The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
4 The diagrams or mandalas symbolic of the elements are also given, as here stated, in the first chapter of the Shāradā Tilaka and in the Vishvasāra Tantra, cited at p. 25 of the Prānatoshinī, with the exception that, according to the Vishvasāra Tantra, the Mandala of water is not a crescent, but eight-cornered (Ashtāsra).
5 An animal like an alligator. See Plate 3.
6 For another derivation, derived from Samaya worship, see Commentary on the Lalitā-Sahasranāma, vv. 88, 89.
three Svastikas. The red Bīja of fire, “Rang,” is seated on a ram, the carrier of Agni, the Lord of Fire. Here is the old red Rudra smeared with white ashes, and the Shakti Lākinī who as the Devatā of this digestive centre is said to be “fond of animal food, and whose breasts are ruddy with the blood and fat which drop from Her mouth”. Lākinī and the other special Shaktis of the centres here named are the Shaktis of the Yogī himself—that is, Shaktis of the Dhātus assigned to each of his bodily centres, and concentration on this centre may involve the satisfaction of the appetites of this Devatā. The Shaktis of the higher centres are not meat-eaters. From these three centres the gross Virāt, waking body, is evolved (vv. 19-21).
Next above the navel lotus (Nābhipadma) is the Anā- hata, in the region of the heart, which is red like a Bandhuka flower, and is so called because it is in this place that Munis hear that “sound (Anāhata shabda) which comes without the striking of any two things together,” or the “sound” of the Shabdabrahman, which is here the Pulse of Life. For it is here that the Purusha (Jīvātmā) dwells. This lotus is to be distinguished from the Heart Lotus of eight petals, which is represented in the place below it, where in mental worship the Patron Deity (Ishtadevatā) is meditated upon. (See Plate V.) Here is the Tree which grants all desires (Kalpataru) and the jewelled altar (Manipītha) beneath it. As the Vishvasāra Tantra cited in the Prānatoshinī says: “Shabdabrahman is said to be Deva Sadāshiva. That Shabda is said to be in the Anāhatachakra. Anāhata is the great Chakra in the heart of all beings. Ongkāra is said to be there in association with the three Gunas.”¹ The Mahāsvachchhanda Tantra
1 P. 10.
Shabdabrahmeti tang prāha sakshād devah sadāshivah Anāhateshu chakreshu sa shabdah parikīrttyate says:¹ “The great ones declare that Thy blissful form,
O Queen, manifests in Anāhata, and is experienced by the mind inward-turned of the Blessed Ones, whose hairs stand on end and whose eyes weep with joy.” This is a lotus of ten petals with the vermilion letters Kang (कं), Khang (खं), Gang (गं), Ghang (घं), Ngang (ङं), Chang (चं), Chhang (छं), Jang (जं), Jhang (झं), Nyang (ञं), Tang (टं), Thang (ठं). This is the centre of the Vāyu Tattva. According to v. 22, the region of Vāyu is six-cornered (that is, formed by two triangles, of which one is inverted), and its colour that of smoke by reason of its being surrounded by masses of vapour.² Its Bīja “Yang” is seated on a black antelope which is noted for its fleetness, and is the Vāhana of “Air” (Vāyu), with its property of motion. Here are Īsha, the Overlord of the first three Chakras; the Shakti Kākinī garlanded with human bones, whose “heart is softened by the drinking of nectar”; and the Shakti in the form of an inverted triangle (Trikona), wherein is the golden Bāna Linga, “joyous with a rush of desire” (Kāmodgamollasita), and the Hangsa as Jīv- ātmā, like “the steady flame of a lamp in a windless place” (vv. 22-27). The Ātmā is so described because just as the flame is undisturbed by the wind, so the Ātmā is in itself unaffected by the motions of the world.³
Anāhatang mahāchakrang hridaye sarvvajantushu
Tatra ongkāra ityukto gunatraya-samanvitah.
1 Cited by Bhāskararāya’s Comm. on Lalitā, v. 121, on the title of the Devī as Nādarūpā; and in v. 218, where she is described as Nādarūpinī, referring also to Yoginīhridaya Tantra.
4 The diagrams or mandalas symbolic of the elements are also given, as here stated, in the first chapter of the Shāradā Tilaka and in the Vishvasāra Tantra, cited at p. 25 of the Prānatoshinī, with the exception that, according to the Vishvasāra Tantra, the Mandala of water is not a crescent, but eight-cornered (Ashtāsra).
5 An animal like an alligator. See Plate 3.
6 For another derivation, derived from Samaya worship, see Commentary on the Lalitā-Sahasranāma, vv. 88, 89.
three Svastikas. The red Bīja of fire, “Rang,” is seated on a ram, the carrier of Agni, the Lord of Fire. Here is the old red Rudra smeared with white ashes, and the Shakti Lākinī who as the Devatā of this digestive centre is said to be “fond of animal food, and whose breasts are ruddy with the blood and fat which drop from Her mouth”. Lākinī and the other special Shaktis of the centres here named are the Shaktis of the Yogī himself—that is, Shaktis of the Dhātus assigned to each of his bodily centres, and concentration on this centre may involve the satisfaction of the appetites of this Devatā. The Shaktis of the higher centres are not meat-eaters. From these three centres the gross Virāt, waking body, is evolved (vv. 19-21).
Next above the navel lotus (Nābhipadma) is the Anā- hata, in the region of the heart, which is red like a Bandhuka flower, and is so called because it is in this place that Munis hear that “sound (Anāhata shabda) which comes without the striking of any two things together,” or the “sound” of the Shabdabrahman, which is here the Pulse of Life. For it is here that the Purusha (Jīvātmā) dwells. This lotus is to be distinguished from the Heart Lotus of eight petals, which is represented in the place below it, where in mental worship the Patron Deity (Ishtadevatā) is meditated upon. (See Plate V.) Here is the Tree which grants all desires (Kalpataru) and the jewelled altar (Manipītha) beneath it. As the Vishvasāra Tantra cited in the Prānatoshinī says: “Shabdabrahman is said to be Deva Sadāshiva. That Shabda is said to be in the Anāhatachakra. Anāhata is the great Chakra in the heart of all beings. Ongkāra is said to be there in association with the three Gunas.”¹ The Mahāsvachchhanda Tantra
1 P. 10.
Shabdabrahmeti tang prāha sakshād devah sadāshivah Anāhateshu chakreshu sa shabdah parikīrttyate says:¹ “The great ones declare that Thy blissful form,
O Queen, manifests in Anāhata, and is experienced by the mind inward-turned of the Blessed Ones, whose hairs stand on end and whose eyes weep with joy.” This is a lotus of ten petals with the vermilion letters Kang (कं), Khang (खं), Gang (गं), Ghang (घं), Ngang (ङं), Chang (चं), Chhang (छं), Jang (जं), Jhang (झं), Nyang (ञं), Tang (टं), Thang (ठं). This is the centre of the Vāyu Tattva. According to v. 22, the region of Vāyu is six-cornered (that is, formed by two triangles, of which one is inverted), and its colour that of smoke by reason of its being surrounded by masses of vapour.² Its Bīja “Yang” is seated on a black antelope which is noted for its fleetness, and is the Vāhana of “Air” (Vāyu), with its property of motion. Here are Īsha, the Overlord of the first three Chakras; the Shakti Kākinī garlanded with human bones, whose “heart is softened by the drinking of nectar”; and the Shakti in the form of an inverted triangle (Trikona), wherein is the golden Bāna Linga, “joyous with a rush of desire” (Kāmodgamollasita), and the Hangsa as Jīv- ātmā, like “the steady flame of a lamp in a windless place” (vv. 22-27). The Ātmā is so described because just as the flame is undisturbed by the wind, so the Ātmā is in itself unaffected by the motions of the world.³
Anāhatang mahāchakrang hridaye sarvvajantushu
Tatra ongkāra ityukto gunatraya-samanvitah.
1 Cited by Bhāskararāya’s Comm. on Lalitā, v. 121, on the title of the Devī as Nādarūpā; and in v. 218, where she is described as Nādarūpinī, referring also to Yoginīhridaya Tantra.
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