Chapter 5 - The Centres (Cakra) or Lotuses (Padma)

At this stage we are in a position to pass to a consideration of the Cakras, which may shortly be described as subtle centres of operation in the body of the Śaktis or Powers of the various Tattvas or Principles which constitute the bodily sheaths. Thus the five lower Cakras from Mūlādhāra to Viśuddha are centres of the Bhūtas, or five forms of sensible matter. The Ājñā and other Cakras in the region between it and the Sahasrāra are centres of the Tattvas constituting the mental sheaths, whilst, the Sahasrāra or thousand-petalled lotus at the top of the brain, is the blissful abode of Parama Śiva-Śakti which is the state of pure Consciousness.

A description of the Cakras involves, in the first place, an account of the Western anatomy and physiology of the central and sympathetic nervous systems; secondly, an account of the Tāntrik nervous system and Cakras; and, lastly, the correlation, so far as that is possible, of the two systems on the anatomical and physiological side, for the rest is in general peculiar to Tāntrik occultism.

The Tāntrik theory regarding the Cakras and Sahasrāra is concerned on the Physiological side, or Bhogāyatna aspect, with the central spinal system, comprising the brain or encephalon, contained within the skull, and the spinal cord, contained within the vertebral column (Merudaṇḍa). It is to be noted that, just as there are five centres (Cakras) hereinafter described, the vertebral column itself is divided into five regions, which, commencing from the lowest, are the coccygeal, consisting of four imperfect vertebrae, often united together into one bone called the coccyx; the sacral region, consisting of five vertebrae united together to form a single bone, the sacrum; the lumbar region, or region of the loins, consisting of five vertebrae; the dorsal region, or region of the back, consisting of twelve vertebrae; and the cervical region, or region of the neck, consisting of seven vertebrae. As exhibited by segments, the cord shows different characteristics in different regions. Roughly speaking, these correspond to the regions which are assigned to the governing control of the Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipūra, Anā- hata and Viśuddha centreś, or Cakras or Lotuses (Padma). The central system has relation with the periphery through the thirty-one spinal and twelve cranial nerves, which are both afferent and efferent or sensory and motor, arousing sensation or stimulating action. Of the cranial nerves, the last six arise from the spinal bulb (medulla), and the other six, except the olfactory and optic nerves, from the parts of the brain just in front of the bulb. Writers of the Yoga and Tantra schools use the term Nāḍī, by preference, for nerves. They also, it has been said, mean cranial nerves when they speak of Sirās, never using the latter for arteries, as is done in the medical literature.^[1] It must, however, be noted that the Yoga Nāḍīs are not the ordinary material nerves, but subtler lines of direction along which the vital forces go. The spinal nerves, after their exit from the intervertebral foramina, enter into communication with the gangliated cords of the sympathetic nervous system, which lie on each side of the vertebral column. The spinal cord extends in the case of man from the upper border of the atlas, below the cerebellum, passing into the medulla, and finally opening into the fourth ventricle of the brain, and descends to the second lumbar vertebra, where it tapers to a point, called the filum terminate, I am told that microscopic investigations by Dr. Cunningham have disclosed the existence of highly sensitive grey matter in the filum terminate, which was hitherto thought to be mere fibrous cord. This is of importance, having regard to the position assigned to the Mūlādhāra and the Serpent Power. It is continued in this for a variable distance, and then ends blindly. Within the bony covering is the cord, which is a compound of grey and white brain matter, the grey being the inner of the two, the reverse of the position on the encephalon. The cord is divided into two symmetrical halves, which are connected together by a commissure in the centre of which there is a minute canal called the central spinal canal (wherein is the Brahmanāḍī), which is said to be the remnant of the hollow tube from which the cord and brain were developed.^[2] This canal contains cerebrospinal fluid. The grey matter viewed longitudinally forms a column extending through the whole length of the cord, but the width is not uniform. There are special enlargements in the lumbar and cervical regions which are due mainly to the greater amount of grey matter in these situations. But throughout the whole cord the grey matter is specially abundant at the junctions of the spinal nerves, so that a necklace arrangement is visible, which is more apparent in the lower vertebrates, corresponding to the ventral ganglionic chain of the invertebrates.^[3] The white matter consists of tracts or columns of nerve fibres. At the upper border of the atlas, or first cervical vertebra, the spinal cord passes into the medulla oblongata below the cerebellum. The centre canal opens into the fourth ventricle of the brain. The cerebellum is a development of the posterior wall of the hinder-most of the three primary dilatations of the embryonic cerebro-spinal tube, the fourth ventricle constituting the remnant of the original cavity. Above this is the cerebrum, which with the parts below it is an enlarged and greatly modified upper part of the cerebro-spinal nervous axis. The spinal cord is not merely a conductor between the periphery and the centres of sensation and volition, but is also an independent centre or group of centres. There are various centres in the spinal cord which, though to a considerable extent autonomous, is connected together with the higher centres by the associating and longitudinal tracts of the spinal cord.^[4] All the functions which are ascribed primarily to the spinal centres belong also in an ultimate sense to the cerebral centres. Similarly, all the “Letters” which exist distributed on the petals of the lotuses exist in the Sahasrāra. The centres influence not only the muscular combinations concerned in volitional movements, but also the functions of vascular innervation, secretion, and the like, which have their proximate centres in the spinal cord. The cerebral centres are said, however, to control these functions only in relation with the manifestations of volition, feeling, and emotion; whereas the spinal centres with the subordinate sympathetic system are said to constitute the mechanism of unconscious adaptation, in accordance with the varying conditions of stimuli which are essential to the continued existence of the organism. The medulla, again, is also both a path of communication between the higher centres and the periphery and an independent centre regulating functions of the greatest importance in the system. It is to be noted that the nerve fibres which carry motor impulses descending from the brain to the spinal cord cross over rather suddenly from one side to the other on their way through the spinal bulb (medulla), a fact which has been noted in the Tantras in the description of the Mukta Triveṇī. The latter is connected by numerous afferent and efferent tracts with the cerebellum and cerebral ganglia. Above the cerebellum is the cerebrum, the activity of which is ordinarily associated with conscious volition and ideation and the origination of voluntary movements. The notion of Consciousness, which is the introspective subject-matter of psychology, must not, however, be confused with that of physiological function. There is therefore no organ of consciousness, simply because “Consciousness” is not an organic conception, and has nothing to do with the physiological conception of energy, whose inner introspective side it presents.^[5] Consciousness in itself is the Ātmā. Both mind and body, of which latter the brain is a part, are veiled expressions of Consciousness, which in the case of matter is so veiled that it has the appearance of unconsciousness. The living brain is constituted of gross sensible matter (Mahābhūta) infused by Prāṇa or the life-principle. Its material has been worked up so as to constitute a suitable vehicle for the expression of Consciousness in the form of Mind (Antaḥkaraṇa). As Consciousness is not a property of the body, neither is it a mere function of the brain. The fact that mental consciousness is affected or disappears with disorder of the brain proves the necessity of the latter for the expression of such consciousness, and not that consciousness is inherent alone in brain or that it is the property of the same. On each side of the vertebral column there is a chain of ganglia connected with nerve fibre, called the sympathetic cord (Iḍā and Piṅgalā), extending all the way from the base of the skull to the coccyx. This is in communication with the spinal cord. It is noteworthy that there is in the thoracic and lumbar regions a ganglion of each chain corresponding with great regularity to each spinal nerve, though in the cervical region many of them appear to be missing; and that extra large clusters of nervous structure are to be found in the region of the heart, stomach and lungs, the regions governed by the Anāhata, Maṇipūra, and Viśuddha, respectively, the three upper of the five Cakras hereinafter described. From the sympathetic chain on each side nerve fibres pass to the viscera of the abdomen and thorax. From these, nerves are also given off which pass back into the spinal nerves, and others which pass into some of the cranial nerves; these are thus distributed to the blood-vessels of the limbs, trunk, and other parts to which the spinal or cranial nerves go. The sympathetic nerves chiefly carry impulses which govern the muscular tissue of the viscera and the muscular coat of the small arteries of the various tissues. It is through the sympathetic that the tone of the blood vessels is kept up by the action of the vaso-motor centre in the spinal bulb. The sympathetic, however, derives the impulses which it distributes from the central nervous system; these do not arise in the sympathetic itself. The impulses issue from the spinal cord by the anterior roots of the spinal nerves, and pass through short branches into the sympathetic chains. The work of the sympathetic systems controls and influences the circulation, digestion and respiration.^[6]

The anatomical arrangement of the central nervous system is excessively intricate, and the events which take place in that tangle of fibre, cell and fibril, are, on the other hand, even now almost unknown.^[7] And so it has been admitted that in the description of the physiology of the central nervous system we can as yet do little more than trace the paths by which impulses may pass between one portion of the system and another, and from the anatomical connections deduce, with more or less probability, the nature of the physiological nexus which its parts form with each other and the rest of the body.^[8] In a general way, however, there may (it is said) be reasons to suppose that there are nervous centres in the central system related in a special way to special mechanisms, sensory, secretory, or motor, and that centres, such as the alleged genito-spinal centre, for a given physiological action exist in a definite portion of the spinal cord. It is the subtle aspect of such centres as expressions of Consciousness (Caitanya) embodied in various forms of Māyā- Śakti which is here called Cakra. These are related through intermediate conductors with the gross organs of generation, micturition, digestion, cardiac action, and respiration in ultimate relation with the Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipūra, Anāhata, and Viśuddha Cakras respectively, just as tracts have been assigned in the higher centres as being in special, even if not exclusive, relation with various perceptive, volitional, and ideative processes.

With this short preliminary in terms of modern Western physiology and anatomy, I pass to a description of the Cakras and Nāḍīs (nerves), and will then endeavour to correlate the two systems.

The conduits of Prānik or vital force are the nerves called Nāḍī, which are reckoned to exist in thousands in the body. “As in the leaf of the Aśvattha tree (Ficus religiosa), there are minute fibres, so is the body permeated by Nāḍīs.”^[9] Nāḍī is said in v. 2 to be derived from the root nad, or motion. For here the Prāṇa or Life Principle moves. The Bhūtaśuddhi Tantra speaks of 72,000, the Prapañcasāra-Tantra of 300,000, and the Śiva-Saṃhitā of 350,000; but of these, whatever be their total extent, only a limited number are of importance. Some are gross Nāḍīs, such as the physical nerves, veins and arteries, known to medical science. But they are not all of this gross or physical and visible character. They exist, like all else, in subtle forms, and are known as Yoga-Nāḍīs. The latter may be described as subtle channels (Vivara) of Prānik or vital energy. The Nāḍīs are, as stated, the conduits of Prāṇa. Through them its solar and lunar currents run. Could we see them, the body would present the appearance of those maps which delineate the various ocean currents. They are the paths along which Prāṇa-śakti goes. They therefore belong to the vital science as life-element, and not to the medical Śāstra (Vaidya-śāstra). Hence the importance of the Sādhana, which consists of the physical purification of the body and its Nāḍīs. Purity of body is necessary if purity of mind is to be gained in its extended Hindu sense. Purification of the Nāḍīs is perhaps the chief factor in the preliminary stages of this Yoga; for just as their impurity impedes the ascent of Kuṇḍalī-śakti, their purity facilitates it. This is the work of Pranayama (v. post).

Of these Nāḍīs, the principal are fourteen, and of these fourteen Iḍā, Piṅgalā, and Śuṣuṃnā [Suṣuṃnā?] are the chief. Of these three, again, Suṣuṃnā is the greatest, and to it all others are subordinate; for by the power of Yoga (Yogabala) Prāṇa is made to go through it, and, passing the Cakras, leave the body through the Brahma-randhra. It is situate in the interior of the cerebro-spinal axis, the Merudaṇḍa, or spinal column, in the position assigned to its interior canal, and extends from the basic plexus, the Tāttvik centre called the Mūlādhāra, to the twelve-petalled lotus in the pericarp of the Sahasrāra-Padma, or thousand-petalled lotus. Within

the fiery red Tāmasik Suṣuṃnā is the lustrous Rājasik Vajrā or Vajriṇī-Nāḍī, and within the latter the pale nectardropping Sāttvik Citrā or Citriṇī. The interior of the latter is called the Brahma-Nādī. The first is said to be fire-like (Vahni-svarūpa), the second sun-like (Sūrya-svarūpa), and the third moon-like (Candra-svarūpa).^[10] These are the threefold aspect of the Śabda-brahman. The opening at the end of the Citriṇī-Nāḍī is called the door of Brahman (Brahma-dvāra), for through it the Devī Kuṇḍalī enters to ascend.^[11] It is along this last-mentioned Nāḍī, known as the Kula-Mārga and the “Royal Road,” that the Śakti Kuṇḍalinī is led in the process hereafter described.

Outside this nerve are the two Nāḍīs, the pale Iḍā or Śaśī (Moon) and the red Piṅgalā or Mihira (Sun), which are connected with the alternate breathing from the right to the left nostril and vice versa.^[12] The first, which is feminine” (Śakti-rūpā) and the embodiment of nectar (Amṛta-vigrahā), is on the left; and the second, which is “masculine” as being in the nature of Rudra (Raudrāmikā), is on the right. They both indicate Time or Kala, and Suṣuṃna devours Kala. For on that path entry is made into timelessness. The three are also known as Gaṅgā (Iḍā), Yamunā (Piṅgalā) and Sarasvatī (Suṣuṃnā), after the names of the three sacred rivers of India. The Mūlādhāra is the meeting-place of the three “rivers,” and hence is called Yukta-triveṇī. Proceeding from the Ādhāra lotus, they alternate from right to left and left to right, thus going round the lotuses. According to another account, their position is that of two bows on either side of the spinal cord. An Indian medical friend tells me that these are not discrepant accounts, but represent different positions according as Iḍā and Piṅgalā exist inside or outside the spinal cord. When they reach the space between the eyebrows known as the Ājñā-Cakra, they enter the Suṣuṃnā, making a plaited knot of three called Mukta-triveṇī. The three “Rivers,” which are again united at this point, flow separately therefrom, and for this reason the Ājñā-Cakra is called Mukta-triveṇī. After separation, the Nāḍī which proceeded from the right testicle goes to the left nostril, and that from the left testicle to the right nostril. It has been said that the distinction made between the heating “Sun” and cooling “Moon” is that which exists between the positive and negative phases of the same subjectmatter, positive and negative forces being present in every form of activity. Piṅgalā is thus, according to this view, the conduit of the positive solar current, and Iḍā of the negative lunar current. There are also, as we have seen, interior solar and lunar Nāḍīs in the fiery Suṣuṃnā where the two currents meet.^[13] These are all but microcosmic instances of the vaster system of cosmic matter, every portion of which is composed of three Guṇas (Triguṇātmaka) and the threefold Bindus, which are Sun, Moon, and Fire.

As regards nerve cords and fibres, cranial and spinal nerves, and the connected sympathetic nerves, Dr. Brojendra- nath Seal says: “With the writers on the Yoga, all the Śirās, and such of the Dhamanīs as are not vehicles of vital current, metabolic fluid, lymph, chyle, or blood, are cranial nerves, and proceed from the heart through the spinal cord to the cranium. These cranial nerves include pairs for the larynx and the tongue, for the understanding and use of speech, for the raising and lowering of the eyelids, for weeping, for the sensations of the special senses etc., a confused and unintelligent reproduction of Suśruta’s classification. But the enumeration of the spinal nerves with the connected sympathetic chain and ganglia is a distinct improvement on the old anatomists.”^[14]

He then continues: “The Suṣumnā is the central cord in the vertebral column (Brahmadaṇḍa or Meru). The two chains of sympathetic ganglia on the left and right are named Iḍā and Piṅgalā respectively. The sympathetic nerves have their main connection with Suṣumnā at the solar plexus (Nābhi-cakra).

Of the seven hundred nerve cords of the sympathetic spinal system (see Saṅgītaratnākara), the fourteen most important are:^[15]

“1. Suṣumnā, in the central channel of the spinal cord.

2. Iḍā, the left sympathetic chain, stretching from under the left nostril to below the left kidney in the form of a bent bow.

3. Piṅgalā, the corresponding chain on the right.

4. Kuhū, the pudic nerve of the sacral plexus, to the left of the spinal cord.

5. Gāndhārī, to the back of the left sympathetic chain, supposed to stretch from below the comer of the left eye to the left leg. It was evidently supposed that some nerves of the cervical plexus came down through the spinal cord and joined on to the great sciatic nerve of the sacral plexus.

6. Hasti-jihvā, to the front of the left sympathetic chain, stretching from below the comer of the left eye to the great toe of the left foot, on the same supposition as before. Pathological facts were believed to point to a special nerve connection between the eyes and the toes.

7. Sarasvatī, to the right of Suṣumnā, stretching up to the tongue (the hypoglossol nerves of the cervical plexus).

8. Pūṣā, to the back of the right sympathetic chain, stretching from below the corner of the right eye to the abdomen (a connected chain of cervical and lumbar nerves).

9. Payasvinī, between Pūṣā and Sarasvatī, auricular branch of the cervical plexus on the left.

10. Śaṅkhinī, between Gāndhārī and Sarasvatī, auricular branch of the cervical plexus on the left.

11. Yaśasvinī, to the front of the right sympathetic chain, stretching from the right thumb to the left leg (the radial nerve of the brachial plexus continued on to certain branches of the great sciatic).

12. Vāruṇā, the nerves of the sacral plexus, between Kuhū and Yaśasvinī, ramifying over the lower trunk and limbs.

13. Viśvodarā, the nerves of the lumbar plexus, between Kuhū and Hasti-jihvā ramifying over the lower trunk and limbs.

14. Alaṃbuṣā, the coccygeal nerves, proceeding from the sacral vertebrae to the urinogenitary organs.”^[16]

The Tattvas in the body pervaded by Prāṇa have certain special centres of predominance and influence therein, which are the Cakras (centres or circles or regions) or Padmas (lotuses) of which this work is a description.

Inside the Meru, or spinal column, are the six main centres of Tattvik operation, called Cakras or Padmas, which are the seats of Śakti, as the Sahasrāra above is the abode of Śiva.^[17] These are the Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipūra, Anāhata, Viśuddha and Ājñā, which in the physical body are said to have their correspondences in the principal nerve plexuses and organs, commencing from what is possibly the sacro-coccygeal plexus to the “space between the eyebrows,” which some identify with the pineal gland, the centre of the third or spiritual eye, and others with the cerebellum. The Cakras^[18] themselves are, however, as explained later, centres of Consciousness (Caitanya) as extremely subtle force (Śakti); but the gross regions which are built up by their coarsened vibrations, which are subject to their influence, and with which loosely and inaccurately they are sometimes identified, have been said to be various plexuses in the trunk of the body and the lower cerebral centres mentioned. In the portion of the body below the Mūlādhāra are the seven lower worlds, Pātāla and others, together with the Śaktis which support all in the universe.

The first centre, or Mūlādhāra-Cakra, which is so called from its being the root of Suṣumnā where Kuṇḍalī rests,^[19] is at the place of meeting of the Kaṇḍa (root of all the Nāḍīs) and the Suṣumnā-Nāḍī, and is in the region midway between the genitals and the anus. It is thus the centre of the body for men.^[20] By this and similar statements made as regards the other lotuses, it is not meant that the Cakra proper is in the region of the gross body described, but that it is the subtle centre of that gross region, such centre existing in the spinal column which forms its axis. The reader must bear this observation in mind in the descriptions of the Cakras, or an erroneous notion will be formed of them. This crimson. Mūlādhāra lotus^[21] is described as one of four petals, the Vṛttis of which are the four forms of bliss known as Paramānanda, Sahajānanda, Yogānanda and Vīrānanda.^[22] On these four petals are the golden letters Vaṃ (वं), Śaṃ (शं), Ṣaṃ (षं), and Saṃ (सं).^[23] Each letter in its Vaikharī form is a gross manifestation. of inner or subtle Śabda. On the petals are figured the letters, which are each a Mantra, and as such a Devatā. The petals are configurations made by the position of the Nāḍīs at any particular centre, and are in themselves Prāṇaśakti manifested by Prāṇavāyu in the living body. When that Vāyu departs they cease to be manifest. Each letter is thus a particular Śabda or Śakti and a surrounding (Āvaraṇa) Devatā of the Principal Devatā and its Śakti of the particular Cakra. As Śakti they are manifestations of Kuṇḍalī and in their totality constitute Her Mantra body, for Kuṇḍalī is both light (Jyotirmayī) and Mantra (Mantramayī). The latter is the gross or Sthūla aspect of which Japa is done. The former is the Sūkṣma or subtile aspect which is led up to in Yoga. Their specific enumeration and allocation denote the differentiation in the body of the total Śabda. This Lotus is the centre of the yellow Pṛthivī, or “Earth” Tattva, with its quadrangular Maṇḍala, the Bīja or Mantra of which Tattva is Laṃ (लं).^[24]

At this centre is the Pṛthivī-Tattva, the Bīja of which is “La”, with Bindu or the Brahmā-consciousness presiding over this centre or “Laṃ” which is said to be the expression in gross (Vaikharī) sound of the subtle sound made by the vibration of the forces of this centre. So, again, the subtle Tejas Tattva and its Bīja Ṛaṃ is in the Maṇipūra-Cakra, and the gross fire known as Vaiśvānara is in the physical belly, which the subtle centre governs. This By a represents in terms of Mantra the Tattva regnant at this centre, and its essential activity. With the symbolism used throughout this work, Bīja is said to be seated on the elephant Airāvata, which is here located. This and the other animals figured in the Cakras are intended to denote the qualities of the Tattvas there regnant. Thus, the elephant is emblematic of the strength, firmness, and solidity, of this Tattva of “Earth”. They are, further, the vehicles (Vāhana) of the Devatās there. Thus in this Cakra there is the seed-mantra (Bīja) of Indra, whose vehicle is the elephant Airāvata. The Devatā of the centre is, according to the Text, the creative Brahma, whose Śakti is Sāvitrī.^[25] There also is the Śakti known as Dākinī,^[26] who, as also the other Śaktis, Lākinī and the rest, which follow, are the Śaktis of the Dhātus or bodily substances^[27] assigned to this and the other centres. Here is the “female” triangle or Yoni known as Traipura, which is the Śaktipīṭha, in which is set the “male” Śiva-liṅga, known as Svayaṃbhu, of the shape and colour of a young leaf, representing, as do all Devīs and Devas, the Māyā- Śakti and Cit-Śakti aspects of the Brahman as manifested in the particular centres (vv. 4-14). The liṅgas are four—Svayaṃbhu, Bāṇa, Itara, Para. According to the Yogīnīhṛdaya-Tantra^[28] (Ch. I), they are so called because they lead to Cit. They are the Pīṭhas, Kāmarūpa and the rest because they reflect Cit (Citsphurattādhāratvāt). They are Vṛttis of Manas, Ahaṃkāra, Buddhi, Citta. To the first three are assigned certain forms and colours—namely, yellow, red, white, triangular, circular; as also certain letters—namely, the sixteen vowels, the consonants Ka to Ta (soft), and Tha to Sa. Para is formless, colourless and letterless, being the collectivity (Samaṣṭi) of all letters in the form of bliss. The Traipura is the counterpart in the Jīva of the Kāmakalā of the Sahasrāra. The Devī Kuṇḍalinī, luminous as lightning, shining in the hollow of this lotus like a chain of brilliant lights, the World-bewilderer who maintains all breathing creatures,^[29] lies asleep coiled three and a half times^[30] round the Liṅga, covering with Her head the Brahmadvāra.^[31]

The Svādhiṣṭhāna-Cakra is the second lotus proceeding upwards, and is, according to the commentary, so called after Sva or the Paraṃ Liṅgaṃ.^[32] It is a vermilion lotus of six petals placed in the spinal centre of the region at the root of the genitals. On these petals are the letters like lightning: Baṃ (बं), Bhaṃ (भं), Maṃ (मं), Yaṃ (यं), Raṃ (रं), Laṃ (लं). “Water” (Ap) is the Tattva of this Cakra, which is known as the white region of Varuṇa. The Tāttvik Maṇḍala is in the shape of a crescent moon^[33] (Ardhendurūpalasitam [Ardhendurūpalasita]). The Bīja of water (Varuṇa) is “Vaṃ”. This, the Varuṇa-Bīja, is seated on a white Makara^[34] with a noose in his hand. Hari (Viṣṇu) and Rākinī Śakti of furious aspect, showing Her teeth fiercely, are here (vv. 14—18).

Above it, at the centre of the region of the navel, is the lotus Maṇipūra (Nābhi-padma), so called, according to the Gautamīya-Tantra, because, owing to the presence of the fiery Tejas, it is lustrous as a gem (Maṇi).^[35] It is a lotus of ten petals on which are the letters Ḍaṃ (डं), Ḍhaṃ (ढं), Ṇaṃ (णं), Taṃ (तं), Thaṃ (थं), Daṃ (दं), Dhaṃ (धं), Nam (नम्), Paṃ (पं), Phaṃ (फं). This is the triangular region of the Tejas-Tattva. The triangle has three Svastikas. The red Bīja of fire, “Raṃ” is seated on a ram, the carrier of Agni, the Lord of Fire. Here is the old red Rudra smeared with white ashes, and the Śakti Lākinī who as the Devatā of this digestive centre is said to be “fond of animal food, and whose breasts are ruddy with the blood and fat which drop from Her mouth”. Lākinī and the other special Śaktis of the centres here named are the Śaktis of the Yogī himself—that is, Śaktis of the Dhātus assigned to each of his bodily centres, and concentration on this centre may involve the satisfaction of the appetites of this Devatā. The Śaktis of the higher centres are not meat-eaters. From these three centres the gross Virāt, waking body, is evolved (vv. 19—31).

Next above the navel lotus (Nābhi-padma) is the Anāhata, in the region of the heart, which is red like a Bandhūka flower, and is so called because it is in this place that Munis or Sages hear that “sound (Anāhata-śabda) which comes without the striking of any two things together”, or the “sound” of the Śabda-brahman, which is here the Pulse of Life. For it is here that the Puruṣa (Jīvātmā) dwells. This lotus is to be distinguished from the Heart Lotus of eight petals, which is represented in the place below it, where in mental worship the Patron Deity (Iṣṭa-devatā) is meditated upon. (See Plate V.) Here is the Tree which grants all desires (Kalpataru) and the jewelled Altar (Maṇi-piṭha) beneath it.

As the Viśvasāra-Tantra cited in the Prāṇa-toṣiṇī says:

“Śabda-brahman is said to be Deva Sadāśiva. That Śabda is said to be in the Anāhata-cakra. Anāhata is the great Cakra in the heart of all beings. Oṃkāra is said to be there in association with the three Guṇas.”^[36]

The Mahā-svacchandra-tantra says:^[37]

“The great ones declare that Thy blissful form, O Queen, manifests in Anāhata, and is experienced by the mind inward-turned of the Blessed Ones, whose hairs stand on end and whose eyes weep with joy.”

This is a lotus of twelve petals with the vermilion letters Kaṃ (कं), Khaṃ (खं), Gaṃ (गं), Ghaṃ (घं), Ñaṃ (ञं), Caṃ (चं), Chaṃ (छं), Jaṃ (जं), Jhaṃ (झṃ), Jñaṃ (ज्ञं), Taṃ (तṃ), Ṭhaṃ (ठं). This is the centre of the Vāyu-Tattva. According to v. 22, the region of Vāyu is six-cornered (that is formed by two triangles, of which one is inverted) and its colour that of smoke by reason of its being surrounded by masses of vapour.^[38] Its Bīja “Yaṃ” is seated on a black antelope which is noted for its fleetness, and is the Vāhana of “Air” (Vāyu), with its property of motion. Here are Īśa, the Overlord of the first three Cakras; the Śakti Kākinī garlanded with human bones, whose “heart is softened by the drinking of nectar”; and the Śakti in the form of an inverted triangle (Trikoṇa), wherein is the golden Bāṇa-Liṅga, joyous with a rush of desire” (Kāmodgamollasita), and the Haṃsa as Jīvātmā, like “the steady flame of a lamp in a windless place” (vv. 22—27). The Ātmā is so described because, just as the flame is undisturbed by the mind, so the Atmā is in itself unaffected by the motions of the world.^[39]

The seventeenth verse of the Ānanda-Laharī mentions that the Devatās Vaśinī and others are to be worshipped in the two last-mentioned Cakras. Vaśinī and others are eight in number.^[40]

(1) Vaśinī, (2) Kāmeśvarī, (3) Modinī, (4) Vimalā, (5) Aruṇā, (6) Jayinī, (7) Sarveśvarī, and (8) Kālī or Kaulinī.

These are respectively the Presiding Deities of the following eight groups of letters:

(1) a (अ) to aḥ (अः), 16 letters;
(2) ka (क) to ḍa (ड) 5 letters;
(3) ca (च) to ña (ञ), 5 letters;
(4) ṭa (ट) to ṇa (ण) 5 letters;
(5) ta (त) to na (न), 5 letters;
(6) pa (प) to ma (म), 5 letters;
(7) ya (य) to va (व), 4 letters;
(8) śa (श) to kṣa (क्ष) or [??], 5 letters.

The other beings in v. 17 of Ānanda-Laharī refer to the twelve Yogīnīs, who are: (1) Vīdyā-yoginī, (2) Recikā, (3) Mocikā, (4) Amṛtā, (5) Dīpikā, (6) Jñānā, (7) Āpyāyanī, (8) Vyapinī, (9) Medhā, (10) Vyoma-rūpā, (11) Siddhi-rūpā, and (12) Lakṣmi-yoginī.

These twenty Deities (eight Vaśinīs and twelve Yogīnīs) are to be worshipped in Maṇipūra and Anāhata centres. In respect of this, the Commentator quotes a verse from the Tāittirīyāraṇyaka, and gives a description of these Deities, their respective colours, place, and so forth.

At the spinal centre of the region at the base of the throat (Kaṇṭha-mūla) is the Viśuddha-Cakra or Bhāratī- sthāṇa,^[41] with sixteen petals of a smoky purple hue, on which are the sixteen vowels with Bindu thereon—that is, Aṃ (अं), Āṃ (आं), Iṃ (इं), Īṃ (ईं), Uṃ (उं), Ūṃ (ऊं), Ṛṃ (ऋं), Ṝṃ (ॠं), Ḷṃ (ऌं), Ḹṃ (ॡं), Eṃ (एं),, Aiṃ (अइं), Oṃ (ओं), Auṃ (अउं), and the two breathings Aṃ (अं), Aḥ (अः). According to the Devī-Bhāgavata (VII. 35), the Cakra is so called because the Jīva is made pure (Viśuddha) by seeing the Haṃsa. Here is the centre of the white circular Ākāśa or Ether Tattva, the Bīja of which is “Haṃ”. Ākāśa is dressed in white and mounted on a white elephant. Its Mandala is in the form of a circle.^[42] Here is Sadāśiva in his androgyne or Ardhanār-Īśvara Mūrti, in which half the body is white and the other half gold. Here also is the white Śakti Śākinī, whose form is light (Jyoti-svarūpa). Here, too, is the lunar region, “the gateway of the Great Liberation”. It is at this place that the Jñānī “sees the three forms of time” (Trikāladarśī). As all things are in the Ātmā, the Jñānī who has realized the Atmā has seen them (vv. 28—31). Above the Viśuddha, at the root of the palate, is a minor Cakra called Lalanā, or in some Tantras Kalā-Cakra, which is not mentioned in the works here translated. It is a red lotus with twelve petals bearing the following Vṛtti or qualities: Śraddhā (faith), Saṃtoṣa (contentment), Aparādha (sense of error), Dama (self-command), Māna (anger),^[43] Sneha (affection),^[44] Śuddhatā (purity), Arati (detachment), Saṃbhrama (agitation),^[45] Ūrmi (appetite).^[46] (V. post.)

Before summarising the previous description, it is to be here observed that the Commentator Kālīcarana states the principle of this Yoga to be that that which is grosser is merged into that which is more subtle (sthulānāṃ sūkṣme layaḥ). The grosser are lower in the body than the more subtle. The gross which are in and below the Mūlādhāra or connected with it are: (1) the Pṛthivī-Tanmātra; (2) the Pṛthivī Mahabhūtā; (3) the nostrils with their sense of smell, which is the grossest of the senses of knowledge (Jñānendriya), and which is the quality (Guṇa) of the Pṛthivī Tanmātra; and (4) the feet, which are the grossest of the senses of action (Karmendriya), and “which have Pṛthivī (earth) for their support”. Here the nostrils are classified as the grossest of the Jñānendriyas, because therein is the sense which perceives the quality (Guṇa) of smell of the grossest Tanmātra (Gandha), from which is derived the Pṛithivī Sthūla-Bhūta. Thus the Jñānendriyas have a relation with the Tanmātras through their Guṇas (qualities), for the perception of which these senses exist. In the case, however, of the senses of action (Karmendriya), no such relation appears to exist between them and the Tanmātras. In the order of successive merging or Laya, the feet occur in the same grade as earth, hands in the same grade as water, anus in the same grade as fire, penis in the same grade as air, and mouth in the same grade as ether; not, apparently, because there is any direct relation between earth and feet, water and hands, fire and anus, and so forth, but because these organs are in the same order of comparative subtlety as earth, water, and fire, and so forth. Hands are supposed to be subtler agents than feet; the anus^[47] a subtler agent than the hands; the penis a subtler agent than the anus; and the mouth a subtler agent than the penis. This is also the order in which these agents are situated in the body, the hands coming second because they find their place between the feet and the anus when the arms are given their natural vertical positions. It is to be remembered in this connection that the Tantras here follow the Sāṃkhya, and state the scheme of creation as it occurs also in the Purāṇas, according to which the Jñānendriyas and Karmendriyas and the Tanmātras issue from different aspects of the threefold Ahaṃkāra. There is a relation between the senses and the Tanmātras in the created Jīva, according to the Vedānta, for the senses are related to the Tan- mātras, but the order, in that case, in which the senses occur is different from that given in this work. For, according to the Vedāntik scheme, earth is related to the sense of smell and penis; water to the sense of taste and anus; fire to the sense of sight and feet; air to the sense of touch and hands; and ether to the sense of hearing and mouth. Another explanation, seemingly artificial, however, which has been given, is as follows: The feet are associated with “Earth” because the latter alone has the power of support, and the feet rest on it. “Water” is associated with the hands because in drinking water the hand is used. The word Pāṇi, which means hands, is derived from, the root Pā, to driṅk (pīyate anena iti pāṇi). “Fire” is associated with the anus because what is eaten is consumed by fire in the stomach, and the residue is passed out through the anus, whereby the body becomes pure. “Air” is associated with the penis because in procreation the Jīvātmā as Prāṇa-Vāyu throws itself out through the penis. And so the Śruti says: “Ātmā itself is reborn in the son” (ātmāvai jāyate putraḥ). “Ether” is associated with the mouth, because by the mouth sound is uttered, which is the Guṇa (quality) of ether (Ākāśa).

Hitherto we have dealt with, the comparatively gross Tattvas. According to this work, the twenty grosser Tattvas are associated (4 x 5) as in the following table:

Centre in which dissolved—Grosser Tattvas

1. Mūlādhāra—Gandha (smell) Tanmātra; Pṛthivī-Tattva (earth); the Jñānendriya of smell;^[48] the Karmendriya of feet.

2. Svādhiṣṭhāna—Rasa (taste) Tanmātra; Ap-Tattva (water); the Jñānendriya of taste; the Karmendriya of hands.

3. Maṇipūra—Rūpa (sight) Tanmātra; Tejas-Tattva (fire); the Jñānendriya of sight; the Karmendriya of anus.

4. Anāhata—Sparśa (touch) Tanmātra; Vāyu-Tattva (air); the Jñānendriya of toucḥ; the Karmendriya of penis.

5. Viśuddha—Śabda (sound) Tanmātra; Ākāśa-Tattva (ether); the Jñānendriya of hearing; the Karmendriya of mouth.

It will be observed that with each of the elements is associated an organ of sensation (Jñānendriya) and action (Karmendriya). In Chapter II of the Prapañcasāra-Tantra it is said: “Ether is in the ears, air in the skin, fire in the eyes, water in the tongue, and earth in the nostrils.” The Karmendriyas are possibly so arranged because the Tattvas of the respective centres in which they are placed are, as above stated, of similar grades of subtlety and grossness. As explained below, each class of Tattvas is dissolved in the next higher class, commencing from the lowest and grossest centre, the Mūlādhāra. So far the Tattvas have been those of the “matter” side of creation.

Progress is next made to the last or Ājñā-Cakra, in which are the subtle Tattvas of Mind and Prakṛti. The Cakra is so called because it is here that the command (Ājñā) of the Guru is received from above. It is a lotus of two white petals between the eyebrows, on which are the white letters Haṃ (हं) and Kṣaṃ (क्षं). This exhausts the fifty letters. It will have been observed that there are fifty petals and fifty letters in the six Cakras. In the pericarp is the great Mantra “Oṃ”. Each Lotus has either two or four more petals than the one immediately below it, and the number of the petals in the Viśuddha-Cakra is the sum of the preceeding differences. Here are Paramaśiva in the form of Haṃsa (Haṃsa-rūpa), Siddha-kālī, the white Hākinī-Śakti “elated by draughts of ambrosia”, the inverted triangle or Yonī (Trikoṇa), and the Itara Liṅga, shining like lightning, which is set in it. The three Liṅgas are thus in the Mūlādhāra, Anāhata, and Ājñā- Cakras respectively; for here at these three ‘Knots’ or Brahma-granthis the force of Māyā Śakti is in great strength. And this is the point at which each of the three groups of Tattvas associated with Fire, Sun, and Moon, converge.^[49] The phrase “opening the doors” refers to passage through these Granthis. Here in the Ājñā is the seat of the subtle Tattvas, Mahat and Prakṛti. The former is the Antaḥkaraṇa with Guṇas—namely, Buddhi, Citta, Ahaṃkāra and its product Manas (Sasaṃkalpa-vikalpaka). Commonly and shortly it is said that Manas is the Tattva of the Ājñā Cakra. As, however, it is the mental centre, it includes all the aspects of mind above stated, and the Prakṛti whence they derive, as also the Ātmā in the form of the Praṇava (Oṃ) its Bīja. Here the Ātmā (Antarātmā) shines lustrous like a flame. The light of this region makes visible all which is between the Mūla and the Brahma-randhra. The Yogī by contemplation of this lotus gains further powers (Siddhi), and becomes Advaitācāra- vādī (Monist). In connection with this Padma, the text (S. N., v. 36) explains how detachment is gained through the Yonī-Mudrā. It is here that the Yogī at the time of death places his Prāṇa, and then enters the supreme primordial Deva, the Purāṇa (ancient) Puruṣa, “who was before the three worlds, and is known by the Vedānta”. The same verse describes the method (Prāṇāropaṇa-prakāra). From the last centre and the causal Prakṛti is evolved the subtle body which individually is known as Taijas, and collectively (that is, the Īśvara aspect) as Hiraṇya-garbha. The latter term is applied to the manifestation of the Paramātmā in the Antaḥk araṇa; as displayed in Prāṇa it is Sūtrātmā; and when manifested through these two vehicles without differentiation it is known as the Antar-yāmin. The Cakras are the bodily centres of the world of differentiated manifestation, with its gross and subtle bodies arising from their causal body, and its threefold planes of consciousness in waking, sleeping, and dreamless slumber.

Above the Ājñā-cakra (vv. 32—39) there are the minor Cakras called Manas and Soma, not mentioned in the texts here translated. The Manas Cakra is a lotus of six petals, on the petals of which are (that is, which is the seat of) the sensations of hearing, touch, sight, smell, taste, and centrally initiated sensations in dream and hallucination. Above this, again, is the Soma-Cakra, a lotus of sixteen petals, with certain Vṛttis which are detailed latter.^[50] In this region are “the house without support” (Nirālaṃbapurī), “where Yogīs see the radiant Īśvara,’.’ the seven causal bodies (v. 39) which are intermediate aspects of Ādyā Śakti, the white twelvepetalled lotus by the pericarp of the Sahasrāra (vv. 32—39), in which twelve-petalled lotus is the A-ka-ṭha triangle, which surrounds the jewelled altar (Maṇipīṭha) on the isle of gems (Maṇidvīpa), set in the Ocean of Nectar,^[51] with Bindu above and Nāda below, and the Kāmakalā triangle and the Guru of all, or Parama-śiva. Above this, again, in the pericarp, are the Sūrya and Candra-Maṇḍalas, the Para-bindu surrounded by the sixteenth and seventeenth digits of the moon circle. In the Candra-Maṇḍala there is a triangle. Above the Moon is Mahā-vayu [Mahāvāyu?], and then the Brahma-randhra with Mahā-śaṃkhinī.

The twelve-petalled lotus and that which is connected with it is the special subject of the short book Pādukāpañcaka-Stotra here translated, which is a hymn by Śiva in praise of the “Fivefold Footstool”, with a commentary by Śrī-Kālīcaraṇa. The footstools are variously classified as follows: According to the first classification they are—(1) the white twelve-petalled lotus in the pericarp of the Sahasrāra lotus. Here there is (2) the inverted Triangle the abode of Śakti called “A-ka-ṭha”. (3) The region of the Altar (Maṇipīṭha), on each side of which are Nāda and Bindu. The eternal Guru, “white like a mountain of silver,” should be meditated upon, as on the Jewelled Altar (Maṇipītha). (4) The fourth Pādukā is the Hāṃsa below the Antarātmā; and (5) the Triangle on the Pītliā. The differences between this and the second classification are explained in the notes to v. 7 of the Pādukā. According to this latter classification they are counted as follows: (1) The twelvepetalled lotus; (2) the triangle called A-ka-tha; (3) Nāda- Bindu; (4) the Maṇipītha-Maṇḍala; and (5) the Haṃsa, which makes the triangular Kāmakalā. This Triangle, the Supreme Tattva, is formed by the three Bindus which the text calls Candra (Moon), Sūrya (Sun), and Vahni (Fire) Bindus, which are also known as Prakāśa, Vimarśa,^[52] and Miśra-Bindu. This is the Haṃsa known as the triangular Kāmakalā, the embodiment of Puruṣa-Prakṛti, The former is the Bindu Haṃkāra at the apex of the triangle, and the two other Bindus called Visarga or Sa are Prakṛti. This Kāmakalā is the Mūla (root) of Mantra.

The Śabdabrahman with its threefold aspect and energies is represented in the Tantras by this Kāmakalā, which is the abode of Śakti (Abalālayam). This is the Supreme Triangle, which, like all Yonī-pīṭhas, is inverted. It may be here noted that Śakti is denoted by a triangle because of its threefold manifestation as Will, Action, and Knowledge (Icchā, Kriya, Jñāna). So, on the material plane, if there are three forces, there is no other way in which they can be brought to interact except in the form of a triangle in which, while they are each separate and distinct from one another, they are yet related to each other and form part of one whole. At the corners of the Triangle there are two Bindus, and at the apex a single Bindu. These are the Bindus of Fire (Vahni-bindu), Moon (Candra-bindu), and Sun (Sūrya-bindu).^[53] Three Śaktis emanate from these Bindus, denoted by the lines joining the Bindus and thus forming a triangle. These lines are the line of the Śakti Vāmā, the line of the Śakti Jyeṣṭhā, and the line of the Śakti Raudrī. These Śaktis are Volition (Icchā), Action (Kriyā), and Cognition (Jñāna). With them are Brahmā, Visnu, and Rudrā, associated with the Guṇas. Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas.

The lines of the triangle emanating from the three Bindus or Haṃsa are formed by forty-eight letters of the alphabet. The sixteen vowels beginning with A form one line; the sixteen consonants beginning with Ka form the second line; and the following sixteen letters beginning with Tha form the third line. Hence the triangle is known as the A-ka-tha triangle. In the inner three corners of the triangle are the remaining letters Ha, Lla, Kṣa.

The Yāmala thus speaks of this abode, “I now speak of Kāmakalā,” and, proceeding, says:

“She is the eternal One who is the three Bindus, the three Śaktis, and the three Forms (Tri-Mūrti).”

The Bṛhat-Śrī-krama, in dealing with Kāmakalā, says:

“From the Bindu (that is, the Para-bindu) She has assumed the form of letters (Varṇāvayava-rūpiṇī).”

The Kālī Urdhvāmnāya says:

“The threefold Bindu (Tri-bindu) is the supreme Tattva, and embodies in itself Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva.”^[54]

The triangle, which is composed of the letters has emanated from the Bindu. These letters are known as the Mātṛkā-Varṇa. These form the body of Kula-kuṇḍalinī^[55] the Śabdabrahman, being in their Vaikharī state various manifestations of the primal unmanifested “sound” (Avyaktanāda).

They appear as manifested Śabda on the self-division of the Parā-bindu; for this self-division marks the appearance of the differentiated Prakṛti.

The commentary on the Pādukā-pañcaka (v. 3) says that the Bindu is Parā-Śakti itself, and its variations are called Bindu, Nāda, and Bīja, or Sun, Moon, and Fire; Bindu, the sun, being red, and Nāda, the moon, being white.^[56] These form the Cinmaya or Ānandamaya-kośa or sheaths of consciousness and bliss (Pādukā-pañcaka, v. 3). The two Bindus making the base of the triangle are the Visarga (ib., v. 4). In the Āgama-kalpadruma it is said: “Haṃkāra is Bindu or Puruṣa, and Visarga is Saḥ or Prakṛti. Haṃsaḥ [Haṃsa] is the union of the male and female, and the universe is Haṃsaḥ.” The triangular Kāmakalā is thus formed by Haṃsah (ib.). The Haṃsa-pītha is composed of Mantras (ib., v. 6).

As this subject is of great importance, some further authorities than those referred to in the work here translated are given.

In his commentary to v. 124 of the Lalitā, in which the Devī is addressed as being in the form of Kāmakalā (Kāmakalārūpā), Bhāskararāya says:

“There are three Bindus and the Hārdha-kalā.^[57] Of these Bindus the first is called Kāma, and the Hakārārdha is named Kala.”^[58]

He adds that the nature of Kāmakalā is set forth in the Kāmakalā-vilāsa in the verses commencing “Supreme Śakti (Parā-Śakti) is the manifested union of Śiva and Śakti in the form of seed and sprout,” and ending with the lines “Kāma (means) desire, and Kala the same. The two Bindus are said to be the Fire and Moon.”^[59] Kama, or creative Will, is both Śiva and Devī, and Kala is their manifestation. Hence it is called Kāmakalā.

This is explained in the Tripurā-siddhānta:

“O, Pārvati [Pārvatī?], Kalā is the manifestation of Kāmeśvara and Kāmeśvarī. Hence She is known as Kāmakalā.”^[60]

Or she is the manifestation (Kalā) of desire (Kāma)^[61] that is, of Icchā.

The Kālikā-Purāṇa says:

“Devī is called Kāma because She came to the secret place on the blue peak of the great mountain Kailāsa along with Me for the sake of desire (Kāma): thus Devī is called Kāma. As She is also the giver or fulfiller of desire, desiring, desirable, beautiful, restoring the body of Kāma (Manmatha) and destroying the body of Kāma, hence She is called Kāma.”^[62]

After Śiva (with whom She is one) had destroyed Kāma, when he sought by the instilment of passion to destroy His Yoga; so She (with whom He is one) afterwards gave a new body to the “Bodiless One” (Anaṅga). They destroy the worlds and take them to themselves through the cosmic Yoga path, and again by Their desire and will (Icchā) recreate them. These Bindus and Kala are referred to in the celebrated Hymn, “Wave of Bliss” (Ānandalaharī).^[63]

This Devī is the great Tripura-sundarī. Bhāskararāya’s Guru Nṛsiṃhānandanātha wrote the following verse, on which the disciple commentates:

“I hymn Tripurā, the treasure of Kula,^[64] who is red of beauty; Her limbs like unto those of Kāmarāja, who is adored by the three Devatās^[65] of the three Guṇas; who is the desire (or will) of Śiva;^[66] who dwells in the Bindu and who manifests the universe.”

She is called (says the commentator cited)^[67] Tripurā, as She has three (Tri) Puras (lit., cities), but, here meaning Bindus, angles, lines, syllables, etc.

The Kālikā-Purāṇa says:

“She has three angles (in the triangular Yonī) as well as three circles (the three Bindus), and her Bhūpura^[68] has three lines. Her Mantra  is said to be of three syllables,^[69] and She has three aspects. The Kuṇḍalinī energy is also threefold, in order that She may create the three Gods (Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Rudra). Thus, since She the supreme energy is everywhere triple, She is called Tripura-sundarī.”^[70]

These syllables are said by the commentator last cited^[71] to be the three Bījas of the three divisions (of the Pañcadaśī)—viz., Vāgbhava, Kāmarāja, and Śakti, which according to the Vāmakeśvara-Tantra are the Jñāna-Śakti which confers salvation, and the Kriyā- and Icchā-Śaktis.

Three “Pāda” are also spoken of as Tripurā—white, red, and mixed.^[72] Elsewhere, as in the Varāha-Purāṇa, the Devī is said to have assumed three forms—white, red, and black; that is, the Supreme energy endowed with the Sāttvik, Rājasik, and Tāmasik qualities.^[73] The one Śakti becomes three to produce effects.

In the Kāmakalā meditation (Dhyāna) the three Bindus and Hārdhakalā are thought of as being the body of the Devī Tripura-sundarī.

The Commentator on the verse of the Ānandalaharī cited says:^[74]

“In the fifth sacrifice (Yajña) let the Sādhaka think of his Ātmā as in no wise different from, but as the one only Śiva; and of the subtle thread-like Kuṇḍalinī which is all Śaktis, extending from the Ādhāra lotus to Parama-Śiva. Let him think of the three Bindus as being in Her body (Tripura-sundarī), which Bindus indicate Icchā, Kriyā, Jñāna—Moon, Fire, and Sun; Rajas, Tamas, Sattva; Brahmā, Rudra, Viṣṇu; and then let him meditate on the Citkalā who is Śakti below it.”^[75]

The Bindu which is the “face” indicates Viriñci^[76] (Brahmā) associated with the Rajas Guṇa. The two Bindus which are the “breasts,” and upon which meditation should be done in the heart, indicate Hari^[77] (Viṣṇu) and Hara^[78] (Rudra) associated with the Sattva and Tamas Guṇas. Below them meditate in the Yoni upon the subtle Cit-kalā, which indicates all three Guṇas, and which is all these three Devatās.^[79]

The meditation given in the Yogīnī-Tantra is as follows:

“Think of three Bindus above Kala, and then that from these a young girl sixteen years old springs forth, shining with the light of millions of rising suns, illuminating every quarter of the firmament. Think of Her body from crown to throat as springing from the upper Bindu, and that her body from throat to middle, with its two breasts and three belly lines of beauty (Trivalī), arise from the two lower Bindus. Then imagine that the rest of Her body from genitals to feet is born from Kama. Thus formed, She is adorned with all manner of ornaments and dress, and is adored by Brahmā, Īśa, and Viṣṇu. Then let the Sādhaka think of his own body as such Kāmakalā.”^[80]

The Śrītattvārṇava says:

“The glorious men who worship in that body in Sāmarasya^[81] are freed from the waves of poison in the untraversable sea of the world (Saṃsāra).”

To the same effect are the Tāntrik works the Śrī-krama^[82] and Bhāvacūdāmaṇi^[83] cited in the Commentary to the Ānandalaharī.

The first says:

“Of the three Bindus, O Mistress of the Devas, let him contemplate the first as the mouth and in the heart the two Bindus as the two breasts. Then let him meditate upon the subtle Kala Hakārārdha in the Yoni.”

And the second says:

“The face in the form of Bindu, and below twin breasts, and below them the beauteous form of the Hakārārdha.”

The three Devatās Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Rudra, with their Śaktis, are said to take birth from the letters A, U, M, of the Oṃkāra or Praṇava.^[84] Ma, as the Prapañcasāra-Tantra^[85] says, is the Sun or Ātmā among the letters, for it is Bindu. From each of these ten Kalās arise.

Verse 8 of the first work translated says that in the Mūlādhāra centre there is the Triangle (Trikoṇa) known as Traipura, which is an adjective of Tripura. It is so called because of the presence of the Devī Tripura within the Ka inside the triangle. This Ka is the chief letter of the Kāma Bīja, and Kaṃ^[86] is the Bīja of Kāminī, the aspect of Tripura-sundarī in the Mūlādhāra. Here also, as the same verse says, there are the three lines Vāmā, Jyeṣṭhā, and Raudrī and, as the Ṣaṭcakra-vivṛti adds, Icchā, Jñāna, and Kriyā.^[87] Thus the Traipura-Trikoṇa is the gross or Sthūla aspect of that subtle (Sūkṣma) Śakti which is below the Sahasrāra, and is called Kāmakalā. It is to this Kāminī that in worship the essence of Japa (Tejo-rūpajapa) is offered, the external Japa being offered to the Devata, worshipped in order that the Sādhaka may retain the fruits of his worship.^[88] There are also two other Liṅgas and Trikoṇas at the Anāhata and Ājñā centres, which are two of the Knots or Granthis, and which are so called because Māyā is strong at these points of obstruction, at which each of the three groups converge. The Traipura-Trikoṇa is that, however, in the Mūlādhāra which is the grosser correspondence of the Kāmakalā, which is the root (Mūlā) of all Mantras below the Sahasrāra, and which, again, is the correspondence in Jīva of the Tri-bindu of Īśvara.

Before, however, dealing in detail with the Sahasrāra, the reader will find it convenient to refer to the tables on pp. 141 and 142, which summarize some of the details above given upto and including the Sahasrāra.

In the description of the Cakras given in this work, no mention is made of the moral and other qualities and things (Vṛtti) which are associated with the Lotuses in other books, such as the Adhyātmaviveka,^[89] commencing with the root-lotus and ending with the Soma-Cakra. Thus, the Vṛttis, Praśraya, Aviśvāsa, Avajñā, Mūrcchā, Garvanāśa, Krūratā,^[90] are assigned to Svādhiṣṭhāna: Lajjā, Piśunatā, Īrśā, Tṛṣṇā, Suṣupti, Viṣāda, Kaṣāya, Moha, Ghṛnā, Bhaya,^[91] to the Maṇipūra; Āśa, Cintā, Ceṣṭā, Samatā, Dāṃbha, Vikalatā, Ahaṃkāra, Viveka, Lolatā, Kapaṭatā, Vitarka, Ānutāpa to Anāhata^[92]; Kṛpā, Mṛduta, Dhairya, Vairāgya, Dhṛti, Saṃpat, Hāsya, Romāñca, Vinaya, Dhyāna, Susthiratā, Gāṃbhīrya, Udyama, Akṣobha, Audārya, Ekāgratā,^[93] to the secret Somacakra; and so forth. In the Mūlādhāra, which has been described as the “source of a massive pleasurable aethesia,” there are the four forms of bliss already mentioned; in the Viśuddha the seven subtle “tones,” Niṣāda, Ṛṣabha, Gāndhāra, Ṣadja [Ṣaḍja?], Madhyama, Dhaivata, Pañcama; certain Bījas, Huṃphat, Vauṣat [Vauṣaṭ?], Vaṣat [Vaṣaṭ?], Svadhā, Svāhā, Namaḥ; in the eighth petal “venom,” and in the sixteenth “nectar”;^[94] and in the petals and pericarp of the Ājñā the three Guṇas and in the former the Bījas, Haṃ and Kṣaṃ; and in the six-petalled Manas-Cakra above the Ājñā are Śabda-jñāna, Sparśa-jñāna, Rūpa-jñāna, Āghrāṇopalabdhi, Rasopabhoga, and Svapna, with their opposites, denoting the sensations of the sensorium—hearing, touch, sight, smell, taste, and centrally initiated sensations in dream and hallucination. It is stated that particular Vṛttis are assigned to a particular lotus, because of a connection between such Vṛtti and the operation of the Śaktis of the Tattva at the centre to which it is assigned. That they exist at any particular Cakra is said to be shown by their disappearance when Kuṇḍalī ascends through the Cakra. Thus the bad Vṛttis of the lower Cakras pass away in the Yogī who raises Kuṇḍalī above them.

Moral qualities (Vṛtti) appear in some of the lower Cakras in the secret twelve-petalled lotus called the Lalanā (and in some Tantras Kalā) Cakra, situate above the Viśuddha, at the root of the palate (Tālumūla), as also in the sixteen-petalled lotus above the Manas-Cakra, and known as the Soma-Cakra. It is noteworthy that the Vṛtti of the two lower Cakras (Svādhiṣṭhāna and Maṇipūra) are all bad; those of the Anāhata centre are mixed,^[95] those of the Lalanā- Cakra are predominantly good, and those of the Soma-Cakra wholly so; thus indicative of an advance as we proceed from the lower to the higher centres, and this must be so as the Jīva approaches or lives in his higher principles. In the twelvepetalled white lotus in the pericarp of the Sahasrāra is the abode of Śakti, called the Kāmakalā, already described.

Between Ājñā and Sahasrāra, at the seat of the Kāraṇa- Śarīra of Jīva, are the Varṇāvalī-rupā Viloma-Śaktis, descending from Unmanī to Bindu. Just as in the Īśvara or cosmic creation there are seven creative Śaktis from Sakala Parameśvara to Bindu; and in the microcosmic or Jīva creation seven creative Śaktis from Kuṇḍalinī, who is in the Mūlādhāra, to Bindu, both of which belong to what is called the Anuloma order:^[96] so in the region between the Ājñā- Cakra and Sahasrāra, which is the seat of the causal body (Kāraṇa-Śarīra) of Jīva, there are seven Śaktis,^[97] which, commencing with the lowest, are Bindu (which is in Īśvara-Tattva), Bodhinī, Nāda, Mahānāda or Nādānta (in Ṣadakhya-Tattva), Vyāpikā, Samanī (in Śakti-Tattva), and Unmanī (in Śiva-Tattva). Though these latter Śaktis have a cosmic creative aspect, they are not here co-extensive with and present a different aspect from the latter. They are not co-extensive, because the last-mentioned Śaktis are, as here mentioned, Śaktis of the Jīva. Haṃsa, Jīva or Kuṇḍalī is but an infinitesimal part of the Para-bindu. The latter is in the Sahasrāra, or thousand-petalled lotus, the abode of Īśvara, who is Śiva-Śakti and is the seat of the aggregate Kuṇḍalī or Jīva. And hence it is said that all the letters are here twenty-fold (50x20= 1,000). In the Sahasrāra are Parabindu, the supreme Nirvāṇa-Śakti, Nirvāṇa-Kalā, Amā-Kalā,^[98] and the fire of Nibodhikā. In the Para-bindu is the empty void (Śūnya) which is the supreme Nirguṇa-Śiva.

Cakra	Situation	Number of Petals	Letters ON Same	Regnant Tattva AND ITS Qualities	Colour of Tattva
Mūlādhāra	Spinal centre of region below genitals	4	va, śa, ṣa, sa	Pṛthivī; cohesion, stimulating sense of smell	Yellow
Svādhiṣṭhāna	Spinal centre of region above the genitals	6	ba, bha, ma, ya, ra, la	Ap; contraction, stimulating sense af taste	White
Maṇipūra	Spinal centre of region of the navel	10	ḍa, dha ṇa, ta, tha, da, dha, na, pa, pha	Tejas; expansion, producing heat and stimulating sight-sense of colour and form	Red
Anāhata	Spinal centre of region of the heart	12	ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa, ca, ccha, ja, jha, jña, ṭa, ṭha	Vāyu; general movement, stimulating sense of touch	Smoky
Viśuddha	Spinal centre of region of the throat	16	the vowels a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, ḹ, e, ai, o, au, am, aḥ	Ākāśa; space-giving, stimulating sense of hearing	White
Ājñā	Centre of region between the eyebrows	2	ha and kṣa	Manas (mental faculties)	...
Shape of Mandala	BĪja and its Vahana (Carrier)	Devata AND ITS Vahana	Śakti OF THE Dhatu	LIṅga AND Yoni	Other Tattvas here Dissolved
Square	Laṃ on the Airāvata elephant	Brahmā on Haṃsa	Ḍākinī	Svayaṃbhu and Traipura- Trikoṇa	Gandha (smell) Tattva; smell (organ of sensation); feet (organ of action)
Cresent	Vaṃ on Makara	Viṣṇu on Garuda	Rākini		Rasa (taste) Tattva; taste (organ of sensation); hand (organ of action)
Triangle	Raṃ on a ram	Rudra on a bull	Lākinī		Rūpa (form and colour; sight) Tattva; sight (organ of sensation); anus (organ of action)
Six-pointed hexagon	Yaṃ on an antelope	Īśā	Kākinī	Bāṇa and Trikoṇa	Sparśa (touch and feel) Tattva; touch (organ of sensation); penis (organ of action)
Circle	Haṃ on a white elephant	Sadāśiva	Sākinī		Śabda (sound) Tattva; hearing (organ of sensation; mouṃ (organ of action)
• • •	Oṃ	Śaṃbhu	Hākinī	Itara and Trikoṇa	Mahar, the Sūkṣma Prakṛti called Hiraṇyagarbha (v. 52)

[Above the Ājñā is the causal region and the Lotus of a thousand petals, with all the letters, wherein is the abode of the Supreme Bindu Paraśiva.]

Another difference is to be found in the aspect of the Śaktis. Whilst the cosmic creative Śaktis are looking outwards and forwards (Unmukhī), the Śaktis above the Ājñā are in Yoga, looking backwards towards dissolution. The Īśvara of the Sahasrāra is not then the creative aspect of Īśvara. There He is in the Nirvāṇa mood, and the Śaktis leading up to Nirvāṇa-Śakti are “upward moving,” that is, liberating Śaktis of the Jīva.

These seven states or aspects of Bindumaya-paraśakti (see p. 424, post) leading up to Unmanī, which are described in this and other Tāntrik books, are called causal forms (Kāraṇa-rūpa). The commentary to the Lalitā^[99] apparently enumerates eight, but this seems to be due to a mistake, Śakti and Vyāpikā being regarded as distinct Śaktis instead of differing names for the third of this series of Śaktis.

Below Visarga (which is the upper part of the Brahma- randhra, in the situation of the fontanelle) and the exit of Śaṅkhinī-Nāḍī is the Supreme White (or, as some call it, variegated) Lotus of a thousand petals (see vv. 41—49 post) known as the Sahasrāra, on which are all the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, omitting according to some the cerebral Lakāra, and according to others Kṣa. These are repeated twenty times to make the 1,000, and are read from beginning to end (Anuloma), going round the Lotus from right to left. Here is Mahā-vāyu and the Candra-maṇḍala, in which is the Supreme Bindu (O), “which is served in secret by all the Devas”. Bindu implies Guṇa, but it also means the void of space, and in its application to the Supreme Light, which is formless, is symbolical of its decaylessness. The subtle Śūnya (Void), which is the Ātmā of all being (Sarvātmā), is spoken of in vv. 42—49. Here in the region of the Supreme Lotus is the Guru, the Supreme Śiva Himself. Hence the Śaivas call it Śivasthāna, the abode of bliss where the Ātmā is realized. Here, too, is the Supreme Nirvāṇa-Śakti, the Śakti in the Para-bindu, and the Mother of all the three worlds. He who has truly and fully known the Sahasrāra is not reborn in the Saṃsāra, for he has by such knowledge broken all the bonds which held him to it. His earthly stay is limited to the working out of the Karma already commenced and not exhausted. He is the possessor of all Siddhi, is liberated though living (Jīvanmukta), and attains bodiless liberation (Mokṣa), or Videha-Kaivalya, on the dissolution of his physical body.

In the fourteenth verse and commentary thereon of the Ānandalaharī, the Deity in the Sahasrāra is described.^[100]

“She is above all the Tattvas. Every one of the six centres represents a Tattva. Every Tattva has a definite number of rays. The six centres, or Cakras, are divided into three groups. Each of these groups has a knot or apex where converge the Cakras that constitute that group. The names of the groups are derived from those of the Presiding Deities. The following table clearly puts the above:

No.	Name of Cakra	Name OF Tattva	No. OF Rays OF Tattva	Name of Group	Name of Converging Point	Remarks
1 2	Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna	Bhū Agni	56) 62)	Agni Khaṇḍa	Rudra-granthi	In Sahasrāra the rays are numberless, eternal and unlimited by space.
3 4	Maṇipūra, Anāhata	Apas Vāyu	52) 54)	Sūrya	Viṣṇu-granthi	There is another Candra here whose rays are countless and evershining.
5 6	Viśuddha, Ājñā	Ākāśa Manas	72) 64)	Candra	Brahma-granthi
			360

“Lakṣmīdhara quotes the Taittirīyāraṇyaka in support of his commentary, from which, we have taken the notes above given. The extracts which he makes from ‘Bhairava- Yāmala’ are very valuable. In discoursing about Candrā, Śiva addresses (vv. 1—17, candrajñānavidyāprākaraṇa) Pārvati [Pārvatī?], his consort, thus:

“‘Welcome, O Beauty of the three worlds, welcome is Thy question. This knowledge (which I am about to disclose) is the secret of secrets, and I have not imparted it to anyone till now. (But I shall now tell thee the grand secret. Listen, then, with attention:)’

“‘Śrī-cakra (in the Sahasrāra) is the form of Parā- Śakti. In the middle of this Cakra is a place called Baindava, where She, who is above all Tattvas, rests united with. Her Lord Sadāśiva. O Supreme One, the whole Cosmos is a Śrī-cakra formed of the twenty-five Tattvas—5 elements+ 5 Tanmātras+10 Indriyas + Mind + Māya, Śuddha-vidyā, Maheśa, and Sadāśiva.^[101] Just as it is in Sahasrāra, so cosmically, also, Baindava is above all Tattvas. Devī, the cause of the creation, protection, and destruction, of the universe, rests there ever united with Sadāśiva, who as well is above all Tattvas and ever-shining. Uncountable are the rays that issue forth from Her body; O good one, they emanate in thousands, lakhs—nay, crores. But for this light there would be no light at all in the universe... 360 of these rays illumine the world in the form of Fire, Sun, and Moon. These 360 rays are made up as follows: Agni (Fire) 118, Sun 106, Moon 136. O Śaṃkari, these three luminaries enlighten the macrocosm as well as the microcosm, and give rise to the calculation of time—the Sun for the day, the Moon for the night, Agni (Fire) occupying a mean position between the two.’^[102]

“Hence they constitute (or are called) Kala (time), and the 360 days (rays) make a year. The Veda says: ‘The year itself is a form of the Lord. The Lord of time, the Maker of the world, first created Marīci (rays), etc., the Munis, the protectors of the world. Everything has come to exist by the command of Parameśvarī.’

“Diṇḍima takes a quite different view of this verse. He interprets it as meaning that, having already described the Antaryāga (inner worship), the author recommends here the worship of the Āvaraṇa-Devatās, i.e., Deities residing in each of the Cakras or centres without propitiating whom it is impossible for the practitioner to lead the Kuṇḍalinī through these Cakras. He enumerates all the 360 Deities and describes the mode of worshipping each of them.

“There are other commentators who understand the 360 rays esoterically, and connect the same with the 360 days of the year, and also with the human body. Every commentator quotes the Taittirīyāraṇyaka, first chapter, to support his views. Thus it seems that Taittirīyāraṇyaka contains much esoteric matter for the mystic to digest. The first chapter of the Āraṇyaka referred to is chanted in worshipping the Sun. It is called Āruṇam because it treats of Aruṇā (red-coloured Devī).”^[103]

An Indian physician and Saṃskritist has expressed the opinion that better anatomy is given in the Tantras than in the purely medical works of the Hindus.^[104] It is easier, however, to give a statement of the present and ancient physiology than to correlate them. Indeed, this is for the present a difficult matter. In the first place, the material as regards the latter is insufficiently available and known to us, and those Hindu scholars and Sādhakas (now-a-days, probably not numerous) who are acquainted with the subject are not conversant with Western physiology, with which it is to be compared. It is, further, possible to be practically acquainted with this Yoga without knowing its physiological relations. Working in what is an unexplored field, I can only here put forward, on the lines of the Text and such information as I have gathered, explanations and suggestions which must in some cases be of a tentative character, in the hope that they may be followed up and tested by others.

It is clear that the Meru-danda is the vertebral column, which as the axis of the body is supposed to bear the same relation to it as does Mount Meru to the earth. It extends from the Mūla (root) or Mūlādhāra to the neck. It and the connected upper tracts, spinal bulb, cerebellum, and the like, contain what has been described as the central system of spinal nerves (Nāḍī) and cranial nerves (Śironāḍī). The Suṣurimā, which is undoubtedly a Nāḍī within the vertebral column, and as such is well described by the books as the principal of all the Nāḍīs, runs along the length of the Meru-daṇḍa, as does the spinal cord of Western physiology, if we include therewith the filum terminale. If we include the filum, and take the Kaṇḍa to be between the anus and penis, it starts from practically the same (sacro-coccygeal) region, the Mūlādhāra, and is spoken of as, extending to the region of the Brahma-randhra,^[105] or to a point below the twelve-petalled lotus (v. 1)—that is, at a spot below but close to the Sahasrāra, or cerebullum, where the nerve Citriṇī also ends. The position of the Kaṇḍa is that stated in this work (v. 1). It is to be noted, however, that according to the Haṭhayoga-pradīpikā the Kaṇḍa is higher up, between the penis and the navel.^[106] The place of the union of Suṣurimā and Kaṇḍa is known as the “Knot” (Granthiṣṭhāna), and the petals of the Mūla lotus are on four sides of this (v. 4). It is in this Suṣuṃnā (whatever for the moment we take it to be) that there are the centres of Prāṇa-Śakti or vital power which are called Cakras or Lotuses. The spinal cord ends blindly in the filum terminale, and is apparently closed there. The Suṣurimā is said to be closed at its base, called the “gate of Brahman” (Brahma-dvāra) until, by Yoga, Kuṇḍalī makes its way through it. The highest of the six centres called Cakra in the Suṣurimā is the Ājñā, a position which corresponds frontally with the space between the eyebrows (Bhrū-madhya), and at the back with the pineal gland, the pituitary body, and the top of the cerebellum. Close by it is the Cakra called Lalanā, and in some Tantras Kalā Cakra which is situate at the root of—that is, just above—the palate (Tālumūla). Its position as well as the nature of the Ājñā would indicate that it is slightly below the latter.^[107] The Suṣuṃnā passes into the ventricles of the brain, as does the spinal cord, which enters the fourth ventricle.

Above the Lalanā are the Ājñā-Cakra with its two lobes and the Manas-Cakra with its six lobes, which it has been suggested are represented in the physical body by the Cerebellum and Sensorium respectively. The Soma-Cakra above this, with its sixteen “petals,” has been said to comprise the centres in the middle of the Cerebrum above the Sensorium. Lastly, the thousand-petalled lotus Sahasrāra corresponds to the upper Cerebrum of the physical body, with its cortical convolutions, which will be suggested to the reader on an examination of the Plate VIII, here given, of that centre. Just as all powers exist in the seat of voluntary action, so it is said that all the fifty “letters” which are distributed throughout the spinal centres of the Suṣuṃnā exist here in multiplied form—that is, 50x20. The nectar-rayed moon [see Śiva-saṃhitā, II, 6] is possibly the under-part of the brain, the convolutions or lobes of which, resembling half-moons, are called Candrakalā, and the mystic mount Kailāsa is undoubtedly the upper brain. The ventricle connected with the spinal cord is also semi-lunar in shape.

As above stated, there is no doubt that the Suṣuṃnā is situated in the spinal column, and it has been said that it represents the central canal. It is probable that its general position is that of the central canal. But a query may be raised if it is meant that the canal alone is the Suṣuṃnā. For the latter Nāḍī, according to this work, contains within it two others—namely, Vajriṇī and Citriṇī. There is thus a threefold division. It has been suggested that the Suṣuṃnā when not considered with its inner Nāḍīs as a collective unit, but as distinguished from them, is the white nervous matter of the spinal cord, Vajriṇī the grey matter, and Citriṇī the central canal, the inner Nāḍī of which is known as the Brahma-nāḍī, and, in the Śiva-saṃhitā, Brahma-randhra.^[108] But as against such suggestion it is to be noted that v. 2 of this work describes Citriṇī as being as fine as a spider’s thread (lūtātantu-upameya), and the grey matter cannot be so described, but is a gross thing. We must therefore discard this suggestion, and hold to the opinion either that the central canal is the Suṣuṃnā or that the latter is in the canal, and that within or part of it are two still more subtle and imperceptible channels of energy, called Vajriṇī and Citriṇī. I incline to the latter view. The true nature of the Citriṇī-Nāḍī is said in v. 3 to be pure intelligence (Śuddha-bodha-svabhāvā) as a force of Consciousness. As v.l. says, the three form one, but considered separately they are distinct. They are threefold in the sense that Suṣuṃnā, who is tremulous like a woman in passion,” is as a whole composed of “Sun,” “Moon,” and “Fire,” and the three Guṇas. It is noteworthy in this connection that the Kṣurikā-Upaniṣad,^[109] which speaks of the Suṣuṃnā, directs the Sādhaka “to get into the white and very subtle Nāḍī, and to drive Prāṇa-vāyu through it.” These three, Suṣuṃnā, Vajriṇī, and Citriṇī, and the central canal, or Brahma-nāḍī, through which, in the Yoga here described, Kuṇḍalinī, passes, are all, in any case, part of the spinal cord. And, as the Śiva-saṃhitā and all other Yoga works say, the rest of the body is dependent on Suṣuṃnā, as being the chief spinal representative of the central nervous system. There seems also to be some ground to hold that the Nāḍīs, Iḍā and Piṅgalā, or “moon” and “sun,” are the left and right sympathetic cords respectively on each side of the “fiery” Suṣuṃnā. It is to be noted that, according to one and a common notion reproduced in this work, these Nāḍīs, which are described as being pale and ruddy respectively (v. 1), do not lie merely on one side of the cord, but cross it alternating from one side to the other (see v. 1), thus forming with the Suṣuṃnā and the two petals of the Ājñā-Cakra the figure of the Caduceus of Mercury, which, according to some represents them. Elsewhere (v. 1), however it is said that they are shaped like bows. That is, one is united with Suṣuṃnā and connected with the left scrotum. It goes up to a position near the left shoulder, bending as it passes the heart, crosses over to the right shoulder, and then proceeds to the right nostril. Similarly, the other Nāḍī connected with the right scrotum passes to the left nostril. It has been suggested to me that Iḍā and Piṅgalā are blood-vessels representing the Inferior Vena Cava and Aorta. But the works and the Yoga process itself indicate not arteries, but nerves. Iḍā and Piṅgalā when they reach the space between the eyebrows make with the Suṣuṃnā a plaited threefold knot called Trivenī and proceed to the nostrils. This, it has been said, is the spot in the medulla where the sympathetic cords join together or whence they take their origin.

There remains to be considered the position of the Cakras. Though this work speaks of six, there are, according to some, others. This is stated by Viśvanātha in his Ṣaṭcakra-Vivṛti. Thus we have mentioned Lalanā, Manas, and Soma Cakras. The six here given are the principal ones. Indeed, a very long list exists of Cakras or Ādhāras, as some call them. In a modern Sanskrit work called “Advaitamārtaṇḍa” the author^[110] gives twenty, numbering them as follows: (1) Ādhāra, (2) Kuladīpa, (3) Vajra or Yajña, (4) Svādhiṣṭhāna, (5) Raudra, (6) Karāla, (7) Gahvara, (8) Vidyāprada, (9) Trimukha, (10) Tripada, (11) Kāladaṇḍaka, (12) Ukāra, (13) Kāladvāra, (14) Karaṃgaka, (15) Dīpaka, (16) Ānandalalitā, (17) Manīpūraka, (18) Nākula, (19) Kālabhedana, (20) Mahotsāha. Then for no apparent reason, many others are given without numbers, a circumstance, as well as defective printing, which makes it difficult in some cases to say whether the Sanskrit should be read as one word or two.^[111] They are apparently Parama, Pādukaṃ, Padaṃ (or Pādakaṃ-padaṃ), Kalpajāla, Poṣaka, Lolama, Nādāvarta, Triputa, Kaṃkālaka, Putabhenana, Mahāgranthivirākā, Bandhajvalana (printed as Bandhe-jvalana), Anāhata, Yantraputa (printed Yatro), Vyomacakra, Bodhana, Dhruva, Kalākandalaka, Krauñcabheruṇḍa-vibhava, Dāmara, Kulaphīṭhaka, Kulakolāhala, Hālavarta, Mahadbhaya, Ghorābhairava, Viśuddhi, Kanṭhaṃ [Kanṭha], Uttamaṃ [Uttama] (quere Viśuddhikantham [Viśuddhikantha], or Kanthamuttamam [Kanthamuttama]), Pūrṇakaṃ [Pūrṇaka], Ājñā, Kākaputtaṃ [Kākaputta], Śṛṅgātaṃ [Śṛṅgāta], Kāmarūpa, Pūrṇagiri, Mahāvyoma, Śaktirūpa. But, as the author says, in the Vedas (that is, Yogacūdamanī [Yogacūḍāmaṇī?], Yogaśikha Upaniṣads, and others) we read of only six Cakras—namely, those italicized in the above list, and described in the works here translated—and so it is said: “How can there be any Siddhi for a man who knows not the six Adhvās, the sixteen Ādhāras, the three Liṅgas and the five (elements) the first of which is Ether?”^[112]

I have already pointed out that the positions of the Cakras generally correspond to spinal centres of the anatomical divisions of the vertebrae into five regions, and it has been stated that the Padmas or Cakras correspond with various plexuses which exist in the body surrounding those regions. Various suggestions have been here made. The Author of the work cited^[113] identifies (commencing with the Mūlādhāra and going upwards) the Cakras with the sacral, prostatic, epigastric, cardiac, laryngeal (or pharyngeal), and cavernos plexuses, and the Sahasrāra with the Medulla. In passing it may be noted that the last suggestion cannot in any event be correct. It is apparently based on verse 120 of chapter V of the Śiva-Saṃhitā.^[114] But this work does not in my opinion support the suggestion. Elsewhere the Author cited rightly identifies mount Kailāsa with the Sahasrāra, which is undoubtedly the upper cerebrum. The anatomical position of the Medulla is below that assigned to the Ājñā- Cakra. Professor Sarkar’s work contains some valuable appendices by Dr. Brojendranath Seal on, amongst others, Hindu ideas concerning plant and animal life, physiology, and biology, including accounts of the nervous system in Caraka and in the Tantras.^[115] After pointing out that the cerebo-spinal axis with the connected sympathetic system contains a number of ganglionic centres and plexuses (Cakras, Padmas), from which nerves (Nāḍī, Sirā, and Dhamanī) radiate over the head, trunk, and limbs, the latter says, as regards the ganglionic centres and plexuses consisting of the sympathetic spinal system:

“Beginning with the lower extremity, the centres and plexuses of the connected spinal and sympathetic systems may be described as follows:

“(1) The Ādhāra-Cakra, the sacro-coccygeal plexus with four branches, nine Aṅgulis (about six inches and a half) below the solar plexus (Kaṇḍa, Brahmagranthi); the source of a massive pleasurable aesthesia; voluminous organic sensations of repose. An inch and a half above it, and the same distance below the membrum virile (Mehana), is a minor centre called the Agni-śikhā. (2) The Svādhiṣṭhāna-Cakra, the sacral plexus, with six branches (Dalāni—petals) concerned in the excitation of sexual feelings, with the accompaniments of lassitude, stupor, cruelty, suspicion, contempt.^[116] (3) The Nābhi-kaṇḍa (corresponding to the solar plexus, Bhānubhavanam [Bhānubhavana]), which forms the great junction of the right and left sympathetic chains (Piṅgalā and Iḍā) with the cerebro-spinal axis. Connected with this is the Maṇipūraka, the lumbar plexus, with connected sympathetic nerves, the ten branches^[117] of which are concerned in the production of sleep and thirst, and the expressions of passions like jealousy, shame, fear, stupefaction. (4) The Anāhata- Cakra, possibly the cardiac plexus of the sympathetic chain with twelve branches, connected with the heart, the seat of the egoistic sentiments, hope, anxiety, doubt, remorse, conceit, egoism, etc. (5) The Bhāratī-Sthāna,^[118] the junction of the spinal cord with the medulla oblongata, which, by means of nerves like the pneumogastric, etc., regulate the larynx and other organs of articulation. (6) The Lalanā-Cakra, opposite the uvula, which has twelve leaves (or lobes), supposed to be the tract affected in the production of ego-altruistic sentiments and affections, like self-regard, pride, affection, grief, regret, respect, reverence, contentment, etc. (7) The sensorimotor tract, comprising two Cakras: (a) the Ājñā-Cakra (lit., the circle of command over movements) with its two lobes (the cerebellum); and (b) the Manas-Cakra, the sensorium, with its six lobes (five special sensory for peripherally initiated sensations, and one common sensory for centrally initiated sensations, as in dreams and hallucinations). The Ājñāvahā-Nāḍīs, efferent or motor nerves, communicate motor impulses to the periphery from this Ājñā-Cakra, this centre of command over movement; and the afferent or sensory nerves of the special senses, in pairs, the Gandhavahā- Nāḍī (olfactory sensory), the Rūpavahā-Nāḍī (optic), the Śabdavahā-Nāḍī (auditory), the Rasavahā-Nāḍī (gustatory), and the Sparśavahā-Nāḍī (tactile), come from the periphery (the peripheral organs of the special senses) to this Manas- Cakra, the sensory tract at the base of the brain. The Manas-Cakra also receives the Manovahā-Nāḍī, a generic name for the channels along which centrally initiated presentations (as in dreaming or hallucination) come to the sixth lobe of the Manas-Cakra. (8) The Soma-Cakra, a sixteen-lobed ganglion, comprising the centres in the middle of the cerebrum, above the sensorium; the seat of the altruistic sentiments and volitional control—e.g., compassion, gentleness, patience, renunciation, meditativeness, gravity, earnestness, resolution, determination, magnanimity, etc. And lastly, (9) the Sahasrāra-Cakra, thousand-lobed, the upper cerebrum with its lobes and convolutions, the special and highest seat of the Jīva, the soul.”^[119]

Then, dealing with the cerebro-spinal axis and the heart, and their respective relations to the conscious life, the Author cited says:

“Vijñāna-bhikṣu, in the passage just quoted, identifies the Manovahā-Nāḍī (vehicle of consciousness) with the cerebro-spinal axis and its ramifications, and compares the figure to an inverted gourd with a thousand-branched stem hanging down. The Suṣumnā, the central passage of the spinal cord, is the stem of this gourd (or a single brancḥ). The writers on the Yoga (including the authors of the various Tāntrik systems), use the term somewhat differently. On this view, the Manovahā-Nāḍī is the channel of the communication of the Jīva (soul) with the Manas-Cakra (sensorium) at the base of the brain. The sensory currents are brought to the sensory ganglia along afferent nerves of the special senses. But this is not sufficient for them to rise to the level of discriminative consciousness. A communication must now be established between the Jīva (in the Sahasrāra- Cakra, upper cerebrum) and the sensory currents received at the sensorium, and this is done by means of the Manovahā-Nāḍī. When sensations are centrally initiated, as in dreams and hallucinations, a special Nāḍī (Svapnavahā- Nāḍī), which appears to be only a branch of the Manovahā- Nāḍī, serves as the channel of communication from the Jīva (soul) to the sensorium. In the same way, the Ājñāvahā- Nāḍī brings down the messages of the soul from the Sahasrāra (upper cerebrum) to the Ājñā-Cakra (motor tract at the base of the brain), messages which are thence carried farther down, along efferent nerves, to various parts of the periphery. I may add that the special sensory nerves, together with the Manovahā-Nāḍī, are sometimes generally termed Jñānavahā-Nāḍī—lit., channel of presentative knowledge. There is no difficulty so far. The Manovahā-Nāḍī and the Ājñāvahā connect the sensory-motor tract at the base of the brain (Manas-Cakra and Ājñā-Cakra) with the highest (and special) seat of the soul (Jīva) in the upper cerebrum (Sahasrāra), the one being the channel for carrying up the sensory and the other for bringing down the motor messages. But efforts of the will (Ājñā, Prayatna) are conscious presentations, and the Manovahā-Nāḍī must therefore co-operate with the Ājñāvahā in producing the consciousness of effort. Indeed, attention, the characteristic function of Manas, by which it raises sense-presentation to the level of discriminative consciousness, implies effort (Prayatna) on. the part of the soul (Ātmā, Jīva), an effort of which we are conscious through the channel of the Manovahā-Nāḍī. But how to explain the presentation of effort in the motor nerves? Śaṃkara-Miśra, the author of the Upaskāra on Kaṇāḍa’s Sūtras, argues that the Nāḍīs (even the volitional or motor nerves) are themselves sensitive, and their affections are conveyed to the sensorium by means of the nerves of the (inner) sense of touch (which are interspersed in minute fibrillae among them). The consciousness of effort, then, in any motor nerve, whether Ājñāvahā (volitional motor) or Prāṇa-vahā (automatic motor, depends on the tactile nerves or nerves of organic sensation mixed up with it. Thus the assimilation of food and drink by the automatic activity of the Prāṇas implies an (automatic) effort (Prayatna) accompanied by a vague organic consciousness, which is due to the fact that minute fibres of the inner touch-sense are interspersed with the machinery of the automatic nerves (the Prāṇavahā-Nāḍīs)

To a certain extent the localizations here made must be tentative. It must, for instance, be a matter of opinion whether the throat centre corresponds with the carotid, laryngeal, or pharyngeal, or all three; whether the navel centre corresponds with the epigastric, solar, or lumbar, the Ājñā with the cavernous plexus, pineal gland, pituitary body, cerebellum, and so forth. For all that is known to the contrary each centre may have more than one of such correspondences. All that can be said with any degree of certainty is that the four centres, above the Mūlādhāra, which is the seat of the presiding energy, have relation to the genito-excretory, digestive, cardiac, and respiratory functions, and that the two upper centres (Ājñā and Sahasrāra) denote various forms of cerebral activity, ending in the repose of pure Consciousness. The uncertainty which prevails as regards some of those matters is indicated in the Text itself, which shows that on various of the subjects here debated differing opinions have been expressed as individual constructions of statements to be found in the Tantras and other Śāstras.

There are, however, if I read them correctly, statements in the above-cited accounts with which, though not uncommonly accepted, I disagree. It is said, for instance, that the Ādhāra Cakra is the sacro-coccygeal plexus, and that the Svādhiṣṭhāna is the sacral plexus, and so forth. This work, however, not to mention others, makes it plain that the Cakras are in the Suṣuṃnā. Verse 1 speaks of the

“Lotuses inside the Meru (spinal column); and as the Suṣuṃnā supports these (that is, the lotuses) She must needs be within the Meru.” This is said in answer to those who, on the strength of a passage in the Tantra-cūḍāmani, erroneously suppose that Suṣuṃnā is outside the Meru. In the same way the Commentator refutes the error of those who, relying on the Nigama-tattva-sāra, suppose that not only Suṣuṃnā, but Iḍā, and Piṅgalā, are inside the Meru. Verse 2 says that inside Vajrā (which is itself within Suṣuṃnā) is Citriṇī, on which the lotuses are strung as it were gems, and which like a spider’s thread pierces all the lotuses which are within the backbone. The Author in the same place combats the view, based on the Kalpa-Sūtra, that the lotuses are within Citriṇī. These lotuses are in the Suṣuṃnā; and as Citriṇī is within the latter, she pierces but does not contain them. Some confusion is raised by the statement in v. 51, that the lotuses are in or on the Brahma-Nāḍī. But by this is meant appertaining to this Nāḍī, for they are in Suṣuṃnā, of which the Brahma- Nāḍī is the central channel. The commentator Viśvanātha, quoting from the Māyā-Tantra, says that all the six lotuses are attached to the Citriṇī Nāḍī (Citriṇī-grathita [grathitaṃ]). One conclusion emerges clearly from all this, namely, that the Lotuses are in the vertebral column in Suṣuṃnā, and not in the nerve plexuses which surround it. There in the spinal column they exist as extremely subtle vital centres of Prāṇa- Śakti and centres of consciousness.

In this connection I may cite an extract from an article on the “Physical Errors of Hinduism,”^[120] for which I am indebted to Professor Sarkar’s work:

“It would indeed excite the surprise of our readers to hear that the Hindus, who would not even touch a dead body, much less dissect it, should possess any anatomical knowledge at all.... It is the Tantras that furnish us with some extraordinary pieces of information concerning the human body.... But of all the Hindu Śāstras extant, the Tantras lie in the greatest obscurity.... The Tāntrik theory, on which the well-known Yoga called ‘Ṣaṭcakra- bheda’ is founded, supposes the existence of six main internal organs, called Cakras or Padmas, all bearing a special resemblance to that famous flower, the lotus. These are placed one above the other, and connected by three imaginary chains, the emblems of the Ganges, the Yamunā, and the Sarasvatī.... Such is the obstinacy with which the Hindus adhere to these erroneous notions, that, even when we show them by actual dissection the non-existence of the imaginary Cakras in the human body, they will rather have recourse to excuses revolting to common sense than acknowledge the evidence of their own eyes. They say, with a shamelessness- unparalleled, that these Padmas exist as long as a man lives, but disappear the moment he dies.”^[121]

This, however, is nevertheless quite correct, for conscious and vital centres- cannot exist in a body when the organism which they hold together dies. A contrary conclusion might indeed be described as “shameless” stupidity.^[122]

The Author of the work from which this citation is made says that, though these Cakras cannot be satisfactorily identified, the Tāntriks must nevertheless have obtained their knowledge of them by dissection. By this he must refer to the physical regions which correspond on the gross plane to, and are governed by, the Cakras proper, which as subtle, vital, and conscious centres in the spinal cord are invisible to any but a Yogī’s vision,^[123] existing when the body is alive and disappearing when vitality (Prāṇa) leaves the body as part of the Liṅga-śarīra.

It is a mistake, therefore, in my opinion, to identify the Cakras with the physical plexuses mentioned. These latter are things of the gross body, whereas the Cakras are extremely subtle vital centres of various Tāttvik operations. In a sense we can connect with these subtle centres the gross bodily parts visible to the eyes as plexuses and ganglia. But to connect or correlate and to identify are different things. Indian thought and the Sanskrit language, which is its expression, have a peculiarly penetrative and comprehensive quality which enables one to explain many ideas for which, except by paraphrase, there is no equivalent meaning in Englisḥ. It is by the Power or Śakti of the Ātmā or Consciousness that the body exists. It is the collective Prāṇa which holds it together as an individual human unit, just as it supports the different Principles and Elements (Tattva) of which it is composed. These Tattvas, though they pervade the body, have yet various special centres of operation. These centres, as one might otherwise suppose, lie along the axis, and are the Sūkṣma-Rūpa, or subtle forms of that which exists in gross form (Sthūla-Rūpa) in the physical body which is gathered around it. They are manifestations of Prāṇa-Śakti or Vital Force. In other words, from an objective standpoint the subtle centres, or Cakras, vitalize and control the gross bodily tracts which are indicated by the various regions of the vertebral column and the ganglia, plexuses, nerves, arteries, and organs, situate in these respective regions. It is only therefore (if at all) in the sense of being the gross outer representatives of the spinal centres that we can connect the plexuses and so forth with the Cakras spoken of in the Yoga books. In this sense only the whole tract, which extends from the subtle centre to the periphery, with its corresponding bodily elements, may be regarded as the Cakra. As the gross and subtle are thus connected, mental operation on the one will affect the other. Certain forces are concentrated in these Cakras, and therefore and by reference to their function they are regarded as separate and independent centres. There are thus six subtle centres in the cord with grosser embodiments within the cord itself, with still grosser sheaths in the region pervaded by the sympathetics Iḍā and Piṅgalā, and other Nāḍīs. Out of all this and the gross compounded elements of the body are fashioned the organs of life, the vital heart of which is the subtle Cakra by which they are vivified and controlled. The subtle aspects of the six centres according to Tāntrik doctrine must not be overlooked whilst attention is paid to the gross or physiological aspect of the body. As previously and in the Commentary to the thirty-fifth verse of the Ānandalaharī explained, there are six Devas—Śaṃbhu, Sadāśiva, Īśvara, Viṣṇu, Rudra, Brahmā—whose abodes are the six Lokas or regions: viz., Maharloka, Tapaloka, Janaloka, Svarloka, Bhuvarloka, and Bhūrloka (the Earth). It is these Divinities who are the forms of Consciousness presiding over the Ṣaṭcakra. In other words, Consciousness (Git) as the ultimate experiencing principle, pervades and is at base all being. Every cell of the body has a consciousness of its own. The various organic parts of the body which the cells build have not only particular cell-consciousness, but the consciousness of the particular organic part which is other than the mere collectivity of the consciousness of its units. Thus there may be an abdominal consciousness. And the consciousness of such bodily region is its Devatā—that is, that aspect of Cit which is associated with and informs that region. Lastly, the organism as a whole has its consciousness, which is the individual Jīva. Then there is the subtle form or body of these Devatās, in the shape of Mind—supersensible “matter” (Tanmātra); and sensible “matter”—namely, ether, air, fire, water, earth, with their centres at the Ājñā, Viśuddha, Anāhata, Maṇipūra, Svādhiṣṭhāna and Mūlādhāra. Of these six Tattvas, not only the gross human body, but the vast Macrocosm, is composed. The six Cakras are therefore the divine subtle centres of the corresponding physical and psychical sheaths. The seventh or supreme centre of Consciousness is Parama-Śiva, whose abode is Satya- Ioka, the Cosmic aspect of the Sahasrāra in the human body. The Supreme, therefore, descends through its manifestations from the subtle to the gross as the six Devas and Śaktis in their six abodes in the world-axis, and as the six centres in the body-axis or spinal column. The special operation of each of the Tattvas is located at its individual centre in the microcosm. But, notwithstanding all such subtle and gross transformations of and by Kula-Kuṇḍalinī, She ever remains in Her Brahman or Svarūpa aspect the One, Sat, Git, and Ānanda, as is realized by the Yogī when drawing the Devī from Her worldabode in the earth centre (Mūlādhāra) he unites Her with Parama-Śiva in the Sahasrāra in that blissful union which is the Supreme Love (Ānanda).

In a similar manner other statements as regards these Cakras should be dealt with, as, for instance, those connected with the existence of the “Petals” the number of which in each case has been said to be determined by characteristics of the gross region which the particular Cakra governs. The centres are said to be composed of petals designated by certain letters. Professor Sarkar^[124] expresses the opinion that these petals point to either the nerves which go to form a ganglion or plexus, or the nerves distributed from such ganglion or plexus. I have been told that the disposition of the Nāḍīs at the particular Cakra in question determines the number of its- petals.^[125] In the five lower Cakras their characteristics are displayed in the number and position of the Nāḍīs or by the lobes and sensory and motor tracts of the higher portions of the cerebrospinal system. As I have already explained, the Cakra is not to be identified with the physical ganglia and plexuses, though it is connected with, and in a gross sense represented by them. The lotuses with these petals are within the Suṣumnā and they are there represented as blooming upon the passage through them of Kuṇḍalī. The letters are on the petals.

The letters in the six Cakras are fifty in number—namely, the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet less Kṣa, according to the Kamakāla-mālinī-Tantra cited in v. 40, or the second or cerebral La (ib.). All these letters multiplied by 20 exist potentially in the Sahasrāra, where they therefore number 1,000 giving that Lotus its name. There are, on the other hand, 72,000 Nāḍīs which rise from the Kaṇḍa. Further, that these letters in the Cakras are not gross things is shown by vv. 28 and 29, which say that the vowels of the Viśuddha are visible to the enlightened mind (Dīpta-buddhi) only—that is, the Buddhi which is free of impurity resulting from worldly pursuits, as the effect of the constant practice of Yoga. Verse 19 and other verses speak of the letters there mentioned as being coloured. Each object of perception, whether gross or subtle, has an aspect which corresponds to each of the senses. It is for this reason that the Tantra correlates sound, form and colour. Sound produces form, and form is associated with colour. Kundalī is a form of the Supreme Śakti who maintains all breathing creatures. She is the source from which all sound or energy, whether as ideas or speech, manifests. That sound or Mātṛkā when uttered in human speech assumes the form of letters and prose and verse, which is made of their combinations. And sound (Śabda) has its meaning—that is, the objects denoted by the ideas which are expressed by sound or words. By the impulse of Icchā-Śakti acting through the Prāṇa-vāyu (vital force) of the Ātmā is produced in the Mūlādhāra the sound power called Parā, which in its ascending movement through other Cakras takes on other characteristics and names (Paśyantī and Madhyamā), and when uttered by the mouth appears as Vaikharī in the form of the spoken letters which are the gross aspect of the sound in the Cakras themselves (see vv. 10 and 11). Letters when spoken are, then, the manifested aspect in gross speech of the subtle energy of the Śabdabrahman as Kuṇḍalī. The same energy which produces these letters manifesting as Mantras produces the gross universe. In the Cakras is subtle Śabda in its states as Parā, Paśyantī, or Madhyamā-Śakti, which when translated to the vocal organ assumes the audible sound form (Dhvani) which is any particular letter. Particular forms of energy of Kuṇḍalī are said to be resident at particular Cakras, all such energies existing in magnified form in the Sahasrāra. Each manifested letter is a Mantra, and a Mantra is the body of a Devatā. There are therefore as many Devatās in a Cakra as there are petals which are surrounding (Āvaraṇa) Devatās or Śaktis of the Devatā of the Cakra and the subtle element of which He is the presiding Consciousness. Thus, Brahmā is the presiding Consciousness of the Mūlādhāra lotus, indicated by the Bindu of the Bīja La (Lain), which is the body of the earth Devatā; and around and associated with these are subtle forms of the Mantras, which constitute the petals and the bodies of associated energies. The whole human body is in fact a Mantra, and is composed of Mantras. These sound powers vitalize, regulate, and control, the corresponding gross manifestations in the regions surrounding them.

Why, however, particular letters are assigned to particular Cakras is the next question. Why, for instance, should Ha be in the Ājñā and La in the Mūlādhāra? It is true that in some places in the Tantras certain letters are assigned to particular elements. Thus, there are certain letters which are called Vāyava-Varṇa, or letters pertaining to the Vāyu- Tattva; but an examination of the case on this basis fails to account for the position of the letters as letters which are assigned to one element may be found in a Cakra the predominant Tattva of which is some other element. It has been said that in the utterance of particular letters the centres at which they are situated are brought into play, and that this is the solution of the question why those particular letters were at their particular centre. A probable solution is that given by me in my “Śakti and Śākta”.^[126] Apart from this one can only say that it is either Svabhāva or the nature of the thing, which in that case is as little susceptible of ultimate explanation as the disposition in the body of the gross organs themselves; or the arrangement may be an artificial one for the purpose of meditation, in which case no further explanation is necessary.

The four Bhāvas, or states of sound, in the human body are so called as being states in which sound or movement is produced or becomes, evolving from Parā-Śakti in the body of Īśvara to the gross Vaikharī-Śakti in the body of Jīva. As already stated, in the bodily aspect (Adhyātma) the Kāraṇa-Bindu resides in the Mūlādhāra centre, and is there known as the Śakti-Pinda^[127] or Kuṇḍalinī.^[128] Kundalī is a name for Śabda-brahman in human bodies. The Ācārya, speaking of Kuṇḍalinī, says: “There is a Śakti called Kuṇḍalinī who is ever engaged in the work of creating the universe. He who has known Her never again enters the mother’s womb as a child or suffers old age.” That is, he no longer enters the Saṃsāra of world of transmigration.^[129] This Kāraṇa-Bindu exists in a non-differentiated condition.^[130]

The body of Kuṇḍalī is composed of the fifty letters or sound-powers. Just as there is an apparent evolution^[131] in the cosmic body of Īśvara, represented in the seven states preceding from Sakala-Parameśvara to Bindu, so there is a similar development in the human body in Kuṇḍalī who is the Īśvarī, therein. There evolved the following states, corresponding with the cosmic development—viz., Śakti, Dhvani, Nāda, Nirodhikā, Ardhendu, Bindu. These are all states of Kuṇḍalī Herself in the Mūlādhāra, and are known as Parā sound. Each one of the letters composing the body of Kuṇḍalī exists in four states as Parā-Śakti, or in the succeeding states of sound, Paśyanti, Madhyamā, and Vaikharī to which reference is later made. The first is a state of differentiated sound, which exists in the body of Īśvara; the second and third as existing in the body of Jīva are stages towards that complete manifestation of differentiated sound in human speech which is called Vaikharī-Bhāva. In the cosmic aspect these four states are Avyakta, Īśvara, Hiraṇya-garbha and Virāt. The Artha-sṛṣṭi (object creation) of Kuṇḍalinī are the Kalās, which arise from the letters such as the Rudra and Viṣṇu- Mūrtis and their Śaktis, the Kāmas and Gaṇeśas and their Śaktis, and the like. In the Sakala-Parameśvara or Śabda- brahman in bodies—that is, Kuṇḍalinī-Śakti—the latter is called Cit-Śakti or Śakti simply, “when Sattva enters”—a state known as the Paramakāsāvasthā. When She into whom Sattva has entered is next “pierced” by Rajas, She is called Dhvani, which is the Akṣarāvasthā. When She is again “pierced” by Tamas, She is called Nāda. This is the Avyaktāvasthā, the Avyakta-Nāda which is the Para-bindu. Again, She in whom Tamas abounds is, as Rāghava-Bhatta says, called Nirodhika; She in whom Sattva abounds is called Ardhendu; and the combination of the two (Icchā and Jñāna) in which Rajas as Kriyā-śakti works is called Bindu.

Thus it has been said:

“Drawn by the force of Icchā-Śakti (will), illumined by Jñāna-Śakti (knowledge), Śakti the Lord appearing as male creates (Kriyā-Śakti, or action).”

When the Kāraṇa-Bindu “sprouts” in order to create the three (Bindu, Nāda, and Bīja) there arises that unmanifested Brahman-word or Sound called the Śabdabrahman (Sound Brahman).^[132]

It is said:

“From the differentiation of the Kārana-Bindu arises the unmanifested ‘Sound’ which is called Śabdabrahman by those learned in Śruti.”^[133]

It is this Śabdabrahman which is the immediate cause of the universe, which is sound and movement manifesting as idea and language.

This sound, which is one with the Kāraṇa-Bindu, and is therefore all-pervading, yet first appears in man’s body in the Mūlādhāra.

“It is said in the Mūlādhāra in the body the ‘air’ (Prāṇa-vāyu) first appears. That ‘air’ acted upon by the effort of a person desiring to speak, manifests the all-pervading Śabda-brahman.”^[134]

The Śabdabrahman which is in the form of the Kāraṇa-Bindu when it remains motionless (Niṣpanda) in its own place (that is, in Kuṇḍalī, who is Herself in the Mūlādhāra) is called Parā- Śakti of speecḥ. The same Śabdabrahman manifested by the same “air” proceeding as far as the navel, united with the Manas, possessing the nature of the manifested Kārya Bindu with general (Sāmānya-spanda) motion, is named Paśyantī speecḥ.^[135] Paśyantī, which is described as Jñānātmaka and Bindvātmaka (in the nature of Cit and Bindu), extends from the Mūlādhāra to the navel, or, according to some accounts, the Svādiṣṭhāna.

Next, the Śabdabrahman manifested by the same “air” proceeding as far as the heart, united with the Buddhi, possessing the nature of the manifested Nāda and endowed with special motion (Viśeṣa-spanda) is called Madhyamā speecḥ.^[136] This is Hiraṇyagarbha sound, extending from the region of Paśyantī to the heart. Next,^[137] the same Śabdabrahman manifested by the same air proceeding as far as the mouth, developed in the throat, etc., articulated and capable of being heard by the ears of others, possessing the nature of the manifested Bīja with quite distinct articulate (Spaṣṭatara) motion, is called Vaikharī speech.^[138] This is the Virāt state of sound, so called because it “comes out”.

This matter is thus explained by the Ācārya:

“That sound which first arises in the Mūlādhāra is called Parā; next Paśyantī; next, when it goes as far as the heart and is joined to the Buddhi, it is called ‘Madhyamā’.”

This name is derived from the fact that She abides “in the midst”. She is neither like Paśyantī nor does She proceed outward like Vaikharī, with articulation fully developed. But She is in the middle between these two.

The full manifestation is Vaikharī of the man wishing to cry out. In this way articulated sound is produced by air.^[139] The Nityā-Tantra also says: “The Parā form rises in the Mūlādhāra produced by ‘air’; the same ‘air’ rising upwards, manifested in the Svādhiṣṭhāna, attains the Paśyantī^[140] state. The same slowly rising upwards and manifested in the Anāhata united with the understanding (Buddhi), is Madhyamā. Again rising upwards, and appearing in the Viśuddha, it issues from the throat as Vaikharī.”^[141]

As the Yogakuṇḍalī-Upaniṣad^[142] says:

“That Vāk (power of speecḥ) which sprouts in Parā gives forth leaves in Paśyantī, buds forth in Madhyamā, and blossoms in Vaikharī. By reversing the above order sound is absorbed. Whosoever realizes the great Lord of Speech (Vāk) the undifferentiated illuminating Self is unaffected by any word, be it what it may.”

Thus, though there are four kinds of speech, gross- minded men (manuṣyāh sthūladṛśaḥ)^[143] who do not understand the first three (Parā, etc.), think speech to be Vaikharī alone,^[144] just as they take the gross body to be the Self, in ignorance of its subtler principles. Śruti says: “Hence men think that alone to be speech which is imperfect”—that is, imperfect in so far as it does not possess the first three forms.^[145]

Śruti also says:^[146]

“Four are the grades of speech—those Brāhmaṇās who are wise know them: three are hidden and motionless; men speak the fourth.”

The Sūta-Saṃhitā also says:

“Apada (the motionless Brahman) becomes Pada (the four forms of speecḥ), and Pada may become Apada. He who knows the distinction between Pada^[147] and Apada, he really sees himself becomes) Brahman.”^[148]

Thus, the conclusions of Śruti and Smṛti are that the “That” (Tat) in the human body has four divisions (Parā, etc.). But even in the Parā form the word Tat only denotes the Avyakta with three Guṇas, the cause of Parā, and not the unconditioned Brahman who is above Avyakta. The word “Tat” which occurs in the transcendental sayings means the Śabdabrahman, or Īśvara endowed with the work of creation, maintenance, and “destruction,” of the Universe. The same word also indicates indirectly (Lakṣaṇayā) the unconditioned of supreme Brahman who is without attributes. The relation between the two Brahmans is that of sameness (Tādātmya). Thus, the Devī or Śakti is the one consciousness-bliss (Cidekarasarūpiṇī)—that is, She is ever inseparate, from Cit. The relation of the two Brahmans is possible, as the two are one and the same. Though they appear as different (by attributes), yet at the same time they are one.

The commentator cited then asks, How, can the word Tat in the Vaikharī form indicate Brahman and replies that it only does so indirectly. For sound in the physical form of speech (Vaikharī) only expresses or is identified with the physical form of Brahman (the Virāt), and not the pure Supreme Brahman.

The following will serve as a summary of correspondences noted in this and the previous Chapter. There is first the Nirguṇa-Brahman, which in its creative aspect is Saguṇa Śabdabrahman, and assumes the form of Parabindu, and then of the threefold (Tri-bindu); and is the four who are represented in the sense above stated by the four forms of speech, sound or state (Bhāva).

The causal (Kāraṇa) or Supreme Bindu (Para-bindu) is unmanifest (Avyakta), undifferentiated Śiva-Śakti, whose powers are not yet displayed, but are about to be displayed from out the then undifferentiated state of Mūlaprakṛti. This is the state of Supreme Speech (Parā-Vāk), the Supreme Word or Logos, the seat of which in the individual body is the Mūlādhāra-Cakra. So much is clear. There is, however, some difficulty in co-ordinating the accounts of the threefold powers manifesting upon the differentiation of the Great Bindu (Mahā-bindu). This is due in part to the fact that the verses in which the accounts appear are not always to be read in the order of the words (Śabda-krama), but -according to the actual order in fact, whatever that may be (Yathāsaṃbhavaṃ).^[149] Nextly, there is some apparent variance in the commentaries. Apart from names and technical details, the gist of the matter is simple and in accordance with other systems. There is first the unmanifested Point (Bindu), as to which symbol St. Clement of Alexandria says^[150] that if from a body abstraction be made of its properties, depth, breadth, and length, that which remains is a point having position, from which, if abstraction be made of position,^[151] there is the state of primordial unity. There is one Spirit, which appears three-fold as a Trinity of Manifested Power (Śakti). As so manifesting, the one (Śiva-Śakti) becomes twofold, Śiva and Śakti, and the relation (Nāda) of these two (tayor mithaḥ samavāyaḥ) makes the threefold Trinity common to so many religions. The One first moves as the Great Will (Icchā), then as the Knowledge or Wisdom (Jñāna) according to which Will acts, and then as Action (Kriyā). This is the order of Śaktis in Īśvara. So, according to the Paurāṇik account, at the commencement of creation Brahma wakes. The Saṃskāras then arise in His mind. There arises the Desire to create (Icchā-Śakti); then the Knowledge (Jñāna- Śakti) of what He is about to create; and lastly, the Action (Kriyā) of creation. In the case of Jīva the order of Jñāna, Icchā, Kriyā. For He first considers or knows something. Informed by such knowledge, He wills and then acts. The three powers are, though counted and spoken of as arising separately, inseparable and indivisible aspects of the One. Wherever there is one there is the other, though men think of each separately and as coming into being—that is, manifested in time—separately.

According to one nomenclature the Supreme Bindu becomes threefold as Bindu (Kārya), Bīja, Nāda. Though Śiva is never separate from Śakti, nor Śakti from Śiva, a manifestation may predominantly signify one or another. So it is said that Bindu is in the nature of Śiva (Śivātmaka) and Bīja of Śakti (Śaktyātmaka), and Nāda is the combination of the two (tayor mithaḥ samavāyaḥ). These are also called Mahābindu (Parābindu), Sitabindu (White Bindu), Ṣonabindu [Śoṇabindu] (Red Bindu), and Miśrabindu (Mixed Bindu). These are supreme (Parā), subtle (Sūkṣma), gross (Sthūla). There is another nomenclature—viz., Sun, Fire, and Moon. There is no question but that Bīja is Moon, that from Bīja issues the Śakti Vāmā, from whom comes Brahmā, who are in the nature of the Moon and Will-Power (Icchā- Śakti).^[152] Icchā-Śakti in terms of the Guṇas of Prakṛti is Rajas Guṇa [Rajoguṇa], which impels Sattva to self-display. This is Paśyantī Śabda, the seat of which is in the Svādhiṣṭhāna Cakra. From Nāda similarly issue Jyeṣṭhā Śakti and Viṣṇu, and from Bindu Raudrī and Rudra, which are Madhyamā and Vaikharī Śabda, the seats of which are the Anāhata and Viśuddha Cakras respectively. According to one account^[153] Bindu is “Fire” and Kriyā-Śakti (action), and Nāda is “Sun” and Jñāna-Śakti, which in terms of the Guṇas are Tamas and Sattva respectively.^[154] Rāghava-bhatta, however, in his Commentary on the Śāradā, says that the Sun is Kriyā because, like that luminary, it makes all things visible, and Jñāna is Fire because knowledge burns up all creation. When Jīva through Jñāna knows itself to be Brahman it ceases to act, so as to accumulate Karma, and attains Liberation. (Mokṣa). It may be that this refers to the Jīva, as the former represents the creation of Īśvara.

In the Yogīnīhṛdaya-Tantra it is said that Vāmā and Icchā-Śakti are in the Paśyantī body; Jñāna and Jyeṣṭhā are called Madhyamā; Kriyā-Śakti is Raudrī; and Vaikharī is in the form of the universe.^[155] The evolution of the Bhāvas is given in the Śāradā-Tilaka^[156] as follows: the all-pervading Śabdabrahman or Kundalī emanates Śakti, and then follow Dhvani, Nāda, Nirodhikā, Ardhendu, Bindu. Śakti is Cit with Sattva (Paramākāśāvasthā); Dhvani is Cit with Sattva and Rajas (Akṣarāvasthā); Nāda is Cit with Sattva, Rajas, Tamas. (Avyaktāvasthā); Nirodhikā is the same with abundance of Tamas (tamaḥ-prācuryāt); Ardhendu the same with abundance of Sattva; and Bindu the combination of the two. This Bindu is called by the different names of Parā and the rest, according as it is in the different centres, Mūlādhāra and the rest. In this way Kuṇḍalī, who is Icchā, Jñāna, Kriyā, who is both in the form of consciousness (Tejorūpā) and composed of the Guṇas (Gunātmikā), creates the Garland of Letters (Varṇamālā).

The four Bhāvas have been dealt with as coming under Nāda, itself one of the following nine manifestations of Devī.

Paṇḍit Anantakṛṣṇa-Śāstrī, referring to Lakṣmīdhara’s commentary on v. 34 of Ānandalaharī, says:^[157]

“‘Bhagavatī is the word used in the text to denote Devī. One that possesses Bhaga is called Bhagavatī (feminine). Bhaga signifies the knowledge of (1) the creation, (2) destruction of the universe, (3) the origin of beings, (4) the end of beings, (5) real knowledge or divine truth, and (6) Avidyā, or ignorance. He that knows all these six items is qualified for the title Bhagavān. Again, Bha = 9. “Bhagavatī” refers to the nine-angled Yantra (figure) which is used in the Candrakalā-vidya.’

“According to the Āgamas, Devī has nine manifestations which are:

“1. Kala group—lasting from the twinkling of an eye to the Pralaya time. The sun and moon are included in this group. Time.

“2. Kula group—consists of things which have form and colour. Form.

“3. Nāma group—consists of things which have name. Name.

“4. Jñāna group—Intelligence. It is divided into two branches: Savikalpa (mixed and subject to change), and Nirvikalpa (pure and unchanging). Cit.

“5. Citta group—consists of (1) Ahaṃkāra (egoism), (2) Citta, (3) Buddhi, (4) Manas, and (5) Unmanas. Mind.

“6. Nāda group—consists of (1) Rāga (desire),^[158] (2) Icchā (desire^[158] strengthened, or developed desire), (3) Kṛti (action, or active form of desire), and (4) Prayatna (attempt made to achieve the object desired). These correspond, in order, to (1) Parā (the first stage of sound, emanating from Mūlādhāra), (2) Paśyantī (the second stage), (3) Madhyamā (the third stage), and (4) Vaikharī (the fourth stage of sound as coming out of the mouth). Sound.

“7. Bindu group—consists of the six Cakras from Mūlādhāra to Ājñā. Psychic Essence, The Spiritual Germ.^[159]

“8. Kalā group—consists of fifty letters from Mūlādhāra to Ājñā. Keynotes.^[160]

“9. Jīva group—consists of souls in the bondage of matter.

“The Presiding Deities or Tattvas of the four constituent parts of Nāda are Māyā, Śuddha-vidyā, Maheśa, and Sadāśiva. The Commentator deals with this subject fully, quoting extracts from occult works.

The following is a translation of a few lines from Nāma-kalā-vidyā,^[161] a work on phonetics, which will be of interest to the reader:

“‘Parā is Ekā (without duality); its opposite is the next one (Paśyantī); Madhyamā is divided into two, gross and subtle forms; the gross form consists of the nine groups of letters; and the subtle form is the sound which differentiates the nine letters... One is the cause, and the other the effect; and so there is no material difference between the sound and its gross forms.’

“Com. ‘Ekā’: When the three Guṇas, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, are in a state of equilibrium (Sāṃya), that state is called Parā. Paśyantī is the state when the three Guṇas become unequal (and consequently produce sound). The next stage is called Madhyamā; the subtle form of this is called Sūkṣma-madhyamā, and the second and gross form is called Sthūla-madhyamā, which produces nine distinct forms of sound represented by nine groups of letters; viz., (and all the other vowels), ka (क) (Kavarga, 5 in number), ca (च) (Cavarga, 5), ṭa (ट) (Ṭavarga, 5), ta (त) (Tavarga, 5), pa (प) (Pavarga, 5), ya (य) (Ya, Ra, La and Va), śa (श) (Śa, Ṣa, Sa and Ha), and kṣa (क्ष) (Kṣa). These letters do not in reality exist, but represent only the ideas of men. Thus all the forms and letters originate from Parā, and Parā is nothing but Caitanya (Consciousness).

“The nine groups or Vyūhas (manifestations of Devī) above enumerated are, again, classed under the following three heads: (1) Bhoktā (enjoyer)—comprises No. 9, Jīvavyūha. (2) Bhogya (objects of enjoyment)—comprises, groups Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8. (3) Bhoga (enjoyment)—comprises No. 4, Jñāna-vyūha.

“The above is the substance of the philosophy of the Kaulas as expounded by Śrī Śaṃkarācārya in this śloka of Ānandalaharī (No. 34).

In commenting on this, Lakṣmīdhara quotes several verses from the Kaula-Āgamas, of which the following is one:

“‘The blissful Lord is of nine forms. This God is called Bhairava. It is He that confers enjoyment (bliss) and liberates the souls (from bondage). His consort is Ānandabhairavī, the ever-blissful consciousness (Caitanya). When these two unite in harmony, the universe comes into existence.’

“The Commentator remarks here that the power of Devī predominates in creation, and that of Śiva in dissolution.”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Dr. Brojendranath Seal, p. 337, Appendix to Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar’s “Positive Background of Hindu Sociology”. The word Dhaminī is also used for nerve. It is to be noted, however, that the present work uses Sirās for other than cranial nerves, for in v. I, it calls Iḍā and Piṅgalā-Nāḍīs or Sirās.

[2]:

See Ferrier’s “Functions of the Brain”.

[3]:

Ibid.,

[4]:

See Ferrier’s “Functions of the Brain,” p. 80.

[5]:

Auguste Forel’s “Hygiene of Nerves and Mind,” p. 95.

[6]:

See Foster and Shore’s “Physiology,” pp. 206, 207.

[7]:

“Manual of Physiology,” by G. N. Stewart, 5th edition, p. 657 (1906).

[8]:

Ibid.

[9]:

Śāṇḍilya Upaniṣad, Ch. I, where the Nāḍīs are given and their purification spoken of; Dhyāna-bindu Upaniṣad, and as to Suṣuṃnā see Maṇḍala- brāhmaṇa Upaniṣad, First Brāhmaṇa.

[10]:

Hence She is called in the Lalitā-Sahasranāma (v. 106) Mūlādhārāṃbujārūḍhā. Fire, Sun and Moon are aspects of the differentiated Parabindu or Kāmakalā (v. ante). See the Chapter on Sun, Moon and Fire in “Garland of Letters”

[11]:

The Sun generally represents poison, and the moon nectar (Śāṇḍilya Upaniṣad, Ch. I). Both were obtained at the churning of the ocean, and represent the upbuilding and destructive forces of Nature.

[12]:

The Hindus have long known that breathing is done through one nostril for a period of time and then through the other. In Prāṇāyāma to make the breathing change one nostril is closed. But the skilled Yogī can shift the breathing at his will without closing a nostril with his fingers. At the moment of death breathing is through both nostrils at one and the same time.

[13]:

Similarly, there are three Nāḍīs which in Latāsādhanā are worshipped in the Madanāgāra—viz., Cāndri, Saurī, Āgneyī, representing the sun, moon and fire.

[14]:

P. 340, Appendix to Professor Sarkar’s “Positive Background of Hindu Sociology”, subsequently published in his “Positive Sciences of the Hindus”. The author annexes a plan which attempts to give a rough idea of the relative positions of the principal nerves of the sym- paṃetic spinal system.

[15]:

Some of these are referred to in the present work: see v.l.

[16]:

Citing Saṅgītaratnākara, Ślokas 144-156; also the Yogārṇava- Tantra. This account has in parts been criticized by an Indian medical friend, who tells me that it is in those parts influenced too much by Western physiology.

[17]:

Varāha Upaniṣad, Ch. V.

[18]:

See Ch. V, Varāha Up. and Dhyānabindu Upaniṣad and Ch. III, Yogakuṇḍalī Upaniṣad.

[19]:

Derived from Mūla (root) and Ādhāra (support).

[20]:

Śāṇḍilya Upaniṣad, Ch. I, where also the centres for birds and other animals are given. In some diagrams (Kashmir “Nāḍī-cakra”) Kuṇḍalī is represented above the position given in the Text.

[21]:

This and other lotuses hang head downwards except when Kuṇḍalī passes through them, when they turn upwards.

[22]:

These Vṛttis or qualities (see post) denoting four forms of bliss are not given in the text here translated, but in Tarkālankāra’s Commentary to the Mahānirvāṇa-Tantra.

[23]:

In this and other cases meditation is done from the right (dakṣiṇā- vartena). See v. 4, Ṣaṭcakra-nirupaṇa cited as S.N.

[24]:

The Dhyānabindu Upaniṣad associates the Bījas with the five Prāṇas. Thus “Laṃ” is associated with Vyāna.

[25]:

The Creator is called Savitā because He creates.

[26]:

Who, according to Sammohana-Tantra, Ch. II, acts as keeper of the door.

[27]:

Viz., chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow, seed.

[28]:

Yogīnīhṛdaya Tantra, Ch. I.

[29]:

See v. 49, S. N.

[30]:

These correspond with the three and a half Bindus of which the Kubjikā Tantra speaks. See ante.

[31]:

Entrance to the Suṣumnā.

[32]:

For another definition see Dhyānabindu Upaniṣad, where all the Cakras are named. Another derivation is “own abode” (of Śakti).

[33]:

The diagrams or maṇḍalas symbolic of the elementals are also given, as here stated, in the first chapter of the Śāradā-Tilaka and in the Viśvasāra-Tantra, cited at p. 25 of the Prāṇa-toṣiṇī, with the exception that, according to the Viśvasāra Tantra, the Maṇḍala of water is not a crescent, but eight-cornered (Aṣṭāśra). Different Tantras give different descriptions. See Śāradā, Ch. I.

[34]:

An animal like an alligator. See Plate III.

[35]:

For another derivation, derived from Samaya worship, see Commentry on the Lalitā-Sahasranāma, vv. 88, 99.

[36]:

P. 10.

śabda-brahmeti taṃ prāha sākṣād devaḥ sadāśivaḥ,
anāhateṣu cakreṣu sa śabdaḥ parikīrttnate.
anāhaṭaṃ mahācakraṃ hṛdaye sarvajantuṣu,
tatra omkāra ityukto guṇatraya-samanvitaḥ.

[37]:

Cited by Bhāskararāya’s Comm, on Lalitā, v. 121, on the title of the Devī as Nāda-rūpā; and in v. 218, where she is described as Nādarūpiṇī, referring also to Yogīnīhṛdaya-Tantra.

[38]:

According to the Śāradā, Ch. I (and to the same effect Prapañcasāra-Tantra) the colours of the Bhūtas are as follows: Ākāśa (ether) is transparent (Svaccha); Vāyu (air) is black (Kṛṣṇa); Agni (fire) is red (Rakta); Ap water is white (Śveta); and Pṛthivī (earth) is yellow (Pīta).

[39]:

This steady, still, state is that of the Ātmā as such. See Maṇḍalabrāhmaṇa Upaniṣad, Brāhmaṇas II, III.

[40]:

“Saundarya Laharī”, Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Private Ltd., pp. 40-41.

[41]:

That is, abode of the Devi of speecḥ.

[42]:

This is sometimes represented as a circle with a number of dots in it, for as the Prapañcasāra-Tantra says, Ākāśa has innumerable Suṣira—that is, Chidra, or spaces between its substance. It is because of its interstitial character that things exist in space.

[43]:

This term is generally applied to cases arising between two persons who are attached to one another, as man and wife.

[44]:

Usually understood as affection towards those younger or lower than oneself.

[45]:

Through reverence or respect.

[46]:

Or it may refer to the six which are technically called ūrmi—that is, hunger, thirst, sorrow, ignorance (moha), decay, and death.

[47]:

At first sight this might appear not to be so, but the importance of the anus is well known to medical experts, its sensitivity having even given rise to what has been called a “psychology of the anus”.

[48]:

The nose is a centre at which sexual excitement may be aroused or subdued. Though the reproductive organ is higher up than the Mūlādhāra the sexual force ultimately proceeds from the latter.

[49]:

V. post.

[50]:

V. post.

[51]:

In mental worship the jewelled altar of the Iṣṭadevatā is in the eight-petalled lotus below Anāhata (see Plate V). The Isle of Gems is a supreme state of Consciousness, and the Ocean of Nectar is the infinite Consciousness Itself. As to the causal bodies, see “Garland of Letters”.

[52]:

As to this term see “Mahāmāyā” and “Kāmakalāvilāsa,” by A. Avalon.

[53]:

The Kāmakalāvilāsa says: “bindu-trayamayas tejas-tritayaḥ” (three Bindus and three fires). “Tripurasundarī sits in the Cakra which is composed of Bindus (bindumaye-cakre), Her abode being the lap of Kāmeśvara, whose forehead is adorned by the crescent moon. She has three eyes, which are Sun, Moon, and Fire.”

[54]:

The Māhesvari-Saṃhitā says: “Sūrya, Candra, and Vahni, are the three Bindus; and Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Saṃbhu are the three lines.”

[55]:

The Kāmakalāvilāsa says: “ekapañcāṣadakṣarātma [ekapañcāṣaḍakṣarātma?]” (She is in the form of the 51 letters). Śee A. Avalon’s edition and translation of “Kāmakalāvilāsa”.

[56]:

This appears to be in conflict with the previous statement of Rāghava-Bhatta, that Bindu is Moon and Nāda the Sun.

[57]:

Also called Hakārārdha—that is, half the letter Ha (ह).

[58]:

bindu-trayaṃ hārdha-kalā ca ityatra prathamo binduḥ kāmākhyā caramā-kalā ca iti pratyāhāra-nyāyena kāmakaletyuch-yate.

[59]:

tasyāḥ svarūpaṃ sphuṭa-śiva-śaktī-samāgama-bījāṃkurarūpiṇī parā śaktirityārabhya kāmaḥ kamanīyatayā kalā ca dahanendu-vigrahau bindū ityantena nirṇītaṃ kāmakalāvilāse tadrūpetyarthaha (ib.).

[60]:

kāmayoḥ kaleti vā, taduktaṃ, tripurā-siddhānte:
tasya kāmeśvarākhyasya kāmeśvaryāś ca parvati.
kalākhyā salīlā sā ca ithyātā kāmakaleti sā.

[61]:

kāmaś cāsau kalārūpā ceti vā.

[62]:

kāmapadamatra-vācyatāyāḥ kālīpurāṇe pratipādanāt.
kāmārtham āgatā yasmān mayā sārdhaṃ mahā-girau.
kāmākhyā procyate devī nīlakūtarahogatā.
kāmadā kāminī kāṃyā kāntā kāmāṅgadāyinī.
kāmāṅganāśinī yasmāt kāmākhyā tena kathyate.
iti ṣadakṣaramidaṃ [ṣaḍakṣaramidaṃ?] nāma (ib.).

[63]:

mukhaṃ binduṃ kṛtvā kucayugaṃ adhas tasya tadadho.
hakārārdhaṃ dhyāyet haramahīṣi te manmathakalāṃ (v. 19).

(Let him contemplate on the first Bindu as the face of the Devī, and on the other two Bindus as Her two breasts, and below that on the half Ha.) Half Ha is the Yonī, the womb, and origin of all. See Lalitā, v. 206.

[64]:

Kulanidhi. In its literal ordinary sense Kula means race or family, but has a number of other meanings: Śakti (Akula is Śiva), the spiritual hierarchy of Gurus, the Mūlādhāra, the doctrine of the Kaula- Tāntriks, etc.

[65]:

Viśṇu, Brahmā and Rudra of the Sattva, Rajas and Tamas qualities respectively.

[66]:

This is the Commentator’s meaning of Ekām tām. Ekā—a+i=e. According to the Viśva Dictionary, “A” has among other meanings that of Īśa or Śiva, and, according to the anekārtha-dhvani-mañjarī Lexicon, I=Manmatha, that is, Kāma, or desire. Ekā is therefore the spouse of Śiva, or Śivakāma, the desire or will of Śiva.

[67]:

Introduction to Lalitā.

[68]:

The portion of the Yantra which is of common form and which encloses the particular design in its centre. Reference may, however, also be here made to the three outer lines of the Śrī-cakra.

[69]:

V. post. The Kāma-Bīja is Klīṃ. Klīṃkārā is Śivakāma. Here Īm means the Kāmakalā in the Turīya state through which Mokṣa is gained, and hence the meaning of the saying (ib., v. 176) that he who hears the Bīja without Ka and La does not reach the place of good actions—that is, he does not go to the region attained by good actions, but to that attainable by knowledge alone (see ib., v. 189, citing Vāmakeśvara-Tantra).

[70]:

Other instances may be given, such as the Tripurārṇava, which says that the Devī is called Tripurā because She dwells in the three Nāḍīs (Suṣumnā, Piṅgalā, and Iḍā; v. post) and in Buddhi, Manas, Citta (v. post),

[71]:

V. 177.

[72]:

According to a note of R. Anantakṛṣṇa-Śāstri, translator of the Lalitā, p. 213, the three “feet” are explained in another work of Bhāskararāya as follows: White, the pure Saṃvit (Consciousness) untainted by any Upādhis; red, the Parāhaṃta (Supreme Individuality), the first Vṛtti (modification) from the Saṃvit; and the mixed—the above mentioned as one inseparable modification (the Vṛtti) of “I”. These are known as the “three feet” (Caraṇa-trītaya), or Indu (white), Agni (red), Ravi (mixed).

[73]:

So also the Devī Bhāgavata Pr. says: “The Śāmbhavī is white; Śrī-vidyā red; and Śyāmā, black.” The Yantra of Śrī-vidyā is the Śrī-cakra mentioned.

[74]:

Śaṃkarācārya-granthāvalī (Vol. II), ed. Śrī Prasanna-Kumāra Śāstrī. The editor’s notes are based on the Commentary of Acyutānanda-Svāmī.

[75]:

atha pañcamayāge abhedabuddhyā ātmānaṃ śiva-rūpaṃ ekātmā- naṃ vibhāvya ādhārāt paramaśivāntaṃ sūtrarūpāṃ sūkṣmāṃ kuṇḍalinīṃ sarvaśakti-rūpāṃ vibhāvya sattva-rajas-tamoguṇa-sūcakaṃ brahmā- viṣṇu-śiva-śaktyātmakaṃ sūryāgnicandrarūpaṃ bindu-trayaṃ tasyā aṅge vibhāvya adhaś citkalāṃ dhyāyet (Comm, to v. 19).

[76]:

That is. He who creates, from Vi+rich.

[77]:

He who takes away or destroys (harati) all grief and sin.

[78]:

The same.

[79]:

mukhaṃ binduṃ kṛtvā rajoguṇasūcakaṃ viriñcyātmakaṃ binduṃ mukhaṃ kṛtvā, tasyādho hṛdaya-sthāne sattva-tamo-guna-sūcakaṃ hari- harātmakaṃ bindudvayaṃ kucayugaṃ kṛtvā, tasyādhaḥ yoniṃ guṇa-traya- sūcikām hari-hara-viriñcyātmikāṃ sūkṣmāṃ citkalāṃ hakārārdhaṃ kṛtvā yonyantargata-trikoṇākṛtiṃ kṛtvā dhyāyet (ib.).

[80]:

See p. 199, et seq., Nityapūjā-paddhati, by Jaganmohana-Tarkālaṃkāra.

[81]:

That is equal feeling; or being one with; union of Śiva and Śakti.

[82]:

tathā ca śrīkrame:
bindutrayasya deveśi prathamaṃ devi vaktrakaṃ,
bindudvayaṃ stanaḍvandvaṃ hṛdi sthāne niyojayet.
hakārādhaṃ kalāṃ sūkṣmāṃ yonimadhye vicintayet.

[83]:

taduktaṃ bhāva-cūdāmanau:
mukhaṃ binduvadākāraṃ tadadhaḥ kuca-yugmakaṃ
tadadhaśca hakārārdhaṃ supariṣkṛtamaṇḍalaṃ.

The second line of this verse is also printed tadadhaḥ saparārdhaṃ cha. But this means the same thing. Sapara is Hakāra, as Ha follows Sa. For further Dhyānas and mode of meditation, see p. 199 of the Nityapūjā paddhati of Jaganmohana-Tarkālaṃkāra.

[84]:

Pheṭkārinī-Tantra, Ch. I:

tebhya eva samutpannā varṇā ye viṣṇu-śūlinoḥ
mūrtayaḥ śakti-saṃyuktā ucyante tāḥ krameṇa tu.

And so also Viśvasāra-tantra (see Prāṇatoṣiṇī, 10):

śivo brahmā tathā viṣṇurokāre ca pratiṣṭhitāh,
akāraś ca bhaved brahmā ukāraḥ saccidātmakaḥ,
makāro rudra ityukta iti tasyārthakalpanā.

[85]:

Ch. III.

[86]:

Nityapūjā-paddhati, p. 80, by Jaganmohana-Tarkālaṃkāra.

[87]:

See p. 117, post.

[88]:

Nityapūjā-paddhati, loc. cit.

[89]:

Quoted in the Dīpikā to v. 7 of the Haṃsopaniṣad and see Saṃgītaratnākara, Ch. I, Prakaraṇa ii.

(1) Mūlādhāra—Parama, Sahaja, Vīrānanda, Yogānandā.

(2) Svādhiṣṭhāna—Praśraya, Krūratā, Garvanāśa, Mūrcchā, Avajñā, Aviśvāsa.

(3) Maṇipūra—Suṣupti, Tṛṣṇā, Īrṣyā, Piśunatā, Lajjā, Bhaya, Ghṛṇā, Moha, Kaṣāya, Viṣāditā.

(4) Anāhata—Laulyapraṇāśa, Prakata, Vitarka, Anutāpitā, Āśā, Prakāśa, Cintā, Samūhā, Samatā, Daṃbha, Vaikalya, Viveka, Ahaṃkṛti.

(5) Viśuddhi—Prāṇava, Udgītha, Huṃphaṭ, Vaṣat [Vaṣaṭ], Svadhā, Svāhā, Namaḥ, Amṛta, Ṣadja [Ṣaḍja?], Ṛṣabha, Gāndhāra, Madhyama, Pañcama, Dhaivata, Niṣāda, Viṣa.

(6) Lalanā-Cakra—Mada, Māna, Sneha, Śoka, Khedla, Lubdhatā,
Arati, Saṃbhrama, Ūrmi, Śraddhā, Toṣa, Uparodhitā.

(7) Ājña-Cakra—Sattva āvirbhāva, Raja āvirbhāva, Tama āvirbhāva.

(8) Manas-Cakra—Svapna, Rasopabhoga, Ghrāṇa, Rūpopalaṃbha, Sparśa, Śabdabodha.

(9) Sahasrāra or Soma-Cakra—Kṛpā, Kṣamā, Ārjava, Dhairya, Vairāgya, Dhṛti, Sammada, Hāsya, Romāñcanicaya, Dhyanāśru, Sthiratā, Gāṃbīrya, Udyama, Acchatva, Audārya, Ekāgratā.

[90]:

Credulity, suspicion, disdain, delusion (or disinclination), false knowledge (lit., destruction of everything which false knowledge leads to), pitilessness.

[91]:

Shame, treachery, jealousy, desire, supineness, sadness, worldliness, ignorance, aversion (or disgust), fear.

[92]:

Hope, care or anxiety, endeavour, mineness (resulting in attachment), arrogance or hypocrisy, sense of languor, egoism or self-conceit, discrimination, covetousness, duplicity, indecision, regret.

[93]:

Mercy, gentleness, patience or composure, dispassion, constancy, prosperity (spiritual), cheerfulness, rapture or thrill, humility or sense of propriety, meditativeness, quietude or restfulness, gravity (of demeanour), enterprise or effort, emotionlessness (being undisturbed by emotion), magnanimity, concentration.

[94]:

Both were extracted at the churning of the ocean, and, as so spoken, of, represent the destructive and upbuilding forces of the world.

[95]:

E.g., with Daṃbha (arrogance) Lolatā (covetousness), Kapatatā (duplicity), we find Āśā (hope), Ceṣṭā (endeavour), Viveka (discrimination).

[96]:

That is, the ordinary as opposed to the reversed (viloma) order. Thus, to read the alphabet as A to Z is anuloma; to read it backwards, Z to A, is viloma. In the above matter, therefore anuloma is evolution (sṛṣṭi) or the forward movement, and viloma (nivṛtti) the path of return.

[97]:

See “Garland of Letters,” Chapter on “Causal Śaktis of the Praṇava”.

[98]:

See “Garland of Letters,” Chapter on “Kalās of the Śaktis”.

[99]:

V. 121. Lalitā-Sahasranāma.

[100]:

See Paṇḍit R. Anantakṛṣṇa Śāstrī, “Saundarya Laharī,” p. 36 (Ganesḥ. & Co., (Madras) Private Ltd.) The passage within quotation marks is taken from, that work.

See “Wave of Bliss,” by A. Avalon.

[101]:

Māyā to Sadāśiva are the Śiva-Tattvas described in “Garland of Letters”.

[102]:

See “Wave of Bliss,” ed. A. Avalon.

[103]:

P. 38 of Paṇḍit Anantakṛṣṇa-Śāstrī’s “Saundaryalaharī”, Ganesh & Co. (Madras) Private Ltd.

[104]:

Dr. B. D. Basu, of the Indian Medical Service, in his Prize Essay on the Hindu System of Medicine, published in the Guy's Hospital Gazette (1889), cited in Vol. XVI, “Sacred Books of the Hindus,” by Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar.

[105]:

Saṃmohana-Tantra, II, 7, or according to the Tripurā-sārasamuccaya, cited in v. 1, from the ḥead to the Ādhāra.

[106]:

V. post.

[107]:

Vide “Introduction to Tantra-Śāstra” pp. 49-51 for a brief description of the Cakras, including Lalanā and Kalā Cakras.

[108]:

Ch. II, v. 18.

[109]:

Ed. Ānandāśrama Series XXIX, p. 145. Prāṇa does not here mean gross breath, but that which in the respiratory centres appears as such and which appears in other forms in other functions and parts of the body.

[110]:

Brahmānanda-Svāmī, a native of Palghat, in the Madras Presidency, late Guru of H. H. the late Mahārajā of Kashmir. The work is printed at Jummoo.

[111]:

I am not sure that the author himself was aware of this in all cases. He may have been quoting himself from some lists without other knowledge on the subject. The list has, to my eyes, in some respects an uncritical aspect—e.g., apart from bracketed notes in the text, Kāmarūpa and Pūrṇagiri are Pīṭhas, the others, Jālaṃdhara and Auddīyāṇa, not being mentioned. The last quotation he makes draws a distinction between the Cakras and Ādhāras.

[112]:

The six Adhvās are Varṇa, Pada, Kalā, Tattva, Bhuvana and Mantra. The sixteen Ādhāras are named in the commentary to verse 33 of the text, the elements are also described in the text. The three Liṅgas are Svayaṃbhu, Bānā [Bāṇa?] and Itara also dealt with in the text.

[113]:

“The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology,” by Professor Benoy Kumar Sarkar.

[114]:

P. 54 of the translation of Srīśh-Candra-Vasu, to which I refer because the author cited does so. The rendering, however, does not do justice to the text, and liberties have been taken with it. Thus, a large portion has been omitted without a word of warning, and at p. 14 it is said, that Kuṇḍalinī is “of the form of electricity”. There is no warrant for this in the text, and Kuṇḍalinī is not, according to the Śāstra, mere electricity.

[115]:

Both the work of Professor Sarkar and the Appendices of Dr. Seal are of interest and value, and gather together a considerable number of facts of importance on Indian Geography, Ethnology, Mineralogy, Zoology, Botany and Hindu Physiology, Mechanics, and Acoustics. These Appendices have since been republished separately as a work entitled “Positive Sciences of the Hindus”.

[116]:

These and other Vṛttis, as they are called, are enumerated in the “Introduction to Tantra-Śāstra”.

[117]:

That is, petals.

[118]:

This is a name for the Viśuddha-Cakra as abode of the Goddess of Speech (Bhāratī).

[119]:

The author cited refers to the Jñāna-Saṃkalinī-Tantra, Saṃhitā- ratnākara, and for functions of Ājñāvahā-Nāḍī and Manovahā-Nāḍī to Śaṃkara Miśra’s Upaskāra.

[120]:

Published in Vol. XI, pp. 436-440, of the Calcutta Review.

[121]:

“Physical Errors of Hinduism,” Calcutta Review, Vol. XI, pp. 436-440.

[122]:

This reminds one of the story of a materialistic doctor who said he had done hundreds of post-mortem examinations, but had never yet discovered the trace of a soul.

[123]:

So it is said: tāni vastūni tanmātrādīnī pratyakṣaviṣayāni (Such things as the Tanmātra and others are subject to immediate perception by Yogīns only). A Yogī “sees” the Cakras with his mental eye (Ājñā). In the case of others they are a matter of inference (Anumāna).

[124]:

Op. cit., p. 292.

[125]:

See my “Introduction to Tantra Śāstra”. My reference there to the lotus as a plexus of Nāḍīs is to the gross sheath of the subtle centre, which gross sheath is said to contain the determinant, though in another sense it is the effect, of the characteristics of the subtle centre.

[126]:

See Chapter, “Kuṇḍalī-yoga”.

[127]:

She is so called because all the Śaktis are collected or “rolled into one mass” in Her. Here is the Kendra (centre) of all the Śaktis. The Svacchanda as also the Śāradā says:

piṇḍaṃ kuṇḍalinī-śaktiḥ
padaṃ haṃsaḥ prakīrtitaḥ.
rūpaṃ bindur iti khyatam
rūpātītas tu cinmayaḥ.

[Kuṇḍalinī-Śakti is Piṇḍa; Haṃsaḥ [Haṃsa] is Pada; Bindu is Rūpa, but Cinmaya (Cit) is formless]: The first, as potentiality of all manifested power, is in the Mūlādhāra-Cakra; the second, as Jīvātmā, is in Anāhata, where the heart beats, the life-pulse. Bindu, the causal form body, as Supreme Śakti, is in Ājñā, and the formless Consciousness passing through Bindu Tattva manifesting as Haṃsa, and again resting as Kuṇḍalinī, is in the Brahma-randhra (see Tīkā of first Śaṃketah of Yogīnīhṛdaya-Tantra).

[128]:

adhyātmaṃ tu kāraṇa-binduḥ śaktipiṇḍa-kuṇḍalyādi-śabdavācyo mūlādhārasthaḥ
  —(Bhāskararāya, Comm. Lalitā, v. 132).

[129]:

śaktiḥ kuṇḍalinīti viśva-jananavyāpārabaddholyamāṃ jñātvā itthaṃ na punar viśanti jananīgarbhe'rbhakatvaṃ narāḥ. ityādirītyācāryair vyavahritaḥ
  —(ib.).

[130]:

so'yam avibhāgāvasthaḥ kāraṇa-binduḥ (ib.).

[131]:

Vikāra or Vikṛti is something which is really changed, as curd from milk. The former is a Vikṛti of the latter. Vivarta is apparent but unreal change, such as the appearance of what was and is a rope as a snake.

The Vedānta-sāra thus musically defines the two terms:

satattvato'nyathāprathā vikāra ityudīritaḥ
atattvato'nyathāprathā vivarta ityudāhritaḥ.

[132]:

ayaṃ eva ca yadā kārya-bindvādi-trayajananonmukho bhidyate, taddaśāyāṃ avyakataḥ śabda-brahmābhidheyo ravas tatrotpadyate
  —(ib.).

When this (Kāraṇa-bindu) inclines to produce the three Bindus the first of which is Kārya-bindu and bursts or divides itself (Bhidyate, then at that stage there arises the indistinct (Avyakta) sound (Rava) which is called Śabdabrahman.

[133]:

Tadapyuktaṃ:

bindos tasmād bhidyamānād avyaktātmā ravo'bhavat,
sa ravaḥ śruti-sampannaiḥ śabda-brahmeti gīyate (ib.).

So it has been said: From the bursting Bindu there arises the indistinct sound which is called Śabdabrahman by those versed in Śruti.

[134]:

so'yam ravaḥ kāraṇa-bindu-tādātmyāpannatvāt sarvagato'pi vyañjaka-yatna-saṃskṛta-pavanavaśāt prāṇināṃ mūlādhāra eva abhivyajyate.

Taduktam:

dehe'pi mūlādhāre'smin samudeti samīraṇaḥ,
vivakṣoricchayotthena prayatnena susamskṛtaḥ.
sa vyañjayati tatraiva śabda-brahmāpi sarvagaṃ
  —(ib.).

This sound again being one with the Kāraṇa-bindu and, therefore, everywhere, manifests itself in the Mūlādhāra of animals, being led there by the air purified by the effort made by the maker of the sound. So it is said: In the body also in the Mūlādhāra air arises; this (air) is purified by the effort and will of the person wishing to speak and manifests the Śabda which is everywhere.

[135]:

tad idaṃ kāraṇa-bindvātmakaṃ abhivyaktaṃ śabda-brahma sva- pratiṣṭhatayā niṣpandaṃ tadeva ca parā vāg ityucyate. atha tadeva nābhi-paryantamāgacchatā tena pavanenābhivyaktaṃ vimarśar-ūpeṇa manasā yuktaṃ sāmānya-spanda-prakāśarūpa-kārya-bindumayaṃ sat paśyantī vāg ucyate
  —(ib.).

This evolved Śabdabrahman which is one with the Kāraṇa-bindu when it is in itself and vibrationless (motionless) is called Parā-Vāk; when that again is, by the same air going up to the navel, further evolved and united with mind, which is Vimarśa then it becomes Kārya- bindu slightly vibrating and manifest. It is there called Paśyantī Vāk.

[136]:

atha tad eva śabda-brahma tenaiva vāyunā hṛdaya-paryanta- mabhivyajyamānaṃ niścayātmikayā buddhyā yuktaṃ viśeṣa-spanda- prakāśarūpanādamayaṃ sat madhyamā-vāg ityucyate
—(ib.).

Thereafter the same Śabdabrahman as it is led by the same air to the heart is in a state of manifestation and united with Buddhi which never errs and becomes possessed of Nāda whose vibration is perceptible. It is called Madhyamā-Vāk.

[137]:

atha tad eva vadana-paryantaṃ tenaiva vāyunā kaṇṭhādi-sthāneṣvabhivyajyamānaṃ akārādi-varṇarūpaṃ para-śrotrā-grahaṇa-yogyaṃ spaṣṭatara-prakāśa-rūpa-bījātmakaṃ sat vaikharī-vak ucyate
—(ib.).

Thereafter the same (Śabda-brahman) when led by the same air to the mouth is in a state of manifestation, in the throat and other places and becomes capable of hearing by others, being more manifest as the letters A and others. It is then called Vaikharī-Vāk.

[138]:

That is Śabda in its physical form. Bhāskararāya, in the commentary to the same verse (132) of the Lalitā, gives the following derivations. Vi=much; khara=hard. According to the Saubhāgya-Sudhodaya, Vai=certainly; kha=cavity (of the ear); ra=to go or enter. But according to the Yoga-Śāstras, the Devī who is in the form of Vaikharī (Vaikharī-rūpī) is so called because she was produced by the Prāṇa called Vikhara.

[139]:

Taduktamācāryaiḥ:

mūlādhārāt prathamaṃ udito yaś ca bhāvaḥ parākhyaḥ,
paścāt paśyanty atha hṛdayago buddhiyug madhyamākhyaḥ.
vaktre vaikhary atha rurudiśor asya jantoḥ suṣumnā,
baddhas tasmāt bhavatī pavanapreritā varṇasaṃjñā
  —(Bhāskararāya, op. cit.).

So it has been said by the great teacher (Śaṃkara: Prapañcasāra II. 44): When the child wishes to cry the first state of sound attached to the Suṣumnā as it arises in the Mūlādhāra is called Parā, driven (upward) by air, it next becomes Paśyantī and in the heart united with Buddhi it gets the name of Madhyamā and in the mouth it becomes Vaikharī and from this arise the letters of the alphabet.

[140]:

Bhāskararāya cites Her other name Uttīrṇā (rise up) and the Saubhāgya-Sudhodaya, which says: “As She sees all in Herself, and as She rises (Uttīṛṇā) above the path of action, this Mother is called Paśyantī and Uttīṛṇā.”

[141]:

nityā-tantre’pi:
mūlādhāre samutpannaḥ parākhyo nāda-saṃbhavaḥ,
sa evordhvaṃ tayā nītaḥ svādhiṣṭhāne vijṛṃbhitaḥ.
paśyantyākhyāṃ avāpnoti tathaivhṛdhvaṃ śanaiḥ śanaiḥ,
anāhate buddhi-tattvasameto madhyamābhidhaḥ,
tathā tayordhvaṃ nunnaḥ san viśuddhau kaṇṭhadeśataḥ,
vaikharyākhya ityādi
  —(Bhāskararāya, op. cit.).

The Nityā-tantra also says: From the Mūlādhāra first arises sound which is called Parā. The same led upwards becomes manifest in the Svādhiṣṭhāna and gets the name of Paśyantī. Gently led upward again in the same manner to the Anāhata (in the heart) it becomes united with Buddhi-tattva and is called Madhyamā and led up in the same manner to the Viśuddhi in the region of the throat it gets the name of Vaikharī and so forth.

See also Ch. II, Prapañcasāra-Tantra, Vol. III of Tāntrik Texts, ed. A. Avalon.

[142]:

Ch. III.

[143]:

That is, men who see and accept only the gross aspect of things.

[144]:

itthaṃ caturvidhāsu mātṛkāsu parādi-trayaṃ ajānanto manuṣyāḥ sthūladṛśo vaikharīṃ eva vācaṃ manvate
  —(Bhāskararāya, ib.).

[145]:

tathā ca śrutiḥ:
tasmād yadvāco'nāptam tanmanuṣyā upa- jīvanti iti, anāptaṃ apūrṇaṃ tisṛbhir virahitaṃ ityartha iti veda- bhāṣye.

[146]:

śrutyantare'pi:
catvāri vākparimitā padānī, tāni vidur brāhmaṇā yet manīṣinaḥ.
guhā trīṇi nihitā neṅgayanti, turīyaṃ vāco manuṣyā vadanti
  —(ib.).

[147]:

The Pada, or word, is that which has a termination. Pāṇini says (Sūtra I, iv, 14): “That which ends in Sup (nominal endings) and in Tin (verbal termmations) is called Pada.” Again, the Sup (termination) has five th visions.

[148]:

Bhāskararāya, loc. cit.

[149]:

As pointed out by the author of Prāṇa-toṣiṇī, p. 2 when citing the verse from the Gorakṣa Saṃhitā:

icchā kriyā tathā jñānaṃ gaurī brāhmī tu vaiṣṇavī,
tridhā śaktiḥ sthitā yatra tarparaṃ jyotir oṃ iti.

According to this account of the Devas of different Ādhāras of Prāṇa-Śakti upāsanā the order is (according to sequence of words): Icchā=Gaurī; Kriyā=Brāhmī; Jñāna=Vaiśṇavi.

[150]:

Stromata, Book V, Ch. II, in Vol. IV, Antenicene Library. So also in “Les Mystāres de la Croix,” an eighteenth-century mystical work we read: “Ante omina punctum exstitit; non mathematicum sed diffusivum.”

[151]:

See “Garland of Letters” or Studies in the Mantra-Śāstra.

[152]:

raudrī bindos tato nādāj jyeṣṭhā bījād ajāyata
vāmā tābhyaḥ samutpannā rudrabrahmaramādhipāḥ
saṃjñānecchākriyātmāno vahnīndvarka-svarūpinaḥ.
  —(Śāradā Tilaka, Ch. I.)

[153]:

Yogīnīhṛdaya Tantra: Commentary already cited referring to Saubhāgya-Sudhodaya and Tattvasandoha. See also Tantrāloka, Ch. VI.

[154]:

The following shows the correspondence according to the texts cited:

[Bīja, Ṣoṇabindu]—Śakti, Moon, Vāmā, Brahmā, Bhāratī, Icchā, Rajas,
Paśyantī, Svādhiṣṭhāna,

[Nāda
Miśrabindu]—Śiva-Śakti, Sun, Jyeṣṭhā, Viṣṇu, Viśvaṃbhara,
Jñāna, Sattva, Madhyamā, Anāhata.

[Bindu
Sitabindu]—Śiva, Fire, Raudrī, Rudra, Rudrāṇi, Kriyā, Tamas,
Vaikharī, Viśuddha.

[155]:

icchā-śaktis tathā vāmā paśyantī-vapuṣā sthitā,
jñāna-śaktis tathā jyeṣṭhā madhyamā vāg udīritā
kriyā-śaktis tu raudrīyaṃ vaikharī viśvavigraha.
  —(Cited under v. 22, Comm. Kāmakalāvilāsa.)

[156]:

Chap. I.

[157]:

Anantakṛṣṇa Śāstrī, op, cit., pp. 63-66.

[158]:

Rāga should be translated as “interest,” as in Rāga-kañcuka. Icchā is the will towards action (Kriyā) in conformity therewith. Desire is a gross thing which comes in with the material world.

[159]:

I cite the passage as written, but these terms are not clear to me.

[160]:

I do not know what the Paṇḍit means by this term.

[161]:

“This work is not easily available to Paṇḍits or scholars; we do not find this name in any of the catalogues prepared by European or Indian scholars. The make-secret policy has spoiled all such books. Even now, if we find any MS. dealing with occult matters in the houses of any ancient Paṇḍits, we will not be allowed even to see the book; and actually these works have for a long time become food for worms and white ants,” (Anantakṛṣṇa-Śāstri)