PATANJALI yoga, but his Yoga Sutra does not list
any postures; these may have been later addi-
tions to the practice, or they may have developed
separately and then merged with the Patanjalian
school. There are strong resemblances between
the practices found in the early Buddhist texts and
those found in Patanjali.
HAT H A YOGA is an amalgam of practices that may
have emerged separately and were later combined.
It includes the basic practices that can be found in
Patanjali as well as postures. The term hatha origi-
nally meant “violent,” and it is possible that this
style of yoga originated in certain types of severe
yoga that were softened for protection of the body.
In some systems hatha yoga includes KUNDALINI
YOGA as part of its path. The focus of breath con-
trol becomes the “serpent” or “Goddess Energy”
(kundalini) at the base of the spine, which must
be awakened and forced upward to pierce the
psychic centers or CHAKRAS that run parallel to
the spine. The NADIS or subtle bodily channels are
used to guide breath into the central spinal chan-
nel to help the raising of the kundalini through the
centers. Finally, the rising kundalini meets the god
SHIVA at a point above the head called SAHASRARA
CHAKRA. This meeting provokes absolute enlighten-
ment. Kundalini yoga practice itself can vary; the
kundalini methods used in hatha yoga are some-
what different from those used in TANTRA yoga.
Tantra is the most esoteric of all of the yogas.
All yogas, and in fact all paths toward spiritual
advance in the Indian tradition, depend upon
the guidance of a GURU. However, the tantra yoga
practices are so complicated and often danger-
ous that a guru is of the utmost importance.
The basic realization of tantra yoga is that the
phenomenal world is nothing but the divine
truth—the transcendent and the earthly divinity
are one and the same. Whereas other yogas look
toward a retreat from the sensual, tantra plunges
into the dangers of the senses in order to reach
the highest realization.
This is true in particular of the notorious
practices of “left-handed” tantra. In the process of
worship the devotee (most often a male) drinks
alcohol, eats the forbidden beef, and has sexual
intercourse with a low-caste partner or “goddess.”
The sexual union is seen as the union of the divin-
ity in its transcendent form with the divinity in
its mundane aspect. The practice aims to produce
an understanding of the divinity in its totality.
Alcohol too helps teach about the “bliss” of the
infinite. Eating forbidden beef and other acts nor-
mally thought as “polluting” teach that even the
dirt and refuse in the world are essentially divine.
“Right-handed” tantra yoga does not resort to
these forbidden practices. It includes much ritual
and chanting of MANTRAS to guide the conscious-
ness to its chosen goal.
Apart from these general categories of yoga, many
specialized disciplines have emerged, including
KRIYA YOGA and Integral Yoga (see Sri AUROBINDO).Further reading: S. N. Dasgupta, The History of Indian
Philosophy (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1975); Georg
Feuerstein, The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (Rochester, Vt.:
Inner Traditions International, 1989); Trevor Leggett,
Realization of the Supreme Self: The Bhagavad Gita
Yogas (New York: Kegan Paul International, 1995);
Robert Svoboda, Aghora: At the Left Hand of God
(Albuquerque, N. Mex.: Brotherhood of Life, 1998);
Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, eds., Yogas: The
Indian Tradition (New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003);
Sir John Woodroffe, Sadhana for Self-Realization: Man-
tras, Yantras and Tantras (Madras: Ganesh, 1963); Viv-
ian Worthington, A History of Yoga (Boston: Routledge
& Kegan Paul, 1982).Yogananda, Paramahansa (1893–1952)
kriya yoga teacher and founder of Self-Realization
Fellowship
The founder of the influential SELF-REALIZATION
FELLOWSHIP (SRF), Paramahansa Yogananda was
one of the most successful missionaries for yoga
in the West.
Born Mukunda Lal Ghosh on January 5, 1893,
into an affluent Bengali family in Gorakhpur,K 512 Yogananda, Paramahansa