While the Gods Play

by Alain Daniélou

  The name Sanâtanä Dharmä, the "Eternal Lawn or "Perpetual Tradition," is given to the group of fundamental notions that permit the Being of Knowledge to play, from its inception to its end, its role. Shaivism attributes the teaching of these basic elements of knowledge to the Rishi(s), the Seers of the first ages.

  According to the teachings of Shaivism, one can decline to postulate the hypothesis of a god, either personal or impersonal, unique or multiple, but one can never believe that the universe is the result of chance, that it is not subject in all its aspects to certain laws. It is in reference to this notion of a law which goes back to the origin of things, and in fact precedes it, that one speaks of the "primordial tradition." The expression "primordial tradition," however, has the disadvantage of placing the accent on the transmission of a certain knowledge rather than on its contents.1

  The Hebraic notion of Torah (Law) seems originally to come from the notion of Dharmä (the universal law that governs matter and life) but has degenerated so that it no longer applies to anything but a more or less arbitrary human "rule of conduct." The potentiality and the limits of all knowledge, of all science, of all knowledge accessible to man at the various stages of his development is included in the plan of the species. The mechanisms of thought, its relations with perception, are, like the development of the physical body, determined by the Chakrä(s), the geometric patterns or models which are found in the vital centers and which nothing can modify. These patterns serve to differentiate the physical and mental capacities of individuals and determine their role in the various stages of their evolution as well as their access to knowlege.

  Each species, each lineage, is realized, and progresses, through the chain of physical paternity, according to the information of the Lingä-Sharirä, the genetic code. The development of the Knowledge Body is made in a parallel way, that of the spiritual paternity, through the accumulation and transmission of knowledge. This is the initiatic way, which leads to the discovery of the subtle nature of the world and which enables man to realize his spiritual destiny. All evolution, whether it concerns the intellectual or the genetic heritage, is subject to cycles that give the rhythm of their progress and decline. At certain epochs we can observe a remarkable development of knowledge followed by periods of obscurity during which true knowledge is only transmitted in a secret form by initiates who once again unveil it in favorable periods, giving birth to periods of creativity, to the liberation of mankind, to the great periods of art, love, beauty, the harmony of beings and things again taking a predominant place.

  The Seers (Rishi)

  CERTAIN aspects of the nature of the physical or metaphysical world are revealed to men at determined moments in the maturation of the human species. These "revelations" are the work of the Seers, the Rishii(s), who are the intermediaries, the mediums gifted with the perception of the higher levels of creation. Some of them are subtle beings; others are incarnate beings. Vision and speech are of a transcendent order while the body remains destructible. Shaivism does not, like Vaishnavism, envision physical incarnations of the divinity, but only mental incarnations of a prophetic nature in the persons of the Seers. At the beginning of each cycle of humanity, the god Skanda inspires in the Seers the knowledge necessary for the reestablishment of a tradition of knowledge that enables the new mankind to play its role.

  Seers can reappear during the course of the cycles to ensure the maintenance of the tradition and the discovery by man, at the opportune moment, of the secrets of the nature of the world.

  Great discoveries are always inspired, programmed. This is why they generally take place simultaneously in several regions of the world. For, in the Seers, it is perception that is inspired. Its formulation can be inadequate. In any case, the relationship of the vision to the words that express it is only valid for a particular moment.

  The Sacred Books

  AS we have seen, writing is an urban phenomenon, characteristic of the Kali Yugä. To freeze the teachings of ((prophets" in books regarded as sacred is to paralyze the spirit of research; it fixes so-called established truths and tends to create blind faith instead of the search for knowledge. The nature of knowledge is to evolve. Like other aspects of the human being, it knows periods of progress and decline. The teaching of the Rishi(s) is a living thing that enables the species to realize its role at various stages of its evolution. It can only be transmitted by initiation through qualified individuals. The fixation in Writings of the visions and perceptions of Seers, which represent the forms of knowledge necessary at a certain moment of the evolution of the species, whether it be a matter of cosmological, scientific, religious, or moral ideas, presents grave risks. The sacred book valid for all time and all people is a fiction.

  The new Sâmkhyä sometimes replaces the word gamä (tradition) by the word Vedä (from the root vid, knowledge) to represent permanent information (akshara), the plan that is at the basis of all aspects of creation, the object of all research, all science, all metaphysics, all true knowledge. Taken in this sense, the word Veda has nothing to do with the religious texts known by this name. The notion of Vedä represents the belief in a universal law, the object of knowledge. This implies the acceptance of the idea that there exists a divine order of the world of which it is possible to have a fragmentary glimpse, an "approach" (upanishad), even though this order remains on the whole unknowable. No one can pretend to possess the "truth" in any domain. A dogmatic teaching can be neither scientifically nor philosophically nor morally justifiable.

  The advent of writing has allowed for the substitution of conceptions of religious or social reformers, in the guise of inspired prophets, for the teachings of the Seers. This has given birth to the religions of the book that characterize the Kali Yugä.

  The superstition of the written word is an obstacle to the development of knowledge in the domain of scientific or religious information. The religions of the book have been one of the most effective instruments of man's decadence during the course of the Kali Yugä and have been used by urban oligarchies, both religious and secular, as instruments of domination.

  To take texts, whether called Vedä, Bible, or Koran, as an expression of reality or of divine will is puerile and dangerous. This is part of the antireligion which lowers the concept of the divine to the human scale.

  6

  Yogä

  Yogä: Study of the Microcosm

  IN PARALLEL WITH THE SMKHYÄ, WHICH SEEKS TO understand the laws governing the universe, the secrets of Universal Man, Yogä attempts to explore the human being, the microcosm, and to discover, within this particular universe which forms each living being, the applications of these same laws.

  Man cannot understand the world without understanding himself, and he can only know himself in relation to universal structures, to his role, to his raison d'être, to his place in the play of creation. For this reason, Sâmkhyä and Yogä are interdependent and interconnected. Yogä represents the experimental method that will, first, help to establish and, second, confirm or invalidate the theories of the Sâmkhyä. For, in the measure that it allows us to go beyond the limits of the senses, Yogä gives us an increased perception of the structures of the universe. The techniques of Yogä are a heritage of pre-Aryan Shaivism. Its teaching is attributed to the god Shivä, the Great Yogi. Representations of Shivä-Pashupati, the Lord of Animals, in yogic posture, have been found at Mohenjo-Daro and the other cities of the Indus Valley. "The techniques of Yogä, which are an essential element of the ancient Shaivism, were totally unknown in Vedic literature" (M. R. Sakhare, History and Philosophy of Lingyat Religion, p. 175). They gradually penetrated into the Aryan world, just as today they have penetrated into the Western world.

  Method

  YOGÄ is a method of introspection that permits the exploration of the subtle centers, dwelling places of those inner faculties which receive, enregister, and analyze the perceptions of the senses, but which are not limited by the barriers of the senses. The part of the human being tha
t can be called physical includes, besides the body, certain faculties such as thought and memory which are of a material nature and which function within the relative and oriented temporal scale of a given time span. By contrast, the higher human faculties, such as intelligence and conscience, together with the information that constitutes the codes governing the evolution of the species and forms part of the plan coming forth from Purushä, are not limited by space and time. They are as though imprisoned in the body.

  The physical sense organs are the openings, the doors through which the Internal Organ perceives exterior objects (but which, at the same time, by confining them, limit the possibilities of perception). Consciousness and the other inner faculties are like spectators gazing through these doors. [Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, 35]

  With the aid of yogic methods we can reach, then control, the faculties that constitute our Transmittable Body or Sexual Body—this permanent aspect of ourselves, whose nature and functioning are not tied to the duration of our life, and are not limited by the barriers of relative space and time. Starting from there, we can develop powers called Siddhi(s) (accomplishments), which enable us to "see" beyond our limits what the barriers of the senses normally mask. Being born of Prakriti, "the physical organs [exist only within time and] function only in the present. The subtle organs (the principles of consciousness and of perception) are not limited by time and can equally perceive past, present, and future" (ibid., 33). They can also perceive, beyond dimension, the infinitely small or the infinitely large. Only the limits of our senses and the rhythms that determine for us the dimension of relative space and time prevent us from contemplating the interiors of atoms or the exteriors of celestial spheres, from seeing objects far away from us in space and time, or from entering into contact with the subtle forces of nature.

  Freed from the barriers of the senses and the limitations of space and time, our Internal Organ can have a prodigiously amplified perception of reality, of the macroscopic and microscopic structures of the world, see the invisible, hear the inaudible, perceive what dimension or distance hides from us, transport us into the past and the future.

  The methods of Yogä will also enable us to become aware of what is inconscient in us, and to reach the mechanisms that constitute our faculties, and not only their applied forms; to perceive matter's own modes of communication (the tanmâträ[s]), and not only their limited aspects, which give birth to the Bhûtä(s), the elements perceived by our senses. Through the methods of Yogä, we can go beyond the normal possibilities of the living being, emerge from his limitations, and thus obtain the powers of knowledge and joy that belong in principle to levels of being above the human state.

  The methods of Yogä have permitted the development of knowledge concerning the structures of the world and the nature of the living being which seem otherwise inexplicable in a world destitute of modern means of investigation.

  The word Yogä means "link." The English word yoke or the French joug have the same root. The word religion is most probably its translation. All the relations that the individual being has with the different levels of existence, with the forces that govern the world, with the spirits and the gods, are included in the investigations of Yogä. Yogic techniques enable man to develop himself and to explore his latent possibilities and to obtain thereby a less confused picture of the extrasensible, extratemporal, extraspatial world. By cultivating his possibilities of extrasensory perception, man can go beyond the limits of time, space, and materiality. He then comes into contact with other forms of beings and can explain, rationalize, and instigate these contacts. It is through lack of rational data and experience that we meet in most religions such absurd theories concerning the nature of spirits, angels, divinities, demons, phantoms, or even of God himself.

  The Structure of Living Beings

  THE living being is formed of galaxies of cells that are all bearers of a message, of a function that is assigned to them. A living body is analogous to an ordered society in which each individual fulfills a distinct function independently but in coordination with the others. These activities are grouped, according to the Sâmkhyä, around the five vital functions called prânä(s) (breaths): "The organs of the body are constituted in view of the functioning of these five activities" (Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, 29). The first stage of Yogä consists in perceiving and controlling these functions.

  The Five Vital Energies (Prânä)

  THE first and most characteristic of the vital functions is a power of combustion, of animation. Life only exists by de vouring, by consuming matter and life, and transforming it into energy. This function is fulfilled in man by respiration (Prânä) but also by digestion (Prânä in another sense). This power of combustion is in relation with the element Fire.

  The second function is the power of rejection, or elimination (apânä), the expulsion of wastes, particularly evident for us in the fecal functions, but which also takes place in each cell. This function is related to the element Earth and to the sense of smell.

  The third function is distribution (samânä), that is, assimilation or nutrition, which impartially distributes the energy produced by food to all the organs. This function is related to the element Water, the sense of taste, and the circulation of the blood.

  The fourth function is reaction, the vigor (udana) or force that enables each organ to act by itself, to possess an independent activity. This function is related to the element of movement, Air, and to the sense of touch.

  Finally, Vyânä (present everywhere) is the activity of verification, planning, attribution, and specialization, which distributes and separates the functions of the different organs, causing the body to function as a society whose different cells have distinct attributes, even though they are basically similar. Vyânä is related to the element Ether, the sense of hearing and speech.

  These five activities are to be found in every organism, whether individual or collective. We find them again at the basis of every social organization: alimentation, elimination, distribution, force, and specialization, or, in other words, attribution of functions.

  Vyânä, planning, is the last of the vital functions to disappear at the time of death. It is what enables certain specialized processes, like the growth of nails or hair, to continue. The first sense to disappear at the moment of death is sight, then the sense of smell vanishes, then taste, then touch. Hearing is the last sense to disappear. People who are apparently dead can hear. Vyânä, the central activity, subsists long after apparent death. This explains the possibility of the reutilization or transfer of organs, as well as the resurrection of a corpse by a transfer of psychic energy. Illnesses of the body, like the disorders of a society, come from the fact that certain cells quit their role and infringe on that of another group. Normally, the vital energies function independently of the will, of the "I." But the methods of Yogä can enable them to be controlled.

  Man, as a finished object, as the end product of an evolutionary sequence, thus possesses external organs adapted to each function. But this does not prevent each of his components, each cell, each organ, from possessing, in a more or less effective manner, the same possibilities of absorbtion, rejection, communication, action, and so on.

  Magic Powers (Siddhi)

  THE exploration and control of his inner universe, by making use of the faculties that are not limited by the barriers of the senses and by mastering physical functions, vital rhythms, and mental mechanisms, enables the adept of Yogä to develop powers that are normally latent in man. These powers are called Siddhi(s), accomplishments or "godly powers" (aïshvaryä).

  These are the powers of Yogä that have made possible the observations on which the cosmological theories of the Sâmkhyä are based. The Siddhä(s), or persons who know how to develop the Siddhi(s), have been able to "see" the functioning of atoms, or view the exterior of galaxies, better than the most sophisticated observational equipment allows.

  It is not necessary to cross the oceans with a chronometer to know the time
differences between India and the Mayan cities as the geographer Aryabhata precisely shows us; it is sufficient to be in the two places at the same time, somewhat as the radio allows us to do today.

  The possibilities of Yogä and the texts that describe it cannot be understood without taking into account the fact that the exploration of the secrets of the world and the development of supranatural powers that permit this exploration are its first objective.

  The Yogi who has perfected the Siddhi(s) thus acquires powers "which belong to the gods" (aïshvaryä) and which are essentially the power of vision (drikshakti) or power of knowledge (jñânä-shakti), that is to say, omniscience, as well as the powers of action (kriyâ-shakti), which are nine in number:

  Animâ (atomization), enabling the perception of the infinitely small, the structures of atoms

  Mahîmâ (immensity), enabling one to see the exterior, the structures of the galaxies

  Garimâ (gravity), permitting one to assume an enormous weight

  Laghimâ (lightness), permitting levitation

  Prâpti (obtainment), permitting one to obtain an object wherever it might be

  Prakâmyä (at will), enabling one to transport oneself to any location

  Ishitvä (dominion), the power of control over the natural world, enabling one to arrest wind, provoke rain or storms, etc.

  Vashitvä (holding in one's power), permitting one to have power over any being; hypnotism is an elementary form of it

  Yatrakâmâvasâyitvä (transformation at will), allowing the adept to take on any form, that of a god, a giant, a blade of grass [Commentary on the Sâmkhyä-Kârikâ, 23]

  The Yogi can enter into other bodies and bring corpses back to life by taking possession of the Vyânä, the vital activity which regulates the vital functions and subsists for a certain time after apparent death.