Among these classical yoga treatises, the Gheranda Samhita stands out by presenting a clearly articulated sevenfold path, explicitly named ghatastha or ghata yoga, in which the body is treated as a vessel to be purified, strengthened, and ultimately divinized. Its seven limbs—shatkarma, asana, mudra, pratyahara, pranayama, dhyana, and samadhi—are arranged as a progressive curriculum, beginning with physical cleansing and culminating in meditative absorption. The text is framed as a dialogue between the teacher Gheranda and the disciple Chanda, and its tone is predominantly instructional and pragmatic, with relatively little philosophical speculation. In this sense it functions as a methodical manual, emphasizing concrete techniques and their results rather than extended doctrinal argument.

By contrast, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika outlines a more compact, fourfold scheme centered on asana, pranayama, mudra/bandha, and samadhi, with shatkarmas treated more as ancillary supports than as a primary limb. Its practical focus leans toward pranayama and mudras as means for awakening kundalini and stabilizing the mind for raja-yoga and samadhi, rather than toward an elaborate program of bodily purification. While it does include doctrinal elements concerning guru, subtle channels, and the relation of hatha to raja-yoga, it remains largely a practice manual and does not develop a seven-stage ladder comparable to that of the Gheranda Samhita. The role of pratyahara, so prominent as a distinct limb in Gheranda’s system, is not given the same explicit, graded treatment.

The Shiva Samhita differs still further, offering a more eclectic synthesis of hatha, tantric, and nondual (Vedanta-like) perspectives, framed as Shiva’s instruction to Parvati. Rather than organizing practice into a rigid ladder, it interweaves teachings on asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, subtle channels and centers, mantra, and meditation with extended reflections on cosmology, the nature of the individual soul, Atman and Brahman, and the play of maya. Physical techniques are certainly present, yet they are not catalogued in as systematic or body-centered a fashion as in the Gheranda Samhita; instead, they are embedded within a broader theological and philosophical vision. In this way, the three texts can be seen as emphasizing, respectively, a highly structured path of bodily purification, a concise hatha–raja synthesis, and a doctrinally rich Shaiva–tantric framework in which practice and philosophy are tightly interwoven.