SCRIPTURAL ROOTS OF NITHYA YOGA
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Nithya Kriya is soundly anchored in the sacred yoga scrip-tures, including the legendary Patanjali Yoga Sutras, as well as the three classic texts that form the base of yoga - Hatha Yoga Pradipika, GherandaSamhita and Shiva Samhita.
PATANJALI YOGA SUTRAS
The Patanjali Yoga Sutras is the foundational text of yoga, written by the father of yoga, the enlightened sage Pa-tanjali. This esoteric yet highly practical text is based on Sankhya Yoga. It is said to date back to the 2nd cen-tury BC, although it is believed to be far more ancient. Patanjali Yoga Sutras emphasize the value of yoga as a lifestyle through ashtanga yoga (8-limbed yoga).
HATHA YOGA PRADIPIKA
This is a classic 15th century Sanskrit Hatha Yoga text, writ-ten by Swami Svatmarama, a disciple of Swami Gorakhnath. The book is dedicated to Adinatha or Lord Shiva, who is said to have revealed the secrets of Hatha Yoga to his divine consort Devi Parvati. Hatha Yoga Pradipika contains four major upadesha as (teachings), which reveal the correct un-derstanding and practice of asanas, pranayama, chakras, bandhas, kriyas, shakti, nadis, mudras and kundalini.
GHERANDA SAMHITA
This is also a classic Sanskrit Hatha Yoga text. It is a prac-tical yoga manual said to have been taught by the sage Gheranda to ChandaKapali. GherandaSamhita text has 7 chapters. It advocates a sevenfold yoga - shat-karma, asana, pranayama, mudra ,pratyahara, dhya-na, and samadhi with a chapter dealing with each one.
SHIVA SAMHITA
This is a classic Sanskrit text where Lord Shiva address-es Parvati his consort. There are 5 chapters which deal with yogic philosophy, techniques for liberation, kund-alini, pranayama, asanas, mudras, bandhas, and med-itation, and the role of a guru. The book mentions 84 beneficial asanas but describes only four of them.
The other texts that Nithya Kriya draws from in-clude the Kumbhaka Paddhati of Raghuvira, Trisikh-ibrahmanopanishad, Yogakundalay Upanishad, Yoga Chudamani Upanishad and Yoga Taravali, JogaPradipika, Yogasana Mala Sachitra, among others.