The Tantras, especially those of heterodox orientation, describe intense practices that are meant to be performed in cremation grounds. Such places are intimately associated with the taboo of death and are commonly believed to be inhabited by evil spirits. The Tantras proclaim that those who are bold enough to practice in such places will be greatly rewarded by the Lord. There was a tradition of radical Tantric ascetics called the Kāpālikas (skull bearers) who dedicated themselves to practicing certain vows, such as living in cremation grounds and eating and drinking from a bowl fashioned from a human skull. Scholars believe that the practices of these Kāpālikas and the ideas behind them were largely what inspired the later Kaula practices and philosophies, although in most cases with the harsh ascetic practices removed in favor of a system that could be practiced by householders. In the modern age, the Aghoris carry on the legacy of Kāpālika practices.

A large part of the motive behind Kāpālika practices was a dissociation from brahmanical orthodoxy. The later Kaula Tantras and their exegetes explain that bondage is the result of ignorance, and the mental constructs that veiled one’s identity as Śiva consisted in large part of concerns about worldly and religious norms. The great master Kṣemarāja says:

“This state of delusion is one of being nailed down by the ‘spikes’ of various anxieties, doubts, and inhibitions, both worldly and religious. It is this that constitutes the state of being a saṃsārin.”1

Śiva is autonomous, non-dual consciousness. As such, He is the all-inclusive Great Reality which is the ground and very form of all that exists. The Ānanda Tantra boldly declares:

“The Lord is without bias and acts in a manner contrary to the common worldly norms. The cause there (of His bestowal of grace) is not the purity of the recipient. Similarly, the goddesses are satisfied in (this) sacrifice by bloody meat, not by applying (the rules concerning) purity.”2

The nature of these “anxieties, doubts, and inhibitions” which veil one’s own autonomous Śiva-nature is explained in the Trivandrum Mahānayaprakāśa:

“‘Red water’ is unitary in nature, and therefore real. Though thoughts, skillful in distinction, divide it into two realities (i.e. water and blood), creating mental difference.”3

In other words, blood, although a unitary entity, is nonetheless conceptually divided into parts, namely its liquidity and its redness. Vikalpas divide up reality into mutually exclusive parts, creating attachment and aversion to the “shoulds” and “should nots” of life. However, as has already been stated, the Great Reality is all-inclusive and unitary. In the Tantras, brahmanical society represents the “psychosis” of these vikalpas, whereas the vows of the Kāpālikas exemplify freedom from them.4 In this respect, Abhinavagupta says, paraphrasing the Kulagahvara Tantra:

“One should not be attached to what is not true (atattva) (moved) by (some foolish) prejudice (pakṣapāta). The eight tenacious errors (graha) explained in the Gahvara should be quickly abandoned as if they were demons (graha) (that take possession of people). (These are the attachments) induced by (pride of one’s) caste, education (vidyā), (one’s) family, (one’s) behavior, the body, country (of origin), (one’s) qualities and wealth.”5

The Great Vow of the Śaiva is thus to see all things with an equal eye, the recognition that all is Śiva. Part of this Vow is to wander through the cremation ground. This was, of course, done literally by the Kāpālikas, but it takes on a subtle meaning in the Kaula Tantras. Yogarāja explains the symbolic significance of the cremation ground:

“…just as this world consisting both of objects to be known and of knowers may be deemed to be overwhelmed by [a great many] hundreds of corpses, namely, objects characterized by insentience — jars, bodies, etc. — so, verily, it may indeed be termed a cremation ground, that is, a garden where dwell the Fathers. As well, since consciousness, [assuming the form of] the Goddess, alone is sentient, and whatever appears different from it — namely, the entire universe, which is illumined (ullāsita) by that awareness — is insentient and may be compared to a corpse, so is the universe [here quite properly compared to] a cremation ground. Furthermore, he deems his awareness satisfied utterly with that world seen as a cremation ground. That is, he understands [his awareness] to be situated in the midst [of a cremation ground], made extremely frightful in virtue of the fact that whatever has come into being is subject to destruction.”6

This same theme is also explained by Kṣemarāja in reference to the visualization of Bhairava:

“Having been surrounded by the goblins in the circle of cremation grounds, you demonstrate that you are the Bhairava of the nature of consciousness, abiding at the center of consciousness streaming towards objects.”7

As would be appropriate, Rājānaka Rāma explains that the body itself is the great cremation ground:

“Show me, [O Lord], that Bhairava form of yours that is propitiated [only] by those energies — fiery (taijasī), etc.— that are engaged in conveying to you as offerings the things of this world collected through constant and unrestrained [i.e., spontaneous] exertion. Show it to me, who am a hero (vīra) moving in this [dark] night of existence (bhavaniśā), in a body that is nothing but a cremation ground replete with abundance of flesh, blood, serum, and bones.”8

The cremation ground is, of course, commonly understood to be the abode of Bhairava. In other words, the abode of the Self is the body, or the world itself.9 Identification with the body and attachment to the various sorts of things listed in the Kulagahvara is destroyed in the blazing pyre of consciousness and transformed into the pure white ashes with which the Lord besmears Himself. This is explained symbolically in the Timirodghāṭa Tantra:

“O Goddess, by eating the body of the beloved, a relative, close friend, benefactor or dear one, one must fly upwards with the Maiden of the Sky, [the power of consciousness].”10

The significance of wandering is explained in the Chummāsaṃketaprakāśa:

“Motionless perception, which is the practice of rejoicing in the majesty of the play of consciousness everywhere, is devoid of fixed abode. Being unobstructed this way, one attains the state of “shaking off” all restrictions of worldliness, like one who wanders. It is universal, yet untouched like water on a lotus leaf.”11

The skull-bowl is symbolic of the world itself, shining white with the light of consciousness. From it, one consumes the essence of one’s own Śiva-nature. The khaṭvāṅga likewise represents the body and the will of the individual, which is by itself insentient, symbolically represented as a skull-topped staff. Wielded by the Self, however, it is empowered and vitalized. The existence of all things is their oneness with the light of consciousness. This is the significance of the ornaments of bone worn by ascetics and by fearsome deities like Bhairava.

Lastly, the great cremation ground could be understood as the Supreme Subject itself, Mahākāla:

“The functions of this (subject) are created (kalpita) (and conditioned), and so merge into the ‘Great Time’ (mahākāla), which, (perpetually) expanding, is the sole abode of the oneness of all things (viśvābheda), consisting of (the awareness that) ‘I am this (universe)’.”12

Bibliography:

Bansat-Boudon, Lyne & Tripathi, Kamaleshadatta. AN INTRODUCTION TO TANTRIC PHILOSOPHY The Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta with the Commentary of Yogarāja. Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016. 2011.

Durvāsāḥ, David. Mahānayaprakāśaḥ. https://mahanaya.org/en/scriptures/mahanayaprakasah/

Durvāsāḥ, David. Chummāsaṃketaprakāśaḥ. https://mahanaya.org/en/scriptures/chummasamketaprakasah/

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Doctrine of Vibration An Analysis of the Doctrines and Practices of Kashmir Shaivism. State University of New York Press. 1987.

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. Tantrāloka: The Light On and Of the Tantras with the Commentary Called Viveka by Jayaratha. Self-published, Anuttaratrikakula. Volumes I-XI. 2023.

Timalsina, Sthaneshwar. Language of Images Visualization and Meaning in Tantras. Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York, NY. 2015.

Wallis, Christopher D. The Recognition Sūtras : A Complete Translation and Explanation of the 1,000-year-old Spiritual Masterpiece the Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya by Rājānaka Kṣemarāja. Mattamayūra Press 3950 Colorado Ave, Unit B Boulder, CO 80303. 2017.

Having attained, by way of amusement, the respective states and instituted the eighteen sciences beginning with the Veda and all systems of philosophies, Lord Śiva, the supreme sovereign, asked by the Divine Bhairavī, the very form of consciousness, inseparate from Himself, promulgated the five traditions which are the essence of the supreme truth through His five mouths.2

The five faces of Śiva are the traditional five forms which correspond to (more accurately, are) the five Brahmamantras, well known to Śaiva traditions; the “limbs” of Sadāśiva3. The motif of the Goddess4 being instructed by the God contains deep metaphysical and philosophical meanings, but it is not necessary to delve into that here. The five faces of Śiva are said to reveal an āmnāya: Tatpuruṣa to the east, Aghora to the south, Sadyojāta to the west, Vāmadeva to the north, and Īśāna above. The āmnāyas are appropriately named: pūrvāmnāya, dakṣiṇāmnāya, paścimāmnāya, uttarāmnāya, and ūrdhvāmnāya. At the esoteric level of the Kālikākrama, these five correspond to the five “flows” (among other such configurations of five) which are the main cycles of that system which pertain to the dynamism of consciousness. A description of each of these āmnāyas is found in the Ciñcinīmatasārasamuccaya, a text belonging to the Kubjikā school which nevertheless is very syncratic.

The pūrvāmnāya is described, in accord with the text, by Mark Dyczkowski:

This tradition transmits the consciousness which pervades the Sky of transcendental reality and through it Trika was brought into this world. Trika doctrine is here embodied as Trikā, the goddess of three-fold form who is the Mistress of the Three Worlds (Tribhuvaneśvarī).5

The paścimāmnāya is the tradition of the Goddess Kubjikā. Although historically it appears to have emerged after the Trika and Krama traditions, I will talk about it next because of how it treats the aforementioned pūrvāmnāya. The word “pūrva” means east, but it can also mean something preceding or prior. This is the context in which it is understood in the Kubjikā Tantras. As I already mentioned, the Trika did predate the Kubjikā tradition historically, but there is also a deeper meaning. In the mythical narrative that underlies the Kubjikā Tantras, after Bhairava is given Kālikā by Her father Himavat, He reveals to Her that in the previous age, the “previous tradition” (i.e. pūrvāmnāya), the ājñā (Command, a technical term with paramount significance in the Kubjikā Tantras which simultaneously refers to divine grace, the supreme state of consciousness, the source of the universe and the traditions), was transmitted between Himself and the Goddess. Now, in order to perfect it, She must receive it and spread it as the paścimāmnāya. The word “paścima”, besides meaning west, can also mean what is final, which in the context of the Kubjikā Tantras refers to the perfected state of the Command, the highest revelation and by extension the highest state of consciousness/being. On a basic level this likely means that the Kubjikā tradition is viewed as perfecting the prior teachings of the Trika, but more fundamentally it means that this, the highest state of consciousness, transcends and encompasses all of the “prior”, that is, lower levels of being. This is indeed the goal of the practitioner of the Kubjikā Tantras, even if such a practitioner doesn’t necessarily view the Trika tradition in this light. More on this later.

Now the Dakṣiṇāmnāya:

Kāmeśvarī descends into this āmnāya. She arises from the three pīṭhas and resides in their centre, pleasing to behold as the early morning sun and yet brilliant like a hundred million lightning flashes. She is the Passionate One, full of the passion (Kāma) which devours Kumārīkula, desirous of herself. Kāmeśvarī descends into the world in the form of a young virgin (kumārī). She melts the Circle of Birth of her own nature by her energy, and by the intent of her own vitality fills it. She is Kulayoginī of divine form, peaceful and pure as translucent crystal. 6

This is what eventually became the Śrīvidyā tradition. Although during the time when the Ciñcinīmatasārasamuccaya was written Śrīvidyā had not yet evolved into a fully developed tradition, the text itself contains evidence of the earliest strata of the cult of the Goddess Kāmeśvarī which would become Śrīvidyā.

The Uttarāmnāya is the Kālikākrama, which teaches that Kālī is Bhānavī, the Sun which rises as the all-consuming Void of consciousness whose twelve rays emerge to greedily devour the world and which dissolve into the inner Sun of the Sun. The most important Goddesses of the post-scriptural Uttarāmnāya are Guhyākālī, Kāmakalākālī and Siddhilakṣmī. Importantly, the paddhatis that explain the worship of these Goddesses revolve around the maṇḍala of the classical Krama, although in some cases the names of the deities are either added where there were none originally or changed.

Ūrdhvāmnāya is given a relevant and detailed exposition in the Kulārṇavatantra, where the deity is Ardhanārīśvara, the combined form of Śiva and Devī. There, the Ūrdhvāmnāya is (not surprisingly) called the best of āmnāyas, and that its true purport can only be known from the oral teachings of a guru. In certain lineages, there is another one above this, the Anuttarāmnāya.

There is also an āmnāya that arises from the secret lower face of Śiva, or the secret “Mouth of the Yoginī”, the Adharāmnāya. According to the Parātantra:

The lower direction is that of the Buddhist path and is presided over by Vajrayoginī. She bestows benefits in this Age of Strife (kaliyuga) to Buddhists, but not ultimate liberation.7

But, according to a practitioner of the Sarvāmnāya system from Nepal, this is the significance of the Adharāmnāya:

Hātakeśī (Goddess of the pātālalokas) bestows all wealth. You please her by meditating on the mūlādhāra region. When you feel either heat, cold, or spanda (trembling) then know that she is pleased. When she is pleased, these following signs will manifest in your outer life: great material wealth, success in all your endeavors, a voice like thunder that will command the respect of all, and perfect health. What more could there be than this? Having attained the prosperous blessings of Hātakeśī, why would you want to continue on from the base-camp? The answer is: mukti. The blessings of Hātakeśī are ultimately illusory. Although success in yoga cannot be won without her blessings, ironically, those blessings must be renounced. And this makes sense. If I am a poor man and renounce a Rolls Royce, is this true renunciation? No, only when I have the wealth to own a Rolls Royce do I have the power to renounce. If I am rich and renounce wealth, then I am a true renunciant. In the same way, we must first obtain the wealth that Hātakeśī has to offer. Then, we must develop the viveka (discrimination) to perceive such wealth as illusion and continue our journey towards the summit.8

The significance of the “journey towards the summit” is explained in the context of Sarvāmnāya by Divakar Acarya:

The āmnāyas all arise from the mouth of Śiva. Śiva may be depicted with multiple mouths, but Śiva is one. For a practitioner, the śāstras of the different āmnāyas are related. They represent stages in the evolution of man back to God. So as we receive initiation, step by step, into each āmnāya, we move closer and closer towards the goal of Tantric practice - the realization that we ourselves are omnipotent.9

Although, as Dyczkowski explains in the context of the practices of the Newars:10

This system is alien to the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley. Indeed, it is so contrary to the spirit of their Kaulism that we may understand it better by the sharp contrast there is with it. The Newars who are qualified to take higher Kaula initiations are given access to their tutelary Kaula goddess. As the family deity, the tradition (āmnāya) to which they belong can only be one. The Newars do, however, concede that access to the worship of one of the Kula goddesses also authorises one to worship all the others. However, this is achieved directly through the one initiation, not in stages. Moreover, each goddess is Kuṇḍalinī within the body and she may rise equally through all the Wheels, whichever one of the goddesses she may be.11

But one should not think that any particular āmnāya or their deities is inherently superior to any other. It was said by another practitioner:

I call God Mā Kālī. This is because I am an initiate of Kālī Vidyā. However, Sthanesvar is an initiate of Śrī Vidyā, and so he calls God Mahātripurasundarī. Kālī and Tripurasundarī are not distinct. The lineages are distinct, but the being who is the focus of these traditions is not different. Many different trekking expeditions climb Mount Everest. But for all of them the goal is the same, the mountain is the same. They may take different routes. They may call the mountain by different names, but the mountain still is what it is. So Devī is one.12

This is also explained by Śrīvidyācārya Amṛtānandanātha in his Cidvilāsastava:

Here worship of the four [Kaula] streams devoted to various deities and consisting of inner elements and the Śākta pantheon, in its highest form, is uniting with the supreme Self that is present at the peak of the transmental state.13

Indeed, in the ritualistic worship of the Śrīcakra, the four primary āmnāyas are worshipped with the (variations of their) primary vidyās. Here Amṛtānanda implies that the same Self is the object of attainment for all of the āmnāyas, hence they are all worshipped together in the ritual worship of just one āmnāya! Maheśvarānanda also says in his Mahārthamañjarī that Bhairava “churns” the inner essence of the four āmnāyas (which here also has the double meaning of the four states of the Krama):

Manthānabhairava, who is God, churns only this reality full of nectar as He churns the ocean of the four waves and no other knowledge.14

Bibliography:

Durvāsāḥ, David. Mahārthamañjarī. https://mahanaya.org/en/scriptures/maharthamanjari/

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Canon of the Śaivāgama and the Kubjikā Tantras of the Western Kaula Tradition. State University of New York Press. 1988.

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. Manthānabhairavatantram Kumārikākhaṇḍaḥ: Section Concerning the Virgin Goddess of the Tantra of the Churning Bhairava. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and D.K. Printworld. Volumes 1-14. 2009.

Lidke, Jeffery S. The Goddess Within and Beyond the Three Cities: Śākta Tantra and the Paradox of Power in Nepāla-Maṇḍala. Bell & Howell Information and Leaming Company. 2000.

Pandit, M.P. Bases of Tantra Sadhana. DIPTI Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry-2. 1972.

Williams, Ben and Campbell, Brian. The Cidvilāsastava "Hymn to the Play of Consciousness". Tripurā Tallikā. 2023.

“The supreme (form of) time, which is (experienced) both as a sequence (krama) (of periods of time) and (eternal time) free of succession, abides within consciousness. (Scripture) declares that Kālī (the Goddess of Time) is the Lord’s supreme power. That very same consciousness, manifesting externally, by (its spontaneous) deployment (praroha), the succession and its absence encompassed within its own nature, abides as the life-giving activity of the vital breath.”1

In other words, the vital breath which animates all of reality is the vibrational power of consciousness. In this context, Time (kāla), which is here personified as the Goddess Kālī, does not refer to the cosmic principle (tattva) of the same name. Rather, it refers to the dynamism of consciousness which brings forth (kālayati) the emanation, persistence, and withdrawal of all things as the sequential movement (krama) of one to the other. But it is not a reality independent of this dynamism that brings it about, it is this dynamism itself. And since the Lord’s power of time, His supreme creative power, brings about and enlivens the cosmos in this way, it is called the vital breath; Prāṇa. This ‘breath of God’ manifests at the microcosmic level as the resonance of one’s own breath. With the understanding that everything is within everything else (i.e. supreme non-dualism), many practices are taught in the tradition where one experiences in the course of their own breathing the entirety of time at its various levels within pure consciousness. One views it as the resonance of pure consciousness. The exhale corresponds to the outpouring of the energies of consciousness into/as the cosmos like the sun which illumines the earth on its course. The inhale corresponds to the repose of the energies of consciousness within their own inner nature, the ‘night’ of the external world (i.e. withdrawal).

A verse from the Svacchanda Tantra explains the relationship between the vital breath and Mantra:

“The god (deva) who resides in the chest of living (breathing) beings spontaneously utters (the Mantra) not uttered by anybody and that none obstructs.”2

Kṣemarāja explains the meaning in his commentary:

“Haṁsaḥ is the supreme formless Lord (paraniṣkalabhaṭṭāraka) whose nature has been described previously. As it is sustained (and presided over) by that, the Middle Breath is essentially the pervasion taught (here). ‘He utters spontaneously’ (means) he pulses radiantly, having transcended the entire procession of denotators and (all that) they denote (in the cosmic order), as the great vitality of Mantra, the essence of which is supreme oneness. For there is no one who utters it or obstructs it, because, as the agent of all things, he is the supreme perceiver. Thus, he is proclaimed to be Unstruck Sound (anāhata), because he is not made as other phonemes are by the striking (of the vital breath) on the locations and instruments (of articulation). He abides within the heart in the chest of breathing beings as (the very) life of life itself. (Only) a few who pay attention (to it) enter into that Being.”3

Abhinava further explains the Unstruck Sound:

“There is (just) one phoneme (varṇa), which is Sound (nāda), that is undivided in all the letters (and common to them all). It never ceases, and so is Unstruck Sound (anāhata) that arises here.”4

The term “Haṁsaḥ” refers to the aforementioned dynamism of consciousness, the Swan of the soul whose two wings - HA and SAḤ - are the two breaths which have been explained above. Their center - Ṁ - is the “middle breath” which is the pure consciousness from which they proceed and into which they are withdrawn. It is their center both in the sense that it is the in-between of any two breaths (or cognitions) in reference to the sequential dynamism of consciousness, and also in the sense that it is their ground, their essential Being. This incessant resonance of the vital breath is thus the “recitationless recitation” (ajapājapa), the resonance of consciousness itself which is Mantra, that is, reflexive awareness.

The significance of the “Middle Breath” in relation to Mantra is explained in the Haṁsaparameśvara Tantra:

“Mantras (recited) in a fettered state (of consciousness, paśubhāva) are nothing more than mere articulated sounds, but those recited in the Central path (suṣumnā) become all-powerful (patitva).”5

In other words, the vitality of Mantras is accessed when one has attained the consciousness of the center of the two breaths, since without that inner vitality a mantra becomes powerless. A mantra is effective to the extent that the practitioner’s mind and the mantra itself are unified and recognized to be one with the inner vitality of pure consciousness.

In his Paramārthasāra, Abhinavagupta defines the practice of mantra recitation:

“When he rotates in his inner awareness the entire sequence of universes, the [thirty-six] principles arranged sequentially, as well as the group of sense-organs, then this is termed his ‘silent recitation’.”6

According to this verse, the true mālā is in fact the totality of existence. To “rotate” one’s awareness (i.e. Mantra) through it means to fill every cognition and every element of the cosmos with the vital breath which is the resonance of pure consciousness. Swami Lakshmanjoo explains: “(True repeated) recitation (of Mantra) is [the practice of] observing one object and then another object [mindfully]. These are the beads of the rosary of this japa [repeated recitation of Mantra]. Śakti is the sūtra [thread] that threads through the beads. The thread is the reality of the beads. It is away from bhāva [Being] and abhāva [Nonbeing] (one bead and another bead). Observe this universe through every sensation of sound and taste etc. This is Śāktopāya [Empowered Means]. This is real japa.”7 And this recitation is “silent” because the true, inner nature of any mantra is not the external arrangement of sounds that are articulated, but rather the inner vitality of reflexive-awareness. This is what the practitioner should keep in mind even when reciting an external mantra.

In many lineages, prāṇāyāma often accompanies the practice of mantra recitation. Śrīvidyācārya Amṛtānanda explains the true meaning of prāṇāyāma in his Cidvilāsastava:

“The highest form of breath control is taught as an awareness that embodies a non-dual realization that dissolves the object of consciousness flashing forth as “this” into the consciousness of the [supreme] subject.”8

Since the flow of the vital breath brings about and enlivens the entire cosmos (here called the “object of consciousness flashing forth as ‘this’”), to ‘restrain’ the breath means to recognize that it is simply the flowing of unitary consciousness into itself and therefore not something external. The same is also said by Maheśvarānanda in his Mahārthamañjarī:

“One must understand as the control of the breath the recognition of one's own Reality, whether put into action or at rest, as it is the abolition of externality.”9

And also in the Netra Tantra:

“Abandoning the gross state of prāṇa, etc. as well as the subtle one within, one thereby attains the supreme vibration, beyond the subtle. This is called (the real) prāṇāyāma, from which one never falls.”10

Kṣemarāja explains in his commentary:

“Beginning with prāṇa one should abandon, i.e. one should give up the gross state of recaka, pūraka, etc. which are naturally practiced with prāṇa, apāna and samāna (exhalation, inhalation and equalized breaths), and in the intermediate state of this gross prāṇāyāma in the middle path which is subtle, one should again give up the forms of expelling and taking in, etc. (of the breath). Then from there one attains the Supreme Vibration which is even beyond the subtle, and which is of the nature of effulgence of Consciousness. Therefore this Supreme Vibration is beyond the gross and the subtle divisions of the restrained breaths. This is the discipline of the nature of the pacified manifestation which has been explained in its highest form. Therefore taking recourse to this prāṇāyāma one does not fall again, which means one never leaves the state of one’s pure nature of Consciousness.”11

Lastly, I will mention the practices of karanyāsa and ṣaḍaṅganyāsa (imposition on the hands and “six limbs”, respectively) which typically accompany mantra practice. Amṛtānanda defines the former in his Yoginīhṛdayadīpikā: “This is the action of that purification of the hands: it is the non-dual Śaiva meditation of dissolving the two impure hands, which are effects and the faculties of action into the pure reality that is their cause. The principle of the individual Self is impure: this is because the two hands are faculties of action, and faculties of action are included in the reality that is the individual self.”12 He defines ṣaḍaṅganyāsa in his Cidvilāsastava: “The performance of [installing the Goddess’s body] in six parts of the [practitioner's] body is understanding the six courses [of the entire world] as aspects of one’s own Consciousness.”13

The “six courses” are varṇa, mantra, pada, kalā, tattva, and bhuvana. Alternatively, each of the six “limbs” represent divine powers corresponding to the parts of the body on which the nyāsa is performed: the heart as the inner Being of consciousness, the head as the Lord’s ipseity, the topknot as the collection of all of His energies which comprise the entire universe, the armor as His unknowability insofar as pure consciousness, as the Subject, is never an object of perception and is unaffected by externality, the eyes as the three aspects of cognition as knower, knowledge, and knwon, and the weapon as His omnipotence. In order to worship the deity, one must become the deity, hence these nyāsas are performed before mantra practice. To understand how the inner meanings of these practices relate to their outer expression, see the post about sādhana on this blog:

Bibliography:

Basant-Boudon, Lyne and Tripathi, Kamaleshadatta. AN INTRODUCTION TO TANTRIC PHILOSOPHY The Paramārthāsara of Abhinavagupta with the Commentary of Yogarāja. Routledge Studies in Tantric Traditions, Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge. 2011.

Bäumer, Bettina and Srivastava, Shivam. The Yoga of Netra Tantra: Third Eye and Overcoming Death. Kindle Edition. D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd, New Delhi. 2021.

Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. Tantrāloka: The Light On and Of the Tantras with the Commentary Called Viveka by Jayaratha. Self-published, Anuttaratrikakula. Volumes I-XI. 2023.

Dyczkowski, Mark S. G. THE APHORISMS OF ŚIVA The Śivasūtra with Bhāskara's Commentary, the Vārttika. State University of New York Press. 1992.

Williams, Dr. Ben and Campbell, Brian. The Cidvilāsastava "Hymn to the Play of Consciousness". Self-published, Tripurā Tallika. 2023.

But there is a major problem with this conclusion. If we take nonduality to its logical conclusion, it could only be the case that the mind-created world of duality is just as much of the nature of the One as the One itself as such. If we suppose that dualistic perception is an error of cognition and is as such unreal, that inadvertently assumes the presence of two “realities”: an unreal one, which only feigns being reality as a sort of superimposition, and the real reality upon which duality, illusion, etc. is imposed. In other words, one is given priority over the other which, in a truly nondualistic view of reality, doesn’t follow from the notion that all is one.

Let us turn to the writings of Classical Śaiva Tantra to understand this better. In his Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā, Utpaladeva criticises the view of certain Vedāntins1 by saying: “Even if the unity of consciousness is maintained to be the only ultimate reality, there cannot be action, for two entities divided as regards the nature of their manifestation, without a preliminary act of thought which grasps and establishes the unity, characterized by the desire to act.”2

The underlying reasoning of this verse can be explained thus. If one supposes that ignorance is the source of the world of duality, then we must account for how this is so, since the supreme nondual reality is understoood to be free of ignorance. If the one nondual reality is taken to be free of ignorance then ignorance cannot be accounted for, given that it would logically be nothing other than the One, but that would be contradictory to its own nature as being free of ignorance. If its presence is taken to be simply inexplicable, this is directly contradicted by its very existence itself. Its nature is well defined and directly experienced as such, so it is certainly not outside of the realm of reason. If it is suggested that the supreme reality is the source of ignorance then, given that everything is one and nondual, ignorance necessarily exists in/as the supreme reality. But if it is said that nonduality is real and duality is unreal, one may reasonably ask why this is so? The unreality of something can only be determined in reference to something else, since insofar as they both appear as such, both things are real. A dream is unreal in reference to the waking state because the natures of the two contradict, but the existence of the dream as such is just as real as the experience of wakefulness. Otherwise, how could one even speak of it? Both nondualistic and dualistic perception are experienced as such, so it cannot be reasonably concluded that one is truly real and the other is not, especially in a view that posits that all is ultimately one.

Because of these issues with this particular view, the masters of Nondual Śaiva Tantra designated their view as '“supreme nonduality”. It is “supreme” because it takes nonduality to its logical conclusion: both duality and nonduality exist together and are ultimately one. This is a totally uncompromising view, which logically follows from the premise that all is one. But how does this work, since duality and nonduality are contradictory? The supreme reality is indeed free of ignorance, but its presence is still very real. This is because there is, in fact, no such thing as true ignorance. Since the existence of a thing is its causal efficacy, there is no such thing as something which does not possess causal efficacy. In other words, there is no such thing as something that doesn’t exist. Kṣemarāja put it quite nicely: “If ignorance is unknown, knowing alone remains. If it is known, then because it is a part of our knowing, knowing alone remains.”3

What is called ignorance, then, is more like incompleteness. The one nondual reality, in our tradition called Śiva, willingly acts to contract Himself to the level of the individual and the diversity of the world. So, it is seen that Śiva is the direct cause of “ignorance” and its very essence, but even so His oneness is maintained. How? Since all is one, it follows that there exists nothing outside of the One. All is “within” it. And since there is only oneness, there cannot be any actual division within it, even if there appears to be so. In this tradition this is often explained as Śiva painting Himself on the canvas of His own “body”, or like a town reflected in a mirror, the idea being that the appearance does not exist as something distinct from its substrate and is indeed of the very nature of the substrate. Thus, one can cover the mirror or turn it away, but its integral capacity to reflect is not compromised. The world of duality, and indeed even ignorance itself, is like the image reflected on the surface of the mirror. It really is there, but because it is ultimately an appearance of the mirror it does not ultimately affect it or change its nature. If a mirror reflects a hammer hitting a nail, the mirror will not crack, but that doesn’t negate the reality of the reflection as such. Thus, Utpaladeva says further on in his Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā: “He who, having all as his essence, thus knows: ‘All this multiform deployment is mine’, he, even in the flow of mental constructs, attains the state of Maheśa.”4

Given all of this, awakening and liberation are taken to be a change of perspective, not of quality. The one nondual reality is always present, even in the midst of the darkest ignorance. The only real difference between ignorance and liberation is that in the former, the pure light of nondual reality shines in such a way that it appears finite and contracted, while in the latter it shines with its full glory fully manifested (even though it always is). Recall that something can only be unreal in relation to something else. So we see that duality and nonduality are both real, and yet they are not!

Homage to Śiva, the Stillness unfolding as rays of light which, being none other than Himself, do not grasp Him anywhere.

Bibliography:

Torella, Raffaele. The Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā of Utpaladeva With the Author’s Vṛtti. Siere Orientale Roma LXXI, Instituto Italiano Per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Rome. 1994.

Wallis, Christopher D. The Recognition Sūtras : A Complete Translation and Explanation of the 1,000-year-old Spiritual Masterpiece the Pratyabhijñāhṛdaya by Rājānaka Kṣemarāja. Mattamayūra Press 3950 Colorado Ave, Unit B Boulder, CO 80303. 2017.

She is the coiled serpent, and the number of coils is usually said to be three and a half. This particular number has had great significance in Hindu theology and philosophy since the Vedic age. A pertinent example is found in the Māṇḍukya Upaniṣad which describes the four states of consciousness in terms of the letters in the syllable OṀ (rendered as AUṀ). The letter A designates the waking state, U the dreaming state, and Ma the deep sleep state. The bindu at the end, however, designates the fourth state of Turīya, pure consciousness which is the ground and essence of the other three. The bindu itself is not enunciated, undifferentiated as it is from Ma. This corresponds metaphysically to the 'hidden' fourth state which underlies the others. It is subtle due to its transcendence and not being any particular state, but in a sense the primal state of consciousness. The many triads that permeate Hindu philosophy are embodied in this tri-syllable as its constituent parts.

As the womb of the universe, the Power of consciousness which is its very life, Kuṇḍalinī's form is this triadic structure of energies with the central fourth energy, appropriately represented as a half-coil due to its subtelty. As such, Kuṇḍalinī is the triangular Yoni from which the universe and the teachings proceed and into which they are withdrawn. The term 'coiled' or 'crooked' is thus also in reference to the downward pointing triangle. When giving a mantra, a guru can use a triangular diagram with the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet wrapped around each other three and a half times from one of the corners to the center. Kuṇḍalinī, the womb of the energies of consciouenss whose very form is consciousness, contains within Herself all of the phonemes which denote their objects, which collectively constitute the entire universe. Kuṇḍalinī is Speech, the resonance of consciousness (a further connection to the older conception from the Māṇḍukya). In Her ascent, in which She unfolds the Kula within consciousness, She is said to have three phases corresponding to the three modes of Speech: Paśyantī, Madhyamā, and Vaikharī which (along with the various other triads) make up the three angles of the triangular Yoni. These three stages correspond in the body to the heart, where the movement of the breath in speech first occurs, the throat, and the tongue. Speech gets progressively more gross as Kuṇḍalinī arises as the resonance of consciousness.

Non-distinct from Akula (transcendental, pure consciousness), which is represented by the letter A, the written form of the letter in Devanagari contains four parts which represent the four energies of Kuṇḍalinī: Vāmā, Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī, and Ambikā. These four energies of the Anuttara appear prominently in the Kubjikā Tantras, Trika, Śrīvidyā, and Kālīkrama. The word vāma means 'left', and so Vāmā is appropriately understood to be the left line of the triangle. Jyeṣṭhā is the straight line on the top, and Raudrī is the right line which completes the triangle. Ambikā is the fourth energy in the center. Vāmā embodies the paśyantī level of Speech, the divine power of will and the cosmic process of emanation. Accordingly, another interpretation of Her name is as vama, 'to vomit', in the sense of 'vomiting' out the universe. In the Nityāṣoḍaśikārṇava, Vāmā is described as the first part in the ascent of Kuṇḍalinī, where She has emerged from Her coiled slumber as a sprout, ready to emit the universe and ascend. Jyeṣṭhā embodies madhyamā Speech, the divine power of knowledge and the cosmic process of preservation. She is Kuṇḍalinī when straightened out, thus passing through like a pillar the totality of existence from the lowest to the highest. Raudrī embodies vaikharī, the power of action, and withdrawal. Because the cosmic process culminates with Her as action (from the perspective of the unfolding of the divine powers) and withdrawal (from the perspective of the cosmic cycle), She is appropriately referred to as having the shape of a water chesnut, that is, a triangle. She completes the triangle, and so is often designated as the form of the triangle itself. According to Anantaśaktipāda in his commentary on the Vātūlanāthasūtras1, Jyeṣṭhā corresponds to the waking state, Vāmā to the dream state, Ambikā to deep sleep, and Raudrī to the fourth state in reference to four modes of the resonance of consciousness.2

Kuṇḍalinī is not merely the locus of the energies of consciousness which unfold as the world, She is collectively all of these energies and each one individually and beyond them. As such, She is 'coiled' or 'crooked' because, like how a tall person must crouch in order to enter a small room, the Goddess, who is 'tall' by virtue of Her absolutely autonomy, contracts Herself to become the universe and its parts, as well as abiding within the subtle body as the coiled serpent. She is the very Energy of consciousness itself, non-different from it. She is filled with the radiant energy of divine grace, which is another key aspect of Her nature. She unfolds the traditions and spiritual lineages as much as She unfolds the cosmos. The three corners of the triangle represent three sacred seats from which the Kaula revelations proceed: the bottom corner of the inverted triangle is usually Kāmarūpa, and the seats of the right corner and left corners vary depending on tradition, but they are Pūrṇagiri and Jālandhara. In the center is Oḍḍiyāna. This tetrad corresponds to other such tetrads embodied in the triangle. In the subtle body (in the Śrīvidyā tradition, at least), they are pierced by Kuṇḍalinī in Her ascent which, according to Amṛtānanda, is ultimately the recognition of their oneness with pure consciousness.3 They are located at the mūlādhāra, hṛdaya, bhrūmadhya, and brahmarandhra, respectively. They correspond to the four states of consciousness rendered, as they often are in specifically Kaula texts, as piṇḍa, pada, rūpa and rūpātīta.4 Together these seats form the Mouth of the Yoginī from which divine grace is transmitted. Indeed, it is common in Kaula texts to find forms of initiation in which the disciple is 'pierced' by Kuṇḍalinī. Overcome and possessed by Her, the disciple breaks away from duality and is immersed in the power of nondual Bliss which is Kuṇḍalinī Herself.

Let us examine one last aspect of the nature of Kuṇḍalinī. Though She is typically said to be invoked in the mūlādhāra or kanda (a place five fingers below the navel and two above the genitals), She is sometimes also invoked in the navel through a specific practice. The center in the navel, as well as Kuṇḍalinī Herself, is called Maṇipūra, the City of Jewels. The Kubjikamāta Tantra explains the meaning of this name: "This (Wheel) is (called) the Filler of Jewels because these fifty great jewels (of the letters) are filled with energy (mahat) by the thread of Speech (śabdasūtra). [. . .] Filled with the fifty (forms of) consciousness it bestows enjoyment and liberation."5 The practice goes something like this. When the inhaled breath is held at its lowest point - the navel -, the vital breath coils up and a bījākṣara (which is also typically 'coiled' due to its shape when written, and also because it is the sonic form of the Yoni) is recited internally. Then during exhalation the vital breath shoots up from the navel to the End of the Twelve, merging with and reposing in pure consciousness in the center of the maṇḍala as Parākuṇḍalinī.6 The practice of reciting a mantra in such a way that its resonance ascends through the body is called uccāra. Like a dazzling flame ascending the wick of a lamp, Kuṇḍalinī, as the resonance of Mantra7, ascends through the central channel until She reaches the 'point' of the flame which is the Point in the center of the maṇḍala at the End of the Twelve, just as the bindu (lit. 'point') is the culmination of a mantra.8

Bibliography:

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. Manthānabhairavatantram Kumārikākhaṇḍaḥ: Section Concerning the Virgin Goddess of the Tantra of the Churning Bhairava. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and D.K. Printworld. Volumes 1-14. 2009

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Vātūlanāthasūtra With the Commentary of Anantaśaktipāda. https://www.anuttaratrikakula.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Vaatuulanaathasuutra-with-commentary.pdf

Williams, Ben and Campbell, Brian. The Cidvilāsastava "Hymn to the Play of Consciousness". Tripurā Tallikā. 2023.

Lakshmanjoo, Swami and Hughes, John. Kashmir Shaivism The Secret Supreme. Ishvar Ashram Trust, Ishber (Nishat), P.O. Brain, Srinagar (Kashmir) 190 021. 2003

"As for Śakti, she who is known to be most subtle and inactive and who resembles a sleeping serpent having enclosed bindu in the heart, and who is asleep then, O you highly fortunate lady, she does not conceive anything, O Umā. When she devours the fourteen bhuvanas in [her] belly with the moon, fire, the sun and stars, O goddess, it is as if she has fainted from the poison [of Śiva’s neck]. She awakens through hearing the supreme sound (ninādena pareṇa), having the form of knowledge (jñāna). Then, she becomes agitated by the bindu that is situated inside of her belly, O excellent lady. For, first of all, there is indeed ‘churning (mathanam)’ in the body of Śakti by the impetus from the whirling. And when the differentiation first appears, bindu indeed has the form of lustre. After being churned by that bindu, she (Śakti) becomes the subtle kalā, [namely] the coiled one (kuṇḍalī). The eternal bindu, which is situated in the navel of Śakti, consists of four phases; and it becomes straightened first by means of the union of what is churned [Śakti] and what is churning [Śiva] (mathyamanthanayogena). As for Śakti, she located in the middle of the bindus, is said to be Jyeṣṭhā. [In other words,] Amṛtakuṇḍalī becomes the straight line (rekhā) [since] she comes to be shaken by the bindu; therefore, she should be named Rekhinī who is in the midst of two dots. She who is labelled as Tripathā, being situated where the three [i.e. Śiva, Śakti and Jyeṣṭhā] meet, is praised as Raudrī by name. She is said to be Nirodhī who blocks the path of liberation. And Ambikā having the form of the half moon [; is therefore known as] Ardhacandrikā. The highest Śakti is only one; however, she is generated in three manners [viz. Jyeṣṭhā, Raudrī and Ambikā]."1

2In Her coiled form around the Bindu, Śakti is in a state of potential, completely absorbed in the nature of consciousness. As such, the totality of all things are held in a potential form within Her. Thus, She is as if in a swoon from poison. She is awakened by the "supreme sound", which is the resonance of one-pointed awarenesss of the Bindu around which She is wrapped. Churned by its movement, She becomes the subtle power (kalā) which is made to rise through various stages. When She is straightened out She becomes Jyeṣṭhā, whose form is a straight line which unites the two points of Śiva and the soul into the one nature of consciousness. From this state of contemplative absorption, She becomes the threefold Raudrī who, emerging out of absorption into the totality, is an obstruction (Nirodhī) for the yogi, since by emerging from absorption into diversity he could lose hold of unitary consciousness. But when She arises as Ambikā, the yogi is able to remain in absorption through the double movement of consciousness as the two breaths (microcosmic forms of appearance and withdrawal as described in part one), ultimately dissolving the perceived distinction between internal and external. Because of this arch-like movement, She is called the Half-Moon. These three energies correspond to the three primordial divine powers: anuttara (unsurpassable), icchā (will), and unmeṣa (expansion), which are represented by the letters a, i, and u.

From this we learn some important things. Firstly, that Kuṇḍalinī is the source of the totality of all things. Indeed, Her very form is the totality of all things. She is thus Kaulikī, as explained in part one. Kuṇḍalinī is particularly associated with the phonemes, the 'awarenesses' that constitute the unfolding of consciousness as the totality, forming the sonic body of the Lord. She is thus highly connected to sound and the vital breath. The other key thing is that Kuṇḍalinī is awakened through one-pointed awareness. In truth, Kuṇḍalinī is technically always active as Kaulikī, but one is typically unaware of this. Most of the time we are caught up in the back and forth movement of the outgoing breath (prāṇa) and ingoing breath (apāna). Rūpaśiva says: "The Supreme Goddess, the Crooked One (kuṭilā) brings about emanation and withdrawal by the movement of the two breaths."3 The downward motion is emanation, and the ascending motion is withdrawal.

One-pointed awareness, however, is the uniting of these two breaths in the central channel. When the churning of dualistic awareness ceases, one becomes attentive to the Center in which Kuṇḍalinī unfolds. One-pointedness is thus the means by which Kuṇḍalinī is actively awakened.

The passage goes on to describe how Kuṇḍalinī and Her energies unfold as the all of the phonemes. Awakened from Her slumber, She brings about the unfolding of the totality within consciousness, as consciousness. The text thus declares that "Sound is created and pervades [the world with its] moving and unmoving [beings]".4 It describes the unfolding of Sound as it moves from subtle to gross. The ascent of Kuṇḍalinī, in this sense, is the emission of the totality within consciousness. But unlike others, the attentive yogi recognizes this movement as the very nature of his own Self, the Lord who is consciousness and, in this way, makes it his own. The appearance of the totality is thus not binding, but liberating and filled with wonder. Being, as Abhinavagupta says5, a movement of consciousness within consciousness through consciousness, Kaulikī liberates the yogi from the world of duality by piercing through its constituent parts and making them unfold with the luminosity of the supreme reality, ultimately finding Her most perfect abode in the End of the Twelve, a center twelve finger-spaces above the head which is the center of the maṇḍala, which is both the deity’s geometric form mapped out in the body and a map of the universe and the principles that evolve from consciousness, these two being ultimately one and the same.

A brief exposition of Kaulikīsiddhi is warranted to further explain this. In his Parātrīśikāvivaraṇa, Abhinavagupta gives four interpretations of Kaulikīsiddhi.6 1) kula means 'totality', which is the entire universe which is one with Anuttara, and siddhi, accomplishment (in the sense of 'laying hold of', i.e. taking hold of Anuttara), is the apprehension of the oneness of Anuttara and Kula. 2) Siddhi also has the sense of a firm grasp, in this context, a firm grasp which is cognition of Kula - the world and its objects - through Anuttara which empowers the body, mind, etc. with the light of consciousness. 3) Kaulikīsiddhi also means that which grants liberation in life and is the very form of liberation in life, being of the nature of the union of divine consciousness by means of which one acquires the powers of the Lord, being one with Him. 4) Finally, siddhi means accomplishment in the sense of bringing about the totality, the very natute of Kaulikī who is the Lord's energy, inseparable from him.

Let us now examine a passage from another Tantra. This passage from the Triśirobhairava Tantra is quoted by Abhinavagupta in the third chapter of Tantrāloka.

"The form of the seventeenth energy (of the Moon) is (the immortal) nectar (which is the supreme form of emission). It has emerged by the activity of the two points that are the essential nature of the intermediate (parāparā) (form of emission). This (power) is the light of all things; endowed with emission it is 1) the Kuṇḍalinī of Power (Śaktikuṇḍalikā) (which is the lower form of emission). (It then assumes the form of 2) the Kuṇḍalinī of the Vital Breath (Prāṇakuṇḍalikā), at the (initial) extremity of emission (visarga) (which is the intermediate form of emission and that of) 3) the Supreme Kuṇḍalinī (Parākuṇḍalinī) (in the final extremity of emission, which is its supreme form). (This power) is (variously) called the 'Sky of Śiva', 'the Supreme Brahman', and the 'Abode of the Self'."7

The seventeenth energy of the Moon is the transcendental consciousness which is the source of the energies in the form of the digits of the Moon. In one lunar fortnight there are sixteen tithis (stations) in both the waxing and waning fortnights. The waxing fortnight is the expansion of the energies of consciousness within itself which then empties out into the world as life-giving nectar in the waning fortnight. This cycle, the pulsation of consciousness, is represented as a whole by the sixteenth phase, the Full Moon, filled with all of the tithis, the collective mass of the rays of the Moon. Its transcendental ground, however, is the seventeenth. Pervading all of the tithis, it is beyond them as the supreme form of emission which is the very nature of consciousness in itself. It is the nectar of the union of Śiva and Śakti, the inner, unchanging source of the rays of the Moon. It is 'Half of Half of Ha'. 'Half of Ha' is visarga, the pronunciation of which is similar to the letter 'Ha', but it is not fully articulated. It is a subtle, breathy aspiration. Metaphysically, 'Ha' is the last of the consonants which make up the totality and thus stands for the Kula itself. Visarga is 'half' of this because, though it is the emission of the totality represented by the consonants, it is a vowel and thus of the nature of inner, subjective consciousness. Half of that is bindu, since visarga is written as two dots, one above the other, and so half of that would be just one dot, indicating that it is apart from (viśleṣa) this cycle as the Unstruck Sound, the 'vibrationless vibration' of the Void without origin or end.

Kaulikī takes on three main forms. Jayaratha explains in his commentary8 that Śaktikuṇḍalinī is, like the sleeping serpent in the Tantrasadbhāva, emission in its potential form. It is the aparā (inferior) form of emission precisely because of the lack of its actualization as either emanation (from the End of the Twelve to the Root center) or withdrawal (from the Root to the End of the Twelve). Kaulism, the wider tradition in which these theories of Kuṇḍalinī were formulated, does not hold that liberation is a transcendental state beyond the world, but is to be found in (and, in a sense, as) the world precisely because Anuttara and Kula are one and the same. So divine power without actualization is 'inferior' in this sense. Emerging as the intermediate emission, She becomes Prāṇakuṇḍalinī, so-called because Prāṇa, the vital breath, is the form consciousness assumes when appearing as the totality. Having 'accomplished' the totality in the manner explained in the exposition on Kaulikīsiddhi above, She becomes Parākuṇḍalinī by means of interoversion, i.e. by repose in Her essential nature which is the 'Sky of Śiva', the 'Supreme Brahman', and the 'Abode of the Self'.

In the next part of this series, we will investigate the meaning of the name Kuṇḍalinī itself and its significance, and the nature of Her energies.

Bibliography:

Bang, Junglan. Selected Chapters from the Tantrasadbhāva Based on the tradition of 11th century Śaiva Sanskrit Manuscripts in Nepal. Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades des Doktors der Philosophie an der Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Hamburg, Hamburg. 2018.

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. The Aphorisms of Śiva: The Śivasūtra with Bhāskara's Commentary, the Vārttika. State University of New York Press. 1992

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. Tantrāloka: The Light On and Of the Tantras with the Commentary Called Viveka by Jayaratha. Self-published, Anuttaratrikakula. Volume II. 2023.

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. Manthānabhairavatantram Kumārikākhaṇḍaḥ: Section Concerning the Virgin Goddess of the Tantra of the Churning Bhairava. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and D.K. Printworld. Volume 1. 2009.

Singh, Jaideva. Abhinavagupta A Trident of Wisdom: Translation of Parātrīśikā Vivarṇa. State University of New York Press. 1989.

The Siddhayogeśvarīmata Tantra, probably the earliest Tantra belonging to the Trika tradition, contains a verse where "Kuṇḍalinī is proclaimed to be the jagad-yoni, the womb of the universe, or more literally here, the source of the world."1 This notion of Kuṇḍalinī being the source of the world persists in the classical Tantras and in the exegetical literature. Swami Lakshmanjoo, drawing from the writings of Abhinavagupta, thus explains that Kuṇḍalinī is "the revealing and concealing energy of Lord Śiva. On the one hand, it is the revealing energy and on the other hand, it is the concealing energy. This Kuṇḍalinī śakti is not different from the existence of Lord Śiva, just as the energy of light and the energy of heat are not separate from the fire itself. Kuṇḍalinī, therefore, in the true sense, is the existence of Śiva. It is the life and glory of Śiva. It is Śiva Himself."2

Let us look into this further. In the third chapter of his Tantrāloka, Abhinavagupta defines the energy of Lord Śiva - the Goddess - who is Kuṇḍalinī: "This freedom is Kaulikī, the Supreme Power from whom the Lord is never separated. She is endowed with the unfolding perception of Kula (which is the energy) of this god (Bhairava, who is) Akula (symbolized by the phoneme A)."3 In his commentary, Jayaratha defines Kaulikī as "the supreme (parā) power of (the god Akula). It is the unfolding (perception) of the body of Kula and so is praised (as supreme). The point is that (She constitutes) and forms (arambhikā) that body, thus she is called 'Kaulikī'."4

From this, we can understand the explanations of the Siddhayogeśvarīmata and Lakshmanjoo better. Lord Śiva, the God called Bhairava, is Akula, which is the transcendental consciousness which is the essence and ground of Kula, the Goddess, which is the energy (Śakti) of Śiva that manifests at the totality of all things. The term Kula is complex and has many associations and implications in Śaiva Tantra, but what is important here is that it is the totality of all things which is the energy of the Lord which unfolds as the totality, and is always non-different from Him. Like fire and heat, Śiva and Śakti are inseparable, and are really one and the same.

Later on in the same chapter, quoting the Triśirobhairava Tantra, he defines Kaulikī in terms of its synonym, Visarga. "The inner intention to emit of that (Light of the Absolute) is called Kaulikī, the supreme (power) (parā). By (Her) arousal She Herself most certainly (dhruvam) assumes the state of emission (visarga)." 5

Visarga is the 16th and final vowel in Sanskrit. In the linguistic mysticism of Śaivism, the vowels are the energies which arise, like phases of the moon as it fills with the nectar of the divine Union, within the inner nature of consciousness. According to Abhinavagupta, the word for 'vowel', svara, means that the vowels are the awarenesses that "'vocalize' (svarayanti), they produce a sound, because they denote or represent consciousness and reveal their own nature (svaṃ svarūpaṃ rānti)."6 Visarga is the culmination of these awarenesses. As Kaulikī, it is not only the source of the emission of the totality within consciousness, it is itself this emission in the form of the totality. Thus, Abhinavagupta says, "Such is the extent of the emission itself that, encompassing (the entire expanse of its transformations), it is of that same nature. (Similarly,) such is the form of the sea, namely, and endless series of waves."7 In a sense, Visarga/Kaulikī is the emission of the energies that arise within subjective consciousness as the vowels in the form of the totality of things. Abhinava defines emission as, "The state (sthiti) of emission is the projection (kṣepa) of one's own nature from one's own nature into one's own nature."8

Visarga is written in Devanagari script as two dots, one above the other. Thus, it is typically understood as a double movement of consciousness. On one level, it is the 'externalization' of consciousness within consciousness. But also, Abhinava says, quoting the Triśirobhairava Tantra, "The moving to and fro (vibhrama) of emanation (sṛṣṭi) and withdrawal (saṁhāra) are nothing but the emission (visargamātra) of the Lord."9 This concept is more or less explained in the Spandakārikās: "We laud that Śaṅkara by whose mere opening and shutting of the eye-lids there is the appearance and dissolution of the world".10 In other words, consciousness expands as the totality and simultaneously withdraws everything within itself. On the one hand, the appearance of the totality is, in a sense, the withdrawal of absolute consciousness. On the other hand, the appearance of absolute consciousness is the withdrawal of the totality. Lakshmanjoo's description of Kuṇḍalinī as the power of revealing and concealing should be clearer now.

Now that the metaphysical significance of Kaulikī and Visarga (/Kuṇḍalinī) have been understood, we are in a position to examine the practical and mystical aspects of Kuṇḍalinī, which will be done in part two.

Bibliography:

Dyczkowski, Mark S.G. Tantrāloka: The Light On and Of the Tantras with the Commentary Called Viveka by Jayaratha. Self-published, Anuttaratrikakula. Volume II. 2023.

Lakshmanjoo, Swami and Hughes, John. Kashmir Shaivism The Secret Supreme. Ishvar Ashram Trust, Ishber (Nishat), P.O. Brain, Srinagar (Kashmir) 190 021. 2003

Padoux, André. Vāc, the concept of the word in selected Hindu Tantras. State University of New York Press, Albany. 1990.

Singh, Jaideva. SPANDA-KĀRIKĀS The Divine Creative Pulsation. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, Delhi. 1980

Wallis, Christopher. (2022, January 31). The Real Story on Kundalini. https://hareesh.org/blog/2022/1/31/the-real-story-on-kundalini