Verse 32

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 32:

आज्ञानामांबुजं तद्धिमकरसदृशं ध्यानधामप्रकाशं
  हक्षाभ्यां वै कलाभ्यां परिलसितवपुर्नेत्रपत्रं सुशुभ्रं ।
तन्मध्ये हाकिनी सा शशिसमधवला वक्त्रषट्कं दधाना
  विद्यां मुद्रां कपालं डमरुजपवटीं बिभ्रती शुद्धचित्ता ॥ ३२ ॥

ājñānāmāṃbujaṃ taddhimakarasadṛśaṃ dhyānadhāmaprakāśaṃ
  hakṣābhyāṃ vai kalābhyāṃ parilasitavapurnetrapatraṃ suśubhraṃ |
tanmadhye hākinī sā śaśisamadhavalā vaktraṣaṭkaṃ dadhānā
  vidyāṃ mudrāṃ kapālaṃ ḍamarujapavaṭīṃ bibhratī śuddhacittā || 32 ||

The Lotus named Ājñā^[1] is like the moon, (beautifully white). On its two petals are the letters Ha and Kṣa, which are also white and enhance its beauty. It shines with the glory of Dhyāna.^[2] Inside it is the Śakti Hākinī, whose six faces (vaktraṣaṭka) are like so many moons. She has six arms, in one of which She holds a book^[3]; two others are lifted up in the gestures of dispelling fear and granting boons, and with the rest She holds a skull, a small drum,^[4] and a rosary.^[5] Her mind is pure (Śuddhā-Cittā).

Commentary by Śrī-Kālīcaraṇa:

The Author now describes the Ājñā-Cakra between the eyebrows in the seven verses beginning with this.

“Lotus named Ājñā” (Ājñā-nāma).—“Ājñā of the Guru is communicated here, hence it is called Ājñā.” Here between the eyebrows is the Ājñā (Command), which is communicated from above, hence it is called Ājñā. This Lotus which is well-known is here.^[6]

This Lotus is between the eyebrows, as the following shows. “Going upwards after entering the throat and palate, the white and auspicious Lotus between the eyebrows is reached by Kuṇḍalī. It has two petals on which are the letters Ha and Kṣa, and it is the place of mind (Manas).”

The following are descriptions of the Lotus:

“Like the Moon, beautifully white” (Hima-kara-sadṛśaṃ). This comparison with Candra (Hima-kara) may also mean that this Lotus is cool like the moonbeams (the moon being the receptacle of Amṛta, or Nectar, whose characteristic is coolness), and that it is also beautifully white.

It has been said in “Īśvara-kārtikeya-samvāda”:^[7] “Ājñā-Cakra is above it; it is white and has two petals; the letters Ha and Kṣa, variegated in colour, also enhance its beauty. It is the seat of mind (Manas).”

“Two petals” (Netra-patra).—The petals of the lotus.

“The letters Ha and Kṣa which are also white” (Ha-kṣābhyāṃ kalābhyāṃ parilasitavapuḥ su-śubhraṃ).—These two letters are by their very nature white, and by their being on the white petals the whiteness thereof is made more charming by this very excess of whiteness.^[8] The letters are called Kalās because they are Bījas of Kalās.^[9]

“It shines with the glory of Dhyāna” (Dhyāna-dhāma-prakāśaṃ)—that is, its body shines like the glory of Dhyāna-Śakti.

“Hākinī.”—He next speaks of the presence of the Śaktī Hākinī here. The force of the pronoun Sā (She) in addition to Her name is that She is the well-known Hākinī.

“The gestures of dispelling fear and granting boons” (Mudrā).—This word stands for both Mudrās. There should be six weapons in Her hands, as She has six hands. There are some who read Vidyā and Mudrā as one word, Vidyā-mudrā, and interpret it to mean Vyākhyā-mudrā—the gesture that conveys learning or knowledge—and speak of Her as possessed of four arms. Different manuscripts give different readings. Various manuscripts read these as two words. The wise reader should judge for himself.

In a Dhyāna in another place She is thus described: “Meditate upon Her, the divine Hākinī She abides in the marrow^[10] and is white. In Her hands are the Ḍamaru, the Rudrākṣa rosary, the skull, the Vidyā (the sign of the book), the Mudrā (gesture of granting boons and dispelling fear). She has six red-coloured faces with three eyes in each. She is fond of food cooked with Turminī, and is elated by drinking ambrosia. She is well seated on a white Lotus, and Her mind is exalted by the drink of the King of the Devas gathered from the Ocean.”

The rest is clear. 

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ājñā—command. See Commentary. The Tantrāntara Tantra calls this Cakra the house of Śiva (Śiva-geha).

[2]:

The state of mind which is acquired by meditation (Dhyāna).

[3]:

Vidyāṃ mudrāṃ dadhānā, i.e., she is making the gesture of Vidyā or Pustaka Mudrā and those of dispelling fear and granting boons. It is not that she is carrying a book in her hand. See post.

[4]:

Ḍamaru.

[5]:

Rosary with which “Recitation” (japa) of mantra is done.

[6]:

It is here that Ājñā of the Guru is communicated (Gautamīya- Tantra, cited by Viśvanātha). See Rudra-yāmala, Ch. XXVII, v. 68, which says that the Guru’s Ājñā is communicated (Gurorājñeti).

[7]:

i.e., the Saṃmohana-Tantra.

[8]:

Or the meaning may be that the Ājñā-Cakra has rays cool like the ambrosial rays of the Moon and like the Moon beautifully white.

[9]:

See Introduction, Prapañcasāra-Tantra, Vol. III, Tāntrik Texts, ed. A. Avalon.

[10]:

Majjasthā. According to another reading (cakrasthā) abides in the Cakra.