Hatha yoga Bhakti movement. It eliminated the need for "either ascetic renunciation or priestly intermediaries, ritual paraphernalia and sectarian initiations". This led to its broad historic popularity in India. Later in the 20th-century, states Mallinson, this disconnect of Hatha yoga from religious aspects and the democratic access of Hatha yoga enabled it to spread worldwide. Between the 17th and 19th-century, however, the various urban Hindu and Muslim elites and ruling classes viewed Yogis with derision. They were persecuted during the rule of Aurangzeb, who ended a long period of religious tolerance that had defined the rule of his predecessors beginning with Akbar,
Nirvana appears, which means to be set free or release - such as of a horse from its harness. The traditions within Hinduism state that there are multiple paths ("marga") to moksha: "jnana-marga", the path of knowledge; "bhakti-marga", the path of devotion; and "karma-marga", the path of action. The term Brahma-nirvana appears in verses 2.72 and 5.24-26 of the Bhagavad Gita. It is the state of release or liberation; the union with the Brahman. According to Easwaran, it is an experience of blissful egolessness. According to Zaehner, Johnson and other scholars, "nirvana" in the Gita is a Buddhist term adopted by