Essay from my book, The Gnostic Soil

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Hello Friends;

 

 

I am writing a book entitled, The Gnostic Soil. This title may be familiar

to some of you from my poem of the same name. Here is an essay--accompanied

by a letter introducing the subject--that I sent to Professor Kak, of

Louisiana State University. It is a bit lengthy for mail. But for those of

you interested, and willing to read, I'd love to hear from you. Please post

comments to my e-address, if you wouldn't mind. Thanks much for you

kindness and patience.

 

Madhya

 

 

 

 

kak

Subject:

 

Professor Kak;

 

 

Thank you for your excellent presentation of the Siva Sutras. I feel

fortunate to have discovered the work.

 

I am familiar with a number of translations. Perhaps my favorite, is by Sw.

Laksmanjoo. This version can be found at www.ksf.org.

 

For some reasons similiar to yours, I was drawn to the philosophy and

practice of Kashmir Shaivism some years ago. What most fascinates me, is

KS'ism's capacity to present a coherent, consistent accounting of

nondualism.

 

Currently, as I see it, there is a small wave of "transcendentalism" wafting

through the West, and perhaps, America, in particular. Riding the wave's

crest are "teachers" such as Gangaji, Poonjaji, and others. My concern is

that what these individuals are presenting is not consistent with the nature

of nondual Reality. Rather, I believe that I am seeing something that I

call, the 'myth' of transcendentalism. The basic premise of this variety of

transcendentalism follows in form, at least, the 'qualified nondualism' of

Advaita Vedanta. "Real" reality is inert, passive, and differentiated

reality is qualitatively different from and indeed, inferior to the passive,

independently real Brahmin.

 

Shaivism, as I believe you may understand, does not accept this premise.

K/S'ism accounts for an immanently transcendent Real that is nondual without

qualification.

 

My own interest is in the psychology of nondualism. One of the difficulties

that I have observed among persons who find themselves "born again" into

what they believe to be an awareness of a purely independent, inactive

transcendentalism, is a tendency to dissociate behavior from what is claimed

to be 'egolessness.'

 

The premise for this variety of transcendentalism is quite attractive--and

similiar to what many mystical/spiritual traditions might offer, including

K/S. All that one has to do is simple recognize him/herself as the Witness.

One does not need to meditate, one needs only to realize who the meditator

is. Once one recognizes 'who' the meditator is, one then recognizes that

there is no spiritual transformation, no need for effort, or discipline or

any practice at all. One simply becomes aware that he/she is the witnessing

Source, and one is perfectly free. It is furthermore claimed, that any

meditation, yoga, or practices at all, are meant only for persons incapable

of simply 'intuiting' that he/she is the Witnessing Brahmin.

 

Shaivism, of course, believes that active and passive are not two, but One.

Shaivism presents a way of accounting for Self-recognition that is both an

awareness of one's purely Aware Self, and awareness that one's vibrating,

differentiated Self is not different from that Pure Awareness.

Consequently, 'enlightenment' or the condition of 'being awake' cannot be

separated from the active, creative Personhood of oneself as Shiva. Thus,

performance, or behavior is integral to selfrecognition. One might say that

enlightenment, for K/Sism is "behaving recognizingly."

 

 

 

Thank you for your assistance, and good luck with your work,

 

Madhya Nandi

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE HEART OF TANTRA:

The Gnostic Soil

 

 

 

 

The aim of tantra yoga is a healthy person. A healthy person must be a

whole personality. For this reason, tantra yoga believes that ³healthy² and

³self-realization² are, in essence, synonomous. The principles of tantra

yoga suggest that the meaning of life is the realization of a Œwhole

personality.¹ The purpose of life is to awaken to who we are. This sounds

very simple but is extraordinarily challenging. The tantric adept learns to

understand that life is not meant to be easy--fun, exciting, ecstatic,

blissful--yes, but easy, no. I can illustrate this principle with an

example from my own experience.

 

Several years ago, I underwent electrolysis treatments to eliminate my

facial hair. The process is quite simple. The operator inserts a needle

into the skin where a hair grows. The needle finds its way to the hair¹s

root and the operator introduces heat in the form electrical current. The

heat weakens or kills the follicle root. Hair can only be removed one at a

time. In a session lasting an hour or more, perhaps hundreds of needle

insertions occur.

 

Tensions that I experienced in these electrolyis sessions were not only the

sensations of physical pain. I bore tremendous resentment for having to

spend so much money, time and effort to remove this facial hair. It is safe

to say that my emotional distress added to the stress of the physical pain

that I experienced. But I also had no other choice. This was not a simple

matter of cosmetic appearance. It was rather an issue of identity.

 

Early on, I realized that fighting the pain and discomfort, or attempting to

ignore it by focusing on meditative Œobjects¹ was ineffective. It made more

sense to accept the pain, to surrender to the sensation of the pain. Rather

than defer attention away from the moment of Œpain¹, I chose to remain

absolutely present to the sensation of the event.

 

By the end of a two-hour session, my body and mind were so peaceful that

several minutes were required before I could move my hands or feet. I felt

every prick of the needle, each surge of heat into my skin, yet by

surrendering myself completely to these sensations, I experienced deep

relaxation and, in time, spiritual bliss. Occasions arose when I could no

longer sense the difference between pain and pleasure. The sensation of

pain actually became ecstatic, nearly erotic. This was an infrequent, but

powerfully transformative realization.

 

The Grace of tantra exists in its power of transmutation. The tantric adept

learns that all manifest reality consists of frequencies of energy. Tantra

names this energy, the Mother. All energy is by Her very nature, mutable.

No pattern or frequency of energy exists that does not possess the potential

for being transformed. Pain can become pleasure, suffering can blossom into

serenity, hardships can be not precisely Œovercome¹ but more correctly,

transmuted into success. All difficulty--while remaining challenging--can

in actuality, become pleasurable. How can this occur?

 

The metaphysics of tantra are few and very straightforward. The initial

metaphysical principle of tantra suggests that all life is birthed by Divine

Friction.

 

Manifest and unmanifest Reality are not two mutually exclusive Œstates¹ of

Being. What may appear to be two is actually only One. The character of

this One is perpetual autoeroticism. We can go a step further. The nature

of One, that is, this Reality that we all are, is perpetual copulation. The

modern philosopher, Martin Heidegger, wrote extensively regarding what he

named, ³the ontological difference.² Ontology means the study of being.

The ontological difference, according to Heidegger, names what is

Œdifferent¹ between particularity as particular and the whole as undivided

Being. Now, tantra suggests an additional cosmic principle. This principle

is called by some, the ³holographic paradigm.² The paradigm states that the

undivided whole is present in every part and all parts comprise the

undivided whole. To comprehend the initial principle of tantric

metaphysics, we can combine Heidegger¹s ³ontological difference² and the

³holographic cosmic paradigm² into the single autoerotic principle of

ontological copulation.

 

According to Martin Heidegger¹s description of the ontological difference,

the Œdifference¹ between all particulars as Œparticular¹ and the whole as an

undivided Œhorizon¹ or stage, if you will, upon which all life plays, is

that particulars are Œthings¹ while undifferentiated Being is not a thing at

all.

 

Here we have something quite fascinating. Being, as an undivided whole, is

infinitely divisible into an infinite number of Œthings.¹ Every particle of

every atom, seems capable of being ever broken into smaller elements, or

Œthings.¹ Things are recognizable because they are Œdifferent¹ from other

things. But things are also essentially Œfamiliar¹ because all things

Œbelong¹, that is, all things belong to the family of Being. All things

play together on the inherently Œfamiliar¹ stage of Being. The stage of

Being is like being a member of a family. If one is born into a family, one

can never escape the fact of her identity as a member of the family. No

matter where he may roam, or howsoever her appearance or character might

transform, he will always belong to the family in which she was born.

 

This holds true for all varieties of Œthings¹. Inanimate and inorganic

things remain as they are--a rock as a rock, a flower as a flower--because

it is their Œnature¹ to remain so. The rock belongs to a family and has an

identity based on that familial relationship. It is not that the substance

comprising the rock cannot be Œpersuaded¹ to transform into something else.

It can. We can melt the rock or in some manner transform the rock¹s

essential properties until the rock becomes another thing altogether. This

may occur in nature, slowly, over aeons, or suddenly in a natural disaster.

No matter the process of change, however, the substance of the rock will

always belong to whatever it becomes. If this were not so, if things were

to behave by virtue of pure caprice, or chaos, then the principle of

belonging would disappear, and Being and beings would also disappear.

 

Tantric metaphysics explains this in the following manner. The substance of

all particular things is equally particular and whole. Each and every thing

is also not a thing. All beings--no matter its specific nature--is also the

Whole Being. This is possible because Being is not a thing. It cannot be

seen or measured or delimited in any manner. Particular things are both

things and not things. A rock is at once its particular nature as a rock,

and its universal nature as Being. The rock¹s universal nature is not a

thing. But the rock¹s universal nature endows it with its essential quality

of familiarity, of belonging. We can appreciate the rock because we can

recognize the rock for what it is. What cannot be recognized does not exist

at all.

 

The universal nature of each and every thing is the same for all things--for

humans, for animals, for rocks and trees, water and air. The quality that

endows all beings with the capability of being recognized as belonging to

existence is precisely the same for each being. The reason this can occur

is because the substance that comprises the nature of each particular thing

is not in itself, particular or Œthingly¹. The nature of any particular

thing is comprised of two aspects that are, in reality, not two but One.

Beings belong to Being. And Being belongs to beings. Being and

beings--undifferentiated Essence and particular beings--are comprised of the

Same Œnon-substantial¹ substance. Since this Œnon-substantial¹ substance is

not composed of matter it is not identifiable by the usual laws that physics

or biology uses to understand the nature and behavior of particular things.

 

 

Tantra believes this Universal quality of Sameness that is at once things as

a whole and particular things to be a kind of ³personality.² One name for

this Personality is Shiva. Shiva is equally male and female, positive and

negative, left and right, up and down. Shiva is named by some, the ³erotic

ascetic.² Shiva is also equally the whole that exists as each particular

manifest thing and all the things that comprise the whole--for, this is

Shiva¹s Persona.

 

It would be a mistake to suppose that Shiva¹s Personality is precisely

equivalent to the personality of any particular thing. Humans often model

gods after their own forms of personality. This kind of thinking will not

generate useful understanding regarding the unique personality of Shiva. By

the same token, persons will not understand their own personalities fully

until they better comprehend their Whole nature, their nature that is at

once, whole and particular.

 

To perfectly realize oneself is to live in harmony with oneself. One cannot

separate selfrecognition from how one behaves. Just as the Heisenberg

Uncertainty principle demonstrates that the observer cannot observe the

observed without influencing the behavior of the observed, a self cannot

recognize itself without influencing its behavior. This brings us once

again to the nature of the Œdifference¹ between Being as the

Undifferentiated Whole and beings as the particular undifferentiated wholes

comprising the Whole.

Being and beings are both exactly the same and different. Being endows

beings with their essential quality of belonging, of familial relationship.

The character of this relationship is what beings experience as difference,

or in other words, duration, extension, character and quality. In other

words, the relationship of difference that beings experience between

themselves exists by virtue of their belonging to One Being. The essential

quality of any possible relationship is Friction. The relationship between

Being and beings occurs as a friction Œbetween¹ them. But the nature of

Divine Friction is to endow identity as the Same and equally, unique and

different. For Tantra, Divine Friction is how Being behaves.

 

The Gnostic Soil

 

 

He stands tall on one arched foot,

left leg crossing the right--

His pedestal, the flaxen pasture,

spreads for miles in every direction,

His arms are raised high, wide and

lost to the pale sky, His radiant hair

stands on end, reclining toward heaven.

He is erect, His moistened linga

poised between heaven and earth--

held in her adoring kiss. She is

kneeling, breasts against His shining

thigh, arms thrust behind, palms open,

quivering in ecstasy, craving neither

earth nor sky, only Him, warm and

full in her waiting palate--

drunk with Him, drowning in Him,

surrendering through her willowy hair

the golden seed to the gnostic soil.

Her silver Voice sings of heaven,

His golden Dance furrows the musky earth,

She- the bovine ground of His endless horizon,

He- the quickening breath of Her eternal Song.

 

The eroticized skin of the erect penis nurtures and is nurtured by the

equally aroused and charged vagina. This is only a metaphor for the

essential relationship that exists between Being and beings--the

relationship that is caused by two Œdifferents¹ that are equally the same

and different. That the sexual organs are capable of mutual stimulation and

fulfillment is so because they belong to one another, that is, they are

essentially not two, but One. That erotic ecstasy exists at all is

accomplished by means of a thing¹s difference from another thing. Existence

can be characterized as the relationship transpiring between what is equally

the Same and Different. All manifest existence occurs by virtue of the

autoerotic friction that is the relationship Œbetween¹ Being and beings.

 

The metaphor for this autoerotic friction need not be contained in the

suggested complementarity that may exist between a man and a woman. In the

poem, the female figure Œdrinks¹ the golden seed from Shiva¹s linga--the

phallic metaphor. The allusion is to the activity of fellatio. The woman

drinks the seed of her Muse in order to fertilize the soil of Her creative

life.

 

Every being contains a universal spectrum of polarities: male and female,

whole and particular, the still and the dynamic, silence and song.

 

Tension, or friction exists when Œthis¹ is not Œthat¹, or Œhere¹ is not

Œthere.¹ While this tension does produce a Œstress¹ of sorts, the nature of

this stress is paradoxically neither noxious nor anxious. Quite the

opposite. Friction is an Œecstatic¹ glue that holds all beings together in

the lively performance of Being.

 

The philosopher, Heidegger played with the term, ecstasy. He chose another

form of the word derived from the Greek: ekstasis, meaning, extension. He

broke the word into a complementary pair, Œex¹- meaning Œout of,¹ and

Œstasis,¹ meaning to hold, as it were, in suspension. We can borrow this

line of reasoning. Our Tantric thesis claims that all manifestation

Œarrives,¹ (ex-), from an essential condition of Œstasis.¹ We can refer to

the word, static, to assist our understanding of stasis. Static energy is

electric energy held in suspension. If we take a glass rod and rub against

cotton cloth, we will generate and store electrical energy in the rod. We

can test the existence of the electrical energy by holding the rod close our

hair and watch the hair move toward the magnetic rod.

 

This example is much like the ecstatic energy of Divine Friction. The

tantric metaphysical principle states that Being, Pure Awareness, or

undivided Wholeness exists in perpetual coitus with Pure Sensation,

Vibration, or Manifest Particularity. The child of this frictive Oneness is

born, not Œex nihilo¹ or out of nothing, but ex stasis, or out of the

blissful passion of Divine Coitus. Extension, then, borrowing Heidegger¹s

Greek use of the term, arises from Œcharged stasis,¹ or energy held in

suspension. We can extrapolate further and reason that all manifestation

extends from and is the very substance of its parentage: erotic sensuality

so charged that It cannot help but overflow.

 

Friction effervesces. The difference between Being and beings is a

relationship of erotic delight. The tantric adept views the nature of

paradox as the wellspring of connubial pleasure. The awakened tantrika

recognizes--that is to say, experiences-- the erotic friction that births

all activity.

 

The autoerotic friction that is the delightful lovemaking between Being and

beings is alone responsible for the infinite multiplicity occurring in the

familial relationship between beings and Being. One can only speak of the

relationship between the equally One and Many as creative. The pleasure of

the parent is in the play of the child. Indeed, the identity of the parent

is the life of the child. Just so, the child of Self recognition is the

life that is lived, recognizingly. Self-recognition is equally an end and a

beginning. One cannot be enlightened as though Œenlightenment¹ were in any

sense different from the life that is lived in the Light. Self-realization

shall always be an end and a means, shall always be a journey toward

recognizing that one can never possess the Light, nor Œachieve¹ the light

but only live ever more brightly.

 

 

The Song Alone

 

 

 

I am the opera buffoon

in love with the sensuous

passion of my own Voice,

the tittilating sensation of

a Sound belted from

the heated vibratto of

my Divine Heart

bursting into song--

 

absolute and complete in

myself;

never fearing fear--

death does not exist--

nor dwelling in doubt,

for when nothing

is eaten and all consumed,

only immortality remains

where lust yearned and

hunger failed.

 

And so, surge forth,

my fabulous Voice,

free from constraint,

sated with illumination and

summoned to sing by

the Song alone.

 

 

Madhya Nandi