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IX A practising Tantrika from<br />
northern India with the Saiva's<br />
symbol on his forehead.<br />
X Chakras or psychic centres in<br />
the etheric body of the yogi. The<br />
energy centres are points of contact<br />
between the psychic and the<br />
physical body. Of the thirty chakras<br />
mentioned in the texts, the<br />
principal seven from bottom<br />
upwards are: Mulddhara,<br />
Svadishthana, Manipura,<br />
Andhata, Visuddha, Ajna and<br />
finally Sahasrara, conceived to be<br />
above the head.<br />
XI A Tantrika aspirant in the<br />
foothills of the Himalayas.<br />
XII Hanuman Yantra. Diagram<br />
of Hanuman, the great devotee of<br />
Lord Rama in all his magnificence<br />
and power, with inscriptions and<br />
symbols. Rajasthan, c. 18th<br />
century. Ink and colour on paper.<br />
Nyasa.<br />
136<br />
of the universe' (Ratnasara). When the adept accepts his<br />
subjectivity as a thinking, feeling, willing individual, he does not<br />
limit himself to mental concepts but lives in an existential<br />
awareness of his concrete physical entity which is animated in<br />
concert with the psychic forces moving it.<br />
In tantras, the body is considered an assemblage of five kosas, or<br />
'sheaths', in order of decreasing density. They are, first, the<br />
tangible physical body (Annamaya); the second is life breath, the<br />
sheath of vital air (Pranamaya); the third and the fourth sheaths,<br />
still more subtle, are the cognitive processes (Manomaya and<br />
Vijnanamaya); finally, the sheath of bliss (Anandamaya), the<br />
subtlest of all, is identified with the eternal element of joy in man.<br />
Thus, the psychic and physical are interdependent since each makes<br />
the other more possible.<br />
It is possible to be alienated from the body - to be unaware of its<br />
potencies, to reject and negate it completely - but its fullest<br />
appreciation will call for an awareness of it as a fact of nature. Since<br />
the body is the link between the terrestrial and cosmic, it is as it<br />
were a 'theatre', in which the psycho-cosmic drama is enacted. A<br />
positive and receptive attitude towards the body is a precondition<br />
to sadhana. The adept must identify with his body and transform<br />
it, for his body is the concrete expression of his psyche<br />
characterized by its own rhythm and structure. As a material<br />
extension of psychic expression the body glows, radiates and<br />
animates in the joy of being itself. It is not surprising, therefore,<br />
that the tantrikas evolved a system of psycho-physical culture,<br />
comprising various kinds of physical posture and gestural body<br />
techniques, a body language to render the body obedient to the<br />
will in order to animate ritual.<br />
Nyasa<br />
In the ritual known as nyasa, parts of the body are sensitized by<br />
placing the fingertips and palms of the right hand on various<br />
sensory awareness zones. A common practice is to accompany each<br />
placing of the fingers on the body with a mantra, so that with the<br />
mantra's powerful resonance the adept may gradually project the<br />
power of divinity into his own body. The tantrikas believe that the<br />
flesh must be 'awakened' from its dormancy, and this rite<br />
symbolically 'puts' the power of the vast pantheon of divinities<br />
into the various organs of the body. The most popular form of<br />
nyasa, known as sadanga-nyasa, is performed by touching various<br />
parts of the body in the following manner: