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
Bhakti movement concept of the Ultimate Reality as formless, without attributes or quality. "Saguna" Brahman, in contrast, was envisioned and developed as with form, attributes and quality. The two had parallels in the ancient pantheistic unmanifest and theistic manifest traditions, respectively, and traceable to Arjuna-Krishna dialogue in the Bhagavad Gita. It is the same Brahman, but viewed from two perspectives, one from "Nirguni" knowledge-focus and other from "Saguni" love-focus, united as Krishna in the Gita. "Nirguna" bhakta's poetry were "Jnana-shrayi", or had roots in knowledge. "Saguna" bhakta's poetry were "Prema-shrayi", or with roots in love. In Bhakti, the emphasis is reciprocal love