Table of Contents

Introduction
The Vital Principle
Knowledge
Practice
Mudras
Meditation
Contributors
Index

From the Introduction

Composed over five centuries ago, the Shiva Samhita is one of the most celebrated root texts of Hatha Yoga. It includes beautiful teachings found nowhere else. This edition contains the original Sanskrit, properly edited and printed for the first time, and a new, accurate translation thereof. It also features photographs of the asanas and mudras described therein.

Excerpt

The Lord said, “There is one eternal true knowledge, without beginning or end. No other real entity exists. The diversity which is found in this world appears through the imposition of the senses on knowledge and for no other reason.
Affectionate toward his devotees, the Lord, having cast aside opinions born of the ignorance of sophists, shall now pronounce a Yoga teaching that bestows liberation on the selves of all beings, so that beings whose minds are set on no other destiny may have knowledge of their selves.
Some praise truth and others asceticism and purity. Some praise patience and others equanimity and honesty.
Some praise charity and others ancestor worship. Some praise action and some absolute indifference.
Some wise men praise the rites of the householder and some say that rites such as the fire sacrifice are the best.
Some praise Mantra Yoga and pilgrimage. In this way, many means to liberation are taught.

About the Author

James Mallinson is a graduate of Eton and Oxford, holds a master’s from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and returned to Oxford University for his doctorate. He is presently a Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical and Indian Studies at SOAS, University of London.

Notes on Meter

The Shiva Samhita's meter is mainly anushtubh, with just a few vipulas, but verses 1.1, 1.91, 5.180 and 5.193 are in shalini, 5.30 is in vamshamala and 5.194 and 5.260 are in Indravajra.

Bibliography

The AmRtasiddhi of MAdhavacandra. Acc. No. 1242 in the manuscript collection of the Maharaja Mansingh Pustak Prakash, Jodhpur.
The BRhatkhecarIprakAza. A commentary on the KhecarIvidyA by BallAla. Manuscript 14575 in the collection of the Scindia Oriental Research Institute Library, Ujjain.
The DattAtreyayogazAstra, ed. Brahmamitra AvasthI. Delhi: SvAmI KezavAnand YogasaMsthAn. 1982.
The Siva Samhita, tr. Rai Bahadur Srisa Chandra Vasu. Allahabad: Panini Office. 1914-15.
The YogacintAmaNi of ZivAnanda SarasvatI, ed. HaridAsa VidyAvAgIza (BhAgavatAcArya). Calcutta. Undated.
The Yuktabhavadeva of Bhavadeva Mizra, Ed. M. L. Gharote and Vijay Kant Jha. Lonavla: Lonavla Yoga Institute. 2002.