हठयोग प्रदीपिका (योगी स्वात्माराम - ज्योत्स्ना टीका सहित सटीक)

xii HAṬHAYOGAPRADĪPIKĀ
bliss. Wherefore, O Rāma! study the science of
breath or prāṇa.
Prāṇa is the chief principle of motion in the Sthūla
(gross), Sūkṣma (subtle) and Kāraṇa (causal) bodies.
We shall now attempt an examination of the
Haṭha and the Rāja-yoga somewhat more minutely
and see the difference that exists between the two.
Haṭha is considered to be a compound word
formed of two syllables: ha, means the moon, and
ṭha, means the sun. These correspond to the breath
which flows through the left and right nostrils. The
regulation of breath for the purpose of checking the
modification of the thinking principle is called Haṭha-
yoga, under which the Aṣṭāṅga-yoga, Mantra-yoga,
etc. as above enumerated, naturally fall. Rāja-yoga
begins where Haṭha-yoga, properly followed, ends.
It would therefore be unwise to consider the Haṭha-
yoga as nothing more than a dangerous gymnastic
feat, for a moderate exercise of it has been found by
experience to be both conducive to health and longevity.
It brings in its train the power to prevent or remove
diseases, bodily or mental, for its practice regulates
the action of the heart, the lungs and the circulation
of the blood. It even bestows the gift of putting off
death indefinitely, although this privilege is seldom
exercised by the true Yogin who knows the consequences
of interfering with the laws of nature.
As the Rāja- and the Haṭha-yoga-s are the
necessary counterparts of each other, the limbs as it
were of the same body, either of them cannot be