The Serpent Power — Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe) (1924)
is the presiding Consciousness of the Mūlādhāra lotus, indicated by the Bindu of the Bīja La (Lang), which is the body of the earth Devatā; and around and associated with these are the subtle forms of the Mantras, which constitute the petals and the bodies of associated energies. The whole human body is in fact a Mantra, and is composed of Mantras.
These sound powers vitalise, regulate, and control, the corresponding gross manifestations in the regions surrounding them. Why, however, particular letters are assigned to particular Chakras is the next question. Why, for instance, should Ha be in the Ājnā and Sa in the Mūlādhāra? It is true that in some places in the Tantras certain letters are assigned to particular elements. Thus, there are certain letters which are called Vāyava Varna, or letters pertaining to the Vāyu Tattva; but an examination of the case on this basis fails to account for the position of the letters, as letters which are assigned to one element may be found in a Chakra the predominant Tattva of which is some other element. It has been said that in the utterance of particular letters the centres at which they are situated are brought into play, and that this is the solution of the question why those particular letters were at their particular centre. A probable solution is that given by me in my “Shakti and Shākta”.¹ Apart from this one can only say that it is either Svabhāva or the nature of the thing, which in that case is as little susceptible of ultimate explanation as the disposition in the body of the gross organs themselves; or the arrangement may be an artificial one for the purpose of meditation, in which case no further explanation is necessary.
The four Bhāvas, or states of sound, in the human body are so called as being states in which sound or movement is produced or becomes, evolving from Parā
1 Second Edition. See Chapter on Kundalīyoga.
Shakti in the body of Īshvara to the gross Vaikharī Shakti in the body of Jīva. As already stated, in the bodily aspect (Adhyātmā) the Kārana Bindu resides in the Mūlādhāra centre, and is there known as the Shakti Pinda¹ or Kundalinī.² Kundalī is a name for Shabdabrahman in human bodies. The Āchāryya, speaking of Kundalinī, says: “There is a Shakti called Kundalinī who is ever engaged in the work of creating the universe. He who has known Her never again enters the mother’s womb as a child or suffers old age.” That is, he no longer enters the Sangsāra or world of transmigration.³ This Kārana Bindu exists in a non-differentiated condition.⁴
The body of Kundalī is composed of the fifty letters or sound-powers. Just as there is an apparent evolution⁵
1 She is so called because all the Shaktis are collected or “rolled
into one mass” in Her. Here is the Kendra (centre) of all the Shaktis.
The Svachchhanda as also the Shāradā say:
Pindang Kundalinī-shaktih
Padang hangsah prakīrtitah
Rūpang bindur iti khyātang
Rūpātītas tu chinmayah.
[Kundalinī Shakti is Pinda, Hangsah is Pada; Bindu is Rūpa, but Chinmaya (Chit) is formless.] The first, as potentiality of all manifested power, is in the Mūlādhāra Chakra; the second, as Jīvātmā, is in Anāhata, where the heart beats, the life-pulse. Bindu, the causal form body, as Supreme Shakti, is in Ājnā, and the formless Consciousness passing through Bindu Tattva manifesting as Hangsa, and again resting as Kundalinī, is in the Brahmarandhra (see Tīkā of first Sangketa of Yoginīhridaya Tantra).
2 Adhyātmantu kāranabinduh shaktipindakundalyādishabdavāchyo mūlādhārasthah (Bhāskararāya, Comm. Lalitā, v. 132).
3 “Shaktih kundalinīti vishvajananavyāpārabaddhodyamāng Jnāttvaithāng na punar vishanti jananīgarbhe ’rbhakatvang narāh”
ityādirītyāchāryyair vyavahritah (ib.).
4 So’yam avibhāgāvasthah kāranabinduh (ib.).
5 Vikāra or Vikriti is something which is really changed, as curd from milk. The former is a Vikriti of the latter. Vivarta is apparent but unreal change, such as the appearance of what was and is a rope as a snake. The Vedāntasāra thus musically defines the two terms:
Satattvato ’nyathāprathā vikāra ityudīritah
Atattvato ’nyathāprathā vivarta ityudāhritah.
is the presiding Consciousness of the Mūlādhāra lotus, indicated by the Bindu of the Bīja La (Lang), which is the body of the earth Devatā; and around and associated with these are the subtle forms of the Mantras, which constitute the petals and the bodies of associated energies. The whole human body is in fact a Mantra, and is composed of Mantras.
These sound powers vitalise, regulate, and control, the corresponding gross manifestations in the regions surrounding them. Why, however, particular letters are assigned to particular Chakras is the next question. Why, for instance, should Ha be in the Ājnā and Sa in the Mūlādhāra? It is true that in some places in the Tantras certain letters are assigned to particular elements. Thus, there are certain letters which are called Vāyava Varna, or letters pertaining to the Vāyu Tattva; but an examination of the case on this basis fails to account for the position of the letters, as letters which are assigned to one element may be found in a Chakra the predominant Tattva of which is some other element. It has been said that in the utterance of particular letters the centres at which they are situated are brought into play, and that this is the solution of the question why those particular letters were at their particular centre. A probable solution is that given by me in my “Shakti and Shākta”.¹ Apart from this one can only say that it is either Svabhāva or the nature of the thing, which in that case is as little susceptible of ultimate explanation as the disposition in the body of the gross organs themselves; or the arrangement may be an artificial one for the purpose of meditation, in which case no further explanation is necessary.
The four Bhāvas, or states of sound, in the human body are so called as being states in which sound or movement is produced or becomes, evolving from Parā
1 Second Edition. See Chapter on Kundalīyoga.
Shakti in the body of Īshvara to the gross Vaikharī Shakti in the body of Jīva. As already stated, in the bodily aspect (Adhyātmā) the Kārana Bindu resides in the Mūlādhāra centre, and is there known as the Shakti Pinda¹ or Kundalinī.² Kundalī is a name for Shabdabrahman in human bodies. The Āchāryya, speaking of Kundalinī, says: “There is a Shakti called Kundalinī who is ever engaged in the work of creating the universe. He who has known Her never again enters the mother’s womb as a child or suffers old age.” That is, he no longer enters the Sangsāra or world of transmigration.³ This Kārana Bindu exists in a non-differentiated condition.⁴
The body of Kundalī is composed of the fifty letters or sound-powers. Just as there is an apparent evolution⁵
1 She is so called because all the Shaktis are collected or “rolled
into one mass” in Her. Here is the Kendra (centre) of all the Shaktis.
The Svachchhanda as also the Shāradā say:
Pindang Kundalinī-shaktih
Padang hangsah prakīrtitah
Rūpang bindur iti khyātang
Rūpātītas tu chinmayah.
[Kundalinī Shakti is Pinda, Hangsah is Pada; Bindu is Rūpa, but Chinmaya (Chit) is formless.] The first, as potentiality of all manifested power, is in the Mūlādhāra Chakra; the second, as Jīvātmā, is in Anāhata, where the heart beats, the life-pulse. Bindu, the causal form body, as Supreme Shakti, is in Ājnā, and the formless Consciousness passing through Bindu Tattva manifesting as Hangsa, and again resting as Kundalinī, is in the Brahmarandhra (see Tīkā of first Sangketa of Yoginīhridaya Tantra).
2 Adhyātmantu kāranabinduh shaktipindakundalyādishabdavāchyo mūlādhārasthah (Bhāskararāya, Comm. Lalitā, v. 132).
3 “Shaktih kundalinīti vishvajananavyāpārabaddhodyamāng Jnāttvaithāng na punar vishanti jananīgarbhe ’rbhakatvang narāh”
ityādirītyāchāryyair vyavahritah (ib.).
4 So’yam avibhāgāvasthah kāranabinduh (ib.).
5 Vikāra or Vikriti is something which is really changed, as curd from milk. The former is a Vikriti of the latter. Vivarta is apparent but unreal change, such as the appearance of what was and is a rope as a snake. The Vedāntasāra thus musically defines the two terms:
Satattvato ’nyathāprathā vikāra ityudīritah
Atattvato ’nyathāprathā vivarta ityudāhritah.
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