The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a book that is in the public domain.

This is the original version of ‘The Hatha Yoga Pradipika’ is in the public domain, which is on the following pages.

Pradipika means to ‘cast light’ or to ‘illuminate’, so we see the Pradipika as a ‘luminary’ or a sort of guiding light into the world of Hatha Yoga. Since the Pradipika sheds Light on the Hatha Yoga practice, it is called "Hatha Yoga Pradipika."

Hatha yoga is said to be the branch of yoga that purifies the body through - asana, bandha, concentration, mudra, pranayama, and shatkarma (cleansing techniques).

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is viewed as practical guidelines to lead the student/practitioner from awareness of the physical body to awareness of the internal self.

The techniques used in Hatha Yoga that are found in the text are meant to guide the student/practitioner toward self-realization, which then leads to enLightenment.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika has four (4) chapters:

  1. Asana - detailed teachings on the names of asanas, how to achieve them, and the type of diet the will benefit the yoga practice.

  2. Pranayama - offers breathing techniques and the benefits. This section also discusses the practice of shatkarma, which are the six (6) cleansing techniques that are essential to the yogic practice.

  3. Mudras and Bandhas - describes the mudras (hand gestures), which may also be full body and bandhas (seals or locks) that assists in rousing the kundalini (spiritual awakening), which leads one to enLightenment.

  4. Samadhi - Details techniques, which can lead to the yogic practitioner to enLightenment and ananda (eternal bliss aka samadhi).

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika was written in the 15th century by Swami Svatmarama and is the oldest text of Hatha yoga. It is also one of the three (3) most important texts about Hatha Yoga, with the other two (2) being "Gheranda Samhita" and "Shiva Samhita."

Swami Svatmarama was a disciple of Guru Gorakhnath, who is considered the maha yogi, or the "great yogi." Gorakhnath is supposedly the student of Matsyendra (Matsyendranatha), who is the author of some of Hatha Yoga’s earliest texts, and he is considered the original yogi who took his lessons straight from Lord Shiva.

Swami Svatmarama writes that practicing Hatha yoga with the correct mindset will assist in attaining the siddhis (spiritual powers), which are super-natural capabilities. A student/practitioner who reaches this stage of samadhi has reached mastery and cannot be overpowered by anything in this natural world.