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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>[[File:Goraksha Shataka last folio Thanjavur MS.jpg|thumb|upright=2|Gorakṣaśataka, last folio of Thanjavur manuscript]]<br />
The '''''Gorakṣaśataka''''' is an early text on [[Haṭha yoga]] text from the 11th-12th century, attributed to the sage [[Gorakhnath|Gorakṣa]]. It was the first to teach a technique for raising [[Kundalini]] called "the stimulation of Sarasvati", along with elaborate [[pranayama]], breath control. It was written for an audience of [[Asceticism|ascetics]].<br />
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== Synopsis ==<br />
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The 2012 translation of the text by [[James Mallinson (author)|James Mallinson]] divides it into the following topics:{{sfn|Mallinson|2012}}<br />
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* Introduction<br />
* The Conquest of the Breath<br />
* [[Sattvic diet|Measured Diet]]<br />
* Posture ([[Lotus position|Padmasana]] and [[Vajrasana (yoga)|Vajrasana]])<br />
* The Stimulation of the goddess [[Saraswati|Sarasvatī]]<br />
* The [[Pranayama|Restraint of the Breath]] ([[Anuloma pranayama|Surya]], [[Ujjayi]], [[Sitali]], and [[Bhastrika|Bhastri]] [[kumbhaka]]s{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=127, 131–133, 157–159}})<br />
* The Three [[Bandha (yoga)|Bandha]]s ([[Mula Bandha|Mula]], [[Uddiyana bandha|Uddiyana]], and [[Jalandhara Bandha|Jalandhara]] bandhas)<br />
* [[Samadhi]]<br />
* Obstacles to the Practice of Yoga<br />
* The Ascent of Kundalini<br />
* Realization of the Truth<br />
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== Analysis ==<br />
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The title means "A hundred verses of [the sage] Gorakṣa".{{sfn|Simpson|2019}} <br />
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The ''Gorakṣaśataka'' is one of the first texts that teaches [[Haṭha yoga]]'s physical methods, without using the name.{{sfn|Simpson|2019}} The first verse states that the text is for ascetics who had renounced ordinary life to attain liberation.{{sfn|Mallinson|2012}} The text explains how to control the breath in [[pranayama]],{{sfn|Simpson|2019}} using novel techniques such as ''[[Surya bhedana|sūryabhedana]]'', "the piercing of the sun".{{sfn|Mallinson|2012}} It teaches śakticālanīmudrā ("stimulating [[Saraswati|Sarasvatī]]") along with the three [[Bandha (yoga)|bandha]]s.{{sfn|Mallinson|2011|p=771}} "Stimulating Sarasvatī" is done by wrapping the tongue in a cloth and pulling on it, stimulating the goddess [[Kundalini]] who is said to dwell at the other end of the [[central channel]].{{sfn|Mallinson|2016|pp=109–140}}{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=230–231, 243–244}} The text describes the complex process of raising Kundalini initiated by [[Mula bandha|mūlabandha]], the root lock, resulting in her dissolution, which is [[Moksha|liberation]].{{sfn|Westoby|2018}} It mentions three "knots" (''granthis''), a kind of [[chakra]], which have to be pierced to allow the Kundalini to pass through. The three are the knots of [[Brahma]] at the base of the [[Sushumna]] channel, of [[Vishnu]] at the heart, and of [[Rudra]], between the eyebrows.{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|pp=175, 214–215}}<br />
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Unlike [[Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga)|Ashtanga, the eightfold yoga of Patanjali]], the text describes a system of six limbs: [[asana]] (posture), [[Pranayama|breath-restraint]] (which it calls ''pranasamrodha''), [[pratyahara]] (withdrawal), [[dharana]] (concentration), [[meditation]], and [[samadhi]]; omitting the first two limbs of Ashtanga, namely the [[yamas]] and [[niyamas]]. <br />
It recommends gradually increasing breath retention as the best way to samadhi.{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|p=326}} <br />
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It does not mention mantras;{{sfn|Mallinson|Singleton|2017|p=262}} nor does it mention the preservation of bindu, but merely says that liberation is achieved by controlling the mind through controlling the breath.{{sfn|Mallinson|2016|pp=109–140}}<br />
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Mallinson comments that the text is too terse to serve as a foundation for practice, and could not have substituted for direct instruction by a guru; nor in his view would it have been used as a [[mnemonic]]: he had never met a yogi who worked in that way. Rather, hatha yoga texts lent authority to a school of thought and its yoga practices.{{sfn|Mallinson|2012}}<br />
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== Influence ==<br />
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The ''Gorakṣaśataka'' was influential but is now less well-known than the ''[[Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā]]'' which copies around thirty of its hundred verses, describing techniques such as the [[pranayama]] method of ''[[ujjāyī]]'' or "victorious breath", widely used today in [[Vinyasa yoga]] classes.{{sfn|Simpson|2019}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
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{{reflist|22em}}<br />
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== Sources ==<br />
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* {{cite book |translator-last=Kuvalayananda |author-link=Swami Kuvalayananda |title=Goraksa-Satakam |publisher=Kaivalyadhama |year=2006 |orig-year=1954 |isbn=818948544X}}<br />
* {{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Mallinson |author-first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |year=2011 |title=Yoga: Haṭha Yoga |url=https://www.academia.edu/1317005 |editor1-last=Basu |editor1-first=Helene |editor2-last=Jacobsen |editor2-first=Knut A. |editor2-link=Knut A. Jacobsen |editor3-last=Malinar |editor3-first=Angelika |editor4-last=Narayanan |editor4-first=Vasudha |editor4-link=Vasudha Narayanan |encyclopedia=Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=3 |doi=10.1163/2212-5019_BEH_COM_000354 |pages=770–781 |isbn=978-90-04-17641-6 }}<br />
* {{cite book |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |year=2012 |chapter=The Original Gorakṣaśataka |editor-last=White |editor-first=David Gordon |title=Yoga in Practice |location=Princeton |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/3491519/The_Original_Gorak%E1%B9%A3a%C5%9Bataka |pages=257–272}} – with a translation from the Sanskrit<br />
* {{cite book |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |chapter=Śāktism and Haṭhayoga |title=Goddess Traditions in Tantric Hinduism: History, Practice and Doctrine |editor-link=Bjarne Wernicke-Olesen |editor-last=Wernicke-Olesen |editor-first=Bjarne |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2016 |pages=109–140 |isbn=978-1317585213 |url=http://www.academia.edu/1260034/Saktism_and_Ha_hayoga}}<br />
* {{cite book |last1=Mallinson |first1=James |author1-link=James Mallinson (author) |last2=Singleton |first2=Mark |author2-link=Mark Singleton (yoga scholar) |title=Roots of Yoga |title-link=Roots of Yoga |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-241-25304-5 |oclc=928480104}}<br />
* {{cite web |last=Simpson |first=Daniel |title=Stimulating the Goddess: James Mallinson on the Gorakṣa-śataka |url=https://sanskritreadingroom.wordpress.com/2019/11/24/stimulating-the-goddess-james-mallinson-on-the-gorak%E1%B9%A3asataka/ |website=Sanskrit Reading Room<!--serious reports on SOAS yoga studies--> |access-date=19 March 2022 |date=24 November 2019}}<br />
* {{cite web |last=Westoby |first=Ruth |title=Yogic Body |website=Sahapedia |year=2018 |url=https://www.sahapedia.org/yogic-body |access-date=19 March 2022}}<br />
* {{cite book | last=Brzezinski | first=Jan K. | last2=Bharati | first2=Swami Veda | title=Yoga-taraṅgiṇī: A Rare Commentary on Gorakṣa-śataka : Sanskrit Text with Romanized Version | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass | publication-place=Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India | date=2015-01-01 | isbn=978-81-208-3989-2}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
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* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/259062035/Goraksha-Shataka-of-Guru-Gorakhnath Text in Sanskrit and English], translated by Yoga Nath<br />
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{{Hatha yoga}}<br />
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[[Category:Hatha yoga texts]]</div>AndyMfn275514