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Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c17: Chapter Thirteen: Yoga and Tantra

Gorakhnāth and the Kānphaṭa Yogīs c17

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Chapter Thirteen: Yoga and Tantra

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YOGA is both a branch of Hindu philosophy¹ and a system of physical and mental discipline, ‘a code of disciplinary practices.’² In this latter aspect it plays an important part in all the philosophical systems of India and in asceticism in general. Yoga was, undoubtedly, a praxis, a set-up of actions, long before it was a system of philosophy.³ It is, undoubtedly, in this aspect of the Yoga that the *Gorakṣa-śataka* is chiefly interested, and in that text the philosophical implications of the Yoga system, or better, its background of systematic thought, is assumed rather than expounded. Without doubt the disciplines of the system, that is, performance, have been the dominating interest from the earliest times until now.

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¹ Das G., p. 8.

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² Das G., p. 1.

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³ See Edgerton, *AJP*, vol. XLV, ‘The Meaning of Sankhya and Yoga.’

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Even where the aim of ‘knowledge’ is to the front, the preparatory methods are not lost sight of.

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When the mind is once purged of all impurities, truths arrived at by philosophical discussions carry whole-hearted conviction. Yoga holds that discussions are not enough for the purpose, for in order to be assured that our minds would not be attracted by worldly temptations, certain psychological exercises should be undertaken in order to move the mind in a direction, the reverse of ordinary experience.⁴ The (Yogī) looks to the Yoga practice for gaining a complete mastery over his mind.⁵

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⁴ Das G., pp. 11, 12.

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⁵ Das G., p. 330.

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Interest in the Yogī was not only in his *knowledge* but also in his *powers*, superior powers.

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Throughout all the epochs of Indian culture we find the highest reverence paid to the (Yogīs) who were believed not only to possess a superior sense, by which they could know the highest truth beyond the ken of ordinary vision, but also to wield the most wonderful miraculous powers which Patañjali has described as the vibhūtis of Yoga, by which the (Yogī) showed his control not only over his mind and the minds of others, but also over inert external objects.¹

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¹ Das G., p.

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Practices which are included in Yoga run very far back, and some of them may have had their origin in non-Aryan sources.² They antedate all systems of philosophy. Ascetic practices, by which it was believed that men could come into intimate relations with the spirit-world and obtain power to change the natural course of things, contributed to the origin of the praxis. And Yoga is associated with asceticism and the acquirement of supernatural powers, and Yoga practices are very old,³ even though they may not be much in evidence in the earliest literature.⁴ The Brāhmaṇas⁵ and the Upaniṣads are familiar with Yoga ideas. From early times the ascetic has been looked upon as a wonderful magician. Fasts, mortifications and ascetic disciplines generally fall within the province of Yoga practice. Bodily discipline became a means to further mental control.⁶ Both Jains and Buddhists witness to the practice of Yoga, which, however antedates them both.⁷

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The practices of Yoga, as found in the oldest textbook of the system, the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, contain much that in itself is a relic of very primitive conceptions of the value of psychic states of profound excitement.⁸

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The Sūtras are at least 1,000 years later than the ideas.

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³⁴⁷ Vivekananda insisted that ‘the Yogi proposes to himself no less a task than to master the whole universe, to control the whole of nature.’ Quoted by Schmidt in Faqire and Faqirtum, p. 60. ² GSY, p. 34; GPU, pp. 18, 19. See Marshall, vol. 1, pp. 53, 54; Hauer, p. 1. ³ ‘Pre-Vedic, pre-Brahman.’ WGIL, vol. III, p. 458. ⁴ E.g., in Rig Veda. See GSY, p. 34, and Rig Veda, 3, 27, 11; 4, 24, 4; 7, 67, 8; 1, 5, 3; 1, 30, 7; 1, 34, 9; 10, 30. ⁵ See Śat. Brāh., 14, 7, 1, 11. ⁶ GSY, p. 35. ⁷ WGIL, vol. III, p. 458; MWB, p. 228. ⁸ GSP, p. 147.

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There are traces of wider and wider recognition of these practices in each succeeding literary age, from the beginning. The *Rig Veda* knows the ‘mad muni.’¹ As early as Pāṇini’s time (*c.* 500. B.C.) ‘Yogī’ meant a man who practised religious austerities; and these were much valued, and asceticism and the vow of celibacy and life-long study were regarded as great virtues and as being productive of the highest powers.² ‘Yoga’ was applied to the control of the senses.³ Yoga doctrines appear in the second group of *Upaniṣads*.⁴ In its technical sense Yoga appears for the first in the *Taittirīya*, *Katha*, *Śvetāśvatara*, and *Māitrāyaṇa Upaniṣads*.⁵ In the *Kena Upaniṣad* it is stated that

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¹ See above, p. 210, and *Rig Veda*, 10, 136.

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² DHIP, p. 226. See *Cand. Up.*, 3, 17, 4; *Bṛh. Up.*, 1, 2, 6; 3, 8, 10; *Tait.*, 19, 1; 3, 2, 1; 3, 3, 1; *Tait. Br.*, 11, 2, 3; *Rig Veda*, 10, 129; *Śat. Brāh.*, 10, 5, 8, 1.

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³ *Katha Up.*, 3, 4.

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⁴ DHIP, p. 227.

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⁵ *Tait.*, 2, 4; *Katha*, 2, 12; 6, 11, 18; *Śvet.*, 2, 11; 6, 13; *Mait.*, 6, 18; *D.Up.*, p 385.

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The self cannot be known by him who has knowledge, but only by him who has no knowledge. Hence comes the effort to subdue all the activity of the senses and the mind, to empty the intellect and thus to make it ready for a new apprehension.⁶

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⁶ KSS, p. 54.

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Passages imply that Yoga is well known. For example: When cease the five (Sense-) knowledges, together with the mind (*manas*). And the intellect (*buddhi*) stirs not— That, they say, is the highest course. This they consider as Yoga— The firm holding back of the senses. Then one becomes undistracted. Yoga, truly, is the origin and the end.⁷

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⁷ *Katha Up.*, 4, 10, 11. Translation by Hume, *Thirteen Principal Upanishads*, pp. 359–60. Note: ‘The World’ becomes created for the person who emerges from the Yoga-state, and passes away when he enters it.

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And further: An intelligent man should suppress his speech and his mind. The latter he should suppress in the Understanding Self (*jñāna ātman*).

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The understanding he should suppress in the Great Self (*buddhi*, intellect), That he should suppress in the Tranquil Self (*śānta ātman*).¹

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¹ *Kaṭha Up.*, 3, 13. Translation by Hume, *Thirteen Principal Upanishads*, pp. 352, 353.

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It is to be noted that here it is the Absolute Brahman upon which the mind is to be fixed.² Likewise in the *Maitrāyaṇa Upaniṣad* is attention directed toward the Supreme Brahma.³

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² Hume, *Thirteen Principal Upanishads*, p. 360, note 2. KSS, p. 55.

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³ KSS, pp. 4, 17, 18.

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The seer sees not death,
Nor sickness, nor any distress.
The seer sees only the All,
Obtains the All entirely.⁴

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⁴ *Mait. Up.*, 7, 11, 6. Hume, *Thirteen Principal Upanishads*, p. 458.

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And again, it is by austerity that success in the knowledge of Brahman is won.⁵

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⁵ *Mait.*, 4, 3.

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‘Brahma is!’ says he who knows the Brahma-knowledge.
‘This is the door to Brahma!’ says he who becomes free of evil by austerity.⁶

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⁶ *Mait.*, 4, 4. Translation by Hume, *Thirteen Principal Upanishads*, p. 421.

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Knowledge, however, probably refers to magical power, to the *Upaniṣadic* belief in the inherent power of *knowledge*, as such . . . The reason why they (the *Upanishads*) seek the ‘truth’, any truth, is precisely this: that by knowledge of the truth they expect to master their destiny wholly or partly; and not by a course of action dedicated by knowledge, but directly, immediately, and by virtue of that knowledge in itself; in brief, we may say, magically.⁷

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⁷ ‘The Upanishads; What do They Seek, and Why,’ by F. Edgerton, *JAOS*, vol. XLIX (1929), pp. 97 f.

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We are here in contact, not with philosophical speculation, but with means to practical ends. Or, it may be suggested that even metaphysical knowledge is viewed from the point of view of possessing or giving supernatural power.

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In the *Maitrāyaṇa Upaniṣad* mention is made of a number of Yoga technical terms.

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The precept for affecting this (unity) is this: restraint of the breath (prāṇāyāma), withdrawal of the senses (pratyāhāra), meditation (dyāna), concentration (dhāraṇā), contemplation (tarka), absorption (samādhi). Such are said to be the six-fold Yoga.¹

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¹ Mait., 6, 18. Translation by Hume, Thirteen Principal Upaniṣads, p. 435.

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And one long passage besides, deals with Yoga.²

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² Mait., 4, 18-30.

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In the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad Yoga practice is set forth at considerable length.³ Concerning this Upaniṣad Dasgupta says:

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³ Śvet., 2, 8-15. See also 1: 8 and chap. 3; also D. Up., p. 386.

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Yoga has come to be regarded as a method of attaining salvation; here for the first time we hear of a meditative (dhyāna) Yoga and Sāṅkhya-yoga by which final truth could be known, and we find, with the description of Yoga, its posture, its breath-control and the different psychical states preceding the final illumination.⁴

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⁴ Das G., p. 39.

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And, he continues, there grew up a whole series of Upaniṣads which

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dealt exclusively with Yoga discipline with little or no reference to Sāṅkhya metaphysics . . . all busy in describing the Yoga physiology and the practical methods of attaining concentration. In these the philosophical aspect has been largely subordinated to the elaborate physical processes of Yoga, which began to grow almost independently of Patañjali's treatment of the subject, and were accepted and assimilated later on by the sectarian schools of the Śāktas, Śaivas and also by some later schools of Buddhism.⁵

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⁵ Das G., pp. 40, 41. This statement assumes the early date for Patañjali.

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This is an important consideration as will appear later on.

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It may be well to carry a little further the discussion of the meaning of the word 'Yoga.' The word is primarily a technical term with a specific general meaning. Professor Edgerton says⁶ that it signifies a method or a way, a way of disciplined activity whereby an end is attained, usually mokṣa, or, more popularly, some power or skill or experience. It is not the end or aim that is referred to by Yoga, but the disciplined action or activity which leads to the end desired.

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⁶ 'The Meaning of Sankhya and Yoga,' in AJP, vol. XLV (1924), pp. 1 ff.

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This is its use in important parts of the Great Epic, such as the Bhagavad Gītā and the Mokṣadharma section of Book XII.

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It will clarify the discussion to follow Professor Edgerton’s method and his argument for a moment, and study the words, ‘Sāṅkhya’ and ‘Yoga,’ together. From earlier times (see Śvetāśvatara and later Upaniṣads), Sāṅkhya and Yoga refer to two methods of reaching mukti, the one the method of knowledge, the other that of action. Sāṅkhya in the Gītā means the way of salvation by pure knowledge, the intellectual method, and it is understood as implying quietism, renunciation of action (sannyāsa, vāirāgya). Yoga, on the other hand, is understood as disciplined, unselfish activity. This method of unselfish or disciplined activity, with indifference to results, is what the Gītā always means by Yoga when it contrasts it with the Sāṅkhya, the (quietistic) way of knowledge. Yoga ‘discipline,’ is synonymous with karma-yoga, ‘discipline of action.’ Both Sāṅkhya and Yoga lead to salvation; but since the intellectual and inactive way is hard, the other is to be preferred. ‘Yoga’ means discipline of some kind and different schools use varying systems of activity, as that of the Gītā, for example, where the word Yoga means a disciplined course of procedure leading to emancipation, a method of salvation characterized by participation in action without interest in the fruits thereof. The argument which Kṛṣṇa advances to Arjuna is that in life action is inevitable, but that it must be brought under a rule of conduct (dharma) suitable to Arjuna’s station in life, engagement in battle. Over against this Yoga of action is the jñāna-yoga, the discipline of knowledge with the abandonment of action (sannyāsa.) Yoga is always a way, a method of getting something, usually salvation, although sometimes, in popular usage, a lower goal is aimed at.

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The common denominator of all the epic definitions of Yoga is disciplined activity, earnest striving—by active (not rationalistic or intellectual) means.

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The following verse from the Gītā (iii. 3), will serve as an illustration of this point of view:

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‘Loke ’smin dvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayā ’nagha
Jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṁ karmayogena yoginām.’

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Professor Edgerton’s rendering is : ‘In this world a twofold foundation (of religious salvation) (Śaṅkara’s rendering is ‘two kinds of fixed rule’) has been expounded by me of old: by the discipline of *knowledge* of the followers of Sāṅkhya, and by the discipline of *action* of the followers of Yoga.’

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In this connection it may be of interest to note that Professor Hiriyanna¹ says that the *Gītā* would lose its entire significance if action were not regarded as its essential lesson. And he holds that the central point of the teaching is activism, *karma-yoga*. He goes on to define karma in terms of duties prescribed by custom and tradition, the *varṇa-dharmas* (the specific customary duties of the various orders of society). So that, for him, *karma-yoga* in the *Gītā* means ‘harnessing’ or ‘applying oneself to’ social obligations. The concern of the individual is solely with action, never with its fruits.

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¹ *Outlines of Indian Philosophy*, p. 118. So also B. G. Tilak in his *Gita Rahasya*. See vol. I, p. 81.

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Professor Dasgupta in speaking of *samādhi* as a state of release (*kaivalya*), says that what the Sāṅkhya aims to gain by knowledge, the Yoga achieves through the perfected discipline of the will and psychological control of mental processes (states).²

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² *DHIP*, vol. I, p. 273.

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Dr. Thomas points out³ that the primary meaning of the word was ‘discipline,’ and that secondarily it referred to ‘union’ as the effect or end of yoga.

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³ *History of Buddhist Thought*, p. 43, note 2.

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Another point of importance is that the word ‘yoga,’ is not used for ‘union.’ As Professor Edgerton says:

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In English we may describe the goal of Yoga (or of Sāṅkhya either) as ‘union’ (with Brahman or God). But it is a striking fact that the word Yoga, and its cognates are not ordinarily used of this. Instead, the emancipated soul ‘goes to’ (*adhigam*) ‘attains’ (*āp, prāp*), or ‘sees’ (*paś*) Brahman; or if he is said to attain ‘oneness, sameness’ with Brahman, the word used is not yoga but, e.g., *sāmyatā*.⁴

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⁴ *Op. cit.

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Attention is called to Hopkin’s remark that the union-idea of the author of the *Muṇḍaka* (Upaniṣad) is expressed not by ‘yoga’ but by *sāmya*.

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Professor Edgerton points out further that Carpentier has shown¹ that not only in the Epic but even later the word yoga, does not mean ‘union.’ And Professor Radhakrishnan says² that in Patañjali Yoga means only effort, not union.

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¹ ZDMG, vol. LXV, pp. 846 f.

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² Indian Philosophy, vol. II, p. 337.

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Yoga finds its classical expression in the Sūtras of Patañjali, written somewhere between A.D. 300 and 500.³ The author was a compiler, a systematizer, rather than an original thinker. While the Sūtras may be interested in speculation as such, still, they are based upon methods of action, disciplined actions, with their concomitant supernatural powers associated with self-hypnotism and the like. The superior powers of the Yogī are simply those of attaining the highest goal, release,⁴ such powers as such being viewed as unworthy of the struggle.

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³ Following Woods (WYS, pp. xvii, xix), Keith (SS, p. 56), Jacobi (JAOS), vol. XXXI, and others.

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⁴ See Edgerton, in article referred to above.

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The aims of Yoga, in Patañjali’s sense, may be spoken of as controls of various kinds, a graded series of disciplines, directed towards steadying the mind; gradually advancing stages of rigid control of body and mind; the stoppage of all movement and all thought—that the soul be absorbed in itself, loosing the sense of duality, of subject and object; immediate perception;⁵ ultimately, prolonged, fixed attention to the point where the mental processes are stopped absolutely.⁶

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⁵ WYS, p. 172.

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⁶ WYS, p. 8.

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But there is ancillary to the mental discipline, a long period of preparatory action, organized according to a well-developed, progressive plan. In the preliminary stages of the preparation for the fixing of the attention, there are purifying processes to be carried out, first with stress laid upon external means;⁷ then, after these have been mastered, with recourse to the internal controls.

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⁷ See D. Up., p. 384.

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These disciplines, which are eight in number, may be classified as five indirect and three direct means to release.⁸ They are yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi.

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⁸ WYS, 2: 28, 29.

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First, there are certain restraints whose mastery is necessary before essential physical discipline may begin.

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They appear as five commands: abstinence from injuring anything (ahiṃsā); from falsehood or deceit; from theft; from sexual intercourse (continence, celibacy); and from covetousness. The last means accepting only what is absolutely necessary, and refusing to accumulate objects or riches.

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A second set of rules that must be mastered consists of observances involving necessary religious duties and self-restraint, and are five in number. They include purificatory prescriptions, for the external cleanness of the body, which beget attitudes of disgust for the body, discourage intercourse with others and lead to asceticism,¹ to the subjugation of the senses. They conduce to inner cleanness of mind, contentment, moderation and frugality; to the habit of bearing all privations of cold and heat equally, keeping the body unmoved; silence; asceticism and restraint; to the study of philosophy; to the repetition of spells, words and syllables, amongst others that of the mystic oṃ; to the keeping of fasts and religious observances; and to meditation on Īśvara (Īśvara praṇidhāna) which gives perfection of concentration, devotion to God, and resignation to his will.² These, it will be seen, include tapas, mantra and bhakti. If obstacles arise while practising niyama (or yama) resort should be made to pratipakṣahāra, the principle of using the opposite quality³ and of thinking of the consequences as deterrents.⁴ They are: the setting of good over against bad in thoughts and deeds; thinking of all beings as friends; kindly feeling for sufferers; feeling of happiness for the good of all; and feeling of equanimity and indifference for the vices of others, not taking note of vices of the vicious, conscious that nothing is worth striving for or desirable.⁵

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¹ WYS, 2: 40.

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² WYS, 2: 44, 45.

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³ WYS, p.1 83.

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⁴ WYS, p. 185.

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⁵ WYS, 1: 35.

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Yama and niyama comprise all the active and passive virtues. Professor Radhakrishnan says:⁶

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⁶ Indian Philosophy, vol. II, p. 354. Quoted by permission of Macmillan and Company, Publishers.

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A practice of these two favours the development of vairāgya, or passionlessness or freedom from desire, either for things of the world or the pleasures of heaven.

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When these two disciplines have been mastered, the Yogī should pass in turn to other disciplines of Yoga and perfect them. These are āsana; prāṇāyāma and pratyāhāra. Practice begins with āsana.

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Postures (āsana) have as their object the discipline of the body in stillness or rigidity. To this end the Yogī should choose a quiet place where, in comfort, he may carry out his practice. Steadiness of mind (fixed attention) is contingent, in the end, on bodily poise (and breath control). The ideal adept sits motionless as a stock or stone or as the flame of a lamp in a windless place. Later works, like those on Haṭha Yoga, state that there are an infinite number of postures, or eighty-four lakṣa, of which eighty-four are chief, while some reduce the essential or the most useful and all sufficient to two.¹ The Gheraṇḍa names thirty-one; the Śiva Saṃhitā considers four as chief.

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¹ Compare Gorakṣaśataka, 9, 10.

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Having mastered Āsana, the Yogī proceeds to the next discipline, the control, or the regulation, or the restraint of the breaths.² Because constant respiratory action has a disturbing, or obstructing effect upon the attainment of perfect concentration, breathing should be controlled and finally stopped. Prāṇāyāma consists in interruptions of the natural alternation of out and in breathing. The expulsion of the held-in breath is called recaka and is to be done with thought on Śiva; the inhaling of the breath is called pūraka, and this done with the mind on Viṣṇu. Retention of the breath is called kumbaka and is done with the thought of Brahmā.³ Its central aim is in the holding of the in-breathed air.⁴ The control of breathing is said to be carried to great extremes. ‘With practice one may retain breath steadily for hours, days, months, even years.’⁵ In the Haṭha Yoga breath control is esteemed for its great efficiency in producing occult powers.

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² See D. Up., p. 384.

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³ But see below, where the process is joined to the recitation of the syllable oṃ.

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⁴ Or, holding the lungs empty.

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⁵ DHIP, p. 272. Quoted by permission of Macmillan and Company, Publishers. Das G., p. 334. The Dabistan (vol. II, pp. 137, 138) mentions several Yogīs famed in that time for the restraint of the breath. Baliknāth, who at the age of 120 years, was in full vigour, was one. Serudnāth could hold his breath for two days. Sāñjānāth, of the Āipanth, was seven hundred years old and not yet gray. The author of the book saw both Serudnāth and Sāñjānāth.

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With the breathing thoroughly under control, after a considerable period of practice, the Yogī proceeds to the next discipline, described as the suppression of the organs of sense,¹ their subjugation or withdrawal from the objects of sense. The result of this practice is the limitation of the span of attention within the mind, the inhibition of the sensory systems, the serving of external contacts. It serves to keep the mind from wandering.

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¹ D. Up., p. 385.

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Pratyāhāra is based upon the Sāṅkhya and Yoga theories of sense perception.² It may be achieved by prāṇāyāma (and by the khecarīmudrā).

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² See DHP, p. 25.

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These, yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma and pratyāhāra, constitute the five external means preliminary to the higher stages which issue in samādhi, or release. In yama and niyama are laid the foundations for the beginnings of concentration of mind; in āsana and prāṇāyāma additional powers for the exercise of fixed attention are developed; and in pratyāhāra the mind cuts off external contacts thus completing preparation for the beginning of those inner exercises through which the end of Yoga, release, is achieved.³

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³ GSY, p. 44. Pratyāhāra is often grouped with the next three.

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The concluding (three) stages in the Yoga praxis deal with mind in its internal processes, the progressive stopping down of the mental activities until they cease altogether. This is achieved through increasing power in the fixing of the attention, at the same time making use of āsana and prāṇāyāma and the rest.

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Together the three (directed to a single object) are called samyama, or conquest,⁴ concentration, meditation, contemplative trance.⁵ The three are dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi. The first two deal with illumination, the last with ‘union.’ Meditation is a process of restricting mental activity. When samyama is directed to external or internal objects extraordinary powers arise.

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⁴ GSY, p. 44.

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⁵ SBH, vol. IV, pp. ix, x; WYS, 2: 13.

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Dhāraṇā, fixed attention,⁶ is the establishment of the mind in steadfastness, using some object or position, such as the navel, the nose, the tip of the tongue, the space between the eyebrows, Īśvara, or extended space. This ‘one-point meditation,’ made possible through the moral and physical restraints, is a step in the completion of all these. Dhāraṇā is directed to the fixing of the attention on one out of many objects in the mind. When the discipline is perfected the Yogī can, at will, keep the mind from wandering away from its object.

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⁶ WYS, 3: 1.

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An extension and intensification of this principle of concentration of mind is called Dhyāna. It represents adeptness in prolonging the state of ‘one-pointed’ concentration. In this state one object is held in attention to the exclusion of all others.

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The final phase in the stoppage of the mental processes is called samādhi. This state of mind is variously described as absorption,¹ concentration, fusion of knower and the process of knowing with the object to be known. It is the more or less prolonged experience of ‘release.’ Having come so far in rigorous discipline, the Yogī is now able to fix his mind on any object he chooses. It is preferable, however, that he choose Īśvara, for ‘The Lord’ then becomes a help to him in his final effort. He can, however, choose anything he likes for the ‘unifying’ concentration (samādhi) of his mind.² This stage may be described as a state where the object is fixed in attention in such a way that consciousness of the self or of the activity of the mind is lost.

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¹ D. Up., p. 385.

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² DHIP, p. 271.

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Samādhi is described in its four successively progressive aspects: concentration on objects remembering their names and qualities; then on the five subtle elements (tanmātras) first remembering their qualities and then without any notion of their qualities; afterwards on the buddhi with its functions of the senses causing pleasure and then, leaving the feelings of joy behind; and upon pure substance divested of all modifications. Here memory is eliminated and mind (subject) alone is left.³ In this whole process there are those stages called the samprajñāta, that samādhi in which there is consciousness of objects; and beyond these the a-samprajñāta or nirodha samādhi, in which the mind is without an object, a state of unconsciousness, at the same time that of isolation.¹ Here there is no actual mental state of any kind, but pure vacuity.² This is the end of the search; at first but fleeting experience of it; then, as Yoga is perfected, longer and longer tastes of it; and finally, in death, eternal release. It is isolation of soul according to the Sāṅkhya or the experience of Brahma, or ‘union’ with Brahma, according to the Vedānta.

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³ WYS, p. 84; DHIP, p. 271.

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¹ WYS, p. 13.

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² Das G., p. 341.

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So far the point kept in view, in sketching Patañjali’s Yoga has been the goal, first formulated in the Upaniṣads, of the attainment of release (mukti). On the other hand, however, Yogīs, and others as well, have always evinced much interest in certain powers which have been associated with the process of samādhi (and austerities), and which precede final beatitude. While the books advise that men turn not aside to these, and even condemn them as harmful, still these supernormal powers (vibhūti), both physical and mental, have been by no means despised. The belief that such powers are attainable is very ancient, and has been held without a break down to the present day.

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Concerning the belief in the powers which the Yoga may produce Professor Radhakrishnan says:

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They (the ancient thinkers of India) tell us that we can acquire the power of seeing and knowing without the help of the outer senses, and can become independent of the activity which we exercise through the physical senses and the brain. They assume that there is a wider world about us than we are normally able to apprehend. . . . There are laws governing the acquisition of this larger vision and manifestation of latent powers. By following the principles of the Yoga, such as heightening the power of concentration, arresting the vagaries of the mind, by fixing one’s attention on the deepest sources of strength, one can master one’s soul even as an athlete masters his body. The Yoga helps us to reach a high level of consciousness, through a transformation of the psychic organism, which enables it to get beyond the limits set to ordinary human experience. We discern in the Yoga those cardinal conceptions of Hindu thought, such as the supremacy of the psychic over the physical, the exaltation of silence and solitude, meditation and ecstasy, and the indifference to outward conditions, which make the traditional Hindu attitude to life appear so strange and fantastic to the modern mind.³

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³ Indian Philosophy, vol. II, pp. 336 f. Quoted by permission of Macmillan and Company, Publishers.

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These powers my be classified as physical and psychical.¹ The Yogi possesses supernatural control over the processes of nature. In the evolutionary series according to the Sāṅkhya (and the Yoga) the lowest level marks the limit of evolution, further development being merely changes at the moment in the arrangements of the atoms (*guṇa*). Ordinarily, change at this level follows a general but orderly course; but it is conceivable that one who knows the laws of change, from sheer insight, or by magical knowledge, might be able to direct and control nature.² Such is the claim of Yoga. Consequently the Yogī, they say, is able at will to become exceedingly small, or increase in size to enormous proportions; he may become very light or very heavy, he may reach to great distances over the earth, and travel through the air and through space at incredible speed; he may dive into the earth and up again as if it were water; and he may become very powerful, stronger than an elephant, bolder than a lion; and he may change the course of nature, having complete mastery of the elements, and authority over the states of existence. He is complete master of the body and of the inner organ. Besides, he may call up the dead and speak with them; he may enter the bodies of snakes, demons, men, women or deities, and return at will; and he may enter more than one body at a time, leaving his own. Simultaneously he may control³ these several bodies while he retains his own individuality in his own body. So fine are his perceptions that he hears peculiar and subtle sounds and has super-sensual powers of touch, taste, sight and smell. For example, he can hear the sounds that are in distant worlds. He has great capacity for friendliness, passions and joy.

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¹ See *GSY*, p. 46. The whole list of powers may be found in *WYS*, 3: 16-52. See also Woods in *JAOS*, vol. XXXIV (1915), pp. 1 ff.; and Lanman, *Harvard Theological Review*, 1918.

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² *WYS*, 3: 44; *LHIP*, p. 256.

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³ *WYS*, 3: 43.

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Since the Yogī is master of all processes in the evolution of *prakṛti*, having brought all under his control by practice of Yoga, he possesses supernatural or intuitive insight or knowledge. He sees all things, all processes, all time as an inclusive, present whole without sequence.¹ Such powers are sometimes called *siddhis*. He has, therefore, insight into the past and the future, knows the cries, or speech, of all living beings, has complete knowledge of all his previous births, can look into the mind stuff of others, knows the law of death, understands the subtle, the obscure, that which is concealed, the remote; and both things and events even in other worlds are present in his mind, so that he understands all the mysteries of the universe.² He knows all cosmic spaces and the orders of the stars and their movements; knows the arrangements of the body; sees all things and is familiar with the processes of the mind. In short, the Yogī attains to clear vision, or extraordinarily penetrating wisdom. He obtains full *intuitive* knowledge of whatever he concentrates upon.

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¹ WYS, 3: 84, 3: 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 33 and 34; and p. 315.

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² DHP, p. 117. For other details of powers see *Śiva Saṃhitā*, 3: 41 ff.

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Even if the work of Patañjali and his commentators be viewed as systematized philosophy, still, it maintains interest in the chief emphasis of Yoga, activity, an interest which has continued from the earliest times down to the present. With the passage of time, specialized emphases appeared. Professor Dasgupta says:

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Thus, the *Yoga* practices grew in accordance with the doctrines of the Śaivas and Śāktas and assumed a peculiar form as the *Mantra-yoga*; they grew in another direction as the *Haṭha Yoga* which was supposed to produce wonderful bodily feats of breath-control and control of involuntary muscles and organs through constant practices of elaborate nervous, muscular and breath exercises which were also associated with art of healing diseases, keeping the body free from all kinds of diseases and supernatural powers. The *Yogatattva Upanishad* says that there are four kinds of Yoga, the *Mantra-Yoga*, *Laya-Yoga*, *Haṭha-Yoga* and *Rāja-Yoga*. In some cases we find that there was a great attempt to associate even Vedāntism with these mystic practices. The influence of these practices on the development of *Tāntra* and other modes of worship was also very great.³

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³ DHIP, pp. 228, 229. Quoted by permission of Macmillan and Company, Publishers. Another known as *Kriya-Yoga* is mentioned. It aims to destroy the five evils, included under *Niyama*, i.e., the ‘six works.’ Haṭha-Yoga is sometimes called *Karma-Yoga*. Śiva-Yoga is called the highest, or spiritual Yoga. *SBH*, No. 68, p. 61.

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In Rāja-Yoga (and Jñāna-Yoga) intellective processes are the predominant, even where they are not the sole means employed.¹ It deals with the mind and psychic powers, also. Mantra-Yoga employs sacred texts, and syllables and consequently, enters the realm of magic. It is Yoga in the act of repetition. Laya-Yoga has to do with the quieting, one might almost say elimination, of the mental processes, issuing in trance (laya) or unconsciousness, such as the ‘fourth’ state, finally ending in permanent quiet of mind. Associated with Kuṇḍalinī-Yoga, it is considered as of the highest form by Śāktas, because, by its means, perfect samādi is gained by union with Śiva of both mind and body. The Laya-Yoga is elucidated in the Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā. Haṭha-Yoga lays emphasis upon prāṇāyāma,² the object of which is to produce in the body voluntary suppression of the breath. It lays most stress upon physical methods for the attainment of various mental states. Haṭha-Yoga is spoken of in distinction from Laya-Yoga, but in a more general sense it includes the latter; and it involves also some practices that are used as auxiliaries in other ‘Yoga’. Each Yoga employs some methods of the others and all are various modes of practice by which the feelings and the intellectual activities of the mind are brought into control and the Brahma, or the Puruṣa, realized in various ways.

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¹ See Serpent Power, pp. 200 ff., from which the data for this paragraph are taken, mostly in quotation.

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² According to Gr., p. 26, the aim of this Yoga is said to be to transcend the lower self, which consists of the sexual power, the vital air and the mind, by a method in which the control of the breath is the key to the control of the other two.

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All types of Yoga have in view in general the system of Patañjali, but each lays emphasis upon particular phases of discipline and brings into play other methods as well.

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According to the Hathayogapradīpika, Haṭha and Rāja Yoga should both be used, and each is necessary to the success of the other.³ The practicer of Haṭha Yoga gets his knowledge or realization of the Absolute, his union (svarūpa) with Śiva in the Sahasrāra through Kuṇḍalinī herself. This truth is illustrated in the Gorakṣaśataka, as the detailed study in the succeeding chapters will show.

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³ 2: 76. The Śiva Saṃhitā, 5: 9, mentions Mantra-Yoga, Haṭha-Yoga, Laya-Yoga and Rāja-Yoga.

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The Yoga of the Kānphaṭas is called Haṭha. An interesting derivation for the word is given in the commentary to verse one of the *Gorakṣa Paddhati*, where it is stated that *ha* means the sun (*sūrya*) and *ṭha* the moon (*candarama*); and that their union is called Yoga. This symbolism is significant as will appear in later chapters. The word signifies, however, hard, or extreme, or strenuous discipline and the doctrines lay particular stress upon āsana, mudrā, prāṇāyāma, dhāutī, cakra, nāḍi and kuṇḍalinī,¹ and most of these receive a great deal of attention in Tāntric works. Laya Yoga is sometimes identified with *Kuṇḍalinī* Yoga. Again, two main lines of Yoga are set forth; Dhyāna, looking to ecstasy by mental processes (Rāja-Yoga); and Kuṇḍalinī Yoga, which requires the help of mantra. And it is pointed out that Kuṇḍalinī is that part of Haṭha-Yoga in which, though the intellectual is not neglected, the creative sustaining śakti of the whole body is actually and truly united with the Lord-consciousness.² As implied above, Yoga is one, but many diverse emphases are specialized in its practice.

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¹ For the meaning of these terms see the Glossary, and the following chapters.

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² *Śakti and Śakta*, p. 414.

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The Tāntric element is prominent in the teaching of the Gorakhnāthīs. Both the Buddhist and the Śaivite Tantras have had their influence upon the beliefs and practices of the sect. These works have to do with the use of both magic and of the magic formulæ and of erotic ritual in the effort to get into touch with super-normal existences, with cosmic powers. Śāktism is closely allied with Tāntra, the ritual for which includes the *Pañcamakāra*. In fact, śākta is one of the chief elements in the system of Tāntra, and Śakti is, where these Yogīs are concerned, the consort of Śiva. If Śākta and Tāntra were to be discriminated one would refer specifically to the worship of the goddess, the other to magical and sacramental ritual. One of the bases of the latter is the assumption that man and the universe correspond as microcosm and macrocosm and that both are subject to the mysterious power of words and letters. Śākta as a system, as carried on in Assam and Bengal, is usually associated with the worship of the consort of Śiva with rites prescribed in the Tantras.

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Bhattacharyya says¹ that Tāntric culture presupposes Rāja and Haṭha Yoga. He also holds that historically the Buddhist preceded the Hindu Tantras; and that the latter are dependent upon the former. While, on the one hand, Rāja and Haṭha Yoga give control over the mind and body, Tāntric practices, on the other, confer various magic powers, contingent upon the deities worshipped and the mantras employed.

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¹ *Buddhist Esoterism*, p. 166.

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In recent years a good deal of attention has been given to both Buddhist and Hindu Tantras. For the former the works of Dr. B. Bhattacharyya may be mentioned. He has edited a number of Vajrayāna works² with valuable introductions and has published *Buddhist Esoterism*, based largely upon these editions and in which he has repeated a good deal from his introductions to the Sanskrit works. He has also written *Indian Buddhist Iconography*. T. G. Shastri has edited the *Āryamañjuśrīmūlakalpa* in three volumes.³ These writings have not been translated into English. On the Hindu side interest, so far as translation is concerned, centres around the very extensive work of Arthur Avalon. Here again there are valuable studies of the subject in his *Serpent Power* (both editions) and in his *Shakti and Shakta*. Arthur Avalon has worked with Hindu *paṇḍits*.

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² Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, Numbers, 26, 41, 44, 53, 61. Other works on Tantra issued in this series are Numbers, 24, 56.

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³ Trivandrum Sanskrit Series, Numbers, 70, 76 and 84 in the years 1920, 1922 and 1925.

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A recent work by E. A. Payne⁴ contains a very useful study of the Hindu cult, Śākta. It gives a survey of some of the literature.

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⁴ The *Śāktas of Bengal*, Calcutta, 1933.

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Bhattacharyya says that the whole of the culture history of the eastern part of India from A.D. 700 to A.D. 1200 is locked up in the Tantras. Although the Buddhist cult disappeared under the Islamic advance, Hindu practice has continued down to the present time.

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The Buddhist Tantra is essentially Vajrayāna. According to Bhattacharyya⁵ this system, a development of the Mahā- yāna, contains certain elements which reach back to the Buddha himself. Certain concepts which found a place in original Buddhism, contain the seeds of Tāntra. These are mudrā, mantra, maṇḍala, dhāraṇī, yoga and samādhi, all of which contributed to the attainment of happiness and prosperity. He holds that there was a popular side to early Buddhism and that within the cult there were many who were unhappy under the extreme severity of the discipline enforced. These concepts, therefore, found fertile soil in which to develop both liberty and license, in the search for supernatural power and for enjoyment.

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⁵ The account which follows is based primarily upon the introduction to his edition of the *Sādhanamālā*, Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, Number 41.

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The immediate sources of the Vajrayāna are three: the introduction of the theory of mahāsukha in the conception of the Buddhist nirvāṇa; the reaction to the more strict and unnatural rules of discipline within the Saṅgha; and the weakening influence of the theory which required each individual Bodhisattva to sacrifice everything, himself, his happiness, his family and children, for the emancipation of suffering humanity—the doctrine of Karuṇā. In the face of this great vow, ‘little’ sins are comparatively nothing. The vow to emancipate others was reduced to a mere convention. Monks took shelter under its cover and found in it ‘an excuse for committing acts of great sin and immorality.’¹ Later it was declared that there is nothing in the world that cannot be done by the Bodhisattva who has taken the vow to emancipate the world.

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¹ Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, No. 44, p. 9.

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The teaching of this development was carried on for some three centuries in secret, through a series of gurus and disciples, before it came into the open as a well-established cult. Its questionable side is evidenced by its use of the so-called twilight language, a style which admitted of two interpretations, one refined, the other indecent. This was necessary because ‘much of their work appears as indecent’ (Bhattacharyya).

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The teachings of the Vajrayāna have been handed down by a long line of persons, particularly in songs of the eighty-four Siddhas and their disciples. The greatest of these, the Mahāsiddhas, belong to the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries.

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From the point of view of this study it is of interest to note in the lists of names that of Jālandharipā, whom Bhattacharya identifies with Hāḍipā of the *Dharammaṅgala* and of the Manikcand-Gopicand stories recounted in a previous chapter. One of these tells how he was buried in a hole in the ground by Gopicand, who later became a Yogī. In one of the *paramparās* attached to chapter four, it will be remembered that he is placed before Gorakhnāth. Bhattacharyya assigns Jālandharipā to the eighth century. If this date were established, it would move Gorakhnāth to a somewhat earlier time than that suggested in chapter eleven.

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‘The main point on which the Vajrayāna conception of the pantheon revolves’ is that of the five Dhyāni Buddhas and the five Buddha families (*kula*). The deities are all voluntary manifestations of Śūnya, in forms dependent upon the *Bījas* uttered. They are also embodiments of the five *Skandhas* over each of which one of them presides. These deities are of distinctive colours, although their representations vary in colours, form and posture according to the rites in which they figure. Many of them are exceedingly terrific externally, even though they are compassionate internally (compassion is an essential character in the Mahāyāna). Mahā Kāla, however, does not show any but terrific aspects either externally or internally, having to do with the fate of the incorrigible only. Vajra-sattva is viewed as the priest of the Vajrayāna. Most of the gods belonging to these families are associated with terrible and gruesome rites and are of repulsive aspect. Goddesses have the same general characters as the gods.

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According to this system the world is composed of five elements deified in the forms of the Dhyāni Buddhas. Vajradhara is by many considered as the highest deity, the *Ādi* or primal monotheistic god from whom the five Dhyāni Buddhas arise. Homage is paid to him in the shape of a flame of fire, considered as eternal, self-born and self-existent. He appears in two forms, single and in *yab-yum*.

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In Vajrayāna three elements are involved, śunya, vijñāna and mahāsukha. The combination of these is called *Vajra*. Śūnya is *Nairātmā*, a goddess in whose eternal embrace the individual mind (Vijñāna) is locked, and in which it remains in eternal bliss and happiness. Or, in another aspect, voidness (śūnyatā) and compassion (karuṇā) together constitute the individual mind, and like the deities, Heruka and Prajñā, unite as the god, advaya (non-double). This union is yab-yum. The doctrine of karuṇā gave excuse, in the end, for the grossest forms of immorality and lawlessness. The regulation being that the sādhaka should not be attached to particular foods or women.¹ Śūnya is handled in compromise fashion under the assertion that ‘it is better to take the world as real. . . When the conception of unreality is abandoned, it gives rise to a state which is neither saṃsara nor nirvāṇa. The realization of voidness (śūnyatā) of all phenomena, after careful discrimination between knowledge and the object of knowledge, is what is known as the highest knowledge of the Prajñā. . . Compassion is of the nature of affection (rāga) as it removes the sufferings (rañjati) which spring up from numberless causes. This compassion is called Upāya or “means.” Because it always, like a boat, leads him towards the goal. The commingling of the two—Prajñā and Upāya—is the like commingling of water and milk whereby the duality is merged into one without distinction, and is called Prajñopāya. This . . . is the creative principle of the Universe and everything emerges and develops from this principle. This Prajñopāya is called Mahāsukha because it gives eternal happiness. . . Vajrayāna is thunderbolt-knowledge. . . It is known as mahāmudrā (great woman). . . The realization of this Vajrayāna leads to happiness and to the highest goal of Nirvāṇa or emancipation.²

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¹ Sādhanamālā, Introduction, p. xxxii.

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² Introduction to Two Vajrayāna Works, Gaekwad’s Oriental Series, No. 44, by B. Bhattacharyya, pp. xiv, xv, xix, xx.

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‘By those identical actions by which mortals rot in hell for hundreds of crores of cycles, the Yogin is liberated.’³

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³ Prajñopāyaviniścayasiddhi, 1, 15. Translation by Bhattacharyya.

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While early Buddhism enforced unnatural and strict rules of behaviour and forbade all kinds of worldly enjoyments, such as wine, women, fish, meat and all kinds of exciting food, the Tāntrics embodied all these in their practice in the form of the five *makāras*. The *Sri-samāya* is the cause of all happiness and divine perfection by *Mahāmudrā* and without her there is no emancipation. For them, to repeat, nirvāṇa is defined in terms of *śūnya*, *vijñāna* and *mahāsukha* and the conditions of the Bodhi-mind in nirvāṇa is as in the embrace of a woman. Union with their *śaktis* is termed by Tāntrics, ‘Yoga.’ The enjoyment of perfect truth, the *Prajñā*, resides in all women, and they should be enjoyed without reservation. The highest class of Yoga-tāntra cannot be practiced without the assistance of *śaktis*.

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In his *Sādhanamālā*¹ the editor writes: ‘It is indeed a pity that Hindus and also the Jains, to a certain extent, could not throw off the worthless and immoral practices enjoined in the Tantras, even when Buddhism was stamped out in India.

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¹ Vol. II, p. 33.

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In his *Indian Buddhist Iconography*, Mr. Bhattacharyya furnishes data from the following summary: the worship of female energy in connection with that of the male, the union of male and female energies, is the essence of Tāntra; purely Tāntric gods are invariably accompanied by their *Śaktis*, who are sometimes given a separate seat in representations of them while at other times are seated in the lap of the gods, but they are often depicted in the actual embrace of the gods; while most forms of Tāntra generally adopt the former types of illustrations, still, in the most thorough-going form of it the gods are worshipped in the embrace of, in union with, the *Śaktis*. He refers more especially to the Vajrayāna.²

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² See pp. 209, 323.

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Most of the Buddhist Tāntras are connected with Yoga. Their teaching is a mixture of mysticism, sorcery, and erotics, accompanied by disgusting orgies. These works inculcate the worship of Śaivite gods, of the liṅga, and of many female deities. Historically they represent the later age of the degeneration of Buddhism in India. Their only connection with Buddhism is their claim that their tenets were delivered by the Buddha himself.³ It is in accordance with this assertion that a story is told in the *Brahmayāmala*, and in the *Rudrayāmala* also (both Hindu Tāntric works)¹ that Vasiṣṭha, after years of hard discipline, failing in his efforts to obtain success (*siddhi*) cursed Tārā. She then appeared to him and pointed out that perfection did not lie along that way and directed him to Tibet (Mahācīna), country of Buddhists and land of the *Atharva Veda*. There he found the Buddha indulging in all sorts of loathsome practices. Appalled at what he saw Vasiṣṭha asked for light, and for help to attain perfection. He made inquiry of the Buddha about the use of wine and meat in the presence of naked women who were drinking blood and wine and behaving like drunkards. The Buddha’s reply was an exposition of the duties of the Kāulas, explanation of their mysteries and their uses, and revelation of their secret rites and practices. Ultimately Vasiṣṭha found in the unrestrained use of the five makāras the siddhi which he sought.

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³ *India’s Past*, p. 64.

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¹ Also in *Sādhanamālā*, Introduction. This is the Tārā Tantra, a secret Tantra belonging to the Yoga Tantra class which prescribes revolting practices. Bhāiravī asks Bhāirava the nature of the mantra by which the Buddha and Vasiṣṭha obtained Siddhi.

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The Hindu Tantras are the fifth Veda of Hinduism, the satisfactory scripture for this degenerate age, the *Kali Yuga*.² They are of two types, the *Niyamas* containing instructions from the Devī to Sadā Śiva and the *Āgamas* in which the latter teaches the Devī. The *Āgamas* are of particular interest in this study. Already references have been made to Śiva teaching the Yoga to Pārvatī. Here the Yoga doctrine of the Gorakhnāthīs is traced to Mīnanāth (Matsyendranāth) who obtained it from Śiva by taking the form of a fish and listening while that god was expounding the doctrine to Pārvatī as both stood on the shore of the sea.³ Another version of the story declares how a fish remained immovable, mind concentrated, and heard all. So Ādinātha (Śiva) perceiving this, sprinkled water upon him and he became a Siddha and was called Matsyendranāth.⁴ The characters in these works are restricted almost entirely to these two divinities. These books are the texts of the Śāktas, dealing with the left-hand worship of Śakti and with Kāulācāra. They are based upon the Kāula Upaniṣad¹ the most important being the Rudrayāmala Tantra of which the Jātimālā is an important section.²

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