I chose this
odd title (an epithet for kundalini) for my reflection paper on Lilian
Silburn’s Kundalini: Energy of the Depths, because it characterizes the
almost hallucinogenic, visionary writing found in many of the Sanskrit passages
translated within the book. Silburn is director of the Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique, in Paris
The book’s subtitle is, A Comprehensive Study based on the
Scriptures of Nondual Kashmiri Shaivism¸ and about a half of the book is comprised
of translations from Sanskrit texts, principally the Tantraloka of
Abhinavagupta, the Shaktavijnyana of Somananda, and the Amaraughashasasana
of Gorakshanantha. The rest of the book is the author’s commentary and
exegesis of those texts, which chiefly concern the awakening and cultivation of
kundalini energy. This kundalini arousal is accomplished through four complementary
methods:
1) Breathing/concentration techniques.
2) Mantra yoga.
3) Direct “invasion” of the body of the student by the guru’s spiritual
power.
4) Awakening of yogic energy through sexual intercourse with a
partner.
The first system, focusing on pranayama, or breath control,
prescribes complicated techniques of balancing the dual polarized energies of
the incoming and outflowing breaths, and of breath retention. The next system
concerns two-syllable mantras, which are to be conjoined with the inhalation
and exhalation. Surprisingly, the mantras that predominate in the Kashmir
Shaivism tradition do not include Om
namah Shivayah; in fact, that mantra was never mentioned in this book.
On
the other hand, Abhinavagupta, the 11th-century master, touts the
efficacy of the mantras Aham and Sauh and analyzes them in an
intricate and extensive treatise, explaining the meaning and power of each
phoneme. Kashmiri Shaivism, in general, places primary emphasis on the power of
sound, specifically on the notion of spanda, or “primordial vibration”—a
vibratory aspect to the power of all creative energy. The adepts say this
throbbing energy has created the entire material cosmos, and one can gain
access to it through the method of tuning into mantric sound. In some passages
Abhinavagupta seems to be saying that Aham is the supreme and
unsurpassable mantra, and in other places, he lauds Sauh as the
veritable ticket to the heaven of the gods. He regards these mantras as more
than just keys to unlock the power of Kundalini (Shakti)—in some sense, they are
themselves condensed seeds of Shakti, or of Shiva-Shakti, the ultimate
reality.
Apparently, the Trika Shaiva system discounts the elaborate
iconography of the chakras taught in other yoga tantra systems—that is, the
various numbers of petals and colors, sounds, animals, inscribed letters, gods
and goddesses. The Shaiva tradition just sees the chakras as whirling wheels. As
in certain forms of Tibetan yoga, the Trika Shaivism of Kashmir
acknowledges only five chakras, instead of the more common seven. The root
chakra is followed by the navel chakra; and the “third eye” chakra is fused
with the crown chakra.
An interesting segment from Abhinavapgupta’s Tantraloka attempts
to explain (though in a very arcane and coded fashion) the method by which the
guru accomplishes shaktipat diksha, also called vedhadiksha (initiation
through penetration).[3]
In her exposition of this subject, Silburn tells of a fascinating transmission
rite mentioned in two early Upanishads[4].
This has to do with a father, at the hour of his death, passing his identity
into his son. The son lies down on top of the father, or sits in front of him:
“Then he performs the transmission: ‘I want my voice to be placed
in thee,’ the father says. ‘I receive thy voice in me,’ says the son. ‘I want
my breath to be placed in thee,’ the father says. ‘I receive thy breath,’ says
the son. This goes on likewise with sight, hearing, taste, actions, pleasure
and pain, procreation, gait, intellect, and the son receives them all (Silburn,
[quoting the Kaushitaki Upanishad] 88).”
As for the shaktipat initiation (as far as I could decipher it), the
guru breathes in the exhaled breath of the student, “purifies” it, and returns
it to the student, who inhales the exhaled breath of the guru. Alternatively,
with more advanced students, the guru penetrates into the central channel (sushumna
or madhyanadi) of the disciple, bringing a powerful breath energy,
called madhyapranakundalini, into play. Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka says,
“When duly performed, it consists of penetrating higher and higher into the
disciple, who clearly and unmistakably feels it through his centers.” A number
of other forms of penetration are described in heavily coded language. In all
of them, the adept “first makes the breath enter into the lower center of his
own body and then performs the type of penetration which he deems specially fit
for the disciple (ibid. 93).”
Silburn devotes a chapter to kulamarga, the “left-handed
path,” with its infamous practices that include eating meat, drinking wine and
engaging in ritual sexual intercourse. Interestingly, the shastras
mention that this tantric sex is not to be practiced with one’s wife, unless
one is already enlightened. Go figure.
Abhinavagupta asks rhetorically in the Tantraloka, “What is
the criterion of purity?” Then he proceeds with this apologia: “That alone is
pure which is identical with Consciousness, everything else is impure. No
distinction between pure and impure exists for him who regards the entire
universe as identical with Consciousness (ibid. 164).”
For me, the most interesting feature of the esoteric prescriptions
for tantric sex is the notion of the spontaneous stages of inner quiescence (Shanta)
and outer emergence (Udita) during the sexual union. At first, these states
alternate. Gradually they integrate into a fullness called the “inner
emergence.”
“When quiescence and emergence are integrated and then transcended,
kaula [ultimate reality] manifests in all its glory as cosmic beatitude
(ibid. 170).” This beatitude is realized as the eternal union of Shiva and
Shakti, which Abhinavagupta describes as a “domain full of bliss and
ever-surging Consciousness.”
In conclusion, Kundalini: Energy of the Depths is not easy
reading, a book to carry to the beach. Silburn admits as much in her own
conclusion to the book: “Even when seen together, these texts retain their
mystery; they elude systematic or exhaustive exposition precisely because they
are too rich in immediate experience, too careful as well to keep it concealed
under the guise of revelation. This ever-present double aspect of mystery and
revelation gives the reader the fascinating impression of a treasure which
recedes the moment he is about to grasp it.” Only if one has gained at least an
introductory academic knowledge (and perhaps some direct inner experience with)
kundalini energy, do these writings of the Kashmiri Shaivite masters begin to
become marginally decipherable.
Works Cited
Silburn,
Lilian. Kundalini, the Energy of the Depths: A Comprehensive Study Based on
the Scriptures of Nondualistic Kashmir
Shaivism.
Albany , NY State University
[1] For this
reason, she declined to dedicate the work to him: “I wish I could have
dedicated this book to Swami Lakshman Brahmacharin, from whom I received
constant support while I was exploring the texts, but since I did not get much
encouragement on his part for the publication of this work—to him a rather
daring undertaking—I dedicate it to the abysmal serpent. (Silburn, p. xvi).”
[2] To be
fair, it was translated from the original French as part of the SUNY Press
series on Shaiva Traditions of Kashmir. Perhaps the French language version
made more sense.
[3] One can
easily see why the late Swami Muktananda of Ganeshpuri became fascinated with
Kashmiri Shaivism in his later years. In it, one presumes, he found a
theoretical framework for his own kundalini experiences. I have read
Muktananda’s autobiography (written early in his teaching career), and it is
apparent that the “science” of kundalini was not at first known to Muktananda even
though the kundalini energy itself was powerfully awake within him. That is,
the kind of exacting esoteric detail in which Abhinavagupta spells out the science
of kundalini, comes from the Kashmiri Shaiva tradition, not from Muktananda’s
own Siddha lineage. (Muktananda’s guru, Nityananda, never gave discourses—in
fact, he rarely spoke at all.)
[4] Brhadaranyaka
and Kaushitaki.
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