledge whose nature is Śiva (jñānaṃ
śivātmakam), and its bulb is the śivadharma—this is how one should think of the lotus. It is
supreme, made up of dharma, jñāna, vairāgya and Śiva’s aiśvarya.408

Likewise the three discs (maṇḍala) of the sun, moon, and fire are also a visual trope of this shared

tantric ritual syntax—which are typically presided over by the three deities Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra

(though they are absent here). Such divine thrones are also known as “yoga thrones” (yogapīṭha) for

they are the thrones of yogic meditation. GOODALL (2011, 226) quotes DAVIS (1991, 124) who observes,

“The divine throne, much like the ritualist’s body in the rites of initiation and ātmaśuddhi, is a

408Śivadharmottara 10.81cd–83: aiśvaryapaṅkajaṃ divyaṃ puruṣopari saṃsthitam || dvādaśāṅgulavistīrṇaṃ

śuddhaṃ vikasitaṃ sitam | nālam aṣṭāṅgulaṃ tasya nābhīkandasamudbhavam || padmapatrāṣṭakaṃ jñeyam
aṇimādiguṇāṣṭakam tatkarṇikā ca vairāgyaṃ nālaṃ jñānaṃ śivātmakam || śivadharmaṃ ca tatkandam iti
padmaṃ vicintayet | tad dharmajñānavairāgyaśivaiśvaryamayaṃ param ||. Translated by GOODALL (2011, 235).

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condensed ritual instantiation of the manifest cosmos and all its constituents.” Having established his

throne of worship, Śiva is then further described as follows:

(1.41) [Śiva who has] a serene face, is tranquil, the radiance of a sixteen-year old, and whose
perfect figure contains the beauty of millions of Kāmadevas; (1.42) possessing four-arms,
bearing a doe, a trident, and the [gestures of] bestowing boons and the absence of fear; who
has a crown above his head which is a crescent moon [and] who contains the splendor of
ten-thousand autumnal moons; (1.43) the deity who wears divine garments, is anointed with
divine perfumes, is abounding in the brilliance of divine ornaments, and is decorated with
divine flowers; (1.44) the three-eyed one, who is the substratum of the three guṇas, the cause
of destruction of the three kinds of impurities (trimala), who is embellished on his left side
with the Goddess of all Auspiciousness. (1.45) At the base of the radiant wish-fulfilling tree,
endowed with fruits and flowers, [He] who is sitting comfortably atop a dais, on a throne
(āsana) consisting of the the nine precious gems; (1.46) who is non-duality, imperishable, all-
pervading, eternal, who is the domain of nirvāṇa, is inconceivable, unborn, unmanifest,
without beginning, middle, or end.

After having meditated on Śiva in this manner within the lotus of one’s heart, Cennasadāśivayogin

describes another method of internal worship, this one involving internal ritual substances

(ābhyantaradravya). Here, the traditional material and external substances for common ritual worship

(pūjā) are interiorized within the devotee’s heart and mind.

(1.48) One should offer to Śiva the sprinkling of water that is tranquility, the garment that is
the full experience of the aspected (sakala) [nature of Śiva], the ordained sacrificial thread
which is bound together by the threads of the three Śaktis, the fragrant ointment that is true
knowledge of oneself, the rice grains of extraordinary compassion, and the flowers of public
devotion (bhakti). (1.49) One should internally offer incense by means of the inner four
[faculties], the lamp by means of what is beyond the sense-organs and the guṇas, and the
oblation in the form of the living soul (jīva), devoid of pleasure or pain. (1.50) The betel-nut
is known as the three guṇas of rajas, tamas, and sattva, and the act of reverential greeting is
the breath (prāṇa). Thus are the foremost interior objects for ritual worship. Produce
[them] for Śaṅkara!

This type of internal mental worship, or mānasapūjā, is quite common throughout both Śaiva and

Vaiṣṇava liturgical traditions.409 The interiorization of external ritual or yogic practices is a hallmark of

the Śivayogapradīpikā, and is one of Cennasadāśivayogin’s common strategies for integrating various

streams of devotion, ritual, and yoga throughout his text and system of practice. Most poignantly, we

409 On mānasapūjā, see BÜHNEMANN (1988, 88).

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will encounter it again in the Aṣṭāṅgayoga section, where the aṅgas of yoga themselves become the

elements of ritual worship.

Having described such detailed forms of internalized worship and visualization,

Cennasadāśivayogin suggests, however, that if one does not want to do all of that, they can simply

worship Śiva internally with the traditional external ritual offerings such as the invocation (āvāhana),

and so on, like one would worship a king (rājavat, ŚYP 1.51). He concludes this section, and the first

paṭala, by stating that this internal ritual worship (pūjā) is the dispeller of all sins (pāpa) and the

destroyer of all suffering (duḥkha). It generates devotion to Śiva (śivabhakti) and purity of mind.

Finally, it is said to bring about all the divine yogic powers (aiśvarya) and to fully bestow both yoga and

gnosis (jñāna, ŚYP 1.52-53).

Table 14: Internalization of Ritual Elements (ŚYP 1.48–50).

External Dravya Internal Dravya

Water (ambu) Tranquility (śama)

Garment (ambara) Experience of the aspected (sakala) nature of Śiva

Sacrificial thread (yajñasūtra) Three Śaktis (i.e. icchā, jñāna, kriyā)

Ointment (anulepana) True self-knowledge (svasaṃvid)

Rice grains (akṣata) Extraordinary compassion (samadhikānukampā)

Flowers (puṣpa) Public devotion (prakaṭabhakti)

Incense (dhūpa) Inner four faculties (antaḥkaraṇa, i.e. manas, buddhi,

ahaṅkāra, vidyā)
Lamp (dīpa) Transcending the senses and guṇas

Oblation (upahāra) Living soul (jīvarūpa)

Betel-nut (tāmbūlaka) Three guṇas—rajas, tamas, sattva

Reverential greeting (namaskṛti) Breath (prāṇa)

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5.11 Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Śivapūjā

The previous section of the text prescribed various types of internal Śaiva worship (pūjā, arcana)

including detailed visualizations and the internalization of traditional ritual elements. Indeed, many

different manners of Śivapūjā are taught in the Śaiva scriptures. The Somaśambhupaddhati (c. 11th

century), an important Śaiva ritual manual, for example, states that all different types of supports for

Śivapūjā are possible:

The various manners of worshipping Śiva have been described [by me above] as I have seen
them—[it may be accomplished] in one’s own body, in the body of the guru, in a book, in
[a pot containing] water, in fire, in a picture or the like, or on the bare ground, but
[worship of Śiva] in the liṅga is the best by far.410

Cennasadāśivayogin begins the second paṭala by offering another type of Śivapūjā, “where the sole

domain is the path of yoga” (yogamārgaikagocaram)—that is to say, Aṣṭāṅgayoga (ŚYP 2.1). The

teachings on Aṣṭāṅgayoga stretch across the second and third paṭalas making it the largest section of

the text. Some of the manuscript colophons describe this as the Aṣṭāṅga Śivapūjā, that is, the “method

for worshipping Śiva by means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga,”411 or the “method for the interior worship of Śiva

known as the method of worship by means of Aṣṭāṅga.”412 As we will see, the structure of this

Aṣṭāṅgayoga is similar to other texts including the classical Pātañjala model, however, it is also distinct

in at least three important ways. First, the order of dhyāna and dhāraṇā as the sixth and seventh

members, respectively, of the Aṣṭāṅgayoga sequence are reversed when compared to the Pātañjala

model. Second, throughout the text, Aṣṭāṅgayoga and Haṭhayoga appear to be equated; Haṭhayoga is

410 Somaśambhupaddhati 3.102c–103: nijamūrtau guror mūrtau pustake salile ’nale || citrādau sthaṇḍile vāpi
liṅge ’py atyantam uttamam | yajanaṃ bahudhā śambhor yathādṛṣṭam udāhṛtam ||. Translation by GOODALL
(2011, 223, n.6).
411iti śrīsadāśivayogināthaviracityāyāṃ yogaśāstre śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ aṣṭāṅgaśivapūjāvidhānaṃ nāma
tṛtīyapāṭalikā || T1.

412 iti
śrīcennasadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ yogaśāstre śivayogaśāstre śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ aṣṭāṅgapūjāvidhir
nām[ā]bhyantaraśivapūjāvidhānam tṛtīyapaṭalikā || T2.

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the yoga comprised of eight auxiliaries. At the same time, as we will see, other forms of yoga such as

Mantrayoga are integrated within the Aṣṭāṅga fold. Third, the entire system of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, which is

to say Haṭhayoga, is understood and framed as a type of Śaiva ritual worship (śivapūjā)—and when

Aṣṭāṅgayoga is mastered in this way, it is to be known as Śivayoga. Cennasadāśivayogin begins by

stating the purpose of yoga practice:

(2.2) From yoga, gnosis is born. From gnosis, yoga arises. For the perfection of the two, the
wise should protect their body here on earth. (2.3) Through the destruction of phlegm
(kapha) the body becomes very firm, there is no doubt. For embodied beings, that phlegm
will be destroyed by means of Haṭhayoga.

For the perfection of yoga and jñāna, a wise person should protect their body (śarīra). They should

keep it clean and pure by eradicating kapha—a term which can be taken to mean “phlegm,” but is here

also one of three doṣas or constituents that make up the health-body of a person according to

Āyurveda. By eradicating kapha, the body becomes firm, or well-established (susthiram)—and is a fit

vehicle for spiritual development. The ideal means for eradicating kapha is the practice of Haṭhayoga.

This is, however, a text on Śivayoga. Haṭhayoga is a means for accomplishing Śivayoga.

(2.4) Śivayoga is to be mastered by practitioners (sādhaka). Haṭha is the means for

accomplishing it. Therefore, first listen to this Haṭhayoga, which is to be described. (2.5) The
eight auxiliaries of Haṭha are external as well as internal. Therefore, one should perform
ritual worship (pūjā) to god (i.e. Śiva) through the eight auxiliaries beginning with yama, etc.

Haṭhayoga is described as having eight auxiliaries (aṣṭāṅga)—that is to say, Haṭhayoga is an

Aṣṭāṅgayoga. These eight auxiliaries are divided into internal and external methods, as we also find in

the Pātañjala model.413 When this Aṣṭāṅgayoga is practiced in a devotional and ritual manner, as

Śivapūjā, it becomes perfected as Śivayoga. Cennasadāśivayogin then describes the manner of doing

Śivapūjā through Aṣṭāṅgayoga:

413 In Pātañjalayoga however, only the final three aṅgas—dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi are considered to be the
internal aṅgas.

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 (2.6) Having purified one’s self through the qualities of the yamas and niyamas, and having
stabilized one’s mind through various postures (pīṭha) one has mastered, the [yogin] should
bathe the divine liṅga with the water of breath-control. These are the four auxiliaries
proclaimed as the external method [of worship]. (2.7) Then, the sandalwood paste is really
the turning back of the senses toward Śiva [pratyāhāra], the heaps of flowers are the
visualization (dhyāna), the incense is that fixed concentration (dhāraṇā), while the pure
great-oblation is samādhi. These are the four auxiliaries proclaimed as the internal method
[of worship].

These important verses provide the ritual framework to understand all of the teachings on

Aṣṭāṅgayoga which are to follow. Like we saw in the first paṭala, we have the interiorization of external

Śaiva ritual praxis. Here the yogāṅgas have replaced the traditional external dravyas in the ritual. In this

way, we are told, through the path of Aṣṭāṅgayoga (aṣṭāṅgayogamārga), the yogin is to worship Śiva in

the temple that is one’s own very heart. “What is the point of worshipping God through external

means?” (ŚYP 2.8). This critique of external ritual worship, as we have seen earlier, echoes the Vīraśaiva

devotional critique of external temple worship that is a hallmark of the tradition.414

Table 15: Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Ritual Elements (ŚYP 2.6-7).

Yogāṅga External Dravya

1. Yama
Self-purification (svātmaśuddhi)
2. Niyama
External (bāhya)
3. Āsana Seat for the deity (pīṭha)
4. Prāṇāyāma Water (jala) for bathing liṅga
5. Pratyāhāra Sandalwood paste (gandha)
6. Dhyāna Flowers (prasūna)
Internal (abhyantara)
7. Dhāraṇā Incense (dhūpa)
8. Samādhi Pure great offering (śuddhamahopahāra)

414 See Chapter 3.

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The next section of the text is the lengthiest, spreading across paṭalas two and three. Here,

Cennasadāśivayogin provides detailed teachings and descriptions of the various methods of

Aṣṭāṅgayoga. He begins by situating Aṣṭāṅgayoga, again, within a Śaiva context. But first, who or what

is a Śaiva?

(2.9) One who worships Śiva, the imperishable, within his very own Self, through the
constant [practice of] the eight auxiliaries [of yoga], he indeed is a Śaiva, is a wise person,
and he is best among the knowers of yoga.

A Śaiva then, for Cennasadāśivayogin, is one who worships Śiva through the daily and continual

practice of Aṣṭāṅgayoga. Not only is such a wise person a Śaiva, but they are deemed the best among all

those who claim to be knowers of yoga. Such a person is, in a word, a Śivayogin.

5.12 The Outer Auxiliaries

Cennasadāśivayogin divides Aṣṭāṅgayoga into internal and external auxiliaries. The internal includes

yama, niyama, āsana, and prāṇāyāma; while the external includes pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, and

samādhi. It’s worth stating again, however, that both the external and internal aṅgas, when framed as

Śivapūjā, are considered internal against the externalities of traditional Śaiva ritual (water, sandalwood,

flowers, etc.). Each aṅga of Aṣṭāṅgayoga replaces the external dravyas of the ritual, which as we will see,

Cennasadāśivayogin strings together throughout the text.

5.13 Yama and Niyama

The yamas and niyamas are ethical “restraints” and “observances” commonly featured at the beginning

of yoga systems with eight auxiliary components (aṣṭāṅgayoga), most commonly exemplified in the

Pātañjalayogaśāstra which teaches a traditional set of five yamas and five niyamas, which were in fact

shared with other Śramaṇa traditions including Buddhism and Jainism. Six-limbed (ṣaḍaṅga) systems

of yoga as are commonly taught in systems of Śaiva tantra typically do not include teachings on yama

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and niyama, however this does not mean that similar ethical teachings were not included. As observed

by MALLINSON & SINGLETON, “tantric texts enjoin ethical observances in places other than their yoga

teachings, such as in the caryāpādas (‘sections on behaviour’) of certain tantras” (2017, 51). Most early

medieval Haṭhayoga and Rājayoga texts, including the Amaraughaprabodha, Vivekamārtaṇḍa, the

Śivasaṃhitā, and even the Haṭhapradīpikā,415 did not include teachings on the yamas and niyamas.416

The Haṭhapradīpikā includes one curious verse on the topic, which was adapted from the

earlier Dattātreyayogaśāstra:

Just as moderate diet (mitāhāra) is [foremost] among the yamas, and non-harming (ahiṃsā)
is [foremost] among the niyamas, likewise the Siddhas know this [posture] siddhāsana as
foremost among all the āsanas.417

In the Dattātreyayogaśāstra verse, it states that there are ten yamas declared by sages, but only mentions

moderate diet (laghvāhāra) as the best among these, and likewise ahiṃsā as best among the niyamas.418

These verses appear to suggest that the yamas and niyamas are simply common knowledge—everyone

knows that mitāhāra is foremost among the yamas; and likewise ahiṃsā is the best of all the niyamas.

In this regard, one may opine that perhaps the Haṭhapradīpikā and the Dattātreyayogaśāstra omit

these teachings, not because they are of little importance, but rather because they would have been

obvious and well-known to readers of the text. What is ironic about these verses, which intend to state

415 As BIRCH & HARGREAVES (2016, 4) observe, “Nearly all printed editions of the Haṭhapradīpikā have inserted

verses on Yamas and Niyamas, in most cases, borrowing them from Brahmānanda’s commentary, called the
Jyotsnā, which was written in the nineteenth century. The original structure in the manuscript transmission of
the Haṭhapradīpikā’s yoga is only fourfold (i.e., Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, Mudrā and Samādhi). The inclusion of the
Yamas and Niyamas in its printed editions might have been an attempt by the editors to make this yoga text
more complete in their view.”
416 See BIRCH & HARGREAVES (2016) for a more detailed discussion.

417Haṭhapradīpikā 1.3: yameṣv iva mitāhāram ahiṃsāṃ niyameśv iva | mukhyaṃ sarvāsaneṣv ekaṃ siddhāḥ
siddhāsanaṃ viduḥ ||.
418 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 32c–34b: yamā
vai daśa samproktā ṛṣibhis tattvadarśibhiḥ || laghvāhāras tu teṣv eko
mukhyo bhavati nāpare | ahiṃsā niymeṣv eko mukhyo bhavati nāpare ||.

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the obvious, is that ahiṃsā is rarely listed as a niyama, and is more commonly recognized as the first in

the list of yamas.419 It is clear that there are many different traditions of yama and niyama teachings.

The Śivasaṃhitā actually dismisses such teachings as potential spiritual obstacles. In a series of

verses demonstrating the various opinions which are rooted in ignorance, the Śivasaṃhitā states:

Some praise truthfulness (satya) and others austerity (tapas) and purity (śauca). Some praise
patience (kṣamā) and others equanimity (śama) and honesty (ārjava).420

So many opinions and religious practices such as (dāna), ancestor worship (pitṛkarma), Mantrayoga,

and pilgrimages can cause confusion for the aspirant.421 Elsewhere in the same text, niyamas are listed

along with ritual bathing, worship, vows, fasting, and more, as obstacles to liberation in the form of

religion (dharma).422 For the Śivasaṃhitā, teachings on yama and niyama are thus presented as

religious or ideological obstacles among many that may prevent the aspirant from attaining true inner

knowledge and liberation.

The somewhat surprising omission, and even critique, of the yamas and niyamas, within

traditions of Haṭhayoga raises the question as to whether these yogic teachings on morality and self-

cultivation were no longer deemed important, or if perhaps they were assumed elsewhere. As BIRCH &

HARGREAVES suggest, “One possible answer is that these practitioners followed the moral code of their

own religious tradition” (2016, 3). That is, the redactors of these texts did not include teachings on

yama and niyama as such teachings were to be filled in elsewhere by religious teachers of a particular

419 DIGAMBARAJI (1970, xviii) notes that theDattātreyasaṃhitā [i.e. Dattātreyayogaśāstra] 32–33 and the
Yogatattvopaniṣad 28 also include ahimṣā among the niyamas and mitāhāra among the yamas, as does
interestingly the Buddhist monk Paramārtha in his Chinese translation of the early commentary on the
Sāṅkhyakārikā. According to DIGAMBARAJI, Paramārtha describes the five yamas as akrodha, guruśuśruṣā,
śauca, āhāralāghava, apramāda; and the five niyamas as ahiṃsā, asteya, satya, brahmacarya, and “not to flatter.”
420Śivasaṃhitā 1.4: satyaṃ kecit praśaṃsanti tapaḥ śaucaṃ tathāpare | kṣamāṃ kecit praśaṃsanti tathaiva
śamam ārjavam ||.
421 Śivasaṃhitā 1.5–7.
422 Śivasaṃhitā 5.6–7.

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tradition. “In this sense, Haṭha and Rājayoga can be considered to be morally neutral because they

relied upon the moral codes of other traditions” (BIRCH & HARGREAVES 2016, 3). While I do not

believe the omission of the yamas and niyamas necessarily makes such texts “morally neutral” as there

may be other places in the texts where morality is constructed and imposed, nonetheless, it is very

possible that although formal teachings on the yamas and niyamas were not included, they were

supplied by a religious teacher, or another text, and were thus viewed as extraneous to the text at hand.

In this sense, for authors like Svātmārāma, the yamas and niyamas were not considered to be part of

the Haṭhayoga system of practice.423 In some cases, their omission may simply have to do with the

absence of an Aṣṭāṅga structure. This is not the case, however, for the Śivayogapradīpikā which teaches

a system of ten yamas and ten niyamas as the first two aṅgas of its Aṣṭāṅgayoga. The verses are as

follows:

(2.10) True celibacy, restricted diet, steadfastness, compassion, joy, honesty, purity, patience,
non-stealing, and non-harming—these are the ten yamas established by sages. (2.11)
Contentment, the power of faith, contemplation, austerity, religious vows, worship of Śiva,
mantra repetition, modesty, listening to yoga scriptures, and giving to worthy recipients—
these are known as the ten niyamas.

There are many texts that teach twenty or even thirty yamas and niyamas, however, it is the teachings

from the twelfth-century Śaiva tantra, the Śāradātilaka,424 and the Yogayājñavalkya (c. 13–14th

century)425 that most closely parallel the lists found in the Śivayogapradīpikā. While there could have

been other intermediary texts, I suggest that there is a plausible line of transmission in these teachings

423 Svātmārāma describes “the proper sequence (anukrama) of practice in Haṭhayoga as āsanas, various types of

kumbhakas, [bodily] actions called mudrās, and nādānusandhāna.” Haṭhapradīpikā 1.56.

424 Śāradātilaka 25.7–9ab: ahiṃsā satyam asteyaṃ brahmacaryaṃ kṛpārjavam | kṣamā dhṛtimītāhāraḥ śaucaṃ
ceti yamā daśa || tapaḥ santoṣa āstikyaṃ dānaṃ devasya pūjanam | siddhāntaśravaṇaṃ caiva hrīr matiś ca japo
hutam || daśaite niyamāḥ proktāḥ yogaśāstraviśāradaiḥ |.
425Yogayājñavalkya 1.50cd–51ab, 2.1–2ab: ahiṃsā satyam asteyaṃ brahmacaryaṃ dayārjavaṃ || kṣamā dhṛtir
mitāhāraḥ śaucaṃ tvete yamā daśa | … tapaḥ santoṣa āstikyaṃ dānam īśvarapūjanam | siddhāntaśravaṇaṃ caiva
hrīr matiś ca japo vratam ||.

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from the Śāradātilaka to the Yogayājñavalkya and then to the Śivayogapradīpikā. The passages in the

Yogayājñavalkya and the Śāradātilaka are nearly identical except for the change in words for the yama

of compassion from kṛpā to dayā—a change which is upheld by the Śivayogapradīpikā. Likewise, for

the niyamas, all are the same save for the worship of God/Lord changing from devasya pūjana to

īśvarapūjana. It seems quite clear that the Yogayājñavalkya was utilizing the Śaradātilaka template, and

that the Śivayogapradīpikā drew on the Yogayājñavalkya, or a similar source, then making its own

amendments.

Table 16: Yama Chart.

Śivayogapradīpikā Yogayājñavalkya Śāradātilaka Pātañjalayogaśāstra

1. True celibacy 1. Non-harming (ahiṃsā) 1. Non-harming 1. Non-harming

(subrahmacarya) (ahiṃsā) (ahiṃsā)

2. Restricted diet 2. Truthfulness (satya) 2. Truthfulness 2. Truthfulness (satya)

(niyatāśana) (satya)

3. Steadfastness (dhṛti) 3. Non-stealing (asteya) 3. Non-stealing 3. Non-stealing (asteya)

(asteya)

4. Compassion (dayā) 4. Celibacy 4. Celibacy 4. Celibacy

(brahmacarya) (brahmacarya) (brahmacarya)

5. Joy (sūnṛta) 5. Compassion (dayā) 5. Compassion 5. Non-possessing

(kṛpā) (aparigraha)

6. Honesty (ārjava) 6. Honesty (ārjava) 6. Honesty (ārjava)

7. Purity (śauca) 7. Patience (kṣamā) 7. Patience (kṣamā)

8. Patience (kṣamā) 8. Steadfastness (dhṛti) 8. Steadfastness

(dhṛti)

9. Non-stealing (asteya) 9. Moderate diet 9. Moderate diet

(mitāhāra) (mītāhāra)

10. Non-harming (ahiṃsā) 10. Purity (śauca) 10. Purity (śauca)

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All three of these medieval texts incorporate and expand on the traditional five yamas and five niyamas

set forth in Pātañjalayogaśāstra 2.30–45. Looking at the lists of yamas, a noticeable omission from the

Pātañjala list is aparigraha, the “not-possessing” of material objects—which would ostensibly apply

more to renunciates and monastics. Perhaps this is indicative of a less-ascetic yogic audience? As we will

see there are other mentions of non-ascetic yogins in the text and so the teachings of the

Śivayogapradīpikā do not appear to be restricted to renunciates. However, the yama of celibacy

(brahmacarya) is still included, as is the niyama of austerity (tapas) on the next list, both of which are

typical practices for ascetics and not householders. Instead of truthfulness (satya) as in Patañjali, the

Śivayogapradīpikā includes honesty (ārjava), which it shares with the Śāradātilaka and

Yogayājñavalkya. The Śāradātilaka and Yogayājñavalkya in fact double down on this virtue by

including both satya and ārjava. In addition to the celibacy (subrahmacarya), non-stealing (asteya),

and non-harming (ahiṃsā) which are shared with Patañjali, the Śivayogapradīpikā additionally

includes restricted diet (niyatāśana), steadfastness (dhṛti), compassion (dayā), joy (sūnṛta), sincerity

(ārjava), purity (śauca), and patience (kṣamā). Curiously, both the medieval texts feature purity (śauca)

as a yama, unlike in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra where it is taught as the first niyama.

If the Śāradātilaka or the Yogayājñavalkya were source texts for the Śivayogapradīpikā’s yama

and niyama teachings, there are also a few notable changes. First, the order has been altered

significantly. While the Śāradātilaka/Yogayājñavalkya still opens with the traditional order of the

Pātañjalayogaśāstra, beginning with ahimṣā, and so on, the Śivayogapradīpikā has in fact placed ahimṣā

last on its list of yamas, beginning instead with celibacy. In many cases of philosophical Sanskrit

literature there is an implicit hierarchy to such lists, with the first element being of primary importance

(as is indeed the case in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra),426 however, that does not appear to be the case in ŚYP

426 See BRYANT (2009, 57) for a discussion of this principle of Sanskrit hermeneutics.

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2.10. In fact, the opposite may be true, with ahiṃsā being placed as the tenth and final yama. It is more

likely, however, that the yamas are arranged in this verse, and spelt variously, due to metrical purposes

rather than doctrinal ones. Other than the order and variant spellings (e.g. dayā instead of kṛpā for

compassion), out of the ten yamas of the Śāradātilaka/Yogayājñavalkya, nine are shared with the

Śivayogapradīpikā. The Śivayogapradīpikā includes joy (sūnṛta), while the Śāradātilaka/

Yogayājñavalkya includes truthfulness (satya).

Table 17: Niyama Chart.

Śivayogapradīpikā Yogayājñavalkya Śāradātilaka Pātañjalayogaśāstra

1. Contentment (santoṣa) 1. Austerity (tapas) 1. Austerity (tapas) 1. Purity (śauca)

2. Faith (āstikya) 2. Contentment 2. Contentment 2. Contentment

(santoṣa) (santoṣa) (santoṣa)

3. Contemplation (mati) 3. Faith (āstikya) 3. Faith (āstikya) 3. Austerity (tapas)

4. Austerity (tapas) 4. Giving (dāna) 4. Giving (dāna) 4. Self-study (svādhyāya)

5. Religious vows (vrata) 5. Worship of the Lord 5. Worship of God 5. Devotion to the Lord
(īśvarapūjana) (devasya pūjana) (īśvarapraṇidhāna)

6. Worship of Śiva 6. Listening to doctrinal 6. Listening to doctrinal

(śaṅkarapūjana) teachings teachings
(siddhāntaśravaṇa) (siddhāntaśravaṇa)

7. Mantra repetition 7. Modesty (hrī) 7. Modesty (hrī)

(japa)

8. Modesty (hrī) 8. Contemplation 8. Contemplation

(mati) (mati)

9. Listening to yoga 9. Mantra repetition 9. Mantra repetition

scriptures (japa) (japa)
(yogaśāstraśravaṇa)

10. Giving (pradāna) 10. Religious vows 10. Sacri$cial o%erings

(vrata) (huta)

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Looking at these lists of niyamas, we can see the integration and expansion of the observances from

Patañjali in the later texts. Purity (śauca) was already listed as a yama. Both contentment (santoṣa) and

austerity (tapas) are included. Self-study (svādhyāya) has become “listening to doctrinal

teachings” (siddhāntaśravaṇa) in the Śāradātilaka/Yogayājñavalkya and then more specifically,

“listening to yoga scriptures” (yogaśāstraśravaṇa) in the Śivayogapradīpikā. Likewise, we can see a

transition from the more ecumenical “devotion to the Lord” (īśvarapraṇidhāna) for Patañjali, to the

“worship of God” (devasya pūjanam) in the Śāradātilaka, “worship of the Lord” (īśvarapūjana) in the

Yogayājñavalkya, and then in more clearly Śaiva terms, the “worship of Śiva” (śaṅkarapūjana) in the

Śivayogapradīpikā. To these common five, the medieval texts add faith (āstikya), contemplation (mati),

religious vows (vrata), mantra repetition (japa), modesty (hrī), and giving (pradāna). Again, all of these

are shared with the Śāradātilaka save for one. While the Śāradātilaka includes making sacrificial

offerings (huta), both the Yogayājñavalkya and the Śivayogapradīpikā include the cultivation of

religious vows (vrata). While the Yogayājñavalkya provides further descriptions of each yama and

niyama,427 the Śivayogapradīpikā simply lists them.

For the Śivayogapradīpikā, the cultivation of the yamas and the niyamas serves the purpose of

preliminary self-purification for the ritual of Aṣṭāṅgayoga. Cennasadāśivayogin reminds us of the ritual

at hand:

(2.12) Having become steady and disciplined through all twenty of the yamas (restraints) and
niyamas (observances), in this manner, one should practice the purification of one’s self
(svātmaśuddhi).

Just as the ritualist must transform his or her body through the continual rite of self-purification

(ātmaśuddhi) before one can perform the daily ritual worship (nityapūjā),428 the Śivayogin practices

427 Yogayājñavalkya 1.50–69, 2.1–19.

428 On the ritual importance of ātmaśuddhi, see DAVIS (1991, 52).

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self-purification through the cultivation and discipline of the yamas and niyamas. Once the body and

mind is purified in this way, the yogin may begin āsana.

5.14 Āsana

Yogic postures (āsana) comprise the third aṅga of Aṣṭāṅgayoga systems, as we find here in the

Śivayogapradīpikā. Across texts and systems the number and types of āsanas vary. In Pātañjalayoga,

āsana, when mastered, creates a “stable and comfortable” (sthirasukha) seat which can be held for an

exceedingly long period of time, enabling the yogin to advance to prāṇāyāma and the more subtle

interior aṅgas of meditative absorption. According to Patañjali,

Posture (āsana) [becomes] stable and comfortable (sthirasukha) through the relaxation of
effort or absorption in the infinite. Thereby, one is unafflicted by pairs of opposites.429

The commentaries on Pātañjalayogaśāstra 2.48, beginning with the commentary (bhāṣya) itself,

provides lists of seated postures such as such as padmāsana (lotus posture), bhadrāsana (blessed

posture), vīrāsana (hero posture), and svastikāsana (auspicious posture). They are to be employed by

the yogin in order to still the body for a prolonged period of time, to assist in stilling the fluctuations of

the mind (yogaś cittavṛttinirodhaḥ)—indeed, the cessative goal of Pātañjalayoga. In this way,

establishing a “stable and comfortable” (sthirasukha) posture serves a functional role for cultivating

single-pointed awareness, and operates within early yoga systems as a foundational practice for

stabilizing the body in order to control the breath (prāṇāyāma) and rein in the senses (pratyāhāra).

Āsana thus enables the aspiring yogin to progress through the more subtle and refined inner auxiliaries

(antaraṅga) of fixation (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and ultimately, meditative absorption

(samādhi).

429 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 2.46–48: sthirasukham āsanam | prayatnaśaithilyānantasamāpattibhyām | tato

dvandvānabhighātaḥ |. I am following MAAS (2018), who has proposes that sūtras 2.46–47 should be read as a
single syntactical unit.

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 Within medieval works on Haṭhayoga we begin to find more variety in āsanas taught including

non-seated postures, beginning with the arm-balancing postures mayūrāsana (peacock posture) and

kukkuṭāsana (rooster posture) as found in the Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā and the Yogayājñavalkya. The

Haṭhapradīpikā teaches fifteen āsanas, including the non-seated postures mayūrāsana, kukkuṭāsana,

uttānakūrmaka (upward facing tortoise), dhanurāsana (bow posture), and the supine śavāsana (corpse

posture). In the Haṭhayoga literature, āsana continues to serve a foundational role for engaging in

prāṇāyāma and other auxiliaries of yoga, however, is also associated with bodily purification and

therapeutic aims, often addressing particular ailments and disease within the yogin’s body. As the

Haṭhapradīpikā states:

Āsana is described first because it is the first auxiliary of Haṭha[yoga]. One should perform
it, for āsana [results in] steadiness, freedom from disease, and lightness of body.430

The Haṭhapradīpikā and other texts such as the Haṭharatnāvalī (often quoting the Haṭhapradīpikā

directly) advertise particular health benefits associated with the successful performance of individual

āsanas. For example, the Haṭharatnāvalī states that the application of bhadrāsana removes “all diseases

and toxins” (sarvavyādhiviṣāpaha).431 The Haṭhapradīpikā declares that mayūrāsana “quickly destroys

all diseases such as swelling in the body, abdominal disease, etc., and conquers the disorders (doṣa).”432

Śavāsana “removes fatigue and causes mental repose,”433 the seated spinal twist, matsyendrāsana,

430 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.17: haṭhasya

prathamāṅgatvād āsanaṃ pūrvam ucyate | kuryāt tad āsanaṃ sthairyam
ārogyaṃ cāṅgalāghavam || = Haṭharatnāvalī 3.5.
431 Haṭharatnāvalī 3.30.

Haṭhapradīpikā 1.31ab: harati sakalarogān āśu gulmodarādīn abhibhavati ca doṣān āsanaṃ śrīmayūram | =
432

Haṭharatnāvalī 3.43ab.
433 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.32cd.

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“awakens kuṇḍalinī” (kuṇḍalinīprabodha),434 while the seated forward-bending paścimatāna (i.e.

paścimottānāsana) “causes the vital air to flow along the backside.”435 Such postures then (including

seated ones), were, according to the Haṭha texts, no longer employed solely for the purpose of attaining

firm seats for prolonged meditation or breath-control, but were performed more actively and

dynamically (i.e. stretching, pressing, twisting, bending, balancing, etc.) to cure the disorders (doṣa) and

diseases (roga) of the body, develop health (ārogya), and manipulate subtle energy (kuṇḍalinī, prāṇa)

within the yogin’s body.436

In the Śivayogapradīpikā, within the Aṣṭāṅgayoga ritual of Śivapūjā, āsana is framed as a

foundational technique for establishing a seat (āsana, pīṭha) for the deity to be worshipped. Ten

postures are listed as the best:

(2.13) Adept (siddha), lotus (ambuja), auspicious (svastika), liberated (mukta), hero (vīra),
splendid (bhadra), peacock (ahibhuj), lion (kesari), cow-faced (gomukha), and indeed,
comfortable posture (sukhāsana)—these ten are well-marked as the best āsanas.

All ten of these postures, I suggest, are seated āsanas. The one named ahibhuj, “peacock,” is likely

another name for mayūrāsana.437 Although mayūrāsana is most commonly taught as a non-seated

arm-balancing posture where the yogin, with elbows pressed into the abdomen, presses his hands off

the ground with his legs sticking backwards like a staff (daṇḍa), here it is likely that ahibhuj refers to a

seated variant of the “peacock” posture, as is taught for example in Matsyendrasaṃhitā 3.13.438 It

434 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.27c = Haṭharatnāvalī 3.58c.

435 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.29b = Haṭharatnāvalī 3.67b.

436 For more detailed analysis of the premodern history of āsana in India, see MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017),
BIRCH (2018b), and POWELL (2018).
437 The term ahibhuj, literally “snake-eater” refers to the fact that in India peacocks eat poisonous snakes and are
thus believed to develop immunity to deadly poisons. Thus, in Haṭhapradīpikā 1.31, mayūrāsana is said to make
the stomach and digestive fires so strong that the yogin can consume anything, even poison.
438 I thank MALLINSON for this important observation. Personal communication, May 3, 2023.

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would be somewhat strange to include a non-seated balancing posture which cannot be held for long

for ritual worship or for prāṇāyāma, unlike all the other seated postures on this list. We cannot know

for sure, however, as Cennasadāśivayogin does not provide further descriptions of the āsanas.439

It is likely that Cennasadāśivayogin was drawing from established lists of āsanas found in other

texts such as the Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā and the Yogayājñavalkya, which teach very similar postures. In

addition to ahibuj replacing mayūrāsana, there are other variant names for postures such as ambuja

(“water-born”) for padma, a common epithet for the lotus flower, and kesari instead of siṃha for lion.

These variant names are a reminder of the fluidity of āsana appellations in the premodern period.

Again, it is unclear if these variants reflected a difference in orthopraxis, that is, of the prescribed

manner to physically perform the āsana. More likely, the author uses these variant names of āsanas—as

we saw with yamas and niyamas—simply to satisfy Sanskrit poetical and metrical purposes.

Table 18: Āsana Chart.

Śivayogapradīpikā Yogayājñavalkya Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā

1. Adept (siddha) 1. Auspicious (svastika) 1. Auspicious (svastika)

2. Lotus (ambuja) 2. Cow-faced (gomukha) 2. Cow-faced (gomukha)

3. Auspicious (svastika) 3. Lotus (padma) 3. Lotus (padma)

4. Liberated (mukta) 4. Hero (vīra) 4. Hero (vīra)

5. Hero (vīra) 5. Lion (siṃha) 5. Lion (siṃha)

6. Splendid (bhadra) 6. Splendid (bhadra) 6. Peacock (mayūra)

7. Peacock (ahibhuj) 7. Liberated (mukta) 7. Rooster (kukkuṭa)

8. Lion (kesari) 8. Peacock (mayūra) 8. Tortoise (kūrma)

9. Cow-faced (gomukha) 9. Splendid (bhadra)

10. Comfortable Posture 10. Liberated (mukta)

(sukhāsana)

439 Basavārādhya provides descriptions of the āsanas by quoting the Vasiṣṭhasaṃhitā.

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Next our author simplifies his list of the ten best āsanas into a top three, which are uniquely prescribed

to types of yoga practitioners, according to their station in life.

(2.14) Lotus (ambuja) for householders, adept (siddha) for those on paths other than
householders, and comfortable posture (sukhāsana) for all—these three kinds [of posture]
are the best.

This verse appears to indicate that this Aṣṭāṅgayoga is available not only to ascetics but to householders

(gṛhin), and indeed to all. Moreover, the postures should be modified according to the practitioner. It

is interesting to note that “lotus” posture (ambuja) is prescribed for householders, while

“accomplished” (siddha) is recommended for non-householders (i.e. celibate ascetics and monastics).440

This is because the application of siddhāsana requires pressing the the foot against the penis,441

symbolizing, if not directly causing, celibacy. Thus, the posture is prescribed for celibate ascetics and

not progenitive householders. However, for those who are unable to perform padmāsana or

siddhāsana, Cennasadāśivayogin reassures us, the “comfortable posture” (sukhāsana) is available to all

—or for that matter, any preferred āsana from this list.

(2.15) Indeed, any āsana may be praised equally. Seated in [one] of these āsanas according to
one’s desire, the [yogin] should abide in a solitary place.

In the end, it does not in fact matter which āsana the yogin adopts, so long as it is mastered (vaśa).

Properly established in a seated posture, the yogin should dwell in the proper locale to continue with

the sādhana.

5.15 The Yoga Hermitage

The next verses describe the ideal yoga hermitage (maṭha), which is an extension of the teachings on

āsana. Like the posture itself, the hermitage provides the ideal abode and container for the yoga ritual.

440 Basavārādhya glosses gṛhasthetaravartmanām as “others who are not householders, [namely,] Brahmacārins,

Bhikṣus, and Vānaprasthins.”

441 E.g. Haṭhapradīpikā 1.3: dṛḍhaṃ vinyaset meḍhre pādam |.

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 (2.16) There, one should make a delightful hermitage (maṭha) with a small door, and [it
should be] unblemished, surrounded by an enclosed wall, clean, and furnished with an outer
hall. (2.17) Filled with fragrant flowers and adorned with an awning, richly furnished with
soft pillows, beds, and other [such comforts], as well as seats, and the like. (2.18) Scented
with fragrant incense daily and smeared with cow dung, supplied with [ritual] firewood,
flower petals, as well as filled with [edible] bulbs, roots, and fruits. (2.19) Well-adorned with
sacred ashes, rudrākṣa beads, kuśa grass, and antelope skin, stocked with pure food and
drink, and amply filled with all medicinal herbs.

These verses on the yoga maṭha are similar to other descriptions found in yoga literature.442 One key

feature is that the hermitage is desired to be in a solitary location (viviktasthāna), free of worldly

distractions so that the yogin can engage in yoga single-mindedly and alone. And yet, the yoga maṭha

described in the Śivayogapradīpikā is not without its comforts. It is kept clean and smelling fresh with

fragrant flowers. Not only is it furnished with soft pillows and beds, but it is well-stocked with

firewood, flowers, fruits, nourishing food and drink, as well as medicinal herbs. It is also furnished with

items for daily rituals including sacred ashes, rudrākṣa beads, kuśa grass, and antelope skin. It is an

idyllic retreat space to carry out one’s yoga sādhana. Returning to the yoga ritual, we conclude the

verses on āsana:

(2.20) Within the hermitage, the abode that is pleasing to the mind, having entered that
dwelling with a focused mind, one should constantly worship Sadāśiva, fixed within the
heart.

Once the yogin has established the proper yoga maṭha, the ritual space, and having mastered the āsana,

the ritual seat (pīṭha) for the deity, they enter that abode with a steady and focused mind, ready to

worship Śiva within the heart. The yogin is then ready for prāṇāyāma.

5.16 Prāṇāyāma

In ritual terms, prāṇāyāma is described as the water with which one bathes the inner deity, Śiva “who

consists of consciousness” (cinmaya). In practical yoga terms, prāṇāyāma is taught as threefold: natural

442See, for example, Dattātreyayogaśāstra 54–58, Haṭhapradīpikā 1.12–14, Haṭharatnāvalī 1.67–68,

Śvetāśvataropaniṣad 2.10, etc.

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(prākṛta), modified (vaikṛta), and kevalakumbhaka—an exalted state of breath retention which is

beyond the natural or modified breath and which unfolds on its own (ŚYP 2.22). Natural prāṇāyāma is

when the vital energy of the breath moves naturally, emptying and filling itself through inhalations

(niśvāsa) and exhalations (ucchvāsa) (ŚYP 2.23). When the yogin restrains the breath, that is, employs a

kumbhaka, before or after an exhalation or inhalation, “according to the prescriptions taught in the

Āgamas” (āgamoktavidhānena), this is said to be prāṇāyāma which is modified (vaikṛta) (ŚYP 2.24).

Then, as soon as the breath stops completely, this is known as kevalakumbhaka, literally, the “restraint

[of breath] alone” (ŚYP 2.25). Having introduced this threefold designation of prāṇāyāma, our author

Cennasadāśivayogin then returns to the fourfold structure of yoga systems outlined at the beginning of

the text. Here he maps each of the four yogas onto a progressive stage of prāṇāyāma:

(2.26) Natural (prākṛta) is Mantrayoga and modified (vaikṛta) is Layayoga. Haṭha[yoga] is

known as kevalakumbhaka and Rājayoga is known as the "no-mind" (amanas) [state].

(2.27) The first is the yoga of the unpronounced mantra (ajapā). Next is the absorption
(laya) of the breath in the internal resonance (nāda). Then is steadiness of the mind and
breath. After that, the fourth is the absence of [mental] turnings (vṛtti).

Natural (prākṛta) prāṇāyāma is thus equated with Mantrayoga, which is here understood not as the

repetition of traditional mantras such as oṃ namaḥ śivāya, etc., but rather as the ajapā—the

unpronounced mantra, which will be described in more detail below. Modified (vaikṛta) prāṇāyāma is

said to be Layayoga, defined as the absorption (laya) the breath in the internal resonance (nāda).

Kevalakumbhaka, then, is equated with the stage of Haṭhayoga, where there is steadiness (sthira) of

mind and breath. To make this threefold prāṇāyāma schema work with the fourfold yoga systems, a

fourth stage of prāṇāyāma has been added—which is beyond everything else.443 This “no-

mind” (amanas) state, beyond even kevalakumbhaka, is equated with the stage of Rājayoga, where

443 Later in the text, within the context of Rājayoga, a different fourfold prāṇāyāma is described as: exhalation,
inhalation, retention (kumbhaka), and fusion (saṃghatta, ŚYP 4.7).

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there is an absence of mental activity (vṛttiśūnya). Within this framework of prāṇāyāma, the remainder

of the second paṭala is devoted to more detailed teachings on the ajapā mantra, the three yogic locks or

bandhas, and descriptions of kevalakumbhaka.

5.17 The Ajapā Mantra

Unlike its Tantric and Āgamic scriptural predecessors, where mantra plays an elevated role within

doctrinal systems of Mantramārga praxis, in most medieval Yogaśāstras that teach Haṭhayoga, teachings

on mantra are largely void or assume a lesser status. The Dattātreyayogaśāstra states that Mantrayoga

can be “mastered by anyone” and that the “weak are entitled” to practice it.444 Later in the same text,

mantrasādhana is listed as one of the obstacles to yoga practice.445 In the Śivayogapradīpikā, mantra is

reframed and interiorized within a prāṇāyāma environment, specifically in the form of the ajapā, the

“unuttered” mantra—that is, the natural sound of the inhalation and exhalation. This type of

interiorized yogic mantra thus holds a more positive soteriological value within the context of

prāṇāyāma than does traditional mantra japa on its own. The Vivekamārtaṇḍa is perhaps one of the

first Haṭhayoga texts to teach the ajapā mantra, which is said to bestow liberation upon yogins.446 In

the Śivayogapradīpikā, the ajapā is described as follows:

(2.29) This seed (bīja) comprised of the letter ha with the bindu goes outwards (i.e. haṃ हं).
The seed (bīja) containing the letter sa with the visarga goes inwards (i.e. saḥ सः). (2.30) The
vital energy of the breath is what induces and ceases the activity of all beings. Thus, the
embodied soul (jīva) chants the Gāyatrī called ajapā every day. (2.31) Day and night, 21,600
times [the mantra is involuntarily recited]. A person who recites it at sunrise in the manner
taught by the illustrious guru, he reaps the fruit of the ajapā. (2.32) From bringing one’s
attention to [this mantra] called ajapā, a person is liberated from sins. He swiftly obtains
Śivayoga, indeed, there is no doubt.

444 Dattātreyayogaśāstra12cd–13ab: yena kenāpi sādhyah syān mantrayogah sa kathyate || mrdus tasyādhikārī
syād dvādaśābdais tu sādhanāt |.
445 Dattātreyayogaśāstra 52.
446 Vivekamārtaṇḍa 28–30.

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The ajapā mantra takes the form of haṃsa (which also translates in Sanskrit to swan or goose)—

comprised of the two syllables haṃ and saḥ, which correspond with the outbreath and inbreath,

respectively. As this is the natural energy of the breath in all beings, all embodied souls (jīva) are said to

be chanting the Gāyatrī mantra named ajapā every day simply by breathing in and out. In this way, the

ajapā can be seen as a yogic appropriation of the principal Vedic Gāyatrī mantra (MALLINSON &

SINGLETON 2017, 134). The statement that the ajapā is involuntarily chanted 21,600 times a day,

corresponding with the number of breaths per day, is also found in numerous other yoga and earlier

tantric texts.447 The yogin however who brings their attention (saṃkalpa) to the ajapā is said to be

freed from sins (pāpa), and moreover, the text says, swiftly obtains the state of Śivayoga—that is, union

with Śiva. This is to be done especially at sunrise, the text says, in the manner taught by the guru. The

haṃsa mantra we are told is also found in its reverse, as the so ’ham mantra, which is taken to mean

“I” (aham) am “That” (saḥ), in non-dual terms, the individual Self being equated with the supreme

Self which is Śiva. When these two syllables of the ajapā mantra merge at the triple-confluence

(triveṇīsaṃgama) at the base of the nose—which is to say when the inhalation and the exhalation

merge—the syllables so ’ham are said to become the mantra oṃ (ŚYP 2.33). How does this happen?

Cennasadāśivayogin explains:

(2.34) Having made so ’ham one’s personal mantra—in which the two syllables are expressed
as one's self and the Supreme—[the yogin] should take away the two consonants and
refashion it as the divine mantra oṃ. Having joined it with the nasal sound (anusvāra), it is
the best of all mantras. He who leads it to the brahmanāḍī (i.e. suṣumṇā) is full of bliss,
[even if] deprived of the experience of Kuṇḍalinī. He attains release from [all] karma.

447 The number 21,600 derives from the notion of a natural four-second breath. In a 24-hour day, there are

86,400 seconds (= 24 x 60 x 60); divided by 4 seconds, this yields the total number of 21,600 breaths. See for
example, Hemacandra’s Yogaśāstra 5.232, Amaraughaprabodha 58, Vivekamārtaṇḍa 46, Dhyānabindūpaniṣad
62ab-63ab, Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā 5.79, among others. As BIRCH notes (2013, 265, n.46) this idea is derived from
earlier Śaiva tantras such as Svacchandatantra 7.54-55.

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In this clever way, we are told that if one takes the syllables so (the sandhi version of saḥ) and ham, but

we remove the consonants, then so → o and ham → m. Add the anusvāra to the latter and we are left

with → oṃ. The yogin who draws the divine mantra oṃ into the suṣumṇā nāḍī attains bliss and is

liberated from all previous karma—even if he has not yet had the direct experience of Kuṇḍalinī we are

told. This is perhaps one of the earliest explanations as to how the dual-syllabic haṃsa—that is, the

ajapā Gāyatrī mantra—becomes so ’ham, and in turn how it is refashioned into the monosyllabic oṃ.

Through the power of the breath, the all-important Vedic Gāyatrī is thus re-interiorized within the

yogic body in the form of oṃ.

5.18 The Triple-Confluence

The making of oṃ is said to take place when the two syllables of the ajapā mantra merge at the triple-

confluence (triveṇīsaṃgama). This triple-confluence is understood in yogic terms as the three central

energy channels, or nāḍīs, namely—iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā. Like the triple-confluence of rivers that

is said to meet at Prayag in Allahabad, in India’s sacred geography, they are interiorized within the body

of the yogin.

(2.35) On account of yoga, iḍā is known as the moon and the daughter of the sun (i.e.
Yamunā). That which is called piṅgalā is the sun and the foot of Viṣṇu (i.e. Gangā). Between
them is that called the Middle (i.e. suṣumṇā) which is fire and the goddess of speech (i.e.
Sarasvatī). [Where the three meet] is called the triple-confluence and it is the place of yoga.
This alone becomes [known as] the triple-peaked mountain (trikūṭa).

The sacred geography of the yogin’s body is detailed further. The triple-confluence of nāḍīs, we are

told, is also known as the triple-peaked mountain (trikūṭa), located at the base (i.e. the top) of the nose.

It is also known as the meeting of the four sacred seats (catuṣpīṭha), which in tantric literature is known

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as the four sacred “seats.”448 Here within the yogin’s body the catuṣpīṭha are the four doors of the

senses—the two doors of sound (śabdadvāra, i.e. the ears) and the two doors of smell (gandhadvāra,

i.e. the nostrils, ŚYP 2.36). This potent location within the yogin’s body is also known by the name

śṛṅgāṭaka, a special three-peaked mountain. In fact, we are told that all four of these sacred locales—the

triple-confluence (triveṇīsaṃgama), the triple-peaked mountain (trikūṭa), the four sacred seats

(catuṣpītha), and śṛṅgāṭaka—are in fact one place (ekasthala, ŚYP 2.37). It is also described as the “locus

of the moon, sun, and fire” (ŚYP 2.41).

In order to bring the inhalation and exhalation to the trikūṭa through the path of the suṣumṇā,

the yogin begins to activate the three Śaktis. This is done especially by manipulating the internal

energies by means of the three internal yogic locks, or bandhas. There is an upper Śakti which descends

upon the restraint of the ascending breath. The middle Śakti awakens when the breath is driven

backwards towards the spine. Then there is a lower Śakti which contracts through a restriction at the

base of the spine.

(2.40) Therefore, through the descent, awakening, and contracting of the threefold Śaktis,
those lords of yogins travel to the supreme abode.

When the yogin activates the three Śaktis and performs the three bandhas together with the sound of

oṃ at the trikūṭa, this is said to be kevalakumbhaka, the “most extraordinary kept secret” among the

methods of Haṭhayoga (ŚYP 2.43). Just as the coming and going of the breath is stopped through

kevalakumbhaka, so too is the coming and going of the body through the cycles of life and death.

Kevalakumbhaka is said to be well-known in the celebrated scriptures of the Siddhas, and yet it is still

448 Typically the four sacred seats (catuṣpīṭha) are Kāmarūpa, Oḍḍiyāna (with its many variant spellings),
Jālandhara, and Pūrṇagiri. It is generally understood that these represent physical places in India, however, there
is some disagreement and ambiguity as to where each pīṭha is located according to textual sources. See
DYCZKOWSKI (2001). These pīṭhas are often correlated with cakras within the yogin’s body, as we will also find in
the navacakra system of the Śivayogapradīpikā.

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not known due to its supreme secrecy. So great is the stage of kevalakumbhaka, according to the text, it

questions the need for any other yogic practices.

(2.46) If due to the grace of one’s guru, kevalakumbhaka should be attained, then what is
[the purpose] of the karaṇas, mudrās, bandhas, and other such [methods]?

If we recall at the beginning of the text, the Haṭhayogin was defined by two alternative paths: one who

controls the breath by means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga with its mudrās, karaṇas, and bandhas, or (vā) by means

of kevalakumbhaka (ŚYP 1.7). For one who attains kevalakumbhaka, it would appear, there is no need

to continue with the rest of the Aṣṭāṅgayoga sequence. This kevalakumbhaka is further described as

soundless (niḥśabda), and as the oness (aikya) of the individual Self (jīvātman) and the supreme Self

(paramātman, ŚYP 2.47). It is the highest Reality (tattva), the indescribable supreme state,

characterized in Sāṅkhyan terms as the dissolution (laya) of the levels of reality (tattva) of material

nature (prakṛti) such as the elements, sense-organs, and so on (ŚYP 2.48).

5.19 The Three Bandhas

However, kevalakumbhaka does not always unfold immediately, or instantaneously, it would seem.

And the work and path of Aṣṭāṅgayoga is still necessary for this transcendent breathless state to arise.

Cennasadāśivayogin returns to the previous discourse, providing some detailed teachings on the three

bandhas, namely—mūlabandha, uḍḍīyānabandha, and jālandharabandha.

(2.50) Now, that which, through the restraint of the breath, the sun of the apāna breath
naturally goes upward together with the moon of the prāṇa breath; which always produces
the main success of yoga (i.e. samādhi)—for wise sages, surely that alone is mūlabandha.

(2.51) That which is bound with force below and above the navel—that is uḍḍiyānabandha,
which destroys sickness, old age, and death.

(2.52) Contracting the throat, one should firmly place the chin to the chest. This is
jālandharabandha, the binding which causes the nectar of immortality (amṛta) to [flow]
upwards.

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These teachings on the bandhas are congruent with other early medieval yogic literature and are one of

the defining features of Haṭhayoga. They are typically understood as a type of bodily yogic “seal,” as we

find in the Amṛtasiddhi, perhaps the first yogic text to teach bandhas and which includes an older set

of mahāmudrā, mahābandha, and mahāvedha. The Dattātreyayogaśāstra describes a path of

Haṭhayoga known by Kapila and other Siddhas,449 which includes the three bandhas, as well as

mahāmudrā, mahābandha, mahāvedha, khecarīmudrā, viparītakaraṇa, and vajrolīmudrā, which also

includes the variations amarolīmudrā and sahajolīmudrā. A very similar list of ten mudrās was

adopted by Svātmārāma in Haṭhapradīpikā 1.6, with the addition of śakticālana. The Marathi

Jñāneśvarī 6.192–210 (c. 1290) is perhaps one of the earliest texts to describe the three bandhas together

as a group, outside of the larger lists of yogic mudrās, and especially within the context of raising

Kuṇḍalinī. That both the Dattātreyayogaśāstra and the Jñāneśvarī were written around the thirteenth

century in the Deccan seems indicative of where this Haṭhayogic activity was flourishing.

The yogic theory of the bandhas is that the breath can be restrained through “locking” the

three passageways—at the base of the spine, navel, and throat—forcing the breath into an opposing

direction. By contracting the muscles at the base of the spine, around the pelvic floor, mūlabandha

redirects the downward flow of the apāna breath and sends it upwards together with the upwards flow

of the prāṇa breath. In uḍḍīyānabandha the breath is held forcefully by sucking in the abdomen

around the navel. Then in jālandharabandha, the yogin contracts the throat downwards by placing the

chin to the chest. This binding closes off the passageway of the throat, preventing the immortal nectar

(amṛta) from descending, and indeed forcing it upwards. Through the mastery of the three bandhas,

and by redirecting the apāna breath into upward ascension, the yogin is said to quickly attain success in

kevalakumbhaka.

449 The Haṭhayoga of Kapila comprised of nine mudrās (though they are not called as such) is contrasted with

the Haṭhayoga path of Aṣṭāṅgayoga known by Yājñavalkya, Dattātreyayogaśāstra 29.

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 One who practices prāṇāyāma in this way for three months is said to attain “lightness of the

body, luminosity, the purification of the nāḍīs, and the [inner] sound” (ŚYP 2.55). The yogin is said to

maintain his bindu and sip the nectar (sudhā) which descends from the rays of the moon (i.e. the crown

of the head), “cutting through the net of conceptions (saṃkalpa) and discursive thinking

(vikalpa)” (ŚYP 2.58). The teachings on prāṇāyāma culminate in the following verse:

(2.59) Then, having made a firm binding in the three-peaked mountain (trikūṭa), moving the
mind together with the inner winds to the triangle (trikoṇa) and likewise bursting open [the
passage] above, and directing the subtle Kuṇḍalinī toward the abode of Viṣṇu. O friend,
become blissful!

When the yogin successfully applies the bandhas and moves the breath, together with the mind, to the

trikūṭa, this bursts open the passageway of the suṣumnānāḍī, allowing Kuṇḍalinī to ascend towards the

crown of the head, and towards the ultimate supreme state. Cennasadāśivayogin closes this section on

prāṇāyāma, and the second chapter, by returning to the ritual at hand.

(2.60) Thus you should worship according to the observance of bathing with the water of
the breath (prāṇa)—Śiva who is the true form of the abode of Viṣṇu (viṣṇupada), Viṣṇu of
whom the image of Viṣṇu is always visualized, [and] the abode of Viṣṇu, which has been
purified by kevalakumbhaka.

The extensive Vaiṣṇava imagery here is a bit surprising for such a Śaiva text and author, however, my

sense is that Śiva is actually subsuming the highest nature and form of Viṣṇu, here described as the

“abode of Viṣṇu” (viṣṇupada) which is being equated with the state of kevalakumbhaka. The phrase

viṣṇupada is used several times to refer to this highest state.450

5.20 The Inner Auxiliaries

Having described the four outer auxiliaries in paṭala two—namely yama, niyama, āsana, and

prāṇāyāma—Cennasadāśivayogin begins paṭala three by stating that he will now describe the four

450 Śivayogapradīpikā 2.47, 2.59, 2.60.

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inner auxiliaries—namely pratyāhāra, dhyāna, dhāraṇā, and samādhi. He also reminds us that these

teachings are specifically for “those whose minds are fixed on Śiva” (śivārpitamana, ŚYP 3.1).

5.21 Pratyāhāra

Pratyāhāra is treated in but two verses. The first verse frames the withdrawal of the sense-organs

(indriya) in ritual terms of Śivapūjā:

(3.2) Smear the liṅga of Sadāśiva with the powdered fragrances of garlands of ground vimalā
cactus made from having subdued the sense-organs, chiefly the ears, on the surface of this
glorious whetstone of the good-mind.

The next verse describes the method of pratyāhāra in very familiar yogic terms, employing the famous

analogy of the tortoise withdrawing its limbs from Bhagavadgītā 2.58.

(3.3) Just as a tortoise on land contracts its limbs into its shell, in the same manner one who is
self-restrained continually withdraws all the sense-organs into oneself. We think that itself is
knowing the supreme Reality (paramatattva).

After this turning inward through the aṅga of pratyāhāra, the remainder of the chapter takes us

through the increasingly subtle inner auxiliaries of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, from dhyāna and dhāraṇā to

samādhi. By retracting one’s sense-organs from their outer objects and external stimuli, the Śivayogin

thus draws them inward towards the supreme reality of Śiva. But how does one do this practically? The

sequence of practices laid out as dhyāna and dhāraṇā are the methods to do so, and the process by

which the yogin moves step-by-step towards samādhi.

5.22 Dhyāna

As noted earlier, one of the first things to observe is that the traditional order of these two important

aṅgas has been reversed. In Pātañjalayoga and other systems of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, the order is always

dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi. Notably in the Śivayogapradīpikā, dhyāna is taught first, followed by

dhāraṇā. This appears to be a unique Vīraśaiva rendering of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, as this order can also be

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Figure 8: Nine Cakras (ŚYP 3.7-16).

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 Table 19: Cakra Chart.

Śivayogapradīpikā Śārṅgadharapaddhati Vivekamārtaṇḍa Kulānandatantra Vivekamārtaṇḍa Kubjikāmatatantra

9 cakras 9 cakras 9 dhyānasthānas 8 cakras 6 cakras 6 cakras

1. Brahmacakra 1. Brahmacakra 1. Ādhāracakra 1. Mūlādhāra 1. Ādhāracakra 1. [Mūl]ādhāra

2. Svādhiṣṭhāna 2. Svādhiṣṭhāna 2. Svādhiṣṭhānacakra 2. Svādhiṣṭhāna 2. Svādhiṣṭhānacakra 2. Svādhiṣṭhāna

3. Nābhicakra 3. Nābhicakra 3. Maṇipūrakacakra 3. Maṇipūraka 3. Maṇipūrakacakra 3. Maṇipūra[ka]

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4. Hṛccakra 4. Hṛdaye cakra 4. Hṛtpadma 4. Hṛd 4. Anāhata 4. Anāhata

5. Kaṇṭhacakra 5. Kaṇṭhacakra 5. Viṣuddha 5. Kaṇṭha 5. Viśuddhi 5. Viśuddhi

6. Tālukacakra;
6. Rājadantaka 6. Lambikā 6. Lambikā 6. Ājñā 6. Ājñā
Rājadantaka

7. Bhrūcakra 7. Bhrūcakra 7. Bhrūmadhya 7. Nāsikā

8. Nirvāṇacakra; at 8. Nirvāṇacakra; at
8. Ājñācakra 8. Bhrūmadhya
brahmarandhra brahmarandhra

9. Ākāśacakra 9. Brahmacakra 9. Gagana (sky)

detected in vernacular sources such as the Śūnyasampādane.451 Why is this so? Is there an important

yogic or soteriological function to this reversal? As we will see, in the Śivayogapradīpikā, dhyāna

consists of a series of visualizations including nine cakras and sixteen ādhāras, located along and within

the body of the yogin. When the mind becomes stilled through the process of dhyāna, it unfolds into

dhāraṇā—the opposite of what we find in Pātañjala and other traditional Aṣṭāṅgayogas. The method

of dhāraṇā then consists of a sequence of “fixations” on the five elements which allow the yogin to gain

mastery over each of the elements (bhūtajaya) and eventually results in the total perfection of the body

(dehasiddhi). This in turn, leads to the highest state of samādhi.

5.23 Nine Cakras

The dhyāna section of the text (ŚYP 3.4–32) teaches a sequence of visualization practices that include

harnessing the mind along a bodily axis of nine cakras and sixteen ādhāras. These bodily “centers” and

“supports” focus the mind and generate great yogic powers and boons. In ritual terms, the cakras

become the devotional flowers with which one would typically offer to the external form of the liṅga.

Here, the Śivayogin ritually offers the flowers internally through the visualization of beautiful and

manifold lotuses in the form of cakras within one’s mind-body.

(3.4) Worship continually in the heart, with the mind indeed, the form of the illustrious
liṅga, with various kinds of flowers arising with qualities and without qualities—manifold
and beautiful colored lotuses beginning with [mūl]ādhāra—with excelling radiance in its
center.

Verses 3.7–32 of the Śivayogapradīpikā provide a distinct system of nine cakras (navacakra), which are

described as the best “places for visualization” (dhyānasthala). These nine cakras are identified in the

text as follows: brahmacakra (located at the mūlādhāracakra or perineum), svādhiṣṭhānacakra

(genitals), nābhicakra (navel), hṛccakra (heart), kaṇṭhacakra (throat), rājadantakacakra (“royal tooth,”

451 See Chapter 3.

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i.e. uvula), bhrūcakra (center of the brows, i.e. ājñā), nirvāṇacakra (located at the brahmarandhra

above the forehead), and finally the ākāśacakra located at the trikūṭa (three-peaked mountain) at the

top the head. As discussed previously (see Chapter 3), this system of navacakras in the

Śivayogapradīpikā is shared with the later Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, and is the likely source for the

latter. Is there any textual precedent for this subtle-body system, or is this unique to the

Śivayogapradīpikā? I argue that Cennasadāśivayogin draws on an already-existing cakra template found

in earlier Nātha and Kaula textual sources, but in so doing appears to codify a novel presentation. As

we saw previously in this study (see Chapter 3), it is clear that Vīraśaivas were aware of a nine cakra

system—as indicated in the contemporaneous fifteenth-century Prabhuliṅgalīle—and it is very likely

the system codified by Cennasadāśivayogin in the Śivayogapradīpikā. Rather than the well-known six

cakra system of the Kubjikā tradition which was assimilated by other earlier Nātha yoga texts, the

Śivayogapradīpikā teaches an expanded system of nine centers (navacakra). How do we get from six to

nine cakras? Let us examine some of the earlier sources.

As previously mentioned, the Kubjikāmatatantra of the Paścimāmnāya, or “western stream” of

Kaula Śaivism, is believed to be the first text to codify the infamous six-cakra system452 “that became far

and away the most widespread blueprint for the yogic body” (MALLINSON & SINGLETON 2017, 177).

The Kubjikā six cakras are—the ādhāra (anus/perineum), svādhiṣṭhāna (genitals), maṇipūra (navel),

anāhata (heart), viśuddhi (throat), and the ājñā (between the brows).453 This schema is indeed one of

452 The Kubjikāmatatantra actually teaches two different cakra systems; the famous six, and another five cakra
goddess-oriented system called the Pañcacakra: Devī, Dūtī, Mātṛ, Yoginī, and Khecara cakras. These are deities
however rather than bodily centers. For a detailed study see HEILIJGERS-SEELEN (1994).
453 Kubjikāmatatantra 11.34c–37d.

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the distinguishing points and enduring legacies of the Kubjikā tradition,454 which was assimilated not

only by the Śrīvidyā cult of Tripurasundarī, but so too by the Nātha yogis. These are the six cakras

taught in the early Nātha yoga works such as the Vivekamārtaṇḍa and the Gorakṣaśataka, as well later

texts such as the influential Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa (c. 16th century).455

The lesser-known Kulānandatantra, attributed to Matsyendranātha, teaches a subtle-body

Kaula yoga and features an eight-cakra system which builds upon the Kubjikā ṣaṭcakra template.456 Its

eight cakras are as follows: mūlādhāra, svādhiṣṭhāna, manipūraka, hṛd, kanṭha, lambikā (tongue or

uvula), nāsikā, and bhrūmadhya. These are quite similar to the Śivayogapradīpikā system, with the

addition of the nose (nāsikā),457 and absence of the nirvāṇa- and ākāśacakra. This is also very closely

related to a series of locations for visualization taught in the Vivekamārtaṇḍa—whose author may have

had the Kulānandatantra in mind. Although elsewhere in the text it teaches the standard six cakras of

the Kubjikā, in the dhyāna section of the Vivekamārtaṇḍa is a series of nine dhyānasthānas, locations

for visualization.458 This includes the six Kubjikā cakras plus three more locations, not explicitly named

cakras. The list is strikingly similar to the navacakra system of the Śivayogapradīpikā, with a few key

454 As SANDERSON (1986, 164) notes, “Moreover there seems to me to be one major feature which marks off the

doctrine of the cult of Kubjikā not only from the Trika but also from the Siddhānta, the cult of Svacchanda and
the Krama and aligns it with the later Kaulism dominated by the cult of Tripurasundarī. This is the presence of
the system of the six cakras in the subtle body with the names ādhāraḥ (mūlādāraḥ), svādhiṣṭhānam,
maṇipūrakaḥ, anāhatam, viśuddhiḥ and ājñā (KMT, paṭala 11, etc.) Because this set of six became so general in
later times it has often been assumed that it is an integral part of Hindu tantric ontology in all its forms. In fact it
is found in none of the early traditions mentioned.”
455 The Ṣaṭcakranirūpaṇa,as translated by Sir John WOODROFFE in his work, The Serpent Power (1919) would
have a tremendous influence on modern yoga and contemporary understandings of the cakras. For a detailed
study of the modern reception history of the cakras, see LELAND (2016).
456 I am grateful to Ben WILLIAMS for bringing this text and cakra system to my attention. Personal
communication, December 3, 2020.
457 The Śivayogapradīpikā and Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati include the tip of the nose as one of the sixteen

ādhāras, rather than a cakra.

458 Vivekamārtaṇḍa 144–152.

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differences mostly in name. A very similar list is also found in the Śārṅgadharapaddhati, and as

discussed in the previous chapter, the author Śārṅgadhara was likely drawing on an earlier source. I

suggest that Cennasadāśivayogin too was likely drawing on an earlier source like the Vivekamārtaṇḍa.

Both texts teach these nine locations within the pracatical dhyāna section—and hence they are called

dhyānasthānas, or dhyānasthalas in the Śivayogapradīpikā. The descriptions of the visualization

practices and the results of fixing the mind on these cakras or sthānas are however quite different in the

respective texts.

As in other medieval yogic and tantric texts, the cakras are not simply abstract metaphysical

anatomy, but meditative sthānas, or sthalas, which function as practical locales to fix the mind within

the yogin’s body.459 They are also useful for mapping other yogic and tantric visual paradigms onto the

body. The Śivayogapradīpikā locates three manifestations of Śakti—lower, middle, and upper—at the

brahmacakra, nābhicakra, and ākāśacakra, respectively. We also find the sacred tantric geography of

pīṭhas along the cakra axis. Uḍḍiyāna islocated at the svādhiṣṭhānacakra, Jālandhara at the

nirvāṇacakra, and Pūrṇagiri at the highest ākāśacakra.460 Only missing is Kāmarūpa.461

5.24 Sixteen Ādhāras

After describing the visualization practices associated with the nine cakras, Cennasadāśivayogin next

details the sixteen ādhāras, or “mental supports.” The locations of nearly all of the nine previously

described cakras appear to overlap again with the ādhāras, except for the ninth ākāśacakra. This does

459 WHITE (2003, 8) has suggested that the six sthānas of the Bhāgavatapurāṇa (c. 8th century) may predate

tantric cakra systems. It could also be the case of early tantric influences in the Bhāgavatapurāṇa. In his
commentary on the Netratantra (c. 800–850), the Kashmiri scholar Kṣemarāja likewise calls the six cakras the
sthānas.
460 The Buddhist Hevajratantra 2.4.51–55 teaches an early four cakra system associated with the four sacred seats
(catuṣpīṭha), albeit in a different hierarchy: Kāmākhya at the navel, Uḍḍiyāna at the heart, Pūrṇagiri at the
throat, and Jālandhara at the head.
461 The Śārṅgadharapaddhati and Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati both include Kāmarūpa at the brahmacakra.

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Figure 9: Sixteen Ādhāras (ŚYP 3.17-32).

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 Table 20: 16 Ādhāras Chart.

Śivayogapradīpikā Siddhasiddhānta- Nityanātha- Haṭhatattva- Netroddyota Śāradātilaka Haṭhapradīpikā-

paddhati paddhati kaumudī jyotsnā

1. Big Toe 1. Big Toe 1. Big Toe 1. Big Toe 1. Big Toe (aṅguṣṭha) 1. Big Toe (aṅguṣṭha) 1. Big Toe (aṅguṣṭha)
(padāṅguṣṭha) (pādānguṣṭha) (pādānguṣṭha) (aṅguṣṭha)
2. Perineum (mūla) 2. Perineum (mūla) 2. Perineum (mūla) 2. Perineum (mūla) 2. Ankle (gulpha) 2. Ankle (gulpha) 2. Ankle (gulpha)

3. Anus (guda) 3. Anus (guda) 3. Anus (guda) 3. Anus (guda) 3. Knee (jānu) 3. Knee (jānu) 3. Knee (jānu)

4. Penis (meḍhra) 4. Penis (meḍhra) 4. Penis (meḍhra) 4. Penis (meḍhra) 4. Penis (meḍhra) 4. Thigh (ūrū) 4. Thigh (ūrū)

5. Oḍyāna 5. Oḍyāna 5. Uḍḍīyamāṇa 5. Waist (kaṭi) 5. Anus (pāyu) 5. Anus (sīvanī) 5. Anus (sīvanī)

6. Navel (nābhi) 6. Navel (nābhi) 6. Navel (nābhi) 6. Navel (nābhi) 6. Bulb (kanda) 6. Penis (liṅga) 6. Penis (liṅga)

7. Heart (hṛd) 7. Heart (hṛd) 7. Heart (hṛdaya) 7. Heart (hṛd) 7. Tube (nāḍī) 7. Navel (nābhi) 7. Navel (nābhi)

8. Throat (kaṇṭha) 8. Throat (kaṇṭha) 8. Throat (kaṇṭha) 8. Throat (kaṇṭha) 8. Stomach (jaṭhara) 8. Heart (hṛd) 8. Heart (hṛd)

9. Uvula (ghaṇṭikā) 9. Uvula (ghaṇṭikā) 9. Uvula (ghaṇṭikā) 9. Uvula (ghaṇṭikā) 9. Heart (hṛta) 9. Neck (grīvā) 9. Neck (grīvā)

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10. Palate (tālu) 10. Palate (tālu) 10. Palate (tālu) 10. Palate (tālu) 10. Tortoise channel 10. Throat (kaṇṭha) 10. Throat (kaṇṭha)
(kūrmanāḍī)
11. Tongue (rasana) 11. Tongue (jihva) 11. Tongue (jihva) 11. Tongue (rasana) 11. Throat (kaṇṭha) 11. Tongue (lambikā) 11. Tongue (lambikā)

12. Upper tooth 12. Brow center 12. Upper tooth 12. Royal tooth 12. Palate (tālu) 12. Nose (nasi) 12. Nose (nāsikā)
(daśana) (bhrūmadhya) (ūrdhvadanta) (rājadanta)
13. Base of the nose 13. Nose (nāsa) 13. Tip of the nose 13. Base of the Nose 13. Brow center 13. Brow center 13. Brow center
(ghrāṇamūla) (nāsāgra) (ghrāṇapada) (bhrūmadhya) (bhrūmadhya) (bhrūmadhya)
14. Forehead (lalāṭa) 13. Base of the nose; 14. Base of the nose 14. Forehead (niṭila) 14. Forehead (lalāṭa) 14. Forehead (mastaka) 14. Forehead (lalāṭa)
the door (kapāṭa) (nāsikāmūla)
15. Brow (bhrū) 15. Forehead (lalāṭa) 15. Brow center 15. Ether (vyoman) 15. Brahmarandhra 15. Top of head 15. Top of head
(bhrūmadhya) (mūrdhan) (mūrdhan)
16. Eye (netra) 16. Brahmarandhra 16. Eye (netra) 16. Eye (netra) 16. Dvādaśānta 16. Dvādaśānta 16. Brahmarandhra
not appear to matter however, as the ādhāras form a separate practice of fixing the mind to an area of

the body, progressively moving through sixteen bodily sites—from the big toe to the forehead.

Compared to the cakras, the ādhāras often include a more physical component or action. Some of

these involve applying physical pressure, directing the breath to a specific place, or visualizing a source

of light. Mastering each ādhāra is said to bestow a different boon.

First, visualizing a light on the big toe (padāṅguṣṭha) makes one’s vision steady. Second,

pressing the perineum (mūla) with the heel kindles the inner fire. Third, clenching and contracting the

anus (guda) stabilizes the apāna breath. Fourth, contracting the penis (meḍhra) severs the three knots

(granthī) of Brahmā and stops the flow of bindu. Fifth, establishing the mind at Oḍyāna pīṭha destroys

excrement, urine, and insects. Sixth, yoking the syllable oṃ at the navel (nābhi), the subtle internal

sounds (nāda) arise. Seventh, restraining the breath at the heart (hṛd), a lotus blossoms in its center.

Eighth, pressing the base of the throat (kaṇṭha) with the chin, the breath becomes fixed in the central

channel. Ninth, placing the tip of the tongue at the uvula (ghaṇṭikā) emits the flow of nectar. Tenth, by

milking and lengthening the tongue to the palate (tālu), one attains the no-mind state (unmanatā).

Eleventh, churning beneath the tongue (rasanā) one attains the immortal nectar (amṛta) and the

blossoming of poetry (kavitā). Twelfth, rubbing the tip of the tongue on the upper tooth, also known

as the “royal tooth” (rājadantaka) for half a year produces an inner light.462 Thirteenth, holding the

gaze and at the base of the nose (ghrāṇamūla), the breath becomes established. Fourteenth, fixing the

mind and breath at the forehead (lalāṭa), the yogin obtains complete success (sarvasiddhi). Fifteenth,

462Strangely the uvula appears twice on this list, as the ninth ghaṇṭikādhāra in ŚYP 3.25 and then again in the
twelfth ādhāra as daśanādhāram ūrdhvaṃ and rājadantaka in ŚYP 3.28. The Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati appears
to correct this by making the twelfth bhrūmadhyādhāra, the center of the brows. The Śivayogapradīpikā
includes bhruvādhāra as the fifteenth. Interestingly, both the Yogacintāmaṇi (quoting the Śivayogapradīpikā)
and the Haṭhatattvakaumudī name the fifteenth support as vyomādhāra.

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gazing above the brow (bhrū) one sees a ray of light. Finally, sixteenth, fixing the mind to the eyes

(netra) themselves, one sees a mass of light out the corners of the eyes.

Surveying related texts it is clear that there is great variability across manuscripts and texts, and

so it is possible there is some textual corruption in these verses. The ādhāra section is, however, quoted

in full in the Yogacintāmaṇi of Śivānanda (c. 17th century)463 and so it does seem likely that they were

original—or at the very least had become established by the time of quotation. A number of earlier

texts describe similar systems of bodily points (marman) or supports (ādhāra).464 As discussed in the

previous chapter, Kṣemarāja’s commentary on the Netratantra mentions a system of sixteen supports

(ṣoḍaśādhāra). Under the rubric of dhāraṇā, the Śāradātilakatantra teaches a system of sixteen ādhāras

which is similar to the one in the Śivayogapradīpikā. As BIRCH observes (2018, 27, n.16) this list is nearly

identical to the one detailed by Brahmānanda in his Jyotsnā commentary on the Haṭhapradīpikā.

Brahmānanda also mentions that the fruits (phala) of these ādhāras are to be known from the

“doctrines of Gorakṣa” (gorakṣasiddhānta)—associating the ādhāras with the Nātha tradition.465 A

notable difference in this system however is the inclusion of mental supports at the ankle (gulpha) and

thigh (ūrū), whereas the Śivayogapradīpikā moves from the big toe support (padāṅguṣṭhādhāra) to the

perineum, or root support (mūlādhāra). A very similar system to the Śivayogapradīpikā’s is also found

in the Haṭhatattvakaumudī of Sundaradeva (c. 17th century) who lived in the Deccan, and who may

have had the Śivayogapradīpikā as his source.466 Like the navacakras, this system of sixteen ādhāras is

463 Yogacintāmani pp. 115–116.

464 For a discussion on the relationship between vital points (marman) and meditative supports (ādhāra) and

their relations with Indian medical (āyurveda) literature, see BIRCH (2018a, 24–30).
465 Haṭhapradīpikājyotsnā 3.73: teṣv ādhāreṣu dhāraṇāyāḥ phalaviśeṣas tu gorakṣasiddhāntād avagantavyaḥ |.
466 Haṭhatattvakaumudī 24.10–22.

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also found in the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati,467 with a few variations in ādhāras twelve through sixteen,

as well as the Nityanāthapaddhati—as discussed above. A comparison of sixteen-ādhāra (ṣoḍaśādhāra)

systems can be viewed in Table 20. The section on dhyāna concludes with a verse that brings together

the previous practices of yoga:

(3.33) By means of the three bandhas, through the application of āsanas, through mantra, by
hearing the internal resonance (nāda), by means of kevalakumbhaka, and through dhyāna,
the mind of the yogin becomes focused in eight different ways.

That is, through the psycho-physical practices of Haṭhayoga (including āsana, prāṇāyāma, and

bandhas), through the ajapā of Mantrayoga, and through the nāda of Layayoga, together with the

cakra and ādhāra practices dhyāna, the yogin’s concentration becomes extremely focused. All of this,

then, prepares the yogin for the mental fixations of dhāraṇā, the seventh aṅga.

5.25 Dhāraṇā

Cennasadāśivayogin brings us back to our ritual framework, first describing dhāraṇā as follows:

(3.34) Within the vessel of the body, tossing the superior qualities of the elements into the
fire whose flame is gnosis (jñāna), the wise should perfume the liṅga through dhāraṇā, [just
as] he would with [incense] made of ten ingredients.

Just as incense is made of several ingredients, which the ritualist lights to perfume the external liṅga, so

too the Śivayogin flames the inner liṅga through the fragrant practice of dhāraṇā, and its unique mix

of ingredients, as we will see below. First, let us consider how the dhyāna and dhāraṇā of the

Śivayogapradīpikā compare to the more familiar schema of Aṣṭāṅgayoga as found in the

Pātañjalayogaśāstra.

In Pātañjalayoga, there is a subtle transition from the meditative states of dhāraṇā to dhyāna,

as the yogin’s concentration becomes more and more refined. Patañjali defines the two stages as follows:

467 Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 2.11–25.

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 Dhāraṇā is the binding of the mind to a [single] place.468
There, dhyāna is the singular flow [of awareness] on an object.469

The yogin first yokes their mind to a single place or object. The Bhāṣya mentions several locations

which strongly resemble later systems of cakras and ādhāras including the navel center (nābhicakra),

the lotus of the heart (hṛdayapuṇḍarīka), the light (jyotis) at the top of the head (mūrdhni), the tip of

the nose (nāsikāgra) or the tongue (jihvāgra), or other such locations or external objects.470 At this

stage, the yogin’s concentration continues to waver, as they bring it back to the object or bodily

location, again and again, until the concentration becomes seamless and unbroken. For Patañjali, once

awareness on an object becomes single-pointed (ekatānatā), dhāraṇā becomes dhyāna. When the

concentration becomes untouched (aparāmṛṣṭa) by any other mental activity or thought, it is said to be

dhyāna.471

In the Śivayogapradīpikā, the stages of these two important aṅgas are reversed. Dhyāna, as

we’ve just seen, is the stage in which the yogin fixes their mind to a particular series of objects—namely

cakras and ādhāras—allowing the concentration to deepen and the mind to become more and more

absorbed. Moreover, the yogin is instructed to move through a complex series of bodily locations and

visualizations, rather than just one or two static points. For knowers of Śivayoga, we are told, when this

dhyāna becomes unbroken, it unfolds into dhāraṇā.

468 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.1: deśabandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā |.

469 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.2: tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam |.
470 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.1: nābhicakrehṛdayapuṇḍarīke mūrdhni jyotiṣi nāsikāgre jihvāgra ity evamādiṣu deśeṣu
bāhye vā viṣaye cittasya vṛttimātreṇa bandha iti dhāraṇā |. I suggest we understand these as proto-cakras, as the
later tantric and yogic schemas had not yet fully coalesced at the time of Patañjali (c. 5th century). Here the use of
the term cakra in nābhicakre and the language of a lotus at the heart in hṛdayapuṇḍarīke is especially
noteworthy.
471Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.2: tasmin deśe dhyeyālambanasya pratyayasyaikatānatā sadṛśaḥ pravāhaḥ
pratyayāntareṇāparāmṛṣṭo dhyānam |.

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 (3.35) When there is stillness of mind through the single sphere of dhyāna, that is dhāraṇā—
say the knowers of Śivayoga. Here it is performed repeatedly, according to the Śaiva sequence
(śaivakrama), due to the [its] kind, and through the support of the elements beginning with
the earth, etc., one at a time.

In the Śivayogapradīpikā, the aṅga of dhāraṇā involves another sequences of meditative practices called

the five dhāraṇās (pañcadhāraṇā). This type of pañcadhāraṇā or conquest of the elements (bhūtajaya)

is a hallmark of tantric texts. As MALLINSON & SINGLETON (2017, 286) observe,

Classical tantric dhāraṇā practices are almost always associated with element fixation,
notwithstanding early variations in the number and names of the elements. In the
Śaivasiddhānta the association of fixation with element practices is so close that the term
dhāraṇā came to indicate not just the process of fixation itself, but the actual elements. In
tantric contexts, the elements are visualized in divinized, ritualized form. As the
Parākhyatantra puts it, ‘The fixations have their own maṇḍalas, seed-syllables and locuses,
and they are associated with the [characteristic] functions of the [five] elements
(bhūtakarmagāḥ).’

Indeed, in the Śivayogapradīpikā this is described as a Śaiva sequence (śaivakrama) and is arranged

according to the five elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and ether. Each of the five dhāraṇās is

accompanied by drawing the breath through a seed (bīja) syllable to a specific region of the body,

which is associated with the presiding deity over the element, and a visualization practice.472 In this

way, the pañcadhāraṇā is also a subtle Śaiva prāṇāyāma practice, which draws the breath through the

body from the feet to the crown of the head (see Table 21). This schema of the five elements together

with the five action deities (karaṇeśvara) was discussed earlier in relation to the five kalās and is another

common feature of Śaiva cosmologies.473 The five dhāraṇās are said to be comprised of five ghaṭikās

472 Within other early Haṭhayoga texts, we find more simplified verions of this pañcadhāraṇā taught, for

example, in Dattātreyayogaśāstra 113–123 and Śivasaṃhitā 3.72–75. These texts do not include the bījas nor
presiding deities as we find in the Śivayogapradīpikā. The later circa eighteenth-century Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā 3.57–
63 teaches a system nearly identical to that found in the Śivayogapradīpikā, however with different visualizations
and boons. In the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā, outside of an Aṣṭāṅgayoga schematic context, the five dhāraṇās are taught
following the teachings on śāmbhavīmudrā, and within the chapter on mudrā. It is possible that the
Śivayogapradīpikā, or another intermediary text, was the source for the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā.
473 See Śivayogapradīpikā 1.22–1.26.

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 Table 21: Five Dhāraṇās (ŚYP 3.36–42).

Element Bīja Syllable Deity Region

1. Earth ल (la) Brahmā Feet → Knees

2. Water व (va) Viṣṇu Knees → Navel

3. Fire र (ra) Rudra Navel → Throat

4. Wind य (ya) Īśvara Throat → Eyebrows

5. Ether ह (ha) Sadāśiva Eyebrows → Top of head

(ŚYP 3.43), which is a measurement of time equal to 24 minutes—thus implying that each dhāraṇā is

to be practiced for a total of 120 minutes (= 24 x 5). With the mastery of each dhāraṇā, the yogin attains

mastery over that element. The yogin who masters the entire Śaiva sequence (śaivakrama) one-by-one

is said to attain the perfection of the body (dehasiddhi, ŚYP 3.44), destroys all chronic diseases

(sarvapurāṇaroga, ŚYP 3.44), and crosses over the ocean of worldly existence (bhavasāgara, ŚYP 3.45).

5.26 Samādhi

After dhyāna and dhāraṇā, the Śivayogin progresses to the final aṅga and apotheosis of Aṣṭāṅgayoga—

samādhi. This is then also the final stage of the yogic ritual of Śivapūjā:

(3.46) Having devoted oneself with intelligence to the lamp of true gnosis (sujñāna), having
seen with the mind in the abode of the heart, you should offer the oblation (upahāra) of
one's own Self (svātman) to the liṅga of the supreme Self (paramātmaliṅga), by means of this
samādhi.

Rather than offering an external object to the outer liṅga such as ghee or other precious gifts, the final

and ultimate oblation (upahāra) for the Śivayogin is the offering of one’s own Self (svātman) to the

inner liṅga of the supreme Self (paramātmaliṅga), in the form of the state of samādhi.

In Pātañjalayoga, samādhi is the culmination of dhāraṇā and dhyāna, and is defined by

Patañjali as follows:

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 Samādhi is [when] in that same [dhyāna], the object alone shines forth, and [the mind is] as
if empty of its own nature.474

When the three aṅgas of dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi coalesce together on a single object this is

known by the technical term saṃyama.475 In the Pātañjalayogaśāstra there are many subtle stages and

types of samādhi including saṃprajñātasamādhi (cognitive absorption on an object) and its

subtypes476 which results in sabījasamādhi (absorption with latent seeds),477 and asaṃprajñātasamādhi

(supra-cognitive absorption without an object)478 which results in nirbījasamādhi (absorption without

latent seeds).479 The samādhi that comprises the eighth and final aṅga of Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅgayoga is a

form of saṃprajñātasamādhi, where the object of meditation is still present, and indeed its own true

nature (svarūpabhāva) shines forth alone without being interrupted by other discursive thoughts or

mental activity (cittavṛtti). Asaṃprajñātasamādhi is beyond any typical mental cognition, takes no

object of meditation, and results in an exalted nirbījasamādhi which leaves no mental trace (saṃskāra)

or seeds (bīja). It results in the yogin attaining the final soteriological goal of kaivalya—literally the

“independence” and isolation of the inner seer (puruṣa) from the mind, body, and material nature

(prakṛti). The puruṣa, now untangled from prakṛti, shines forth in its own true nature.

The Śivayogapradīpikā, as with most Haṭhayoga literature, does not employ the term saṃyama

to describe this process. Nor does it differentiate between subtypes of samādhi. Rather than the

philosophically dualistic Sāṅkhyan framework of the goal of kaivalya, Cennasadāśivayogin employs a

474 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.3: tad evārthamātranirbhāsaṃ svarūpaśūnyam iva samādhiḥ |.

475 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.4: trayam ekatra saṃyamaḥ |.
476 There are several subtypes of saṃprajñātasamādhi including savitarkasamāpatti, nirvitarkasamāpatti,

savicārasamāpatti, nirvicārasamāpatti, ānanda, and asmitā (Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.17).

477 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.46.
478 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.18.

479 Pātañjalayogaśāstra 1.51.

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more non-dualistic understanding of samādhi informed by Vedānta.480 The Śivayogapradīpikā

provides several verses describing the yogin's state and experience of samādhi.

(3.47) Just as the oneness (aikya) of water and salt arises on account of union (yoga), likewise
indeed, the union (sāmarasya) of the mind and the eternal Self (ātman) [arises] due to [the
state of] yoga. This is declared to be samādhi by the lords of ascetics.

(3.48) And when there is the oneness of the individual Self (jīvātman) and the supreme Self
(paramātman), then the lords of ascetics will go to that state of samādhi.

In heavily Vedāntic terms, samādhi is first described as the union (sāmarasya) of the mind (manas) and

the eternal (sadā) Self (ātman). The analogy of the oneness of water dissolving in salt like the ātman

merging with brahman is an ancient Upaniṣadic idiom, dating back as far as the

Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad.481 Samādhi is also described using the Vedāntic trope of the oneness (ekatva)

of the individual Self (jīvātman) and the supreme Self (paramātman). Next, we find the famous

apophatic negation in Vedānta, neti neti, “not this, not that.”482

(3.49) I am neither the activity of the mind (manovṛtti), nor the sense-organs (indriya)
beginning with the ear, and so on, the sense-objects (viṣaya) beginning with sound, and so
on, nor pleasure and pain, nor even pride and shame, the measure of cold and hot, merit and
sin, nor the web of great mental constructions (saṃkalpa). Alas! When the mind is dissolved
in the supreme Brahman through samādhi, [I am] not any of these [things].

When the yogin in samādhi no longer identifies with the mind-body or any of its cognitive

constructions, the mind is said to dissolve in the supreme Brahman (parabrahman). The question

remains, is this a catatonic state? Is the yogin in samādhi lifeless, no longer able to act in the world?

Elsewhere in the text, it is suggested that the yogin in samādhi remains “as if dead” (mṛtavat) to the

world (ŚYP 5.25). However, here and elsewhere (ŚYP 5.24, 5.49–50), the text clearly advocates for the

This is similar to other Vedāntic engagements with yoga for example in texts such as the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi and
480

Aparokṣānubhuti.
481 See e.g. Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad 2.4.12.
482 Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad 2.3.6, 4.3.22–32.

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position of the jīvanmukta, one who is liberated while remaining alive, and who can continue to act

and participate in the world.

(3.50) The lord of ascetics—who either eats food or abstains from food, and who is either
engaged in sleep or gives up sleep—dwells in secret. He whose Self is free from desire, roams
about the surface of the earth, engaged in extended goodness through various rites and
actions, or does not act (niṣkriya). Behaving in various types of manners, he roams endlessly
with his mind fixed in samādhi.

In this way, the yogin, absorbed in samādhi, is able to live freely in the world.

5.27 Twelve-Year Sequence of Siddhis

Thus ends the sequence of Aṣṭāṅgayoga. Similar to the structure of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, following

the prescriptions of the eight auxiliaries of yoga, our author then describes a sequence of yogic powers

(siddhi) that accrue for the yogin who is successful in following this path (ŚYP 3.51–57). This same

siddhi sequence is also featured in Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 5.34–41. In the first year, one becomes

free from pain (aviruj) and beloved to the entire world (sarvalokapriya). In the second year, one makes

beautiful poetry (kavitā). In the third year, one is no longer troubled by dangerous animals such as

snakes (bhujaga). In the fourth year, the yogin transcends thirst (pipāsā), sleep (nidrā), extreme cold

and heat (atiśītātapa), and becomes free from suffering (anāturatā). In the fifth year, one attains

distant-hearing (dūraśrava), the perfection of speech (vāc), and can enter (praveśa) the bodies of

others.483 In the sixth year, he becomes impervious to weapons and cannot be destroyed even by a

diamond-bolt (vajra). In the seventh year the yogin becomes incredibly fast (ativegin) and far-seeing

(dūradarśana), leaving the earth. In the eighth year the eightfold (aṣṭadhā) powers (vibhūti) manifest

for him. In the ninth year flying in the air (gaganacara) and moving in all directions (digvicara) becomes

possible, and one attains a diamond-body (vajrakāya). In the tenth year he is able to go wherever his

is a common trope and siddhi of medieval yoga, not to

483 Yogins entering the bodies of others (parakāyapraveśa)

be mistaken with the practice of yoga itself. See MALLINSON (2013b).

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will desires (yatrecchā). In the eleventh year, the he attains the power of omniscience (sarvajña). Finally,

in the twelfth year, the yogin becomes equal to Śiva (śivatulya), the creator (kartā) and destroyer

(hartā) himself.

(3.57) Thus through twelve years, with unobstructed devotion (bhakti) to the feet of the
Lord who is the true guru (sadgurunātha), the adept (siddha) whose Self is firm, attains
complete success (saṃsiddha).

This list of siddhis is reminiscent of other yogic literature, and yet it is also a very specific sequence and

progression of powers that develop from success in Aṣṭāṅgayoga. That it unfolds over the course of

twelve years gives some indication of the time and dedication it would take someone to successfully

master this practice. The powers also shine further light on how the text understands the yogin's ability

to continue to act while immersed in samādhi. Free from everyday pain and suffering, with supra-

senses, the yogin has the ability to fly or to enter the bodies of others at will, while also mastering

speech and making beautiful poetry. The sequence culminates with the attainment of all-knowing

omniscience (sarvajña), and ultimately, the yogin becoming equal to Śiva. The concept of śivatulya is

especially important in the Śaivasiddhānta traditions of the Mantramārga, where the goal is to become

like a second Śiva, but still ontologically distinct from Śiva himself. As in other texts and traditions, the

siddhis do not, however, represent the final soteriological goal in the Śivayogapradīpikā, and can even

become impediments which must be disregarded. Ultimately, we are told towards the end of the text,

the yogin is to “renounce the divine powers (aiśvarya) and other powers (siddhi) which arise from this

great yoga” when they attain the final niṣpatti (completion) stage of the practice (ŚYP 5.52).484 When

Aṣṭāṅgayoga is practiced in this way, we are told, without interruption—and presumably for at least

twelve years—the yogin is said to avoid old age and death. He is able to live in the world, according to

484Similarly, Pātañjalayogaśāstra 3.37 is often interpreted by scholars as a warning that the siddhis may be
impediments to the yogin’s attainment of samādhi (te samādhau upasargā vyutthāne siddhayaḥ). There is some
debate, however, as to whether this refers to all siddhis, or just the ones described in the previous sūtra(s).

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his desire (sa jīved icchayā loke) and thus liberation (mukti) is obtained (ŚYP 3.59). The yogin has thus

obtained liberating-while-living (jīvanmukti).

5.28 The Ritualization of Aṣṭāṅgayoga

If we pause to review these teachings on Aṣṭāṅgayoga, we see that Cennasadāśivayogin has provided

teachings for each of the eight aṅgas on two levels. First he describes the interiorization of the aṅga in

terms of Śivapūjā; and second, he further describes the aṅga in practical terms of yoga praxis. Indeed,

the entire path of Aṣṭāṅgayoga is described as “an auxiliary (aṅga) of Śivapūjā” (ŚYP 3.58). I suggest we

might conceive of this as both the “ritualization of yoga,” and the “yogification of ritual worship.” The

specific methods of yoga have become internally ritualized as the elements (dravya) of the worship of

Śiva (śivapūjā). Likewise, we can say that the terms and framework of the pūjā have been reconstructed

as a form of yogic praxis. As discussed above, the framework for this Aṣṭāṅgayoga Śivapūjā was laid out

in the following verses (see above Table 15):

(2.6) Having purified one’s self through the qualities of the yamas and niyamas, and having
stabilized one’s mind through various postures (pīṭha) one has mastered, the [yogin] should
bathe the divine liṅga with the water of breath-control. These are the four auxiliaries
proclaimed as the external method [of worship]. (2.7) Then, the sandalwood paste is really
the turning back of the senses toward Śiva [pratyāhāra], the heaps of flowers are the
visualization (dhyāna), the incense is that fixed concentration (dhāraṇā), while the pure
great-oblation is samādhi. These are the four auxiliaries proclaimed as the internal method
[of worship].

More details of the yogic ritual were supplied in the following verses:

(1-2) Yama and Niyama

(2.12) Having become steady and disciplined through all twenty of the yamas (restraints) and
niyamas (observances), in this manner, one should practice the purification of one’s self
(svātmaśuddhi).

(3) Āsana

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 (2.20) Within the hermitage, the abode that is pleasing to the mind, having entered that
dwelling with a focused mind, one should constantly worship Sadāśiva, fixed within the
heart.

(4) Prāṇāyāma

(2.21) Listen O wise one to the manner as follows. First, [established] in kevalakumbhaka,
one should bathe Śiva, who is comprised of consciousness, with only the water of
prāṇāyāma.

(5) Pratyāhāra

(3.2) Smear the liṅga of Sadāśiva with the powdered fragrances of garlands of ground vimalā
cactus made from having subdued the sense-organs such as the ears, etc., on the surface of
this glorious whetstone of the good-mind.

(6) Dhyāna

(3.4) Worship continually in the heart, with the mind indeed, the form of the illustrious
liṅga, with various kinds of flowers arising with qualities and without qualities—manifold
and beautiful colored lotuses beginning with [mūl]ādhāra—with excelling radiance in its
center.

(7) Dhāraṇā

(3.34) Within the vessel of the body, tossing the superior qualities of the elements into the
fire whose flame is gnosis (jñāna), the wise should perfume the liṅga through dhāraṇā, [just
as] he would with [incense] made of ten ingredients.

(8) Samādhi

(3.46) Having devoted oneself with intelligence to the lamp of true gnosis (sujñāna), having
seen with the mind in the abode of the heart, you should offer the oblation (upahāra) of
one's own Self (svātman) to the liṅga of the supreme Self (paramātmaliṅga), by means of this
samādhi.

This ritualization of Aṣṭāṅgayoga is indeed one of the most unique aspects of the Śivayogapradīpikā

when it is read against other texts in the Haṭha and Rājayoga corpus. Reframing Aṣṭāṅgayoga in terms

of Śivapūjā, however, is not the only yogic reconstruction Cennasadāśivayogin performs.

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5.29 Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Ṣaṭsthala

The third paṭala concludes with a final set of verses which recasts the entire Aṣṭāṅgayoga schema

within the Vīraśaiva theological framework of the ṣaṭsthalas, or the “six stages” of devotion (bhakti).

These four verses (ŚYP 3.60–64) thus provide the strongest sectarian stamp of Vīraśaivism that we find

Table 22: Aṣṭāṅgayoga as the Ṣaṭsthala (ŚYP 3.60–64).

Śaṭsthala Aṣṭāṅga
1. Bhaktasthala 1. Yama
2. Niyama

2. Māheśvarasthala 3. Āsana

3. Prāṇaliṅgisthala* 4. Prāṇāyāma

4. Prasādisthala* 5. Pratyāhāra

5. Śaraṇasthala 6. Dhyāna
7. Dhāraṇā
6. Aikyasthala 8. Samādhi

*Stages 3 and 4 are reversed from their traditional order in the Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi.

in the text, and indeed, it is the only section of the text where the important term vīraśaiva is

employed. The ṣaṭsthalas are an important theological concept in Vijayanagara-era Vīraśaivism, as

discussed earlier in this study (see Chapter 3), conceived as a soteriological roadmap which leads the

individual soul (aṅga) from devotion (bhakti) to the ultimate union with Śiva (aikya). According to

CHANDRA SHOBHI (2005, 259), the earliest reference we have for the ṣaṭsthala system is likely the

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi of Rēṇukācārya/Śivayogīśivācārya (c. 13–14th century). According to the

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi, the six stages are: the stage of devotion (bhaktasthala), the stage of the great Lord

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(māheśvarasthala), the stage of grace (prasādisthala), the stage of the liṅga of breath (prāṇaliṅgisthala),

the stage of refuge (śaraṇasthala), and the stage of oneness with the liṅga or Śiva (aikyasthala).485

Like the fifteenth and sixteenth-century Vīraśaiva scholars at Vijayanagara, who reinterpreted

the earlier vacana literature, organizing it under the rubric of the ṣaṭsthala schema486—so too,

Cennasadāśivayogin does something similar with the auxiliaries of Aṣṭāṅgayoga.487 In order to fit the

eight auxiliaries of Aṣṭāṅgayoga into the six sthalas of the Vīraśaivas, some of the aṅgas are paired

together into one stage (see Table 22). Together yama and niyama represent the the stage of devotion

(bhakta), while establishing a firm āsana is considered the stage of the great Lord (māheśvara, ŚYP

3.60). The dissolution of the breath, that is to say prāṇāyāma, is the stage of the liṅga of breath

(prāṇaliṅgin, ŚYP 3.61). Pratyāhāra is the stage of grace (prasādin), while dhyāna and dhāraṇā

together comprise the stage of refuge (śaraṇasthala, ŚYP 3.62). Whereas samādhi was previously

framed in Vedāntic terms, here it is explicitly reframed in Vīraśaiva theological language. Samādhi

represents the non-dual (advaita) stage of oneness with Śiva (liṅgaikya, ŚYP 3.63). What is strange

about this reconstruction is that the third and fourth sthalas are in reverse order. In the

Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi and other texts which employ the ṣaṭsthala, prasādisthala is typically the third

stage, and prāṇaliṅgisthala is the fourth. Cennasadāśivayogin has reversed this order to better match

with the Aṣṭāṅgayoga schema. Naturally, he wants the stage of the liṅga of breath (prāṇaliṅgisthala) to

485 Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi 5.24: ādau bhaktasthalaṃ proktaṃ tato māheśvarasthalam | prasādisthalam anyat tu
prānāliṅgisthalaṃ tataḥ || śaraṇasthalam ākhyātaṃ ṣaṣṭham aikyasthalaṃ matam ||. The Siddhāntaśikhāmaṇi
teaches further subdivisions of each sthala, and so in total it actually teaches a system of 101 sthalas.
486See RAMANUJAN (1973, 151–156) for a theological discussion of ṣaṭsthala themes in relation to the Kannada
vacanas. See CHANDRA SHOBHI (2005) for a cogent analysis of the reconstruction of Vīraśaiva identity through
Vijayanagara-era scholarship.
487 This is further support for an early fifteenth century date for the Śivayogapradīpikā. See Chapter 4 on the

dating of the text.

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correlate with the aṅga of prāṇāyāma, and so he is forced to switch the sthala order, in order to satisfy

the Aṣṭāṅga sequence.

When the yogin performs Aṣṭāṅgayoga, in accordance with the ṣaṭsthala, and through the

yogic ritualization of Śivapūjā, they are said to become a Vīraśaiva, a “heroic devotee of Śiva.”

(3.63cd-64) In this way, by means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, a person becomes a Vīraśaiva. Therefore,

through every kind of effort, whether by means of action or gnosis, even you, by means of
Aṣṭāṅgayoga can be a Vīraśaiva, O faultless one!

These are the only two mentions of the important term vīraśaiva in the Śivayogapradīpikā. These

verses conclude the third paṭala of the text.

5.30 Tripartite Rājayoga

The final two paṭalas of the text provide detailed teachings and descriptions of Rājayoga and its various

stages. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, and at the beginning of the text, the

Śivayogapradīpikā teaches a unique tripartite system of Rājayoga divided into three stages and sets of

practices, namely Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, and Amanaska (ŚYP 1.10). We will discuss each of these in turn.

Cennasadāśivayogin begins by reinterpreting the Aṣṭāṅgayoga sequence again. He states that

the Aṣṭāṅgayoga as previously taught is the means (sādhana) for Haṭhayoga. Now he is going to

describe how the eight auxiliaries of Haṭhayoga are to be understood in terms of Rājayoga (ŚYP 4.2–3).

The yamas are described as victory and peace over the dualities of hot and cold, eating and sleeping, the

activities of sense-organs, and so forth (ŚYP 4.4). The niyamas are to be understood as devotion

(bhakti) to the guru, love for feet of supreme Reality (paramatattva, i.e. Śiva), unselfishness, inner-

contentment, being single-pointed, devoid of mental activity (manonivṛtti), and the state of

detachment (vairāgya, ŚYP 4.5). Āsana is defined as always sitting in one’s own nature (svasvarūpa),

the posture of happiness (sukhāsana), and the experience of neutrality toward all things (ŚYP 4.6).

Prānāyāma is described as carefully steadying the breath by means of exhalation, inhalation, retention

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 Table 23: Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Rājayoga (ŚYP 4.4–11).

Haṭhayoga Rājayoga

1. Yama 1. Victory and peace over hot and cold, activities of sense-organs, eating and
sleeping, etc.

2. Niyama 2. Devotion to the guru, love for Śiva, unsel$shness, inner-contentment, being
single-pointed, devoid of mental activity, and the state of detachment (vairāgya).

3. Āsana 3. Always sitting in one’s own nature (svasvarūpa) is the posture of happiness
(sukhāsana); the experience of neutrality toward all things.

4. Prāṇāyāma 4. Steadying the breath by means of exhalation, inhalation, retention (kumbhaka),

and fusion (saṃghaṭṭa), thinking the world is unreal.

5. Pratyāhāra 5. An unwavering mind turned inward to obstruct contact with the net of sense-
pleasures and mental formations.

6. Dhyāna 6. The experience of “I am That” (so ’haṃ), experiencing one’s own nature as the
supreme non-duality (paramādvaita), through the compassion of the guru, one’s
vision extends equally to all beings, he delights in his own self (svātmārāma).

7. Dhāraṇā 7. Supreme Reality (paramatattva, i.e. Śiva) shines within and without, mind is
$xed in concentration, continous splendour, completely devoid of movement.

8. Samādhi 8. Virtuousness through one’s own experience of the scriptures, always in one-
pointed contemplation, spontaneously, without di(culty, the perpetual non-
discursive state.

(kumbhaka), and fusion (saṃghaṭṭa), while also thinking the world is unreal (mithyā, ŚYP 4.7).

Pratyāhāra is turning the mind inward, obstructing contact with the net of sense-pleasures and mental

formations (vikāra), attaining an unwavering mind (ŚYP 4.8). Dhyāna is described as the experience of

the phrase “I am That” (so ’haṃ), experiencing one’s own nature (svabhāva) as the pinnacle of supreme

non-duality (paramādvaita); through the compassion of the guru, one’s vision extends equally to all

beings, and he delights in his own self (svātmārāma, ŚYP 4.9). Dhāraṇā is envisioned as the supreme

Reality (paramatattva, i.e. Śiva) shining within and without one whose mind is continually fixed in

concentration; this continuous splendor is a mind completely devoid of movement (calanarahitacitta,

ŚYP 4.10). Finally, samādhi is described as virtuousness (śīlatā) through one’s own experience of the

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scriptures; always in one-pointed contemplation, spontaneously (sahajā), without difficulty, the

perpetual non-discursive state (satatanirvikalpātmaka).

With this in mind, the more formal teachings on Rājayoga begin. Cennasadāśivayogin begins

by restating the importance of the true guru (sadguru) to obtain this special knowledge—which cannot

be obtained by any other actions (nānyakarmabhiḥ, ŚYP 4.12). The fruit of Rājayoga is said to be the

immediate obtainment of Brahman, who shines within and without all beings, but without knowing a

proper guru, one will not see. There is a notable shift here in the text to a more jñāna-based

gnoseological approach to yoga, compared to the previous paṭalas with their focus on Haṭhayoga and

the Aṣṭāṅgayoga ritual of Śivapūjā. The author now becomes more critical of other approaches, and

those whose knowledge is deemed “defective.”

(4.15) For those with defective knowledge, those souls who are in a darkness of confusion due
to the six religious systems (samaya),488 those fools abounding in the poetical speech and
discourse of the various Vedas, Purāṇas, and [other] Śāstras, and those whose nature is pride
due to the strict observance of the four stages of life (āśrama)—what is [the point of] this
knowledge of yoga (yogajñāna)? In the absence of the guru’s teaching, its nature is out of
sight.

Cennasadāśivayogin here appears quite critical of orthodox religion (including other forms of Śaivism),

Sanskrit knowledge systems, Vedic scriptures, and indeed the varṇāśrama system with its prescribed

four stages of life. The rhetorical point he is making however is epistemological and concerns praxis—

simply following the rules of tradition blindly, or expounding what one has memorized in the Śāstras

through rote learning is not enough. Without the direct teachings of a true guru, the nature of this

yoga is not possible.

488 The term samaya is a legal term for a “compact” or “agreement.” However, it can also take on the meaning of
the particular codes and observances of a religious tradition. According to the Vaiṣṇava legal scholar Varadarāja
in his Vyavahāranirṇaya (c. 13th century), and quoting the Svayambhuvāgama, the six samayas are the Buddhists
(bauddha), Jainas, Śaivas, Pāśupatas, Kāpālikas, and Pāñcarātras. See SCHWARTZ (2018) for a detailed discussion
of samaya and (2018, 14) for this passage.

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 (4.16) Here in this world, for souls who are bound by the distresses of land, wealth, a
beautiful house, children, wife, and friends, by discourses on alchemy (rasāyana), metallurgy
(dhātuvāda), and mineralogy (mahārasa), [and] by those various [practices] such as Mantra
and Layayoga, and Haṭha [performed] for personal gain (kāmya)—how can they [attain] the
guru’s grace?

In this interesting verse, Cennasadāśivayogin continues to stress the role of the guru and his grace

(prasāda) for the yogin seeking the supreme state of liberation through Rājayoga. The verse speaks of

the superfluousness of all else without the guru—including surprisingly other systems of yoga. The

first line may be read perhaps as a slight at householders, even though elsewhere in the text we have

seen a more favorable attitude towards non-ascetics.489 The next line appears to criticize other spiritual-

knowledge disciplines including alchemy (rasāyana), metallurgy (dhātuvāda), and mineralogy

(mahārasa), and surprisingly the other three systems of yoga—Mantra, Laya, and Haṭhayoga. The

keyword here is kāmya, which seems to suggest the inferority of these systems of yoga when they are

practiced selfishly for personal gain or material benefit, rather than the higher soteriological aims of

Rājayoga. The point remains, that all of these disciplines are nothing without the grace of the guru.

Later in the same chapter, we see a further denigration of these three yoga systems:

(4.33) Through Mantra[yoga], Layayoga, or Haṭhayoga—scholars will always be afflicted so

long as Brahman is not known.

What are we to make of these disparaging remarks? Why is Cennasadāśivayogin now denigrating

practitioners of these other systems of yoga, when until-now, and throughout the text, he has strived to

synthesize, harmonize, and integrate all four systems of yoga (including Rājayoga) into a coherent

treatise? Perhaps these verses were influenced by or taken from another text on Rājayoga.490 Most

likely, Cennasadāśivayogin is simply stressing the point that once the yogin is at the stage of Rājayoga,

489 See for example the section on āsana above.

490 I have found no textual parallels for these verses and thus have no evidence for this. A somewhat similar

sentiment is expressed in Śivasaṃhitā 5.2–11, however, when describing the obstacles (vighna) to liberation.

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the other yoga systems, as well as all other knowledge systems, cease to matter. This is quite similar to

the sentiment of even the Haṭhapradīpikā, the locus classicus of Haṭhayoga, wherein Svātmārāma

stresses that Haṭhayoga is a stairwell to Rājayoga,491 and that those who do not strive for Rājayoga are

mere practitioners of Haṭha whose labor is without fruits (phalavarjita).492 Nonetheless, including

verses these do seem to undermine the soteriological value of the other systems of yoga.

5.31 Sāṅkhya Rājayoga

There are three types of Rājayoga which will be discussed. The first is Sāṅkhya, which is described as

the practice of gaining gnosis of the levels of reality (tattvajñāna, ŚYP 4.19). Here Cennasadāśivayogin

builds upon the well-known metaphysical schema of the twenty-five tattvas codified in the

Sāṅkhyakārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa—a map describing the unfolding levels of reality emerging from the

primal matter (pradhāna) of prakṛti. According to Sāṅkhyakārikā 22, the entire universe unfolds from

prakṛti and the mixture of the three guṇas—sattva, rajas, and tamas.493 The first evolute from prakṛti

itself is the “great” (mahat), also known as the faculty of wisdom or discernment (buddhi). From this

arises a sense of self-identity, or individuation (ahaṃkāra)—literally the making (√kṛ) of “I” (aham).

From this arises what Sāṅkhya calls the “class of sixteen” (ṣoḍaśaka). This includes the internal

instrument of the mind (manas), the five organs of cognition (buddhendriya), the five organs of action

(karmendriya), and the five subtle elements (tanmātra). From this class of sixteen, arises in turn the five

elements (pañcabhūta). These tattvas together with prakṛti and puruṣa total twenty-five levels of reality

according to Sāṅkhya.

491 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.1.

492 Haṭhapradīpikā 4.79.

493 Sāṅkhyakārika 22: prakṛter mahāṃs tato ’haṅkāras tasmād gaṇaś ca ṣoḍaśakaḥ | tasmād api ṣoḍaśakāt
pañcabhyaḥ pañca bhūtāni ||.

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 Table 24: Chart of the 25 Tattvas (ŚYP 4.20–25)

Internal Breath Organ of Organ of Action Subtle element Element

Instrument (prāṇa) cognition (karmendriya) (tanmātra) (bhūta)
(antaḥkaraṇa) (buddhendriya)

Ether Wind Fire Earth Water

State of knowing Samāna Ear (śrotra) Speech (vāk) Sound (dhvani) Ether
(jñātṛtva)

Mental organ Vyāna Skin (carman) Hand (pāṇi) Touch (sparśa) Wind
(manas)

Wisdom faculty Udāna Eye (dṛś) Foot (pāda) Form (rūpa) Fire
(buddhi)

Mind (citta) Apāna Tongue (rasanā) Organ of Taste (rasa) Water

procreation
(upastha)*

Individuation Prāṇa Nose (ghrāṇa) Organ of Smell (gandha) Earth

(ahaṃkāra) excretion (pāyu)*

* Note the different order of karmendriyas in correspondence with Sāṅkhyakārikā 26.

Cennasadāśivayogin expounds an adapted version of this classical schema of tattvas, whereby all

twenty-five tattvas are established in the five elements (ŚYP 4.25). In this schema, for each of the five

elements (pañcabhūta) is an associated buddhendriya, karmendriya, and tanmātra—as we find in the

Sāṅkhyakārikā. However, additionally we find one of the five breaths (prāṇa, vāyu) as well as an

associated internal instrument of cognition (antaḥkaraṇa). Moreover, each of these five tattvas is in

turn associated with its own element in accordance with its category (see Table 24). The description in

the text is as follows:

(4.20) The state of knowing is ether, the samāna breath is wind, the ear is fire, sound is
water, and speech is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of ether. (4.21) The mental organ
(manas) indeed is ether, the vyāna breath is wind, skin is fire, touch is water, and the hand is
earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of wind. (4.22) The wisdom faculty (buddhi) is ether,
the udāna breath is wind, the eye is fire, form is water, the foot is earth—these are the
fivefold tattvas of fire. (4.23) The mind (citta) is ether, the apāna breath is wind, the tongue

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 is fire, taste is water, the organ of procreation is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of
water. (4.24) Individuation (ahaṃkāra) is ether, the prāṇa breath is wind, the nose is fire,
smell is water, the organ of excretion is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of earth.

In the Śivayogapradīpikā, the five elements grouped together with these additional five categories

multiply together to yield twenty-five tattvas—without the puruṣa. Also different than the

Sāṅkhyakārikā schema, the order of the karmendriyas—the organ of procreation (upastha) and the

organ of excretion (pāyu)—have been swapped from their normal correspondences with earth and

water elements, respectively.

Then the tattvas are said to be further subdivided into three groups: 1) those relating to the soul

or inner Self (ādhyātmika); 2) those relating to the elements (adhibhūta); 3) and those relating to deities

(adhidaivata)—all in accordance with the ten sense-organs (i.e. the buddhendriya and karmendriya)

and the internal instruments (antaḥkaraṇa) of a living being (jīva, ŚYP 4.26). Traversing through the

ontological nature of each of these levels of reality, the yogin performs a tattvajaya, or “conquest of the

levels of reality” as we find in other Śaiva texts like the Mālinīvijayottaratantra (VASUDEVA 2004).494

The yogin then carries out the following apophatic contemplation:

(4.27) He lives contemplating thus—“I am not the elements (bhūta), the constituents of
nature (guṇa), nor the sense-organs (indriya). I am not the mental organ (manas), the mind
(citta), wisdom faculty (buddhi), the body (vapus), nor the breath (prāṇa). Neither am I
bound by the duties (dharma) and rites (karma) of the social order (āśrama). All
phenomena I am not. Truly, I am that which is eternal, unchanging, the one, imperishable,
unborn, peaceful, auspicious (śiva), without form (nirguṇa), pure, and which is the
awakened state (buddhapada).”

As we saw earlier when describing the state of samādhi (ŚYP 3.49), this contemplation recognizes and

negates all things which are ontologically separate from one’s true eternal and unchanging nature

(svabhāva)—including the internal faculties of one’s mind and body, as well as the external codes of the

494 In the Mālinīvijayottaratantra and other Mantramārga Śaiva texts, however, the 25 tattvas of classical
Sāṅkhya are superseded by a Śaiva schema of 36 levels of reality (see GOODALL 2016). The Śivayogapradīpikā
interestingly does not use this Śaiva schema.

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social order (varṇāśrama). In a Vedāntic-Sāṅkhyan tone, Cennasadāśivayogin declares that a great soul

(mahātman) is one who lives knowing that the true Self (ātman) is ontologically distinct from all the

distinctions and evolutes of prakṛti. These include the sixteen modifications (vikāra), the three bodies

(deha), the seventeen components of the subtle (liṅga) body, the nine principle categories (padārtha),

and the eightfold nature of prakṛti (ŚYP 4.28). Rather than the puruṣa or the draṣṭṛ of classical

Sāṅkhya-Yoga, we can see that the Śivayogapradīpikā puts forth the ātman and brahman principles of

Advaitavedānta:

(4.29) That Brahman, which the scriptures (śruti) declare to be truth, knowledge, and
unending; the nature of liberation and bliss—indeed it is established, you are That (tat tvam
asi). (4.30) "I am not this, I am not this," think of the Self as other than this. “I am that, I am
that,” contemplate everything as your Self (ātman). (4.31) “From gnosis alone comes
liberation.” Grasping this saying ardently in the heart, devote your mind entirely to this
Jñānayoga!

These verses strongly echo Vedāntic texts like the Upaniṣads and the Bhagavadgītā. Indeed,

Cennasadāśivayogin refers to this Sāṅkhya as Jñānayoga, just as Kṛṣṇa teaches Arjuna in chapter three

of the Bhagavadgītā.495

5.32 Tāraka Rājayoga

After Sāṅkhya, follows the teachings on Tāraka, a special type of yoga involving a system of three

gazing points (lakṣya) and five ethers (vyoman).496 The three lakṣyas are external (bāhya), internal

(antar), and intermediate (madhya) and are said to grant the yogin a vision and direct experience of

Brahman (brahmadarśana, ŚYP 4.36). Somewhat similar to the previous sections on dhyāna and

dhāraṇā we find a series of esoteric visualizations. The internal lakṣya concerns bringing awareness

internally within the space at the top of the forehead. First the yogin is to visualize Kuṇḍalinī, “She

495 Bhagavadgītā 3.3c: jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṃ.

496 These three lakṣyas and five vyomans are also found in the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati. See Chapter 4.

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who Ascends” (ūrdhvagāminī) up the suṣumṇā like a “crore of lightning,” rising to the top of the

forehead like a lotus-fibre at the brahmarandhra (ŚYP 4.37–38). Or, the yogin should visualize the

form of a trembling star in the gollāṭa space at the top of the forehead. Closing off the ears with the

index fingers, one hears the sound "ghuṃ ghuṃ"497 at the śrīhaṭṭa, at the top of the head. A third

option is to visualize a blue light in between the eyes. These are said to be known as the internal lakṣya

(ŚYP 4.39–31).

The external (bāhya, bahir) lakṣya involves the yogin bringing the awareness to a space directly

outside of the head. The first method describes visualizing the five elements with a corresponding

color, and at distance of either four, six, eight, ten, or twelve finger-breadths from the tip of the nose

(ŚYP 4.42). Otherwise, one gazes at the space directly in front of the face, where a ray of light appears

for those whose minds are steady (ŚYP 4.43). Another method is to gaze at the space in front of or at

the corners of the eyes, visualizing the earth as molten gold (ŚYP 4.44). Another option is to gaze at the

formless mass of light twelve finger-breadths above the head, which is said to bestow liberation

(muktida, ŚYP 4.45). Wherever the yogin gazes his mind is said to become like the element Ether

(ākāśa) alone (ŚYP 4.46).

Next, the intermediate (madhya) lakṣya is described in a single verse. Here, one should fix their

gaze on a single object which has no solid ground (sthalahīna) such as a color like white, a bolt of

lightning, a new crescent moon, or a flame bursting forth (ŚYP 4.48). The intermediate lakṣya is thus

neither inside the yogin’s mind, nor directly external to the yogin’s body.

Next Cennasadāśivayogin introduces the five ethers or vyomans which are said to dwell inside

as well as outside of the yogin (ŚYP 4.50). The term vyoman is used similarly to the elemental term

497The manuscripts disagree on what the internal sound is. While T1 T3 Ped and Str read ghuṃghuṃ, N has
ghudaghuda and T1 reads ghrūṃghrūṃ. The Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati reads dhūṃdhūṃ and lists variants
dhāṃdhāṃ and dhūdhū. Suffice to say, there is some perplexity regarding the inner sounds and how they are to
be represented linguistically.

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ākāśa, which is often translated as “ether,” “space,” “void,” and so on. The Śivayogapradīpikā describes

the five vyomans as five types of ākāśa—ether (ākāśa) is formless (nirākāra) and devoid of qualities

(guṇarahita), supreme ether (parākāśa) consists of heavy darkness (tamas), great ether (mahākāśa) is

like the fire of death, the ether of reality (tattvākāśa) is radiant, and the ether of the sun (sūryakha)498

resembles a hundred suns. These are declared as the five vyomans, and the yogin who sees them in his

lakṣya becomes just like the nature of that vyoman (ŚYP 4.50). These teachings conclude with a

definition of the term tāraka:

(4.51) And this yoga is called Tāraka because it causes the teacher and student to “cross
over” (tāraṇa). Devote yourself to the practice of Tāraka, which carries you across the great
ocean of existence to the one Reality.

Here the author is playing on the verbal root √tṛ which means “to cross over, to carry.” The practice of

tāraka is thus so-called because it “carries” the yogin across the shore of samsāra, the “great ocean of

existence” to the ultimate reality of liberation. A very similar verse is found in the south-Indian

recension of the Amanaska, and it is likely that Cennasadāśivayogoin was paraphrasing from this

source.499 The paṭala closes by stating that although the practices are different, the fruit of both

Sāṅkhya and Tāraka is one and the same. Sāṅkhya is understood to be yoga without conditioning

attributes (upādhi), whereas Tāraka is a yoga with conditioning attributes (sopādhika, ŚYP 4.52).

5.33 Amanaska Rājayoga

The final chapter, the fifth paṭala of the Śivayogapradīpikā, is devoted to the teachings of Amanaska—

the mystical “no-mind” (amanas) state. Included are further teachings on the internal lakṣya, mudrās

498 It seems that for metrical reasons this is named sūryakha rather than sūryākāśa, as we find in the

Siddhasiddhāṇtapaddhati 30.
499Śivayogapradīpikā 4.51ab ≈ south-Indian Amanaska 1.11ab: tārako 'yaṃ bhavāmbhodhau tāraṇād
guruśiṣyayoḥ |. “This is [called] Tāraka because it causes the teacher and student to “cross over” (tāraṇa) the
ocean of existence.” Translation with slight adaptation from BIRCH (2013, 388).

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such as the inner khecarīmudrā, śāṃbhavīmudrā, and sahajāmudrā, a vision of the internal Śivaliṅga,

and a description of the ritual worship of Śiva as consciousness (cicchivapūjā). We also find further

descriptions of the attainment of jīvanmukti and the no-mind state (unmanī), as well as teachings on

the four stages (avasthā) of yogic practice—returning the discourse to the four yogas which began the

text. Cennasadāśivayogin then offers a conclusion.

Having taught the three lakṣyas associated with Tāraka, the fifth paṭala begins by now teaching

another lakṣya—the inner (antar) lakṣya of Amanaska. This lakṣya is said to be extremely secret

(atirahasya), located at the divine liṅga, is visible (dṛṣṭa), established neither inside nor outside the

yogin, and is characterized by direct perception (aparokṣa). Cennasadāśivayogin calls it the “ether

within the ether” (ākāśābhyantarākāśa, ŚYP 5.1–2). Its location is described as being twelve finger-

breadths above the base of the palate (tālumūla, ŚYP 5.5).

(5.3) For one whose eyes remain unmoving [while open], with the mind and breath dissolved
in the [inner] lakṣya, this khecarī indeed is śāmbhavī. Through the proper practice of this
mudrā, he shall be the guru of the world.

When the yogin’s mind and breath are dissolved in the inner lakṣya, while the eyes remain open and

fixed outwards, this is said to be khecarī—and moreover it is also known as śāmbhavī. The latter,

śāmbhavī is an important mudrā within Rājayoga, as we find it described in the Haṭhapradīpikā:

[Fixing the mind] on the inner lakṣya, keeping the eyes open without blinking—this is
śāmbhavīmudrā, which is kept secret in the Vedas and Śāstras.500

When the yogin abides with the mind and breath dissolved in the inner lakṣya, gazing
outwards with the eyes unmoving—seeing yet not seeing [anything]—that indeed is
śāmbhavī. It is obtained by the grace of the guru, characterized by neither śūnya nor aśūnya,
and flashes the supreme Reality which is Śiva.501

500Haṭhapradīpikā 4.36: antarlakṣyaṃ bahirdṛṣṭirnimeṣonmeṣavarjitā | eṣā sā śāmbhavī mudrā vedaśāstreṣu

gopitā ||.
501 Haṭhapradīpikā4.37: antarlakṣyavilīnacittapavano yogī yadā vartate dṛṣṭyā niśalatārayā bahir adhaḥ paśyann
apaśyann api | mudreyaṃ khalu śāmbhavī bhavati sā labdhā prasādād guroḥ śūnyāśūnyavilakṣaṇaṃ sphurati tat
tattvaṃ param śāmbhavam ||.

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Both the Śivayogapradīpikā and the Haṭhapradīpikā emphasize the secret and esoteric nature of

śāmbhavī, which is described as atirahasya or gopitā. It is a secret inner gaze, only known to the

advanced Rājayogin. Svātmārāma goes so far to compare śāmbhavīmudrā to a “wife of a respectable

family” (kulavadhū) who keeps herself private and hidden (guptā), unlike the Vedas, Śāstras, and

Purāṇas which are said to be like a “public woman,” that is to say, prostitutes (sāmānyagaṇikā).502

Despite the chauvinism of this verse, the point remains clear—that unlike the Vedas and other

scriptures which are commonly available and accessible to the public, śāmbhavī, the inner lakṣya,

remains secret and hidden for yogins. Moreover, Cennasadāśivayogin says that this śāmbhavī becomes

known as khecarī when the mind and breath are dissolved in the inner lakṣya. Khecarī is an important

and somewhat extreme mudrā of Haṭhayoga which typically involves severing the frenum with a blade

so that the yogin can then extend the tongue upwards into the nasal cavity of the throat, so as to taste

and consume the immortal nectar of amṛta.503 Cennasadāśivayogin tells us that this is not that khecarī:

(5.4) Not knowing the inner khecarīmudrā in this world, some have hastily taken to the
external khecarī through the practice of cutting the tongue.

The cutting of the tongue is referred to as the “external” khecarī (bāhyakhecarī), resorted to hastily by

yogins who do not have the patience or secret knowledge of the superior inner khecarī being described.

Cennasadāśivayogin is obviously criticizing those yogins who would resort to the dangerous practice of

cutting the tongue.

Once the yogin establishes their gaze at the inner lakṣya, the outer gaze should be placed at the

tip of the nose, with eyes open and unblinking. Here they begin to investigate (vimarśana) the nature

of Śiva. A light appears which makes the sound oṃ. The yogin is then granted a vision of a Śivaliṅga.

502 Haṭhapradīpikā 4.35: vedaśāstrapurāṇāni sāmānyagaṇikā iva | ekaiva śāmbhavī mudrā guptā kulavadhūr iva
||.
503 For a detailed study of khecarī and the Khecarīvidyā of Ādinātha, see MALLINSON (2007).

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 (5.10) Like the orb of the full moon, like the lamp of a precious gem, like the midday sun,
like the tip of an eternal flame, like a flash of lightening! The wondrous Śivaliṅga, which
glows within the [inner] lakṣya, is seen in front of [the yogin’s] eyes.

This glorious Śivaliṅga is also described as the Ātmaliṅga, that is, the inner liṅga of the Self. With this

internal liṅga manifest, Cennasadāśivayogin asks, what is the need for other rituals (karmavibhrama,

ŚYP 5.11)? Why worship an external liṅga with flowers, when one can worship the internal Ātmaliṅga

with the yogic flowers of devotion? Here Cennasadāśivayogin draws on a specifically Vīraśaiva list of

the eight internal ritual flowers, beginning with non-harming (ahimṣā):

(5.12) The [eight] flowers are named: non-harming (ahiṃsā), restraint of the senses
(indriyanigraha), compassion (dayā), patience (kṣamā), gnosis (jñāna), meditation (dhyāna),
austerity (tapas), and truth (satyam). With these alone, one should worship the Siddhaliṅga
within the Self.

This list is found in the Vīraśaiva text the Kriyāsāra, describing the eight petals for internal ritual

worship—in explicitly yogic terms. Except for gnosis (jñāna), each of these are elements of Aṣṭāṅgayoga

as described earlier in the text. In the above verse, the internal object of worship is referred to now as

the Siddhaliṅga. Cennasadāśivayogin thus appears to equate the Śivaliṅga with Ātmaliṅga, and

Siddhaliṅga—internally uniting Śiva, the Self, and the master yogins. Cennasadāśivayogin then

describes the Rājayogin, beginning to synthesize again what has come before.

(5.13) One who closes and opens the eyes, whose breath is devoid of exhalation and
inhalation, whose mind has dispelled all doubts—surely he alone is a seeker of the state of
Rājayoga. (5.14) One who, having restrained the mind in the śṛṅgāṭaka [at the center of the
brow], goes toward the triangle of the sun and the moon, with single mind focused within
and outside the body, concentrates on the eight [flowers of practice]—[he becomes] a
Haṭha-Rāja yogin.

The Rājayogin is thus one who engages with eyes open in śāmbhavīmudrā, the inner khecarī, who

directs their internal gaze at the inner lakṣya, which is located at the śṛṅgāṭaka—the three-peaked

(trikūṭa) mountain of the iḍā, piṅgalā, and suṣumṇā channels— which converge within the center of

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the forehead, in the space between the two eyes and the two ears.504 Such a yogin is said not just to be a

Rājayogin, but a Haṭha-Rāja yogin—one who masters Rājayoga as the culmination of Haṭhayoga.505

We are then provided a series of verses on the liberated state.

(5.15) Due to the state of complete union of the seer and seen, one perceives the final no-
mind (unmanī) [state]. O sage, this Śivayoga is the secret which makes one liberated-while-
living (jīvanmukti)!

When the yogin who is perceiving, that is, the seer (dṛg), attains complete union (sambandha) with the

object being perceived, that is the seen (dṛśya)—one is said to attain the state of liberation, a supra-

cognitive state beyond all mental activity. This “no-mind” state is referred to alternatively within the

text by the various names unmanī, unmanatā, manonmanī, amanas, amanaska, as well as the

spontaneous innate state (sahajāvasthā). As we have seen, it is equated with the state of jīvanmukta, or

being liberated-while-living. Here in this verse, it is also described as the secret Śivayoga. The following

are said to be the prognostic “signs” (pratyaya) of the yogin approaching the liberated state—rays of

light, lightning, a smoky color, bindu, nāda, and kalā, the light of a glowworm, the sun, or moon,

shining gold, the stalk of lotus-flowers, and the nine gems (navaratna, ŚYP 5.16). Then drawing the

apāna breath down towards the inner fire, the yogin is to close off the ears, eyes, and nostrils using the

thumbs, index, and middle fingers. The yogin begins to see the signs of liberation, absorbed in oṃ and

various other internal sounds (ŚYP 5.17). Beyond the signs is said to be a peace whose nature is filled

with light. Beyond this is the supreme Brahman (ŚYP 5.18).

(5.20) Bhāvayoga is the extraordinary state of the absence of mental volition (saṃkalpa) and
discursive thought (vikalpa). One who fully attains that surely enters the no-mind (unmanī)
state.

504 On śṛṅgāṭaka, see Śivayogapradīpikā 2.36–37.

505 The phrase haṭharājayoginappears to be unique to the Śivayogapradīpikā. The only other references I have
found are in Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya 90 and Rājayogāmṛta 2.51 which borrow this verse.

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The term bhāvayoga is also found in the Śivapurāṇa Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.7 where it refers to a

prāṇāyāma-based yoga. Here I suggest the compound means something like the state of “union with

reality. It is the experience of the state of communion with Śiva’s nature, here described as an

experience beyond all discursive mental activity—a “no-mind” state called unmanī. This supreme state

is then described in more Śaiva terms—experienced in the middle of the ādhāra of the heart, which

possesses the nature of nāda, bindu, and kalā (ŚYP 5.21).

(5.22) One who attains through his mind the supreme Śiva within the heart, who is
independent, without support, the supreme Reality, unchanging, without mental
constructs, and indestructible—he becomes the nature of that (i.e. Śiva).

Again the text implies, the liberated yogin becomes like a second Śiva, and a jīvanmukta. The yogin is

to give up the ideas of both “existence and non-existence” (bhāvābhāva, ŚYP 5.23).

(5.24) Knowledge and what is to be known, visualization and what is to be visualized, the
perceptible and imperceptible, existence and non-existence, inference and reasoning, seer and
what is to be seen—one who gives up all [such distinctions] is a jīvanmukta.

(5.25) Not exerting effort in all conditions of life, existing without thought, [the yogin]
remains as if dead. Like an ocean devoid of waves, like a lamp sheltered from the wind—
filled with the [supreme] Reality, he attains bliss.

Having conquered all dualities, the liberated yogin remains living, however, appears “as if

dead” (mṛtavat), completely emptied of all discursive activity, like an ocean devoid of waves. From this

place of inactivity, however, the yogin may still wish to engage with the world, as we will see.

5.34 Method of Worshipping Śiva as Consciousness

The text then shifts to provide another sequence of secret inner teachings. Cennasadāśivayogin

describes a special method for worshipping Śiva internally as consciousness (cicchivapūjā). This secret

(rahasya) practice is described as “the essence of the meaning of all the scriptures” (sarvaśāstrārthasāra)

and “bestows liberation” (vimuktida) instantly (ŚYP 5.26). Here we find another schema of

interiorized devotional practices.

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 (5.27) The absence of thought itself, is meditation on Śiva. Inactivity is the ritual worship of
Him. Motionlessness is [His] circumambulation. The realization of "I am That" (so 'ham) is
prostration [to Him]. (5.28) Silence is chanting (saṃkīrtana), while the [feeling] of complete
fullness is the repetition (japa) of His [name]. Knowledge of what is and is not to be done is
moral conduct (śīla). Viewing all things equally is Nirvāṇa.

Here we find a list of eight devotional services (upacāra)506 which have been interiorized with their

Amanaska Rājayoga equivalents. The yogin, from the exalted no-mind state, is thus able to continue to

perform Śivapūjā, worshipping Śiva within one’s very own consciousness.

Table 25: Worshipping Śiva as Consciousness (ŚYP 5.27–28).

External devotional service (upacāra) Internal yogic service

1. Meditation on Śiva (śivadhyāna) 1. Absence of thought (niścinta)

2. Ritual worship (pūjā) 2. Inactivity (niṣkriyā)

3. Circumambulation (pradakṣiṇa) 3. Motionlessness (niścalatva)

4. Prostration (namaskriyā) 4. Realization of "I am That" (so ‘hambhāva)

5. Chanting (saṃkīrtana) 5. Silence (mauna)

6. Mantra repetition (japa) 6. Complete fullness (paripūrṇatā)

7. Moral conduct (śīla) 7. Knowledge of what to do or not (kṛtyākṛtyajñatā)

8. Liberation (nirvāṇa) 8. Viewing all things equally (samadarśana)

The text then describes the four states (avasthā) of consciousness, namely—waking (jāgrat), dream

(svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti), the “fourth state” (turīya). The the spontaneous innate state (sahaja) is

described as beyond the fourth state (turyātīta, ŚYP 5.30). While in the waking (jāgrat) state, the yogin

abandons impure activities while carrying out pure ones, he turns away from the sense-pleasures of the

world, with mind turned inward, facing towards liberation, he cultivates the practice of yoga (ŚYP

5.31-33). If such a yogin dies while in the waking state, when he is reborn, he takes birth next in the

506 I have not found this particular list of eight upacāras in another text. It is thus unclear what source
Cennasadāśivayogin may be drawing from.

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dream state, due to the success of his yoga practice in his previous birth (ŚYP 5.34). When one sees the

entire world is like a dream (svapnavat), appearing like an autumnal cloud in his mind, the yogin roams

in the dream (svapna) state (ŚYP 5.35). Then, when the state of duality (dvaitabhāva) ceases, and the

yogin abides in the peace (śānti) that remains, which has the nature of luminosity and the splendor of

consciousness and bliss (cidānanda), the yogin abides in the state of deep sleep (suṣupti, ŚYP 5.36). The

guṇas having lost their fragrance, he then attains the state of the “fourth” (turīya). He is now said to be

a jīvanmukta (ŚYP 5.37). This state of turīya is described like a completely filled pot in the middle of

the ocean, or like a completely empty pot in the middle of the sky; both internal and external, as a state

of both fullness and total emptiness (ŚYP 5.38). Higher than this, is the spontaneous state beyond the

fourth (turīyātīta):

(5.39) [Praised] by some as Brahman, for some as Hari, for others as Śiva. For others it is
proclaimed by various distinctions such as [its] qualities of the void (śūnya), prakṛti, puruṣa,
time (kāla), and meaning (artha); for others in the world, by various words comprised of
discursive thought (vikalpa). Even though fixed with a body (dehayukta), one who arrives at
the state known as beyond turīya (turīyātīta) becomes eternally liberated.

It is not entirely clear how these five states (avasthā) correspond to the earlier teachings throughout the

text. Presumably, the yogin is to engage in all of the yogic and ritual practices herein during the waking

(jāgrat) state. As these practices deepen and the stages of Rājayoga begin to develop, the yogin traverses

through the remaining states of consciousness. Although the yogin is to go through each of the states

as they progress, Cennasadāśivayogin reminds readers not to cling too tightly to these experiences:

(5.41) Even though you have gone to all [these] states, don't dwell on all the states. Renounce
clinging [to them] completely, as well as the mind concerned with [the distinction between]
inner and outer. (5.42) Refrain from other actions and devote yourself to Śivayoga! Enjoy the
[state of] sahajā, the mudrā which is the final [state of] Amanaska, comprised of complete
knowledge.

When Śiva is successfully worshipped internally through Śivayoga, the final state emerges called sahajā,

the “spontaneous” innate state. Cennasadāśivayogin describes this as an inner mudrā and as the final

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state of Amanaska, characterized by knowledge of everything. Amanaska is further described as

follows:

(5.43) Having made the ātman [as large as] the sky, and likewise, having made [the ātman as
small as] a point, one should make the two equal in nature—this is indeed the practice of
Amanaska.

Cennasadāśivayogin uses the phrase amanaskakalā. The term kalā is difficult to translate here and may

mean something like practical art, discipline, or skill. This involves the yogin expanding their self

(ātman) as large as the sky (gagana), and likewise as small as a point (bindu). When these two extremes

are made equal in their essential nature (samarasa), this is described as the amanaskakalā. Just as the

smallest point imaginable dissolves into the expanse of all reality, so too does the expansive self merge

into the same infinite reality. Cennasadāśivayogin refers to this not only as Amanaska, but as Śiva’s

Amanaska (śivāmanaska)—that is, the no-mind state of Śiva—a state beyond dreaming and waking,

even beyond life and death (ŚYP 5.44). Cennasadāśivayogin then begins to frame the discussion of

Rājayoga in relation to the methods described earlier in the text.

(5.48) Nāda alone is the best among the [techniques of] Laya, while khecarī is the best
among the mudrās. Best among the gods is He who is without support (nirālamba) [i.e.
Śiva], while the no-mind (manonmanī) is [best] among the states (avasthā) [of Rājayoga].

This verse is very similar to the verse we find in the Haṭhapradīpikā (adapted from the Śivasaṃhitā):

There is no āsana like siddha, no kumbhaka like kevala,

no mudrā like khecarī, and no laya like nāda.507

In both texts, the sounds of the internal resonance (nāda) is said to be the best technique of Layayoga.

Khecarīmudrā is said to be the best among mudrās—though for the Śivayogapradīpikā this is

invariably the inner khecarī, and not the severing of the frenum. That breath which requires no

support (nirālamba) is none other than Kevalakumbhaka, the best among the methods of Haṭhayoga.

507 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.43: nāsanaṃ siddhasadṛśaṃ na kumbhaḥ kevalopamaḥ | na khecarīsamā mudrā na

nādasadṛśo layaḥ || ≈ Śivasaṃhitā 5.47.

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While the Śivasaṃhitā verse mentions Siddhāsana as the best among āsanas, Cennasadāśivayogin

instead states that the no-mind state (manonmanī) is the best among the states (avasthā) of Rājayoga.

(5.49) Having reached that [state] of manonmanī, which is the mudrā of Rājayoga, the yogin
moves about through all the worlds like a child, a lunatic, or a demon.

Here, again Cennasadāśivayogin refers to this highest state, manonmanī as a mudrā of Rājayoga—an

inner “seal” of the mind. The yogin in this state, we are told again, attains liberation while still living.

He is able to move through the entire universe as a madman of sorts—like a “child, a lunatic, or a

demon” (bālonmattapiśācavat). This particular phrase is something of a Brahminical cliché for the

behavior of the wandering rogue ascetic, who has renounced society yet still lives among it.508 Here of

course we are talking about the yogin as a jīvanmukti.

(5.50) Yoga alone is the method for attaining jīvanmukti, and not any other. [Yoga] alone is
the bestower of success, and is fully approved by all traditions (darśana).

Cennasadāśivayogin here argues that only yoga is the method for successfully attaining the liberated

state while living (jīvanmukti); not jñāna, prajñā, or other such soteriological knowledge. He

rhetorically suggests that all of the other religious traditions (darśana) know this and therefore approve

of yoga. While this is not necessarily the case—historically there have been darśanas which have argued

philosophically against the principles of yoga509—it is important to acknowledge the wide range of

Indic traditions which have adopted systems of yoga. In premodern India, yoga was in many regards, a

trans-sectarian discipline, and a pan-Indic phenomena.510

508 On the phrase bālonmattapiśācavat, see for example, Pañcamāśramavidhi 37, Nāradaparivrājakopaniṣad 154,
180. See also the discussion in HYNE-SUTHERLAND (2015, 295–297).
509 Śaṅkara, for example in his Brahmasūtrabhāṣya,is famous for opposing the Sāṅkhya-Yoga theory of prakṛti as
the material cause of the universe (see RUKMANI 1993). See also Abhinavagupta’s refutation of Aṣṭāṅgayoga
(TORELLA 2019).
510 See above Chapter 2.

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 Cennasadāśivayogin then begins to wind down the Śivayogapradīpikā, returning to the

framework of the four yogas with which he began the text.

(5.51) Mantra and Laya are known as the beginning (ārambha) and pot (ghaṭa) [stages],
respectively. Haṭha is the accumulation (paricaya) [stage], while the great Rājayoga is known
as the full completion (samaniṣpatti) [stage].

Here we find a different schema of four stages (avasthā), which correspond with each of the four yogas,

as mentioned earlier in this chapter (see above Table 12). Unlike the five avasthās of Amanaska

Rājayoga, these four avasthās provide a map for the progressive stages of the different systems of yoga

practice—moving from the methods of Mantrayoga in the beginning (ārambha) stage, to Layayoga in

the pot (ghaṭa) stage, to Haṭhayoga in the accumulation (paricaya) stage, and finally to Rājayoga in the

completion (niṣpatti) stage. In the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, this fourfold schema of avasthās is weaved

throughout the text to correlate with the various practices of yoga. We have seen previously how the

four yogas are reworked into the framework of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, and into the progressive sequence of

prāṇāyāma earlier in this chapter. Here, after the stages of the four yogas are progressively attained, and

one reaches the niṣpatti “completion” stage of Rājayoga, this is known as the Great Yoga (mahāyoga):

(5.52) Therefore, in this manner, the path of yoga should be practiced in this world for the
welfare of ascetics—having conquered laziness, the company of rogues, anger towards one's
own people, ignorance of the scriptures, and great diseases, which are the root impediments
[to yoga], and moreover, having renounced the divine powers (aiśvarya) and siddhis which
arise from the Great Yoga (mahāyoga), established in a virtuous place, surrounded by
virtuous people, in a virtuous kingdom (dharmarājya) where there is no oppression.

The phrase mahāyoga is also found as one of the five yogas in the Śivapurāṇa Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.6–11

where it is described as the mental absorption of Śiva through single-pointed concentration.511 In the

Yogabīja, the entire sequence of the four yogas—Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga—are together

511 Śivapurāṇa
Vāyavīyasaṃhitā 37.11: śivasvabhāva evaikaścintyate nirupādhikaḥ | yathā śaivamanovṛttir
mahāyoga ihocyate ||.

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known as the Great Yoga (mahāyoga),512 which seems to be how Cennasadāśivayogin uses the term,

following from the previous verse. It is interesting to note that this yoga is said to be practiced “for the

liberation of ascetics” (yamināṃ śreyase). We have seen earlier in the section on āsana that

householders can be considered among practitioners of yoga—at least in regards to practicing certain

seated postures. Here the ascetic nature of the text is again emphasized. Previously in the text (ŚYP

2.16–20) we saw detailed descriptions of the yoga hermitage (maṭha) and its characteristics. Here,

Cennasadāśivayogin states that this yoga should be practiced in a virtuous place, surrounded by

virtuous people, and in a virtuous or “dharmic” kingdom (dharmarājya). This is similar to a statement

made by Svātmārāma, that the yogin should reside in a righteous kingdom (surājye dhārmike), free

from disturbances.513 We are also reminded that the divine powers (aiśvarya) and siddhis which arise

from yoga are to be renounced (tyaktvā).

For the yogin who attains the final niṣpatti stage, the text declares that they no longer

experience—the three types of pain (tāpatraya), the ninefold states of worldly activity

(navavidhavyavahāra), the six bodily sheaths (ṣaṭkauśika), the six enemies (ṣaḍamitraka) of the mind,

the five sheaths (kośa), the changes (vikṛti) born of the six states (ṣaḍbhāva), and the six waves of

saṃsāric existence (ṣaḍūrmi, ŚYP 5.53).514 Niṣpatti is further described using two analogies:

(5.54) Just as a fire with a blazing flame burns [both] dry and wet [wood], so too the fire of
gnosis (jñānavahni) burns all karma which is made of [both] merit and sin. Immediately
upon that, the yogin of the niṣpatti (completion) [stage] reaches liberation.

(5.55) Just as a very small lamp forcibly destroys darkness (tamas) [whether] great or dense, so
too, alas, even a little of this samādhi of yoga destroys karma [whether] good or bad.

Yogabīja 143cd–144ab:: mantro layo haṭho rājayogāntarbhūmikāḥ kramāt | eka eva caturdhāyaṃ mahāyogo
512

’bhidhīyate || = Yogaśikhopaniṣad 1.129.

513 Haṭhapradīpikā 1.12.
514 Śivayogapradīpikā 5.53 ≈ Rājayogabhāṣya 5.9.

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Here, the final state of niṣpatti is described like an internal fire of gnosis (jñānavahni), able to burn

through all of one’s karma—whether merit or sin (puṇyapāpa)—just as a burning flame, if hot enough,

burns through both dry and wet wood. In the second verse, niṣpatti is described as the samādhi stage of

yoga (yogasamādhi), and is likened to a lamp which illuminates darkness. Even if it is a tiny lamp

(atyalpadīpa), even a little bit of light destroys the darkness. Likewise, even a little taste of the niṣpatti

state of samādhi is said to destroy the yogin’s karma—whether good or bad (śubhāśubha). When a

yogin has exhausted all of their karmas, what is left we might ask? Is the yogin “released” (mukta) from

saṃsāra and no longer takes rebirth? According to the Śivayogapradīpikā, one who reaches this state

experiences endless pleasure (atyantarāma) here on earth. Afterwards he is said to reach Śiva’s world

(śivaloka) where he experiences everlasting bliss (śāśvatasukha). Following this, he will be reborn in a

good family of yogins who are learned in the Vedas. Attaining this, he puts an end to death (i.e.

saṃsāra). This is declared as the supreme Śivayoga, says Cennasadāśivayogin (ŚYP 5.56). For such a

yogin, whose heart is dissolved in Brahman, even his parents become successful in their spiritual

undertaking. In fact, all those who are born in his family are said to be free from karmic sin (anagha).

Even the earth upon his feet becomes holy (ŚYP 5.57).

5.35 Concluding Verses

Having described the niṣpatti state of samādhi, the highest liberatory state of Rājayoga, and the yogin’s

cosmic rebirth into a family of spiritually evolved yogins, Cennasadāśivayogin concludes the text with

the following two verses:

(5.58) The manual to the doctrines of the Siddhas (siddhasiddhāntapaddhati), which

[contains] the hidden meaning of the Yogaśāstras, has been made concisely and is to be
known as the Lamp on Śivayoga.

As he did in the opening verses, Cennasadāśivayogin gives us the title of the text—the Lamp on

Śivayoga (śivayogapradīpikā). He states that it contains the hidden meaning (rahasyārtha) of the

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previous Yogaśāstras, or scriptures on yoga, and moreover, that it is a manual (paddhati)515 containing

the doctrines (siddhānta) of the siddhas, the great yogic “adepts” of the past. As discussed previously in

Chapter 4, this phrase siddhasiddhāntapaddhati is especially interesting given the similarities between

the Śivayogapradīpikā and the later Nātha text named the Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati. As mentioned, it

is possible that the title of the Nātha text was derived from this verse. For Cennasadāśivayogin, what is

important, is that he understands these teachings to derive from the lineages of the Siddhas.516 This is

quite interesting for a Vīraśaiva-inflected author, and is a testament to the intertextual exchange

between early Vīraśaiva, Nātha, and Siddha traditions in the fifteenth-century Deccan.

The final verse of the Śivayogapradīpikā states who should be an eligible recipient of the text:

(5.59) The treatise on Śivayoga, which is a secret, is to be given [only] to a champion of

practice, who has conquered the senses, and who has unwavering devotion (bhakti) to the
guru Śiva. One who gives it to a fool would commit sin upon their guru.

Again it is stressed that this is a secret (rahasya) text, and not to be given to just anyone—only a

“champion of practice” (abhyāsaśūra), a yogin who has conquered the senses (jitendriya) is fit to

receive it. Moreover, it must be one who has unwavering devotion (bhakti) to the ultimate teacher,

Śiva. That is to say, the text is intended for Śaivas only. As we were told at the beginning of the text,

bhakti is thus one of the key requirements for access to these secret teachings.517 One who gives the

Śivayogapradīpikā to a fool, or someone who is unqualified in this manner, is said to be one who

commits sin upon their guru (gurupātakin). This Śivayoga is thus not for everyone. It is hailed as a

secret teaching, which is being made available only to those Śivayogins with proper devotion.

515 On the meaning of paddhati, see SANDERSON (2004, 356–57, n.19).

516 Previously in the text, Cennasadāśivayogin states that the four yogas were declared by the Siddhas, as

instructed by Śiva. Śivayogapradīpikā 1.4.

517 Śivayogapradīpikā 1.3.

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5.36 Review of the Teachings

As we have seen in this chapter, the teachings of the Śivayogapradīpikā are primarily aimed at Śaiva

yogins under the proper counsel of a learned guru. It seems to be implied in the text that such a yogin

requires initiation (dīkṣita). The yogin is instructed to establish their practice in an isolated yoga hut

(maṭha) free of distractions from other people. After providing teachings on the internal ritual worship

of Śiva—including visually constructing a “throne of worship” in the heart and other forms of

mānasapūjā—our author Cennasadāśivayogin offers another type of Śivapūjā, in the form of

Aṣṭāṅgayoga. This Aṣṭāṅgayoga is equated with Haṭhayoga and is subdivided into internal and

external aṅgas. The internal aṅgas include the ethical restraints (yama) and observances (niyama), yogic

postures (āsana), breath-control (prāṇāyāma)—the latter includes teachings on the “unpronounced”

ajapā Gāyatrī mantra (involving the formula haṃsa → so ’ham → oṃ) and the three bandhas of

Haṭhayoga. The external aṅgas include sense-withdrawal (pratyāhāra), meditative visualization

(dhyāna) on a series of nine centers (cakra) and sixteen bodily supports (ādhāra), meditative

concentration (dhāraṇā) on the sequence of five elements, and finally total mental absorption

(samādhi). As the detailed yogic teachings of each auxiliary method of Aṣṭāṅgayoga are provided, they

are in turn interiorized and “ritualized” with their ritual equivalent. The author then reframes the

auxiliaries of Aṣṭāṅgayoga according to the Vīraśaiva ṣaṭsthala doctrine. Then again he interiorizes the

auxiliaries according to the more gnostic orientation of Rājayoga. The remainder of the text provides

teachings on a unique tripartite sequence of Rājayoga including: Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, and Amanaska.

Sāṅkhya involves a tattvajaya, or “conquest of the levels of reality” which lead to the yogin’s

discernment between the ontological nature of one’s true Self (ātman) and all else. Tāraka involves the

visualization of three lakṣyas, or gazing points, which are considered external, internal, and

intermediate to oneself. Finally, Amanaska comprises an even more subtle internal gazing point

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(antarlakṣya) which is utilized for the practice of śāmbhavīmudrā, and which is also described as the

internal khecarīmudrā. Its practice leads to the non-discursive, supra-cognitive state of samādhi known

as the “no-mind” state referred by the terms amanas, amanaska, or unmanī. This is also refered to by

the compound śivāmanaska, for it is the transcendant state which is comprised of the very nature of

Śiva (śivatattva)—the attainment of which is the soteriological goal of the Śivayogapradīpikā. Through

success in Aṣṭāṅgayoga the yogin is said to accumulate a wide range of powers (siddhi) over the course

of twelve years, culminating with becoming equal to, or a second Śiva (śivatulya). This is indeed the

goal of earlier forms of theologically-dual Śaivism including the Śaivasiddhānta—where there remains

an ontological distinction between the soul and Śiva. However, for the non-dual Śivayogapradīpikā,

this is not the final goal of practice. In the end the siddhis themselves are to be renounced as potential

obstacles. In the end the yogin is taught to worship Śiva as the nature of consciousness itself. When

there is the complete union (saṃbandha) of the seer and the seen (i.e. oneself and Śiva) this yields the

highest no-mind state. This is declared the secret of Śivayoga, and liberates the yogin completely while

living—that is, the yogin becomes a jīvanmukta.

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 6. Conclusion

Around six hundred years ago, in the Deccan of south India, in a Telugu-speaking region of what is

today Andhra Pradesh, a learned scholar by the name of Cennasadāśivayogin authored a Sanskrit text

on yoga known as the Śivayogapradīpikā, the “Lamp on Śivayoga.” Cennasadāśivayogin, who was also

known regionally in Telugu as Nūkanārādhya, was an heir to a long line of Indulūri chiefs, and

belonged to a family of Ārādhya Brahmins with ties to the ancient pilgrimage center of Srisailam. He

was part of a religious tradition popular in the region known as the Vīraśaivas—or the Vīramāheśvaras

—who are renowned for their passionate devotion (bhakti), Śaiva theology, and ritual praxis—but not

necessarily for their yoga. Yet as we have seen in this study, Vīraśaivas like Cennasadāśivayogin played a

significant role in the codification of yogic theory and praxis during its formative late-medieval period.

In producing the Śivayogaparadīpikā, this author drew on an extensive archive of preexisting

Sanskrit texts and practical systems of yoga to create a new synthesis for Śaiva yogins. This dissertation

has argued that central to Cennasadāśivayogin’s textual project was the unification of a fourfold schema

of yoga systems well-known at the time—namely Mantrayoga, Layayoga, Haṭhayoga, and Rājayoga—

together with the bhakti and ritual worship (pūjā) of the Vīraśaivas. To structure the text, and the yogic

teachings therein, the author utilized the blueprint of an eight-limbed (aṣṭāṅga) schema which

culminates in the highest teachings of samādhi and Rājayoga. According to my reading of the text,

when this Aṣṭāṅgayoga is itself practiced as the ritual worship of Śiva (śivapūjā)—this devotional and

ritual orientation renders it as Śivayoga. In this way, I argue that the Śivayoga taught in the Pradīpikā is

not simply another yoga system, but through a process of “yogic ritualization” it becomes rather the

apotheosis of all other systems of yoga. For Vīraśaivas, it is the means to attain union with Śiva

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(liṅgaikya), the highest soteriological state of liberation (mokṣa)—the summum bonum of Indic

traditions.

Throughout this study we have paid close attention to the text especially in relationship with

other texts on yoga and Śaivism. This intertextual network of Yogaśāstras was a key feature of the

discursive milieu in which author’s like Cennasadāśivayogin were writing in. As has been suggested by

MALLINSON, it is very possible that such scholars were codifying these texts within the confines, and

with the support of, local monastic institutions (maṭha) across the Deccan. It is very possible that

Cennasadāśivayogin was writing in proximity to such a maṭha in Andhra Pradesh, in the early fifteenth

century. Medieval Sanskrit authors like Cennasadāśivayogin must have had access to a wide range of

manuscripts, as is evidenced by their common borrowing and adaptations of verses. Approaching a text

like the Śivayogapradīpikā, I too have attempted to reconstruct Cennasadāśivayogin’s web of

Yogaśāstras by collating the manuscripts, retracing his sources as much as possible, and likewise

excavating those later texts and authors which quote him.

Although the Śivayogapradīpikā is a lesser-known Yogaśāstra today, and it has largely escaped

the attention of most modern scholars on the history of yoga, within its day, the Śivayogapradīpikā

made an almost immediate impact and was influential on numerous later Sanskrit as well as Telugu and

Kannada yoga treatises. The text’s metaphysical teachings on the nine cakras and sixteen ādhāras—

which are taught to be visualized by the yogin during the practice of dhyāna—were particularly

influential as these verses were quoted by many later yoga compendiums and (among other teachings)

appear to have been adopted by the emergent Nātha yoga tradition, whose adherents were also active in

the Deccan. Following the composition of the Śivayogapradīpikā in Andhra Pradesh in the early

fifteenth century, there was a sustained level of engagement with the text all the way up through the

modern period—from the Deccan of south India, down to Madras, up to Varanasi and other parts of

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the north, and then transnationally beyond India in the twentieth century. This reception history

includes the vernacular Telugu version of the text, the Śivayogasāramu, composed by the author

Cennasadāśivayogin’s younger cousin and disciple, Kŏlani Ganapatideva, who was instructed to

compose his text in the local language (bhāṣā) of Telugu with the Śivayogapradīpikā as its basis.

Similarly a Kannada text known as the Pāramārthaprakāśike of Nijaguṇa Śivayogin is said to be based

on the Śivayogapradīpikā. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a large number of Sanskrit texts directly

quote or borrow verses yoga from the Śivayogapradīpikā, including several yoga anthologies such as the

the Yogacintāmaṇi, Upāsanāsārasaṅgraha, and the Yogasārasaṅgraha, the Nātha scripture the

Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati, and south-Indian yoga Upaniṣads such as the Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇopaniṣad.

The Śivayogapradīpikā also became an important source text on Śivayoga specifically for the Vīraśaiva

and Vīramāheśvara traditions, as evidenced by the commentary of Basavārādhya and later Vīraśaiva

theological compendiums such as the Pañcaratnavyākhyā and the Vedāntasāravīraśaivacintāmaṇi. In

the twentieth century thanks to the publication of Sanskrit editions and an English translation of the

Śivayogapradīpikā featured in the Vedāntic journal, the Brahmavādin, the Śivayogapradīpikā was

introduced to a new educated English-reading audience in Europe and North America including

western occultists and spiritual authors Pierre Bernard, Paul Brunton, and Kenneth Grant. Aside from

these notable interlocutors, however, the Śivayogapradīpikā today still remains largely unknown to

both scholars and practitioners of yoga.

The findings of this study are far from exhaustive and it is my hope that they may be improved

upon by future scholars. Further work remains to be done on Śivayoga, the yoga of the Vīraśaivas, and

the history of yoga within south India. Until quite recently, it was assumed by most scholars that

medieval Haṭhayoga arose as a Śaiva tantric reform movement by the Nāthas of northern India. There

is now compelling evidence that not only did the proto-Nāthas likely emerge in the Deccan of south

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India, but many, if not most, of the early texts on Haṭhayoga are also from the Deccan—in the modern

states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Moreover, no longer can we say that the

Nāthas were the sole progenitors of early Haṭhayoga. As we have seen, Buddhist Vajrayāna traditions

played a key role in developing the ideas and methods of early Haṭhayoga. These teachings were in turn

adopted by the Śaivas, but also by Vaiṣṇavas and others such as the Islamic Sūfīs. This dissertation has

shown that the Vīraśaivas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also played an important role in the

development of yogic theory and praxis—and in the codification of yoga systems in Sanskrit works

such as the Śivayogapradīpikā. Further study remains to be done on the south-Indian vernacular texts

in Telugu and Kannada, in particular the Śivayogasāramu—and especially when read in consultation

with the Sanskrit archive. Likewise, it would be gratifying to see more ethnographic work done

exploring contemporary Vīraśaiva traditions, especially the Śivayogis among them.

While this dissertation has focused on the particular religious, philosophical, and historical

milieu of one lesser-known text and author from fifteenth-century south India, it is my hope that this

study might offer a valuable model for thinking about the creative and dynamic ways in which religious

doctrine and praxis, tradition and innovation, are constructed and performed in a text. Yoga is not a

singular monolithic tradition, with a single source text. It is a pan-Indic, and now transnational,

complex of soteriological ideas and practices that were developed and adopted widely by many of the

major religious traditions of premodern India. As scholars, it is important that we continue to study

and give voice to more lesser-known texts like the Śivayogapradīpikā to continue to expand our

understanding of yoga’s past.

263
 Appendix 1: Critical Edition of the Śivayogapradīpikā

Abbreviations

em. emendation

conj. conjecture

om. omitted

inc. incomplete or missing folio

unm. unmetrical

+ + + ga syllables omitted

scribe has marked as unsure

yoga akṣaras unclear

IFP Institut Français de Pondichéry

MGOL Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras

264
Manuscripts

Library: Oriental Research Institute, Mysore

Manuscript Number: P.10093 [E.40884]
Material: Palm leaf
Script: Nandināgarī
Condition: Incomplete
Dimensions: 35 x 4.5
Folios: 44
Opening comments: †...† mūrtaye namaḥ || śivayogapradīpikālikyate ||
Final colophon: iti śrī sadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ pañcamaḥ paṭalaḥ ||
śrīsāṃbasadāśivārpaṇam astu | śrī | śrīkṛṣṇaśāstriṇām eṣā śivayogapradīpikā | abhūtapūrṇaṃ †subba†
nāmnā likhitaṃ yogasiddhaye ||

T1

Library: Institut Français de Pondichéry, Pondicherry

Manuscript Number: IFP T.0871 [= MGOL D.4385, Grantha]
Material: Paper
Script: Devanāgarī
Final colophon: iti sadāśivayogīnā[tha]viracitāyāṃ śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ rājayogaprakāre amanaska
vidhānaṃ nāma pañcamapaṭalikā ||

T2

Library: Institut Français de Pondichéry, Pondicherry

Manuscript Number: IFP T.1019d [= IFP RE.20181, Grantha]
Material: Paper
Script: Devanāgarī
Final colophon: iti śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ pañcamapaṭalikāyāṃ samāptaḥ ||

265
T3

Library: Institut Français de Pondichéry, Pondicherry

Manuscript Number: IFP T.1027a [= unidentified ms. Tulu(?), 1700 CE(?)]
Material: Paper
Script: Devanāgarī
Final colophon: iti śrīcannasadāśivayogināthaviracitāyāṃ śivayogapradīpikāyāṃ pañcamaḥ paṭalaḥ ||

Printed Editions

Ked

Śivayōgapradīpikā: Basavārādhyaṭīkāsamētā. Kalaburgi, M.M. and Nāgabhūṣana Śāstri, eds. 1976. Śrī
Basavēśvarapīṭha taraṅga; 4. Dhāravāḍa: Kannaḍa Adhyayanapīṭha, Karnāṭaka Viśvavidyālaya.
Transcribed by Shubha Shantamurthy.

Ped

Śivayogadīpikā. ĀPTE, Hari Nārāyaṇa, ed. 1907. Pune: Ānandāśrama.

Ānandaśramasaṃskṛtagranthāvaliḥ; granthāṅkaḥ 139.

SVed

Śivayogadīpikā. AIYAR, A. Krishnaswami, ed. c. 1884–1903. Kumbakonam: Sri Vidya Press.

Other Witnesses

YC

Yogacintāmaṇi of Śivānanda Sarasvatī. ms. No. MAI 312. Tübingen. Devanāgarī.

266
YTv

Yogatārāvalivyākhyā (= Rājatarala). Mysore. B.378 E.35016 164. Devanāgarī.

STr

Śivatattvaratnākāra of Basavarāja Keḷadi. Printed Edition, 1969. Volume II, eds. Vidwan, Vidyalankara,
R. Rama Shastry. Oriental Research Institute, University of Mysore.

RYSr

Rājayogasiddhāntarahasya. GOML R.635/10447. Copied by P. V. Ramana RAO in 1968–69, from

GOML manuscript D.4377. Transcribed by Jason BIRCH.

267
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 Appendix 2: Translation of the Śivayogapradīpikā

THE LAMP ON ŚIVAYOGA

Chapter 1

(1.1) I worship the liṅga of the guru Sadāśiva, who is a bee to the heart-lotuses of supreme yogins, the
imperishable cause of the threefold causes, whose Reality is with and without form, and is free from
disease.

(1.2) By the grace of the illustrious guru, having learned the yoga comprised of Śiva’s [nature], I will
teach the Lamp on Śivayoga for the purpose of easy awakening.

[Śivayoga and the Four Yogas]

(1.3) O you, best among the knowers of Śiva’s Reality (śivatattva), listen! I will now explain Śivayoga,
even though it is a supreme secret, because of the seriousness of your devotion (bhakti).

(1.4) Instructed by Śiva, the ancient sages, the Siddhas, declared it [i.e. Śivayoga] to be of four kinds
—Mantra, Laya, Haṭha, and Rājayoga.

(1.5) A Mantrayogin should always recite the one-syllable, two-syllable, or even the six-syllable or
eight-syllable [mantra] for the purpose of liberation.

(1.6) A Layayogin is surely one whose mind becomes dissolved in its object of meditation, together
with the mental organ and breath, or in the internal resonance (nāda).

(1.7) A Haṭhayogin is one who has mastery of the breath through the eightfold (aṣṭāṅga) path or in
kevalakumbhaka by means of mudrās, karaṇas, and bandhas.

(1.8) A knower of Rājayoga is one who attains the realization of Brahman through the three gazing
points (lakṣya), or who is free from the turnings of the mind through gnosis (jñāna).

(1.9) Due to the superiority from one to the next, indeed, the yogas are four. Among them, one
alone is eminent—this is Rājayoga, the best of the best.

(1.10) Further, that [Rājayoga] exists as three types: Sāṅkhya, Tāraka, and Amanaska. Gnosis of the
twenty-five Tattvas is that [Rājayoga] called Sāṅkhya.

314
(1.11) On account of the gnosis attained by external mudrā, [Rāja]yoga is called Tāraka. On account
of the gnosis attained by internal mudrā, it is called Amanaska.

(1.12) Tāraka is more praiseworthy than Sāṅkhya, while this Amanaska is superior even to Tāraka.
Because it is the king of all yogas, it is known as Rājayoga.

(1.13) In reality, there is no difference between Śivayoga and Rājayoga. Yet for those who worship
Śiva518 [a difference] is thus declared, in order to increase wisdom.

(1.14) The difference between the two is to be explained for those souls who delight in Śiva.
Therefore, Śivayoga is to be grasped by wise sages alone.

(1.15) Śivayoga is five-fold, indeed: gnosis (jñāna) comprised of Śiva, devotion (bhakti) to Śiva,
meditation (dhyāna) comprised of Śiva, Śaiva religious observance (vrata), and worship of Śiva
(arcā).

(1.16) One who is devoid of the worship of Śiva, is just a bound soul, there is no doubt. He will be
perpetually reborn in this [endless] cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra).

[The Nature of Śiva’s Reality]

(1.17) I will tell you the truth of [Śiva’s] Reality, which was ascertained by the ancient sages. [He] is
the embodiment of all the gods and all living beings.

(1.18) Comprised of all-knowledge, truly, the most excellent of all-levels of reality, the embodiment of
all-light, whose nature is all-bliss.

(1.19) He who is endowed with Māyā (i.e. Śakti), is with parts (sakala) and without parts (niṣkala),519
independent and supreme, beyond the duality of existence and non-existence, and his nature is
beyond the realm of speech and mind.

(1.20) Without phonemes and endowed with phonemes,520 without form and assuming all forms,
the supreme ātman and the supreme Brahman—such a god, Śiva is consciousness.

śivārcināṃ ] T1 T3 Ped and śivārthināṃ ] N Ked. Adopting the latter would

518 The witnesses are split between

mean “those whose [final] aim is Śiva.”

519 On Śiva’s nature as sakala and niṣkala, see VASUDEVA (2004, 209).
520 Basavārādhya notes that the terms varṇa and avarṇa can refer to the attributes of either the phonemes

beginning with “a” and ending with “kṣa” or colors such as white, yellow, etc.

315
(1.21) From Śiva, springs Śakti, who transcends peace, and whose nature is supreme. She who is
endowed with incomprehensible powers unfolds according to Śiva’s command.

(1.22) That Śakti who takes the form of Brahman becomes divided into five parts. Her nature is
always comprised of the five elements. This universe [arises] from Her.

(1.23) In the beginning, the deity Sadāśiva shined forth, abiding in ether. From Sadāśiva, arose Īśvara,
abiding in air.

(1.24) From Īśvara, came Rudra, full of splendor and residing in fire. From Rudra, [arose] Viṣṇu,
filled with great light and abiding in the water element.

(1.25) From the reality of Viṣṇu, arose Brahmā, abiding in the earth element. Thus are the five forms
and their various forms [arising] from the supreme Śakti.

(1.26) Cessation (nivṛtti), foundation (pratiṣṭhā), knowledge (vidyā), peace (śānti), and likewise,
beyond peace (śāntyatītā)—these [five] characteristics reside in the [five] forms beginning with
Brahmā, etc.

(1.27) Through Her (i.e. Śakti)—at Śiva’s command—indeed, these [beings] of beautiful splendor
exist. From Brahmā, then [arose] the gods, divinities, sages, and humans.

(1.28) All sweat-born, egg-born, and embryo-born creatures, millions of [plants] sprung-from-seed,
such as grass, shrubs, creeper vines, trees, and so on.

(1.29) Mountains, rivers, oceans, lakes, and more, [all] successively arise due to Him alone. The
universe is comprised of Śiva.

(1.30) One who, from the destruction of the three kinds of impurities through the guru’s grace,
knows Him, whose essence is pure consciousness, who is situated in the maṇḍala of the sun, moon,
and fire—that person who worships Śiva attains the bliss of liberation.

[Twofold Śiva Meditation]

(1.31) Meditation on Śiva (śivadhyāna) is twofold: it is to be known with qualities and without
qualities. First, having engaged [in meditation] with qualities, afterwards, one may engage without
qualities.

(1.32) [Meditation] with qualities is taught in many ways; its domain is external and internal. But
[meditation] without qualities cannot be grasped by the senses and other [faculties], it is like the
sky.

316
(1.33) Proper knowledge of these two [methods] has been established according to the words of the
guru. Thus, for those desiring liberation, the true teacher (sadguru) is to be worshipped.

(1.34) Long-life, freedom from disease, boundless wealth, knowledge, fame, the joy of heaven, and
liberation. How is a person deprived of a guru capable to obtain all [these] fruits?

(1.35) One should worship a guru, who is endowed with the characteristics spoken, who is
honorable, knowledgable in all aims of life—with actions, mind, and speech, just as one would
worship Śiva.

(1.36) Therefore, one who is initiated by none other than the speech of the guru, who seeks refuge in
Śiva, the happiness obtained through the fruits of the fourfold [aims of life]521 rests in his hand.

(1.37) Thrice, twice, or even once a day, with devotion and in the way spoken by the guru, one
should worship Śiva, who consists of consciousness.

[Internal Śiva Worship]

(1.38) That worship of Śiva (śivārcana) is twofold: internal worship and external worship. Internal
worship is most important and it arises from external worship.

(1.39) Sages worship the Lord who abides in the Self, is extremely radiant, peaceful, and
inexhaustible. The feeble-minded worship Him only through external rituals (bāhyakriyā) and
various external images.

(1.40) Having visualized in this manner—[one’s] heart as a lotus, possessed with śivadharma as its
bulb, true gnosis as its stem, while the eternal powers are the eight petals which [shine] like the
moon, dispassion is the true pericarp, and it is curled with the filament of Śrī Rudreśvara—in the
center of that [heart-lotus], situated in the discs of the sun, moon, and flaming-fire, one should
meditate on Śiva, who consists of consciousness.

(1.41) [Śiva has] a serene face, is tranquil, has the radiance of a sixteen-year old, and whose perfect
figure contains the beauty of millions of Kāmadevas.

(1.42) Possessing four-arms, bearing a doe, a trident, and the [gestures of] bestowing boons and the
absence of fear. A crown above his head is a crescent moon, he contains the splendor of ten-
thousand autumnal moons.

(1.43) The deity wears divine garments, is anointed with divine perfumes, is abounding in the
brilliance of divine ornaments, and is decorated with divine flowers.

521 Basavārādhya describes the caturvargaphala as dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa.

317
(1.44) The three-eyed one, the substratum of the three guṇas, the cause of destruction of the three
kinds of impurities (trimala), embellished on his left side with the Goddess of all Auspiciousness.

(1.45) At the base of the radiant wish-fulfilling tree, endowed with fruits and flowers, [He is] sitting
comfortably atop a dais, on a throne (āsana) consisting of the nine precious gems.522

(1.46) [He is] non-duality, imperishable, all-pervading, eternal, his domain is nirvāṇa, inconceivable,
unborn, unmanifest, without beginning, middle, or end.

(1.47) Having meditated on the supreme Śiva within the heart, one whose mind has become resolute
should worship [Śiva] with attentiveness by means of inner ritual substances (ābhyantaradravya), in
the manner as follows:

(1.48) One should offer to Śiva the sprinkling of water that is tranquility, the garment that is the full
experience of the aspected (sakala) [nature of Śiva], the ordained sacrificial thread which is bound
together by the threads of the three Śaktis,523 the fragrant ointment that is true knowledge of oneself,
the rice grains of extraordinary compassion, and the flowers of public devotion (bhakti).

(1.49) One should internally offer incense by means of the inner four [faculties],524 the lamp by
means of what is beyond the sense-organs and the guṇas, and the oblation in the form of the living
soul (jīva), devoid of pleasure or pain.

(1.50) The betel-nut is known as the three guṇas of rajas, tamas, and sattva, and the act of reverential
greeting is the breath (prāṇa). Thus are the foremost interior objects for ritual worship. Produce
[them] for Śaṅkara!

(1.51) Otherwise internally worship Śiva, the supreme Self, with devotion and [traditional] offerings
such as the invocation (āvāhana), and so on, to Him, like a king.

(1.52) Therefore, always perform this internal ritual worship, which is the dispeller of all sins and the
destroyer of all suffering.

522 According to MONIER-WILLIAMS (1899, 531), navaratna is defined as the nine precious gems: pearl, ruby,

topaz, diamond, emerald, lapis lazuli, coral, sapphire, which also are supposed to correspond with to the nine
planets.
523 The three śaktisare icchā, jñāna, and kriyā, corresponding to Śiva’s divine capacity of will, knowledge, and
action, respectively.
524 Basavārādhya glosses āntaracatuṣṭayena as “by means of the four antaḥkaraṇas, namely manas, buddhi,

ahaṅkāra, and vidyā, which is the supreme antaḥkaraṇa.”

318
(1.53) It generates devotion to Śiva (śivahakti) and produces purity of mind, directly. It brings about
all the divine powers and bestows yoga and gnosis, completely.

Chapter 2

[Aṣṭāṅgyoga as Śivapūjā]

(2.1) Now I will explain to you, a further variety for the method of Śiva's worship (śivapūjā) which
has been taught by the wise, where the single domain is the path of yoga.

(2.2) From yoga, gnosis is born. From gnosis, yoga arises. For the perfection of the two, the wise
should protect their body here on earth.

(2.3) Through the destruction of phlegm (kapha) the body becomes very firm, there is no doubt. For
embodied beings, that phlegm will be destroyed by means of Haṭhayoga.

(2.4) Śivayoga is to be mastered by practitioners (sādhaka). Haṭha is the means for accomplishing it.
Therefore, first listen to this Haṭhayoga, which is to be described.

(2.5) The eight auxiliaries of Haṭha are external as well as internal. Therefore, one should perform
ritual worship (pūjā) to god (i.e. Śiva) through the eight auxiliaries beginning with yama, etc.

(2.6) Having purified one’s self through the qualities of the yamas and niyamas, and having
stabilized one’s mind through various postures (pīṭha) one has mastered, the [yogin] should bathe
the divine liṅga with the water of breath-control. These are the four auxiliaries proclaimed as the
external method [of worship].

(2.7) Then, the sandalwood paste is really the turning back of the senses toward Śiva [pratyāhāra],
the heaps of flowers are the visualization (dhyāna), the incense is that fixed concentration (dhāraṇā),
while the pure great-oblation is samādhi. These are the four auxiliaries proclaimed as the internal
method [of worship].

(2.8) Through the path of the eight auxiliaries of yoga (aṣṭāṅgayoga), one should always worship the
supreme god (i.e. Śiva) in the lotus-temple within. What is the point of worshipping god through
external [means]?

(2.9) One who worships Śiva, the imperishable, within his very own Self, through the constant
[practice of] the eight auxiliaries [of yoga], he indeed is a Śaiva, is a wise person, and he is best
among the knowers of yoga.

[Yama & Niyama]

319
(2.10) True celibacy, restricted diet, steadfastness, compassion, joy, honesty, purity, patience, non-
stealing, and non-harming—these are the ten yamas established by sages.

(2.11) Contentment, the power of faith, contemplation, austerity, religious vows, worship of Śiva,
mantra repetition, modesty, listening to yoga scriptures, and giving to worthy recipients—these are
known as the ten niyamas.

[Āsana]

(2.12) Having become steady and disciplined through all twenty of the yamas (restraints) and
niyamas (observances), in this manner, one should practice the purification of one’s self
(svātmaśuddhi).

(2.13) Adept (siddha), lotus (ambuja), auspicious (svastika), liberated (mukta), hero (vīra), splendid
(bhadra), peacock (ahibhuj), lion (kesari), cow-faced (gomukha), and indeed, comfortable posture
(sukhāsana)—these ten are well-marked as the best āsanas.

(2.14) Lotus (ambuja) for householders, adept (siddha) for those on paths other than householders,
and comfortable posture (sukhāsana) for all—these three kinds [of posture] are the best.

(2.15) Indeed, any āsana may be praised equally. Seated in [one] of these āsanas according to one’s
desire, the [yogin] should abide in a solitary place.

[The Yoga Hermitage]

(2.16) There, one should make a delightful hermitage (maṭha) with a small door, and [it should be]
unblemished, surrounded by an enclosed wall, clean, and furnished with an outer hall.

(2.17) Filled with fragrant flowers and adorned with an awning, richly furnished with soft pillows,
beds, and other [such comforts], as well as seats, and the like.

(2.18) Scented with fragrant incense daily and smeared with cow dung, supplied with [ritual]
firewood, flower petals, as well as filled with [edible] bulbs, roots, and fruits.

(2.19) Well-adorned with sacred ashes, rudrākṣa beads, kuśa grass, and antelope skin, stocked with
pure food and drink, and amply filled with all medicinal herbs.

(2.20) Within the hermitage, the abode that is pleasing to the mind, having entered that dwelling
with a focused mind, one should constantly worship Sadāśiva, fixed within the heart.

[Prāṇāyāma]

320
(2.21) Listen O wise one to the manner as follows. First, [established] in kevalakumbhaka, one
should bathe Śiva, who is comprised of consciousness, with only the water of prāṇāyāma.

(2.22) Prāṇāyāma is declared as threefold: natural (prākṛta), modified (vaikṛta), or kevalakumbhaka,

which unfolds on its own without [either] of the [above] two.

(2.23) When the vital energy of the breath is moving, naturally emptying and filling through the
form of inhalation (niśvāsa) and exhalation (ucchvāsa)—that is declared natural (prākṛta)
[prāṇāyāma].

(2.24) If there is the restraint of the breath by means of exhalation, inhalation, and retention,
according to the prescriptions taught in the Āgamas—that is declared modified (vaikṛta)
[prāṇāyāma].

(2.25) Natural (prākṛta) and modified (vaikṛta), these are the two kinds [of prāṇāyāma] for a great
soul. But as soon as the [breath] is stopped, surely that is kevalakumbhaka.

(2.26) Natural (prākṛta) is Mantrayoga and modified (vaikṛta) is Layayoga. Haṭha[yoga] is known as
kevalakumbhaka and Rājayoga is known as the "no-mind" (amanas) [state].

(2.27) The first is the yoga of the unpronounced mantra (ajapā). Next is the absorption (laya) of the
breath in the internal resonance (nāda). Then is steadiness of the mind and breath. After that, the
fourth is the absence of [mental] turnings (vṛtti).

(2.28) That fourfold [practice] is mastered through the control of the vital energy of the breath.
Therefore, O you, become a champion of practice, devoted to prāṇāyāma!

[Ajapā Gāyatrī]

(2.29) This seed (bīja) comprised of the letter ha with the bindu goes outwards (i.e. haṃ हं). The
seed (bīja) containing the letter sa with the visarga goes inwards (i.e. saḥ सः).

(2.30) The vital energy of the breath is what induces and ceases the activity of all beings. Thus, the
embodied soul (jīva) chants the Gāyatrī called ajapā every day.

(2.31) Day and night, 21,600 times [the mantra is involuntarily recited]. A person who thinks of it at
sunrise in the manner taught by the illustrious guru, he reaps the fruit of the ajapā.

(2.32) From bringing one’s attention to [this mantra] called ajapā, a person is liberated from sins. He
swiftly obtains Śivayoga, indeed, there is no doubt.

321
(2.33) When the ajapā Gāyatrī mantra with two syllables merges in the triple-confluence
(triveṇīsaṃgama), the sound becomes oṃ.

(2.34) Having made so ’ham one’s personal mantra—in which the two syllables are expressed as one's
self and the Supreme—[the yogin] should take away the two consonants and refashion it as the
divine mantra oṃ. Having joined it with the nasal sound (anusvāra), it is the best of all mantras. He
who leads it to the brahmanāḍī (i.e. suṣumṇā) is full of bliss, [even if] deprived of the experience of
Kuṇḍalinī. He attains release from [all] karma.

(2.35) On account of yoga, iḍā is known as the moon and the daughter of the sun (i.e. Yamunā).
That which is called piṅgalā is the sun and the foot of Viṣṇu (i.e. Gangā). Between them is that
called the Middle (i.e. suṣumṇā) which is fire and the goddess of speech (i.e. Sarasvatī). [Where the
three meet] is called the triple-confluence and it is the place of yoga. This alone becomes [known as]
the triple-peaked mountain (trikūṭa).

(2.36) The place where the two doors of sound (i.e. the ears) have gone, and likewise where the two
doors of smell (i.e. the nostrils) attain union is the four sacred seats (catuṣpīṭha), and is technically
known as śṛṅgāṭaka.

(2.37) Therefore, that which is named the triple-peaked mountain (trikūṭa) is also the place of the
triple-confluence (triveṇīsaṃgama). [Likewise,] the names śṛṅgāṭaka and the four sacred seats
(catuṣpītha) are [all] one place, indeed.

(2.38) Remaining in the region of the triple-peaked mountain, with the vital life-breath made of
exhalation and inhalation, together with the mind, indeed, move [the breath] through the path of
the triangle above the nose called suṣumṇā.

(2.39) When the ascending breath is restrained, the upper subtle Śakti is made to descend. When [the
breath] is driven back the middle Śakti awakens. Surely, the lower [Śakti moves] when contracting
the base [of the spine].

(2.40) Therefore, through the descent, awakening, and contracting of the threefold Śaktis, those
lords of yogins travel to the supreme abode.

(2.41) Therefore, knowing that great wonder in the locus of the moon, sun, and fire, perform the
[three] bandhas together with the sound of oṃ.

(2.42) The three Vedas, the three gods, the three worlds, and the three guṇas reside in the one-
syllable mantra oṃ, which is the supreme Brahman itself.

(2.43) In this manner all the Siddhas know that as kevalakumbhaka. Among the [methods] of
Haṭha, this alone is the best, most extraordinary kept secret.

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(2.44) Just as the coming and going of the vital energy of the breath (prāṇavāyu) is stopped through
[proper] method, so too the observance of the coming and going of [the yogin’s] body (i.e. birth
and death) [is stopped].

(2.45) Kevalakumbhaka is established in the celebrated scriptures of the Siddhas. Yet because it is
kept a great secret, a foolish person does not know it.

(2.46) If due to the grace of one’s guru, kevalakumbhaka should be attained, then what is [the
purpose] of the karaṇas, mudrās, bandhas, and other such [methods]?

(2.47) When the soundless kevalakumbhaka is reached, the breath attains the state of Viṣṇu
(viṣṇupada). Then certainly, there is the oneness of the individual soul (jīvātman) and the Supreme
soul (paramātman).

(2.48) They say that Reality is soundless—it is the indescribable supreme state, characterized by the
dissolution (laya) of the levels of reality (tattva) of material nature (prakṛti) such as the elements,
sense-organs, and so on.

[Three Bandhas]

(2.49) For yogins who are practitioners in the method of the mūla, uḍḍīyāna, and jāla[ndhara]
locks, when there is the rising of the breath, through the method which unhooks it, and due to its
complete obstruction in ether (?), the group of elements, the sense-organs, and their properties
(guṇa), the mind-faculty (manas), the "I-consciousness" (ahaṃcitta), the wisdom-faculty (buddhi),
and so on—all these, devoid of modification attain dissolution. Then for whom is there not bliss?

(2.50) Now, that which, through the restraint of the breath, the sun of the apāna breath naturally
goes upward together with the moon of the prāṇa breath; which always produces the main success
of yoga (i.e. samādhi)—for wise sages, surely that alone is mūlabandha.

(2.51) That which is bound with force below and above the navel—that is uḍḍiyānabandha, which
destroys sickness, old age, and death.

(2.52) Contracting the throat, one should firmly place the chin to the chest. This is
jālandharabandha, the binding which causes the nectar of immortality (amṛta) to [flow] upwards.

(2.53) Then, from the contraction of the upper and middle firm locks, there is the ascending of the
apāna breath. Due to the penetration of the winds into the single aperture of the nose, one quickly
attains success in kevalakumbhaka.

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(2.54) Certainly for one who masters that which is known as kevalakumbhaka, he alone is forever
celebrated and is in total control of the breath.

(2.55) One who is disciplined, who regularly practices the prescribed method of prāṇāyāma, even for
three months, [for him] arises lightness of the body, luminosity, the purification of the nāḍīs, and
the [inner] sound.

(2.56) When the breath has reached the sky, at that very moment, the [state of] unmanī arises. [As
long as] kevalakumbhaka [is maintained], so long the wise should repeatedly practice.

(2.57) Bowing to the guru, who is the best among the knowers of Brahman, having conquered the
group of six enemies situated inside [the mind], constantly residing in a solitary and pure place, and
meditating on Śiva in the lotus between the two eyebrows.

(2.58) Then, hearing the unstruck divine sound (nāda), maintaining the jewel of the variegated
purity of bindu, drinking the nectar (sudhā) which is descending from the rays of the moon, and
cutting through the net of conceptions (saṃkalpa) and discursive thinking (vikalpa).

(2.59) Then, having made a firm binding in the three-peaked mountain (trikūṭa), moving the mind
together with the inner winds to the triangle (trikoṇa) and likewise bursting open [the passage]
above, and directing the subtle Kuṇḍalinī toward the abode of Viṣṇu. O friend, become blissful!

(2.60) Thus you should worship according to the observance of bathing with the water of the breath
(prāṇa)—Śiva who is the true form of the abode of Viṣṇu (viṣṇupada), Viṣṇu of whom the image of
Viṣṇu is always visualized, [and] the abode of Viṣṇu, which has been purified by kevalakumbhaka.

Chapter 3

(3.1) Thus the method of the outer four auxiliaries beginning with yama, and so on, have been
described with delightful words. Now listen, for those whose minds are fixed on Śiva, I will describe
the method of the inner four auxiliaries.

[Pratyāhāra]

(3.2) Smear the liṅga of Sadāśiva with the powdered fragrances of garlands of ground vimalā cactus
made from having subdued the sense-organs such as the ears, etc., on the surface of this glorious
whetstone of the good-mind.

(3.3) Just as a tortoise on land contracts its limbs into its shell, in the same manner one who is self-
restrained continually withdraws all the sense-organs into oneself. We think that itself is knowing
the supreme Reality (paramatattva).

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[Dhyāna]

(3.4) Worship continually in the heart, with the mind indeed, the form of the illustrious liṅga, with
various kinds of flowers arising with qualities and without qualities—manifold and beautiful
colored lotuses beginning with [mūl]ādhāra—with excelling radiance in its center.

(3.5) These are called the base (ādhāra), the penis (liṅga), the navel-center (maṇipūraka), the heart
(hṛd), the throat (viśuddhi), the center of the brows (bhrūmadhya), the top of the head (mastaka),
and the aperture of the sky (nabhobila) [i.e. brahmarandhra]. Those exceedingly beautiful places for
visualization (dhyānasthala) bestow bliss immediately for self-restrained [yogins].

(3.6) Outer vision restrained within the mind, [with] a desirable seat, and body straightened without
interruption, alas, this is the posture for visualization (dhyānamudrā)! [In this posture,] indeed,
perform Śaiva visualization (dhyāna) on one’s own Self, which is all-pervading, unmoving, tranquil,
and has the nature of non-duality. O friend, now you alone [will] surely be liberated!

[9 Cakras]

(3.7) Among all the places for visualization (dhyānasthala), nine cakras are spoken by yogins as the
best. Listen, we will describe them to you.

(3.8) At the root support (mūlādhāra) is the Brahma center (brahmacakra) which has three coils and
resembles a vulva. In its bulb, one should visualize the lower Śakti, which resembles fire and bestows
one’s desires.

(3.9) Next is the Svādhiṣṭhāna center (svādhiṣṭhānacakra), which is a four-petaled lotus. That alone is
the Oḍḍiyāna525 [pīṭha]. There one should visualize a backwards-facing Śiva.

(3.10) The navel center (nābhicakra) has five coils and resembles a serpent who [strikes] like
lightning. There one should bring to mind Kuṇḍalinī, the Śakti who bestows all yogic powers.

(3.11) The heart center (hṛccakra) consists of a downward-facing eight-petaled lotus and is the
bestower of one’s desires. In its center, one should bring to mind the pericarp (karṇikā) in the form a
liṅga of light (jyotirliṅga).

(3.12) The fifth is the throat center (kaṇṭhacakra). There, in the space of four finger-widths, one
should bring to mind the firm suṣumṇā in between the iḍā and piṅgalā [channels].

525 Oḍḍīyāṇa/Uḍḍīyāṇa is notorious for its polyvalent spelling. Our witnesses include: evoḍḍīyāṇaṃ N,

evoḍḍiyānaṃ YC, evoḍyāṇaṃ T1, evoḍḍīyaṇaṃ T3, and evoḍyāyanaṃ Ped.

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(3.13) The sixth [center] is at the base of the uvula (ghaṇṭikā) liṅga. It is [called] the royal tooth
(rājadantaka) and the tenth door (daśamadvāra). There, one should visualize the void (śūnya) for
the purpose of perfection.

(3.14) The seventh is the brow center (bhrūcakra) which has a single lotus and bulb (kanda) and
bestows beautiful-speech. In the center of that, one should visualize the emblem of gnosis (jñāna) in
the form of a lamp’s flame.

(3.15) The eighth is called the Nirvāṇa cakra, located at the aperture of the head (brahmarandhra),
and which is very subtle. There, one should bring to mind the Jālandhara [pīṭha], which resembles a
crest of smoke, and bestows liberation.

(3.16) The ninth is the Ether center (ākāśacakra), praised as the three-peaked mountain (trikūṭaka),
the sacred seat (pīṭha) of Pūrṇagiri. There, in the center of the sixteen[-petaled] lotus, one should
visualize the upper Śakti, which bestows goodness and is the great void (suśūnyā).

[16 Ādhāras]

(3.17) Now I will describe to you the sixteen mental supports (ādhāra) in all their detail. [First]
visualize a light on the big toe (padāṅguṣṭha). This makes the vision steady.

(3.18) Pressing the root (mūla) with the heel is known as the second support. When established, this
kindles the [inner] fire, instantly.

(3.19) One should clench the anus support (gudādhāra). By continually contracting [the anus], there
is the stabliztion of the apāna breath—that is the third.

(3.20) At the penis support (meḍhrādhāra), having severed the three knots of Brahmā
(brahmagranthī) by contracting the penis, as a result of the mind and breath entering the
brahmanāḍī (i.e. suṣumṇā)—the arresting of bindu is surely accomplished.

(3.21) Becoming established at the fifth support, the Oḍyāna [pīṭha], again and again, one instantly
destroys excrement, urine, and insects.

(3.22) Then there is the navel support (nābhyādhāra). There, the wise should yoke the syllable oṃ.
Through the single-pointedness of samādhi, there is the arising of the internal sound (nāda) in him.

(3.23) The seventh is the heart support (hṛdādhāra). There, one should restrain the breath, which
immediately results in the blossoming of a lotus in its center.

(3.24) The [eighth] is the throat support (kaṇṭhādhāra). One should press the base of the throat
with the chin. Then the flow of breath becomes fixed in [between] the iḍā and piṅgalā [channels].

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(3.25) The ninth is the uvula support (ghaṇṭikādhāra). There, one should place the tip of the
tongue. It surely emits the flow of nectar and is the cause of complete satisfaction.

(3.26) [The tenth] is where the tongue (lambikā) is lengthened by moving and milking it [with the
hands] and reversing its direction. One who places [the tongue] in the inner locus of the aperture at
the base of the palate (tālu) [support], he goes forth to the no-mind state (unmanatā).

(3.27) The [eleventh] is the tongue support (rasanādhāra). When one churns beneath the tongue, he
attains the taste of immortal nectar (amṛta) and the blossoming of poetry.

(3.28) The twelfth is the upper tooth support (daśanādhāram ūrdhvaṃ). It is the royal tooth
(rājadantaka). From rubbing the tip of the tongue on it for half-a-year, an [inner] light is seen.

(3.29) The thirteenth is the base of the nose (ghrāṇamūla) [support]. Holding the gaze firmly there,
if the breath is constantly with the mind in that [locus], one becomes established.

(3.30) The fourteenth is called the forehead (lalāṭa) support. The knower of yoga, fixing the breath
with the mind there, obtains complete success.

(3.31) The fifteenth is the brow support (bhruvādhāra).526 The wise person gazing with the eye above
that, he very quickly sees the appearance of a ray of light, indeed.

(3.32) The sixteenth is the eye support (netrādhāra). The wise should settle [the gaze] above that.
Very quickly he sees a mass of light in the outer corners of the eye.

(3.33) By means of the three bandhas, through the application of āsanas, through mantra, by hearing
the internal resonance (nāda), by means of kevalakumbhaka, and through dhyāna, the mind of the
yogin becomes focused in eight different ways.

[Dhāraṇā]

(3.34) Within the vessel of the body, tossing the superior qualities of the elements into the fire whose
flame is gnosis (jñāna), the wise should perfume the liṅga through dhāraṇā, [just as] he would with
[incense] made of ten ingredients.

(3.35) When there is stillness of mind through the single sphere of dhyāna, that is dhāraṇā—say the
knowers of Śivayoga. Here it is performed repeatedly, according to the Śaiva sequence (śaivakrama),
due to the [its] kind, and through the support of the elements beginning with the earth, etc., one at
a time.

526 Both the Yogacintāmaṇi and Haṭhatattvakaumudī read vyomādhāraṃ.

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(3.36) That which is comprised of earth, comprised of water, comprised of fire, comprised of wind,
and indeed that which is comprised of sky (i.e. ether)—[these are] declared by sages as the five
dhāraṇās.

(3.37) Thus is declared dhāraṇā by the best knowers of yoga. And moreover, for souls who delight in
the practice continually, it bestows complete success (sarvasiddhi).

(3.38) Raising the breath with the syllable ल (la) to the [space] between the feet and the knees, in the
region of earth, bringing to mind the four-faced [Brahmā]—who bears four arms. One who
concentrates on him, obtains victory over the earth.

(3.39) Stabilizing the breath with syllable व (va) to the space between the knees and the navel, in the
abode of water, at one should continually bring to mind Mādhava (i.e. Viṣṇu)—with yellow
garment, luminous face, resembling a pure crystal, with arms [bearing] the ornaments of the conch
and discus. One who concentrates on him, conquers the fears arising from water.

(3.40) Raising the breath with the syllable र (ra) to the space between the navel and the throat, at the
abode of the most excellent fire, bringing to mind the nature of Rudra—the three-eyed one, who
resembles the newly risen sun, whose body is sprinkled with sacred ashes, who is tranquil, swift and
gracious, the bestower of boons, and the bestower of fearlessness. One who concentrates on him,
from the repeated practice of that dhāraṇā, surely attains the removal of fear.

(3.41) [Raising the breath] through the syllable य (ya)527 to the space between the throat and the
eyebrows, in the abode of the wind, bringing to mind Īśvara—whose nature is luminous and
effulgent. One [who concentrates on him], O friend, on account of the power of the Lord, sports
like the wind.

(3.42) Very firmly moving the breath from the brows to the top [of the head], in the space of ether,
one who contemplates Śiva528—whose nature is ether, who is soma, armed with a half-moon crown,
with ten hands [holding] lotuses, five faces, the three-eyed one, the beautiful-throated one, who is
the bestower of abundance, the primordial Reality of all realities, bindu, and is accompanied by the
[syllable] ह (ha)—surely he is liberated.

527 The phrase māntavarṇena literally translates as “by means of the syllable at the end of म (ma),” which in the
Sanskrit alphabet is the semivowel य (ya).
528 In his peaceful five-headed form as Sadāśiva.

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(3.43) Thus are the five dhāraṇās, consisting of five ghaṭikās.529 A person who concentrates with
them, one-by-one, becomes one with a perfected body (dehasiddhi).

(3.44) For people who are constantly restraining the breath through these dhāraṇās, beginning with
the earth, and so on, all the chronic diseases which are born of the three doṣas are quickly destroyed
—regarding this there is no doubt.

(3.45) Those who delight in the practice maintained by yogins, through gnosis (jñāna), action
(karman), [and] the five dhāraṇās, they cross over the ocean of worldly existence.

[Samādhi]

(3.46) Having devoted oneself with intelligence to the lamp of true gnosis (sujñāna), having seen
with the mind in the abode of the heart, you should offer the oblation (upahāra) of one's own Self
(svātman) to the liṅga of the supreme Self (paramātmaliṅga), by means of this samādhi.

(3.47) Just as the oneness (aikya) of water and salt arises on account of union (yoga), likewise indeed,
the union (sāmarasya) of the mind and the eternal Self (ātman) [arises] due to [the state of] yoga.
This is declared to be samādhi by the lords of ascetics.

(3.48) And when there is the oneness of the individual Self (jīvātman) and the supreme Self
(paramātman), then the lords of ascetics will go to that state of samādhi.

(3.49) I am neither the activity of the mind (manovṛtti), nor the sense-organs (indriya) beginning
with the ear, and so on, the sense-objects (viṣaya) beginning with sound, and so on, nor pleasure and
pain, nor even pride and shame, the measure of cold and hot, merit and sin, nor the web of great
mental constructions (saṃkalpa). Alas! When the mind is dissolved in the supreme Brahman
through samādhi, [I am] not any of these [things].

(3.50) The lord of ascetics—who either eats food or abstains from food, and who is either engaged in
sleep or gives up sleep—dwells in secret. He whose Self is free from desire, roams about the surface
of the earth, engaged in extended goodness through various rites and actions, or does not act
(niṣkriya). Behaving in various types of manners, he roams endlessly with his mind fixed in samādhi.

[Twelve-Year Sequence of Siddhis]

(3.51) Thus, by means of this Haṭha which is comprised of the eight auxiliaries of yoga (aṣṭāṅgayoga),
due to the repeated practice which removes laziness, those who are determined [attain] mastery
(siddhi). Listen to [the powers].

529 A ghaṭikā is a measurement of time equal to 24 minutes.

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(3.52) In the first [year] illness is destroyed and one [becomes] dear to the entire world. Then in the
second year he makes beautiful poetry. In the third year, one is not troubled by snakes, and other
[dangerous creatures].

(3.53) In the fourth [year] one abandons thirst, sleep, and extreme cold and heat [and] becomes free
from pain. In the fifth year, one [attains] distant-hearing (dūraśrava), the perfection of speech (vāc),
[and can] enter (praveśa) the bodies of others.

(3.54) In the sixth [year], one cannot be destroyed even by a vajra. Then in the seventh year he
[becomes] incredibly fast (ativegin), far-seeing (dūradarśana), and leaves the earth [i.e. levitates]. In
the eighth [year] the eightfold powers manifest for him.

(3.55) In the ninth year flying in the air (gaganacara) [and] moving in all directions (digvicara) [is
possible], and one attains a diamond-body (vajrakāya). In the tenth [year] with mental quickness,
he goes wherever his will desires.

(3.56) In the eleventh year, the yogin attains the power of omniscience (sarvajña). In the twelfth
[year], he becomes equal to Śiva (śivatulya), the creator and destroyer himself.

(3.57) Thus through twelve years, with unobstructed devotion (bhakti) to the feet of the Lord who is
the true guru (sadgurunātha), the adept (siddha) whose Self is firm, attains complete success
(saṃsiddha).

(3.58) In this manner, carefully, you should do the practice of the great-extraordinary yoga which has
eight auxiliaries, for this indeed is an auxiliary (aṅga) of the worship of Śiva (śivapūjā).

(3.59) Through practice, performed without interruption, one avoids old age and death. He can live
in the world, according to his desire—thus liberation (mukti) is obtained.

[Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Ṣaṭsthala]

(3.60) Through yama and niyama alone, I consider this itself the devotee (bhakta) [stage].
Establishing a firm āsana is attending to the feet of the great Lord (māheśvara) [stage].

(3.61) The moveable and immovable place of dissolution is the liṅga known as ether (ākāśa). When
the breath dissolves in that space, a person attains the liṅga of breath (prāṇaliṅgin) [stage].

(3.62) One who is yoked through pratyāhāra [attains] the graceful [stage], there is no doubt. Yoked
through dhyāna and dhāraṇ[ā], the wise attains the refuge stage (śaraṇasthala).

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(3.63) Through the samādhi of motionless oneness, the Self [attains] the non-dual state of the
oneness with Śiva (liṅgaikya) [stage]. In this way, by means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga, a person becomes a
Vīraśaiva.

(3.64) Therefore, through every kind of effort, whether by means of action or gnosis, even you, by
means of Aṣṭāṅgayoga can be a Vīraśaiva, O faultless one!

Chapter 4

(4.1) Day after day, I take refuge in the guru Sadāśivayoginātha, in his true form on earth as a liṅga—
who is all-pervading, the pinnacle of the Vedas, the unparalleled supreme one, made of light,
accessible to living beings with firm dispassion.

(4.2) Because of that, Rājayoga is to be understood by the wise. Haṭhayoga with eight auxiliaries
(aṣṭāṅga) is the means [for attaining] it—as described here.

(4.3) The auxiliaries with eight divisions previously spoken by me, those were in regards to Haṭha.
Listen to the manner they are described one verse at a time [in regards to Rājayoga].

[Aṣṭāṅgayoga as Rājayoga]

(4.4) For one who [masters] the auxiliary of yama, victory and peace are attained over that which is
called hot and cold, all the activities of the sense-organs and the body [such as] eating and sleeping—
gradually he becomes fit for success.

(4.5) Devotion (bhakti) to the guru, love for the abode of supreme Reality (i.e. Śiva), unselfishness,
contentment obtained through one’s own [inner] condition, being intent upon a single state, a
mind devoid of activity, and the state of detachment (vairāgya)—surely these are the niyamas.

(4.6) Always sitting in one’s own nature (svasvarūpa) is the posture of happiness (sukhāsana) and the
experience of neutrality toward all things—[this] is said to be āsana.

(4.7) A wise person knows that steadiness of breath [arises] through carefully breathing by means of
exhalation, inhalation, retention, and fusion (saṃghaṭṭa).530 One who thinks the world is unreal, he
[attains] the state of breath-control (prāṇanirodha).

(4.8) Close contact (saṃsakti) with the extensive opinions (mati) and mental formations (vikāra)
which arise form the net of the pleasures of manifold consciousness is obstructed (pratihata)

530 GHAROTE (2016, 45) suggests that the termsaṃghaṭṭa refers to kevalakumbhaka in reference to
Siddhasiddhāntapaddhati 3.35 on the four stages of prāṇāyāma.

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through the inward turning of the mind. Seizing all of the various mental formations—that is taught
by knowers of yoga as pratyāhāra indeed. I, with an unwavering good-mind, always praise that.

(4.9) Due to the contemplation on "I am That" (so 'haṃ), one’s own nature as the pinnacle of
supreme non-duality (paramādvaita) becomes manifest. That which appears in the world, truly is
the essence of the nature of Reality. Through the compassion of the guru, one's vision extends
equally to all beings. He becomes one who delights in their own Self (svātmārāma), O friend,
[become] one who is solely devoted to the path of dhyāna.

(4.10) When the supreme Reality (paramatattva) shines within and without him, continually, by
means of unequalled motionless concentration, again we say to you, this is clear—the mind
completely devoid of movement, that is dhāraṇā.

(4.11) Virtuousness through one’s direct experience of the scriptures with equal regard for all the
principles of reality, the state of meditative enquiry (nidhidhyāsa)531 through the firmness of
immovable abiding, continuous single-pointed contemplation, spontaneous, and without difficulty
—samādhi is proclaimed as the perpetual non-discursive state.

[Rājayoga]

(4.12) Thus, listen to the mighty and wonderful sound of Rājayoga. A virtuous person approaches
this [Rājayoga] by means of the true guru, not by any other actions.

(4.13) With great effort and extraordinary discipline in practice (abhyāsayoga), what is the fruit?
From beholding the true guru, one immediately obtains Brahman.

(4.14) Brahman shines within and without all beings. Yet without having known the guru, they will
not see that [supreme] state.

(4.15) For those with defective knowledge, those souls who are in a darkness of confusion due to the
six religious systems (samaya),532 those fools abounding in the poetical speech and discourse of the
various Vedas, Purāṇas, and [other] Śāstras, and those whose nature is pride due to the strict
observance of the four stages of life (āśrama)—what is [the point of] this knowledge of yoga
(yogajñāna)? In the absence of the guru’s teaching, its nature is out of sight.

(4.16) Here in this world, for souls who are bound by the distresses of land, wealth, a beautiful
house, children, wife, and friends, by discourses on alchemy (rasāyana), metallurgy (dhātuvāda), and

531 Note on nidhidhyāsa.

532 The six samayas are the Buddhists, Jains, Śaivas, Pāśupatas, Kāpālikas, and Pañcarātras. See p. 237.

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mineralogy (mahārasa), [and] by those various [practices] such as Mantra and Layayoga, and Haṭha
[performed] for personal gain—how can they [attain] the guru’s grace?

(4.17) In the beginning, knowledge of Brahman [is obtained] through a guru in accordance with
varṇāśrama, if one serves him alone with effort. If not, one may seek another guru.

(4.18) One who knows through their very own nature, the Self (ātman)—which has no equal, is
without end, unparalleled, stainless, a motionless eternal flame, the supreme immortal nectar of bliss
comprised of consciousness—he alone is a guru.

[Sāṅkhyayoga]

(4.19) Through the experience of gnosis (jñāna) and dispassion (vairāgya), the three worlds are
treated as a blade of grass. Having first taken refuge in the true guru, one cultivates gnosis of the
levels of reality (tattvajñāna).

(4.20) The state of knowing is ether, the samāna breath is wind, the ear is fire, sound is water, and
speech is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of ether.

(4.21) The mental organ (manas) indeed is ether, the vyāna breath is wind, skin is fire, touch is water,
and the hand is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of wind.

(4.22) The wisdom faculty (buddhi) is ether, the udāna breath is wind, the eye is fire, form is water,
the foot is earth—these are the fivefold tattvas of fire.

(4.23) The mind (citta) is ether, the apāna breath is wind, the tongue is fire, taste is water, the organ
of procreation is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of water.

(4.24) Individuation (ahaṃkāra) is ether, the prāṇa breath is wind, the nose is fire, smell is water,
the organ of excretion is earth—[these are] the fivefold tattvas of earth.

(4.25) [Thus] are the twenty-five tattvas and they are established in the five elements. One who
knows these, he alone is a knower of Reality and he enjoys liberation.

(4.26) [Then] the divisions which are relating to the soul (ādhyātmika), relating to elements
(adhibhūta), and relating to the deity (adhidaivata) [are given] in order, in accordance with the ten
sense-organs and the inner-organ (antaḥkaraṇa) of a living being (jīva).

(4.27) He lives contemplating thus—“I am not the elements (bhūta), the constituents of nature
(guṇa), nor the sense-organs (indriya). I am not the mental organ (manas), the mind (citta), wisdom
faculty (buddhi), the body (vapus), nor the breath (prāṇa). Neither am I bound by the duties
(dharma) and rites (karma) of the social order (āśrama). All phenomena I am not. Truly, I am that

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which is eternal, unchanging, the one, imperishable, unborn, peaceful, auspicious (śiva), without
form (nirguṇa), pure, and which is the awakened state (buddhapada).”

(4.28) A great soul is one who lives, knowing that the Self (ātman) is other than—the sixteen
modifications (vikāra) [of prakṛti] which are spread across the three bodies, the seventeen
[components] of the subtle (liṅga) [body], the nine principle categories (padārtha), and the
eightfold nature of prakṛti.

(4.29) That Brahman, which the scriptures (śruti) declare to be truth, knowledge, and unending; the
nature of liberation and bliss—indeed it is established, you are That (tat tvam asi).

(4.30) "I am not this, I am not this," think of the Self as other than this. “I am that, I am that,”
contemplate everything as your Self (ātman).

(4.31) “From gnosis alone comes liberation.” Grasping this saying ardently in the heart, devote your
mind entirely to this Jñānayoga!

[Tārakayoga]

(4.32) Listen, then, o friend of the breath, to the supreme secret of yoga which is endowed with the
conviction of what is directly seen and which is attained through my own direct experience.

(4.33) Through Mantra[yoga], Layayoga, or Haṭhayoga—scholars will always be afflicted so long as

Brahman is not known.

(4.34) Whether closing the eyes regularly, or when they are slightly opened—one who sees Brahman
with eye of the mind, he is a king among yogins (yogirāj).

(4.35) One should practice Tāraka on Brahman—uniting the two points (bindu) of the eyes, which
are steady and luminous, at center of the moon and sun.533

(4.36) Intent upon that vision of Brahman—within the external, internal, and intermediate lakṣyas
(visualization points), surely behold the nature of those forms which are seen and unseen.

[Internal Lakṣya]

(4.37) From the root bulb (mūlakanda) fixed along the stem (daṇḍa), the brahmanāḍī (i.e. suṣumnā)
shines like the moon. In the middle of that, is She who Ascends (ūrdhvagāminī, i.e. Kuṇḍalinī) who
resembles a crore of lightning.

533 At the center of the sun and moon (i.e. between the brows, at the meeting of īḍā and piṅgalā).

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(4.38) One should visualize the form which resembles a lotus-fibre. One should contemplate She
who bestows success, who travels up to the top of the aperture at the crown of the head
(brahmarandhra).

(4.39) Otherwise, the yogin should continually visualize the form of a trembling star in the gollāṭa
space (maṇḍala), at the gazing point (lakṣya) above the forehead.

(4.40) Or one should block the gates of the ears with the index fingers. [Then] he hears the sound
which makes "ghuṃ ghuṃ" at the śrīhaṭṭa, at the top of the head.

(4.41) Or one should visualize the form of blue light in between the eyes. Thus is known as the
internal lakṣya. Now listen to the external lakṣya.

[External Lakṣya]

(4.42) Outside, by the measure of four, six, eight, ten, and twelve finger-breadths from the tip of the
nose, [respectively] one should contemplate the five beautiful elements which appear as blue, dark
grey, waves of red, and yellow.

(4.43) Otherwise, one should look with a firm gaze at the space directly in front of his face. A ray of
light is seen by yogins whose minds are steady.

(4.44) Or visualizing the earth like molten gold, either in front of or at the corners of the eyes, the
yogin’s gaze becomes steady.

(4.45) Otherwise, one should gaze at the formless mass of light twelve finger-breadths above the
head—this becomes the bestower of liberation.

(4.46) Wherever the yogin gazes, at any such place, his mind becomes like ether (ākāśa) alone.

(4.47) Thus, the various forms of the external lakṣya have been spoken. Now listen to the
intermediate lakṣya which has been described by ancient sages.

[Intermediate Lakṣya]

(4.48) One should gaze at a single [object] which has no solid ground [such as] white or other
colors, a new crescent moon, lightning, or a flame bursting forth from a discus with a blazing fire—
that indeed is the intermediate lakṣya.

(4.49) One should see the ether (ākāśa) which is formless and devoid of qualities, or the supreme
ether (parākāśa) which trembles greatly and consists of heavy darkness (tamas), or the great ether

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(mahākāśa) which is like the fire of death, or the supreme ether of Reality (tattvākāśa) which
extremely radiant, or the solar ether (sūryakha) which resembles a hundred suns.534

(4.50) These indeed are the five ethers (vyoman) which are situated outside as well as inside
[oneself]. A person who sees them in his gaze (lakṣya) becomes just like the [nature of that] ether.

(4.51) And this yoga is called Tāraka because it causes the teacher and student to “cross
over” (tāraṇa). Devote yourself to the practice of Tāraka, which carries you across the great ocean of
existence to the one Reality.

(4.52) The fruit is one, the practice is twofold, according to the aim of Sāṅkhya or Tāraka. Sāṅkhya is
without conditioning attributes (upādhi), [whereas] yoga (i.e. Tāraka) is itself with conditioning
attributes (sopādhika).

Chapter 5

[Amanaska Rājayoga]

[Inner Lakṣya]

(5.1) Listen again to that which is extremely secret—the great abode among the stars, residing at the
divine liṅga, that which is visible [and] has the nature of the inner lakṣya.

(5.2) Neither established inside nor pervaded outside, characterized by direct perception (aparokṣa),
the ether within ether—that indeed is the inner lakṣya.

(5.3) For one whose eyes remain unmoving [while open], with the mind and breath dissolved in the
[inner] lakṣya, this khecarī indeed is śāmbhavī. Through the proper practice of this mudrā, he shall
be the guru of the world.

(5.4) Not knowing the inner khecarīmudrā in this world, some have hastily taken to the external
khecarī through the practice of cutting the tongue.

(5.5) Directing the mind to that light which is comprised of the inner kalās, at the center, twelve
finger-breadths above the base of the palate, one gradually [directs the light] into their own heart.

(5.6) Then the [yogin’s] vision is to be known as the full-moon (pūrṇimā). That which is seen in the
beginning is filled with darkness. At its center, with the mind one should see a motionless liṅga of
light.

534 Note on the five ākāśas (i.e. vyoman).

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(5.7) With the gaze external and blinking open-eyes placed on the tip of the nose, with the hidden
gaze investigating Sadāśiva in the [inner] lakṣya—those who see that which has the nature of light, is
unmoving, [and] is free from the externalities of the heart, they are self-controlled ones who have
satisfied the aim of life in this world.

(5.8) You who are facing east, look again and again at the magnanimous liṅga, which is facing west,
and which has the form of an unbroken circle [of light?].

(5.9) When sages see that light from the sky which makes the sound oṃ, which is comprised of Śiva
and the nectar of Brahman, and which is tranquil—that is the highest state of Viṣṇu (i.e. samādhi).

(5.10) Like the orb of the full moon, like the lamp of a precious gem, like the midday sun, like the tip
of an eternal flame, like a flash of lightening! The wondrous Śivaliṅga, which glows within the
[inner] lakṣya, is seen in front of [the yogin’s] eyes.

(5.11) Behold this Ātmaliṅga. What [is the need for] other intensive rituals? With the eight flowers
beginning with non-harming (ahiṃsā), and so on, mentally worship [it].

(5.12) The [eight] flowers are named: non-harming (ahiṃsā), restraint of the senses (indriyanigraha),
compassion (dayā), patience (kṣamā), gnosis (jñāna), meditation (dhyāna), austerity (tapas), and
truth (satyam). With these alone, one should worship the Siddhaliṅga within the Self.

(5.13) One who closes and opens the eyes, whose breath is devoid of exhalation and inhalation, whose
mind has dispelled all doubts—surely he alone is a seeker of the state of Rājayoga.

(5.14) One who, having restrained the mind in the śṛṅgāṭaka [at the center of the brow], goes toward
the triangle of the sun and the moon, with single mind focused within and outside the body,
concentrates on the eight [flowers of practice]—[he becomes] a Haṭha-Rāja yogin.

(5.15) Due to the state of complete union of the seer and seen, one perceives the final no-mind
(unmanī) [state]. O sage, this Śivayoga is the secret which makes one liberated-while-living
(jīvanmukti)!

(5.16) Rays of light, lightning, a smoky color, appearing as bindu, nāda, and kalā, the light of a
glowworm, the sun, or moon, these and others, in particular shining gold, the stalk of lotus-
filaments, and the nine gems, are the signs of that [liberated state].

(5.17) Filling the breath through the mouth, holding the apāna breath and drawing it toward the
abode of the [inner] fire, closing off both ears, eyes, and nostrils with just the [first] six fingers of
one's hands, beginning with the thumbs, and so on—in this manner, the wise see those signs, their
minds completely absorbed in oṃ and other various kinds of sounds.

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(5.18) Otherwise, when the vision is united with the discs of the sun and moon through the coming
of the moon and sun [i.e. iḍā and piṅgalā?], or through the presence of a steady burning house-
lamp, even for the unintelligent, those signs are seen clearly manifest before [one’s] eyes. Those
whose minds are intent upon that, whose activities are dissolved in that, what more is there?

(5.19) Beyond the signs [which arise] from the valid means of knowledge, is a peace whose nature is
filled with light. And beyond that is the supreme Brahman—this is declared by the wise.

(5.20) Bhāvayoga is the extraordinary state of the absence of mental volition (saṃkalpa) and
discursive thought (vikalpa). One who fully attains that surely enters the no-mind (unmanī) state.

(5.21) That which pervades the heart in the center of its base has the nature of nāda, bindu, and kalā.
The only thing beyond that is the essential nature of the supreme state.

(5.22) One who attains through his mind the supreme Śiva within the heart, who is independent,
without support, the supreme Reality, unchanging, without mental constructs, and indestructible—
he becomes the nature of that (i.e. Śiva).

(5.23) For the wise, if there is the experience of being on earth even for one iota, that alone is the
cause of bondage. One should give up [the ideas of] both existence and non-existence.

(5.24) Knowledge and what is to be known, visualization and what is to be visualized, the perceptible
and imperceptible, existence and non-existence, inference and reasoning, seer and what is to be seen
—one who gives up all [such distinctions] is a jīvanmukta.

(5.25) Not exerting effort in all conditions of life, existing without thought, [the yogin] remains as if
dead. Like an ocean devoid of waves, like a lamp sheltered from the wind—filled with the [supreme]
Reality, he attains bliss.

[Method of Worshipping Śiva as Consciousness]

(5.26) Listen, I will describe the manner of the worship of Śiva as consciousness. It is a secret, the
essence of the meaning of all the scriptures, which bestows liberation instantly.

(5.27) The absence of thought itself, is meditation on Śiva. Inactivity is the ritual worship of Him.
Motionlessness is [His] circumambulation. The realization of "I am That" (so 'ham) is prostration
[to Him].

(5.28) Silence is chanting (saṃkīrtana), while the [feeling] of complete fullness is the repetition
(japa) of His [name]. Knowledge of what is and is not to be done is moral conduct (śīla). Viewing
all things equally is Nirvāṇa.

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(5.29) Devoid of all sense-organs and the qualities [of nature], beyond form, untainted, and
tranquil, beyond existence and non-existence—this is declared the spontaneous innate state
(sahajāvasthā).

(5.30) Waking (jāgrat), dream (svapna), deep sleep (suṣupti), the fourth state (turīya), and likewise,
the spontaneous innate state (sahaja), which is beyond the fourth state (turyātīta)—there is no
further mental activity from this.

(5.31) Abandoning actions comprised of impurities, taking on actions comprised of purities; [for]
one who is intent upon facing heaven, such a person does not have the authority even to the waking
state.

(5.32) If at any time one [thinks], “enough, enough with all the pleasures of the world,” with a mind
turned inwards, residing in the waking state, he becomes one facing liberation.

(5.33) One who possesses the nature of waking [thinks], "How will the crossing of saṃsāra happen
for me?" Engaging equally in service to the teacher, seeking the company of the wise, virtuous
conduct and mindfulness, [and] maintaining silence. Due to faith and reflection on the [teachings
in] the Vedas and Śāstras on renunciation, there is the destruction of the enemies [of the mind] such
as desire, and so on. Without deceit he undertakes the practice of yoga.

(5.34) If one dies in the waking state, when he [takes] another birth, due to the influence of his
former practice, he returns to earth in the dream state.

(5.35) Seeing the entire world like a dream, as if the appearance of a fleeting autumnal [cloud] in his
mind, remaining merely as existence, he roams about endowed with the dream state.

(5.36) When the state of duality is gone, he abides in the peace which remains, which has the nature
of luminosity, the splendor of consciousness and bliss. Alas! The yogin, though yoked in external
activities, is engaged within the heart—abiding in the [state of] deep sleep, he shines like a painting.

(5.37) Though not immortal, [his] mind is the abode of immortality. [In his] body peace is known,
devoid of egotism. The guṇas having lost their fragrance, he assumes the state of turya. He becomes
liberated [while] living.

(5.38) Like a completely filled pot in the middle of the ocean, like a completely empty pot, in the
middle of the sky; internal and external, spread with the state of fullness and total emptiness—he
who is yoked in the [state] of turīya, shines like a lamp which [reveals] a picture of truth.

(5.39) [Praised] by some as Brahman, for some as Hari, for others as Śiva. For others it is proclaimed
by various distinctions such as [its] qualities of the void (śūnya), prakṛti, puruṣa, time (kāla), and
meaning (artha); for others in the world, by various words comprised of discursive thought

339
(vikalpa). Even though fixed with a body (dehayukta), one who arrives at the state known as beyond
turīya (turīyātīta) becomes eternally liberated.

(5.40) Therefore, with all one's effort, gradually through the practice of yoga, having obtained the
state of beyond turīya, become blissful!

(5.41) Even though you have gone to all [these] states, don't dwell on all the states. Renounce
clinging [to them] completely, as well as the mind concerned with [the distinction between] inner
and outer.

(5.42) Refrain from other actions and devote yourself to Śivayoga! Enjoy the [state of] sahajā, the
mudrā which is the final [state of] Amanaska, comprised of complete knowledge.

(5.43) Having made the ātman [as large as] the sky, and likewise, having made [the ātman as small as]
a point, one should make the two equal in nature—this is indeed the practice of Amanaska.

(5.44) O master, how will we obtain the [state] known as Śiva's Amanaska, which is beyond
dreaming and waking, and is devoid of death and life?

(5.45) The entire universe is comprised of moveable and immovable things; whatever may exist is
what is visible to the mind. If such a mind approaches the no-mind (unmanatā) [state], how could it
not become the supreme Reality?

(5.46) Otherwise, wherever the mind goes, surely, there alone that mind is to be placed. Because of
that, there is the dissolution [of the mind]. But if there is an increase [of mental activity] then [that
dissolution] is prevented.

(5.47) The mind shall wander according to its desires, stopping by itself alone, just as a rutting
elephant [wanders and stops] without the means of a goad.

(5.48) Nāda alone is the best among the [techniques of] Laya, while khecarī is the best among the
mudrās. Best among the gods is He who is without support (nirālamba) [i.e. Śiva], while the no-
mind (manonmanī) is [best] among the states (avasthā) [of Rājayoga].

(5.49) Having reached that [state] of manonmanī, which is the mudrā of Rājayoga, the yogin moves
about through all the worlds like a child, a lunatic, or a demon.

(5.50) Yoga alone is the method for attaining jīvanmukti, and not any other. [Yoga] alone is the
bestower of success, and is fully approved by all traditions (darśana).

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(5.51) Mantra and Laya are known as the beginning (ārambha) and pot (ghaṭa) [stages], respectively.
Haṭha is the accumulation (paricaya) [stage], while the great Rājayoga is known as the full
completion (samaniṣpatti) [stage].

(5.52) Therefore, in this manner, the path of yoga should be practiced in this world for the welfare of
ascetics—having conquered laziness, the company of rogues, anger towards one's own people,
ignorance of the scriptures, and great diseases, which are the root impediments [to yoga], and
moreover, having renounced the divine powers (aiśvarya) and siddhis which arise from the Great
Yoga (mahāyoga), established in a virtuous place, surrounded by virtuous people, in a virtuous
kingdom (dharmarājya) where there is no oppression.

(5.53) The three types of pain (tāpatraya), the ninefold states of worldly activity
(navavidhavyavahāra), the six bodily sheaths (? kauśika), the six enemies (amitraka) [of the mind],
and the five sheaths (kośa), as well as the changes (vikṛti) born of the six states (bhāva), and the six
waves of existence (ūrmi)—for those great ones who have attained the yoga of the niṣpatti
(completion) [stage], [these things] do not exist on earth.

(5.54) Just as a fire with a blazing flame burns [both] dry and wet [wood], so too the fire of gnosis
(jñānavahni) burns all karma which is made of [both] merit and sin. Immediately upon that, the
yogin of the niṣpatti (completion) [stage] reaches liberation.

(5.55) Just as a very small lamp forcibly destroys darkness (tamas) [whether] great or dense, so too,
alas, even a little of this samādhi of yoga destroys karma [whether] good or bad.

(5.56) If one who undertakes yoga reaches the state of endless enjoyment here on earth, [then] he
reaches Śiva’s world (śivaloka) where after experiencing for himself everlasting bliss, then he will be
reborn in a good family of yogins who are learned in the Vedas. Attaining [this], he puts an end to
death. [Such] supreme yoga is called Śiva.535

(5.57) For one whose heart is dissolved in the supreme Brahman, even his parents in this life are
successful in their undertaking towards the supreme. All those who are born in his family will be
free from sin in this world. [Even] the earth tread upon by his feet is highly sacred.

[Conclusion]

(5.58) The manual to the doctrines of the Siddhas, which [contains] the hidden meaning of the
Yogaśāstras, has been made concisely and is to be known as the Lamp on Śivayoga.

ed reads yogī śivākhyaṃ which would mean that the yogin (rather than the yoga) becomes “known as Śiva.”
535 P

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(5.59) The treatise on Śivayoga, which is a secret, is to be given [only] to a champion of practice, who
has conquered the senses, and who has unwavering devotion (bhakti) to the guru Śiva. One who
gives it to a fool would commit sin upon their guru.

342
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