The Heart of the Yogini

The quartet of energies starting with Ambika and the quartet starting with Shanta located in the triangle along with the bindu, the quartet of Matrika mother/alphabet (speech), the quartet of seats, and the quartet of lingas—all these are the expressed forms of the Vagbhava, Kamaraja, and Shakti seeds, and their totality is the Turiya Vidya fourth state knowledge. That is, they are understood through the triple-seeded Turiya Shri Vidya. The triad of the object of knowledge (meya), the act of measuring (mana), and the knower (mata) is called kula, and their totality is called kaula. All the four-numbered entities mentioned above are included in the kula and kaula divisions and correspond respectively to the waking, dreaming, deep sleep, and the fourth (turiya) states.

The supreme reality (the light-natured anuttara) that transcends the world and shines in all beings as the power of awareness (samvitti) is above all of these. By its own will, it creates a picture of the world on the canvas of its own self with the brush of its own desire, and itself becomes the world. Possessed of the power of reflection (vimarsha), this supreme light-nature becomes the cause of the creation of natural bliss and becomes desirable for all. It divides itself into the measured, the measurer, the cognition, and the means of knowledge, and assumes the form of the shringata triangle which is desire, knowledge, and action. The power of reflection assumes the shape of the world, but its own true nature resides in the light-natured Shiva. This form of the power of reflection, which rests on the couch of Kameshvara's lap, is extremely beautiful. The grace of this divine couple, Kameshvara and Kameshvari, is enhanced by their holding the bow of desire, the hook of knowledge, and the bow-and-arrow of action. This couple form, by the distinction of the support and the supported, has eight weapons. This very couple-form expands in various forms into the nine-chakra Shri Chakra which develops in the order of Baindava, triangle, Vasukona, and so on. In this way, this supreme light descends into its own Shri Chakra body along with its constituent energies, abandoning its transcendent nature to become the world-nature.

Here, the light-natured supreme Lord (Kameshvara) is like the ocean, the reflective Shakti (Kameshvari) is like the water, and her constituent energies are like the waves. Just as waves rising from the ocean's water dissolve back into it, this entire world-natured chakra of energies, consisting of 36 elements, arises from this couple-form and dissolves into it.

When the Citi Shakti power of consciousness uses light and reflection, being endowed with the full power of desire to create the world on the canvas of its own self, then its power of action becomes engaged in the delightful and dissolving activities of the world, and assumes the form of a mudra symbolic gesture. Ten such mudras are described here. The application of the first of these...