Tag Archives: sahajānanda

An example of synthesising elements of several traditions.

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I am very impressed by the figure and works of one yogi, about whom there are many legends exist. This is a siddhapuruṣa, who is known among the Nāthas as Kṛṣṇanāth or Kānīpnāth. In Maharashtra, he is revered as one of the Nine Nāthas, who are the Nine manifestations of Narayana, he is known as Prabuddha Narayana. There is a lot of similar and at the same time contradictory information about him. For example, he was a kāpālika and practiced the methods of Vajrayana in Bengal. Kānhapa is also known as Kṛṣṇācārya among Buddhists, and he is a very significant teacher of the Hevajra and Cakrasamvara Tantra practices. He contributed a lot to the development of such a practice as tummo, which became fundamental in the practices of the completion stage (Yoga of Naropa). In Śaiva-Śakta yoga this is the practice of Kuṇḍalini-yoga, which is in many ways identical to the tummo methods. In this regard, he was in many ways a follower of the same methods practiced by his guru, Jalandharnāth, who was significant for both the Nāthas and the Buddhists.

In the Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā we find a description of the stages of “untying” the knots (granthi), which is accompanied by different types of bliss, such as ānanda, paramānanda, viramānanda and sahajānanda. This is accompanied by the experience of different emptinesses, such as śūnya, atiśūnya, mahāśūnya, sarvaśūnya. All these experiences of bliss and emptiness are the goal of the practices of I am very impressed by the figure and works of one yogi, about whom there are many legends exist. This is a siddhapuruṣa, who is known among the Nāthas as Kṛṣṇanāth or Kānīpnāth. In Maharashtra, he is revered as one of the Nine Nāthas, who are the Nine manifestations of Narayana, he is known as Prabuddha Narayana. There is a lot of similar and at the same time contradictory information about him. For example, he was a kāpālika and practiced the methods of Vajrayana in Bengal. Kānhapa is also known as Kṛṣṇācārya among Buddhists, and he is a very significant teacher of the Hevajra and Cakrasamvara Tantra practices. He contributed a lot to the development of such a practice as tummo, which became fundamental in the practices of the completion stage (Yoga of Naropa). In Śaiva-Śakta yoga this is the practice of Kuṇḍalini-yoga, which is in many ways identical to the tummo methods. In this regard, he was in many ways a follower of the same methods practiced by his guru, Jalandharnāth, who was significant for both the Nāthas and the Buddhists. All these experiences of bliss and emptiness are the goal of the practices of Kuṇḍalini-yoga or tummo (Caṇḍālī). In his commentaries on the Hevajra Tantra, describing these experiences of bliss, Kānhapa identifies the special state of sahajānanda with the state of mahāmudrā, as the peak of realisation in the completion stage.

Besides Kānhapa we find the state of sahajānanda praised by Matsyendranāth in the Akulavīratantra, by Gorakṣanātha in the Amanaska-yoga, in the Amaraugha-prabodha, etc. Kānhapa seems to have been a very important figure in what was formerly known as Sahajayana, the Sahaja practice followed by him, as well as Matsyendranāth, Gorakṣanātha and other Śaivas and Buddhist yogis. Their methods seem to have had a great influence later on the Vaiṣṇava sahajiyas, also on one of their branches, the Baul tradition. As one of the gurus in Bengal explained to me, the meaning of the term comes from ‘Ba’ (Va – vāyu) and ‘Ul’ (ulta – back), the reverse direction of prāṇa, i.e. inward, into the central channel, the suṣumṇa. They told me that the practice of prāṇāyāma is also very important to them.

Matsyendranāth, Jalandharnāth and Kānhapa all practiced the methods of vāmamārga (pañcamakāra–sevana, karma-mudrā, etc.), the purpose of which is to awaken the Kuṇḍalini Śakti. From an interreligious dialogue with Australia’s most renowned researcher of Kashmir Śaivism, John Dupushe, we discovered in the Vijñānabhairava-tantra (Śloka 68) and commentaries on it that the expansion of prāṇa is directly related to sexual energy. Therefore, the practices of prana expansion (prāṇāyāma) and kaulācāra have very deep connections.

Kānhapa wrote many verses, charyapadas and dohas, related to Sahajayana. In some Bengali texts (the Gorakhbijay and the Mīnacetan), the appearance of Kānīpā is described as part of the universal genesis process. I think this is a reproduction of the meaning similar to Puruṣasūktam of the Ṛigveda. It talks about the original puruṣa, from which the entire universe emerged, and from the parts of his body – different forms of living beings. Matsyendranāth appeared from the navel of Adināth, Gorakṣanāth  – from the hair, Hāḍipā (Jalandharnāth) – from the bones, Chaurangināth  – from the feet, Kānhapa (Kānīpā) appeared from the ears. Although, in the myths of Maharashtra it is about the ear of an elephant in the Himālayas. It is clear that this is symbolism, щtherwise, where would elephants come from in the Himālayas?)) All Nine Nāthas revered in Maharashtra, according to legends, are “ayonija“, i.e. they were not born from the womb of ordinary women. They are born from different natural objects, i.e. self-manifested (svayambhū). I think this all goes back to the worship of nature by the Ādivāsīs in India. Also, many gods are associated with natural forces in Vedism. All this should be understood as symbols of energies, natural elements, through which Śakti and Brahman manifest in different forms.

Although there is information about the birth of Kānīpnāth, which will cause less skepticism in the minds of Western people, for example, that he was born in Somapura (Bangladesh).

Also, there is a version that he was born in the South India, that his skin was dark in color, therefore he was called Kṛṣṇanāth. However, he truly had many names: Kāṇerīpā, Paṇḍitacārya, Yogasiddhācārya, Kānīpā, Kānhapa, Upādhyāya, Kanaḍāpā. Sant Kabīr wrote that Bhartṛhari received much inspiration on the path of yoga from Kānīpā. Of course, I have mentioned only a small part of what this yogi is famous for. There is much that is valuable and inspiring about him, his teachings, and practices in n the Hindi and Sanskrit literature.

About the perfect consciousness of yogis through quotations of the Amanaska-yoga, the Caraka-saṃhitā and the Akulavīra-tantra

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Gorakṣanātha in his Amanaska-yoga talks about four states (levels) of mind, two of which are associated with tamas and rajas, fluctuations of the mind. The other two are the state of mind in sattvaguṇa and the state of mind beyond any qualities or complete dissolution of the mind.

1) विश्लिष्टं viśliṣṭa – mind in the state of tamas
2) गतागत gatāgata – mind in the state of rajas
3) सुश्लिष्ट suśliṣṭa – mind in the state of sattva
4) सुलीन sulīna – mind beyond qualities, dissolved into Ātman

In the Caraka-saṃhitā, in the section dedicated to yoga, also emphasised that for yoga it is important to overcome the obscurations associated with guṇas of tamas and rajas:

मोक्षो रजस्तमोऽभावात् बलवत्कर्मसङ्क्षयात् ।
वियोगः सर्वसंयोगैरपुनर्भव उच्यते ॥१।१४२॥

In the liberated state, all desires are destroyed due to the absence of rajas and tamas. Thus, a person is finally and irrevocably freed from the bonds of the phenomenal world, from rebirth.

Below are excerpts from my translation of the Amanaska-yoga by Gorakṣanātha:

चतुर्विधा मनोऽवस्था विज्ञातव्या मनीषिभिः।
विश्लिष्टं च गतायातं सुश्लिष्टं च सुलीनकम् ॥ ९४ ॥

The wise know four states of mind: viśliṣṭa, gatāgata (gatāyata), suśliṣṭa and sulīna.

​​विश्लिष्टं तामसं प्रोक्तं राजसं च गतागतम्।
सुश्लिष्टं सात्त्विकं प्रोक्तं सुलीनं गुणवर्जितम् ॥ ९५॥

Viśliṣṭa – tamasic, gatāgata – rajasic, suśliṣṭa – sattvic, sulīna – devoid of qualities.

विश्लिष्टं च गतायातं विकल्पविषयग्रहम् ।
सुश्लिष्टं च सुलीनं च विकल्पविषनाशनम् ॥ ९६ ॥

In viśliṣṭa and gatāgata there is the perception of fictitious objects (vikalpa-viṣaya), in suśliṣṭa and sulīna there is the destruction of the poison of vikalpas.

​ततोऽभ्यासनियोगेन निरालम्बो भवेद यदि।
तदा सरिसभूतानि (समरसभूतः ?) परमानन्द एव सः॥९७ ॥

If through the practice of yoga [a person] becomes independent, then he acquires naturalness and supreme bliss.

​अभ्यस्यतो मनः पूर्व विश्लिष्टं चलमुच्यते।
ततश्च निश्चलं किञ्चित् सानन्दं च गतागतम् ॥ ९८ ॥

During practice, the mind first moves, this state is called viśliṣṭa. Then the mind becomes still at times and filled with bliss – this is gatāgata.

​सानन्दं निश्चलं चेतः ततः सुश्लिष्टमुच्यते।
अतीव निश्चलीभूतं सानन्दं च सुलीनकम् ।। ९९ ॥

When the mind is in blissful stillness, this is suśliṣṭa. When it reaches final stillness and bliss, it is sulīna.

बभूव तस्य कर्माणि पापपुण्यस्य संक्षयः।
प्रयान्ति नैव लिम्पन्ति क्रियमाणानि सानुना ॥ १० ॥

The sinful and good karmas of a righteous ascetic disappear, and no matter what he does, the karmas pass by without staining him.

उत्तुङ्गः सहजानन्दः सदाभ्यासरतः स्वयम्।
सर्वसंकल्पसंत्यक्तः स विद्वान् कर्म संत्यजेत् ॥ १०१ ॥

The sage, permanently immersed in abhyāsa, abiding in the sublime bliss of naturalness and detached from all saṃkalpas, is freed from karma.

The last śloka says that this highest state is called sahajānanda, as it was previously spoken about in the ślokas 20 and 92. The same term is also used by Matsyendranāth in the Akulavīra-tantra, which indicates the importance of sahaja-avasthā among the Nāthas. The Akulavīra-tantra begins as following:

श्रीमच्छन्दपादकेभ्यो नमः ।
श्रीमीनसहजनन्दं स्वकीयाङ्गसमुद्भवम् ।
सर्वमाधारगम्भीरमचलं व्यपकं परम् ।

Salutations to the feet of Śrī Macchanda!
[Bow to] Śrī Mīna [nāth], the Bliss of the sahaja, born from his own body, the Whole, the Deepest Root, the Immovable, the All-pervading, the Supreme!

How some Nātha yogis influenced a number of Tantric schools.

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The earliest Nātha yogis were associated with the Kāpālikas, I’ll give you one example. In Buddhism, there is a yogi who is known as Kṛṣṇācārya, and as Kṛṣṇanāth in the Nātha-sampradāya, also Kanipānātha – Kānhapā. He was a disciple of Jalandharnāth, who is famous among both Nāthas and Vajrayāna Buddhists. Both of them are included in the list of the Nine Nāthas in Maharashtra.

Kānhapā practised Kāpālika sādhanās also the Hevajra-tantra. It is believed that the practice of tummo was received from him by Marpa, then by Milarepa and later by Naḍapāda, better known as Naropa, who compiled his famous six yogas based on tummo.

It is believed that in the practice of tummo or caṇḍālī, which is actually kuṇḍalini-yoga, an important element is karma-mudrā, a practice, similar to Vāmācāra maithuna in kaulism. This method allows you to sublimate the sexual fire into the inner fire of kuṇḍalini or caṇḍālī. Other yogas, such as yoga of light, yoga of dreams, etc. develop from this practice of inner yoga. But the main purpose of tummo is to awaken within oneself a state of bliss and emptiness, which ultimately leads to the level of mahā-mudrā, also known as Dzogchen. These highest levels of practice may vary among different teachers and Vajrayāna lineages. In the Nāthas’ texts, namely the Akulavīratantra, the Amanaska Yoga, etc., this state is called sahajānanda. Obviously, at some stage, those ancient yogis borrowed terms from each other, actually, Vajrayāna was called “Sahajayana“, although Vajrayāna indicates an indestructible state realised in the vajra-nāḍī through the basic practice of tummo (kuṇḍalini-jāgaraṇ). Sahaja means “to be together with the innate,” which, according to one interpretation, is the joint fusion of male and female bindus in the sahasrāra-cakra. Actually, this is the practice that in Buddhism is called Dzogchen, which, according to one interpretation, is an analogue of mahābindu. The essence of Dzogchen/Mahāmudrā practices is staying in your natural perfect state, known among the Nāthas as sahajananda.

Later these methods were adopted by the Sahajiya Vaiṣṇavas, their methods were very similar to the methods of tantric yoga of the Nāthas and Vajrayāna, however, with the arrival of the British, many Vaiṣṇavas Sahajiya gurus in Bengal went underground. These practices are already considered secret, but the Puritan British (at that time) further influenced the secrecy of these traditions. Instead, some Indian Westernised gurus, such as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākur and others, were forced to create “refined” forms of Vaiṣṇavism, which later came to America and other countries.

India changed a lot with the arrival of the British, it became much more difficult to identify authentic yoga, authentic learning in Tantrism, etc. This is all seriously complicated by the fact that most Indian gurus are trying to Westernise. You will find a huge amount of such yoga in touristic places. Often, even in the Traditions themselves, with the ancient lineage, not all gurus want to seriously teach someone, but even less of their Western “disciples” are ready to fully study. Therefore, many of gurus think, “I will earn money at least, then life will show whether appear anyone, who can be taught seriously or not.” Again, someone who has realised himself in sādhanā, can teach with sufficient spiritual purity, but most teachers often try to teach without strong experience in sādhanā.

I have described the situation very briefly without touching on many other details, that I would draw the attention of those who are looking for the basics of authentic tantric yoga. But, even this can help in the search for those, who have sufficiently serious motivation.