Yesterday I told you something about nerve fibres, nerve cells, and the positions of various cakras; about the relation of the cakras to the propensities and how people establish control over these propensities. The highest point in the human body is the controlling point of the sahasrára cakra and is called Shiva, Puruśottama or “Krśńa”.

It will be better if I say something more about Krśńatattva [the inner meaning of Krśńa]. I have told you that in Vaeśńava Tantra the last bone of the vertebral column is called kula. [Here resides the serpentine coil.] In Tantra it is called kulakuńd́alinii, while in Vaeśńava Tantra it is called “Rádhá”, and Paramashiva [Puruśottama] is called “Krśńa”. Through sádhaná we raise the kulakuńd́alinii upwards, and in the end the union of Rádhá and Krśńa takes place. There is a secret technique to raise this serpentine coil. Previously this technique was not clearly given. At that time some people thought it proper to keep it secret. If something harmful to individual or collective life is not given, that is good; but the useful things have to be given. People will be more attracted to do sádhaná.

The first thing is that this kulakuńd́alinii rises slowly from the múládhára cakra to the sahasrára cakra in eight steps, it passes through eight cakras, and the sahasrára cakra is the ninth. Just below the sahasrára cakra is the guru cakra. When one meditates at the guru cakra, the kuńd́alinii takes one jump upwards, and the mind goes to the other side of the cakra [i.e., to the sahasrára.] This is the technique of sádhaná, but it has previously neither been explained nor written in books.

The kulakuńd́alinii rises upward in eight jumps or phases, so with two syllables in a siddha mantra,⁽¹⁾ the kuńd́alinii will jump four times. But a general, or publicly-given, siddha mantra will make the kulakuńd́alinii jump eight times or in eight phases. That is why such a siddha mantra has eight syllables. So you should understand that a proper kiirtana must have eight syllables, never seven or nine syllables.

The jiivabháva [microcosmic bearing] moves towards Krśńa, Paramashiva, the pineal gland in the sahasrára cakra, as a result of sádhaná, and the mind also becomes introverted in gradual steps. When the kuńd́alinii reaches the navel cakra, or mańipura cakra, that is called vraja bháva in Vaeśńava Tantra. And when it moves from the navel cakra to the trikut́i, or ájiṋá cakra, that is known as gopii bháva. And when it rises past the ájiṋá cakra, that is known as advaya bháva or Rádhá bháva. Thus there are these three stages.

During this process, one will hear the eternal sound of prańava [the oṋm sound] in the vast mahákásha [void] in different ways, according to the different levels which the mind has reached. Sometimes one first hears the sound of rumbling clouds, sometimes ankle bells, sometimes the roar of the sea. When after hearing different sounds in this way the mind reaches the trikut́i, one hears the sweet and harmonious sound of the flute. These are various expressions of the prańava sound. The prańava sound is heard as the trikut́i or ájiṋá cakra is crossed, but then when the mind merges with Krśńa or Paramashiva there is no sound, the silence itself is the sound. There is no expression. These are some of the secrets of sádhaná. The spiritual aspirant hears the various sounds of oṋḿkára or prańava at various stages, during deep sádhaná, during sweet sádhaná. The sound is called Krśńa’s muraliidhvani. The sádhaka becomes mad because of this sound and goes deeper and attains Rádhá bháva more and more, and rushes headlong forward.

Chot́e ye jan bánshiir t́áne
Se ki tákáy pather páne?

[Can a person who rushes headlong at the sound of the flute ever think about the path he or she is treading?]

At that time one does not think at all about what people will say. One knows only that “I and my Iśt́a exist.”

The kulakuńd́alinii resides in the kula, that is, in the last bone of the vertebral column. In Sanskrit kuńd́alinii means “coiled”, “serpentine loop”, “serpentine coil”. Jilipii [a fried sweet] is also called kuńd́alinii in Sanskrit because it is coiled. The poet Vidyápati has said: Hari gelá Madhupurá háma kulabálá [“The Lord is in Madhupur, that is, in the sahasrára cakra; I am kulabálá”].

Where is Hari [the Lord]? He is in Madhupur. “Madhupur” means the sahasrára cakra. In Vaeśńava Tantra, the sahasrára is “Madhupur”. From “Madhupur”, “Madhura” and “Mathura” have been derived. So Mathura is not only the town in Uttar Pradesh, it is also the sahasrára cakra. Háma kulabálá – “I am kulabálá,” that is, “I am the jiivashakti [divinity of the individual] sleeping in the last vertebra.” Kulabálá does not here mean “the daughter of a family”.

Vidyápati has said:

Nayanak nind gel gayának hás
Sukh gel piyásauṋga dukh morá pásh.

“Hari lives very far above, Parama Puruśa or Paramashiva is so far above, and the jiivabháva is so far below, at the lowermost point. For that reason it has no sleep, no happiness. It has only suffering, pain and suffering.” When will this suffering come to an end? When the jiivabháva merges in the Shivabháva. This is the ultimate end of sádhaná, the sweetest end. The separate existence of the individual is no more.

The reality of things has to be understood. The above kind of suffering is known philosophically as spiritual suffering. The jiiva experiences three types of suffering – ádhibhaotika, ádhidaevika, and ádhyátmika. Ádhibhaotika suffering is mundane, that is, it derives from shortages of food, clothing, medicine, education, shelter, etc. If we change the structure of society this misery will be ended. So we must do this, we should do this. Regarding ádhidaevika suffering – if we prepare our minds through sádhaná, all the mental cares and worries that result from a defective mental structure will come to an end. And the ádhyátmika, or spiritual, suffering is that Hari or Krśńa, who is my own and my dearest, is far off, far away from me. He is in the sahasrára cakra, the pineal gland. And the sleeping jiivashakti is in the lowest cakra, the múládhára cakra. This feeling of separation is ádhyátmika suffering. This can be eliminated by spiritual sádhaná, that is, by dhyána, dhárańá, práńáyáma, pratyáhára, etc.

In Vaishnavite philosophy the controlling point of the sahasrára cakra is known as “Krśńa”. This Krśńa is not only the nucleus of the universe, He is the nucleus of each and every unit, so all Krśńas are one and the same. However we try to explain Him, we will arrive at the same point. 3500 years ago in Dvápara Yuga there was another Krśńa. You may say, “Puruśottama, Parama Puruśa, Shiva and Krśńa – on the spiritual level, all Krśńas are one and the same. Is the historical Krśńa different from these?” No, He is not.

I raise this topic because I want to emphasize that human society moves ahead through clash and cohesion. It moves ahead through ideological unity and disunity, through ideological clash. It has moved ahead, it is moving ahead, and it will move ahead. To stop this movement means destruction, a great destruction – hence we have to advance with great speed. When the speed of this advancement gets slowed down, people will face trouble at every step. (Human beings do not want any such undesirable action, for which they may later have to repent, to be taken individually or collectively.)

But if the time does come when the advancement becomes too slow, someone will be needed who can give society a hard hammering. Whether people like this person or not, love him or not – whether they feel love, devotion, respect or fear – under his fast-tempoed hammering the society will move ahead. People basically want to feel the blow that will move them ahead. The blow will be painful, people fear it, but in their minds they want it, because only under this hammering will they decide to move forward. It is a strange condition – “I feel afraid, yet at the same time this is what I want. Or, no, I don’t want to move ahead – I’ll go a little later” – but then one is forcibly pulled ahead. The feet do not want to move ahead, they tremble, but the minds want to move ahead. The need for this kind of treatment arises when people collectively are not able to advance towards the goal under their own internal power.

Everything is created by Parama Puruśa. The root bhú plus the suffix ktin equals bhúti – “existence” or “entity”. The Sanskrit word for “entity” or “being” comes from the root bhú. And the root bhú plus the suffix kta equals bhúta. Bhúta means that which is created. But when for the benefit of human society, for human welfare, something has to be done which is not so easy to do, which is rarely done, which will deliver the necessary blow to the human race – when the right entity or being is needed to do this work – what will Parama Puruśa do? He will create a body for Himself with the help of the five fundamental factors, and He will come. He will say, “I will awaken the práńa [vital energy] of these dying people with a timely slap, I will stir up their práńa.” He will create vibrations in their práńa. He will not tolerate idleness. He will not allow us to waste this valuable human life.

When He comes, after creating His own body with the help of the five fundamental factors – solid, liquid, luminous, aerial and ethereal – to create an ideological tidal wave, that stage is called Mahásambhúti. Mahá means “great”, “having a form which is supra-natural”. And bhú plus ktin equals bhúti. Hence Mahásambhúti means “The Great Creation”, “The Great Appearance”. Whenever in the past Parama Puruśa thought it necessary, He came in the form of Mahásambhúti. In that way came Sadáshiva, in that way came Krśńa. To push human society forward, to resuscitate the half-dead human race, to awaken society, they came. They came to create a wave in the field of ideology, in the social field and in the field of humanity; they came to create a tidal wave in every dimension and on every level. They delivered hammer blows to the various human social structures of the world. For this they received both the highest praise and the most scathing condemnation.

Because Parama Puruśa is Puruśottama, the nucleus of the universe, the nucleus of all living entities, His Mahásambhúti is also Parama Puruśa.

And that Mahásambhúti is also Krśńa. All the Krśńas – historical, biological, social, scriptural – come together at one point. That is why it is said that Tulaná vá upamá Krśńasya násti – “Krśńa cannot be compared with any other object on earth.” Or, “You can be compared only with Yourself.”

Because He cannot be compared with any other being, because He is incomparable, perfect in theory and also perfect in practice, the rśis of that time spoke of Him as ananyapáy [unparalleled]. They said of Him, Krśńastu Bhagaván svayaḿ [“Krśńa is Parama Puruśa Himself”].

Footnotes

(1) A mantra “perfected” by the guru. See “Mantra Caetanya” in Ananda Marga Ideology and Way of Life in a Nutshell Part 11 or Discourses on Tantra Vol. 1. –Trans.