The Heart of the Yogini

...is for invocation. The remaining mudras are employed in the worship of each individual chakra. The word "mudra" is used in Tantra Shastra in many senses, but here it refers to the gestures formed by the union of the fingers of both hands. The fingers of the right hand are considered light-natured, and those of the left are considered reflection-natured. These fingers represent the four energies starting with Vama and the four energies starting with desire, respectively. The external and internal forms of these ten mudras are explained here (1.57-71). In this way, the Shri Chakra emerges from the knowledge-power of this world-natured supreme Shakti, and the mudras emerge from the action-power. The world-natured supreme deity is herself the form of the power of desire. Expansion of creation occurs only when the desire to manifest arises.

There is a threefold and ninefold meditation on this Shri Chakra. Worship is performed by the order of creation, maintenance, and dissolution: in one way for the bindu, triangle, and Vasukona; in a second way for the two ten-pointed chakras and the fourteen-pointed chakra; and in a third way for the eight-petaled, sixteen-petaled, and square chakras. The author of the Deepika commentary has provided details based on the Sanketa-paddhati method of signs (1.77). The order of realization from the bindu to the square is called the creation order, and from the square to the bindu is called the dissolution order. The collective name for all of these is the Tripura Chakra. Whoever knows the form of this chakra correctly perceives the form of the Goddess Tripura in themselves.

In the ninefold meditation of the chakra, the nine chakras are worshipped separately. Their names, in the order of dissolution, are given here as Trailokyamohana enchanting the three worlds, Sarvasha-paripuraka fulfilling all desires, Sarvasankshobhana agitating all, Sarvasaubhagyadayaka bestowing all good fortune, Sarvarthasadhaka accomplishing all purposes, Sarvarakshakara protecting all, Sarvarogahara curing all diseases, Sarvasiddhiprada granting all perfections, and Sarvanandamaya full of all bliss. The author of the Deepika has provided appealing interpretations of these words (1.82-84). In this Shri Chakra, the Maha Tripura Sundari is worshipped. By the worship of this complete chakra, the practitioner becomes ageless and immortal.

After explaining the form of the Shri Chakra, the place of incarnation of the Goddess Tripura Sundari, in the first section on chakra-significance, the form of Shri Vidya and its sixfold meanings are described in the second section on mantra-significance. Here, it is said that knowing this divine mantra-significance...

1. See Nityashodashikarnava, Introduction, pp. 75-78. The six mudras (or five) accepted in the Kapalika tradition, such as Karnika and Ruchaka, are also accepted in Buddhist Tantras. In Shakta Tantras, the word "mudra" is sometimes used for food/parched grain. In Buddhist Tantras, mudras are also found in the forms of Karmamudra, Dharmamudra, Jnanamudra, and Mahamudra.