The Yoga Tradition
Page 75
It is said that as long as there is breath in the body, as long there is life. Its departure is death. Therefore, one should restrain the breath. (2.2-3)
Before describing the various techniques of breath control, Sage Gheranda stresses the importance of proper diet and environment. Among other things, he states that the yogin should commence prânâyâma during the spring or autumn season, when the weather is neither extremely hot nor excessively cold. He also emphasizes the importance of purifying the “conduits” (,nâdî), the channels along which the life force flows. This purification process is said to be of two kinds, which are technically (and untranslatably) known as samanu and nirmanu respectively. The former is a meditative exercise by means of which the presiding deities of the various occult bodily centers (cakra) are invoked and “installed” in the body. This is combined with the recitation of their respective bîja- or “seed” mantras. The nirmanu type of purification is the practice of cleansing (dhauti), as described above under the “six actions” (shat-karman).
Gheranda distinguishes the following eight types of breath control, which he calls “retentions” (kumbh- aka, lit. “pot”):
Sahita-kumbhaka (“joined retention”), which is a complex breathing technique involving visualization of different deities in conjunction with inhalation, retention, and exhalation; the rhythm is 1:4:2. Thus, if inhalation lasts five seconds, the breath has to be held for twenty seconds, while exhalation extends over ten seconds. The rhythm is measured in so-called matras, a matra being several seconds long. The maximum duration is given as 20:80:40 matras, which, depending on the system used, can total as much as seven minutes or more. The breathing is done alternately through the left and the right nostril, and after inhalation and prior to retention the yogin performs the abdominal lock (uddiyana- bandha). Svatmarama, the author of the Hatha- Yoga-Pradîpikâ, understands sahita-kumbhaka differently. He uses it as a generic term for all forms of prânâyâma that entail inhalation and exhalation, contrasting them with kevâla-kumbhaka or full-blown retention of the breath, which skilled yogins can perform for several hours at a time. According to the Gheranda-Samhitâ, however, sahita-kumbh- aka is of two kinds:
Sagarbha (“with seed”), which is performed while mentally repeating a “seed” or bîja-mantra, such as om, ram, or yam.
Nigarbha (“without seed”), which is performed without the aid of a bîja-mantra.
Sûrya-bheda-kumbhaka (“sun-piercing retention”), which gets its name from the fact that in this technique yogins inhale exclusively through the right (solar) nostril and exhale only through the left (lunar) nostril; in between they practice the throat lock (jalandhâra-bandha) while forcibly retaining the air in their lungs until they experience heat in the roots of their hair and fingertips.
Ujjayi-kumbhaka (“victorious retention”), which is executed by inhaling through both nostrils, retaining the air (or life force) in the nose, then drawing it further into the mouth and holding it there for as long as it is comfortable by means of the throat lock (jalandhâra-bandha); according to the Hatha-Yoga-Pradxpika (2.51), this practice is performed in such a way that during inhalation a sonorous sound is produced in the throat.
Shitali-kumbhaka (“cooling retention”), which is executed by drawing in the air through the mouth and exhaling it through both nostrils after a short period of breath retention. In the Hatha-Yoga-Pradîpikâ (2.54), this technique is to be done by curling the tongue. A related technique, also described in the Pradîpikâ (2.54), is sitkari (“«/-maker”), which is executed by making a hissing sound (i.e., sit) during inhalation through the mouth, while exhalation should be done through the nostrils.
Bhastrika-kumbhaka (“bellows retention”), which is performed by rapid inhalation and exhalation through both nostrils simultaneously; the cycle should be repeated three times in all; this practice is said to awaken the kundalinî force very quickly.
Bhramari-kumbhaka (“bee-like retention”), which is performed by inhalation and prolonged retention of the breath, while blocking the ears and intently listening to the various inner sounds generated in the right ear; according to the Hatha-Yoga-Pradîpikâ (2.68), a bee-like sound is produced during inhalation and exhalation.
Murccha-kumbhaka (“swooning retention”), which consists in gentle retention effected by the neck lock (jalandhâra-bandha) while fixing attention on the spot between the eyebrows and detaching oneself from all objects; this is followed by slow exhalation. This technique produces a euphoric state.
Kevali-kumbhaka (“absolute retention”), which is simply retention of the breath for as long as possible. It should be performed five to eight times a day, with one to sixty-four repetitions per session.
Breath control has a range of physiological and psychological effects, and Gheranda differentiates between three levels of mastery: At the lowest level, prânâyâma generates heat in the body. At a higher level, it causes tremor in the limbs, especially in the spinal column. At the highest level, it leads to actual levitation (“leaving the ground”).
Pranayama is also held to cure a great variety of diseases, awaken the serpent power, and create blissful states of consciousness.
Meditation
In Hatha-Yoga and Tantrism in general, dhyâna is characteristically understood as visualization. The Gheranda-Samhitâ (6.1) speaks of three types of dhyâna: (1) visualization having a “coarse” (sthula) object, such as a carefully visualized deity; (2) visualization having a “subtle” (sûkshma) object, namely the Absolute in the form of the transcendental point-origin (bindu) of the universe, as explained in connection with Tantrism; and (3) contemplation of the Absolute as light (jyotis). The Gheranda-Samhitâ states:
The contemplation of light (tejo-dhyâna) is understood to be a hundred times better than coarse visualization (sthûla-dhyâna). Subtle visualization (sûkshma-dhyâna), the greatest of all, is a hundred thousand times better than the contemplation of light. (6.21)
In subtle visualization or contemplation, attention is simply introverted upon the inner essence, the Self (âtman), and a degree of unitive consciousness is achieved. Sage Gheranda explains this process in terms of the awakened kundalinî uniting with the Self and rising to the center at the crown of the head, which brings us to the crowning accomplishment of the hatha-yogin, samâdhi.
Ecstasy
The ascent of the kundalinî to the top center signals the yogin’s transcendence of the ego-consciousness in ecstatic unity or samâdhi, which is the seventh and final limb of Hatha-Yoga. The Gheranda-Samhitâ features these pertinent definitional stanzas:
Separating the mind from the “pot” [i.e., the body], one should identify it with the transcendental Self (parama-âtman)15 : This is to be known as ecstasy (samâdhi), which means liberation from the states [of consciousness], and so on.16
I am the Absolute (brahman). I am no other. Verily, I am the Absolute, not an experiencer of grief. I am of the form of Being-Consciousness-Bliss, ever free, self-existent (svabhâvavat). (7.3-4)
The Hatha-Yoga-Pradîpikâ offers the following helpful explanations:
Just as salt becomes identical with water through union [with it], so the identity (aikya) of mind and Self is named “ecstasy” (samâdhi).
When the mind and the life force merge and dissolve, the [resulting state of] balance (samarasatva) is named “ecstasy.”
That [state of] balance (sama), which is the identity of the individuated self (jîva-âtman) and the transcendental Self (parama-âtman), in which all conceptualization (samkalpa) is vanished, that is named “ecstasy.” (4.5-7)
It is clear that ecstasy refers here not to one of the lower types of samâdhi, which are associated with spontaneously arising thought forms and imagery, but to the ultimate realization of perfect identity with the transcendental Reality. That is to say, the samâdhi intended is nirvikalpa-samâdhi or “formless ecstasy,” which is thought to be synonymous with liberation or enlightenment itself.
Thus, at the end of the long and arduous j
ourney the hatha-yogin enjoys the same condition of utter simplicity to which the râja-yogin also aspires. The apparent detour of Kundalînî-Yoga, however, which seeks to realize the psychospiritual potential of the body, was not futile, for the yogin does not view Self-realization as an event that is separate from life in the physical realm. The realization of the hatha-yogin is portrayed as being more complete than that of the râja-yogin, simply because it includes the body. The high risks and difficulties of Kundalînî-Yoga are compensated by the advantage of extending enlightenment to the body and to physical existence in general, which is expressed in the Tantric formula that liberation (mukti) and enjoyment (bhukti) are one and the same. For the Tantric yogin, the body is indeed a manifestation of the ultimate Reality. As Sir John Woodroffe, the pioneer of Tantric studies, put it:
He [the yogin] realises in the pulsing beat of his heart the rhythm which throbs through, and is the sign of, the universal life. To neglect or to deny the needs of the body, to think of it as something not divine, is to neglect and deny that greater life of which it is a part, and to falsify the great doctrine of the unity of all and of the ultimate identity of Matter and Spirit. Governed by such a concept, even the lowliest physical needs take on a cosmic significance. The body is Shakti. Its needs are Shakti’s needs; when man enjoys, it is Shakti who enjoys through him. In all he sees and does it is the Mother who looks and acts. His eyes and hands are Hers. The whole body and all its functions are Her manifestation. To fully realise Her as such is to perfect this particular manifestation of Hers which is himself.17
In Hatha-Yoga, humanity’s hope for physical immortality merges with the spiritual impulse toward liberation from the shackles of the ego-ensconced mind. While the dream of an incorruptible earthly body is only a dream, the tradition of Hatha-Yoga has an immense wealth of hard-won information about the hidden potential of the human body-mind from which we can greatly benefit in our own quest for ultimate meaning and happiness. Gradually, modern medicine and psychology, aided by advanced scientific concepts, methods, and instrumentation, are rediscovering some of the amazing facts that yogins have talked about and demonstrated for centuries.
It is also obvious that, once the materialistic bias of mainstream science is overcome, we will not only be able to confirm many yogic theories and validate their associated practices but also improve on them and move beyond them. A careful study of Hatha-Yoga, in particular the kundalinî phenomenon, could greatly extend our understanding of the human body-mind and its surprising abilities. We must, of course, be willing to step into the yogin’s laboratory, and to replicate these experiments in our own person. Subjective testing is, in this case, a reasonable approach; it also happens to be the only logical way of meeting the current scientific ideal of “objectivity.”
III. THE LITERATURE OF HATHA-YOGA
Yogins have always been wary of the written word, and those who have written down their insights and experiences have been the exception rather than the rule. As I have tried to show in this volume, however, there is nonetheless a considerable Yoga literature. It primarily exists in manuscript form only, and published editions and translations represent a mere fraction of what is available in the libraries and learned homes of India. Not a few of these works concern Hatha-Yoga. The Yoga-Upanishads were discussed in Chapter 15, and several of these texts address Kundalînî-Yoga, which overlaps with Hatha-Yoga insofar as the serpent power (kundalinî-shakti) is at the core of higher Hatha- Yoga practice. In the following sections I will briefly describe the most important Hatha-Yoga scriptures that exist in addition to the so-called Yoga-Upanishads.
Goraksha’s Writings
Perhaps the earliest work of this branch of the Yoga tradition is the text entitled Hatha-Yoga, which is attributed to Goraksha himself. Unfortunately, it is no longer available, though some of its stanzas may well have survived in other works. In fact, the extant texts of Hatha-Yoga share many stanzas between them. Goraksha is also credited with the authorship of a number of other texts, including the Goraksha-Paddhati (“Track of Goraksha”), which consists of 200 stanzas outlining the Hatha-Yoga path and which is translated below; the Goraksha-Shataka (“Goraksha’s Century [of Stanzas]”), which is a fragment of the former work; the Goraksha-Samhitd (“Goraksha’s Collection”), which appears to be identical with the Paddhati and is different from the alchemical work by this title; the Hatha-Dîpikâ (“Lamp of Hatha”), about which nothing is known; the Jnâna-Amrita (“Nectar of Wisdom”), a work dealing with the sacred duties of a hatha-yogin the Amanaska-Yoga (“Transmental Yoga”), which has 211 stanzas; the Amaraugha-Prabodha (“Understanding the Immortal Flood”), a work of 74 stanzas that defines Mantra-, Laya-, Râja-, and Hatha-Yoga and speaks of the bindu and the nâda as the two great remedies present in every human body that alone can save the yogin from death; and the Yoga-Mârtanda (“Sun of Yoga”), which has 176 stanzas, many of which are similar to those found in the Hatha-Yoga- Pradîpikâ.
SOURCE READING 21
Goraksha-Paddhati
The importance of the Goraksha-Puddhûri (“Tracks of Goraksha”) can be gauged by the fact that many of its verses are found scattered throughout the later literature of Hatha-Yoga. It is unlikely to have been authored by Goraksha, however, because its concepts and terminology belong to the twelfth or thirteenth rather than the tenth century. This text is here translated in full for the first time, based on the Sanskrit edition by Khemarâja Shrikrishnâdasa (Bombay).
Part I
Bowing to the Blessed Adinatha—his own teacher, Hari, the sage and yogin—Mahidhâra has undertaken to present a commentary on Goraksha’s teaching (shâstra) that provides a proper understanding of Yoga. (1.1)
Comments: This opening stanza is presumably an interpolation, because in the third stanza the author is identified as Goraksha. The name Mahidhâra. which means “Supporter of the Earth.” could refer to the well-known sixteenth-century Yoga master who authored the Mantra- Maliodadhi together with the auto-commentary Nattka. The Hatha-Yoga literature is full of incongruities, and many texts contain fragments of other scriptures.
I venerate the blessed teacher, the supreme bliss (parama-ânanda18) who is an embodiment of the innate bliss (sva-ânanda19) and in whose mere proximity [my] body becomes blissful and conscious. (1.2)
Comments: Tradition unanimously names Matsyendra as Goraksha’s teacher. In this stanza, he is identified with the unalloyed bliss of the ultimate Reality, unless we interpret parama-ânanda as the name of an individual other than Matsyendra.
Devotedly saluting his teacher as supreme wisdom, Goraksha expounds what is desired to bring about the ultimate bliss in yogins. (1.3)
With the desire to benefit yogins, he declares the Goraksha-Samhitd. By comprehending it, the supreme State is surely attained. (1.4)
It is a ladder to liberation, a [means of] cheating death, by which the mind is turned away from pleasure (bhoga) and attached to the transcendental Self (parama-âtman20). (1.5)
The most excellent ones resort to Yoga, which is the fruit of the wish-fulfilling tree of revelation (shruti), whose branches are frequented by the twice-born, and which pacifies the tribulations of existence. (1.6).
Comments: This stanza contains a pun on the word dvija, which means both “twice-born” and “bird.” The twice-born are those who have been duly invested with the sacred thread and are entitled to study the revealed scriptures. Like birds, they are seated on the branches of Vedic learning, feasting on the delicious fruit of perennial wisdom.
They name posture, breath restraint (prâna-samrodha), sense-withdrawal, concentration, meditation. and ecstasy as the six limbs of Yoga. (1.7)
There are as many postures as there are species of beings. [Only] Maheshvara21 [i.e., Shiva] knows all their varieties. (1.8)
Of the 8.400,000. one for each [100,000] has been mentioned. Thus Shiva created eighty-four seats (pitha) (for yogins], (1.9)
Of all the postures, two are special. The first is said to be the adept’s
posture (siddha-âsana’22) the second is the lotus posture (kamala-âsana). (1.10)
[The yogin] should firmly place one [i.e., the left] heel against the perineum (yoni-sthdna), while placing the other heel above the penis and pressing the chin against the chest (hridaya). With the senses restrained like a log, he should direct his gaze steadily at the [third eye] between the eyebrows. This is said to be the hero’s posture, which bursts open the door to liberation. (1.11)
Placing the right [lower] leg on lop of the left [thigh] and the left [lower leg] on top of the right (thigh], firmly grasping the big toes with the hands crossed behind the back, while placing the chin on the chest, he should look at the tip of the nose. This is said to be the ]baddha or “bound”] lotus posture, which removes various kinds of diseases. (1.12)
How can those yogins succeed who do not know the six centers, the sixteen props, the 300,000 [channels],23 and the five ethers/spaces in their own body? (1.13)
Comments: The six psychoenergetic centers (shat-cakra) are the well-known mulddhâra (at the base of the spine), svadhishthana (at the genitals), manipAra (at the navel), andhata (at the heart), vishuddha (at the throat), and djnd (in the middle of the head). The Siddha-Siddhânta-Paddhati (2.10) mentions the following sixteen props (shodasha-ddhdra, written shodashddhdra): the two big toes, perineum (milla), anus, penis, lower abdomen (udydna). navel, heart, throat, “bell” (ghantikd, corresponding to the uvula), palate, tongue, point midway between the eyebrows, nose, root of the nose, and forehead. The 300,000 channels (nddi) that crisscross the subtle body are the carriers of the life force. Of these, the central channel (sushumnâ), the lunar channel (idd), and the solar channel (pinguid) are the most important. The five ethers/spaces (vyoman) are distinct yogic experiences of the space of consciousness.