Chapter Two

Knowledge

The Lord said, “In this body are Meru1 and the seven islands. On them are rivers, oceans, realms, and rulers.

There are seers, sages, all the constellations and planets, sacred sites, shrines, and their attendant deities.

The moon and sun, which bring about creation and destruction, are revolving. There are space, air, fire, water, and earth too.

All the beings in the three worlds are found in the body. Their usual activities take place everywhere around Meru.

One who knows all this is certainly a yogi.

In the body, which is called the egg of Brahma, the nectar-rayed moon with its sixteen digits is in the appropriate place—on Meru’s peak. It is there day and night, facing downwards, raining nectar.

From there the subtle nectar of immortality becomes two and flows forth. The Ganga water goes through Ida to nourish the body.

Going by way of Ida, it certainly does nourish the entire body. This ray of nectar is on the left side.

The other looks like pure milk and draws forcefully on the orb. The moon enters Meru by way of the the central path in order to bring about creation.

The sun, with its twelve digits, is situated at the base of Meru. The lord of creatures, it uses its rays to journey upwards along the right-hand path.

It constantly consumes the nectar emitted by the moon and the constituents of the body. The sun wanders about the whole body in the sphere of the wind.

This other form of the sun carries nirvana along the right-hand path. By means of auspicious conjunctions, it brings about creation and destruction.

There are three and one-half lakh nadis in the human body. Of these, fourteen are the most important: Sushumna, Ida, Pingala, Gandhari, Hastijihvika, Kuhu, Sarasvati, Pusha, Shankhini, Payasvini, Varuni, Alambusha, Vishvodari, and Yashasvini. Of these, three are preeminent: Pingala, Ida, and Sushumna.

Of the three, Sushumna is the most important, the sweetheart of master yogis. The other nadis in embodied beings are connected to her.

The three nadis face downwards and resemble lotus fibers. They are joined to the spinal column and take the form of the moon, the sun, and fire.

In their middle is the Chitra nadi. She is beloved of me. In her is the aperture of Brahman, which is considered to be extremely subtle.

Resplendent in five colors, she is pure, goes through the middle of Sushumna, is the substrate of the body, and has a different appearance from Sushumna.

This divine path is said to bestow immortality and bliss. Merely by meditating on it a master yogi destroys all his sins.

Two fingers above the anus, two fingers below the penis, four fingers broad, and flat, is the Adhara.

In the pericarp of that Adhara lotus is a very beautiful triangular yoni,2 kept secret in all the tantras.

The great goddess Kundalini is there, in the form of a streak of lightning. Coiled three and one-half times, she is delicate and resembles a snake.

She appears as the creation of the world and is always busy creating. Ineffable, she is the goddess of speech, constantly worshipped by the gods.

The nadi called Ida is in the left path. Clinging to the central nadi, she goes to the left nostril.

The nadi called Pingala is in the right path. Clinging to Sushumna, she goes to the right nostril.

Between Ida and Pingala is Sushumna. Yogis teach there to be six chakras with six lotuses in the six stations.

Sushumna has five stations and many names depending on her purpose. They are to be learnt from this text.

There is another lesser nadi arising from the Muladhara which reaches all over the body—to the tongue, the penis, the eyes, the big toes, the ears, the abdomen, the armpits, the thumbs, the anus, the scrotum—and returns to where it started.

From these nadis and their branches and twigs, three and one-half lakh nadis arise in turn, fixed in their positions.

These nadis carry sensations and are capable of conducting the winds. They run across and along the body, pervading it.

In the region of the abdomen, at the middle of the orb of the sun and endowed with twelve digits, is a blazing fire which digests food.

This Vaishvanara fire is born from a piece of my own fire. Situated in the bodies of living beings, it digests food in various ways.

Fire lengthens life, invigorates, and nourishes. It also quickens the body and brings about the destruction of disease.

Therefore the wise yogi should duly kindle the Vaishvanara fire and sacrifice food into it every day according to the instructions of his guru.

The body is known as Brahma’s egg and in it are many stations. The important ones which need to be known have been taught by me here in this text.

The various stations in the body have many types and names. It is not possible to list them.

In the body thus formed, the jiva resides everywhere. Adorned with a garland of beginningless desire, it is chained by karma.

It has many different attributes, performs all functions, and reaps the rewards of the various previously acquired karmas.

Everything that is seen in the world results from karma. A living being reaps rewards according to all its karmas.

Desire and all the other faults which bring about happiness and suffering arise in the jiva according to karma.

Only a consciousness colored by merit makes for a happy life. In the external world, things that are to be enjoyed reach the meritorious and become theirs automatically.

So it is through the power of karma that a man is either happy or suffers. A consciousness colored by sin is sure not to remain.

And he is not separate from Brahman. Nothing is separate from Brahman. All things arise from consciousness conditioned by Maya. The various creatures arise to reap their rewards at the appropriate time.

Just as one can mistakenly consider mother-of-pearl to be silver, so, through the fault of one’s karma, Brahman can be considered to be the universe.

Knowledge is more than capable of eradicating the delusion that arises together with desires. Were such knowledge to arise, it would be the means to liberation.

A particular way of seeing is clearly the cause of the mistaken perception of the agent of manifestation. It cannot be argued to be otherwise. Truly, I have told you the truth.

When one is mistaken about the agent of manifestation, with the result that the world is made manifest, one destroys correct knowledge. When, in the world of samsara, one has the idea that it is not that alone which exists, then mistaken perception does not cease.

The cessation of wrong knowledge arises through special sight. Otherwise it does not cease: there is the mistaken perception of silver.

As long as clear-sighted and pure knowledge does not arise, all objects are seen in their variety.

Only when the body acquired through karma is the means to nirvana does having a body bear fruit.

The garland of desires that exists in connection with the jiva is similar to the misunderstanding that a living being has in its observance of what it should and should not do.

If an aspirant to Yoga wants to cross the ocean of samsara, he should behave according to his caste and stage of life, unattached to the fruits of his actions.

People who are attached to the objects of the senses and seek pleasure from them are prevented from reaching nirvana by words and abide in sin.

Observing the self by means of the self, one sees nothing in this world. If one then gives up ritual action, there is, in my opinion, no transgression.

Vices such as desire disappear through knowledge and not otherwise. In the absence of all realities, Reality itself shines forth.”

Thus ends the second chapter in the glorious Shiva Samhita, a treatise on Yoga in the form of a dialogue between the Lord and Parvati.

1 Mount Meru is the mythical mountain at the center of the universe. Its physical homologue is the spine.

² Yoni literally means womb or vagina. In yogic subtle physiology it means a seat of the feminine creative energy.