Yoga of Synthesis in Kashmir Shaivam

Author(s): S S Toshkhani
Publisher: S S Toshkhani

Page 37

jagadānanda, or the universal bliss which is beyond all limitations with “universality of supreme consciousness” alone prevailing. It is a state, fed by parāmrita or the supreme nectar, with "the joy of the ultimate unitary state overbrimming", to put it in the words of Navajivan Rastogi. 'xxiv To reach this state after experiencing these six different levels of bliss through uchchāra or ascendance of the vital breath is the eventual goal of the practitioner of Shaiva yoga.
Varna: The third type of anavopāya practice is related to varna or the ascent (uchchāra) of the vital breath or life force in general as subtle vibration of the inner, inarticulate sound. In fact by varna is meant the unstruck, mystic sound known in yogic terminology as anāhata shabda or anāhata nāda which the yogi can hear through deep meditation only. Abhinavagupta defines it in the Tantrāloka in the following manner:
Ukto ya eva ucсhāras-tatra yo 'sau sphuran sthitah/
Avyakānukriti prāyodhvanirvarnah sa uchyate // [*From the uchchāra of this general prāna, there vibrates an imperceptible sound which is known as varna. Tantrāloka V,131]
As Abhinavagupta further explains, “There is one varna in the form of nāda in which lie all the varnas (letters) latently in an undivided form. As it is ceaseless it is called anāhata, i.e. unstruck, natural, uncaused.olxxv It is not sounded by anybody voluntarily, nor can anyone prevent it from being sounded, but vibrates automatically in the heart. This nāda is called varna as all the letters originate from it. It is reveals itself in two forms: srishti bija and samhāra bija or the seed mantras pertaining to creation and dissolution. Explaining what is meant by srishti bija and samhāra bīja, Jaidev Singh says: “Sa is srishti bija or the mystic letter denoting expiration and ha is samhāra biīja or the mystic letter denoting inspiration." By meditating on them or by reciting them the yogi has the experience of oneness of consciousness. In fact it is a mantra automatically repeated by every living being with every exhaled and inhaled breath and is therefore called the hamsa mantra. As Kshemarāja explains: