The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
4 Chaitanyam sarvabhūtānāng shabdabrahmeti me matih Tat prāpya kundalīrūpam prāninām dehamadhyagam Varnātmanāvirbhavati gadyapadyādi-bhedatah. (Shāradā Tilaka, Ch. I.)
5 The term Bindu also means a drop as of semen.
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union¹ of Mahākāla and Mahākālī, which seed, ripening in the womb of Prakriti, issued as Kundalī in the form of the letters (Akshara). Kundalī as Mahāmātrikāsundarī has fifty-one coils, which are the Mātrikās or subtle forms of the gross letters or Varna which is the Vaikharī form of the Shabda at the centres. Kundalī when with one coil is Bindu; with two, Prakriti-Purusha; with three, the three Shaktis (Ichchhā, Jnāna, Kriyā) and three Gunas (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas); with the three and a half She is then actually creative with Vikriti; with four She is the Devī Ekajatā, and so on to Shrīmātrikotpattisundarī with fifty-one coils.² In the body, unmanifested Parashabda is in Kundalī Shakti. That which first issues from it is in the lowest Chakra, and extends upwards through the rest as Pashyantī, Madhyamā, and Vaikharī Shabda. When Shakti first “sees”³ She is Paramā Kalā⁴ in the mother-form (Ambikārūpā), which is supreme speech (Parā vāk) and supreme peace (Paramā shāntā). She “sees” the manifested Shabda from Pashyantī to Vaikharī. The Pashyantī⁵ state of Shabda is that in which Ichchhā Shakti (Will) in the form of a goad⁶ (Angkushākāra) is about to display the universe, then in seed (Bīja) form. This is the Shakti Vāmā.⁷ Madhyamā Vāk, which is Jnāna (knowledge), and
1 Viparīta maithuna. Shakti is above Shiva, and moving on and in coition with Him because She is the active and He the inert consciousness.
2 Shaktisanggama Tantra, first Ullāsa Utpattikhanda. When with ten coils She is the well-known Dashamahāvidyā.
3 The first movement in creation, called Īkshana (“seeing”) in
Veda. To see is to ideate.
4 Paramā=supreme or first. Kalā=Vimarsha-Shakti of Ātmā.
She is, as such, the first cause of all the letters.
Pashyantī=She who “sees” (Īkshana).
6 Here the crooked line (Vakrarekhā) comes first, and the straight second. Possibly this may be the line rising to form the triangular pyramid.
7 So called because she “vomits forth” the universe (Vamanāt vāmā iti).
in form of a straight line (Rijurekhā), is Jyeshthā Shakti. Here there is the first assumption of form as the Mātrikā (Mātrikātvam upapannā), for here is particular motion (Vishesha Spanda). The Vaikharī state is that of Kriyā Shakti, who is the Devī Raudrī, whose form is triangular¹ and that of the universe. As the former Shakti produces the subtle letters or Mātrikā which are the Vāsanā,² so this last is the Shakti of the gross letters of words and their objects.³ These letters are the garland of the Mother issuing from Her in Her form as Kundalī Shakti, and absorbed by Her in the Kundali-yoga here described.
1 Shringātaka—that is, a triangular pyramidal figure of three dimensions.
2 That is, Sangskāra or revived impression, which is the seed of the ideating Cosmic Consciousness.
3 Yoginīhridaya Tantra, Sangketa I.
V
THE CENTRES OR LOTUSES (CHAKRA, PADMA)
AT this stage we are in a position to pass to a consideration of the Chakras, which may shortly be described as subtle centres of operation in the body of the Shaktis or Powers of the various Tattvas or Principles which constitute the bodily Sheaths. Thus the five lower Chakra from Mūlā- dhāra to Vishuddha are centres of the Bhūta, or five forms of sensible matter. The Ājnā and other Chakras in the region between it and the Sahasrāra are centres of the Tattvas constituting the mental sheaths, whilst the Sahasrāra or thousand-petalled lotus at the top of the brain, is the blissful abode of Parama Shiva-Shakti which is the state of pure Consciousness.
A description of the Chakras involves, in the first place, an account of the Western anatomy and physiology of the central and sympathetic nervous systems; secondly, an account of the Tantrik nervous system and Chakras; and, lastly, the correlation, so far as that is possible, of the two systems on the anatomical and physiological side, for the rest is in general peculiar to Tantrik occultism.
The Tantrik theory regarding the Chakras and Sahasrāra is concerned on the physiological side, or Bhogāyatana aspect, with the central spinal system, comprising the brain or encephalon, contained within the skull, and the spinal cord, contained within the vertebral column (Merudanda).
It is to be noted that, just as there are five centres (Chakras) hereinafter described, the vertebral column itself is divided into five regions, which commencing from the lowest, are the coccygeal, consisting of four imperfect vertebræ, often united together into one bone called the coccyx; the sacral region, consisting of five vertebræ united together to form a single bone, the sacrum; the lumbar region, or region of the loins, consisting of five vertebræ;
4 Chaitanyam sarvabhūtānāng shabdabrahmeti me matih Tat prāpya kundalīrūpam prāninām dehamadhyagam Varnātmanāvirbhavati gadyapadyādi-bhedatah. (Shāradā Tilaka, Ch. I.)
5 The term Bindu also means a drop as of semen.
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union¹ of Mahākāla and Mahākālī, which seed, ripening in the womb of Prakriti, issued as Kundalī in the form of the letters (Akshara). Kundalī as Mahāmātrikāsundarī has fifty-one coils, which are the Mātrikās or subtle forms of the gross letters or Varna which is the Vaikharī form of the Shabda at the centres. Kundalī when with one coil is Bindu; with two, Prakriti-Purusha; with three, the three Shaktis (Ichchhā, Jnāna, Kriyā) and three Gunas (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas); with the three and a half She is then actually creative with Vikriti; with four She is the Devī Ekajatā, and so on to Shrīmātrikotpattisundarī with fifty-one coils.² In the body, unmanifested Parashabda is in Kundalī Shakti. That which first issues from it is in the lowest Chakra, and extends upwards through the rest as Pashyantī, Madhyamā, and Vaikharī Shabda. When Shakti first “sees”³ She is Paramā Kalā⁴ in the mother-form (Ambikārūpā), which is supreme speech (Parā vāk) and supreme peace (Paramā shāntā). She “sees” the manifested Shabda from Pashyantī to Vaikharī. The Pashyantī⁵ state of Shabda is that in which Ichchhā Shakti (Will) in the form of a goad⁶ (Angkushākāra) is about to display the universe, then in seed (Bīja) form. This is the Shakti Vāmā.⁷ Madhyamā Vāk, which is Jnāna (knowledge), and
1 Viparīta maithuna. Shakti is above Shiva, and moving on and in coition with Him because She is the active and He the inert consciousness.
2 Shaktisanggama Tantra, first Ullāsa Utpattikhanda. When with ten coils She is the well-known Dashamahāvidyā.
3 The first movement in creation, called Īkshana (“seeing”) in
Veda. To see is to ideate.
4 Paramā=supreme or first. Kalā=Vimarsha-Shakti of Ātmā.
She is, as such, the first cause of all the letters.
Pashyantī=She who “sees” (Īkshana).
6 Here the crooked line (Vakrarekhā) comes first, and the straight second. Possibly this may be the line rising to form the triangular pyramid.
7 So called because she “vomits forth” the universe (Vamanāt vāmā iti).
in form of a straight line (Rijurekhā), is Jyeshthā Shakti. Here there is the first assumption of form as the Mātrikā (Mātrikātvam upapannā), for here is particular motion (Vishesha Spanda). The Vaikharī state is that of Kriyā Shakti, who is the Devī Raudrī, whose form is triangular¹ and that of the universe. As the former Shakti produces the subtle letters or Mātrikā which are the Vāsanā,² so this last is the Shakti of the gross letters of words and their objects.³ These letters are the garland of the Mother issuing from Her in Her form as Kundalī Shakti, and absorbed by Her in the Kundali-yoga here described.
1 Shringātaka—that is, a triangular pyramidal figure of three dimensions.
2 That is, Sangskāra or revived impression, which is the seed of the ideating Cosmic Consciousness.
3 Yoginīhridaya Tantra, Sangketa I.
V
THE CENTRES OR LOTUSES (CHAKRA, PADMA)
AT this stage we are in a position to pass to a consideration of the Chakras, which may shortly be described as subtle centres of operation in the body of the Shaktis or Powers of the various Tattvas or Principles which constitute the bodily Sheaths. Thus the five lower Chakra from Mūlā- dhāra to Vishuddha are centres of the Bhūta, or five forms of sensible matter. The Ājnā and other Chakras in the region between it and the Sahasrāra are centres of the Tattvas constituting the mental sheaths, whilst the Sahasrāra or thousand-petalled lotus at the top of the brain, is the blissful abode of Parama Shiva-Shakti which is the state of pure Consciousness.
A description of the Chakras involves, in the first place, an account of the Western anatomy and physiology of the central and sympathetic nervous systems; secondly, an account of the Tantrik nervous system and Chakras; and, lastly, the correlation, so far as that is possible, of the two systems on the anatomical and physiological side, for the rest is in general peculiar to Tantrik occultism.
The Tantrik theory regarding the Chakras and Sahasrāra is concerned on the physiological side, or Bhogāyatana aspect, with the central spinal system, comprising the brain or encephalon, contained within the skull, and the spinal cord, contained within the vertebral column (Merudanda).
It is to be noted that, just as there are five centres (Chakras) hereinafter described, the vertebral column itself is divided into five regions, which commencing from the lowest, are the coccygeal, consisting of four imperfect vertebræ, often united together into one bone called the coccyx; the sacral region, consisting of five vertebræ united together to form a single bone, the sacrum; the lumbar region, or region of the loins, consisting of five vertebræ;
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