The difference cannot be hidden
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika treats Vajroli within a discussion of sexual fluids and their preservation. The Gheranda Samhita’s named Vajroli passage describes a supported bodily arrangement instead. Mallinson draws attention to this unusual difference in his introduction. A single neutral “pelvic exercise” label would conceal the disagreement.
Why the source matters for Vajroli
Sivananda’s account follows the bodily-fluid strand and includes invasive practices. That is evidence about a particular teaching tradition, and its procedure stays unreproduced. The historical subject remains in view, always with the edition under discussion named. The accounts stay separate, and the invasive material is never a beginner technique.
What to take from the comparison
A familiar Sanskrit name may preserve continuity while the described practice changes substantially. When reading Vajroli, keep the passage open beside its title. Read Vajroli through its distinct witnesses and their scope, and take from it no instrumentation, fluid-handling instruction, sexual procedure, or clinical claim. The broader mudra index explains why reference entries and simple hand-gesture pages occupy different groups.
What belongs inside this section
The familiar Sanskrit range 3.83 to 103 includes Vajroli and the related names Sahajoli and Amaroli. The critical edition places this material at 3.78 to 93, with additional transmitted verses alongside it. The relationship is explicit: Sinh Sanskrit 3.92 and critical-edition 3.87 call Sahajoli and Amaroli varieties of Vajroli.
That grouping explains why the opening ten-name list does not count Sahajoli and Amaroli as two extra entries. It does not remove the substantial difference between the Pradipika account and the Gheranda account discussed below.
Where no edition is named, Hatha Yoga Pradipika verse numbers follow the Sanskrit numbering printed with Sinh’s 1914 edition.
Sources and scope
Main edition
Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 3
Passage for this reading
- Haṭhapradīpikā Online: critical-edition comparison
Chapter 3, 3.78 to 93, including displayed additions where relevant. The map above explains material differences from Sinh’s Sanskrit 3.83 to 103. Comparison reviewed September 12, 2026.
- Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 3
Sanskrit verses 3.83 to 103; English numbering diverges after omitted lines.
Svātmārāma; Sanskrit and Pancham Sinh’s 1914 translation. English paragraph numbering sometimes diverges from the Sanskrit verses.
- Gheranda Samhita, Sanskrit
3.45 to 48.
SanskritDocuments transcription. Coordinates refer to this transcription; Mallinson’s edition uses different numbering in chapter 3.
- Gheranda Samhita, James Mallinson (2004)
Introduction, printed p. xiii: Vajroli at 3.39 in Mallinson’s edition.
YogaVidya.com publisher excerpt, introduction and chapter 3, printed pp. 60 to 71. The excerpt covers part of the book.
- Kundalini Yoga
“Mudras and Bandhas: 10. Vajroli Mudra”.
Swami Sivananda; Divine Life Society, tenth edition 1994, authorized web edition 1999. Traditional teaching, not clinical evidence.
What this edition covers
An original reference essay comparing the traditional descriptions. It is not a translation of the entire source chapter.
Limits and differences
The prose above identifies material differences. Traditional explanations and promised attainments are attributed to their sources; they are not clinical evidence. Review date: September 11, 2026.