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CHAPTER TWO

THE HINDU TRADITION

The origins of the Hindu tradition are hard to trace, but the high points of its history are relatively easy to identify. Starting about 3,500 years ago when the Aryans invaded Northern India, a new wave of influence was imposed upon the indigenous Dravidian culture, which had previously worshipped the earth and the feminine as the embodiment of creative energy. The Aryan influence, in contrast, was masculine and deified the sun. The two cultures were directly contradictory. But Hindus have specialized over the years in absorbing almost any influence and, in the process, creating a unique cultural synthesis, particularly in relation to philosophical and spiritual matters.

The major literary achievements of early Indian society, such as the Vedas—including the Samhitas and Brahmanas (of which the Upanishads are the most famous), the Sutras, and such classical epics as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata—stand on their own merits even today. But however high their literary and philosophical content may be, they have little to say about the subtle body. There are, however, interesting exceptions. For example in the Chandogya Upanishad it is said:

One hundred & one are the channels of the heart.

Of these but one extend right up to the head;

Ascend thereby to immortality!

The rest, at thy departing,

Everywhere get lost.¹

This account refers directly to the connection between the heart and crown chakras, both major centers in the subtle body. These centers are presented as if the reader was already quite aware of the context in which they were introduced. As with all Indian literature, dates and contexts are hard to establish because they arose from an oral tradition carried by folk singers and teachers earlier than any time that we can identify.

In any case, these complex strands did not come into a fully integrated expression until the Gupta period, about the seventh and eighth century A.D. This is reflected in the art of the time, and is expressed most completely in the Tantric tradition, which took as its central theme precisely the total integration of all cultural elements in one comprehensive transformative expression.

The tantric scriptures themselves are endlessly varied, covering such matters as medicine, magic, astrology, science, government, interpersonal relations and, finally, the subtle body. The latter topic was usually handled under the heading of "tantric yoga "

THE NATURE OF YOGA

Yoga is essentially a practical science of inner evolution based upon the cumulative experience of students and teachers who have devoted a major part of their lives to its practice. There are many forms of yoga, each created to suit a different type of individual. One means of classifying them employed by W. Y. Evans-Wentz² is as follows:

1. Hatha-physical control

2. Laya-mind control

a. Bhakti-love

b. Shakti-creative energy

c. Mantra-sacred sounds

d. Yantra-sacred forms

3. Dhyana-thought

4. Raja-discrimination

a. Jnana-knowledge

b. Karma-activity

c. Kundalini-psychic nerve force

d. Samadhi-ecstatic self-knowledge

The various types of yogas can also be grouped as introductory, intermediate and advanced. In general, Hatha Yoga is viewed as preliminary to other forms of practice, while Raja and Kundalini Yoga are considered to be the highest forms.

Swami Rama, founder of the Himalayan International Institute, identifies Kundalini Yoga as the crown of yogic experience in the following terms: "Among all the approaches to studying the internal realm the science of kundalini yoga is the most advanced."³

This emphasis by a highly respected modern authority is of considerable importance in the present context, because kundalini yoga is based upon and utilizes the subtle body.

Fig. 9. Yogi representation in ancient Indus Valley seal

The practices of yoga are considerably older than any written scripture referring to them. There is a very early statue of what appears to be an archetypal yogi that was found in Mohenjo-Daro and has been dated at about 2400 B.C. But whatever the origin of yoga in a generic sense, it is the tantric tradition of the seventh to tenth centuries A.D. that is our immediate focus. It permeates Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism as a counterpoint to the more orthodox forms of these religions, all of which share as a traditional part of their philosophy the rejecting of worldly experience as a method for discovering inner reality.

TANTRIC YOGA

The tantric practitioner, in contrast, believes that the senses can be used to achieve ecstatic enlightenment. The senses are not to be denied but transformed, so that instead of leading the individual ever deeper into the spider web of the world, they can help him retrace his way back to the source.

This fundamental difference in outlook leads the tantric to employ methods and to take actions that diverge from many traditional religious practices. He may meditate among corpses, engage in orgiastic rituals or perform magical ceremonies designed to attract the presence of a Deity.

The average person might view these actions as primitive, bizarre or sacrilegious if he observed them. But it is impossible to judge their intent from the outside. For each visible action there is a corresponding inner condition that must be met, and which is inherently invisible. But whatever the content of a particular ritual might be, however formal or spontaneous, it is designed to foster the joyous expression of energy which the tantric absorbs as it is liberated to further his own growth.