Śivasaṃhitā 3.31

Yoga produces a recognizable human type. The seven qualities enumerated in this verse — vigorous appetite, perfect digestion, genuine cheerfulness, physical beauty, courage, enthusiasm, and full energy — form the portrait of the advanced practitioner and contrast radically with medieval ascetic stereotypes. The Śivasaṃhitā’s yogin is not an emaciated penitent but a vibrant being fully embodied in their vitality.

The digestive agni — fire that transforms food into vital tissue — is the central health indicator in the āyurvedic medicine underlying this text. Sarvotsāhabalānvita (endowed with all enthusiasm and strength) reveals a conception of yoga opposed to quietism: correct prāṇāyāma generates active vital potency. Subhogī — one who enjoys well — underscores that enjoyment does not disappear in the yogin: it becomes purified and intensified.

During the medieval period of the Śivasaṃhitā’s composition (probably 14th–17th centuries), tension existed between haṭha yogis and ascetics who valued bodily weakening as a sign of renunciation. This verse is a programmatic declaration: robust health is the sign of success, not attachment — a position converging with the classical āyurveda of Caraka and Suśruta.