Gheranda Samhita of Gheranda Muni

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Gheraṇḍa Samhita is one of the most important text on Hathayoga written by Gheranda Muni. Gheranda Muni has preferred to call it a text on Ghaṭastha Yoga or Ghaṭayoga rather than Hathayoga. It is also true that the topics described in the text are exactly the same topics that we find in a text on Hathayoga. The text can be said to be a handy and complete manual of Hathayogic practices. It describes 105 practices divided into 21 cleansing processes under six popular cleansing processes, 32 āsanas, 25 Mudras which includes five Dharaṇās, 11 types of Prāṇāyāma practices, 5 types of Pratyāhāra, 5 types of Dhyana under three main categories of Dhyana and 6 types of the technique of Samadhi. And it has been confirmed that finally as a result of these practices one can attain liberation.

Born on 2nd July, 1951, Prof. G. S. Sahay, Gold Medalist in M.A. Sanskrit, is a favourite among his thousands of students of Yoga. With initial formal training in Yoga from Kaivalyadhama Yoga Research. Institute, he joined the same Institute in 1976. He started professing at the Gordhandas Seksaria College of Yoga from the year 1977. His expertise in Hathayoga texts, Indian Philosophy and Patanjalayoga Sutra is widely acknowledged thereby making him an Eminent yoga Expert for Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) project of CSIR, Govt. of India. Presently, he is associated with it as Member, Advisory Committee of this project. He is visiting faculty and Member of Board of Studies in Yoga for various Universities. He has travelled to multiple Yoga Schools across the globe to spread the essence of Traditional Yoga. In his illustrious service tenure at Kaivalyadhama, he contributed as co-editor in the preparation of around Twelve books such as Yoga concordance, Vasistha Samhita, Hathapradipika Jyotsna etc. His first book on Hathayogapradipikā (Chinese language) was published in 2012 from Yoga Summit, Hangzhou, China.

After Retirement, he has started his Gurukul type of Institute of yoga named YOGIC HERITAGE', at Lonavala and conducts 200 hours yoga course registered at Yoga Alliance, USA.

Yoga is getting more popular day by day. Most importantly, Yoga lovers are interested not only in learning Asana or Pranayama techniques but gradually they are developing an interest in getting acquainted with the source of the yogic practices and knowledge of philosophy contained in Yoga. There are many books published on yoga but unfortunately, published traditional yogic texts are very few. Among them, Hathayogapradipika and Gheranda Samhita are most popular yoga texts. These yoga texts are in Sanskrit and most of the published texts contain only the meaning of the verses which is not sufficient for a novice or a new learner of yoga who is not well acquainted either with yoga or Sanskrit. Among published texts, very few are student-friendly. In this direction, I had made an effort to publish Hathayogapradipika (now published by Chaukhamba Surbharati Prakashan, Varanasi, in English and Hindi both) which is truly meant for students and I am very thankful to my dear readers who received that publication very warmly. The book got an overwhelming response from the students and it was liked by every student, sädhaka, and researcher of yoga equally. While preparing this book and presenting it, I was more concerned for those who are not well versed in Sanskrit. I also kept in mind to make it rich in various information pertaining to the topic on which the special note is being written and my readers have undoubtedly found it highly useful not only in understanding the concept contained in the verses of Hathayogapradipika but also found it very informative from the viewpoint of comprehension of the concept with extra clarity. The support for the book Hathayogapradipika was so encouraging that I decided to prepare the book Gheranda Samhita also along the similar lines. Gheranda Samhita is another most important Hathayoga text which can be said to be a handy and complete manual of Hathayogic practices. It describes 105 practices divided into 21 cleansing processes under six popular cleansing processes, 32 äsanas, 25 Mudrās which includes five Dharanas, 11 types of Pranayama practices.

5 types of Pratyahāra, 5 types of Dhyana under three main categories of Dhyana and 6 types of the technique of Samadhi. I have tried to equip this text also with a lot of information and make it highly useful. I am sure that students/researchers will receive this book with the same love, respect and enthusiasm as they had received the publication of Hathayogapradipikā.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages