NN omss°) OLS 81 F DOWER the secrets of tantric and shaktic yoga arthur avalon (sir John woodroffe)VII THEORETICAL BASES OF THIS YOGA Tus Yoga has been widely affirmed. The following review does not profess to be exhaustive, for the literature relating to Kundalini and Laya Yoga is very great, but includes merely a short reference to some of the Upanishads and Puranas which have come under my notice, and of which I kept a note, whilst engaged in this work.' It will, how- ever, clearly establish that this doctrine concerning the Chakras, or portions of it, is to be found in other Shastras than the Tantras, though the references in some cases are so curt that it is not always possible to say whether they are dealing with the matter in the same Yoga-sense as the work here translated or as forms of worship (Upasana). It is to be noted in this connection that Bhatashuddhi is a rite which is considered to be a necessary preliminary to the worship of a Deva.’ It is obvious that if we understand the Bhaitashuddhi to here mean the Yoga practice described, then, with the exception of the Yogi expert in this Yoga, no one would be competent for worship at all. For it is only the accomplished (Siddha) Yogi who can really take Kundalini to the Sabasrara. In the ordinary daily Bhata- shuddhi, therefore, the process is purely a mental or imagi- nary one, and therefore forms part of worship or Upasana, and not Yoga. Further, as a form of worship the Sadhaka ‘There are’ many others. Some references kindly supplied to me by Mahamabopadhyaya Adityarama Bhattacharya arrived too late for insertion in the First Edition and have since been inserted. * See Taranga I of the Mantramehodadhi : Devarché-yogyatapraptyai bhitashuddbim samacharet. av258 THE SIX CENTRES AND THE SERPENT POWER may, and does, adore his Ishtadevata in various parts of his body. This, again, is a part of Upisana. Some of the Shastras however, next mentioned, clearly refer to the Yoga process, and others appear to do so. In what are called the earliest Upanishads,’ mention is made of certain matters which are more explicitly described in such as are said by Western orientalists to be of later date. Thus, we find reference to the four states of con- sciousness, waking, and so forth; the four sheaths; and to the cavity of the heart as a “soul” centre. As already stated, in the Indian schools the heart was considered to be the seat of the waking consciousness. The heart expands during waking, and contracts in sleep. Into it, during dreaming sleep (Svapna), the external senses are withdrawn, though the representative faculty is awake; until in dreamless sleep (Sushupti), it also is withdrawn. Reference is also made to the 72,000 Nadis; the entry and exit of the Prana through the Brahmarandhra (above the foramen of Monro and the middle commissure); and “ up- breathing” through one of these Nadis. These to some extent probably involve the acceptance of other elements of doctrine not expressly stated. Thus, the reference to the Brahmarandhra and the “one nerve” imply the cerebro- spinal axis with its Sushumna, through which alone the Prana passes to the Brahmarandhra; for which reason, apparently, the Sushumnai itself is referred to in the Shiva- sambita as the Brahmarandhra. Liberation is finally effect- ed by “knowledge”, which, as the ancient Aitareya Aran- yaka says,’ “is Brahman”. ' For some references from the older Upanishads, see an article by Professor Rhys Davids in J.R.AS., p. 71 (January, 1899), “ Theory of Soul in Upanishads". See also Vol. I of my "Principles of Tantra,” referring amongst others to Prachna Upanishad, IIL. 6, 7. *P. 986 (edited by Arthur Berriedale Keith) of “ Anecdote Oxoniensia ”.