Yoga
Yoga keeps a person’s mind and body in tune with Nature. An able body leads to stability in sadhana practice. Stability in sadhana paves way to a balanced mind. A balanced mind enables a person to lead a life of sadhana to reach the feet of God. The authentic books on Hatha Yoga are Hata Yoga Pradipika, Gheranda Samhita, Hata Ratnavali etc. Among these, following the book Hata Yoga Pradipika, written by Svatmarama Yogindra the Hata Yoga sadhana practice should be done as follows:
Sloka:
|| āsanam kuṁbhakaṁ citraṁ mudrākhyaṁ karaṇaṁ tathā
athaḥ nādānu sandhāna mabhyāsa kramō haṭhē ||
• Practice of Asana
• Pranayama
• Practice of Mudra
• Action or Lock
• Harnessing in sound
Svatmarama Yogi also said that, “Any amount of Hatha Yoga practice is futile if it does not show the path to Raja Yoga”.
Sloka:
|| rāja yōgaṁ vinā pṛthvī rāja yōgaṁ vinā niśā
rāja yōgaṁ vinā mudrā vicitrāpi na śōbhatē ||
Hence, in due course of sadhana, Hatha Yoga should lead to Raja Yoga.