The Serpent Power. Arthur Avalon

According to the experience of others, it is the knowledge (Jnāna) of the identity of Shiva and Ātmā. The Āgamavādīs say that knowledge (Jnāna) of Shakti is Yoga. Other wise men say that the knowledge (Jnāna) of the Purāna Purusha is Yoga; and others again, the Prakritivādīs, declare that the knowledge of the union of Shiva and Shakti is Yoga” (v. 57). “The Devī, by dissolving Kundalinī in the Parabindu, effects the liberation of some Sādhakas through their meditation upon the identity of Shiva and Ātmā in the Bindu. She does so in the case of others by a similar process and by meditation (Chintana) on Shakti. In other cases this is done by concentration of thought on the Paramapurusha, and in others cases by the meditation of the Sādhaka on the union of Shiva and Shakti” (ib.). In fact, the worshipper of any particular Devatā should realize that he is one with the object of his worship. In Pranava worship, for instance, the worshipper realizes his identity with the Ongkāra. In other forms of worship he realizes his identity with Kundalinī, who is embodied by the different Mantras worshipped by different worshippers. In short, Jnāna is Kriyājnāna and Svarūpajnāna. The latter is direct spiritual experience. The former are the meditative processes leading to it. There is here Kriyājnāna, and when Kundalinī unites with Shiva She gives Jnāna (Svarūpa), for Her nature (Svarūpa), as also His, is that.

      After union with Shiva, Kundalī makes Her return journey. After She has repeatedly{84} gone to him, She makes a journey from which, at the will of the Yogī, there is no return. Then the Sādhaka is Jīvanmukta. His body is preserved until such time as the active Karma is exhausted, when he can achieve bodiless (Videha) or Kaivalya Mukti (supreme liberation). “The revered Lord Preceptor”—that is, Shangkarāchāryya—in his celebrated Ānanda-Laharī thus hymns Her return (v. 53):

      “Kuharini, Thou sprinklest all things with the stream of nectar which flows from the tips of Thy two feet; and as Thou returneth to Thine own place, Thou vivifieth and maketh visible all things that were aforetime invisible; and on reaching Thy abode Thou resumeth Thy snake-like coil and sleepeth.” That is, as Her passage upward was Layakrama (dissolution of the Tattvas), so Her return is Srishtikrama (re-creation of the Tattvas). V. 54 says that the Yogī who has practiced Yama and Niyama and the like (that is, the other processes of Ashtāngayoga, including Dhyāna with its resulting Samādhi), and whose mind has been thus controlled, is never again reborn. Gladdened by the constant realization of the Brahman, he is at peace.

      Whether the method above described be or be not effectual or desirable, it must be obvious upon a perusal of the text, which gives an explanation of it, that the Yoga which the author affirms to be the cause of liberation is not merely material, but that it is the arousing of the static vital force (Jīvashakti) and world consciousness (Jagachchaitanya) which makes man what he is. The Yogī thus does claim to secure the Bliss of liberation by making entry thereto through the doors of Karma and Jnānayoga.

      A Brahmo Author{85} who is so little favorable to the Tantra as to describe the difference between it and the Veda as being “as great as that which exists between the Netherworld (Pātāla) and Heaven (Svarga)”{86} does not deny the efficiency of the Tantrik Shatchakra Sādhanā, but contrasts it with the Vaidika-Gāyatrī-Sādhanā in an account of the two methods which I here summarize in inverted commas.

      “The Chakras (the existence of which is not disputed) are placed where the nerves and muscles unite.{87} The Ājnā is the place of the Command. This manifests in the operation of Buddhi. If the command is followed, the Sādhaka becomes pure of disposition (Bhāva) and speech. Speech displays itself in the throat, the region of the Vishuddha. The next lower Chakra is called Anāhata because of its connection with Nāda, which is self-produced in the heart. The Vāyu in Anāhata is Prānashakti. Here when free from sin one can see the Ātmā. Here the Yogī realizes ‘I am He.’ Fire is at the navel. The seat of desire is at the root of the Svādhishthāna. In the lowest lotus the Mūlādhāra are the three Shaktis of Jīva—namely, Ichchhā, Kriyā, and Jnāna—in an unconscious unenlivened state. The Sādhaka by the aid of the Parātmā as fire (Agni) and air (Vāyu){88} awakens these three forces (Shaktis), and ultimately by the grace of the Parātmā he is united with the Turīya Brahman.”

      “In days of old Sādhanā commenced at the Mūlādhāra Chakra; that is, those who were not Sādhakas of the Gāyatrī-Mantra commenced from below at the lowest center. There was a good reason for this, for thereby the senses (Indriya) were controlled. Without such control purity of disposition (Bhāva) cannot be attained. If such purity be not gained, then the mind (Chitta) cannot find its place in the heart; and if the Chitta be not in the heart there can be no union with the Parātmā. The first thing, therefore, which a Sādhaka has to do is to control the senses. Those who achieved this without fixing their minds on the Lord (Īshvara){89} had to go through many difficult and painful practices (such as the Mudrās, Bandhas, etc., mentioned later) which were necessary for the control of the Indriyas and of the action of the Gunas. All this is unnecessary in the Gāyatrī Sādhanā or method. It is true that the senses should be controlled in the three lower centers (Chakras)—that is, cupidity (Lobha) in the Mūlādhāra, lust (Kāma) in the Svādhishthāna at the root of the genitals, and anger (Krodha) at the navel. These three passions are the chief to set the senses in motion, and are the main doors to Hell. The way, however, in which control should be effected is to place the Chitta (mind) on Sattā (existence) of Paramātmā in these Chakras. The Chitta should be taken to each of these three lowest centers and controlled, whereby these passions which have their respective places at those centers are controlled. Whenever, therefore, the senses (Indriya) get out of control, fix the Chitta (mind) on the Paramātmā in the particular Chakra.”

      [To give the above an English turn of thought: if, say, anger is to be controlled, carry the mind to the navel, and there meditate upon the existence of the Supreme One (Paramātmā) in this center, not merely as the Supreme without the body and within the body, but as embodied in that particular part of it; for that is Its manifestation. The result is that the passionate activity of this center is subdued; for its functioning is attuned to the state of the Ātmā which informs it, and both the body and mind attain the peace of the Ātmā on which the self is centered.{90}]

      “Having thus controlled the senses, the Gāyatrī Sādhanā commences, not at the lowest, but at the highest, of the six centers—namely, the Ājnā between the eyebrows. There is no necessity for the difficult and painful process of piercing the Chakras from below.{91} Fix the mind on the Lord (Īshvara) in the highest center. For the ether (Ākāsha) there is the existence (Sattā) of the Supreme Ātmā. There and in the two lower centers (Vishuddha and Anāhata) enjoyment is had with Īshvara. The union between Jīva and Prakriti is called Honey (Madhu) in the Upanishads. By Sādhanā of the Ājnā center (Chakra) purity of being (Bhāvashuddhi) is attained, and purity of speech follows on the attainment of such Bhāva. Yoga with the Supreme Devatā who is all-knowing is had here. He who is freed from all disturbing conditions of body and mind reaches the state which is beyond the Gunas (Gunātīta), which is that of the Supreme Brahman.”

      We may conclude these two criticisms with the true Indian saying somewhat inconsistently quoted in the first: “To dispute the religion (Dharma) of another is the mark of a narrow mind. O Lord! O Great Magician! with whatsoever faith or feeling we call on Thee Thou art pleased.”

      Whatsoever difference there has been, or may be, as to forms and methods, whether in Upāsanā or Yoga, yet all Indian worshippers of the ancient type seek a common end in unity with Light of Consciousness, which is beyond the regions of Sun, Moon, and Fire.

      Recently some attention has been given to the subject in Western literature of an occult kind. Generally its authors and others have purported to give what they understood to be the Hindu theory of the matter, but with considerable inaccuracies. These are not limited to works of the character mentioned. Thus, to take but two instances of these respective classes, we find in a well-known Sanskrit dictionary{92} that the Chakras are defined to be “circles or depressions (sic) of the body for mystical or chiromantic purposes,” and their location has in almost every particular been wrongly given. The Mūlādhāra is inaccurately described as being “above the pubis.” Nor is the Svādhishthāna the umbilical region. Anāhata is not the root of the nose, but is the spinal center in the region of the heart; Vishuddha is not “the hollow between