Gheranda Samhita

Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā

A late hatha yoga manual that organises practice into seven limbs, from bodily purification to samadhi.

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Tradition: Yoga (Patanjala) · Tantra
Difficulty: intermediate
Attribution: Framed as the teaching of the sage Gheranda to his student Chanda Kapali; actual author unknown
Period · language: Generally placed in the late 17th or 18th century CE; dating is uncertain · Sanskrit
Themes: Body · Purification · Breath · Meditation

Why read this?

It is one of the most systematic hatha manuals, with detailed lists of cleansing practices, postures and seals. Comparing its seven limbs with Patanjali's eight shows how yoga was reshaped over time.

The frame story

The text is framed as a dialogue in which the sage Gheranda teaches Chanda Kapali, who asks about the yoga of the body (ghata, the "vessel").

Questions it answers

?What does it mean to treat the body as a vessel to be purified?
?How does a sevenfold yoga differ from the eightfold scheme?

Key teachings

Editorial overview

The body as a vessel

The text calls its discipline ghatastha yoga, yoga of the "vessel". The body is to be refined like unfired clay, so that it can hold the higher stages of practice.

Seven limbs

It lists seven means: purification (shodhana through shatkarma), strengthening through asana, steadiness through mudra, calm through pratyahara, lightness through pranayama, perception of the self through dhyana, and detachment through samadhi.

Kinds of meditation and samadhi

Meditation is divided into gross, luminous and subtle forms, and samadhi is described through several methods, reflecting an inclusive, practice-oriented approach.

Structure

Seven chapters (upadeshas)Roughly one for each of the seven limbs

Source not yet ingested

The text of the Gheranda Samhita is not part of this version. What you see here is an editorial overview with passage references. No verses have been reproduced or invented. The architecture is ready for the text to be added.

Concepts

ConceptयोगYogaJoining or disciplining — a path of practice toward freedom.Conceptप्राणायामPranayamaRegulation of the breath and the life-force (prana).Conceptध्यानDhyanaMeditation: an unbroken flow of attention toward one object.ConceptसमाधिSamadhiComplete absorption of the mind in its object, or beyond any object.ConceptशरीरShariraThe body; in Vedanta, understood as gross, subtle and causal layers distinct from the Self.

Textहठयोगप्रदीपिकाHatha Yoga PradipikaEarlier and more widely cited hatha manual Textयोगसूत्रYoga Sutras of PatanjaliThe classical eightfold scheme that the sevenfold one departs from

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Traditions

योगYoga (Patanjala)तन्त्रTantra