Yoga of Synthesis in Kashmir Shaivam

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

Page 41

him on the basis of Malinïvijayottara, and also impacted by the Vijñāna Bhairava and Svachchhanda Tantra, has come to be regarded as the standard format for the Trika yoga.
There is another model of yoga also which Kshemaräja introduces as a “higher and better” form for absorption with the Supreme. It is a three-fold system given in the Netra Tantra and divided into gross (sthūla), subtle (sūkshma) and ultimate (para) divisions with a variety of practices patterned on the eight-limbed structure of Patañjali's yoga system. Yet, though the eight limbs have the same nomenclature, they are interpreted by Kshemarāja in terms of Trika metaphysics and conceptual framework and incorporated into Trika yoga. He eliminates the first two viz. yama and niyama and treats dhyāna as a limb of anavopāya practice. Āsana or posture is another limb which is treated as the centre between the inhaled and exhaled breath on which the yogi fixes his attention. The pranic flow rises upward through the central channel and the yogi experiences the omniscience of Shiva's infinite consciousness rising spontaneously within himself. It is this that becomes the “firm seat” for the yogi to sit on for practice.
Prānāyāma too takes a more sophisticated form than merely a process of control of breath as in Patañjali's classical yoga. It begins with a watch over the outgoing and incoming breath till they become even and equal and then unite and merge as life force moving upward through sushumnā, the central channel, when it reaches twelve fingerwidths above the head (dvādashānta). Loosing its outer gross form, it transcends even this stage to become one with the supreme vibration of consciousness". The notions of rechaka (exhaler), pūraka (inhaler) and kumbhaka (holder) are also different in Tantra yoga with the Mālināvijayottara having five varieties, points out Navjivan Rastogi: pūraka, rechaka, kumbhaka, apakarshaka (reverting) and utkarshaka (reaching out). lxxix In the Svachchhanda Tantra, Rastogi points out, rechaka, kumbhaka and puraka have two forms: internal and external, while in the Netra Tantra, there is another mode of prānāyāma called prashānta kumbhaka or motionless holding of breath. XXX
Unmīlana and nimīlana Samādhi: The quietude or serenity that the yogi attains through meditative practices culminates in absorption or compenetration in the Ultimate
41