Svatmarama Yogendra

(also Atmarama) This Fourteenth Century "Lord of Yoga" (Yogendra) is the author of Hatha Yoga Pradipika , the oldest and most well-known of the surviving early manuscripts on Hatha Yoga. An earlier work (now lost) called simply Hatha Yoga, written by the Goraksha, was apparently available to Svatmarama, since scholars maintain that parts of it are incorporated into the Pradipika. His name may either indicate that he was of an order of swamis (Swami Rama) in the Shiva Yoga tradition, or it may be a contracted form of sva-atma-rama (own-spirit-god), suggesting that he had achieved the common goal of both Yoga (nirguna-samadhi) and Vedanta (turiya) and that he therefore shared the "same spirit with god." Both of these schools are represented in his writings, along with the Shiva Yoga tradition of his time. For more information, see History of Yoga.