Gandhaja. Gandhaja means “a very small worm born in a foul smell.” Ancient people were not acquainted with microvita, otherwise they would have said that gandhaja means microvita carried by the smell inference. Smell – whether pleasant or repulsive – is an entirely relative factor. A smell is called “pleasant” or “repulsive” depending upon one’s likes and dislikes caused by the inherent reactive momenta in the human mind. This is not only true for human beings. The vibrations of smell are conveyed to the nerve cells in the brain to produce the sense of smell in all creatures whose nostrils have the capacity to carry minute smell particles or the waves created by smell. The nature of a type of smell is determined by one’s innate reactive momenta and the vibration of the smell conveyed to the sense organs. The capacity to carry smell vibrations is highly evolved in many undeveloped creatures. For instance, a tiger or a wolf is inferior to a human being in all respects, but the capacity to sense smell is not less developed in tigers and wolves than in human beings. So, living beings consider some odours pleasant and others repulsive due to their peculiar reactive momenta or the degree of the capacity of their propensities.

When the corpses of dead animals are dumped in a boneyard, one avoids the place, and if one is forced to go there under the pressure of circumstances, one will cover one’s nose with a handkerchief. But as soon as the foul smell from a decomposed corpse enters the nostrils of a vulture, it flies in the direction of the smell and easily locates the corpse. For the vulture, the smell of the corpse is not foul, and the rotting flesh of the corpse is not harmful for its health either. But if a human being eats rotten flesh, his or her death is inevitable.

The differences between pleasant and repulsive smells amongst human beings depend upon their inherent reactive momenta. For example, an inhabitant of Ráŕh is repulsed by the smell of dried fish, but there are many regions in the world where people think the smell of dried fish is like a fragrant bouquet. This difference between the sense perception of one person and another is due to differences in the inherent reactive momenta.

There are people who cut slices of flesh off dead animals in order to cook and eat them. Once I observed a vulture eating part of the rotting corpse of a cow as a girl cut off another part and carried it away in a basket. Who knows if that rotten flesh was sold to a nearby restaurant or hotel! Was there any difference between the behaviour of the vulture and the girl? With my own eyes I saw the girl cut off the flesh with one hand and drive the vulture away with the other hand, and the girl was a human being! Although the flesh was not completely rotten at the time, but there was definitely a foul smell coming from it.

So, a pleasant or repulsive smell depends on whether the type of vibration it produces in the mind is pleasant or repulsive. When the vital energy or práńáh – the controlling force of the body – wanes, and when the psychic force – the controller of the vital energy – also wanes, the physical body starts to decompose and disintegrate. One part of the body becomes separated from the other parts because the force that controls the vital energy is conspicuously absent in a dead body. If the vital energy or the psychic energy wanes and is lost, a person very quickly becomes inert and lifeless, and we say that the vital energy of the person has become dormant. In that state it is not possible for the person to connect one part of the body to another part and correlate one sense organ with another. Likewise, if the vital energy remains largely intact but the psychic power is considerably weakened, then it will not be possible to control the vital energy of the body because the vital energy is a material force – a blind force. In the absence of proper directives by the psychic power to the vital energy, the person will find it impossible to control the physical body – one cannot do anything. Vital energy is somewhat like the power of electricity. It is the psychic power of human beings that controls electricity, otherwise the electricity may cause serious problems at any moment. So, either there is first the death of the mind and then the death of the body, or there is the suspension of the vital energy in the body and then the death of the mind. When there is the death of both the body and mind, that is actual death.

In many people, clear physical awareness persists to the last moment of breathing, so we say that they died a conscious death. In such cases, the mind functions for some time even after the death of the vital energy. Even if one is declared physically dead after clinical tests, the mind does not die simultaneously. If by some means or another the life force or the vital energy is revived, one may survive. Similarly, if one is declared mentally dead, the vital energy does not die simultaneously. A physician may be able to revive the lost psychic energy with the help of the vital energy. Hence, it is advisable not to cremate a dead body until the death of both the body and the mind. Usually people cremate a dead body after only one of the forces has left the body.

As a result of the loss of control by the vital energy directly and the psychic power indirectly in the human body, the different parts of the body start to disintegrate and merge into the five fundamental factors. Until this process of disintegration and merger is complete, some kind of foul smell continues to be emitted during this process. When a sub-part of the body separates from the whole, at that point a huge quantity of foul smell is released. The smell particles enter the nostrils, and after they move through the smell carrying afferent nerves by producing a sympathetic vibration in the nerve fibres, which in turn creates a similar vibration in the nerve cells, one perceives the foul smell. The subtle entities which are created to consume the rotting objects and are carried by the medium of smell are negative microvita. Similarly, the subtle entities which are created to consume the sweet, pleasant smells are positive microvita. I have already said that both sweet and foul smells are relative.

Just as a foul smell is produced as a result of internal disintegration due to the lack of vital energy and psychic power, a sweet smell arises when, as a result of the combination of physical energy and psychic power, two or more entities synthesize. Positive microvita come there. Sometimes even a static object is connected to various mutative or sentient objects through the process of disintegration, resulting in a pleasant smell. By static object, I mean that which comes within the scope of ordinary sensory perception. A mutative object means that which comes within sensory perception with a little effort, and a sentient object means that which comes within sensory perception after long or short mental concentration or meditation.

Whatever can be attained through a brief period of meditation can certainly be attained through prolonged meditation or prolonged ordinary penance. When spiritual aspirants develop a certain degree of psychic concentration through incantation and thereby attract the blissful mood of Parama Puruśa, it is also a type of penance. This is called “incantation” or “japa”. Similarly, when human beings surrender all their concentrated mental power into the cosmic infinitude and become free from microcosmic bondages, that is also a kind of penance, and is called “dhyána yoga.” In order to penetrate into the subtle world, static energy will have to be transformed and assimilated through the processes of incantation, japa yoga and dhyána yoga. Thus, a spiritual aspirant will have to saturate his or her mental pabulum with the greatest amount of cosmic ideation. To ordinary people, this is usually conveyed though such terms as “japa yoga” and “dhyána yoga”. In fact, the terms “japa” and “dhyána” represent the vastness of cosmic ideation only partially, not fully. It is disadvantageous for both the teacher and the disciple if cosmic ideation is not conveyed with immensely suggestive language, hence the custom of conveying ideas symbolically. Teachers are forced to convey the value of incantation through the term “japa”. In the same way the word “dhyána” has detailed explanations in karma yoga, dhyána yoga, kriya yoga, karma dhyána, anudhyána, avidyá dhyána, etc. For all these various aspects of dhyána, we loosely use the common term “dhyána”. This japa yoga or dhyána yoga which elevates human beings through constant self-analysis, obliterates the very existence of the non-spiritual, and expedites one’s elevation into the supreme spiritual stance, is practised with the help of positive microvita by the grace of Parama Puruśa. Hence, whatever might be one’s intellectual attainment, the essence of everything is prapatti or complete surrender. Without the wish of Parama Puruśa, not even the leaf of a tree moves – not even a blade of grass grows. The gradual ascension of a unit being towards the supreme spiritual stance which is helped by positive microvita, brings a kind of very pleasant smell. Spiritual aspirants, at a particular stage, sense this smell. But it should be remembered that the sensation of smell is a minor thing – it is a mere drop of cosmic grace.

So, pleasant and unpleasant smells are relative matters. A standard which has been followed since ancient times is that a spiritual aspirant is required to concentrate on the Ájiṋa Cakra or the pituitary gland, and to try and bring his or her mind under control. The pleasant smell that arises through this process of meditation is highly attractive. The group of smells that creates pleasant feelings in the minds of those engaged in this type of yoga sádhaná are good smells, and all other smells are bad smells.

Microvitum, whether positive or negative, is a very subtle entity, hence it is conveyed through inferences. The subtlest of these inferences is sound (which is accepted and conveyed by the auricular nerves, and is vibrated naturally by dynamic objects such as aerial waves, liquid waves, electromagnetic waves, etc.). Cruder than the sound inference is the inference of tactuality (which arises due to the touch of other objects). Cruder than touch is the form inference (which is carried and received through light waves). Cruder than that is the inference of taste (which is the fluidity of a liquid substance). Cruder than that is the inference of smell (which is conveyed by smell particles). Usually, the subtler the inference, the easier it is for it to convey positive microvita, and the cruder the inference, the easier it is for it to convey negative microvita.

Love for the supreme is an innate tendency in all living beings, including human beings. The sleeping divinity at the basal plexus or Múládhára Cakra has a natural tendency to identify with Parama Puruśa.⁽¹⁾ But there is something more to this. The movement of positive and negative microvita is determined by the following principle. If smell, the crudest inference, is associated with something subtle, then it becomes an ideal carrier of positive microvita. If the same smell is associated with something crude, then it will ultimately create a wave of negative microvita. Again, if someone makes a sound like “ra, ra, ra – cha, cha, cha,” or if someone sings, “Follow my song! Let us sing and dance our way to hell,” these are sound inferences, but they carry a very crude idea. Hence, each and every sound inference is not necessarily an ideal carrier of positive microvita only. Conversely, it cannot be said with certainty that each and every smell inference is an ideal carrier of negative microvita only. An intelligent person should select and absorb sound inferences associated with subtle ideas and avoid sound inferences associated with crude ideas. At the same time, they should effect the large scale emanation of subtle vibrations, and dissolve crude vibrations in the vast wave of cosmic ideas, leaving them to rest forever in the ocean of forgotten expressionlessness.

The pervasive, stinking smell which results from the decomposition and disintegration of rotting animal or plant bodies attracts negative microvita. This negative microvita causes the creation of newer carbon atoms and other sub-atomic particles. These particles then create unicellar life, and sometimes, somewhere, multicellar heterogeneous life also. The origin, existence and disappearance of these entities are rooted in negative microvita. Similarly, in ascending order, is the path of high grade spiritual practice – the path of supreme synthesis – for many diverse elements and ideas. This happens in the highest world of wisdom – in the highest world of intuition – beyond the domain of all kinds of dialectics. This is the path which human beings will have to select.

Those who opt for the path of synthesis are bound to enjoy some kind of spiritual aroma. This divine aroma can hardly be compared with any worldly smell. We can say that this divine aroma somewhat resembles the fragrance of a champak or magnolia flower, but people will have to remain satisfied with the description, “somewhat resembles”. If a spiritual aspirant concentrates his or her mind on particular parts of the Sahasrara Cakra or Ájiṋa Cakra (as learned from one’s spiritual master) and practises meditation assiduously, one can and does enjoy the sweetness that lies in the different layers of the vast storehouse of divine aroma. But the most important thing to remember is this. Spiritual practice is not done to come in contact with divine smell – rather spiritual practices are performed to attain Parama Puruśa. An ideal spiritualist will never ask for occult powers, which are devoid of even one percent of all the inferences. He or she will only ask for the controller of the cult, not the occult power.⁽²⁾

While mentioning the Sahasrara and Ájiṋa Cakras, one more thing should be explained. All kinds of spiritual experiences, both from the higher world and the comparatively lower worlds, are attained through the divine nectar secreted from the Sahasrara Cakra and Ájiṋa Cakra – the pineal gland and the pituitary gland.

Some people say that the spiritual realizations of the highest order are not attainable by women because the physical bodies of women are deficient. In this connection I wish to make it clear that there are some differences between the male and female bodies concerning certain crude physical propensities, but this is not the occasion to discuss this subject. If I ever get the scope to explain the nature of human propensities in detail, I may explain this topic in more detail. [See Yoga Psychology by P. R. Sarkar.]

It is a fact that there are differences between males and females concerning the lower glands and sub-glands, and the number of propensities also varies. As the direct controlling point of the lower glands and sub-glands, the Ájiṋa Cakra and Sahasrara Cakra in the male and female bodies have some subtle difference, but as I said, only with regard to certain physical propensities, such as the propensity of attachment to objects and individuals (where a friend is an intimate friend, and an enemy is a mortal enemy). In the spiritual and psycho-spiritual or supra-mental spheres, there is no difference between men and women. That is to say, the highest spiritual realization accessible to men is also accessible to women. There is no reason whatsoever to deprive women of the highest spiritual experiences or to impede their spiritual progress. Those who say that only men are entitled to liberation or salvation and that women will have to be reborn as males are saying something totally irrational. This sort of statement betrays their underlying exploitative sentiments, and is designed to promote their selfish individual and collective interests.

Footnotes

(1) Some lines on the kulakuńd́alinii and Rájádhirája Yoga omitted here. –Trans.

(2) Some lines omitted here. –Trans.