The Serpent Power. Arthur Avalon

pulls against Prāna, governs the excretory functions; Samāna kindles the bodily fire and governs the processes of digestion and assimilation; Vyāna, or diffused “breathing,” is present throughout the body, effecting division and diffusion, resisting disintegration, and holding the body together in all its parts; and Udāna, the ascending Vāyu, is the so-called “upward breathing.” Prāna is in the heart; Apāna in the anus; Samāna in the navel; Udāna in the throat; and Vyāna pervades the whole body.{261} The five minor Vāyu are Nāga, Kūrmma, Krikara, Devadatta, and Dhananjaya, which manifest in hiccup, closing and opening the eyes, digestion,{262} yawning, and in that Vāyu “which leaves not even the corpse.”{263} The functions of Prāna may be scientifically defined as follows: Appropriation (Prāna), Rejection (Apāna), Assimilation (Samāna), Distribution (Vyāna), and that vital function whereby the relation between the subtle and the gross body is maintained (Udāna). The Prāna represents the involuntary reflex action of the organism, and the Indriyas one aspect of its voluntary activity.

      In the case of the individualized Prāna, or principle which vitalizes the animal organism during its earth life, it may be said, when regarded as an independent principle, to be a force more subtle than that which manifests as terrestrial matter which it vitalizes. In other words, according to this theory, the Ātmā gives life to the earth organisms through the medium of terrestrial Prāna, which is one of the manifestations of that Energy which issues from and is at base the all-pervading Ātmā, as Shakti.

      Ātmā as such has no states, but in worldly parlance we speak of such. So the Māndukya Upanishad{264} speaks of the four aspects (Pada) of the Brahman.

      Chaitanya, or consciousness in bodies, is immanent in the individual and collective gross, subtle, and causal bodies, and as Chit transcends them. One and the same Chit pervades and transcends all things, but is given different names to mark its different aspects in the Jīva. Chit, being immutable, has itself no states; for states can only exist in the products of the changing Prakriti Shakti. From, however, the aspect of Jīva several states exist, which, though informed by the same Chit, may from this aspect be called states of consciousness.{265}

      In the manifested world, Consciousness appears in three states (Avasthā):{266} waking (Jāgrat), dreaming (Svapna), and dreamless slumber (Sushupti). In the waking state the Jīva is conscious of external objects (Bahishprajna), and is the gross enjoyer of these objects through the senses (Sthūlabhuk).{267} The Jīva in this state is called Jāgarī—that is, he who takes upon himself the gross body called Vishva. Here the Jīva consciousness is in the gross body.

      In dreaming (Svapna) the Jīva is conscious of inner objects (Antahprajna), and the enjoyer of what is subtle (Praviviktabhuk)—that is, impressions left on the mind by objects sensed in the waking state. The objects of dreams have only an external reality for the dreamer, whereas the objects perceived when awake have such reality for all who are in that state. The mind ceases to record fresh impressions, and works on that which has been registered in the waking state.

      The first (Jāgrat) state is that of sense perception. Here the ego lives in a mental world of ideas, and the Jīva consciousness is in the subtle body. Both these states are states of duality in which multiplicity is experienced.{268}

      The third state, or that of dreamless sleep (Sushupti), is defined as that which is neither waking nor dreaming, and in which the varied experiences of the two former states are merged into a simple experience (Ekībhuta), as the variety of the day is lost in night without extinction of such variety. Consciousness is not objective (Bahishprajna) nor subjective (Antahprajna), but a simple undifferenced consciousness without an object (Prajnānaghana). In waking the Jīva consciousness is associated with mind and senses; in dreaming the senses are withdrawn; in dreamless slumber mind also is withdrawn. The Jīva called Prajna is for the time being merged in his causal body—that is, Prakriti inseparably associated with Consciousness—that is, with that state of Consciousness which is the seed from which the subtle and gross bodies grow. The state is one of bliss. The Jīva is not conscious of anything,{269} but on awakening preserves only the notion, “Happy I slept; I was not conscious of anything.”{270} This state is accordingly that which has as its object the sense of nothingness.{271} Whilst the two former states enjoy the gross and subtle objects respectively, this is the enjoyer of bliss only (Ānandabhuk)—that is, simple bliss without an object. The Lord is always the enjoyer of bliss, but in the first two states he enjoys bliss through objects. Here he enjoys bliss itself free from both subject and object. In this way the Sushupti state approaches the Brahman consciousness. But it is not that in its purity, because it, as the other two states, are both associated with ignorance (Avidyā)—the first two with Vikriti, and the last with Prakriti. Beyond, therefore, this state there is the “fourth” (Turīya). Here the pure experience called Shuddhavidyā is acquired through Samādhi-yoga. Jīva in the Sushupti state is said to be in the causal (Kārana) body, and Jīva in the Turīya state is said to be in the great causal (Mahākārana) body.{272}

      Beyond this there is a fifth state, “beyond the fourth” (Turīyātīta), which is attained through firmness in the fourth. Here the Īshvara Tattva is attained. This is the Unmesha{273} state of consciousness, of which the Sadākhya Tattva is the Nimesha.273 Passing beyond “the spotless one attains the highest equality,” and is merged in the Supreme Shiva.

      The above divisions—Vishva, Taijasa, and Prajna—are those of the individual Jīva. But there is also the collective or cosmic Jīva, which is the aggregate of the individual Jīvas of each particular state.{274} In the macrocosm these collective{275} Jīvas are called Vaishvānara (corresponding to the individual Vishva body), Hiranyagarbha, and Sūtrātmā{276} (corresponding to the individual Taijasa body); and Īshvara is the name of the collective form of the Jīvas described as Prājna. Cosmically, these are the conscious Lords of the objective, subjective, and causal worlds, beyond which there is the Supreme Consciousness.

      Yoga experience and liberation is attained by passing beyond the first three states of ordinary experience.

      IV. THE GARLAND OF LETTERS (VARNAMĀLĀ)

      Reference is made in the Text and in this Introduction to Shabda, Varna, Mantra. It is said that the letters (Varna) of the alphabet are distributed throughout the bodily centers on the petals of the lotuses, as is shown on Plates II.-VII. In each of the lotuses there is also a seed Mantra (Bīja) of the Tattva of the center. Kundalinī is both light (Jyotirmayī) and Mantra (Mantramayī),{277} and Mantra is used in the process of rousing Her.

      There is perhaps no subject in the Indian Shāstra which is less understood than Mantra and Shabda, of which it is a manifestation. The subject is so important a part of the Tantra-Shāstra that its other title is Mantra-Shāstra. Commonly Orientalists and others describe Mantra as “prayer,” “formulae or worship,” “mystic syllables,” and so forth. These are the superficialities of those who do not know their subject. Whilst I am not aware of any work in any European language which shows a knowledge of Mantra and its science, yet there is perhaps no subject which has been so ridiculed—a not unusual attitude of ignorance. Mantra science may be well founded or not, but even in the latter case it is not the absurdity which some suppose it to be. Those who think so might except Mantras which are prayers, and the meaning of which they understand, for with prayer they are familiar. But such appreciation itself shows a lack of understanding. There is nothing necessarily holy or prayerful about a Mantra. Mantra is a power (Mantrashakti) which lends itself impartially to any use. A man may be injured or killed by Mantra;{278} by Mantra a kind of union with the physical Shakti is by some said to be effected;{279} by Mantra in the initiation called Vedhadīkshā there is such a transference of power from the Guru to the disciple that the latter swoons under the impulse of it;{280} by Mantra the Homa fire may and, according to ideal conditions, should be lighted;{281} by Mantra man is saved, and so forth. Mantra, in short, is a power (Shakti) which is thought-movement vehicled by and expressed in speech. The root “man” means “to think.”

      The creative power of thought is now receiving increasing acceptance in the West. Thought-reading, thought-transference, hypnotic suggestion, magical projections (Mokshana), and shields (Grahana),{282} are becoming known and practiced, not always with good results. The