religions
Article
The Mystical World of the Body in the Bengali Tantric
Work Nigūd.hārthaprakāśāvali
Robert Czyżykowski
Institute for the Study of Religions, Jagiellonian University, Grodzka 52, 31-044 Krakow, Poland;
r.czyzykowski@uj.edu.pl
Received: 16 June 2020; Accepted: 4 September 2020; Published: 16 September 2020
Abstract: Amongst the wide collection of literature on the Bengali Tantric Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās,
the works of Mukundadāsa (or Mukundadeva) and his disciples are counted among the most
influential. Those Middle Bengali texts that are usually recognized as a group of the four main
texts of Mukunda and his circle or followers are commented in the work Nigūd.hārthaprakāśāvali
(NPV, ‘The Array of lights on the hidden meanings’) by various disciples of this line. The main
goal of this paper is to shed light on some aspects of the religious experience in the regional Tantric
tradition. As we may suppose, the descriptions included in NPV refer to some previous experiences
of the authors (gurus) of the tradition and describe imaginary internal worlds of the body in the
manner specific to that tradition, using various esoteric terms and describing also various kinds of
religious discipline (sādhana). This means the presentation of the relatively poorly known and still
not well-studied Bengali Tantra is expressed in the vernacular Bengali language (Middle Bengali,
madhyajuger Bānglā). I will try to demonstrate how the image of the human body (and its imagination
in this particular tradition) serves as the basis for the religious experience.
Keywords: Tantra; Bengal; Sahajiyā; body; mystical experience; yogic body
1. Introductory Remarks
Amongst the wide collection of literature on the Bengali Tantric Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās1 , the works of
Mukundadāsa or Mukundadeva and his disciples are counted as among the most influential. Those
Middle Bengali texts,2 which are usually recognized as a group of the four main texts of Mukunda and
his circle or followers, contain the following works: Āgamasāra of Yugala dāsa, Ānandabhairava of Prema
dāsa, Amrtaratnāvalı̄ of Mukundadāsa (ARV) and Amrtarasavalı̄ of some disciple of Mukunda. These
˚
˚
texts were probably composed in the second part of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century.
The Nigūd.hārthaprakāśāvali (NPV, ‘The Array of lights on the hidden meanings’) was likely written in
the next few decades after the composition of those enumerated above, meaning the beginning of the
18th century, but this must be considered as estimate3 . NPV presents the four texts as a sequence of the
most important works of the tradition. In this way the works of Mukundadāsa or Mukundadeva4
and his line are recognized in the Bengali Tantric Vais.n.ava circles as an important part of the tradition,
1
2
3
4
Sahajiyā is a term used widely in Bengali literature. Despite problems with its accuracy I use this as reference to the Tantric
Vais.n.avas of Bengal, which themselves identify as practicing sahaja dharma.
All translations and transcriptions from Bengali are my own. The numeration of the folios of the manuscripts and particular
lines are included in the footnotes.
According to consultations with a Bengali specialist in manuscriptology of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad (Kolkata), Dr. Mitra
Tanmay, the copy of NPV (n.d.) (manuscript no 1525) comes from the 18th century, which certainly is a very general opinion
but at least gives some approximation of its time of composition.
Bengali tradition recognizes at least three Mukundas living in the 16th–17th century who were important for the development
the Vais.n.ava and Sahajiyā circles. The problem was elaborated by Jhā [2012] 2020).
Religions 2020, 11, 472; doi:10.3390/rel11090472
www.mdpi.com/journal/religions
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and have featured prominently in the research into Bengal Sahajiyās, which started at the beginning
of the 20th century (the first works of M.M. Basu (Bose) contain significant references to NPV). NPV
reflects the problem of the homogeneity of the Tantric Sahajiyā Vais.n.ava category understood as the
syncretic Bhakti-Tantric traditions in Bengal, which consisted of the complex web of the line of the
gurus (Chakrabarty 1985; Chakrawarti 2017). Nevertheless, in the case of guru Mukunda, we have the
widespread and influential tradition of Bengal Vais.n.ava Tantra known to various local Tantric groups
and confirmed up to contemporary times in the form of the tradition of Mukunda’s line (Mukunder
śrota, (Chakrawarti 2017; Jhā [2012] 2020). The center of this line is Patuli in the Bardhaman District in
the northern part of the Indian state of West Bengal. Authorship of the four texts commenting on NPV
is doubtful, but the widespread presence of manuscripts with bāṅita (traditional identification of the
author of a text at the end of a manuscript) of Mukunda indicates authority in the world of Bengali
Vais.n.ava Tantra connected with this name.5 Certainly, Mukunda was the name of an important figure
in the Vais.n.ava literature, and various other Mukundas of Tantric provenience have been based on the
authority of that famous name, which is recognized both in Vais.n.ava and Sahajiyā circles.6 However,
historical issues are secondary in this paper, and we may sum up that the so-called Bengali Vais.n.ava
Sahajiyā tradition recognizes Mukunda and his disciples as important figures in the development of
the Tantric (Sahajiyā) wing of Bengali Vais.n.avism.
Below we focus on the topics that are presented in the text of NPV and the interpretation of those
obscure texts. In this way the main goal of this paper is to shed light on some aspects of the religious
experience in the regional Tantric tradition. As we may suppose, the descriptions included in NPV
refer to some previous experiences of the authors (gurus) of the tradition, and describe imaginary
internal worlds of the body in the manner specific to that tradition, using various esoteric terms and
describing also various kinds of religious discipline (sādhana). Therefore, the primary goal of this paper
is to present the narration referring to specific religious experience in the vernacular Bengali tradition,
which in some aspects is different from Sanskrit based tantras. This means the presentation of the
relatively poorly known and still not well-studied Bengali Tantra which is expressed in the vernacular
Bengali language (Middle Bengali, madhyajuger Bānglā) in the form of the rare commentary literature
of the Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā tradition. Moreover, I will try to demonstrate how the image of the human
body (and its imagination in this particular tradition) serves as the basis for religious experience.
2. Methodological Remarks
Studies into religious and mystical experience represent a wide area of various fields and might be
correlated with various sub-disciplines and neighboring disciplines like the study of meditation or the
more psychologically or neurobiologically oriented disciplines of psychology of religion and philosophy.
This kind of research touches upon the subjective human experiences of variously conceived divinities,
which are difficult to define and grasp empirically. Numerous authors have tried to define and classify
5
6
Besides Mukunda, the most frequent symbolic authorship in this literature are important figures from Caitanya circles like
Kr.s.n.adāsa, Svarūpa Damodara, and Narottama and their disciples.
Apart from the problems mentioned above, NPV and the texts that are the substrate of the analyzed work probably consist
of the oldest layer of the tradition of Vais.n.ava Tantric (Sahajiyā) in Bengal, which is rooted the in 17th century or even earlier.
As discussed by E.C. Dimock and others, they were connected with the spread of the Vais.n.ava movement by Caitanya and
his disciples in the second half of the 16th century and first half of the 17th century (Dimock 1989; Dāsa 1978, 1988; Hayes
1995, 2001). We cannot rule out the possibility of the existence of Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā groups before Caitanya, although only
after the activities of Caitanya and his followers in Bengal is the existence of the so-called Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās confirmed in
the textual layer. However, the peak of their activity and influence is fixed in the second part of the 17th century and the 18th
century. Many aspects of the historical and textual development of those groups are very obscure and difficult to interpret
(Chakrabarty 1985; Jhā [2012] 2020). Moreover, amongst the Middle Bengali texts collectively grouped as Sahajiyā, we may
find works that present similar ideas, like those found in NPV, and their language and style indicate the authorship of adepts
perhaps belonging to Mukunda’s line or at least having knowledge about ARV and remaining important works. To those
we can include Bhr.n.garatnāvalı̄ of Prema Dāsa (Asiatic Society, Manuscript G-4967, Dāsa n.d.b), Padmamāla of Rāmacandra
Dāsa (Asiatic Society, manuscript G-1950, Dāsa n.d.a), and other works like Vrajarasakalpa of Narasimha Dāsa, who was
considered to be Mukunda’s disciple (Jhā [2012] 2020, pp. 237–48 ).
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mystical experience; for example, (Stace 1960) proposed that nondual mystical experience represents a
‘pure mystical experience’ (‘introvertic’), excluding in this way other types of such experiences such as
visual or dualistic experience, or ecstatic events or trance. The so-called perennialist position recognizes
mysticism as a universal experience which appears in various cultural and religious contexts, although
its roots remain the same. Steven Katz and Hans Penner criticized the perennialist position and idea
of the universal mystical experience (Katz 1978). According to Katz, experience is constructed by
the cultural and ideological context of the subject and hence various ‘mystical traditions’ consist of
separate structures and doctrines, and hence create different experiences in various religions (Katz
1978, 1983). Other authors have provided wider perspectives, like those based on the division of
the nondual experience (‘pure consciousness event’) and dualistic mystical states trying to find a
consensus between the perennialist and contructivist positions (Forman 1999; Jones 1993). Ninian
Smart proposed potentially more elaborate typologies of religious/mystical experience for the use of
Religious Studies that recognized various types of mystical experiences like numinotic, penenheistic,
bhakti and contemplative (Smart 1996). Also useful in the research of the narration of religious or
mystical experience is the work of Wach (1951), who postulated that that primeval field of research for
Religious Studies should be the communication of how humans express religious experience leading to
religious union with numen. Religious experience has a tendency to be expressed in three dimensions:
theoretical, practical and social (Szyjewski 2011, p. 12). Various authors have tried to correct and
develop further adequate theoretical basis for adequate research on mystical experience, leading to
contextual and attributive (ascriptive) approaches (Proudfoot 1985; Taves 2009). June McDaniel’s work
(McDaniel 1989) is exceptional in its consideration of religious experience in the context of Bengal7 .
Insofar as I am skeptical towards the general term ‘mysticism’ in the sense of the more or less coherent
‘mystical tradition’ or ‘traditions’ of world religions, I recognize and use with some limitations the
term ’mystical’ referring to some unique kind of religious experience put in a particular cultural and
historical context. Such experiences are correlated with unique states of consciousness, or at least are
expressed as such in the literature.8 Therefore, in this paper I use the term ‘mystical’, which conceives
of a the unique kind of religious experience during which a subject is under the influence of altered
(or unusual) states of consciousness (Kokoszka 2007; Tart 1975; Ludwig 1966; Hobson 2001, 2007;
Taves 2009) and experiences, dreams or hallucinates objects that are not accessible in the common
states of the consciousness. Those experiences have reference to some theologically conceived ultimate
reality and have absolute characteristics such as god, a nondual state or liberation, and union with a
deity (Brainard 1996). Such experiences are not understood as perennial, but as rooted and mediated
by culture and environment, and they are constructed by blending various external factors.9 The
knowledge about such experiences and methods of achieving them have been expressed in textual
and oral traditions, and such narratives are transmitted by traditions and enhanced by the line of the
members of a particular tradition, which was a traditional scheme of the transmission and preservation
of knowledge in archaic or esoteric societies (Lauglin 1997).
3. The Text and Its Subject
This text and other so-called medieval Sahajiyā literature might be generally characterized by
the fusion of various Tantric, yogic and bhakti elements. The texts of Mukunda and other authors
contain fascinating descriptions of mystical landscapes, imaginary worlds, subtle Yogic bodily arteries,
gates, ponds and ghāt.as (landing places). The texts and their substrate are still not well-researched,
7
8
9
The lack of space does not allow reference to the whole spectrum of theories or literature that influenced the author and
potentially might be used in research on mystical experience—some reference to the religious, anthropological and other
theories found their place in this paper, such as these of the cognitive study of metaphor of Lakoff and Johnson.
The mapping of ASC in a broader phenomenological manner that might be used by scholars in Religious Studies is an
endeavor of the Walsch [1993] 2003. More psychobiologically oriented perspectives include: Austin (1999), and the profound
study on shamanism by Winkellman, d’Aquili and Newberg (1999).
However, some of them might have universal characteristics that will be mentioned at the end of the paper.
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even though they make up one of the most important parts of the tradition (Basu (Bose) 1932; Dāsa
and Hayes 2001, 2006; Jhā [2012] 2020). The text of NPV might be considered unique amongst many
Sahajiyā texts because of its detailed descriptions and status as a commentary on the earlier important
works of the tradition. The work is a fine example of the description of the imaginary mystical worlds
and Tantric discipline elaborated around the human body, which is a substrate for such visionary
experience. Most importantly, NPV represents commentary literature, which is quite rare in the case
of Vais.n.ava Bengali Tantrics. The text is a kind of loose commentary on earlier texts, and to some
degree it defines the hierarchy of the texts of the Mukunda line. It is not a strict and systematic
commentary; nevertheless, it is quite useful for at least partial interpretation of the previous texts
of Mukunda and his school. It is significant that the Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā texts usually do not have
commentaries (as underlined for example by G. A. Hayes (Hayes 2001, p. 308). However, as already
mentioned, NPV is only a fragmentary and quite obscure commentary. Some subjects concerning the
dehatattva are explained by the use of very peculiar esoteric language, and the reader remains under
the impression that his or her understanding is no better fulfilled than at the beginning of the research
endeavor. Various terms and concepts in the texts might be understood using various strategies of
interpretation. For example, terms like ‘rati’, ‘rasa’ or ‘rūpa’ might refer either to the theological terms
used by Gaud.ı̄ya Vais.n.avas, or have Tantric meaning and denote the bodily fluids.
In an effort to provide the description of the dehatattva or cosmophysiology of the body and realize
the abovementioned goals of the paper, I focus mainly on the first part of NPV. Those descriptions
referred to are known from another source on the ‘Yogic body’ consisting of the internal center (here:
sarovaras or ponds, or dvāra, ‘gates’) and network of the nād.ı̄s or internal arteries, and other places or
points of meditation in human body such as lotuses in the limbs or mandalas in particular regions of
the body. Authors use various metaphors and allegories to present the complexity of the body and
bodily discipline to the adept. As mentioned above, various key terms that are used frequently in the
work have wide meanings and might be interpreted as referring either to the mental, emotional states,
or to the bodily fluids. The term rasa might have been a technical term used in theology and refer to
a mystical state, to Kr.s.n.a, or it might instead denote semen in particular or sexual fluids in general.
On the other hand, the word rasa creates various compounds like samarasa (‘taste of sameness’) or
premarasa (‘taste of mystical love’).
The citations in this paper illustrate how the adept should visualize the internal worlds, and how
through the discipline of the inherent (sahaja sādhana), one experiences the internal worlds of the body.
For example, directing to the particular entrances and arteries of the body is connected with various
kinds of discipline; the left entrance, for instance, leads to the ‘discipline of the desire’:
On the left side of it is discipline of desire, it is written that it is on the north direction. The gate of the
desire remains on the left.
The right direction, on the other hand, leads to the ‘discipline of the mystical love’ (premer sādhana).
The narration frequently runs according to this scheme—author/authors describe various elements of
the internal body and ensure the adept will certainly recognize it if they follow the proper path:
[Now] are explained the nine joints and nine gates, inside there are six doors—you will certainly
recognize them.
Clearly NPV is a text not addressed to the common public or outsiders, but to the adepts of sahaja
dharma. The author or authors repeatedly claim that believers (bhaktas) or (our) people or people
(those who are initiated properly or are connoisseurs or rasika) understand those topics, but common
people (jı̄vā), the uninitiated and fools, will not understand it.10
10
Moreover, its size makes it a quite-elaborate and detailed text. It comprises more than 30 folios, which makes it an
exceptionally long text, taking into consideration the literature of Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās (the manuscript from Bangiya Sahitya
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The text of the NPV is rather nonsystematic, but basically contains two parts. The first part is a
commentary on the four abovementioned texts with some casual citations from other works. The next
part contains a discussion of the various esoteric topics of the Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā tradition. It has a partial
form of the dialogue between Hara (Śiva) and Gauri (Pārvatı̄). However, in this paper I mainly draw
upon the first part of the work which refers directly to the important texts of the tradition (‘commentary
part’). In this part the author/authors refer to the experience of the divine (bhaga, paramātma) in the
body, how it is divided and spreads in the body, and knowledge about the internal or Yogic/mystical
body (dehatattva) and Tantric discipline (sādhana). Śaktināth Jhā, in his recent Bengali edition of NPV
(which he based on another manuscript from his own collection) divides the text into two main chapters
(parva, (Jhā [2012] 2020): the first is called Bhās.āratnāvalı̄ (‘The necklace of the narration’), and the
second is Nigūd.hārthaprakāśāvali (‘The Array of lights on the hidden meanings’). This division does not
overlap strictly with the abovementioned contents and the second parva (according to the Jhā edition
of Nigūd.hārthaprakāśāvalı̄) also contains references to the four key texts. However, the abovementioned
division of the text is not present in manuscripts that were available to me. In any case, this reflects the
rather chaotic nature of the work, and the repetitions and contradictions are likely the result of the
process of the compilation of the root texts and the fusion of the commentaries by various authors. Jhā
claims, there were at least three authors—Vam
. śı̄vadana Dāsa, Gauri Dāsa and some unknown disciple
of the first one (Jhā [2012] 2020, p. 142) . First, two authors commented on the text of Mukunda and
other texts. Secondly, another author expanded the explanations of the esoteric topics. I believe that
this text is important as an illustration of the development of Mukunda’s school and regional Tantric
schools generally, whose literature is mainly written in the Middle Bānglā (Bengali) vernacular11 . In an
endeavor to shed light on the obscure texts of Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās, I have decided to refer in this paper
mainly to NPV, although ARV is more popular and older. However, NPV contains excerpts of ARV
and comments on it. I believe that from the point of view of Religious Studies, it is more interesting to
look at the religious tradition through the lens of not only the root text but also the commentaries with
all the consequences of such development of the particular religious tradition.12
4. Sahajiyā Doctrine and Religious Experience
What is the religious doctrine and practice presented in NPV and similar literature denoted
generally as Sahajiyā or Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā? The sahaja dharma is the discipline based on what is natural
and inherent to the body and its functions like sex. This tradition stresses that direct ritual experience
of the potential hidden in the human body should be activated and used by the adept (Dasgupta 1946;
Jhā [2012] 2020). Bliss coming from the sexo-yogic Tantric ritual is transformed and equated with the
bliss of the divine, and it signifies the return to the primeval state of fullness and happiness. Sahaja is a
key term on which is built a particular kind of religious experience, and sahaja itself is an equivalent of
11
12
Parishad has 31 folios). The text of NPV has not yet been well-researched, particularly in comparison to other texts of
Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās like ARV or Vivartavilāsa (VV), which have been fully published and examined in the academic literature
(Bose 1930; Dāsa [1364] 1948; Dasgupta 1946; Dāsa 1972; Dimock 1989; Stewart 2010). A few excerpts of NPV were cited by
Manidramohan Basu (Bose 1930) and Paritosa Dāsa (Dāsa 1972). The exception is the recent Bengali work of Śaktināth Jhā,
who summed up our data and presented a transcription based on the available manuscripts (Jhā [2012] 2020).
Some authors argue on the basis of certain texts the thesis that primeval main Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā texts were composed in
Sanskrit. This is certainly difficult to prove and doubtful; however, as I have argued, there are some texts which induce us to
treat this concept at least partially seriously (Czyżykowski 2016).
In this article I use primarily two manuscripts: manuscript no. 1525 (NPV n.d.) of the collection of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad
in Kolkata, and manuscript no. 299 of the Sukumar Sen Collection, National Library, Kolkata (previously in Barddhamān,
collection of Sukumar Sen, Manring, Basu 2006). I have also consulted the text with Jhā’s transcription (in Bengali). However,
some readings presented here differ from those of Jhā’s edition. The citations in the paper are based on Bangiya Sahitya
Parishad’s (BSP) manuscript, unless it is a different reading, then the manuscript of the National Library was used. In the
case of ARV and other important works cited in NPV, I used available manuscripts and printed editions. ARV manuscripts
of Calcutta University include manuscripts 6541 and 595 (Mukundadeva n.d.) (there are minor differences in the text).
Printed editions of ARV and the remaining three works include those in Basu (Bose) (1932), Dāsa (1972), Jan Brzezinski’s
Roman transcription online (based on the Paritosh Dāsa edition), Thāndār (2012) and Śaktināth Jhā [2012] 2020.
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the ultimate state identified by Tantric Vais.n.avas with realization of the union of the Rādhā and Kr.s.n.a
in one’s own body. The body is then understood as a microcosm of the typical Hindu Puranic fourteen
worlds, various sacred rivers and all substances required for the perfection of the human. The concept
of the body is actually the basis and substrate of those internal imaginative worlds and experiences
of the divine state (rasa)13 . The terminology involved here is specific to the Bengali Vais.n.ava Tantric
school, enriched by Bengali Tantric vocabulary14 A considerable portion of the text of NPV refers to
the mythological themes of the Vais.n.ava world, and some to the Tantric visualization schemes that
take the shape of the goddesses of a particular circle (man.d.ala) or the females of the bodily senses.
Some other parts refer to obscure figures and places like forts or villages. Finally, some other passages
describe the so-called subtle Yogic physiology also connected with traditional Indian medicine. These
models of that internal Yogic body and symbolism used in NPV and other texts are in some aspects
distinct in comparison to other Yogic Tantric systems, but some general schemes such as the main three
nād.ı̄s (id.ā, piṅgalā and sus.umnā) are common to both models. As the work is quite vast, here I refer
only to some selected prominent topics of NPV.
Interpretation of various esoteric15 topics in NPV might differ, and such strategies as the
interpretation of various key terms as symbolic might be embraced with support of the Vais.n.ava
theology. On the other hand, topics might be understood in accordance with the Yogic and Tantric
doctrines and be seen as physical, bodily substances. It is certainly a more difficult and fundamental
question of how to interpret such obscure, esoteric texts, to see them as the Vais.n.ava Tantric or
representing some archaic system of Tantra in North-East India that adjusted popular Vais.n.ava
terminology to achieve its own goals, and fit them into the dominating theological and social system
in Bengal of 17th–18th centuries (this has been postulated by Dasgupta and others who consider
Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās as a part of the universal ‘Sahajiyā tradition’ (Dasgupta 1946). In a typical manner
for mystical literature, such descriptions of the internal worlds are nonsystematic, sometimes even
chaotic, and contain references to lights, jewels and obscure figures. They are described in an obscure
language full of metaphors, symbols and allegories (Mukhapādyāya 1975; Hayes 2001, 2006, 2011).
The text of this school opens before the reader very unique mystical worlds, but on the other hand
it confirms the universal human tendency to create imaginary religious worlds. On which elements
are such internal worlds built? Is this only imagination? Or are they rooted in some sort of altered
state of consciousness, where one’s own body might be perceived as transformed and permeated by
divine forces or elements/phenomena? A dominant topic of NPV is dehatattva or esoteric knowledge
about the body based on the Tantric Yogic and mythological scheme. Bhr.ṅgaratnavalı̄ (folio 10a, line 1)
refers to ARV as a text that “explains the lotuses” or bodily internal centers; NPV also elaborates on
that topic and devotes much space to elaborate descriptions of internal arteries, ponds and lotuses.
Undoubtedly, this topic is of key importance for this tradition. It seems that the internal world of
Tantric Vais.n.avas is on the one hand based on the mystical literature of Vais.n.avas, while on the other
hand it refers to some other Tantric schemes or even uses metaphors common to the Gangetic delta
network of rivers and channels (see below). This kind of element of dehatattva, correlated with the
rasa doctrine, constructs another form of experience built on the metaphor of fluidity (Hayes 2001).
To start an introduction to the text it is also not out of place to enumerate various components of
the ideology and ritual behind the text of NPV. We find here several elements that create a peculiar
blend of practices and concepts:16
13
14
15
16
The term ‘rasa’ in esoteric Sahajiyā vocabulary has various meanings either referring to the state of mystical rapture or to the
bodily sexual fluids.
However, in NPV ‘sahaja’ appears mainly in compounds with other terms and does not stand in the text separately. The most
frequent term is ‘sahaja vastu’ or primeval substance/state.
I use the term ‘esoteric’ in a similar manner to that proposed by H. B. Urban: an esoteric ritual creates the homology between
the body of the practitioner, the hierarchy in the cosmos and the community (Urban 1997).
The reader may find wider explanations of the these terms and ideas in the cited literature.
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concentration on the body as a matrix of practice—human body is a microcosmos and reflects the
whole cosmos;
the specific idea of the internal body (ponds, rivers);
the idea of sahaja (primeval reality is identified here with the state of mystical love of Vais.n.avas);
fullness and bliss are achieved by sexual union and Tantric Yoga: sexual yogic or yugala practice;
use of all the senses in the ritual discipline (metaphorical fight of the senses expresses the
erotic union);
use of the bodily elements/fluid—male bı̄jā and female raja;
menstrual blood plays a pivotal role as a power (tejas) of paramātma;
prema—idea of the mystical, divine love of Vais.n.avas;
rasa (‘mystical rapture’, mystico-esthetical experience) understood as experience of prema on the
human level identified with bodily fluids;
specific use of the terminology of binary Tantric principles based on Vais.n.ava theology and poetry:
rati-rasa, madana-mādana, Rādhā-Kr.s.n.a;
vartamāna (idea of sensual experience of reality through ritual and Yoga, opposite to anumāna,
intellectually comprehending the reality dominating in Vedānta);
samarasa—experience of oneness;
vastu—primeval substance or primeval matter.
5. Subtle Body Quest
In both colonial times and nowadays, such somatic models have awakened major interest in
the New Age movement, humanistic psychology and the modern Yogic movement. As they were
originally esoteric, their diffusion had its limits, and before the era of print such knowledge was not
easily available to the public or generally to outsiders. Such systems of the internal bodily centers and
arteries are usually called the ‘subtle body’ (in Sanskrit: suksma-śarira, sukma deha) in academic and
non-academic discourse. However, this term is problematic, and some authors argued (Padoux and
Jeanty 2013) that the Sanskrit ‘sūks.ma’ actually refers to another phenomenon, not to the Yogic body
consisting of internal webs of nādı̄s and cakras but to the transmigrating elements in the process of
reincarnation: “In all Sanskrit texts, the term sūks.ma śarı̄ra (or sūks.ma deha), which means ‘subtle
body,’ designates not this structure but the transmigrating element in the human being, which is made
up of different tattvas and therefore has no shape, no visible aspect. It cannot be visualized as is the
inner structure of cakras and nādı̄. We call it yogic body or imaginal yogic body, not subtle body”.
(Padoux and Jeanty 2013, p. 10).
In NPV, one’s own body is understood as a microcosmos filled with the Yogic nādı̄s and cakras
and not conceived as separate from the physical body, or at least it is not conceived as such in this
text. Hence, I also avoid the unclear term sūks.ma (which doesn’t appear in NPV), and simply refer to
the body of the practitioner in describing the phenomena of the body. The concept of embodiment
and the embodied has its own consequences in the understanding of the religious/mystical experience.
In Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā literature generally, the human body is a matrix for “subtle”, internal dimensions,
and serves as the basis for transformation (without the body there is no sahaja, NPV17 ). Basically,
the human body is considered to be a microcosmos and a reflection of the cosmos wherein reside all
physical places and mythical ones as well. So, again, what is called dehatattva in NPV refers to a body
(deha), but this is not understood as separate from the physical body. Actually the term ‘deha’ embraces
everything that is both physical and subtle in the cosmos.
17
NPV, folio 17a, line 14nara vapu vine sahaja anya kebā haya
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6. Inner Worlds of the Body
The work starts with the typical Vais.n.ava invocations and obeisance to gods and masters of the
tradition beginning from Rādhā and Kr.s.n.a, through Caitanya and his associates and main followers,
and up to the direct gurus. Finally, the author or authors direct obeisance towards his guru Mukunda,
who as the author of ARV explains the topic of the Primeval Substance (sahaja vastu).18 He also
mentions another guru, Jagannātha Prabhu, as one to whom he is grateful for understanding ‘any
meaning of the work of Mukunda’. Moreover, on the order of that guru the narrator starts his endeavor
of commenting on the previous works, presenting himself in typical Vais.n.ava manner as humble and
not qualified to complete the difficult task of explaining the esoteric meaning of Mukunda’s (and his
disciples’) works.
NPV referring to ARV starts with the description of internal bodily lands (selected excerpts from
ARV). The text omits the introductory parts of ARV dealing with some regulations of the sādhana and
starts the commentary with the parts dealing with the adept’s journey to the world of the internal
body.19 The author first refers to ARV and describes the dualistic cosmology relating to the theistic
aspects of Tantric Vais.n.ava doctrine:
Across the Virajā river is the Land, the eternally blissful village is called Sahajapūra. On the western
direction of it is Kalinga kalikā, a heroine of this place is named Campaka kalikā.20
And commentary (NPV):
Here I present the meaning of this, take the essence and omit the rest. Across the Virajā river is the
abode of māyā, the place of common people who indulge in [fulfilling] their desires. If the highest Lord
of the Vaikun..tha [world] has a desire then he directs [himself] to the māyā world.21
The Virajā River is a mythical river equivalent to the Karana Ocean encircling the world. This river
divides the cosmos separating the worlds of the living and the dead. However, one who is doing sahaja
sādhana is actually already dead, as confirmed by other Sahajiyā texts, such as in Can.d.ı̄dāsa song
(Sahaja manus.a kothai nai (Basu (Bose) 1932; Hayes 1995)). It might also be interpreted that the crossing
of the Virajā River is an act of initiation—the dead one is the one who is initiated. In other words,
one is dead to the world. Moreover, the mystical dimensions of the body are accessible only to those
initiated who follow the sādhana. However, the highest god Kr.s.n.a, lord of heavenly Vaikun.t.ha by his
own will descends to the world of māyā and is covered either by a desire (kāma) or he is identified with
Vais.n.ava theology with paramātma, ‘the higher ātmān’. Although descended to the world of māyā, the
world of the common people who are filled with desire, that paramātma is present in the human body
as the fusion of male and female elements—purus.a and prakr.ti:
Paramātma of the primeval substance is joined as purus.a and prakr.ti. And even the slightest moment
of the narration about him is not devoid of bliss.22
Therefore, in accordance with the Tantric concepts but deeply rooted in older layers of the Indian
tradition, the divine appear as divided in the male and female body. Certainly, the cosmogonic myth
of the primeval androgynous being (purusa), which at the dawn of creation was divided into male and
female, is an ancient and persistent motif that originated in the Upanis.ads (Br.hadāran.yaka Upanis.ad
18
19
20
21
22
In translation of selected Bengali terms I derive from G. A. Hayes like: vastu—primeval substance.
Nevertheless, in later parts the author returns to the subject of the rules of the sādhana.
NPV, folio 1b, lines 12–15 (this passage comes from ARV): virajā nadir pāra sei deśakhāna, sahaja pūra sadānanda nāme sei
grama. tāhāra paścima dige kaliṅga kalika, campaka kalikā nāme tāhāra nayikā. ihāra ye artha tāhā kari nivedana, sārāsāra
bujhimāye upāks.ā grahana.
Ibidem. virajā nadı̄r pāra māyār vasati, sahaja manus.ya vāsa sādhyakāma rati. parama kr.s.n.a vaikun.t.hera pati, icchā haile
tiho jana māyā prati.
Ibidem, sahaja vastu paramātmā prakr.ti purus.a jed.ho, tila ārdhek kathā e tāra sukha nāhi chād.ā. parama kr.s.n.a vaikun.t.hera
pati, icchā haile tiho jana māyā prati.
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I.4, Olivelle 1998). The divine is full of bliss and therefore the Tantric sexual sādhana as a union of
two separated beings brings bliss. This bliss is contained in the bodies of males and females and their
union brings ultimate fulfillment:
If there are not two bodies, there will be not a bliss of paramātma.23 Paramātma is always full
of bliss, therefore it is said the name of his village is Sadānanda [always joyful]. Paramātma is
manifested in form of purus.a and prakr.ti [male and female principle]. I firmly explain the body
principle—paramātma assumes a body of the illusion [māyā] ( . . . ). The bliss of paramātmā is found
in the divine/sexual discipline, therefore it takes place in the abode of joy.24
Then it is said that the primeval substance paramātmā is the union of the prakr.ti and purus.a.
Therefore, the abode of paramātmā is called sadānanda (‘eternally blissful’), because of the nature of the
paramātmā, which is infinitely joyful. The author explains in this way the meaning of the sadānanda
grama (‘the village of always blissful’). The following verses then explain how the divine is spread in
all directions in the human body—it is like guidance of the visual experience of the divine presence in
the human body. Such experience needs an explanation of what the adept might expect in various
directions of their internal experience:
On the eastern direction is a part of the divine, on the western is the site of divine. Behold in both
directions, how north and south are explained. On the western side of it there is a fortress of the lord
and first I describe the glory of the fortress.25
The term kot.a or kot.ha, quite popular in Tantric literature, denotes a ritual square inhabited by
deities. In the Bengali language the term ‘kot.ha’ comes from the Sanskrit kos..tha, which means granary,
store-room, treasury or an inner apartment. Bengali dictionaries refer to the meaning of kot.ha as ‘the
chamber’, ‘fort’ (also Sanskrit: kot.a—fort), ‘fortress’ or ‘room’26 . The Sanskrit ‘kos.t.ha’ semantically
refers to an inner encircled chamber room, inner dwelling, shell or limited space. It has a correlation
with the Sanskrit kuks.i, meaning belly, space in the corpus or inner space, and is correlated with
term kośa (‘layer’). These meanings correlate with kos.t.ha as the viscera of the body, particularly the
stomach and abdomen (Monier 1899, p. 314). In the Tantric circles, kot.ha/kos.t.ha/kot.a denote in this
way the inner subject of the visualization in the form of the organized square or limited, encircled
space. It might be presented as the field of man.d.ala (or bodily man.d.ala), which is divided into equal
parts.27 In this way the human body is also divided into various parts like a chessboard. Moreover,
in Yogic literature the term ādhāra is used to refer to the place of support in the body and the focus
of meditation. This could be interpreted as the equivalent of the kot.a/kos.t.ha. There are interesting
previous examples of similar uses of symbols in Bengali religious history—in the Buddhist mystical
songs Caryagı̄ti (Cāryapāda), composed in proto-Bengali (or apabhram
. śa), we find a song (no. 12 by
Kaṅha) where the metaphor of the chessboard is applied (Kvaerne 2010). Sixty-four fields or kot.ha are
interpreted as the dwelling place of the yoginı̄s in the body.28 The Sanskrit commentary of Munidatta
refers to the nirmān.a cakra, which is part of the terminology of the diamond body (vajra deha) described
in the Hevajra tantra (Snellgrove [1959] 2011). The nirmān.a cakra-lotus has sixty-four petals.29
As mentioned, NPV describes the various forts or inner chambers in the human body. They are
presented as particular places or man.d.alas that are enumerated as 8, 24 or 32. An experience of the
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Ibidem, folio 23b: 1. dui liṅga vine paramātmā sukha nahe.
Ibidem: folio 1b: 6–8. sadānandamaya paramātmā haya. sadānanda nāma grāma tāhātei kaya. deha nirūpana tattva
kahen niściti. paramātmā praveśa kārilā māyā dehe, pradhāna prakr.ti māyā tāhā āge kahe. paramātmā sukha haya bhager
sādhana, ataeva tāhā haya ānanda dhāme.
Ibidem, pūrva dige bhaga hāra paścime bhaga pid.i, uttara daks.ina dui dige dekha vicāri . . . ihār paścime rahe kot.a mahāśaya,
kot.er mahimā varnena prathama karaya.
Murshid (2013).
Term, kos.t.ha according to (Tantrikabhidhanakośa II 2004): “The basic square unit or cell in a square grid drawn to help the
geometric construction of a man.d.ala”. In Tantrikabhidhanakosa II: p. 413.
Compare: Caryāgı̄ti, song no. 20, P. Kvaerne (2010).
Significantly, Hevajra-tantra was probably composed in North-Eastern India (Davidson 2004).
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divine element or the particular goddesses dwelling in the human body is based on that structure.
Going further in ARV and NPV, mysterious kaliṅga-kalikā appear that probably denote the figure
in the internal, visualized world. ‘Kaliṅga’ likely indicates the Eastern Indian country Orissa, and
‘kalikā’ is a flower bud. However, in this context it is possible that kaliṅga does not designate Orissa
but might refer instead to the Coromandel coast (southern part).30 Campaka kalikā—similar to the
abovementioned—literally means ‘the bud of the magnolia champaca tree’. She is the heroine (goddess)
of that place and ARV describes her as a śakti.
Eight Heroines encircles the divine man.d.ala, in this way he described all heroines, at the root of the
divine is a tree that is the fortress of the lord. The golden jasmin was with certainty described.31
In the Tantric manner, this visualized place (square, the fort kot.a, man.d.ala or place-castle of
god/goddess) resembles a flower where kaliṅga kalikā is the outer layer and kāma kali is the internal
bud. According to Hayes (2006), kaliṅga kalikā is most probably the place, and the ‘bud of the desire’
(kāma kali) is the goddess of this site. On the other hand, the ‘bud of Kaliṅga’ and ‘bud of the desire’
might be interpreted by use of the erotic symbolism where the bhaga flower is understood as referring
to both the external and internal parts of the female genitalia. The symbolism of the flower as female
genitalia is quite obvious and popular. The figure of the bud of the campaka flower is described as
divinely beautiful and placed at the fort of the stalk of the Kaliṅga (kaliṅga kānti kot.a). Another passage
suggests that campaka kalikā also might denote the vagina. Also, the lower pond of desire is localized
in the female private parts:
Indeed there are nine connections in that place, because of this its name is pond of desire. In the cavity
of the womb is said that there is pond of desire, eternal substance in the eternal form, all this is beyond
one‘s comprehension.32
Moreover in other places the female figures of goddesses or Vais.n.ava-style mañjarı̄s represent the
sensory faculties (five senses and mind).33
6.1. Directions in the Inner World
An important part of the text includes narration of the obscure and internal world of the body,
which is full of symbolism. Like in the real world, the directions have their own meaning and are
variously valued.
What is in the world, that is in the body, everything was here explained [by author]. In the western
direction is the head, in the eastern the foot, the left side and the northern direction were explained.34
The human body is also conceived as divided into the left and right parts and upper and lower
parts. Moreover, various internal places like The Village of Infinite Bliss (sadānandapura), which is
the abode of the Primeval Human, are placed in particular directions. The whole space is filled
with the divine presence (bhaga),35 and particular directions lead to the particular places or have
special meaning:
30
31
32
33
34
35
It is also worth mentioning that this geographical region is enlisted as the pilgrimage site in older Śaiva and Buddhist
sources like Cakrasam
. vara tantra, hence it appears very early in the history of the Tantric religions and the term might be
understood differently here. I’m grateful for this information from my reviewer.
NPV, folio 2b, 3–4. as.t.a nāyikā bed.hā bhager man.d.ala, tāhātei likhilen nāyikā sakala, bhager mūla vr.kkha haya kat.a
mahāśaya, kanaka mallikā bali karilā niścaya.
Ibidem, folio 3b: 1–2. nava sandhi sei sthāne āchaye sattvar, ei hetu nāma tāra kāma sarovara. bhaga garte kahilena kāma
sarovara, nitya vastu nitya rūpa sarva agocara.
This topic is very common in NPV. Compare the role of the Goddesses of the Senses or Cognition in other Tantric traditions
like Krama (Torella 2019, pp. 649–50). NPV propose a similar strategy of satisfying the senses in a controlled way in a ritual
to achieve a state of the bliss.
Ibidem, folio 1b: 12–13. bhuvanete ye ache dehe ache tāhā, cāridige nirūpana karilen ihā. paścima diga mastaka purvadiga
carana, vāma pāśe uttara dige kailā nirūpana
The term ‘bhaga’ might be variously translated either as divine or more frequently in NPV as ‘womb’ or ‘vagina’.
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On the western side of it is the fortress of the Lord, first I (or it) describe the fortress of the lord.36
The part of female is placed in the middle part, listen, listen to how it is extended, I tell you its qualities.
From the area of thighs its half is placed, land of the hidden moon has its limit here, in the womb land
of the hidden moon I described as fourthfold: everywhere all four ghāt.as (landing place) are endowed
with jewels.37
The Highest Lord is joined as womb (bhaga) and penis (liṅga), which is on the right side, the womb is
on the left.38
The fragrant vagina is in the lunar pond ( . . . ) On the left side of the womb there is one gate, on its
ghata (landing place) is the transition of the desire, It was said the name of the Pond of Desire.39
On the north direction is a city of bliss, place of the female (principle). In the southern direction is a
place of the blissful consciousness where male principle abides. From here is the blended substance
which was from two bodies. In this way it was described ‘the land of the lunar light’ (candrakānti
deśa—probably reference to the lunar nād.ı̄).40
In the right part of the head is the pond of immortality, in left direction of that is the pond of pride.
Male is in the right side of the body, on the left side the female, this pond was described that way.41
In some cases, some particular spots are fixed, like the Place of the Hidden Moon, where sexo-yogic
transformation takes place:42
The Place of the Hidden Moon is inside the female divine principle. See how by placing the blood in
semen transformation takes place in the body.43
The procedure of the transformation of the body by fusion of the male and female bodily fluids
internally is typical in Tantric yoga.
Those directions are fixed as they appear (e.g., in the head or in the middle of the body), or their
location is based on the relations to other places:
On the right side besides is discipline of the divine love, in that is the City of the Blissful Consciousness,
which I have written about.44
[In the body:] The abode of the paramātmā is the pond of immortality, the root of the reversed lotus is
spread there, ( . . . ) the right part is male and on the left side is female. In the head the paramātmā is
in the one thousand petals lotus, ( . . . ) in the head in the right side is the pond of immortality, in left
direction from that is the pond of pride. The male part is on the right side of the body, on the left side
the female, this pond was described with certainty.45
The idea of valorization of a particular direction or side of the body or of the world is common for
Vais.n.ava and Yogic literature. In the Caitanya caritāmrta we find the narrative of searching for treasure,
˚
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
Ibidem, folio 2a, 13.
Ibidem, folio 3a, 9–11. abalāra aṅga madhye ardha deśa, tāhāra vistāre śuna kahi ye viśes.a. uru deśa haite tāra ardhek laiya,
gupta candra deśa khānı̄ ei haya sı̄ma. bhage guptacandra bali kahilena care, cāri dige cāri ghat.a ratne khat.hita kare.
Ibidem, folio 3b: 12. paramātmā bhaga liṅga ache ekajoge. bhaga vāma pārśe liṅga daks.ina.
Ibidem, folio 2b, 4–5. bhaga gan.d.a kund.e candra sarovara haya, prabandha kariyā tāhā likhila niścaye. bhāger vāma pāśe
ache eka dvāra, tāra ghāt.a tat.e haya kāmer sañcāra.kāma sarovara nāma ihāte kahilā,
Ibidem, folio 12b: 13. uttara dige ānandapur prakr.ti vasati, daks.ina dige cidānandapur purus.er sthiti. jod.ā vastu heite puna
dui deha haila, candrakānti deśa nāma tāhāte kahila.
Ibidem, folio 3b, 5–6. mastake daks.ina bhāge aks.aya sarovara, vāma dige haya tāra mana sarovara, daks.ine purus.a deha
vāmete prakr.ti, ei sarovara ithe kahila niściti.
That topic is discussed in a more elaborate manner by E.C. Dimock (Dimock 1989).
Ibidem 2b: 8. gupta candra abalāra bhager bhitare, rakta rete haya dekha deher sañcāre.
Ibidem 3a: 16. bhager daksine pāśe premer sādhana, ithe cidānandapur karila likhana.
Ibidem, 3a: 2–7. paramātmā sthiti sthāna aks.aya sarovara, ult.ā kamola bāsa tāhāte vistāre. ihā para deha bhava tāhā ye
likhilā, daks.ināṅge purus.a vāmāṅge abalā. mastakete paramātmā sahasra dalete . . . mastake daks.ina bhāge aks.aya sarovara,
vāma dige haya tāra mana sarovara, daks.ine purus.a deha vāmete prakr.ti, ei sarovara ithe kahila niściti.
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which symbolizes the divine love (prema).46 The digging for hidden treasure symbolizes the search
for the ultimate human goal: searching in various directions might bring some gains but only one,
the eastern direction, hides the biggest treasure, or prema bhakti.
6.2. Symbols
NPV claims that knowledge about the body is consistent with recognition of the world: “If you
know yourself the fourteen worlds will be known.”47 In the texts, several key terms appear that fill the
world of the body, like flowers, lotus, pond, river, landing place, gate, crossing, bumble bee, antelope,
arrow, fortress, cosmic Mount Sumeru, moon and sun. Most of these symbolize spots in the internal
worlds and are reflections of the mythological or Yogic themes, others are just an expression of the
micro–macrocosmic equivalence. Considering the limited space of the paper, I only briefly refer to
some topics related to these.48
Internalization of the pilgrimage places, mythical spots and other worlds in the human body are
typical for Sants, Bauls and other heterodox groups from the medieval period up the contemporary
times (Dasgupta 1946; Vaudeville 1957; Eliade 1969, p. 235; Dimock 1989, pp. 137–38; White 1996; Jhā
1999; Urban 2001a, 2001b; Cantú 2015; Salomon et al. 2017; Mallinson and Singleton 2017, pp. 198–202).
The Sahajiyā work Āropa nirn.āya claims that 64 krośa Vr.ndavāna is extended in the human body.49
Axis mundi of the world or Mount Sumeru is, for example, identified with the backbone of the yogi.
As Glen Hayes has observed, some of the internal landscapes presented above reflect the deltaic
Bengali environment, like in the case of replacing the internal yogic body with fluid, an aquatic system
consisting of ponds and rivers (Hayes 2001, 2006). This is a typical Bengali landscape with ponds,
lotuses, rivers and landing spots (ghāt.a). The narrative about the experiencing of the internal body
is also based on Vais.n.ava mythological themes. The shape of the divine world as a huge flower is
widely known in the Vais.n.ava literature. Also, the Puranic and later medieval Vais.n.ava descriptions
of the divine world present such shapes of the divine world and other cosmic dimensions as well.
Undoubtedly, the Tantric context of narration of NPV draws attention to the lotuses as the internal
spots in the yogic body. They are presented as the equivalent of the cakras and are also present in the
human limbs (like lotuses in the hands and so on). Although the lotus is a universal Indian symbol
and here refers to abodes of the powers in the human body, in the mythical and Vais.n.ava contexts
it can refer to the abode of Krsna, the Vraja land, which might be also understood on various levels.
M. Corcoran classified the image of the Vr.ndavāna in the Vais.n.ava literature as mythical, symbolical
and geographical (Corcoran 1995), and concluded that Vais.n.ava literature generally depicts those first
two mythical and symbolical aspects of Vraja. In the case of Tantric Vais.n.ava literature, we encounter
mainly symbolic aspects of Vr.ndāvana, where the mythical place is located in the human body.50 On
the other hand, the world of the human body described in NPV contains places that are difficult to
reconcile with the typical Bengali Vais.n.ava model.
Along with lotuses, another very frequent term that refers to the esoteric spots in the human body
is a gate (dvāra). NPV put much stress on these ‘gates’ in the internal worlds, which are places in the
ghāt.as (but not only) that serve as the crossing of various nād.ı̄s. The term dvāra appears also in the
Yogic Upanishads (Śāstrı̄ 1938; Ruff 2002) and its meaning is correlated with the cakras.
46
47
48
49
50
Caitanya Caritāmrta, Madhya. XX. 112–120; VV, IV, p. 76 (Krs.n.adāsa Kavirāja Gosvamin 1999): daksine paścime uttara dike
˚
nāhi pāi, pūrva ˚
dike pāi tin dike dhana nāi.
NPV, folio 2b, 10–11. āpanā jānile jāne e cauddam
. bhuvana, vistāra kariyā tāhā karilā likhana. bhuvaner madhye ache yata
adhikārı̄ deha madhye ghat.āilā tāhā ye vicāri.
An interesting but speculative theory is to correlate such phenomena cognized in the visions of the internal body like lights,
waves, flowers or wires with the phosphens (see McDougall 1977).
(Āropa nirn.āya (n.d.) (Mss no 2823). Manuscript Library of Calcutta University, Kolkata. śrı̄ śrı̄ rādhā kr.s.n.āya namah.. athah.
aropa nirn.aya likhateh. caud.as.i kros.a vr.ndavānah. dehete sthitih..
Similar ideas still function amongst the contemporary Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās in Nadia, West Bengal (Sarbadhikary 2015, p. 114,
see also Openshaw 2004).
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6.3. The Network of Nād.ı̄s in the Human Body
Apart from the obscure mythological picture of the internal body filled with towns, rivers, bathing
spots and mysterious goddesses, we find also in NPV the more standard picture of the Yogic Tantric
body consisting of the arteries: veins/channels and centers, joints of the systems of internal channels
called ponds (sarovaras) or more popularly cakras. In this aspect of the body we find some elements
mentioned before like “bodily fortress”, although here the focus is more on the network of subtle
arteries. ARV, PM and other correlated texts of Vais.n.ava Sahajiyās also provide descriptions of the
internal ponds (sarovaras) and lotuses in the body, but they devote only limited space to the description
of the internal Yogic arteries. The text of NPV tries to reconcile the archaic model of four (or more)
bodily internal centers and the popular six-cakra system. This might be interpreted as the process of
adjusting the more popular esoteric Tantric Śakta model of the body to the Vais.n.ava esoteric concepts,
which introduce other visions of the internal body. The description of the internal centers is not clear
and homogenized in NPV. However, the commentary on ARV and commentary in NPV repeat the
idea of the four ponds (sarovaras) in the human body. They are placed in genitalia, belly, heart and
head. Elsewhere, other passages in NPV present a more complex picture of the internal ponds and
enumerate a higher number of the sarovaras.
On the other hand, NPV describes in detail the internal nād.ı̄s, which have their origin in ‘the pond
of immortality’ where Paramātma dwells, before the primeval substance is transported to other places
in the body. The cosmic and earthly rivers and ponds are connected and flow through the human body.
The texts gives a popular scheme of three nād.ı̄s: “there are three main nād.ı̄s: id.ā piṅgalā sus.umnā.”51
However, it also provides a more elaborate description of the nād.ı̄s. The arteries in the human body
are primarily understood as rivers, and experience of the divine comes from the presence of a divine
element and microcosmic equivalencies. The origin of the bodily arteries is paramātma, which dwells
in the highest point of the cosmos (Mount Sumeru) and respectively in the human head. This internal
place is called the ‘pond of immortality’ (aksaya sarovara). Hence, experience of the divine in one’s own
body means obtaining knowledge about the network of internal rivers in the human body. The author
describes the nine nād.ı̄s and twenty-four kot.hā (fortresses):
In the Pond of immortality [in the head] is the abode of paramātmā, there having grown the wave
has fallen. The wave has fallen to the Pond of Rādhā, and this wave mixed with Virajā [river]. From
Virajā it has fallen to Revāta [river], and from Revāta [Narbada] the crooked river was formed. From
the crooked river to the Yamuna it gave large wave; our people understand it, common beings [jı̄vā]
do not.52
The author then correlates the cosmic level with the bodily level:
Hingulā nād.ı̄ is fused with the piṅgalā. Look, how piṅgalā is encircled with Karana ocean. In the
middle region there are gathered all twenty-four [nād.ı̄].53
The fort and luminous arteria (nād.ı̄) has a luminous, inner fort and inner nād.ı̄ have quality of the
tama gun.a.54 Inside the nād.ı̄ dwells bhutātmā [living being of matter]. You will for certain recognize
the cinnabar fort and cinnabar nād.ı̄, in this is being eaten the nectar . . .
51
52
53
54
NPV, folio 6a: 10–11.
Ibidem, folio 10b: 3–5. aks.aya sarovare paramātmār sthiti, tāhā uthaliyā bāna niśćaya pad.ila niściti. rādhā kun.d.e āsi bāna
niścaya pad.ila, sei bāna dheu āsi virajā miśāila. virajār bāna āsi revāte pad.iyā, revā heite bām
. kā nadı̄ pad.ila gad.iyā. bām
. kā
heite yamunār dila bahu d.heu, mānus.a bujhaye jı̄ve nā bujhaye keu.
Ibidem, line 6. hiṅgulā nād.ı̄ āche piṅgalāte jod.a, piṅgalā achaye dekha kāranārnave bed.a. nād.ı̄ deśa madhye sava
batriśer gan.a.
Ibidem, line 10–11. kirana kut.i kiran.a nād.ı̄ raja gun.a sthiti, dhı̄ra kut.i dhı̄ra nād.ı̄ tamogun.a sthiti.
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The blazing fort and the blazing nād.ı̄ are where himself eternal Śiva dwells. It is said that are three:
the bones, the marrow and the flesh. These three substances are joined in [nād.ı̄] hiṅgulā. Three gun.as
and those three substances form everything.55
As we can see, this model is significantly different from other Tantric traditions and clearly
connects the cosmos with the human body through the medium of the divine rivers that flow directly
down to the human body.
6.4. Conclusions
In the Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā traditions religious experience is presented as the process of discovering
one’s own body as microcosmic and full of divine potential and energies. The subject is like a traveler
though their own body, encountering hidden spots and choosing between various alternative paths.
Relating to the abovementioned classification of the mystical states we have here dualistic, visual and
bhakti experience. In this way the text reflects visionary or mystical experience, or at least provides a
map for such experience. It is more of a ‘visionary guidebook’ or ‘guidebook of ritual visualization’
then a description of personal experience. The author/authors explain the previous texts for the benefit
of adepts of the tradition and ensure that one achieves those visions or internal worlds if one strictly
follows the path. In the case analyzed above we are dealing with narratives about unique states
and imaginary places experienced by the adepts of the Tantric Vais.n.ava tradition that are possible to
experience during sādhana. In cases of visions and altered experiences, one’s own body is experienced
differently. In NPV the subject is confronted with an alternate vision of the human body and travels
through the different internal landscapes by way of a net of internal arteries or rivers. The picture of
the human body described in NPV is dramatically different from any that we experience in a common
state of consciousness, and it might be called a mystical body. This kind of experience has ultimate
meaning for the subject who experiences the divine presence and the whole cosmos in their own body.
We might differentiate the following components of that experience or experiences as follows:
-
-
the dominating experience of moving or travelling through one’s own body by use of the nets of
internal arteries of rivers and meeting various figures or exploring various internal places like
villages, ponds or crossings;
photic experiences—various experiences during the discipline are described as various
colorful lights;
experience of the cosmos, elements and gods in the human body;
experience of a divinity in the human body on various levels and in the ritual with the opposite
sex, which is considered to be achieving wholeness;
fluidity of the experience, which is similar to waves and is analogous to the process of tasting;
the bliss coming from the discipline of the divine, whose presence in the human body is underlined
in various ways;
sexual bliss as correlated with the bliss of paramātma and the state of union and crossing
the dualities.
We may use various strategies to interpret the various mystical experiences in NPV. The key factor
is to analyze the use of the symbolic and metaphorical language that express religious experience.
The text uses specific vocabulary but also refers to universal symbols like trees, rivers and animals
and correlates them with the particular parts of the body understood as microcosms. In the text
we find universal symbols like trees, rivers and animals correlated with the model of the body as
microcosm, which was popular in esoteric circles and widely recognized in Indian Tantric and Yogic
55
Ibidem, line 11–14. nād.ı̄ madhye eka nād.ı̄ bhutātmā rahe, hiṅgulā kut.hi hiṅgula nād.ı̄ jānibe niścaye. ei nād.ı̄ caranāmr.ta
karaye bhaks.ane . . . ujjvala kut.i ujjvala nād.ı̄ svayam
. sadāsiva rahe, asti marjjā mām
. sa ei tin kahe. ei tin vastu āche hiṅgulāte
jod.a, tin gun.e tin vastu sakaler gad.ā.
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traditions (Bagchi and Śastri 1956, Kvaerne 2010). Another interesting perspective might be provided
by a broader analysis of Asiatic literature in which we consult archaic models of reality expressed
through anthropomorphism and micro–macrocosmic equivalencies (Braginsky 2001).
Sanderson (1988, p. 687) and White (2003, pp. 221–22) demonstrated that schemes of the so-called
subtle body (“Yogic body”) differ in various traditions, and that one universal model has probably
never existed, with each school having its own idea of the Yogic body. Various motifs like division
of the body and mythological themes create a basis for the specific religious experience. The visions
and religious experiences presented in NPV are undoubtedly structured by a human body. Those
experiences and their description in NPV are also presented in accordance with the classification of
reality via binary or triadic structures that were popular in Indian and Tantric thought. I argue that
the religious symbols and metaphors appearing in the work are based on the human body. As some
authors have argued the human body and its physiological processes might be considered the source of
symbols and classificatory schemas (Turner 1970; Ellen 1977; Jacobson-Widding 1979; Hemming 2012).
As Victor Turner claimed: “The human organism and its crucial experiences are the fons et origo of all
classifications ( . . . ) The perception of these colors [white, red and black] and of triadic and dyadic
relations in the cosmic and society, either directly or metaphorically, is a derivative of primordial
psychobiological experience—experience that can be fully attained only in human mutuality” (Turner
1970, p. 90). Hence Turner’s theory might be applied here to better understand the importance of the
dualistic and triadic classification present in the narration of the Tantric experience presented in NPV.
It also refers to the importance of the biological process and its effect in the form of bodily fluids, which
are so basic for the Tantric sādhana. The text and other works of Vais.n.ava Sahajiyā and other Tantric
traditions heavily depended on the various classifications of the reality based on the structure and
processes of the human body. They organize reality a specific way and create a matrix of religious
experience. Those somatic concepts were expressed in the various classifications, but mainly binary
(purusa-prakriti, rasa-rati) and triadic (three nād.ı̄s, three gun.as, three dos.a, three gods—all present in
the body and regulating its processes). The importance of some of the these classifications in the Indian
thought and the concepts of the body are based on the relation between three spheres—microcosmos,
mesocosmos and macrocosmos—as well as binary classifications like agneya-saumya, which was
emphasized for example by White and Das (White 1996, pp. 10–12, 15, 16; Das 2013, p. 521). Finally
we may find similar ideas to those presented in NPV in other Asiatic esoteric systems like Daoism.
In NPV the human body is a reflection of the cosmos but it is also a landscape—the environment is
present in the human body and is fused with the mythical elements. Kristofer Schipper describes in
his classical work the Daoist method of “keeping the one” (Schipper 1993, pp. 140–44), and provides
us with fascinating analogues to the NPV example of the narration of the mystical dimension of the
human body from the classical Book of the Yellow Court (Huang Ting Jing, 3rd–4th century). Let this
citation serve as the ending theme of our short travel through the mysterious world of the body:
In the Yellow Court sits someone dressed in scarlet.
The door is locked, its two leaves tightly closed.
The Dark Towers rise to the vertiginous heights.
In the Cinnabar Field, semen [“essence” . . . ] and breath subtly mingle.
Above, the clear water of the Jade Fountain flows abundantly,
Making the Divine Root sturdy and hard.
In the Center Lake a noble person, dressed in red.
Below lies the Field, three inches away, there is where the god lives.
Look the passage between the Inner and the Outer with a double lock.
Funding: This research was funded by Polish National Science Centre in 2014–17 on the basis of decision No.
DEC-2013/11/D/HS1/04359. The APC of this article was funded by the Heritage Priority Research Area under the
program Excellence Initiative – Research University at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
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Acknowledgments: I would like to express my gratitude to professor Ratna Basu of Calcutta University and the
staff of the Manuscript Library of CU in Kolkata, India for all their help in the research. I would also like to thank
Protima Dutta of the American Institute of Indian Studies, Kolkata for help during the work on the manuscript
of NPV.
Conflicts of Interest: The author declares no conflict of interest.
Abbreviations
ARV
NPV
PM
VV
Amrtaratnāvalı̄ of Mukundadeva
˚
Nigūd.hārthaprakāśāvali
Padmamāla of Prema Dāsa
Vivartavilāsa of Ākiñcanadāsa
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