Further reading: Michael W. Meister with M. A. Dhaky,
eds., Encyclopedia of Indian Temple Architecture (Phila-
delphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983).
Hariharananda Giri, Swami See KRIYA
YOGA CENTERS.
Har Rai See SIKHISM.
hatha yoga
Hatha yoga is an amalgam of yogic practices that
may have emerged separately and were later com-
bined. Its origins are obscure, but it is likely that
the system began to develop in the early centuries
of the Common Era.
Hatha yoga includes basic practices that can be
found in ASHTANGA YOGA, which relies on the YOGA
SUTRA of PATANJALI. It includes different arrays of
postures (ASANAS), joined to various TANTRA prac-
tices. The term hatha originally meant “violent,”
and it is possible that this style of YOGA originated
in certain types of severe yoga that were later soft-
ened for protection of the body.
Some types of hatha yoga include or even focus
on KUNDALINI practice. Here the focus of breath
control is on the “serpent” or “Goddess Energy”
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 channel to help the raising
of the kundalini through the centers. Finally, the
kundalini meets SHIVA at a point above the head
called SAHASRARA CHAKRA. This meeting provokes
absolute enlightenment.
Traditionally, hatha yoga has encompassed a
wide range of practices including those of such
sects as the NAT H YOGIS, who sought bodily
immortality through the ingestion (and transfor-
mation) of poisons such as oxides of mercury and
practiced a physical alchemy. Today, in the West,
hatha yoga is typically confined to postures and a
simple focus on the breath; more advanced prac-
titioners may begin to focus on the kundalini and
the channeling of the breath in the nadis.Further reading: Elsy Becherer, trans., and Hans-Ulrich
Rieker, commentary, The Yoga of Light: Hatha Yoga Pra-
dipika, India’s Classical Handbook (New York: Herder
& Herder, 1971); B. K. S. Iyengar, The Concise Light on
Yoga: Yoga Dipika (New York: Schocken Books, 1982).Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization
(est. 1969)
Yogi BHAJAN (1929–2004) inaugurated the Healthy,
Happy, Holy Organization (3HO) in the UnitedHarihara, iconic deity that unites Vishnu and Shiva
(calendar print)
Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization 181 J