Shat-cakra-nirupana (the six bodily centres)
by Arthur Avalon | 1919 | 46,735 words | ISBN-10: 8178223783 | ISBN-13: 9788178223780
This is the English translation of the Shat-cakra-nirupana, or “description of the six centres”, representing an ancient book on yoga written in the 16th century by Purnananda from Bengal. This book investigates the six bodily centres famously known as Chakras. The text however actually forms the sixth chapter of the Shri-tattva-cintamani, compiled...
Verse 7
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 7:
वसेदत्र देवी च डाकिन्यभिख्या लसद्वेद बा-हूज्ज्वला रक्त-नेत्रा ।
समानोदितानेक-सूर्य-प्रकाशा प्रकाशं वहन्ती सदा शुद्ध-बुद्धेः ॥ ७ ॥vasedatra devī ca ḍākinyabhikhyā lasadveda bā-hūjjvalā rakta-netrā |
samānoditāneka-sūrya-prakāśā prakāśaṃ vahantī sadā śuddha-buddheḥ || 7 ||Here dwells the Devī Ḍākinī[1] by name; her four arms shine with beauty, and her eyes are brilliant red. She is resplendent like the lustre of many Suns rising at one and the same time.[2] She is the carrier of the revelation of the ever-pure Intelligence.[3]
Commentary by Śrī-Kālīcaraṇa:
In this Śloka the Author speaks of the presence of Ḍākinī-Śaktī in the Ādhāra-Padma. The sense of this verse is that in this Lotus the Devī Ḍākinī dwells.
“She is the Carrier of the revelation of the ever-pure Intelligence”[4] (Prakāśam vahantī sadā śuddha-buddheḥ)—that is, she, Ḍākinī-Śakti, enables the Yogī to acquire knowledge of the Tattva (Tattva-Jñāna). By meditating on her, which is part of Yoga practice, one acquires Tattva-Jñāna. This Devī is the presiding Divinity of this region.
Cf. “The mouth[5] (the lotus) has the letters Va, Śa (palatal), Ṣa (lingual), and Sa, and is presided over by Ḍākinī.”
“Ḍākinī, Rākinī, Kākinī, Lākinī, as also Śākinī and Hākinī, are the queens of the six respective Lotuses.”[6] Elsewhere is given the Dhyāna of Ḍākinī thus: “Meditate on her, the red, the red-eyed Ḍākinī, in the Mūlādhāra, who strikes terror into the hearts of Paśus,[7] who holds in her two right hands the Spear[8] and the Khaṭvāṅga,[9] and in her two left hands the Sword[10] and a drinking-cup filled with wine. She is fierce of temper and shows her fierce teeth. She crushes the whole host of enemies. She is plump of body, and is fond of Pāyasānna.[11] It is thus that she should be meditated upon by those who desire immortality.” Elsewhere she is described as “bright with a Tilaka[12] of vermilion, her eyes ornamented with collyrium, clad in black (antelope’s skin) and decked with varied jewels,” etc.
On the authority of the above passage, which occurs in a Dhyāna of Ḍākinī, she should be meditated upon as clad in black antelope skin.
The Devas Brahmā and others are to be meditated upon as having their faces down or up according to the frame of mind (Bhāva) of the Sādhaka.
The Śāktānanda-taraṅgiṇī[13] quotes the following from the Māyā- Tantra:
“Pārvatī asked: How can they be in the Lotuses which have their heads downward bent?
“Mahādeva said: The Lotuses, O Devī, have their heads in different directions. In the life of action[14] they should be thought of as having their heads downward, but in the path of renunciation[15] they are always meditated upon as having their heads upward turned.”
The rest is clear.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
[2]:
That is, according to Viśvanātha, she is very red.
[3]:
Śuddha-buddhi—Tattva-Jñāna.
[4]:
If the word “sadā” is read separately from “śuddha-buddhi,” it becomes an adverb qualifying “vahantī” and the passage would then mean that “she ever carries revelation of Divine Knowledge”.
[11]:
A kind of milk pudding made of rice boiled in milk with ghee and sugar.
[12]:
[13]:
[14]:
Pṛavrtti-mārga: the outgoing path as distinguished from the Nivṛtti- mārga, or the path of return to the Para-brahman.
[15]:
Nivṛtti-mārga.