“Now,190 o goddess, I shall teach the magical science191 called Khecarī192 by means of which, when it is understood,193 one becomes ageless and undying in this world. Seeing this universe stricken by death, disease and decrepitude, my dear, one should steel one's resolve and take refuge in Khecarī. To him should one pay homage and turn to as guru with [one's] whole heart,194 o goddess, who here on earth knows Khecarī, the destroyer of decrepitude, death and disease, in letter and spirit,195 and practice.196
The mantra of Khecarī is hard to obtain and so is its practice. The practice197 and melaka198 are not perfected at the same time. [The yogin] intent on just the practice might not attain melaka in this life. Through [carrying out] the practice, o goddess, he obtains [melaka] sometime in a subsequent life. Melaka, however, is not achieved even after one hundred lives [without carrying out the practice].199 Carrying out the practice, which has been obtained by means of the correct emotional attiude, after many lives the yogin attains melaka, o goddess, sometime in a later life. Now when, o supreme goddess, the desirous [yogin] attains melaka, then he attains the siddhi200 which is described in the textual tradition. When [the yogin] attains melaka, both in letter and spirit, then, freed from the terror of transmigration, he becomes Śiva.
Without [this] text, even gurus cannot understand [the mantra of Khecarī]. So, my dear, this very, very precious text must be obtained. As long as one does not have this text one shall wander about the earth. When it is obtained, o goddess, then siddhi is in [one's] hand. Without [this] text there is no siddhi even for one who wanders about the three worlds. So [the yogin], o goddess, should always worship Śiva, recognising [him] as the giver of melaka, the giver of the text, and the bestower of its practice.
I have taught many tantras, o goddess, [but], o you who are worshipped by the gods, in them the Khecarī siddhi, which destroys death, is not taught. Mahākāla201 and Vivekamārtaṇḍa202 and Śābara203 and Viśuddheśvara204 and Jālaśamvara:205 in these excellent tantras206 the practice of [Khecarī] is proclaimed. Melaka and the other [results obtained] by means of Khecarī [are proclaimed in these tantras] sometimes clearly, sometimes unclearly. In this divine best of tantras melaka and the other [results] are proclaimed. Out of fondness for you I have taught here everything that there is to be known in the Khecarī doctrine207 that might be hard to know. Therefore [the yogin] should procure this amazing text told by me; it has not been made public and is to be kept secret, o great goddess.
He alone is a guru who speaks the nectar of the teaching born from the lotus of my mouth; moreover, he who knows its implicit meaning is said to be the best [guru]. There is no guru better than him.
Having obtained this secret text one should not proclaim it to others.208 After due consideration, it is to be taught to those who live on this path. He who makes this supreme text public to all and sundry will be quickly eaten by Yoginīs, o goddess, at the order of Śiva.209 One should not untie its knot,210 o goddess, without [performing] a kaula libation.211 [After it has been] worshipped, placed upon an auspicious cloth and well scented with divine incense,212 one should recite it in a place free of people to a yogin skilled in yoga. Distress [arising] from fire, illness, malign astrological influences and enemies undoubtedly arises in a house where this text is found unworshipped.213 The family deities that bestow all wealth are present in the house where this book is worshipped, o Pārvatī. Therefore the wise man should protect [this book] with every effort. The yogin who wants these siddhis described by me should guard this book with all [his] being.214 I myself am the guru of him in whose possession the book is found, o goddess. The advantages and disadvantages [resulting] from the protection of [this] book have been clearly described by me, o great goddess.
Now hear [the mantra and practice of] Khecarī. And one should go, o goddess, to where there is a guru who has perfected the divine yoga and, after receiving the vidyā called Khecarī spoken by him, one should begin by scrupulously and tirelessly carrying out the practice described by him.
I shall proclaim the Khecarī mantra, which grants success in yoga, o goddess. Without it a yogin cannot enjoy Khecarī siddhi. Practising the yoga of Khecarī by means of the Khecarī mantra preceded by the Khecarī seed syllable, [the yogin] becomes lord of the Khecaras and dwells amongst them forever.215
The abode of the Khecaras216 [and] fire,217 adorned with the mother218 and the circle,219 is called the Khecarī seed-syllable.220 By means of it yoga is successful.
The great Caṇḍā, which is known as the peak, bearing the flaming, fiery thunderbolt [and] joined with the previously described seed-syllable, is called the Vidyā [and] is extremely hard to obtain.221
[Now] I shall teach the six-limbed mantra.222 [The yogin] should correctly223 perform [the mantra-repetition] with it interspersed with the six [long] vowels, o goddess, in order to obtain complete success.224 One should take the ninth letter back from Someśa. The thirtieth letter from there, which is in the shape of the moon, is declared [to be next]. The eighth syllable back from there is next, my dear. Then the fifth from there, o goddess. Then the first syllable after that is the fifth [syllable of the mantra]. Then Indra joined with an anusvāra. This [mantra] is called Kūṭa.225 It is to be obtained from the teaching of a guru and bestows fame in all worlds. Illusion, born of the body, with many forms [and] residing in the faculties,226 does not arise even in sleep for the controlled [yogin], as a result of the continuous twelve-fold repetition [of this mantra]. The glorious Khecarī siddhi arises automatically for him who, totally self-controlled, recites this [mantra] five hundred thousand times.227 All obstacles are destroyed, the gods are pleased and, without doubt, wrinkles and grey hair will disappear.
After thus obtaining the great mantra [the yogin] should then carry out the practice; otherwise, o goddess, he suffers and [there is for him] no siddhi in the sphere of Khecarī. If [the yogin] does not obtain [this] nectarean mantra during the observance of the practice, then he should recite [it] having obtained it at the beginning of melaka.228 Without this [mantra], o goddess, [the yogin] can never enjoy success. When this text is obtained then [the yogin] should resort to the mantra. Then, my dear, he quickly obtains the siddhi described therein.
In the manner described by his guru, [every day] for seven days the knower of ātman should rub the base of the palate and clean away all impurity.229 He should take a very sharp, well-oiled and clean blade resembling a leaf of the Snuhī plant and then cut away a hair's breadth [of the frenum] with it.230 After cutting, he should rub [the cut] with a powder of rock-salt and pathyā.231 After seven days he should again cut away a hair's breadth.232
[The yogin], constantly applying himself, should thus practise gradually for six months. After six months the binding tendon at the base of the tongue233 is destroyed. Then, knowing the rules of time and limit,234 the yogin should gradually pull upwards the tip of the tongue235 having wrapped it in cloth.236
Then, in six months, after regular drawing out237 [of the tongue], my dear, it reaches [upwards] between the eyebrows, obliquely to the ears, and downwards it is gradually made to reach the base of the chin.238 Then, only after three years, upwards it easily reaches the hairline, sideways the temples, my dear, [and] downwards the Adam's apple.239 After three years more it covers the end of Suṣumṇā,240 o goddess; obliquely it reaches the region above the nape of the neck241 [and] downwards the hollow [at the base] of the throat.242
The practice must only be carried out gradually, not all at once.243 The body of him who tries to do it all at once is destroyed. For this reason the practice is to be carried out very gradually, o beautiful lady.
When the tongue reaches the aperture of Brahmā244 by the external path, then [the yogin], o goddess, should rub with the tip of his finger the bolt [of the doorway] of Brahmā,245 [which is] hard for even the gods to pierce,246 [and] insert [his] tongue there. Practising thus for three years the tongue enters the door of Brahmā.247
When the door of Brahmā is entered [the yogin] should duly begin churning.248 Some wise [yogins] achieve siddhi without churning. For [the yogin] who has perfected the Khecarī mantra success is achieved without churning. By doing both mantra-recitation and churning [however, the yogin] quickly obtains the result.
By means of a strong and smooth thread,249 [the yogin] should insert a small probe of either gold, silver or iron into the nasal cavity. Fixing the breath in the heart [and] sitting in a steady pose, he should gently perform churning with his eyes focussed between his eyebrows.250 By doing just this much the state of churning arises after six months. For the yogin who has completely restrained his jīva251 [and] who has become identical with the object of contemplation, the state [of churning] arises as [easily as does] the deep sleep of children. Churning is not meant [to be done] constantly;252 [the yogin] should practise it every month. But [the yogin] should always move his tongue around the pathway, o goddess.253 [By practising] in this way complete success [arises] at the end of twelve years,254 o great goddess. In [his] body he sees the entire universe as undifferentiated from himself.255
[The yogin] should know the great pathway256 in the skull257 in the region above the uvula258 between the eyebrows [to be] the Three-peaked Mountain,259 [which is] honoured by the perfected ones [and] resembles a chickpea sprout.260 He should fix his mind there. Licking with his tongue the supreme amṛta flowing there [and progressing] gradually on the path of the practice, [the yogin] should drink [amṛta] for four years, my dear. Grey hair and wrinkles are destroyed, supreme success arises and, as the knower of the meaning of all scriptures, [the yogin] lives for a thousand years. Success in sciences such as finding buried treasure, entering subterranean realms,261 controlling the earth262 and alchemy arise for the yogin after five years, o Pārvatī.
Duly drinking the flowing amṛta liquid with [his] tongue, the resolute yogin should curb his diet for twelve years, [living] as an ascetic.263 By this application of the practice, the great yogin, free of grey hair and wrinkles [and] with a body as incorruptible as diamond lives for one hundred thousand years. With the strength of ten thousand elephants, my dear, he has long-distance sight and hearing. Capable of punishing and rewarding [people], he becomes powerful with respect to everything.
These siddhis, o goddess, only arise between the eyebrows.264
Placing the tongue in the ether,265 [the yogin] should clench [his] teeth;266 making the mouth [like] the hollow of a crow's beak,267 he should drink the amṛta therein.
By drinking [the amṛta] he truly becomes free of old age and death after a year. He becomes a Khecara268 and lives as long as the moon and the stars. The best adept quickly attains absolutely all the magical powers269 that are found in the three worlds, such as those of magical sandals,270 the magical sword,271 power over zombies,272 magical elixirs, realgar,273 invisibility,274 access to the treasures of the subterranean realms275 and power over male and female genies.276
O great goddess, at the barely perceptible bolted gate of Brahmā there is a great tetrad of kalās277 consisting of the four aims of man.278 On the eastern side is [the kalā] called Kṛtā, in the south Guptā, on the western side Śivā [and] in the north Parāparaśivā.279
When the yogin pierces that gateway with the tip of his tongue and drinks the amṛta from the eastern kalā, after a month he becomes a master of dharma. When the yogin licks with his tongue the amṛta at [the kalṛ called] Guptā in the south, there is no doubt that after just one month he becomes the lord of wealth in bodily form. When he drinks with [his] tongue the amṛta created in the western kalā of [the tetrad], then after a month the great yogin becomes the lord of pleasure. When he drinks the amṛta created in the northern kalā, then he obtains dominion over the highest gods.280 When the lord amongst yogins drinks the great amṛta which is lying in the region above [the four kalās] at the opening of Brahmā, he becomes Śiva, liberated while living. When he practises every month for twelve years,281 the yogin, free from all disease, omniscient, and worshipped by sages, becomes like Śiva, ageless and undying in this world.
After the yogin has repeatedly drunk the amṛta from the four kalās, o great goddess, he should then insert [his] tongue into the place of Brahmā and drink the amṛta [which is] very sweet, cool, pleasant, milk-coloured and free from froth. After just one month's practice, [the yogin] automatically becomes like a god. In two months he knows completely the meaning of all sacred texts, o Pārvatī. After three months, o goddess, he truly becomes free [and] like Śiva. After four months, great goddess, omniscience arises. In five months [he becomes] a great adept and is able to see the three worlds. In six months, filled with the goodness of the quality of ultimate bliss, [the yogin] becomes liberated while living; in this there is no doubt, o Parāparā. In the seventh month, with happy mind, he constantly associates282 at will with great ghouls, ghosts, snakes and demons. In the course of the eighth month communion with the gods arises.283 In the ninth month, the powers of becoming invisible and infinitesimal arise. In the tenth [month], the ability to assume any form at will, [which is] manifest to all the worlds, [arises]. In the eleventh [month], o goddess, knowing the past, present and future [and] as an almighty lord of the universe, [the yogin] becomes like Śiva. This that I have spoken is the truth.284
It is taught that Kedāra is where the cūlitala has been declared to be, o goddess.285 Eight kalās of Soma are described there, o you who are worshipped by the extreme adepts.286 The first is Amṛtā,287 o goddess, the second is called Mānadā; [then there are] Pūṣā and Tuṣṭi and Puṣṭi and Rati and Dhṛti, and the eighth is Śaśinī; all are oceans of the great amṛta. And when the yogin points [his] tongue towards that place then an eightfold stream of icy liquid flows there. Through contact with the flow of that [liquid], diseases of the body are destroyed. After eight months [of this practice] the yogin becomes a Khecara.288
Verily, the place between the eyebrows is called the Orb of Soma.289 A group of four kalās is taught [to be] there, a seat of the great amṛta. [They are], by name, [the kalā] called Candrikā, and Kānti and Jyotsnā and Śrī. [The yogin] should insert his tongue there and drink [the amṛta] over and over again.290 In four months the yogin becomes free from danger;291 truly his body becomes as hard as diamond from drinking the flow of [amṛta].
Above that is a rock, the Orb of the Khecaras,292 known as the Diamond Bulb.293 [The yogin] should recognise [it to be] at the top of the forehead; there, o goddess, is a triad of kalās: Prīti, Aṅgadā and Pūrṇā. He should insert his tongue there. He should drink with his tongue the cool flowing amṛta of that milky stream. In three months, o goddess, [the yogin] becomes free from all disease, impervious to attack by all cutting weapons, unyielding to all methods [of hostile magic]294 [and] inconceivable by means of all the mundane sciences with their ugly objects. By the power of the Diamond Bulb he truly becomes like Bhairava.
Below the nostrils and above the lips295 is the great place [called] the Royal Tooth.296 There, o goddess, is a pair of kalās, Pūrṇāmṛtā and Śītalā. Holding the breath, [the yogin] should touch [them] with the tip of [his] tongue. A sweet, cool fluid is produced there, o goddess. Focussing his mind there, the ascetic should drink [the fluid] for three months. He becomes ageless and undying, free from all disease.
The place between the anus and the testicles is called the Base.297 Five kalās are spoken of there, from which drips the supreme amṛta. Sudhā, Sudhāmayī, Prajñā, Kālaghnī, Jñānadāyinī:298 [these] five kalās are praised as streams of nectar, bestowing all siddhis. The supreme feminine divinity is situated there, o goddess,
the primordial Kuṇḍalinī. By contracting that region299 [and] holding the breath, o you who are worshipped by the gods, [the yogin] should unite the cool amṛta situated there with the goddess of the Base. Leading [them] by way of the central channel [up] from the Svādhiṣṭhāna and other lotuses, he should think of [himself] as being sprinkled by the rain of that nectar up to his skull.300 Taking the amṛta situated there, the great goddess Śrīkuṅḍalī goes by way of the central channel to the top of the abode of Brahmā, bathed in a surfeit of the nectar produced from the five kalās of the Base. [The yogin] should imagine [her] pervading [his] body from his feet to his head. In five months of using [this technique], absorption into the five elements arises.301 Through practising [it] in the morning, in the evening and at midnight302 he truly becomes equal to Śiva.
That which is the place of the penis,303 o goddess, is called the Svādhiṣṭhāna. There is said [to be] a triad of kalās there, replete with the divine amṛta. They are called Susūkṣmā, Paramāhlādā and Vidyā. Holding his breath and awakening the goddess as before, he should lead [her up] as far as [his] skull and inundate his body [with amṛta]. In the course of three months the yogin attains the reward that has already been described.304
That which is between the anus and the penis is called the Bamboo Staff.305 A tetrad of kalās is taught [to be] there, consisting of the essence of the great amṛta. [They are] Suśitā, Mahātṛpti, Palitaghnī and Valikṣayā. [The yogin] should awaken the goddess there and inundate [his] body [with amṛta] as before; after four months of [this] practice he shall obtain the reward described earlier.
Piṅgalā is the channel of the sun; Iḍā is the channel of the moon.307 The sun is called the bearer of poison, the moon is the bearer of nectar.308 Practice is enjoined in that which is called the channel of the sun and in the channel of the moon; and concentration [is enjoined] in the channel of the moon.309 The yogin should practise breath-retention. He should fill his body with air by way of the channel of the moon; expulsion [of air] by way of the channel of the sun is enjoined for improvement of the body.310
I have taught you this four-fold place of kalās, o goddess.311 Now I shall teach the great place of the ultimate amṛta.312 The Diamond Bulb in the forehead sparkles like the shining moon;313 in its centre is the syllable laṃ and it is square. The deity there is the great Śiva. Gods [and] yogins worship [him] together with his consort.314 At the cūlitala,315 o great goddess, is a triangular maṇḍala, as bright as one hundred thousand suns. In the middle [the yogin] should visualise the great god Śiva, consisting of a liṅga, o goddess, with the syllable raṃ at the centre, embraced by his consort [and] surrounded by a troop of deities, o supreme goddess. In the right temple, o most fortunate goddess, is that which is encircled by six dots, containing the syllable yaṃ and smoke-coloured. There [the yogin] should visualise, o goddess, the god Maheśvara in the form of a liṅga together with [his] consort and surrounded by his troop of attendants. In the left temple, o goddess, is a [semi-]circle, looking like a half–moon, together with a lotus. It contains the syllable vaṃ, and in the middle there is a solid liṅga full of nectar, as white as cow's milk, [and] as bright as the autumn moon. It is together with its consort and is served by the entire host of gods and goddesses.
Thus have I described stations in the four directions, o goddess. In the middle of them is a great circle which contains the syllable haṃ. There, o Pārvatī, is situated the Supreme Lord, great Śambhu, together with his consort. He is in the form of a liṅga, together with [his] host, and is as bright as ten million suns. At the forehead is the lord of earth, at the back of the head is the lord of fire, in the right temple is the lord of air, in the left is the lord of water, o goddess, [and] in the middle is the lord of ether. I have described the five stations of Śambhu.316
Above the head of the god [who is] the lord of ether is a vessel full of the divine amṛta,317 four fingers broad, with a door closing it at its base, a great rock with the moon above it318 in the middle of an orb of light, as bright as ten million moons, impenetrable, the seat of amṛta. Immersed in the cool amṛta is a liṅga, o goddess, like a speck of dust, as bright as ten million moons, perfect,319 [and] destroying the darkness of ignorance. Going beyond the five [amṛta-]stations, in order to obtain the ultimate substance,320 [the yogin], holding the breath, should extend the goddess of speech,321 with her mouth upwards,322 together with [his] attention, to the doorway at the base of the pot of the ultimate amṛta.323 Having reached [there] together with [his] mind, truly the yogin, restraining the flow of his breath, should playfully open the bolt with [his] tongue. There the yogin should drink the drink of yoga, [which is] hard for even the gods to obtain: the icy, milky amṛta, sweet [like] cool sugar-cane juice. Satiated by a surfeit of that nectar and having entered the supreme state, the yogin should obtain there in the skull union with the supramental state,324 and eat, by means of yoga, the meat that consists of nāda and bindu.325
This rare secret has been proclaimed, o goddess. Truly, after six months [the yogin] obtains the reward which the omniscient Śiva has taught in the scriptural transmission; in this there is no doubt. He who desires [Khecarī] siddhi must not say anything to anyone who, [although] he has attained all [other] siddhis, does not know this yoga, o goddess.326 One should not cause this text to be given to those who delight in deceit and dishonesty, who do not recognise the guru as a god, and who do not know the observances taught in scripture.327
At the root of the tongue is situated, o goddess, the all-glorious fire. At its tip is the sun; the moon is situated in the middle of the forehead. Siddhi arises for him who correctly understands this.329
Having churned330 and zealously awakened331 the orb of fire, [the yogin] should turn [his] tongue, on the tip of which is situated the sun, to the orb of the moon at the forehead, which has liquefied due to the heat of that [fire].332 [The yogin] should gather in a vessel333 that cool supreme amṛta [when it has] dripped from the moon and emerged from the nostrils,334 o goddess. By rubbing the body with that [amṛta], truly the channels of the body become purified.335
[The yogin] should stir up the essence of immortality which is produced at the anus and penis336 and has emerged into a vessel, with the amṛta from the armpits,337 embellished with fluid from the lower lip.338 Rubbing the body with that, the yogin truly becomes free from disease in this life, mighty [and] free of wrinkles and grey hair.
Rubbing the root of the tongue, [the yogin] should massage his body with the great fluid that is produced there. Within half a year the tongue becomes four finger-breadths longer; in this there is no doubt.339
Pushing the tongue upwards with the fingers of the right hand, o goddess, [the yogin] should push aside340 the uvula with the fingers of the left hand.341 Churning the place of fire, [the yogin] should gently turn the tongue above the uvula342 to the place of Śiva at the kalās343 above the Three-peaked Mountain.344 This khecarīmudrā that I have taught you destroys death.
Four types of bhaṭa and likewise [four] types of naṭa346 arise to obstruct him who practises thus. Drying up of the body,347 sloth induced by hunger,348 itchiness and pallor: these are the signs of bhaṭa. Listen to their remedies.
Having made the mind empty [the yogin] should rub [his] body with the essence of immortality349 for three months; by means of this this the body is nourished.350 He should rub [the body] three times in the day and three times at night.351 By pointing the tongue upwards towards the place of the Diamond Bulb352 and licking the nectar [produced] there, sloth induced by hunger truly disappears. By taking the nectar [produced] there [and] the amṛta [from the anus and penis]353 and rubbing the body [with them], both pallor and itching truly disappear.
The four varieties of naṭa have many manifestations, my dear. Eye-disease, trembling of the body,354 fever and dizziness:355 [thus] have I told [you] one type [of naṭa]. Now hear the second: tooth disease, lack of strength and loss of suppleness of the body. Now hear the third type [of naṭa], o goddess: high fever,356 headache and imbalance of the phlegmatic humour. [Now] may the fourth [type of naṭa] be determined: vomiting, breathing trouble, blindness357 and sleep that cannot be overcome.
Listen to the remedies of those [four types of naṭa]. [The yogin] should lead Kuṇḍalinī from the Base into Suṣumṇā.358 Making the tongue motionless and pointing it upward, he should hold his breath. From the disturbance of Kuṇḍalinī, o great goddess, a great sound arises.359 When [the yogin] hears that sound then he is said to be liberated [from the problems of naṭa]. He should visualise his body as sprinkled with amṛta, o supreme goddess. By this [practice], o goddess, he becomes freed from the first problems [of naṭa] in a month. When he practises with this method for two months, then he hears in his ears360 the sound of the roar of a great elephant.361 He should visualise [his] body as before; he is freed from the second [type of] problems [of naṭa]. After three months, having heard the sound of Brahmā,362 he should visualise [his body sprinkled with amṛta] as before; he is freed from the faults of the third category. In this there is no doubt. In the fourth month, hearing the sound of thunder called Aghora363 and practising as before, [the yogin] is freed from the problems of dizziness. Firm in his conviction, [the yogin] should thus carry out the meditation and practice three times daily; truly, after three years he becomes ageless and undying.
I have told [you] the remedies for the four faults of bhaṭa and for the problem[s] of naṭa. [Now] hear more, o queen of the gods. I bow at the feet of that yogin who, knowing all the categories of reality,364 has entered into this peaceful supreme reality,365 the blissful yoga, o goddess.
The first [stage] is loosening,366 o goddess; the second is piercing; churning is said to be the third; the fourth is insertion.367 After rubbing the base of the palate, [the yogin] should pull out the tongue; he should know that to be loosening.368 The cleaving asunder of the bolt of Brahmā is called piercing.369 When [the yogin] practises churning by means of a thread and churning by inserting an iron pin he should understand that to be churning,370 which brings progress in yoga, my dear. Having opened the gateway, [the yogin] should extend his tongue upwards into the ether.371 [This] is called insertion, o goddess. It brings about success in yoga.372
By breaking the bolt of Brahmā373 and inserting the tongue, truly evidence of success arises instantly, o supreme goddess. At first [there arise] a condition of bliss374 and a decrease in sleep;375 social intercourse376 and food-consumption377 diminish. Well-being arises and the lustre [of the body] increases, my dear; [there are] no ageing and no death and no diseases and no grey hair. With his seed turned upwards,378 o great goddess, [the yogin] is endowed with the [eight] powers whose first is minuteness.379 If, with fixed mind, [the yogin] masters yoga thus, then, o Pārvatī, he duly obtains these rewards that have been described.
On the tip of the tongue are situated Śrī380 and Vāgīśa,381 o you who are honoured by the heroic adepts; in the area at the base of the root of the tongue is situated the fetter of death.382 Completely eradicate the place of the fetter of death, o mistress of the host!383 With the tip of the tongue [the yogin] should enter the place of Soma called Blessed Śambhu.384 By this yoga, o goddess, and with a controlled mind, the yogin enters the supramental state [and] achieves absorption in it.385 Evidence of absorption is sure to arise immediately.
Applying his mind to the tip of the tongue, he should focus on that place with [inner] vision.386 The yogin should lead [his] breath upwards from the Base by way of the Suṣumṇā. Having reached the abode of Brahmā he should place [his] mind in the void. He should meditate thus on the perfect387 highest reality.388
The very cool Ethereal Gaṅgā389 flows from the place of Brahmā. Drinking [the Ethereal Gaṅgā], [the yogin] assuredly becomes one whose body is as hard as diamond in just one month; truly, he gets a divine body, divine speech [and] divine sight. He gets divine intellect, o goddess, and, indeed, divine hearing.
On the tip of the tongue [the yogin] should visualise the Queen of Speech shining like ten million moons [and] satiated by the kalās of the great amṛta; he instantly becomes a master poet.390 Meditating on Lakṣmī as situated at the tip of the tongue [and] infatuated by the great amṛta, the yogin, o great goddess, becomes a king of yoga.391
There are said to be five innate constituents392 in this body † which embodies the supreme†.393 When the body [of the fetus] is produced in the body of the mother through the fall of the father,394 all [the innate constituents] arise there by the time the body [of the fetus] has reached maturity.395 The first innate constituent is the primordial goddess Kuṇḍalinī, the second is Suṣumṇā and the third is the tongue. The fourth is the place of the palate, the fifth is the place of Brahmā. [The yogin] should raise the first innate constituent and place it in the second innate constituent. [Then] he should insert396 the third innate constituent upwards into the fourth innate constituent. After piercing the fourth innate constituent, [the third innate constituent] should enter the fifth innate constituent.397 This piercing that I have taught you, o Lady of the Kula,398 is difficult to discover.
When she has reached the path of Suṣumṇā from the Base, the yogin should insert399 into the uvular passage the goddess Kuṇḍalinī,400 who has the appearance of a single thread of a spider's web [and] the splendour often million suns. Having broken the bolt of Śiva's door401 with the tongue, o great goddess, he should, by holding the breath,402 insert403 [Kuṇḍalinī] into the abode of Brahmā, which has the splendour of ten million suns, my dear. There, in the great ocean of amṛta which abounds in cool waves, [the yogin] should drink the flow of nectar and rest, his mind full of ultimate bliss. He should visualise his body as satiated by the nectar of that [ocean].
By means of this divine yoga divine sight arises. Truly he becomes a Khecara,404 and there arise the destruction of all sickness [and] the [powers of] cheating death405 and of wandering throughout the three worlds.406 Endowed with the [eight] powers whose first is the ability to become infinitesimal407 [the yogin] assuredly becomes completely perfected; he becomes a ruler of yogins [and his] movement is unimpeded. [The yogin] automatically gets the strength of nine thousand elephants [and] becomes like Śiva, o goddess. Verily have I taught the truth.
Between Iḍā and Piṅgalā is the luminous408 Suṣumṇā. There is an undecaying light there, free of the qualities of colour and shape.409 She who looks like a sleeping serpent is the great Kuṇḍalinī. Gaṅgā and Yamunā are called Iḍā and Piṅgalā.410 [The yogin] should insert that goddess, in the form of the supreme amṛta, between Gaṅgā and Yamunā, as far as the abode of Brahmā, o goddess. Truly he becomes identical with Brahmā and automatically gets an immortal body forever.411 The goddess, having reached the abode of Śiva, the place beyond the Supreme Lord,412 satiated by the pleasure of enjoying that place and filled with supreme bliss, sprinkling the body of the yogin from the soles of his feet to his head with the dewy, unctuous, cool nectar, o supreme goddess, proceeds again by the same path to her own home, o goddess.413 This is the secret yoga taught [by me], o you who are honoured by the master yogins.
Shunning all sacred texts and [ritual] action such as mantra-repetition and fireoblation, [and] freed from the notions of right and wrong, the yogin should practise yoga. He should turn the tongue upwards and insert it into the Three-peaked Mountain.414 He should know that Three-peaked Mountain to be in the skull, below the forehead and in the region above the uvula. There is a blazing liṅga there, free from the process of time415 [and] hard for even the immortals to perceive. Night is said to be in Iḍā, day in Piṅgalā. The moon and the sun, o goddess, are forever established as night and day. [The yogin] should not worship the liṅga by day nor by night, o goddess. He should worship the liṅga constantly at the place where day and night are suppressed.416 This [existence],417 furthermore, consists of day and night; the process of time is its true nature. By the suppression of the process of time, death is defeated.418 [The yogin] should imagine his body as free from the process of time; he should worship [it] with the flower of thought419 [and] he should offer it a libation of the amṛtas from the lotuses. By applying himself thus for six months he assuredly becomes ageless and undying. Truly, he becomes all-knowing, equal to Śiva [and] free of disease.
Inserting the tongue into the base of the palate with it pointing towards the upper mouth,420 the yogin should drink the nectar produced there and gently suck in air with a whistling sound,421 o goddess. Uniting the mind with the supramental state in the supportless space,422 o goddess, he should practise natural yoga.423 [Practising] in this way the yogin becomes ageless and undying after six months.
Placing [his] chin on the circle of sixteen vowels424 and fixing [his] eyes between [his] eyebrows, o goddess, [the yogin] should extend [his] tongue upwards. Holding his breath by stopping Iḍā and Piṅgalā, [the yogin] should awaken Kuṅḍalinī and pierce the six lotuses. Inserting [Kuṇdalinī], who has the appearance of a thousand lightning-bolts, into the very middle of the skull in the place that is an ocean of cool amṛta, he should remain there for a long time.425
When the yogin resides comfortably at the abode of Brahmā then [with him] at that place426 the body appears lifeless.427 If he should practise this yoga for a week, o goddess, then he becomes ageless and undying. With just one month's practice, he lives as long as the moon and the stars.428 When the yogin easily breaks and enters the city of Brahmā, then he attains the state of Śiva, which consists of an eternal body,429 o goddess. Never again does he drink at a mother's breast on the wheel of rebirth.
When the yogin who knows the ātman decides to leave this body [temporarily],430 then, sitting up straight, he should visualise for a long time the goddess of the Base shining like ten million suns. Contracting his jīva, which has spread as far as the soles of his feet, he should gradually lead [it] to the place of the Base support. There he should imagine the goddess Kuṇḍalinī like the world-destroying fire devouring the jīva, the breath431 and the sense-organs. Holding his breath,432 o goddess, the yogin should raise [Kuṇḍalinī who is] radiant like a ball of lightning up from the Base and lead her to the place of Svādhiṣṭhāna.433
The ascetic should imagine the goddess devouring the entire jīva situated there. He should quickly raise [the goddess] who resembles ten million lightning bolts from there [and] having reached the place of Maṇipūra434 practise there as before. Then, raising [her] up from there, he should lead [her] to the place of Anāhata.435 Staying there for a moment, o goddess, he should visualise her devouring [the jīva] as before. Raising [her] again he should insert [her] into the sixteen-spoked lotus.436 There too he who knows the path of yoga should visualise [Kuṇḍalinī devouring the jīva] as before, o goddess. Raising from there the great goddess who has devoured the jīva [and] has a radiance equal to that often million suns and leading [her] to between the eyebrows437 [the yogin] should [by means of Kuṇḍalinī] again consume the jīva. The tongue, together with the mind, should break the bolt of Brahmā and duly come to rest438 straight away in the great ocean of the supreme amṛta. Joining Śiva, [who is] situated there [and who is both] the supreme [and] the supreme cause, with the goddess, [the yogin] should visualise their union.439
If [the yogin] is keen to deceive death,440 [then], knowing the apportionment of [the locations of] death,441 while death442 is approaching him he should happily remain there.443 Below the bolt of the gateway of Brahmā is the cause of bodily death; in the region above there, o goddess, there is no opportunity for death.
When [the yogin] sees that [the time of] his death has passed, o goddess, then he should break the bolt [of the gateway] of Brahmā and lead the goddess [back] to the Base centre. [Re-]placing his jīva, which has been [re-]produced from the body of the goddess [Kuṇḍalinī], together with the sense-organs in their respective [places of] action, he should live happily and healthy. By this yoga, o goddess, [the yogin] can cheat an imminent death.
If the supremely content444 [yogin] desires to abandon [his] mortal body then he should unite Śiva, who is in the place of Brahmā, with the goddess, pierce the void, and enter the rock of Brahmā.445 He should place the ether element in the great ether, the air element in the great wind, the fire element in the great fire, the water element in the great ocean, the earth element in the earth, the mind in the supportless space [and] his sense-organs in the elements from ether to prakṛti.446 Thus abandoning transmigratory [existence and] dependent only on the ultimate reality, untouched447 by the five elements, the mind and the sense-organs, [the yogin] breaks the orb of the sun448 and, absorbed in Śiva,449 [who is] the serene abode of the ultimate reality, he becomes like Śiva.450 Not in ten billion aeons will he return again.
If for the good of the universe he does not abandon [his] body, then he abandons it at the end of the dissolution of the universe and abides only in his own self.451
This is Khecarī mudrā, which bestows dominion over the Khecaras [and] destroys birth, death, old age, sickness, wrinkles and grey hair.
There is no vidyā453 like this anywhere in [any] other text. [The yogin] should not make public the very secret Khecarī melana,454 o goddess, and I have proclaimed this method of the practice of [the vidyā] out of affection for you.
O goddess, he who does not know Khecarī, who is worshipped by all great yogins, is in this world called a bound soul, o Pārvatī. The great yoga cannot be perfected without my worship, even by [the yogin] who, while wandering through the three worlds, is constantly devoted to the practice and who practises the vidyā obtained from the mouth of [his] guru with his mind always focussed on Khecarī melaka and such like. For those bound souls caught in bondage [who] do not have my grace [and] who are intent on scorning me, yoga is a source [only] of suffering. For him who abandons my worship, which [I], the all-knowing Śiva, have taught, [even if] he constantly practises yoga, yoga leads to destruction.
[The yogin] should worship the universal Śiva with devotion.455 All the gods and goddesses are pleased by him whose mind is focussed on me alone. Therefore [the yogin] should worship me and practise the yoga of Khecarī with my grace. Otherwise there will be only trouble and no siddhi [even] in ten million births. For him who is keen on worshipping me [and] whose mind is intent on me alone all mantras and yogas are successful, o supreme goddess.
Therefore, to advance in all types of yoga,456 the yogin should worship me, o goddess, [and], delighting in Khecarī, he should practise her yoga. In [a place] free of people, animals and all disturbance,457 [the yogin], furnished with all that is necessary for the practice458 [and] free of all anxiety, should, in the manner described by his guru, sit on a comfortable seat and do each practice one by one, relying on the teachings of his guru.
I have taught this yoga, the best of all yogas, out of fondness for you, o great goddess. What more do you wish to hear?”
The goddess said:459
“O Śambhu, whose diadem is the crescent moon460 [and] who can be attained [only] by true devotion,461 may you be victorious. You have described well the secret [and] glorious Khecarīvidyā.”
“And now I shall teach you some very sacred drugs. Without drugs a yogin can never attain siddhi.462
[Having prepared] a powder of the leaves, flowers, fruits and stem, together with the root, of the plant whose name consists of the highest limb of the mendicant463 with buttermilk and water,464 fermented rice gruel and milk, together with honey, sugar and the like,465 one should give466 [to the yogin] in separate mouthfuls round essential pills [of the mixture]. †[The yogin attains]†467 all together the loss of grey hair, great well-being, great vigour468 and the removal of debilitating diseases. [His] ears [become like those of] a boar,469 [his] eyes [become like those of] a bird of prey, and [his] nails [and] teeth [become] like diamonds; [he becomes] young, as fast as the wind, and lives as long as the earth, the moon and the stars.
[If the yogin] should eat powdered bulb of vārāhī470 with ghee and unrefined cane-sugar, [there arise] health and growth. [If he should eat that powder] in buttermilk and water, piles are got rid of. [If he should eat it] in cow's milk, leprosy is got rid of. One should have [the yogin] drink that powder with sugar and the like and sweet water twice a day for two years. [He will become] black-haired, without grey hair or wrinkles, †[and] he gets rid of blackness on the body†.471
To get rid of old age and debility, the wise [yogin] should eat guggulu472 with castor-oil and sulphur with triphalā.473
By just one month's use of aśvagandhā,474 sesame seeds, mung beans, sugar and viśvasarpikā,475 there is no disease or death. With [these] five, immortality is obtained in five months, my dear.
[The yogin] should rise at dawn and eat sulphur, triphalā and kuṣṭha,476 mixed with the three sweeteners;477 after six months he is rid of wrinkles and grey hair.
O goddess, taking mercury, sulphur, orpiment, realgar, that which is called Rudra, namely the stem and pollen of kunaṣṭi,478 and the pollen of muṇḍikā479 soaked in the three sweeteners, [the yogin] becomes strong after a year.
By regularly eating powdered, dried bhṛṅga480 with its root, black sesame seeds and an āmalaka fruit in half measure, together with the three sweeteners, in one year neither diseases nor old age nor death [arise].
[The yogin] should eat one nirguṇḍī481 leaf three times a day; in twelve years, o goddess, he becomes free of old age and death.
[The yogin] should use equal amounts of the pollen of nirguṇḍī, amala482 and muṇḍī, anointed with sugar, ghee and honey; after a year he gets rid of grey hair and wrinkles.
In six months, sulphur, gold, orpiment, and rudrākṣa483 seeds mixed with the three sweeteners bestow freedom from old age and death.
Rising at dawn, [the yogin] should eat mercury,484 the sap of the silk-cotton tree,485 sulphur and the three sweeteners; after six months he becomes free from old age and death.”