Vivekamārtaṇḍa

The Vivekamārtaṇḍa is the only text to use Viparītakaraṇī as a means of yogic withdrawal. Illustrated manuscript of the Joga Pradipika, 1830

Unlike Ashtanga, the eightfold yoga of Patanjali, the Vivekamārtaṇḍa describes a system of six limbs: asana (posture), breath-restraint (which it calls pranasamrodha), pratyahara (withdrawal), dharana (concentration), meditation, and samadhi; omitting the first two limbs of Ashtanga, namely the Yamas and Niyamas.[6]

The text claims that there are 84 yoga postures, but describes only two.[2]

Breath control, as in tantric texts but not otherwise in hatha yoga texts, is said to cause udghata, "eruption", making vital energy move upwards in a surge.[7]

As in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, withdrawal lies between breath control and concentration. It compares yogic withdrawal to the sun's shortening its shadow at midday, or a tortoise drawing its legs into its shell.[8] One of the methods given for withdrawal, only in this text, is Viparītakaraṇī; the mudra is however described both in the Vivekamārtaṇḍa and in other texts as a means of trapping vital fluid, bindu.[3][9]

The Vivekamārtaṇḍa states that yogic concentration is simply a matter of repeating the breath control practice a certain number of times.[10]

Similarly, it explains that meditation is extended concentration, and that samadhi is greatly extended meditation – for 12 hours, all through retaining the breath.[11] Meditation can be with or without attributes (saguna or nirguna); the yogi can meditate on any one of the six chakras.[12]

It states that in samadhi, the yogi perceives and feels nothing, and cannot be harmed with weapons. James Mallinson calls this a "death-like state" quite unlike the subtly-graded mental state described in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.[13]

The Vivekamārtaṇḍa implies that the (hatha yoga) mudras operate on (Kaula tantra) Kundalini. Mallinson describes this as a "crude refashioning", more skilfully achieved in the later Khecharividya, with its account of khechari mudra, and the Shiva Samhita.[14]

Mahāmudrā is used to dry up the body's fluids; this is like other ascetic texts, but opposed to tantric Kundalini practice, where the flow of amrita is meant to be increased.[15] However, the text also seeks to ensure immortality by preserving the amrita, using the tongue to press on the upper opening next to the uvula.[16] The contradiction of goals is perpetuated in the compilation of hatha yoga texts, the Hathayogapradipika.[9]

• Mallinson, James (2011). Knut A. Jacobsen; et al. (eds.). Haṭha Yoga in the Brill Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 3 (PDF). Brill Academic. pp. 770–781. ISBN 978-90-04-27128-9.
• Mallinson, James (2016). "Śāktism and Haṭhayoga". In Wernicke-Olesen, Bjarne (ed.). Goddess Traditions in Tantric Hinduism: History, Practice and Doctrine (PDF). Routledge. pp. 109–140. ISBN 978-1317585213.
• Mallinson, James; Singleton, Mark (2017). Roots of Yoga. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-241-25304-5. OCLC 928480104.