Hatha yoga ethics, diet, cleansing, pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation and a system for spiritual development of the yogi. The Hatha yoga texts place major emphasis on "mitahara", which connotes "measured diet" or "moderate eating". For example, sections 1.58 to 1.63 and 2.14 of the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika" and sections 5.16 to 5.32 of "Gheranda samhita" discuss the importance of proper diet to the body. They link the food one eats and one's eating habits to balancing the body and to gaining most benefits from the practice of Hatha yoga. Eating, states "Gheranda samhita", is a form of a devotional act to the
Karma in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of future lives - one's "saṃsāra". "Karma" is the executed "deed", "work", "action", or "act", and it is also the "object", the "intent". Wilhelm Halbfass explains karma (karman) by contrasting it with another Sanskrit word "kriya". The word "kriya" is the activity along with the steps and effort in action, while "karma" is (1) the executed action as a consequence of that activity, as well as (2) the intention of the actor behind an executed action or a planned action (described by some scholars as metaphysical residue left in