Obscure Religious Cults as Background of Bengali Literature c9.s2.2

c9.s2.2

The word ‘Sahaja’ literally means that which is born or which originates with the birth or origination of any entity (saha jāyate iti sahajaḥ). It is, therefore, what all the Dharmas possess by virtue of their very existence, and is thus the quintessence of all the Dharmas. As Mahā-sukha is the quintessence of all the Dharmas, this Mahā-sukha-nature is the Sahaja-nature of all the Dharmas. In the *Hevajra-tantra* we find,—“‘The whole world is of the nature of Sahaja—for Sahaja is the quintessence (*svarūpa*) of all; this quintessence is Nirvāṇa to those who possess the perfectly pure Citta.’”¹ But though this Sahaja in the form of Mahā-sukha is realised in and through a physiological process, it should never be conceived as something belonging to the body; though it is within the body, it is not something physical.² As the quintessence of all, it is the absolute reality, both immanent and transcendent.