University Press, 1978); W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology,
Vedic and Puranic (Calcutta: Rupa, 1973).
Hiranyaksha
Hiranyaksha (lit. he with golden eyes) was a
demon in the story of VISHNU’s VARAHA AVATA R
(incarnation in the form of a boar). Hiranyaksha
had in a previous life been doorkeeper at Vishnu’s
palace in heaven. Because he had refused admis-
sion to many sages, they cursed him, and he was
reborn as the son of Diti, the mother of the ASURAS
or antigods. His father was the RISHI Kashyapa and
his brother was the demon HIRANYAKASHIPU, who
was killed by Vishnu in the incarnation as man-
lion or NARASIMHA AVATA R.
When the Earth was at the bottom of the sea
in ancient times, Vishnu took the form of an enor-
mous boar to lift it up to the surface of the waters
with his tusk. As Vishnu rose to the surface Hiran-
yaksha tried to take the Earth away from him so
he could rule over it; as was his brother, he was
killed by Vishnu.
Further reading: J. A. Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of
Hindu Mythology, 7th ed. (London: Trubner, 2003); W.
J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology: Vedic and Puranic, 2d ed.
(Calcutta: Rupa, 1973).
Hittleman, Richard (d. 1991) pioneer hatha
yoga instructor
Richard Hittleman was an American writer and
teacher who popularized YOGA to a mass audience
starting in the late 1950s.
Hittleman was born in New York City and
raised in the city’s Jewish community. He initially
encountered yoga through a Hindu maintenance
man who worked for his parents. He sought out
additional teachers and during the 1940s devel-
oped his own system of HATHA YOGA, which he
began to market as “Yoga for Health.” In 1957 he
opened the American Academy of Yoga in Coral
Gables, Florida, but within a few years he relo-
cated to California. In 1961 he initiated the first
yoga television show. Through the show and more
than a dozen books, he introduced the practice of
yoga ASANAS (postures) to a huge audience. Over
the next decades he would sell more than 8 mil-
lion books.
In 1964, in his small volume Yoga Philosophy
and Meditation, he noted that many who had been
attracted to yoga as exercise had also requested
to know more about the teachings from which
the practice arose. The request led to his writing
several additional books on yoga philosophy and
meditation, including Guide to Yoga Meditation
(1969) and Yoga: The 8 Steps to Health and Peace
(1976). These volumes, never as successful as his
hatha yoga texts, exemplified ways hatha yoga
could be used as an introductory tool to Hindu
life and thought.
In 1977, Hittleman established the Yoga
Universal Church, based in Rapid City, South
Dakota. He had accepted ordination and chartered
his church through the Universal Life Church
in Modesto, California, the famous mail-order
denomination set up by Kirby Hensley. Hittleman
closed the Yoga Universal in the early 1980s. He
subsequently formed a new organization, Yoga
Universal, in 1982, not connected with the Uni-
versal Life Church. Yoga Universal continues to
offer yoga-based events through Hittleman’s asso-
ciates John Roddy and Mary Conley.
Hittleman remained active into the 1980s. He
died in 1991. His last years were spent fighting
the Internal Revenue Service about back taxes. He
died before the matter was settled, and the tax bill
remains in litigation with his estate.Further reading: Richard Hittleman, Guide to Yoga
Meditation (New York: Bantam Books, 1969); ———,
Yoga: the 8 steps to Health and Peace (New York: Bantam
Books, 1976); Richard Hittleman’s Guide for the Seeker
(New York: Bantam Books, 1978); ———, Richard Hit-
tleman’s 30 Day Yoga Meditation Plan (New York: Ban-
tam Books, 1978); ———, Yoga for Total Fitness (New
York: Bantam Books, 1982); Ami Chen Mills, “DeathHittleman, Richard 189 J