48 - Discourses on Tantra Volume One

Chapter 13

Krśńa Unparalleled (1)

Yesterday I told you something about nerve fibres, nerve cells, and the positions of various cakras; about the relation of the cakras to the propensities and how people establish control over these propensities. The highest point in the human body is the controlling point of the sahasrára cakra and is called Shiva, Puruśottama or “Krśńa”.

It will be better if I say something more about Krśńatattva [the inner meaning of Krśńa]. I have told you that in Vaeśńava Tantra the last bone of the vertebral column is called kula. [Here resides the serpentine coil.] In Tantra it is called kulakuńd́alinii, while in Vaeśńava Tantra it is called “Rádhá”, and Paramashiva [Puruśottama] is called “Krśńa”. Through sádhaná we raise the kulakuńd́alinii upwards, and in the end the union of Rádhá and Krśńa takes place. There is a secret technique to raise this serpentine coil. Previously this technique was not clearly given. At that time some people thought it proper to keep it secret. If something harmful to individual or collective life is not given, that is good; but the useful things have to be given. People will be more attracted to do sádhaná.

The first thing is that this kulakuńd́alinii rises slowly from the múládhára cakra to the sahasrára cakra in eight steps, it passes through eight cakras, and the sahasrára cakra is the ninth. Just below the sahasrára cakra is the guru cakra. When one meditates at the guru cakra, the kuńd́alinii takes one jump upwards, and the mind goes to the other side of the cakra [i.e., to the sahasrára.] This is the technique of sádhaná, but it has previously neither been explained nor written in books.

The kulakuńd́alinii rises upward in eight jumps or phases, so with two syllables in a siddha mantra,(1) the kuńd́alinii will jump four times. But a general, or publicly-given, siddha mantra will make the kulakuńd́alinii jump eight times or in eight phases. That is why such a siddha mantra has eight syllables. So you should understand that a proper kiirtana must have eight syllables, never seven or nine syllables.

The jiivabháva [microcosmic bearing] moves towards Krśńa, Paramashiva, the pineal gland in the sahasrára cakra, as a result of sádhaná, and the mind also becomes introverted in gradual steps. When the kuńd́alinii reaches the navel cakra, or mańipura cakra, that is called vraja bháva in Vaeśńava Tantra. And when it moves from the navel cakra to the trikut́i, or ájiṋá cakra, that is known as gopii bháva. And when it rises past the ájiṋá cakra, that is known as advaya bháva or Rádhá bháva. Thus there are these three stages.

During this process, one will hear the eternal sound of prańava [the oṋm sound] in the vast mahákásha [void] in different ways, according to the different levels which the mind has reached. Sometimes one first hears the sound of rumbling clouds, sometimes ankle bells, sometimes the roar of the sea. When after hearing different sounds in this way the mind reaches the trikut́i, one hears the sweet and harmonious sound of the flute. These are various expressions of the prańava sound. The prańava sound is heard as the trikut́i or ájiṋá cakra is crossed, but then when the mind merges with Krśńa or Paramashiva there is no sound, the silence itself is the sound. There is no expression. These are some of the secrets of sádhaná. The spiritual aspirant hears the various sounds of oṋḿkára or prańava at various stages, during deep sádhaná, during sweet sádhaná. The sound is called Krśńa’s muraliidhvani. The sádhaka becomes mad because of this sound and goes deeper and attains Rádhá bháva more and more, and rushes headlong forward.

Chot́e ye jan bánshiir t́áne
Se ki tákáy pather páne?

[Can a person who rushes headlong at the sound of the flute ever think about the path he or she is treading?]

At that time one does not think at all about what people will say. One knows only that “I and my Iśt́a exist.”