Shat-cakra-nirupana (the six bodily centres)
by Arthur Avalon | 1919 | 46,735 words | ISBN-10: 8178223783 | ISBN-13: 9788178223780
This is the English translation of the Shat-cakra-nirupana, or “description of the six centres”, representing an ancient book on yoga written in the 16th century by Purnananda from Bengal. This book investigates the six bodily centres famously known as Chakras. The text however actually forms the sixth chapter of the Shri-tattva-cintamani, compiled...
Verses 10-11
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verses 10-11:
तस्योर्ध्वे बिसतन्तु सोदर-लसत् सूक्ष्म जगन्मोहिनी
ब्रह्मवारमुखं मुखेन मधुरं संछदयन्ति स्वयं ।
शङ्खावर्त निभा नवीन चपलामाला विलासास्पदा
सुप्ता-सर्पसमा श्वोपरि लसात् सार्ध-त्रिवृत्ताकृतिः ॥ ११ ॥
कूजन्ती कुलकुण्डली च मधुरं मत्तलिमाला-स्फुटं
वाचां कोमलकाव्य-बन्धरचना भेदातिभेद-क्रमैः ।
श्वासोच्छ्वास-विभञ्जनेन जगतां जीवो यया धार्यते
सा मूलांबुज गह्वरे विलसति प्रोद्दाम-दीप्तावलिः ॥ १० ॥tasyordhve bisatantu sodara-lasat sūkṣma jaganmohinī
brahmavāramukhaṃ mukhena madhuraṃ saṃchadayanti svayaṃ |
śaṅkhāvarta nibhā navīna capalāmālā vilāsāspadā
suptā-sarpasamā śvopari lasāt sārdha-trivṛttākṛtiḥ || 10 ||
kūjantī kulakuṇḍalī ca madhuraṃ mattalimālā-sphuṭaṃ
vācāṃ komalakāvya-bandharacanā bhedātibheda-kramaiḥ |
śvāsocchvāsa-vibhañjanena jagatāṃ jīvo yayā dhāryate
sā mūlāṃbuja gahvare vilasati proddāma-dīptāvaliḥ || 11 ||Over it[1] shines the sleeping Kuṇḍalinī, fine as the fibre of the lotus-stalk. She is the world-bewilderer,[2] gently covering the mouth of Brahmadvāra[3] by Her own. Like the spiral of the conch-shell, Her shining snake-like form goes three and a half times round Śiva,[4] and Her lustre is as that of a strong flash of young strong lightning. Her sweet murmur is like the indistinct hum of swarms of love-mad bees.[5] She produces melodious poetry and Bandha[6] and all other compositions in prose or verse in sequence or otherwise[7] in Saṃskṛta, Prākṛta and other languages. It is She who maintains all the beings of the world by means of inspiration and expiration,[8] and shines in the cavity of the root (Mūla) Lotus like a chain of brilliant lights.
Commentary by Śrī-Kālīcaraṇa:
[Note: Śaṃkara, unlike Kālīcaraṇa, has annotated the two verses separately.]
In these two verses the author speaks of the presence of Kuṇḍalinī- Śakti in the Svayaṃbhu-Liṅga. It is the Devī Kuṇḍalinī who maintains the existence of individual beings (Jīva, Jīvātmā) by the functions of inspiration and expiration. She places them in individual bodies; She produces the humming sound resembling that of a swarm of bees, and is the source of Speech and She, as described below, dwells in the triangular hollow in the pericarp of the Mūlādhāra Lotus resting upon the Svayaṃbhu-Liṅga.
“Shines fine as the fibres of the lotus stalk” (Bisa-tantu-sodara-lasat- sūkṣmā)—i.e., She is fine like the fibre of the lotus-stalk.
“World-bewilderer” (Jagan-mohinī)—i.e., She is Māyā in this worlds
“Gently.”[9]—Madhura [Madhuraṃ].
“The mouth of Brahma-dvāra” (Brahma-dvāra-mukha)—the hollow on the head of Svayaṃbhu-Liṅga.
“A strong flash of young lightning” (Navīna-capalā-mālā-vilāsāspadā). —Lit., “possessed of the wealth of a strong flash of young lightning.” In youth every thing and person shows the characteristic qualities in a state of vigorous perfection. Hence a “young flash of lightning” means a strong flasḥ.
“She produces melodious poetry etc.” (Komala-kāvya-banda-racana- bhedātibheda-krama).—This shows the mode in which words are produced.
The soft music produced by a combination of soft and melodious words descriptive of beauty, virtue, etc., in all its modulations, resulting from perfecting of composition, and regularity and irregularity in the disposition of words. By Bandha is here meant pictorial poetical composition in prose or verse arranged to look like a lotus (Padma-bandha), a horse (Aśvabandha) and so on; and by Atibheda the author alludes to all the words in Saṃskṛta and Prākṛta. By Using the word “order, sequence,” the author emphasizes the fact that these compositions and words come out in the order laid down in the Śāstras. Kuṇḍalinī produces, both at random, and in set forms. Kuṇḍalinī produces words, Śaṃskṛta and Prākṛta, distinct and indistinct. She is the source from which all sound emanates.
Cf. Śāradā[10]: “Upon the (bursting unfolding) of the supreme Bindu arose unmanifested Sound[11] (Avyakta-rava). It assumed the form of Kuṇḍalī in living bodies, and manifested itself in prose and verse by the aid of the letters of the Alphabet (lit,, the essence of the letters).”
By “Prose and Verse” all forms of speech are meant.
It has distinctly been said in. Kādimata[12]: “By the action of the Icchā-Śakti of the Ātmā acting on Prāṇa-Vāyu there is produced in the Mūlādhāra the excellent Nāda (Sound) called Parā.[13] In its ascending movement it is thrown upward and opening out in the Svādhiṣṭhāna,[14] it receives the name of Paśyantī; and again gently led up as before mentioned, it becomes united in the Anāhata with Buddhi-tattva, and is named Madhyamā. Going upward again, it reaches the Viśuddha in the throat, where it is called Vaikharī; and from there it goes on towards the head, (upper part of the throat, the palate, the lips, the teeth). It also spreads over the tongue from root to tip, and the tip of the nose; and remaining in the throat, the palate, and the lips, produces by the throat and the lips the letters of the Alphabet from A to Kṣa.”[15]
It is needless to quote more.
Elsewhere has Kuṇḍalinī been thus described: “Meditate upon Devī Kuṇḍalinī, who surrounds the Svayaṃbhu-Liṅga, who is Śyāmā and subtle, who is Creation itself,[16] in whom are creation, existence, and dissolution,[17] who is beyond the universe,[18] and is consciousness[19] itself. Think of Her as the One who goes upwards.”[20]
Also: “Meditate upon the Devī Kuṇḍalinī as your Iṣṭa-devatā,[21] as being ever in the form of a damsel of sixteen in the full bloom of her first youth, with large and beautifully formed breasts, decked with all the varied kinds of jewels, lustrous as the full moon, red in colour, with ever restless eyes.”[22]
“Red (Raktā) as regards Sundarī,” so says the Author of the Śāktānanda-taraṅgiṇī. Kuṇḍalinī, as a matter of fact, should always be meditated upon as red (Raktā) in colour.[23]
Sāmā (which ordinarily denotes “colour”) is here meant to signify something different. In all Tantras and all Tāntrika collections Kuṇḍalinī is described to be like lightning. “Śyāma is the name given to a woman who is warm in winter and cool in summer, and the lustre of molten gold.”[24] This is what is meant here and colour is not intended. Thus the apparent discrepancy is removed.
The Kaṅkāla-mālinī-Tantra describes Kuṇḍalinī in the Brahma-dvāra, and before the piercing of the Cakras, thus: “She, the Brahman Itself, resplendent like millions of moons rising at the same time, has four arms and three eyes. Her hands make the gestures[25] of granting boons -and dispelling fear, and hold a book and a Vīṇā.[26] She is seated on a lion, and as She passes to her own abode[27], the Awe-inspiring One (Bhīmā) assumes different forms.”
Footnotes and references:
[2]:
Kuṇḍalinī is the Śakti whereby ṭhe Māyik world exists, at rest. In the Kūrma-Purāṇa, Śiva says: “This Supreme Śakti is in me, and is Brahman Itself. This Māyā is dear to me, by which this world is bewildered.” Hence the Devī in the Lalitā is called Sarvamohinī (all-bewildering).
[3]:
See Commentary.
[4]:
Śivopari.
[5]:
Viśvanātha says She makes this sound when awakened. According to Śaṃkara, this indicates the Vaikharī state of Kuṇḍalinī.
[6]:
Is a class of literary composition in which the verse is arranged in the manner of a diagram or picture.
[8]:
Viśvanātha quotes Dakṣiṇāmūrti as stating that during day and night man breathes in and out 21,600 times, taking both expiration and inspiration as the unit. See Introduction.
[9]:
Madhuraṃ: this is used as an adjective, according to Śaṃkara, and means sweet. He says She is drinking nectar by the Brahma- dvāra; as the nectar is coming through it, the Brahma-dvāra is sweet.
[10]:
Ch. I, second line of v. 11 and v. 14; the intermediate verses are omitted. These run as follows: “That sound is called, by those versed in the Āgamas, Śabda-brahman. Some teachers define Śabda-brahman to mean Śabdārtha, others (grammarians) define it to mean Śabda; but neither of them is correct, because both Śabda and Śabdārtha are Jada (unconscious things). In my opinion, Śabda-brahman is the Caitanya of all beings.” The Āgama in the text is Śruti; Rāghava quotes Śaṃkarācārya in Prapañcasāra, which speaks of men versed in Śruti. Caitanya is the Brahman considered as the essence of all beings—that is, Cit and Śakti, or Cit in manifestation.
[11]:
That is, the Principle or Cause of Sound.
[12]:
Tantrarāja (Vols. VIII and XII. Tāntrik Texts), Ch. XXVI, vv. 5-9.
[13]:
[15]:
The sense of this, says the Manoramā, is that Nāda which has four stages (Avasthā-catuṣṭyātmaka), after passing through the different centres mentioned in the Text, assumes the form of the 51 letters.
[18]:
Viśvātītā. She is not only immanent, but transcends the universe.
[23]:
The Śāktānanda-taraṅgiṇī says: She is to be meditated upon as red only when the object of worship is Tripura. The text may also be read as meaning that “red” is an attribute applicable to Śrī Sundarī—that is, the Devī Tripura-sundarī.
[24]:
This is a quotation from the Alaṃkāra-Śāstra (Rhetoric).
[26]:
The musical instrument of that name.
[27]:
The Mūlādhāra.