शिवśiva · auspicious, the Auspicious One
Śiva, the Ādiyogi, the first yogi of the tradition
4 min read · Updated October 18, 2026 · sources checked October 18, 2026
In short
In the yoga tradition Śiva is the first teacher of yoga. The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā opens by saluting Ādinātha, the First Lord, who taught haṭha yoga; its 1915 translator Pancham Sinh glosses the name as Śiva. The word Adiyogi, first yogi, is a modern form made widely known by the 112-foot statue unveiled at the Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore on 24 February 2017.
The name
शिव (śiva) is first an adjective: Monier-Williams gives "auspicious, propitious, gracious, favourable, benign, kind". As a name it means "the Auspicious One". The dictionary adds that in the Veda the god's name was Rudra, "the terrible god", and that Śiva became his usual name later. For his devotees, the Śaivas, he is not one god among others but the supreme reality; in the yoga tradition, he is above all the first teacher.
Ādinātha, the first lord of haṭha yoga
The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, the classic manual of haṭha yoga, opens with a salutation:
श्रीआदिनाथाय नमोऽस्तु तस्मै येनोपदिष्टा हठयोगविद्या । विभ्राजते प्रोन्नतराजयोगमारोढुमिच्छोरधिरोहिणीव ॥
śrī-ādi-nāthāya namo 'stu tasmai yenopadiṣṭā haṭha-yoga-vidyā | vibhrājate pronnata-rāja-yogam āroḍhum icchor adhirohiṇīva ||
Salutation to the glorious Ādinātha, who taught the science of haṭha yoga: it shines like a stairway for one who wishes to climb to the heights of rāja yoga.
Ādi-nātha means "the First Lord". The verse does not say who he is; tradition does. Pancham Sinh's 1915 English translation renders the opening "Salutation to Adinatha (Siva)". Monier-Williams' dictionary, for its part, lists Ādinātha as a name of the Ādibuddha and of a Jain teacher: the same title is used in several traditions, and in the haṭha lineage it designates Śiva.
A few verses later (1.5-1.8), Svātmārāma lists the great siddhas of haṭha yoga, a chain of masters that begins śrī-ādinātha-matsyendra: Ādinātha, then Matsyendra, Śāvara, Ānandabhairava, Cauraṅgī, Mīna, Gorakṣa, about thirty names in all. Śiva stands at the head of the paramparā, the line of transmission.
The great yogi of the epics and tantras
Monier-Williams records mahāyogin, "a great Yogin", as a name of Viṣṇu or of Śiva in the Mahābhārata. The image is familiar from temple art and stories: the ascetic on the mountain, with matted locks, a snake and a drum, absorbed in meditation; Coomaraswamy notes that the drum belongs to "his character of Yogi".
The tantras make him the teacher in dialogue with the Goddess. In the Vijñāna Bhairava, a tantra in which Bhairava, a form of Śiva, answers the questions of the Goddess (Devī), the teaching is a series of short meditation methods. Near the end the text counts them:
निस्तरङ्गोपदेशानां शतमुक्तं समासतः । द्वादशाभ्यधिकं देवि यज्ज्ञात्वा ज्ञानविज्जनः ॥
nistaraṅgopadeśānāṃ śatam uktaṃ samāsataḥ | dvādaśābhyadhikaṃ devi yaj jñātvā jñānavij janaḥ ||
A hundred and twelve teachings on the wave-free state have been told, in brief, O Goddess; knowing them, a person becomes truly wise.
That number, 112, is the one the Isha Foundation gives for the "112 ways" taught by the Adiyogi (see below).
Naṭarāja, the lord of the dance
Naṭa is, in Monier-Williams, an "actor, dancer, mime", and Naṭarāja is Śiva as king of dancers. Ananda Coomaraswamy's essay The Dance of Siva (1918) describes the classic South Indian bronze: four arms, one right hand holding a drum, the other raised in the gesture "do not fear", one left hand holding fire, the other pointing down at the dwarf demon Muyalaka, the left foot raised, all inside a circle fringed with flame. He explains that the dance represents Śiva's five activities: creation, preservation, destruction, veiling and grace, and that the braided locks are "as of a yogi". Coomaraswamy notes that these bronzes take as their motif Śiva's dance in the golden hall of Chidambaram (Tillai), in Tamil Nadu.
Older than the texts?
A seal found at Mohenjo-daro in the Indus Valley shows a figure seated in a posture that looks like a yogic one. The archaeologist John Marshall read it as a "proto-Śiva"; this reading has been widely discussed and contested since, and the figure cannot be identified with certainty. It is better to say so than to make it a proof.
Adiyogi, a modern name
The idea that Śiva is the first master of yoga is traditional. The word Adiyogi, "first yogi", is not in Monier-Williams' dictionary (there is no entry ādiyogin); the haṭha texts say Ādinātha. The English form became widely known through the Isha Foundation, founded by Sadhguru, which uses it in its teaching and gave it to its statue: on the night of Mahāśivarātri, 24 February 2017, the Prime Minister of India unveiled the 112-foot face of Adiyogi at the Isha Yoga Center near Coimbatore. Isha calls it "Adiyogi – the Source of Yoga"; a photo of the ceremony in the Press Information Bureau's archive confirms the date and shows the Prime Minister releasing a book of that title at the unveiling of the statue, named there "Adiyogi – The Shiva". Isha says Guinness World Records recognised it as the world's largest bust sculpture, and that its height represents the "112 ways" Adiyogi offered. Isha's page also places Adiyogi's teaching to the seven sages "over 15,000 years ago": that is the foundation's account, not a historical date. Our Coimbatore page gives visiting hours and rules.
Honouring Śiva as a yogi
- Chant Om namaḥ śivāya, the five-syllable mantra, 108 times on a mala, or simply three times before your practice.
- Keep the night of Śiva: Maha Shivaratri, the great night of Śiva, is observed, as Sri Ramanasramam describes it, "by an all-night vigil, pujas, recitation of mantras".
- Read the first verse of the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā before your āsana practice: it is how the text itself begins.
The book Sacred Mantras gives Om namaḥ śivāya with its source, its meaning word by word and how to chant it.
Questions people ask
What does Shiva mean?
Śiva is a Sanskrit adjective meaning auspicious, propitious, gracious, kind. As a name it means 'the Auspicious One'. Monier-Williams notes that in the Veda the god was called Rudra, and that Śiva became his usual name in later times.
Why is Shiva called the first yogi?
Because the yoga texts make him its first teacher. The Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā salutes Ādinātha, the First Lord, 'who taught the science of haṭha yoga' (1.1), and puts him at the head of its lineage of masters (1.5). The epics call Śiva Mahāyogin, the great yogi.
What does Shiva represent?
For his worshippers, the supreme reality itself. In the yoga tradition he is also the ascetic and teacher: matted locks, meditation on the mountain, the drum, the snake. As Naṭarāja, the dancer, his dance represents what Coomaraswamy calls his five activities: creation, preservation, destruction, veiling and grace.
Which Shiva mantra should I chant?
The best known is Om namaḥ śivāya, the five-syllable mantra (pañcākṣara), which anyone can chant; our page on it gives its source in the Śrī Rudram. Mantras received at initiation are chanted as the teacher indicates.
Is the Adiyogi a traditional name?
The idea is traditional: Śiva as the first master of yoga. The haṭha texts call him Ādinātha, and Monier-Williams' dictionary has no entry for ādiyogin. The English form Adiyogi is used by the Isha Foundation, which gave the name to its statue in 2017.
Sources
- Svātmārāma, Haṭhayogapradīpikā, Sanskrit text (GRETIL), verses 1.1-1.9 checked October 18, 2026
- The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, translated by Pancham Sinh (Allahabad, 1915), verse 1, Digital Library of India scan, Internet Archive checked October 18, 2026
- Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), entries śiva, ādinātha, mahāyogin, bhairava, naṭa, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries checked October 18, 2026
- Vijñānabhairava, Sanskrit text (GRETIL), verse 139 checked October 18, 2026
- Ananda Coomaraswamy, The Dance of Siva: Fourteen Indian Essays (New York, The Sunwise Turn, 1918), Internet Archive checked October 18, 2026
- 112-feet Adiyogi — Isha Foundation (official site) checked October 18, 2026
- Photo 99296, Prime Minister's Office: the Prime Minister releasing the book 'Adiyogi – The Source of Yoga' at the unveiling of the 112-foot face of Adiyogi, Coimbatore, 24 February 2017 — Press Information Bureau, Government of India checked October 18, 2026
- Activities, special events: Mahasivaratri — Sri Ramanasramam (official site) checked October 18, 2026
- Pashupati seal, Wikipedia (Mohenjo-daro, Marshall's proto-Shiva reading and later interpretations) checked October 18, 2026