Verse by verse · Hatha Yoga Pradipika
HYP 1.15
Overeating, over-exertion, too much talking, rigid adherence to rules, mixing with crowds and restlessness — by these six, yoga is destroyed.
Written and reviewed by The Kriya Yogi · Updated 21 September 2026
Sanskrit, in transliteration
atyāhāraḥ prayāsaś ca prajalpo niyama-grahaḥ / jana-saṅgaś ca laulyaṃ ca ṣaḍbhir yogo vinaśyati
Our own plain rendering, checked against the standard published translations.
What the verse says
A list of six ways to ruin a practice, and only two of them are about the body. "Rigid adherence to rules" is the surprising one: the text names over-strictness itself as a way to lose the thread.
In practice
Read this beside 1.16 — the six things that make yoga succeed. The pair works well as a twice-yearly self-audit.
This verse sits in Hatha Yoga Pradipika, chapter 1 — read our commentary on the whole chapter.