Hatha Yoga / Asana Postures

I feel that hatha yoga is mis-defined both in India and abroad. The mis-definitions are based on impressions given by some famous highly respected swamis who indicated to Westerners that hatha yoga was gymnastics and inappropriate austerities committed by people who posed as yogis in India but whose methods were questionable.

 One famous swami blacklisted asana postures as hatha yoga and stated that hatha yoga was exercises which were not involved in real meditation or samadhi.

 What I would contribute to the discussion is that hatha yoga as it is defined by Gorakshnath consist of six processes of yoga. Gorakshnath is a predecessor of Swatmarama, the author of Hatha Yoga Pradipika. His definition is in contrast to Patanjali who defined yoga as eight processes. Patanjali’s 8 courses include the 6 of Gorakshnath but with the yama and niyama added, which adds 2 to 6 to make 8.

Mathematically, we have this:

 Patanjali Yoga = yama+niyama+asana+pranayama+pratyahar+dharana+dhyana+samadhi

 Swatmarama Yoga = asana+pranayama+pratyahar+dharana+dhyana+samadhi

 Neither Patanjali nor Swatmarama lists asana postures as the equivalent of yoga, and yet some reputed swamis brought the term yoga into common usages as asana. Others without reference to Swatmarama brought the terms hatha yoga into usage as asana postures.

 Here are definitions by both authors (my English translation):

 Patanjali Yoga Sutras defines yoga like this:

 यमनियमासनप्राणायामप्रत्याहारधारणाध्यानसमाधयोऽष्टावङ्गानि॥२९॥

 yama niyama āsana prāṇāyāma pratyāhāra

dhāraṇā dhyāna samādhayaḥ aṣṭau aṅgāni

 yama – moral restraints; niyama – recommended behaviors; āsana – body postures; prāṇāyāma – breath infusion; pratyāhar – sensual energy withdrawal; dhāraṇā – linking of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons; dhyāna – effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons; samādhayaḥ – continuous effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons; aṣṭau – eight; aṅgāni – parts of a thing.

 Moral restraints, recommended behaviors, body posture, breath infusion, sensual energy withdrawal, linking of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons, effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons, continuous effortless linkage of the attention to higher concentration forces or persons are the eight parts of the yoga system. (Yoga Sutras 2.29)

 Swatmarama Hatha Yoga Pradipika defines hatha yoga like this:

आसनं कुम्भकं छित्रं मुद्राख्यं करणं तथा | अथ नादानुसन्धानमभ्यासानुक्रमो हठे || ५८ ||

āsanaṁ kumbhakaṁ chitraṁ mudrākhyaṁ karaṇaṁ tathā |

atha nādānusandhānamabhyāsānukramo haṭhe ||

 āsanaṁ – posture, kumbhakaṁ – breath-suspension contraction, chitraṁ – range, mudrākhyaṁ – mystic checking practices, karaṇaṁ – technique, tathā – so, atha – as explained, nādānusandhānam = nāda (naad subtle sound vibration) + ānusandhānam (continuous spontaneous inner focus), abhyāsānukramo = abhyāsa (practice) + anukramaḥ (range, syllabus), haṭhe – in kundalini manipulation for subtle body transformation

 Postures, the range of breath-suspension contractions, the mystic checking techniques, as well as the continuous spontaneous inner focus on naad subtle sound vibration; these are the syllabus of kundalini manipulation for subtle body transformation. (Kundalini Hatha Yoga Pradipika 1.58)

 Patanjali list asana postures as being only the third part of the eight parts of what he defined as yoga.

 Swatmarama lists hatha yoga as inclusive of asana postures but not as asana postures being equivalent.