In Hinduism

Yoga (school of philosophy)

Source: Google Books: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Guptāsana (गुप्तासन) is another name for siddhāsana: an āsana (posture) taught by Śiva and one of the first four out of 84 total, thus one of the most essential, according to Haṭhayogapradīpikā I.37-45.—Accordingly, “Press firmly the heel of the left foot against the perineum, and the right heel above the male organ. With the chin pressing on the chest, one should sit calmly, having restrained the senses, and gaze steadily the space between the eyebrows. This is called the siddhāsana, the opener of the door of salvation”.

Also, “This siddhāsana is performed also by placing the left heel on Meḍhra (above the male organ), and then placing the right one on it. Some call this siddhāsana, some vajrāsana. Others call it muktāsana or guptāsana. Out of the 84 āsanas, siddhāsana should always be practised, because it cleanses the impurities of 72,000 nāḍīs”.

The 15th-century Haṭhayogapradīpikā by Svātmārāma is one of the oldest extant texts dealing with haṭhayoga: an ancient form of meditation founded by Matsyendranātha. The first chapter of this book describes various āsanas (e.g., gupta-āsana).

Source: archive.org: Gheranda Samhita

Guptāsana (गुप्तासन) is one of the thirty-two āsanas (postures) taught in the second chapter of the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā: “Hide the two feet placing them between the knees and thighs and place the anus on the feet. This is called Guptāsana”.

Guptāsana is one of the selected 32 postures amongs 8,400,000 total mentioned by Śiva, according to Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā 2.1-2, “In all, there are as many Āsanas as species of animals. Eighty-four lacs of them are mentioned by Śiva. Out of them, 84 are regarded as important and among these 84, again 32 are good (enough) in this world of mortal beings”.

The 17th-century Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā (mentioning gupta-āsana) is one of the three classic texts of Haṭha-yoga: a major branch of Yoga, sharing similarities with the Yoga system taught by Patañjali, though claiming its own mythical founder known as Matsyendranātha. This gheraṇḍa-saṃhitā is an encyclopedic Sanskrit treatise describing thirty two such āsanas.

context information

Yoga is originally considered a branch of Hindu philosophy (astika), but both ancient and modern Yoga combine the physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga teaches various physical techniques also known as āsanas (postures), used for various purposes (eg., meditation, contemplation, relaxation).

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Guptāsana (गुप्तासन):—[from gupta > gup] n. a particular method of sitting (= siddhās).

[Sanskrit to German]

Guptasana in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Gupta, Asana.

Full-text: Siddhasana, Muktasana, Vajrasana.

Relevant text

Search found 1 books and stories containing Guptasana, Guptāsana, Gupta-asana, Gupta-āsana; (plurals include: Guptasanas, Guptāsanas, asanas, āsanas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Chapter I - On Āsanas

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