Dridhata: Asana

Dridhata, or strength or firmness, the acquisition of which is the second of the above-mentioned processes, is attained by asana.

Asana are postures of the body. The term is generally described as modes of seating the body. But the posture is not necessarily a sitting one; for some asana are done on the belly, back, hands, etc. It is said that the asana are as numerous as living beings, and that there are 8,400,000 of these; 1,600 are declared to be excellent, and out of these thirty-two are auspicious for men, which are described in detail. Two of the commonest of these are muktapadmasana ("the loosened lotus seat"), the ordinary position for worship, and baddhapadmasana. Patanjali, on the subject of asana, merely points out what are good conditions, leaving each one to settle the details for himself according to his own requirements. There are certain other asana, which are peculiar to the Tantras, such as munddasana, chitasana, and shavasana, in which skulls, the funeral pyre, and a corpse respectively form the seat of the sadhaka. These, though they may have other ritual objects, form part of the discipline for the conquest of fear and the attainment of indifference, which is the quality of a yoga. And so the Tantras pre-scribe as the scene of such rites the solitary mountain-top, the lonely empty house and river-side, and the cremation-ground. The interior cremation-ground is there where the kamik body and its passions are consumed in the fire of knowledge.