is the Dhyāna of Om, which is the inner Ātmā of those whose Buddhi is pure. He realizes that he and the Brahman are one, and that Brahman is alone real (Sat) and all else unreal (Asat). He thus becomes an Advaitavādī, or one who realizes the identity of the individual and universal Self (ib.). The mind (Chetas) by repeated practice (Abhyāsa) is here dissolved, and such practice is mental operation itself (v. 36). For the Yogī meditating on the Mantra whereby he realizes the unity of Prāna and Manas closes the “house which hangs without support.” That is, he disengages the Manas from all contact with the objective world (v. 36), in order to attain the Unmanî Avasthā. Here is Paramashiva. The Tantrik does not suppose that there are several Shivas in the sense of several distinct Deities. The Brahman is one. Rudra, Shiva, Paramashiva, and so forth, are but names for different manifestations of the One. When it is said that any Devatā is in any Chakra, it is meant that that is the seat of the operation of the Brahman, which operation in its Daiva aspect is known as Devatā. As these operations vary, so do the Devatās. The Hangsah of the Sahasrāra contains in Himself all Devatās (v. 44). It is here in the Ājnā that the Yogī places at the time of death his Prāna and enters the supreme Purusha, “who was before the three worlds, and who is known by the Vedānta” (v. 38). It is true that this action, like others, is accompanied by Hatha processes. But these are associated with meditation. This meditation unites Kundalī and Jīvātmā with the Bindu which is Shiva and Shakti (Shivashaktimaya), and the Yogī after such union, piercing the Brahmarandhra, is freed from the body at death and becomes one with Brahman (ib.). The secondary causal body (Kāranāvāntara Sharīra) above Ājnā and below Sahasrāra is to be seen only through meditation (v. 39), when perfection has been obtained in Yoga practice. V. 40 refers to Samādhì Yoga.
Passing to the Sahasrāra, it is said, “well concealed and attainable only by great effort, is that subtle ‘Void’ (Shūnya) which is the chief root of liberation” (v. 42). In Paramashiva are united two forms of Bliss (v. 42)—namely, Rasa or Paramānanda Rasa (that is, the bliss of Moksha) and Virasa (or the bliss which is the product of the union of Shiva and Shakti). It is from the latter union that there arise the universe and the nectar which floods the lesser world (Kshudrabrahmānda), or the body. The ascetic (Yati) of pure mind is instructed in the knowledge by which he realizes the unity of the Jīvātmā and Paramātmā (v. 43). It is “that most excellent of men who has controlled his mind (Niyata-nìja-chitta)—that is, concentrated the inner faculties (Antahkarana) on the Sahasrāra, and has known it—who is freed from rebirth,” and thus attains Moksha (v. 45). He becomes Jīvanmukta, remaining only so long in the body as is necessary to work out the Karma, the activity of which has already commenced—just as a revolving wheel will yet run a little time after the cause of its revolving has ceased. It is the Bhagavatī Nirvāna-Kalā which grants divine liberating knowledge—that is, Tattvajnāna, or knowledge of the Brahman (v. 47). Within Her is Nityānanda, which is “pure Consciousness itself” (v. 49), and “is attainable only by Yogīs through pure Jnāna” (ib.). It is this Jnāna which secures liberation (ib.). The Māyā Tantra says: “Those who are learned in Yoga say that it is the unity of Jīva and Ātmā (in Samādhi). According to the experience of others, it is the knowledge (Jnāna) of the identity of Shiva and Ātmā. The Āgamavādīs say that knowledge (Jnāna) of Shakti is Yoga. Other wise men say that the knowledge (Jnāna) of the Purāna Purusha is Yoga; and others again, the Prakritivādīs, declare that the knowledge of the union of Shiva and Shakti is Yoga” (v. 57). “The Devī, by dissolving Kundalinī in the Parabindu, effects the liberation of some Sādhakas through their meditation upon the identity of Shiva and Ātmā in the Bindu. She does so in the case of others by a similar process and by meditation (Chintana) on Shakti. In other cases this is done by concentration of thought on the Paramapurusha, and in others cases by the meditation of the Sādhaka on the union of Shiva and Shakti” (ib.). In fact, the worshipper of any particular Devatā should realize that he is one with the object of his worship. In Pranava worship, for instance, the worshipper realizes his identity with the Ongkāra. In other forms of worship he realizes his identity with Kundalinī, who is embodied by the different Mantras worshipped by different worshippers. In short, Jnāna is Kriyājnāna and Svarūpajnāna. The latter is direct spiritual experience. The former are the meditative processes leading to it. There is here Kriyājnāna, and when Kundalinī unites with Shiva She gives Jnāna (Svarūpa), for Her nature (Svarūpa), as also His, is that.
After union with Shiva, Kundalī makes Her return journey. After She has repeatedly{84} gone to him, She makes a journey from which, at the will of the Yogī, there is no return. Then the Sādhaka is Jīvanmukta. His body is preserved until such time as the active Karma is exhausted, when he can achieve bodiless (Videha) or Kaivalya Mukti (supreme liberation). “The revered Lord Preceptor”—that is, Shangkarāchāryya—in his celebrated Ānanda-Laharī thus hymns Her return (v. 53):
“Kuharini, Thou sprinklest all things with the stream of nectar which flows from the tips of Thy two feet; and as Thou returneth to Thine own place, Thou vivifieth and maketh visible all things that were aforetime invisible; and on reaching Thy abode Thou resumeth Thy snake-like coil and sleepeth.” That is, as Her passage upward was Layakrama (dissolution of the Tattvas), so Her return is Srishtikrama (re-creation of the Tattvas). V. 54 says that the Yogī who has practiced Yama and Niyama and the like (that is, the other processes of Ashtāngayoga, including Dhyāna with its resulting Samādhi), and whose mind has been thus controlled, is never again reborn. Gladdened by the constant realization of the Brahman, he is at peace.
Whether the method above described be or be not effectual or desirable, it must be obvious upon a perusal of the text, which gives an explanation of it, that the Yoga which the author affirms to be the cause of liberation is not merely material, but that it is the arousing of the static vital force (Jīvashakti) and world consciousness (Jagachchaitanya) which makes man what he is. The Yogī thus does claim to secure the Bliss of liberation by making entry thereto through the doors of Karma and Jnānayoga.
A Brahmo Author{85} who is so little favorable to the Tantra as to describe the difference between it and the Veda as being “as great as that which exists between the Netherworld (Pātāla) and Heaven (Svarga)”{86} does not deny the efficiency of the Tantrik Shatchakra Sādhanā, but contrasts it with the Vaidika-Gāyatrī-Sādhanā in an account of the two methods which I here summarize in inverted commas.
“The Chakras (the existence of which is not disputed) are placed where the nerves and muscles unite.{87} The Ājnā is the place of the Command. This manifests in the operation of Buddhi. If the command is followed, the Sādhaka becomes pure of disposition (Bhāva) and speech. Speech displays itself in the throat, the region of the Vishuddha. The next lower Chakra is called Anāhata because of its connection with Nāda, which is self-produced in the heart. The Vāyu in Anāhata is Prānashakti. Here when free from sin one can see the Ātmā. Here the Yogī realizes ‘I am He.’ Fire is at the navel. The seat of desire is at the root of the Svādhishthāna. In the lowest lotus the Mūlādhāra are the three Shaktis of Jīva—namely, Ichchhā, Kriyā, and Jnāna—in an unconscious unenlivened state. The Sādhaka by the aid of the Parātmā as fire (Agni) and air (Vāyu){88} awakens these three forces (Shaktis), and ultimately by the grace of the Parātmā he is united with the Turīya Brahman.”
“In days of old Sādhanā commenced at the Mūlādhāra Chakra; that is, those who were not Sādhakas of the Gāyatrī-Mantra commenced from below at the lowest center. There was a good reason for this, for thereby the senses (Indriya) were controlled. Without such control purity of disposition (Bhāva) cannot be attained. If such purity be not gained, then the mind (Chitta) cannot find its place in the heart; and if the Chitta be not in the heart there can be no union with the Parātmā. The first thing, therefore, which a Sādhaka has to do is to control the senses. Those who achieved this without fixing their minds on the Lord (Īshvara){89} had to go through many difficult and painful practices (such as the Mudrās, Bandhas, etc., mentioned later) which were necessary for the control of the Indriyas and of the action of the Gunas. All this is unnecessary in the Gāyatrī Sādhanā or method. It is true that the senses should be controlled in the three lower centers (Chakras)—that is, cupidity (Lobha) in the Mūlādhāra,
