TheJoga Pradīpikā (जोगप्रदीपिका, "A Small Light on Yoga") is ahatha yoga text by Ramanandi Jayatarama written in 1737 in a mixture ofHindi,Braj Bhasa,Khari Boli and forms close toSanskrit.[1][2] It presents 6cleansing methods, 84asanas, 24mudras and 8kumbhakas.[3] The text is illustrated in an 1830 manuscript with 84 paintings ofasanas, prepared about a hundred years after the text.[4]
TheJoga Pradīpikā covers a broad range of topics on yoga, including the nature of the yogicsubtle body,[6]preliminary purifications,[7] yogic seals (mudrās),[5]asanas,[8]prānāyāma (breath-control),[9]mantras,[10]meditation,[11] liberation (moksha),[12] andsamādhi.[13]
One of the purifications in the text is themulashishnasodhana, "the cleansing of the anus and the penis", which calls for water to be drawn into the anus and squirted out through the penis, whichJames Mallinson andMark Singleton gloss as "a feat which is, of course, anatomically impossible."[7]
Prānāyāma is stated to result in liberation, on its own,[14] though some of its breath-control techniques also use mantras.[15] TheJoga Pradīpikā however asks the yogi to stay on as a physical body to serve the Lord, rather than choosing liberation.[16]
TheJoga Pradīpikā conflates themudrās with asanas by describing themahāmudrā as one of its 84 asanas. Like other late texts, it describes a relatively large number of mudrās, 24 in all.[5]
On meditation, the text reworks theBhagavata Purana's meditation of the goddessSītā and the godRāma.[11] On samādhi, the yogi reaches it by the "bee cave" in thesahasrara chakra, the "thousand-petalled lotus", with an unending "unstruck sound".[17]
The description of 84 asanas occupies 314 out of 964 verses in the 1737 version. Most of the asanas are said tobring therapeutic benefits; all of them ask the practitioner to direct the gaze (drishti) at the point between the eyebrows or at the end of the nose.[8]
The 84 asanas described and illustrated in the 1830 document include some that are widely practised in modernyoga, but its selection differs markedly from that in otherhatha yoga texts such as theHatha Ratnavali. Many of the illustrated poses areseated asanas used for meditation, including the ancientPadmasana andSiddhasana, both of which appear twice in the set of illustrations. The number 84 is symbolic rather than literal, indicating that a set is complete and sacred.[a][3][4]
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| Subtle body | | |
|---|---|---|
| Texts (Asanas) |
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| Mudras | ||
| Shatkarmas | ||
| Pranayama | ||
| Related | ||