Early works; Gheraṇḍasaṃhiṭā; Hatha yoga Early works to 1800=Hatha yoga Ouvrages avant 1800; Hatha Yoga; History, 17th Century; Kundalinī=Kuṇḍalinī; Medicine History 17th century=Médecine Histoire 17e siècle; Yoga=Yōga
摘要
The book you are about to read, a manual of Yoga taught by Gheranda to Chanda, is the most encyclopedic of all the root texts of Hatha Yoga. At the beginning of the book, Chanda asks Gheranda to tell him about the Yoga of the body, which is the cause of knowledge of the Ultimate Reality. Gheranda assents and the book is thus called the Gheranda Samhita, or “The Collection [of Verses] of Gheranda.” It sets itself apart from other books on Hatha Yoga in two notable ways. Firstly, it calls its Yoga “ghata Yoga” or “ghatastha Yoga” and not Hatha Yoga. The usual meaning of ghata is “pot,” but here it refers to the body, or rather the person, since the techniques taught by Gheranda work on both the body and the mind. Secondly, it is unique in teaching a sevenfold path to perfection of the person.
