Yoga of Synthesis in Kashmir Shaivam

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

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these into chit or samvitti, the third practice consists of being completely established in chit or samvitti. Being completely established in samvitti is known as sannivesha. In sannivesha there is no trace of the object as something extraneous. lxxviii
The other three karanas viz. vyāāpti, tyäga and ākshepa are related to the shākta yoga and shămbhava yoga. Vyāpti is pervasion of universal consciousness in every object as experienced by the yogi through bhāvanā or creative imagination, while tyāga constitutes the stage in which all effort is finally given up as supreme consciousness now abides spontaneously. Akshepa means projection. Here universal consciousness is projected in the whole universe.
Sthāna parikalpanā: With this we come to sthāna prakalpnă or support placement, the fifth process in anavopāya practice. It is regarded as an "external means” (bāhya vidhi) as in it the yogi relies on outer supports to fix his mind on for concentration. These supports are of three types: prānavāyu or the flow of the vital breath, deha or the physical body and bahih or external objects. The process of sthāna prakalpnā involves fixing of the mind on any of these three which have further sub-divisions. By prānavāyu is meant the vital breath in a sense somewhat different from the particular context in which it is used in uchchāra. Here the term prāna is used to mean the flow of breathing or the process of exhalation and inhalation on which the yogi fixes his mind. The exhaled breath rises from the centre of the body or the heart and moves right up to the point of internal dvādashānta, twelve finger widths above the crown of the head where it merges into the void. From this point the inhaled breath goes back through the same distance up to the centre or the heart and is known as external dvādashānta. By keeping attention fixed on these two points, vikalpas or the discursive perceptions of the mind begin to get dissolved and the yogi overcomes temporal limitations and experiences ānava samāvesha or absorption in one's essential Self through Individual Means.
As for deha, it is a term that refers to the gross elements constituting the outer body or the psycho-physical complex. If one cannot fix one's mind on the subtle life-force, then one
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