v0.5: Hatha Yoga

Sri Ramakrishna — In Hatha Yoga, one is more concerned with the body. A Hatha yogi puts a bamboo tube in his anus for washing the inner organs of the body. He draws ghee (clarified butter) and milk through his organ of reproduction. He practices exercises to train his tongue. He sits in a fixed posture and sometimes levitates. All these are the actions of prana (the vital air). A magician, while performing magic feats, turned his tongue to touch his palate and immediately his body became stiff. People thought he was dead. He was buried and remained in a grave for many years. After a long time the grave was somehow opened and that man regained outer consciousness. As soon as he was conscious, he cried out, ‘Look at my magic! See my feats!’ (All laugh.) All these are actions of prana.

-Sri Ramakrishna. Kathamrita, Volume 2 Section 11

Swami Sivananda's disciples Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, Satyananda Saraswati, Vishnudevananda Saraswati were all practitioners of Hatha Yoga. They also all have sexual scandals associated with them. The problem with Hatha Yoga seems to be that it is easy to get caught up in the physical and lose the spiritual. Hatha is all about the body and the physical. This I think is why Ramakrishna and Vivekananda warned against Hatha Yoga. Also, it is why I think Chinmayananda also a disciple of Sivananda largely ignored Hatha Yoga and focused on Jnana Yoga and there have not been any scandals associated with him.

One of the faults of Hatha Yoga as I see it while going through my readings is that these teachers tell us to actively ignore the yamas and niyamas. For example, in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Swami Muktibodhananda of the Satyananda lineage states, " Raja yoga claims that yama and niyama must be practiced before commencing hatha yoga. It says, control the mind and then purify the body, but in this day and age too many problems can arise if an aspirant comes into direct confrontation with his mind at the beginning of his spiritual quest". This seems to imply that by practicing asanas and pranayama one will eventually acquire the yamas and niyamas without actively practicing them. Even though Verse 16.1 and 16.2 of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika lists out the yamas and niyamas that are to be followed before the asanas chapter even beings.

I do think the sexual scandals around these teachers, the intentional ignorance of the yamas and niyamas is a problem. So my readings and approach to Hatha Yoga is with caution and limited scope. I do think that the core yoga writings of Satyananda such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are still useful but with the added caution of instilling the yamas and niyamas as a core focus.

Lastly, Swami Vivekananda warned specifically against pranayama so I will largely be ignoring that practice and focusing specifically on asanas. The rise of the Kundalini happens automatically with the practice and does not need to be forced through pranayama and mudras. The natural rise of the Kundalini is a safer approach. Whenever there is a conflict in what the Hatha Yoga lineages say versus what the Ramakrishna and Vivekananda lineages say, I will side with the Ramakrishna and Vivekananda lineages.

So with all these cautions why even practice Hatha Yoga?

The reason is that I do think that a healthy body is important for a healthy mind. Caring for the body through asanas and exercise is important so we can then focus on the higher aims of understanding the Self. A body that is sickly, unhealthy and weak is not conducive to a healthy mind.