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Wellsprings
hindu-liberationfeatured in 3 works

Posture (Āsana)

'Steady and comfortable' — the settled seat that frees the mind to go deep.

Āsana is the yoga posture. For Patañjali it is simply the seat that is 'steady and comfortable' — a body settled enough that it no longer distracts the mind, the minimal physical basis for long meditation. Haṭha-yoga greatly expanded this, describing many specific postures to discipline and purify the body before breath-control and meditation. The familiar modern image of yoga as a wealth of postures grows from this haṭha elaboration, far beyond Patañjali's single spare definition.

How it traveled

  1. Yoga-sūtra
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 375
    explains
  2. Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 1450
    explains
  3. Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā
    Kāśī (Varanasi) · 1700
    explains

Key passages(11)

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā · (attributed to Gheraṇḍa)

Very high

Gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā · (attributed to Gheraṇḍa)

Very high

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

Very high

Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā · Svātmārāma

Very high

Yoga-sūtra · Patañjali

Very high

Yoga-sūtra · Patañjali

High

Śiva-sūtra · Vasugupta

High

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Vijñāna-bhairava · Anonymous (Bhairava Āgama / Tantra)

High

Vijñāna-bhairava · Anonymous (Bhairava Āgama / Tantra)

High