The Tantric Śaiva Origins of Rājayoga1

Jason Birch
SOAS University of London

[Introduction]
The earliest known textual evidence for the term rājayoga, in the context of yoga, occurs in
an eleventh-century Śaiva work called the Amanaska. From the eleventh to fifteenth century,
rājayoga appears in five other yoga texts, four of which are also Śaiva. In this paper I shall
argue that, in its early history, Rājayoga was strongly associated with Śaivism, and that much
of the terminology and soteriological ideas defining it can be traced to Tantric Śaivism, in
particular Kaula traditions. I will also propose that Rājayoga became a mechanism by which
Śaivism could appropriate yogas from other traditions. A good example is a twelfth-century
Śaiva community in the Konkan which successfully assimilated a Buddhist form of yoga by
making it an auxiliary for attaining Rājayoga. This resulted in the archetype of Haṭha and
Rājayoga, which endured throughout the second millennium and even shaped some of the
basic ideas of modern yoga, as seen in the publications of Swāmī Śivānanda of Rishikesh and
the Theosophists.

According to the latest research of the Haṭha Yoga Project, the earliest texts to teach a type
of yoga called Rāja are the following:

1. Amanaska, chapter two only (11th century)

2. Amaraugha (12th century)
3. Yogabīja (13-14th century)
4. Dattātreyayogaśāstra (13th century)
5. Yogatārāvalī (14th century)
6. Śivasaṃhitā, chapter five only (15th century)

Seeing that my time is limited, I will present a short overview of Rājayoga in these texts. In
my doctoral thesis and some of my published articles (Birch 2011, 2014), I have traced the
terminology and several techniques of Rājayoga, such as śāmbhavī mudrā, back to earlier
Śaiva traditions. In this talk I will present new research that identifies precedents in Śaiva
Tantras to some of the soteriological ideas underpinning Rājayoga. I shall then conclude by
discussing more generally the implications of these ideas on the relationship between Haṭha-
and Rājayoga.

1
Presented at the Conference of the Society for Tantric Studies, Flagstaff, Arizona, on 28 September 2019.
All of these works, except perhaps the oldest recension of the Yogabīja, were source texts for
the Haṭhapradīpikā, which was composed in the 15th century; all are Śaiva, except the
Dattātreyayogaśāstra, which was likely written by a Vaiṣṇava for a trans-sectarian audience;
and all were probably composed in the Deccan, except perhaps the Amanaska and
Dattātreyayogaśāstra, which were known in the North West of India in the twelfth and
fourteenth century respectively.

[Salient Themes of Rājayoga]

In all texts, Rājayoga is presented as the goal of other yogas. In the Amanaska (2.1-2), for
example, it is the goal of a preliminary yoga called ‘pūrvayoga’ and in the Amaraugha (45), it
is the goal of three yogas, namely, Mantra, Laya and Haṭha. In all cases, Rājayoga is the only
one of these yogas that bestows liberation. Its place at the top of a hierarchy and its
soteriological status appear to be why the term rājayoga was understood as the ‘king of all
yogas’, as it was defined in the Amanaska (3cd):

rājatvāt sarvayogānāṃ rājayoga iti smṛtaḥ ||3cd||

Because it is king of all yogas, it is known as rājayoga.

Although I am yet to find the term rājayoga in an early Śaiva Tantra, descriptions of it in yoga
texts are explicitly Śaiva. Generally speaking, Rājayoga means the attainment of a profound
state of meditative absorption, more generally called samādhi, and the terminology used to
describe it is the same as that used in Tantras to convey the aspectless state of Śiva and void-
like meditation practices of sādhakas. For example:

Amanaska 2.91
ity uktam etat sahajāmanaskaṃ śiṣyaprabodhāya śivena sākṣāt |
nityaṃ tu tan niṣkalaniṣprapañcaṃ vācām avācyaṃ svayam eva vedyam ||

This natural, no-mind [state] has been taught thus [to Vāmadeva] directly by Śiva for
the awakening of his disciples. However, [the no-mind state] is eternal, aspectless,
undifferentiated, not expressible by speech and known only by [experiencing it]
oneself.

Amaraugha 43-44a
na nādo na ca bandhaś ca na cittaṃ nāpy acetanam |
nābhyāsam uttaraṃ kiñ cit rājayogo nigadyate ||43||
līnaṃ yatra carācaraṃ sukhavaśāt tal liṅgam ity ucyate [44a]
 There is no resonance, no bondage, no consciousness nor even unconsciousness.
There is no subsequent practice whatsoever. [This state] is called Rājayoga. [For the
Rājayogin,] that into which the universe is easily dissolved is called [Śiva's] Liṅga.

Rājayoga texts rely on terminology like niṣkala, manonmanī, unmanī, nirālamba, nirañjana and
tattva to describe samādhi. Not all of this terminology is peculiar to Śaivism, but references
to Śiva, the liṅga and kuṇḍalinī, remove any ambiguity, and the result is a Śaiva discourse on
samādhi that is quite distinct from that of the Pātañjalayogaśāstra, as well as Buddhist, Jain
and Pāñcarātrika works.

Much of this terminology was incorporated in the Haṭhapradīpikā’s list of synonyms for
rājayoga (4.3-4), along with terms relevant to samādhi in Vedāntic works and the non-
sectarian Yogavāsiṣṭha.

rājayogaḥ samādhiś ca unmanī ca manonmanī |

amaratvaṃ layas tattvaṃ śūnyāśūnyaṃ paraṃ padam ||4.3||
amanaskaṃ tathādvaitaṃ nirālambaṃ nirañjanam |
jīvanmuktiś ca sahajā turyā cety ekavācakāḥ ||4.4||

Rājayoga, samādhi [etc,] are synonyms (ekavācaka).

[The Soteriology of Rājayoga]

I would now like to focus on jīvanmukti (‘liberation-in-life’), which is mentioned towards the
end of this list (i.e., 4.4c). The inclusion of this term as a synonym for rājayoga probably
derives from the fact that every Rājayoga text promises liberation-in-life. Indeed, in some
instances, the attainment of samādhi is considered liberation. For example:

Dattātreyayogaśāstra 125:
dinadvādaśakenaiva samādhiṃ samavāpnuyāt |
vāyuṃ nirudhya medhāvī jīvanmukto bhaved dhruvam ||125||

One can obtain samādhi within only twelve days [of practising meditation]. When
the breath has stopped, the wise yogin is surely liberated-in-life.

This type of samādhi is characterised by the absence of physical movement, mental activity
and breathing. Liberated-in-life in an ageless and immortal body, the yogin appears to
remain suspended in samādhi forever, or at least devoted to its practice. For example, the last
verse of the Yogatārāvalī (28) suggests this:
 siddhiṃ tathāvidhamanovilayāṃ samādheḥ śrīśailaśṛṅgakuhareṣu kadopalapsye |
gātraṃ yathā mama latāḥ pariveṣṭayanti karṇe yathā viracayanti khagāś ca nīḍam ||28||

In the caves on the peak of Śrīśaila [mountain], when will I experience samādhi's
culmination in which dissolution of the mind is such that vines cover my body and
birds build a nest in my ear?

This state of samādhi is redolent of passages in the Mahābhārata, describing ascetics who
remain like stones and pillars, oblivious to the external world. 2 However, some Rājayoga
texts offer an alternative view, in which the liberated yogin emerges from samādhi to live in
the world as an all-powerful god, free to act however he so wishes. A good example of this is
found in the Yogabīja (125, 127):

sarvajño 'sau bhavet kāmarūpaḥ pavanavegavān |

krīḍate triṣu lokeṣu jāyante siddhayo 'khilāḥ ||125||
īśvaraḥ sarvakartā ca svatantro viśvarūpavān |
jīvanmukto mahāyogī jāyate nātra saṃśayaḥ ||127||

[The Rājayogin] becomes omniscient, can change shape at will and move as
quickly as the wind. He plays in the three worlds and all the siddhis arise [for
him]. A great yogin, he undoubtedly becomes a god, the creator of all,
autonomous, may take all forms [at once] and is liberated-in-life.

The notion of the liberated yogin becoming a second Śiva or an equal to Śiva can be found in
earlier Saiddhāntika and non-Saiddhāntika works. However, it is in Kaula works that one can
find descriptions of the king of yogins playing in the world, however he so wishes, with all
the siddhis. A good example is seen in the Kaulajñānanirṇaya (17.36–38ab), which is attributed
to Matsyendranātha, one of the supposed founders of Haṭhayoga.

ātmānam ātmanā jñātvā ātmā vai kāmarūpiṇaḥ |

ātmanaś ca paro devo yena jñātaṃ sa yogirāṭ ||36||
sa śivaḥ procyate sākṣāt sa mukto mocayet param |
suviśuddhaḥ sadā devi paṅkastham iva paṅkajam ||37||
mānuṣyaṃ piṇḍam āsṛtya sa śivaḥ krīḍate bhuvi |

2
For examples, see Bronkhorst, J. (2000). The two traditions of meditation in ancient India. Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass Publishers, pp. 20-21.
 When one knows the self by the self, the self can take on any form at will. The
self is the supreme deity. He by whom this is known is the king of yogins. He
is said to be Śiva. He is clearly liberated and may liberate another. O goddess,
he is always very pure, like a lotus in the mud. Having adopted a mortal body,
he sports in the world as a Śiva.3

Therefore, the conception of liberation in Rājayoga texts was a synthesis of the ascetic ideal
of complete inactivity in the blissful state of samādhi with the tantric Śaiva ideal of becoming
a second Śiva who had the power to live as a king in the world. In this sense, Rājayoga can be
understood figuratively as ‘the yoga of kings.’ Nonetheless, if we are to believe the texts, it
was accessible only to those who had mastered one of the preliminary yogas, and so would
have been restricted to adept practitioners. Thus, one might suppose that the necessity of
attaining a stone-like state of meditation excluded those householders whose obligations
prevented them from practising yoga.

The Subordination of Haṭha to Rājayoga.

I shall now try to answer the question of why Rājayoga became so important in Śaiva yoga
texts that were composed after the tenth century. As I have noted, the term rājayoga is not
found in earlier Śaiva Tantras, so the obvious question is where did it come from? I believe
that the term was coined, probably in the eleventh century, as part of an attempt to integrate
yogas from different traditions into a hierarchical scheme in which a Śaiva interpretation of
samādhi and liberation-in-life was pre-eminent. The yogas that were made subordinate to
Rājayoga were classified as Mantra, Laya and Haṭha.

Owing to the recent discovery of an early recension of a yoga text called the Amaraugha, it is
now likely that this work, which is attributed to Gorakṣanātha, was the first exposition of a
fourfold hierarchical system of yoga, in which a physical type of yoga called Haṭha was
taught as a valid means to attaining Rājayoga. Thanks to the research of James Mallinson
(2016) and Peter Daniel-Szanto (2016), we know that these physical techniques were codified
in an earlier Vajrayāna work called the Amṛtasiddhi. In this Buddhist work, neither Haṭha nor
Rājayoga are mentioned by name, but the physical techniques result in samādhi and
liberation-in-life. In the hands of the Śaiva author of the Amaraugha, the physical techniques
became a forceful yoga that could straighten kuṇḍalinī, like beating a snake with a stick, and
samādhi became Rājayoga, a state in which Śiva’s liṅga would manifest.

3
I wish to thank Shaman Hatley for pointing this passage out to me and for sharing his provisional edition of
these verses. One should read āsṛtya as an orthographic variant of āśritya (Hatley p.c. 1.2.2017). Also,
kāmarūpinaḥ has been understood as an aiśa form of the nominative singular and ātmanaś ca paro devo is a
diagnostic conjecture for ātmanaś cāparo devi (Hatley p.c. 28.11.2019).
Therefore, it seems probable that the compound rājayoga was a label for a Śaiva
interpretation of samādhi, which Śaivas obviously believed was the best yoga. The Śaiva
status of this fourfold yoga was bolstered by the inclusion of visualisation practices on Śiva
in both Mantra- and Layayoga, and the claim that Haṭhayoga could raise kuṇḍalinī. The goal
of practice was a Śaiva Rājayoga, which must have been an important sectarian marker in
communities that were transitioning from Buddhism to Śaivism, as seen for example at Kadri
in Karnataka during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, which is the likely place of
composition for both the Amaraugha and Amṛtasiddhi.

The broader implication of fusing Haṭha with Rājayoga was the creation of an archetype that
become widely adopted, particularly after the fifteenth century, for attaining samādhi and
liberation-in-life by the practice of physical yoga. The fourfold scheme of the Amaraugha, in
which Haṭha is but one of three ways to Rāja, was simplified by Svātmārāma in his
Haṭhapradīpikā, into a twofold system where Haṭha was the only way to Rājayoga. As a result
of Svātmārāma’s editorial skills, Haṭhayoga accumulated many more techniques, including
seven complex āsanas, a set of six preliminary practices called the ṣaṭkarma and eight types
of breath retention (kumbhaka). Svātmārāma’s reconfiguration of Haṭha and Rājayoga
became a blueprint for physical yoga, so much so that Brahmanical traditions responded in
the following centuries by composing Upaniṣads based on earlier texts of Haṭha and Rājayoga.
Also, during this time large compendiums on yoga were compiled, in which Haṭha and Rāja
were integrated within the aṣṭāṅga format as prāṇāyāma and samādhi, respectively. By the
late nineteenth century, some Hindu reformers, such as Swāmī Dayānanda, and the
theosophists believed the ‘best yoga’ was Pātañjalayoga, which became known as Rājayoga.
Nonetheless, the revival of physical yoga in the early twentieth century reignited interest in
the Haṭha-Rāja archetype, prompting Swāmī Śivānanda to write in the introduction of his
book Yoga Asanas (1934: xviii):

I salute the first Lord Siva (adhinatha [sic]) who taught to Parvati, the Hatha-Vidya
that is a step to the attainment of the most excellent Raja Yoga.
Bibliography

“Rājayoga: The Reincarnations of the King of All Yogas.” Jason Birch. International Journal of
Hindu Studies 17, 3: 401–444, 2014.

‘The Amaraughaprabodha: New Evidence on the Manuscript Transmission of an Early Work

on Haṭha- and Rājayoga’, Jason Birch. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 2019:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-019-09401-5

‘The Amṛtasiddhi:
 Haṭhayoga’s tantric Buddhist source text (draft 2016),’ James Mallinson.
Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions: Essays in Honour of Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson, edited by Dominic
Goodall, Shaman Hatley, Harunaga Isaacson, & Srilata Raman. Gonda Indological Studies.
Leiden: Brill, forthcoming. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/26700528/The_Amṛtasiddhi_Haṭhayogas_Tantric_Buddhist_So
urce_Text (accessed 9.2.2017).

A Brief Introduction to the Amṛtasiddhi (Handout for a talk presented at the Hatha Yoga
Project’s Workshop, SOAS University of London 2016), Szántó, Péter-Dániel. Accessed at:
https://www.academia.edu/28522189/_A_Brief_Introduction_to_the_Amṛtasiddhi_Handout
_for_Sanskrit_Texts_on_Yoga_London_Oxford_2016_ (accessed 9.2.2017).