RICHARD HITTLEMAN

Richard Hittleman (1927-1991) wrote numerous books on Hatha (physical) Yoga, and several on the Yoga philosophy of Advaita Vedanta.  He had an M.A. degree in Oriental Mysticism from Columbia University, and was a friend of Alan Watts.  His "Yoga For Health" TV programs ran for many years.  Indeed, in New York "Yoga for Health" ran for more than four-and-a-half years without a break.

Hittleman was a student of Ramana Maharshi in the late 1940s and regarded Maharshi as his guru. He also had an interest in Zen Buddhism, and Buddhism generally. He and his daughter were said to be working on a re-interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead at the time of his death from prostate cancer.

Hittleman's chief teaching was that ultimately all is only the divine Self, Atman/Brahman.  "'Self'' is another word for 'God,'" he wrote.  "This is the God who is the Absolute, who is immutable, without qualities, pure awareness, without beginning or end. . . . It is dependent upon nothing and is not affected by, nor does it react to, any occurrence in the phenomenal world.  It is further characterized as having the qualities of bliss and knowledge."