Haṭhayoga’s Philosophy: A Fortuitous Union of Non-Dualities

In its classical formulation as found in Svātmārāma’s Ha?hapradīpikā, ha?hayoga is a ?aiva appropriation of an older extra-Vedic soteriological method. But this appropriation was not accompanied by an imposition of ?aiva philosophy. In general, the texts of ha?hayoga reveal, if not a disdain for, at least an insouciance towards metaphysics. Yoga is a soteriology that works regardless of the yogin’s philosophy. But the various texts that were used to compile the Ha?hapradīpikā (a table identifying these borrowings is given at the end of the article) were not composed in metaphysical vacua. Analysis of their allusions to doctrine shows that the texts from which Svātmārāma borrowed most were products of a Vedantic milieu—bearing testament to Vedānta’s newfound interest in yoga as a complement to jñāna—but that many others were ?aiva non-dual works. Because of the lack of importance given to the niceties of philosophy in ha?hayogic works, these two non-dualities were able to combine happily and thus the ?aiva tenets incorporated within ha?hayoga survived the demise of ?aivism as part of what was to become in the medieval period the dominant soteriological method in scholarly religious discourse in India.