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TANTRA
Kundalini, the 'Inner woman' and World-force in the lowest center (mūlādhāra cakra) of the sādhaka's own body with the Supreme Śiva in the highest center (sahasrāra) in his upper brain." 50
For, whereas the paśu or vīra devotee practicing bhūtaśuddhi (the ritual purification of the elements of the body in preparation for an act of dualistic worship) “1 has to imagine the purifying ascent of the Kundalini through the centers or lotuses (cakras, padmas) of the suşumiņa, the divya, adept in the exercises of the Tāntric Kundalini Yoga, actually brings this psychoso. matic miracle to pass. Āsana and mudrā (proper seat and posture), prāņāyāma (control of the breath), dhyāna and mantra (interior visualization and the concentrated recitation of certain "seed" sounds and formulae), following a long and severe preliminary training in physical and emotional self-purification, lead actually to a physical effect which is described as the channeling of all the energies of the body into a subtle channel up the interior of the spine (suşumņa). In this case, the rise of the “Serpent Power" (kuņdalinī) and awakening of the lotuses (padmas) does not have to be imagined, it actually comes to pass. And when the sixth center is attained-the “Lotus of Command” (ājñā) between the cyebrows-the Lord (īśvara) is actually seen, not simply imagined, and the beholder is completely lost in savikalpa sāmadhi-communion with the Brahman "with limitations" (savikalpa), where the distinction between the subject and the personal God is retained.62 Whereas the moment the rising force then enters the ultimate thousand-pctalled lotus at the crown of the head (the sahasrāra), where Siva and Śakti are one, the knowledge of duality is in sheer experience
50 Nīlamani Mukhyopadhyāya, Pañcatattva-vicāra, p. 85; Woodroffe, Shakti and Shakta, p. 567. Other sublimated readings of the pañcatattva appear in other texts; cf. Woodroffe, pp. 495-500, 568-569.
61 Cf. supra, pp. 584-585. 52 Cf. supra, pp. 485-436.
592
