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Published: 20 October 2008

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

SAMAYIN MONOMARKS
GARLANDS OF MONOMARKS

IN VERSES 33 TO 35, THE ADHARA IS THE RESULT
OF THE CANCELLATION OF COUNTERPARTS

 

VERSE 33

STRUCTURAL DYNAMISM STUDIED WITH MONOMARKS

 

स्मरं योनिं लक्ष्मीं त्रितय-मिद-मादौ तव मनो
र्निधायैके नित्ये निरवधि-महाभोग-रसिकाः ।
भजन्ति त्वां चिन्तामणि-गुणनिबद्धाक्ष-वलयाः
शिवाग्नौ जुह्वन्तः सुरभिघृत-धाराहुति-शतै

 

smaram yonim lakshmim tritayam idam adau tava manor
nidhayake nitye niravadhi mahabhogarasikah
bhajanti tvam cintamani gunani baddhaksavalayasa
sivagnau juhvantas surabhigrtaa dharahutisataih

 

Eros, Source, Wealth; this triplet placing first within your charm
O lone and eternal one, innumerable seekers of great enjoyments
Adore you, telling beads of philosophers' stone, ever sacrificing into the fire of Shiva
By hundreds of streaks of clarified butter oblations from the celestial cow.

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It is not difficult to see that this verse is dealing with the Samayins, as there is reference to the sacred cow (kamadhenu) and the Vedic ritual of the fire sacrifice (shivagni). We are called upon to use two degrees of abstraction in order to grasp the meaning of the situation described. We have to think of thousands of spoonfuls of ghee (clarified butter), derived from a celestial cow, being poured as offerings into a fire.

 

In performing this ritual act, the spoon, which contains the ghee, circles a thousand times in the hands of the Vedic votary. When abstracted, this circulation will resemble a rosary, but with the ghee as its value factor instead of the usual rosary such as one made of rudraksa beads, which is natural to the context of Shiva worship. As noted previously, the word aksa is made up of the first and last letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. An aksamala is a rosary, with the help of which votaries of divinities - whether in India or elsewhere - repeat mystical syllables, each representing a divinity, symbol or monomark. Instead of the A and Ksha, we could think of Alpha and Omega. An aksamala then, can be seen as a rosary consisting of some sacred items of value in the form of a "universal concrete", but derived from letters or syllables made up of signs of the alphabet. The first and the last, when fused together, would represent a value resulting from the reciprocal cancellation of counterparts.

 

If Verse 32 was nominalistic in its intention to name the various limbs of the Goddess in order to understand her both realistically and in an abstract form; then Verse 33 tends to be hedonistic rather than nominalistic.

 

Ancient Vedism was characterized by its love of the "good life". The drinking of Soma juice and the sacrificing of calves to propitiate one god or another was a natural form of behaviour to the Aryans. Later Vedism, however, began to eschew the infliction of suffering (himsa) and the shedding of blood as impure and unvirtuous. The Buddhist and Jaina doctrine of ahimsa (non-hurting) must have had its share in shaping this revised way of life through the ages.

 

Whatever their historical origin might be, Brahmins of the present day, at least in South India, do not lend their support to those items which are distinguished as the vamachara (left-handed) features of Tantrism. As a dialectical revaluator, Sankara evidently wishes to recognize the claims of both the Samayins and the Kaulins by treating them as representative rival schools and accepting what is laudable in each of them, so as to present them both without partiality, but in a form slightly revalued and restated. By this unitive approach, both these forms of prevailing spirituality can be brought into line with his own fully Advaitic standpoint. The Bhagavad Gita even speaks of the Vedas as being under the sway of the three Gunas (traigunya visaya veda) (II: 45).

 

Hedonism, relativism, ritualism and negativism are not defects in themselves, but they are capable of being revised in the name of a fully unitive absolutist standpoint. Clarified butter and the wish-fulfilling cow of heaven, kamadhenu, are natural to the Brahminical world of values. Pouring ghee into a "Shiva-fire" instead of into a "Brahman-fire" is to be understood as a slight concession made in this verse to the Shiva-Shakti context of South India, to which Tantrism must necessarily belong. There is no Tantrism that can be called purely Vedic and the conflict between Vedism and Tantrism is clearly evident in many parts of the pre-Vedic literature, as revealed in the writings of Sir John Woodroffe and others. Verse 32 represents an ascending movement from the actual or "universal concrete" to nominalism through conventional syllables applied to divinities used as monomarks, in the interest of taxonomy or nomenclature of the various aspects of the Goddess, as is usual in Tantrism.

 

Conversely the movement in Verse 33 is clearly one of descent from the value represented by the celestial cow toward actual benefits here on earth, in the name of bhoga, or enjoyment. By clarifying or enhancing the path of hedonism, Sankara here refers to bhoga in revised terms, as mahabhoga (great enjoyment), as seen elsewhere in Vedantic literature, such as the "Yoga Vasishta".

 

If bhoga is derogatory, mahabhoga is not so, because the word maha (great) lifts its meaning to a status sub specie aeternitatis, or "within the scope of the eternal", thus taking away any stigma that might be attached to enjoyment as a brute reality in life. In other words, mahabhoga is not to be treated as just bhoga. Verses 32 through 35, when read together in the structural perspective we are presenting, reveal two opposite movements between positive and negative counterparts in the context of the scrutiny, analytic or synthetic, of the same high value of absolute beauty which is always the subject matter or object matter of these verses. When we give primacy to effect, as in Verse 34, a new element is introduced into beauty. When we give primacy to cause, as in Verse 35, our reference is to the source of all things, already existing in the past.

 

The reference in the second half of Verse 35 is to a simple wife of Shiva, although it is to be understood in the light of the rightful dignity of an eternal feminine principle. We find that the body of Shiva referred to in Verse 34 has the epithet "new" applied to it. By this attribute, one has to understand that it refers to the effect side and not to the cause side of the total situation.

 

The double movement in these four verses taken together will be progressively abolished in purer epistemological terms of non-dual cancellation. In the coming verses, which refer to the actual Chakras, such as Ajña and so on, we will find the principles of compensation, reciprocity and complementarity (or milder forms of ambivalence and parity) presented in a certain epistemological and methodological sequence by Sankara. Verses 32 through 35 are meant to reveal the structural dynamism before the same stands revealed in its fully revalued Advaitic form, from Verse 36 onward.

 

Samaya is the conventional name applied to the Vedic Goddess as implied in the revised Tantric context, while the term Kaula would suggest a more popular approach to the Tantrism of pre-Vedic times. On final analysis, whether we employ an ascending or a descending dialectical approach, it is the same Sri Chakra that is implied in both the movements, positive and negative. Advaita Vedanta does not admit of any duality between part and whole, cause and effect, substance and attribute. Unitive vision, at whatever level, refers to one and the same Brahman. All references to higher and lower Brahman have to be left behind when the doctrine is to be stated in its finalized form.

 

What is gained on one side is lost on the other, as between immanent and transcendent values, leaving behind a constant always to be understood under the aegis of the same absolute self-hood. Neither epistemological, methodological nor axiological duality is to be allowed to taint, even in the least, the status of the non-dual Absolute. This is required by Sankara's position as an Advaita Vedantin.

Narayana Guru endorses this in Verse 60 of his Atmopadesa Satakam:

"Even when knowledge to egoism is subject in any predication
And one is unmindful of the ultimate verity of what is said,
Yet as with the truth however ultimate, such knowledge
Can never fall outside the scope of the knowing self."

 

The language of abstraction and generalisation has various degrees and dimensions, always within the scope of the four states of consciousness as described in the Mandukya Upanishad - the gross, the subtle, the causal and the "fourth" (sthula, suksma, karana, turiya).

 

Hedonistic motives might be reprehensible ordinarily, but as we have pointed out already, the qualification maha added to bhoga rasikah, which all together means : "lovers of great delights", absolves the devotee from any charge of hedonism. Also, when the duality between ends and means is abolished, his worship becomes at least as dignified as the kind of worship envisaged in the previous verse.

 

In these two verses, 32 and 33, Sankara succeeds in revaluing and restating both the Kaulin and Samayin ways of worship without detracting anything from either of them, by giving them their full status in the light of the intentionality natural to Advaita Vedanta. If intentions are good, the actions themselves have also necessarily to be good , according to the doctrine of the Bhagavad Gita (IX:31). There Krishna says: "My disciple will never perish, because his intentions are good". This doctrine of grace is the most touching thing a god can say to a human being. This is not found in Buddhism. If you are dedicated to Brahman (the Absolute), ends and means will cancel out by your intention.

.

 

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter II

45
traigunya vishaya veda
nistraigunyo bhava 'rjuna
nirdvandvo nitya sattvastho
niryogakshema atmavan

 

The Veda treats of matters related to the three
gunas (modalities of nature); you should he free
from these three modalities 0 Arjuna; free from
(relative) pairs of opposites, established ever in
pure being, without any yoga (discipline) or well-
being (as dual factors, but remain) one (unitively)
Self-possessed (atmavan).

 

Bhagavad Gita, IX,

31
kshipram bhavati dharmatma
sasvachchhantim nigachchhati
kaunteya pratijanihi
na me bhaktah pranasyati

 

Instantaneously he becomes established in his own right
nature and enters into eternal peace. Believe Me in all
confidence, 0 Son of Kunti (Arjuna), that one affiliated
to Me with fidelity knows no destruction.

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

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(All values, from the taste of a banana to the joy of the Absolute, have their place on a vertical scale of values, from the most negative and concrete to the most abstract and numerator. Cancellation takes place at every level between the Self and the non-Self, and cancellation is cancellation, at whatever level. ED)

 

 

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.

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Laksmi and Eros are on the numerator side.
Wealth (Lakshmi)
Source
Eros

 

Lakshmi.

 

Kama Deva (Eros) tempting Shiva by firing his arrow.

 

Kama Deva.

 

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Written by Patrick Misson

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Published: 20 October 2008

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Last Updated: 27 September 2015

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

    

VERSE 34

 

A VERTICAL PARTICIPATION
CANCELLATION AT THE HYPOSTATIC LEVEL
THE RECIPROCITY OF BODIES

 

शरीरं त्वं शम्भोः शशि-मिहिर-वक्षोरुह-युगं
तवात्मानं मन्ये भगवति नवात्मान-मनघम् ।
अतः शेषः शेषीत्यय-मुभय-साधारणतया
स्थितः सम्बन्धो वां समरस-परानन्द-परयोः

 

sariram tvam samboh sasimihira vaksorhayugam
tavatmanam manye bhagavati navatmanam anagham
atah sesas sesity ayam ubhayasadharanataya
sthitas sambandho vam samarasa parananda parayoh

 

You are the body of Shiva, having Sun and Moon for twin breasts,
Yourself, I surmise Goddess, as a new sinless self;
Therefore, by mutual complementarity, the relation remains one of common reciprocity
Between you two, participating on equal terms of transcendent bliss.

 

Verses 34 and 35 require a special epistemological and methodological approach before they could make sense to the modern reader. It is only in the light of modern phenomenology, or of intentionality as understood in the philosophy of Brentano, that we can give even a barely justifiable meaning to these two verses. Phenomenological terms like "noetic", "noematic" and "eidetic presentiment" are the only notions in modern philosophy which resemble the treatment that Sankara adopts here. There are different degrees of abstraction and generalization implied when we represent an object, pronounce a judgement on it, or evaluate it. Shiva, as understood here, is only a thin, mathematically understood entity, without any concrete or tangible body of his own. The very first verse of this work presupposes this, when it states that Shiva is incapable even of pulsation without being joined with his own counterpart, Shakti. If mathematics has a teleological status at the positive limit of the vertical parameter, then ontology could be said to mark a point lower down in the vertical scale of intentions or values. Viewed in the light of such a perspective, there is no duplication or conflict between any rival bodies, as between those of Shiva and Parvati.

 

We suggest that Verses 34 and 35 be scrutinized together because we find a secondary goddess introduced in each of them. The first goddess, in Verse 34, has the status of parity with the numerator value called sambhu (Shiva), while the secondary goddess, found in Verse 35, is not an equal to Shiva in the same sense, but prefers to be his wife in a more negatively feminine manner. In reading both theses verses, we have to keep in mind four degrees of abstraction and generalisation. Sex might be a "fact truth" but it is not a "logic truth". Similarly, the relationship between "Shivahood" and "Parvatihood" could have parity or ambivalence, complementarity, reciprocity or compensation, consistent with the four degrees of abstraction and generalisation, which we could summarily distinguish as first-, second-, third- and fourth-dimensional, based on the principle of the quaternion. We have had occasion to explain this principle many times elsewhere, as in our "Search for a Norm in Western Thought". Basically, these four dimensions are not different from the four states of consciousness described in the Upanishads. The Mandukya Upanishad (See bottom of page) calls them sthula (gross), suksma (subtle), karana (causal) and finally turiya ("the fourth"), which has a fully absolutist status. The numerator aspect has to be further distinguished from its own denominator aspect, because there is a tragic line that separates name and form (nama-rupa) which correspond to conception and perception, respectively. These epistemological, methodological and axiological considerations have to be remembered together if some of the major enigmas of these two verses are to be clarified. We could put our finger on each of the ten distinct enigmas in these two verses taken together. The first seven are in Verse 34:

 

1. "You are the body of Shiva" (sariram tvam sambhoh)
Shiva has only a thin mathematical status, placed as he is at the extreme positive (Omega) limit of the total situation to be kept in mind here. Thus, at a lower level, tending to be ontological rather than teleological, we are asked here to think of a goddess who still has a hypostatic or positive dignity attached to her body. Such a body is not to be treated as physical in the ordinary sense, but may be said to belong to the world of intentionality, whether subjective or objective. Such notions are also found in Phenomenology, as in the terms "noetic", "noematic" and "eidetic presentiment". The body of Shiva, has therefore, an epistemological status of its own.

 

2. "Sun and moon for twin breasts" (sasi mihira vaksoruha yugam)
The sunlight and moonlight of spring and summer both have their respective parts to play in making a tree put forth its fresh sprouts and blossoms. How the sun and moon cooperate in such a task has to be intuitively imagined, as when we understand that the twilight periods of both sun and moon, rising or setting through the 365 days of the year, are likely to have some kind of psycho-chemical influence on the growth and metabolism of a human being, especially in a woman. The breasts of the Goddess represent the source of life for all children born anywhere, at any time. There is then nothing too far-fetched implied when it is suggested here that the breasts of the Goddess are derived from the two celestial sources of light that we call the sun and moon, which weave a logarithmic spiral within the individual mind or psycho-physical setup, contributing to the status of the person of the Goddess.

 

The sun dominates the active daytime, while the moon is most beautiful in its thinnest, crescent-like virtuality, presiding over the subconscious innate world of dreams and reveries. We have already indicated that, if we should abstract and generalize the twilights of the sun and moon rising or setting together, we could derive a vertical parameter as a reference for the alternating influences of sun and moon on the consciousness of the contemplative. When fitted into the overall scheme in terms of a logarithmic descending spiral, it would be possible to justify this reference as implying both a horizontal parity and a vertical reciprocity between them.

 

It is important for the revised structuralism proper to the value of beauty, as presented to Sankara after his revaluation of Kaulin and Samayin Tantric traditions (in Verses 32 and 33), that the breasts of the Goddess do not have merely an earthy reference. This kind of revaluation was also clearly underlined in Verse 19.

 

3. "A new, sinless self" (navatmanam anagham)
As we have already indicated, in Verse 34, we are still thinking of the numerator aspect of the personality of the Goddess. If cause is old, effect is new. Causes have a negative ontological reference and effects have, on the contrary, a positive hypostatic or teleological reference. To give a very concrete example, a mango tree displays fresh reddish green sprouts every year in the flowering season. This tender magenta foliage could be compared to the new body rising out of the old body that the tree would otherwise represent. It is the new side, which is an effect in the personality of the Goddess, that is to be understood here. If we now ask about the old aspect of the same personality, which is on the denominator side of the cause and not on the numerator effect side, the answer will be found in the very next verse which views the same complementary, reciprocal and compensatory relationship in a revised and more negative perspective. Sin is always associated with things that are "of earth, earthy". Concepts cannot be associated with sin, because sin can adhere only in the world of percepts. In this sense, the hypostatic aspect of the self of the Goddess, or of anybody else, has to be thought of as removed from all taint of sin.

 

4. "By mutual complementarity" (sesah sesi)
The complementarity referred to here could only be between the higher body, having a thin mathematical status and the body of Parvati which is more actual, though still hypostatic and pure or celestial. As between any two levels in the vertical parameter, there must be a complementarity between the positivity and the negativity implied between them. In the next verse, however, there is another complementarity between the two denominator aspects of the same principle of Absolute Beauty, which is neither male nor female, nor both indifferently.

 

5. "Relation of common reciprocity" (ubhaya sadharanataya)
In the original expression in Sanskrit ubhaya means "participating both ways" and sadharanata means "having a common feature". Our translation thus correctly corresponds to the meaning of the original Sanskrit.

 

6. "Participating on equal terms" (samarasa parayoh)
The Sanskrit term samarasa, meaning "equality of bliss or joy" sufficiently justifies our rendering. The joy refers to the transcendental bliss which we now discuss under No.7 below.

 

7. " Transcendent bliss" (parananda)
Bliss could be either immanent or transcendent. Consistent with the numerator status of the two partners in this verse, we can see how the transcendent bliss, parananda, applies more aptly here than immanent bliss, which would properly belong to the context of the next verse.

 

The object of Sankara in Verses 34 and 35 will become all the more evident when we remember that he shuns the technicalities of Tantra and Yoga when they are used too conventionally and out of relation with the realities of everyday life. We even find the name of the Anahata Chakra which is evidently implied in Verse 38, to be omitted by Sankara. Anahata means "not struck" and implies a state of nature. It does not, according to Sankara, call for a special technical term to distinguish it amongst the Chakras. For the same reason, we find that Sankara does not have any use for the terms so inevitably used in Yogic and Tantric literature, such as ida, pingala and susumna. Esotericism for its own sake, like scholasticism in western thought, only detracts from the scientific status of a work of the kind that Sankara intends this present one to be.

 

 

.

Shiva and Parvati.

 

The Goddess confers on Herself hypostatic status and cancels Herself against Shiva.
The hypostatic side is "sinless".
At the other side of this is double negation

 

THE MANDUKYA UPANISHAD

Translated from the Sanskrit with brief notes by Nataraja Guru

This short Upanishad is worded with great precision although, when cast in modern language, it may be read somewhat cryptically in certain parts, due to the omission of explicit references through relative pronouns. We have tried to supply in brackets the original Sanskrit expressions wherever the translations are likely to seem too original or different from the text.

If we add too much explanation, the Upanishad would lose all its delicate flavour and the correctness of its construction as intended by the author. Verse 8 is an example of the precision employed. The letters A, U, and M are symbols that could apply as a complete syllable 'AUM' (pronounced as the last two letters of the English word 'from' or singly Ah! Ooh! Mmm!) to aspects of Self-consciousness, whether considered as matter, substance or entelechy, (as Descartes, Spinoza or Aristotle would have named this) or whether considered in terms of pure conscious states, after Plato's manner. Verse 8 starts a new section which is more Aristotelian as compared with the section starting with Verse I which was conceived more Platonically.

Put together, the method and theory of Self-Realization, with values of a personal order implied in each aspect of the Self, have been covered masterfully by this antique seer.

1
That (eternal) syllable, AUM, is all this;
its further elaboration, past, present, and future, all is this AUM indeed;
even what is beyond, transcending the three times, that too is AUM:

2
All here is the Absolute (Brahman) indeed;
this Self (Atma) is the Absolute; this same
Self (he) is four-limbed

3
In the waking state, (he is) overtly-conscious, having seven parts and nineteen faces,
nourishing himself on the concrete the Universal Man the first limb.

4
In the dream state (he), the inwardly conscious, with seven parts and nineteen faces,
nourishing himself on the well-selected is the luminous one the second limb.

5
That (state) wherein, on falling asleep,one desires nothing at all,
that is the well dormant (which), attaining to a unitive status,
filled even with a knowing-content, made of bliss,
nourishing himself on bliss of a sentient mouth, is the knower, the third limb.

6
This is the Lord of all, the all-knower; this the inner negation-factor;
this is the source of every thing, and the beginning and end of beings.

7
As not inwardly conscious, not outwardly conscious, as not filled with a knowing content,
not conscious, not unconscious, unseen, non-predicable, ungraspable, bereft of quality,
unthinkable, indeterminate, as the substance of the certitude of a unitive Self,
as the calmer of the unmanifested, tranquil, numinous, non-dual, is the fourth limb considered to be.
He is the Self, that is to be recognized

8
The same Self treated as the AUM is substance
State is substance and substance is state, under letters A, U, and M.

9
The 'A' stands for waking state where the Universal Man is the first substance
because of obtaining or being the first.
He obtains all he wants and becomes first too, who understands thus.

10
The 'U' stands for dreaming state, which is the luminous one, the second substance,
because of superiority or from being intermediate.
He leads wisdom

(VERSES MISSING)

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

VERSE 35

 

 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

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The Alpha Point link to the Omega Point is here preserved and a cancellation of counterparts occurs, both vertically and horizontally at the level of each Chakra.

In this section of the Saundarya Lahari, Section 4, comprising the verses from 31 to 41, the main elements of each of these verses are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As an added illustration, here is Nataraja Guru's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7, Verse 4. The full commentary is to be found on this website.

bhumir apo 'nalo vayuh
kham mano buddhir eva cha
ahamkara iti 'yam me
bhinna prakritir ashtadha

Earth, water, fire, air, sky, mind, reason also, and
consciousness of individuality: thus here is divided
My eightfold nature.

 

The enumeration given here is not in the usual strict order
of the twenty-five categories or principles (tattvas) of the
Samkhya philosophy. Samkhya places the tanmatras
(subtle principles of sound, etc.), prior to the mahabhutas
(gross elemental conditions of nature). The Gita here avoids
unnecessary theorization, along Samkhya lines, and begins
in inverse order with the grossest of the mahabhutas (gross
elements) the earth, leading upwards as it were to mind,
reason and individuality-consciousness (ahamkara).
We find also in verses 8 and 9 that these actual gross aspects
of nature are not viewed as matter but as values to which
human beings are related and which enter consciousness
more directly. Thus the unitive nature of the Absolute is
established. But in this preliminary enumeration, the Gita
wishes to err, if at all, on the side of actuality rather than
on the side of far-fetched theory.

By the inclusion of the ego-consciousness in this series of
the lower nature of the Absolute, some factors of
consciousness which properly belong to the intelligent
purusha (self or spirit) of orthodox Samkhya are covered.
On the other hand, the gross earth, when it is referred to as
"pure fragrance"in verse 9, again attains a new and revised
status.

Ascending and descending dialectics move, as it were,
simultaneously in inverse directions, so as to transmute
these divided and separate entities into pearls of value
strung on the thread of the Absolute, and with the Absolute
as the final source-value as stated in Verse 7.

The reference to me bhinna prakriti (my distinct divided
nature) further shows that the duality between prakriti
(nature) and purusha (spirit) which is such a marked feature
of Samkhya, is not given recognition. Instead, each item
mentioned gains a distinct status. The Absolute pervades
nature which itself is an aspect of the Absolute. In Verse 12
a reciprocal relation is indicated.

 

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SAUNDARYA LAHARI

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION TO VERSES 36 THROUGH 41

 

Verses 36 through 41 refer to stable psychophysical states of consciousness, conventionally named Chakras in the discipline of Yoga. Chakra means “wheel”. Sometimes, instead of being called a wheel, we find the same states of synergetic equilibrium  called Adharas, which would suggest a foundation or basement. Fixing the psycho-physical self attentively on a certain  type of syndrome or synergism, based on the  cancellation of reciprocal functions, is also sometimes called a Bandha, which would suggest a knot or binding force. There are Bandhas of this kind known to Yogic practice, such as Mula Bandha and Udyana Bandha. Vital tendencies could be controlled and cancelled out through the regulation of breathing exercises, where again  two opposing tendencies are intended to be cancelled out or neutralized. Each Chakra or Adhara represents a psycho-physical point of equilibrium, attained at various level of the dynamism between the self and the non-self.

 

The most characteristic description of Yoga would be the word nirodha, which, in this context, means “restraint of the  outgoing mental processes”, which, through chains of natural associations, keep the mind distracted and wandering from one item of interest to another. Patanjali's definition of Yoga is based on this concept of restraint (nirodha) (Yoga Sutras; I; 2)

 

Each Chakra or Adhara represents a point of psycho-physical equilibrium attained at various levels of the dynamism as between the self and the non-self.

 

According to  Patanjali, there are eight stages (astanga) by which a Yogi practices the discipline of  meditation (II; 29). This begins with the lowest physical limit, where control is indicated by the word yama, meaning “withdrawing inward of tendencies”. After yama comes niyama, which applies to a slightly higher level of the personality, and which means “restraint or control conditioned by rules”. Then comes asana, which refers to the correct posture for restraining the mind.  Pranayama, the fourth stage in the process, refers to the regulation of the outgoing and  ingoing breaths, in order to subdue or make less  obtrusive the vital tendencies which are at the basis of the function of breathing, so that they do not obstruct the process of meditation (dhyana) which is one of the stages to follow. The next stage of Patanjali's Astanga Yoga is pratyahara, which is a negative process of withdrawal - from the side of the non-self to the self – of  the  outgoing tendencies. The next stage, the sixth, is dhyana or meditation, where a  first-degree participation is established between the self and the non-self. Dharana, which is given as the sixth stage in the Yoga Sutras, underlines a sustained state of dhyana. Finally, the eighth stage is called samadhi. The word sama suggests equality and -dhi suggests intellect. The intellect is thus expected to attain to a certain equality or equilibrium with itself. The cancellability of the self and the non-self is implied here.

 

When we think of the subject of Yoga in the context of Indian spirituality, the most canonical or authoritative  textbook, which all correc  scholars or practitioners have to keep in mind, is Patanjali's series of aphorisms called the Yoga Sutras.  Although Patanjali is thus an authority, his Yoga, which is also sometimes called Raja Yoga, is considered defective in the full context  of Advaita Vedanta. Patanjali's Yoga is not countenanced with favour in the Brahma Sutras of Badarayana, nor in the Yoga Vasishta, which  is perhaps the latest authoritative textbook on Yoga, as its  name itself seems to claim. In it there is an explicit  disavowal of the Astanga Yoga of Patanjali, when Sri Rama is asked by his Guru, Vasishta, to treat his own teaching  as the final authority, Vasishta speaks in terms of sapta bhumikas, or seven  grounds  in  consciousness, which he names and   defines elaborately in more than one place. The main objection to the Patanjali  system of Yoga by Vedantic texts such as the  Bhagavad Gita, is that its epistemology and methodology are necessarily vitiated by their being based on the Samkhya dualism of Kapila. As between  Kapila  and Patanjali and their  respective  schools of Samkhya and Yoga, there still persists a vestige  of duality between prakrti (nature) and  purusha (spirit), which is essentially the same as between matter and  mind. Advaita, on the other hand, cannot tolerate even the slightest taint of duality between  these two factors. The avowed purpose of Advaita is to abolish all duality; whether between causes and effects, means and ends, or between disciplines and their results. The fourth and fifth chapters of the Bhagavad Gita are specifically directed to the purpose of cancelling the  duality between Samkhya and Yoga.

 

Verse 4 of Chapter 5 of the Bhagavad Gita goes to the extent of saying that only children think they are distinct disciplines. Patanjali's Yoga itself has been  commented upon by Vyasa in what is known as the Vyasa Bhasya, which is an attempt to abolish the taint of duality implied in  Patanjali's original  approach and which persisted within its core as a genetic element of error. The well-known Bhojavartika of Bhojaraja and the Tattva Vaisaradi of Vacaspati Misra pushed this revaluation still further and Advaitic notions of Yoga have also been revised and updated in the writings of Sankara and Narayana Guru.

 

It is true that the Saundarya Lahari refers in these six verses to what might seem at first sight to be six conventional Chakras, Adharas  or Mudras, each implying a stable attitude of the psycho-physical self.  Ontological aspects, when implied, would justify the term Adhara, while a more teleological state of equilibrium would be more properly referred to as a Chakra. The term bandha might apply to a discipline conceived  under  Hatha Yoga, which  refers to a very wilful form of physical control  and is  only  indirectly important to Yoga, which should  be  properly understood from a more neutral standpoint. Some textbooks refer to four  kinds of  Yoga:  Mantra, Laya, Raja and Hatha.  Mantra evidently refers to the muttering of magic  syllables, while visualizing ideograms that belong to them. Laya does not depend upon the nominalistic aspects of Yoga, but refers to an  intimate form of merging the mind so as to dissolve the duality between object and subject. The term "Raja" is used in the Bhagavad Gita to underline a discipline in Yoga which is public and experimentally valid, as when we say “the royal road”. Raja Yoga thus corresponds to a normalized discipline of Yoga, neither too esoteric nor too exoteric. We have already indicated the peculiarity of Hatha Yoga. Whatever the type of Yoga one might be interested in, there is always a subtle cancellation of counterparts implied, when Yoga is treated as a discipline in the most general terms, as we have already indicated at the end of our comments on Verse 33.

 

 

 

THE FRAME OF REFERENCE IMPLICIT IN THE CHAKRAS

 

If Yoga is a discipline to be practiced at all, it must necessarily have a frame of reference, which itself must have a status that  is both physical and psychic at once. Space, whether subjective “inner space” or objective “outer space”, is necessarily made up of various elements which must have a relational togetherness between them. If we try to think mathematically, this idea of the togetherness of the inter-related elements would suggest to us a pattern which could be formally visualized as a “mathematical object”, as Hilbert would call it, whether that object is visualized in geometrical terms, or merely conceived in terms of algebraic signs. The same thing could be viewed conceptually or perceptually. At the negative levels, perceptual forms are natural to the mind.  At positive levels, conceptual  relational  togetherness or unity is also equally possible to think of as an idea. Letters of  the Greek alphabet can be used to indicate points of intersection between lines.  Just as a graph can verify a  formula, so geometry can verify algebra. Modern cybernetics is based on this possibility. Machine language could be codified and decodified. Thus we arrive at the possibility of a relational frame of reference for all yogic meditations, however varied. This is, according to us, what Sankara suggests in his Sri Chakra in Verse 11, though it is true that there the Sri Chakra is presented in its statically-conceived  mathematical form as a ready-made cliché, so repugnant to the philosophy of Bergson. This does not mean, however, that Sankara is not aware of its dynamic version, as revealed in Verse 7. Chakras, Adharas, Bandhas or Mudras are thus to be understood as stable points of an equilibrium that could be established within the amplitude of a parameter that we could postulate as existing between the lower or Alpha limit and the higher Omega limit of a total situation proper to the world of yogic discipline. What is true of yogic discipline could be equally true of Tantric or semantic discipline by extrapolation or interpolation, permissible by mathematical convention. The six Chakras, having the names Ajña, Visuddhi, Anahata (not mentioned by name), Svadhisthana, Manipura and Muladhara, conform to the conventionally understood stable centres (synergisms or syndromes) within the total  psychological makeup of the individual.

 

Various textbooks on Yoga define and describe these Chakras or Adharas with an endless variety of subtleties. To enter into these would be to court disaster through “confusion of tongues” in a verbose forest of words, otherwise known as “Babelization”,  in biblical language. In order to avoid falling into such a dire predicament, it is recommended that we steer our own speculation clear of the Scylla and Charybdis involved here.

 

We have already indicated that, as an Advaitin, Sankara could not countenance any dualistically tainted school of Yoga  theory. Various questionable  textbooks on Tantra esoterics refer to Chakras and Adharas, and describe them in terms of fires or phalluses or petals of different colours and numbers too numerous to examine cursorily, or even enumerate. The voluminous writings of Sir John Woodroffe give us an example of such material, to which could be added many others, derived from schools of Tantrism, whether Bengali, Tibetan or of the monsoon west coast of India, extending from Ujjain down to Kanya Kumari. For a complete list of  the available works, one is referred to the  publication of Harvard  University by Professor W. Norman Brown (PP. 99 ff.), under what he calls “critical apparatus”.

 

We have carefully avoided entering into the deeper polemical controversies in the present study, in order to salvage this wonderful work from being lost in the ocean of verbosity whose volume is increasing as days pass by. In order to settle any controversy  on  such  matters, it  has once and for all  been recommended in the Bhagavad Gita, in the words of Krishna himself,  that  it is the canonical  texts (Sastras) that are to be treated as authorities (pramanas), (XVI; 24). Guru Vak (the  word of the Guru) and Sastra Pramana (the authority of the canonical scriptures) are the two final touchstones for doctrinal validity or acceptability. For our own part, we have avoided getting lost in the bypaths of Tantrism or textbooks of Yoga, however much each might claim to be more secret or profound than another. Our enquiry would never come to an end were we to follow them.

 

We have used for reference two Upanishads which we have come across, one of which is called the "Saubhagya Lakshmi" and the other the "Yogaraja". The first is included in a translation of the Shakta Upanishads by Dr. A.G. Krishna Warrier, published by the Adyar Library. The second appears in the Upanishad Samgraha, published by Motilal Banarsidas, New Delhi. The very fact that these two  texts claim to be Upanishads must be sufficient guarantee that they are fully acceptable to Vedantins. What is more, both of them use the word “Brahma Chakra” or “Brahma Randhra”, thus bringing into the picture the notion of the Absolute, which is a sure indication that the context is that of the Absolute and not any other lesser discipline, such as that of Kapila, Kanada or Gautama. Tantrism, which gives primacy to the Goddess, would not normally speak of the Brahma Randhra either.

 

For an example of the conventional (emphatically NOT conforming to Advaita Vedanta) view of the Chakras, click here.

 

Also click here.

 

VERSE 36

 

AJNA CHAKRA

 

(MEANS: COMMAND OR POWERS OF ABSTRACTION OR WILL)
THE SUMMIT OF MEDITATION
INTENSE INTELLECTUAL CANCELLATION
AN UPWARD TENDENCY

 

तवाज्ञचक्रस्थंतपन-शशिकोटि-द्युतिधरं
परंशम्भुवन्देपरिमिलित-पार्श्वंपरचिता।
यमाराध्यन्भक्त्यारविशशिशुचीना-मविषये
निरालोके ‌உलोकेनिवसतिहिभालोक-भुवने

 

tavajna chakrastham tapanasasikoti dyutidharam
param sambhum vande parimilita parsvam paracita
yam aradhyan bhaktya raivisasi sucinam avisaye
niraloke'loke nivasati hi bhaloka bhuvane

 

I adore that Shiva ultimate, placed in your willing centre (Ajna), shining with the brilliance
Of millions of suns and moons, whose flanks are illumined by the light of the intelligibles beyond
Whom, worshiping with devotion, lifted beyond the reach of sun, moon or fire;
In that shining domain above all need, one lives indeed in that bright world of light.

 

Hardly any tangible item or aspect of beauty, whether in term of line, light or colour, is suggested in this verse, which refers to the first and foremost of Chakras (basic wheels), to be placed at the positive limit of the vertical parameter. Boundless light seems to be the only factor that is specially underlined here. Reference to sun, moon and fire, as also to transcending worldly necessities or evils seem to be emphatically emphasized in this verse.

 

Transcendence has unmistakeable primacy over immanence here. A fluorescent form of brilliance is referred to, which seems to adorn both sides of the vague and almost mathematically pure figure that is intended to emerge into view after one has read each verse as a whole. The Absolute can be viewed both in its immanent and transcendent glory, at one and the same time.

 

Between immanence and transcendence we could imagine degrees of reciprocity, complementarity or compensation. Even when numerator factors predominate over denominator factors, or vice-versa, it is still possible to perform that final operation proper to the highest intuitive faculty of the mind, in which the full cancellation of counterparts could take place. Even the distinction between higher and lower Brahman becomes abolished in the light of such a cancellation. Although incidentally examined here under the aegis of the willing centre (Ajña), the content, at whatever centre it might be, has to remain the same. It is always a foregone conclusion in Advaita Vedanta that there should not be any internal or external difference in a finalized notion of the Absolute, when considered by itself, in itself, for itself and through itself. The lowest Chakra, Muladhara, and the highest, Ajna or Sahasrara, indicate only incidental attributes of the absolute substance which remains the same, whatever else might be subject to change. This is an epistemological presupposition fundamental to Advaita Vedanta which the reader should keep in mind as applicable to this or any other Chakra to be described hereafter.

 

1. "Shiva ultimate" (param sambhum)
Param means "ultimate". Sambhum is Shiva. Shiva represents an auspicious value when he is not thought of as a mythological divinity of the Hindu pantheon. When the notion is pushed in the direction of the Omega Point of the vertical parameter, as high as the mind of the votary can reach according to his mental capacities, we attain to the status of a notion of the Absolute which could be said to mark the thinnest mathematical point of absolute or general possibility to the mind of any man. Such a possibility exists in the human mind. Mathematics as a science could not have been developed without such a faculty being normal to human beings.

 

2. "Ajna chakra"
As a convention in Yogic literature, a "willing centre" is generally referred to as being placed between the two eyebrows. The physical need not correspond strictly to the psychological monomark. We have to keep in mind only the overall structural implications here. Some texts might attempt to clarify the contents of this centre by using comparisons taken from a biological context, as when we refer to the petals of a lotus flower. Sometimes they use the language of polygons, which could refer to crystals, stars or even snowflakes. The points of the compass, whether 4, 8 or 16, could be referred to as rays or tips of petals, pointing upward or downward. The symbols of the Lingam (phallus) and the Yoni (womb) could also be seen conventionally to be used to indicate proto-linguistically the content of each centre. The reader is asked to scrutinize the legend and chart in the appendix to verify for himself the component elements that are meant to be included within each of these conventional centres. In doing so he should note there that the "Saubhagya Lakshmi Upanishad" and the "Yogaraja Upanishad" have to be viewed complementarily in their description of the Chakras, in an ascending or a descending order respectively. Whatever the order might be, the result of the cancellation, as we have said, is meant to be the same non-dual Absolute represented by the Sri Chakra, at least in static terms. It is meant to be merely a frame of reference. Dynamism could be introduced into this static relational pattern according to the intuitive imagination of gifted men of wisdom, whether philosophers (manisin) or poets (kavi).

 

3. "Millions of suns and moons" (tapana sasi koti)The reference to innumerable suns and moons is to show that quantity does not count when higher generalities, in terms of points on a parameter, are involved. Zeros added to either side of a unit number, when they exceed six, tend to have a qualitative rather than a quantitative significance. When the sun is placed at the Omega Point and fire at the Alpha Point, it is easy to locate the moon between them on the same parameter. The moon also figures below, in the third line. It has to occupy a real position between what is conceptual and what is perceptual, which could be no other than the O Point. Multiplication past the O Point is qualitative, beyond the perceptual grasp. It is lifted to the conceptual side. When children play, they are very intrigued with this. A child will call another by a degrading name and then say : "I take it back", which cancels the original harm, His two statements are not of the same order. The first is actual, but the second lifts the conversation to a conceptual status.

 

4. "Whose flanks are illumined" (paramilita parsvam)
At sunset sometimes one can see a cloud that is illumined from the opposite side. This silver lining of a cloud suggests the same kind of bilateral fluorescent light. Buildings like the Pentagon are suggestive of the same kind of glorification intended here. Ida and Pingala, which are the left and right nerve strands running from the lowest to the highest point on the left or right side, represent this aspect of the light of consciousness in conventional yogic literature. Sankara avoids such technicalities, because structuralism itself could become a fetish in the hands of persons who are not adepts in using such language.

 

5. "Beyond the reach of sun, moon and fire" (ravi sasi sucinam avisaye)
The Ajña Chakra under consideration here is evidently meant to refer to the positive or non-self side of the Absolute. Pure mathematical concepts cannot be tainted by factors which belong to the necessary side of life. Fire, as we have said, marks here the O Point of the scheme. Being raised above the O Point is a sure guarantee that all items of necessity, suffering or sin have been left behind negatively and thus transcended. The reference to the "world of light" in which the votary lives is thus justified.     

 

 

 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS WITH STRUCTURAL DIAGRAMS RELATED TO THIS VERSE FROM SAUNDARYA LAHARI/NOTES.

 

 

A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE CHAKRAS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ADHARAS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDITORIAL NOTE: The following lists of Chakras and related diagrams is only provided as an example of traditional lore relating to the Chakras - it in no way represents the views of Nataraja Guru.

The diagrams below are reproduced exactly from the original text of the Saubhagya Lakshmi Upanishad and Yogaraja Upanishad, as found in the "Saundarya Lahari Notes" file and, likewise, are not the work of Nataraja Guru nor do they represent his interpretation of the Chakras. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chakras correspond to: