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Phallic worship, the triune brain and the serpent power:
Can Tantrism help neuroscience reclaim primitive religion?
This
ongoing (debate on the) hermeneutics of the archaic serpent cult—particularly
in India but also in relation to Greece and primitive religions—was sparked off
by Pathmarajah Nagalingam’s post, of 11 October 2003 to the Akandabaratam
forum, that was offered as an afterthought in the context of an already raging
controversy over (the supposed ‘phallic symbolism’ of) the Shiva-Linga. The
dialogue is actually composed of multiple intertwined threads that I (Sunthar)
have attempted to distinguish for the sake of intelligibility by thick blue
separator-lines. Most of the exchanges—particularly among Pathma, Loganathan,
Ram Varmha, Paul Kekai Manansala—took place at Akandabaratam, though my own
responses, forwarding the threads, also sustained parallel discussions at the
Abhinava forum that included
In order to help the reader remain focused on the central issues, I have streamlined the messages—for example, by deleting digressions and some citations—while providing links to the original unedited posts. In addition, I have inserted introductory comments to contextualize each sub-thread [Do let me know if your views have been inadvertently omitted or distorted: this is an evolving archive!]. The original and primary thread around the ultimate significance of the Shiva-Linga in relation to ‘phallic worship’ has been compiled into a separate digest despite its relevance to our understanding of the serpent cult (see listing of related links below). To facilitate further reflection on the relation between the serpent, phallus and tantric understanding of the body, that avoids simply repeating earlier arguments but instead builds upon them constructively, I’d like to offer some concise clarifications—a conceptual grid as it were—of my own take on the opposing perspectives that are under question in this controversy:
Primitive Serpent
worship, integral to an archaic mode of spirituality that was deeply
embedded in the instinctive life of the body, was universal to all cultures
whose religious experience centered on the state of trance. Through its
slithering back into a hole in mother-earth or the womb-like anthill, the
ability to stand firmly erect as exemplified by the king-cobra, and its
self-regeneration by shedding its own skin, the snake was ideally suited to
represent the inner experience of the shaman, the possessed and the initiate
who rejuvenated himself through a sexualized regression to an embryonic
condition. Rooted in the reproductive and natural functions of the female
(maternal) body and psyche, this mode of (male) spirituality—depending upon and
nourishing (‘oceanic’) self-immersion in the experience of the natural world—was
increasingly marginalized by the growing subject-object polarization that
accompanied the spread and consolidation of patriarchal society across most of
KuNDalinî and sexuality: Hinduism remains unique in that, even while its elite brahmanical and (Buddhist) monastic self-representation has likewise ‘repressed’ the instinctive demands of the serpent and relegated its archaic modes of worship to the popular fringes, the symbolic hold of the latter has been stubbornly retained at the very highest levels of myth (ViSNu reposing on the coiled ZeSa, Shiva’s serpentine sacred thread) and ritual (the obligatory wearing of this yajnopavîta for the twice-born). The pan-Indian Tantric tradition itself reflects the self-conscious appropriation—by a patriarchal, (agro-) urban, literate, world-renouncing dominant culture—of the pre-existing forest and pastoral life-worlds of the tribal shaman, so as to conserve, systematize and generalize the underlying principles throughout the tradition both in its practices and self-representation. This process began already with the Rig-Veda, as evidenced by the tantalizing figure of the ‘Serpent of the Deep’ (Ahir Budhnya), spread rapidly, as in the importance accorded by the epics to Nâga royalty and sacrificial sessions performed by snakes, such that highly esoteric doctrines became encoded into such ‘superstitious’ practices as the popular celebration of the Nâga-Pańcamî festival, into street entertainment proffered by the ‘lowly’ snake-charmer (Pâmpâtti Siddhar), and our enjoyment of the (Carnatic) musical mode (râga) dedicated to and irresistibly evoking our reptilian instincts: Punnâgavarâli. The Tantric reworking of this primitive nexus between sexuality, embodied spirituality and the spinal serpent finds its most distinctive expression in the doctrines and practices associated with dormant power of the coiled KuNDalinî.
Trance and the reptilian
brain: Neuroscience (Maclean) has recently confirmed that we are indeed
three-brained beings (
Human evolution: forwards or backwards? What we have witnessed over the last five thousand years is the emergence, cultivation and predominance of modes of religious experience and of being-in-the-world that reflect our primarily inhabiting—both as individuals and as a culture—the limbic (e.g., Christian love or Confucian solidarity) and frontal (e.g., gnostic Sânkhya or Yogic detachment) brains to the detriment, and even denegation, of the primordial serpent. Hinduism remains unique in that the telescoping of these successive modes of religiosity (trance vision of the Vedic seer, temple-centered society of medieval bhakti, rigorous dialectics of Mâdhyamika and Advaita) has resulted in remarkable syntheses such as Abhinavagupta’s sophisticated cognitive scaffolding that not only endorses, justifies and even culminates in the unbounded Love of God (as in Utpaladeva’s bhakti), but returns to the embodied wisdom of the ‘original sacrifice’ (âdi yâga) experienced as facilitating ‘possession’ (âveza) by the terrifying and ‘primitive’ Bhairava, who in many ways remains a ‘tribal’ god even when invested with a sacred thread and, these days, a business suit or a scientific mask! A sympathetic study of (Abhinava’s) Hinduism in all its dimensions—as opposed to simply perpetuating the denigration of the serpent under the guise of scholarship or, likewise, reductively conjuring away its larger human significance to preserve a reactive and shrunken cultural identity—can open fresh avenues not just for the other world religions to reclaim their own pasts but for neuroscience to chart the future course of human development and education. As the wise serpent that patiently inhabits our very depths—still holding sway over our self-destructive ‘civilizational’ urges—has known all along, the way down is the way up, backwards is forwards….
Related threads at svAbhinava:
Hermeneutics of Ganesha: Psychoanalysis, Hindu Wisdom and Transgressive Sacrality
What is ‘rationality’? primitivism, philosophy and semiotics
This thread-compilation
will be eventually complemented by others on psychoanalysis and Orientalism; in
the meantime please check out the (incomplete)
[Symbolism:serpent;
Esotericism:Psychoanalysis; Science:neuroscience]
Index to threads below on the Shiva-Linga controversy:
Subject: Re: Lingam is Icon of Siva
Subject: Re:
Lingam is Icon of Siva
Subject: Is the
snake a phallic symbol? Don’t ask Mr. Nâga-lingam!
Subject: Re: Is
the snake a phallic symbol? Don’t ask Mr. Nâga-lingam!
Subject: The
serpent power - a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
Subject: Re:
The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
Subject: Re:
The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
Subject: Re: The
serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
Subject: Re:
The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
Subject: The
Psychology of the Serpent
Subject: Green
and golden snakes—Tiruműlar’s problematic color symbolism...
Subject: Re:
Green and golden snakes—Tiruműlar’s problematic color symbolism...
Subject: The
Snake and the Moon
Subject:
Ganesha—the Snake and Moon
[Ram’s Purânic demonstration that the linga is the phallus—that Pathma is attempting to refute below—is msg #1149 in the Shivalinga digest]
Subject: Re: Lingam is Icon of Siva
From: Pathmarajah Nagalingam [Abhinava msg #1158 – order of thread reversed]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7673]
Thank you for the responses Ram, Dr. Loga and Sunthar. Already we see three different views of the linga. One sees a linga emerging from the yoni (why would this be?). Ram sees a linga penetrating a yoni (a view from the inside?). And I simply see a pillar-like icon on a pedestal. I don’t see an innuendo to a sexual union at all.
Besides I explained that the linga represents the transcendent, which is even beyond parabindu, paranâtam and even parâshakti. At the transcendental level these things do not exist. All these mentioned are ‘within existence’ and everything within existence is represented by the icons of Natarâja [Shiva as the ‘lord of dance’ – SV] as well as that of Ardhanarâshvara [Shiva as ‘half-woman’, the androgyne – SV].
In my view, the references to bindu and nâtam by Tirumular and others are references to the merging of the astral idâ [left] and pingala [right] currents into the sushumnâ [central spinal canal – SV], leading to jnâna. This too appears like a tower of flame to the yogi in samâdhi [ecstatic contemplation - SV]. When we worship the sivalinga, we are reminded of our goals and visions during meditations. Perhaps this is why the sivalinga has come to be worshipped. Much of Tirumular’s writings is allegorical too, and much of it can make sense only to a meditator. Verses composed by Tirumular when he was in the various cakras [subtle centers of the mystical body - SV] can only be understood by a person while his kundalinî [serpent power in spine - SV] is in the same cakra. Therefore trying to fully comprehend Tirumular is futile.
This same idea is told metaphorically in the Purâna [standard compilations of Hindu mythology with derived variants associated with specific temples – SV] stories like the ones reproduced by Ram Varmha. We have all read such Puranic tales. Here the linga is a towering flame that Brahmâ (idâ) and Vishnu (pingala) search for. These Puranic stories cannot be taken at face value. They are metaphorical retelling of truths. The same with those Puranic stories of how the linga came to be worshipped. The authors of these Purânas use satire, innuendoes, allegories and double entendre to hide and convey a message. And the origin of the linga is not in the Purânas as it existed even before that.
These stories also convey that where there is ego (Brahma and Vishnu), the ultimate truths cannot be known (their search for the source of the flame in vain), the idâ and pingalâ will not rise further and merge into the sushumnâ. Merging takes place when the ego is released (the surrender and bowing of Brahma and Vishnu). It also conveys that worshipping of these gods (Brahma and Vishnu) takes the aspirant only till the âjna chakra [center between the eyebrows – SV], no more. Merging takes place in the sahasrâra chakra [center at or above the fontanel – SV] and it continues into several more chakras above the head representing the various stages of samâdhi.
Hence these gods exist within the 24 tattvas [‘realties’ = elements or levels that constitute psycho-cosmic evolution - SV] (âjna) and do not extend over the 36 tattvas (sahasrâra), let alone beyond it. Up until this stage of unfoldment, till the âjna that is, these gods will appear real and everything written and told about them is the truth. Beyond that stage only Siva exists and even the soul will begin to disappear / lose separate identity.
Natarâja is the icon representing Siva within all 36 tattvas. The linga represents the BEING which is beyond the 36 tattvas. Transcendental means transcending the 36 tattvas. Seeing in this light, now everything begins to make sense and we reaffirm the truths in the Vedas as well as the Puranic stories, and there is no place for any sexual innuendoes connected with the linga.
We know that gods don’t have dicks. :) Gods do not
have attributes of gender at all! Only those with physical bodies have attributes
of gender. Gods don’t go around dancing and enticing peoples’ wives either!
Dicks don’t drop off at curses though some people in
Besides, my main point is in the incorrectness in correlating the Puranic stories of Siva’s penis (linga) dropping off with the worship of the sivalinga műrthi [image], though both use the words ‘linga’. This is the classic misunderstanding. In each of the instances the word ‘linga’ is used, except that in the Puranic story the meaning in that context is ‘penis’, and in the context of the worship of the sivalinga murthi the meaning intended is ‘icon of Siva’, and NOT the phallus at all!
The joy and pain of Sanskrit and Tamil too is that each word has several entirely different meanings, and its root meanings are retained and altogether different, and that each word too has several similar words, each of it conveying an entirely different message, as well as varied idioms and acronyms. The pain is that this leads to complete and utter misunderstandings. Instead of talking about bonded souls we talk about cattle. Instead of talking about icons of worship we talk of penises. For these good reasons the Vedas are also known as marai arivu [Tamil for ‘intelligence that conceals’ – SV]
Furthermore, these icons are installed in a temple to draw/evoke the shakti of the lord by way of pűjas. The installed linga is a ‘machine’, a facilitator, an instrument, a tool, a means of achieving an end. For this reason ONLY there is no need at all for any sexual connotations as it would be absolutely pointless. It is simply an icon and tool much like a road sign or traffic lights. Whatever shape of an amorphous icon is ‘chosen’ it would either be a line or a circle or both, and one can always draw any or [all?] sexual connotations from it.
Regards all.
[Pathmarajah Nagalingam]
[Response to Ram Varmha’s post #7654 at
Akandabaratam, included in msg
#1149 at Abhinavagupta]
Subject: Re: Lingam is Icon of Siva
From: Pathmarajah Nagalingam
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7674]
Before the insinuations rolls in...
If anyone thinks my surname means ‘snake-dick’ would be preposterous and absurd and bizarre.....and crazy, extreme, harebrained, incredible, insane, irrational, lame-brained, laughable, loony, ludicrous, monstrous, nonsensical, outrageous, ridiculous, senseless, shocking, thick, too much, unbelievable, unreasonable, unthinkable, unusual, wacky, wild, cracked, daft, deranged, foolish, idiotic, mentally incompetent, moronic, cockeyed, derisive, clownish, comical, cracked up, atrocious, deplorable, nefarious, notorious, farfetched, melodramatic AND absolutely false.
:) :) :)
Subject: Is the snake a phallic symbol? Don’t ask Mr. Nâga-lingam!
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam [Abhinava msg #1158]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7705]
The ‘root support’ (műlâdhâra)
at the base of the spine is represented by a downward pointing (adhovaktra) triangle (trikona),
for the sexual energies are normally dissipated downwards. It is the seat of
the dormant kundalinî coiled around the
germinal point (bindu) representing Shiva and
the essence of virility. The intimate relation of this center with the sexual
and reproductive functions is underlined through
other names like the ‘base of generation’ (janmâdhâra)
and ‘place of the womb’ (yoni-sthâna). When the
adept successfully inverts this triangle so that the opening at its apex is
directed upwards, virile energy is instead drawn into the median channel
through an opening called medhra-kanda ‘bulb
(at the base) of the penis.’ [...] The
upturning of the inverted triangle (female) at the műlâdhâra
results in its elevation through the flow of kundalinî
to the point between the
eyebrows, where it unites with the upper triangle (male) to form the
six-pointed (shatkona) ‘Seal of Solomon’ at the
brahmarandhra. This coincidence of Shiva and
Shakti so that they share a common bindu
symbolizes the highest experience of unity possible in the body. Most pertinent
is that the interaction or ‘friction’ of these two ‘lotuses’ leading to their
fusion is conceived as a mode of sexual union that may be facilitated by,
synchronized with and wholly assimilated to an external copulation, which is
precisely what happens during the kula-yâga. The
inner union of the triangles, which restores the original unity of the
opposed—masculine and feminine—principles, is represented in Hinduism in the
figure of the ardhanârîçvara or androgyne. [...] The unity achieved through union is simultaneously
realized on three correlated levels which are experientially and symbolically
superposed so as to seal it with the essence of the supreme posture (khecarî-mudrâ, TA 29.150-4). The friction (sanghatta) within the median channel of the sun and the
moon representing all the pairs of dualities—from the most material ovum/sperm
to the most abstract knowledge/known level—results in the production of Fire
representing both the (supreme) knower and the resulting conception. This
unitive friction serves to equate the external union between the male and the
female (organs) with the friction between the lower inverted triangle at the műlâdhâra and the
upper upright triangle, which is precisely what awakens the kundalinî in the median channel and ultimately leads
to their total fusion above. Since the stem of the median channel is also
visualized as inseparably linked to the sex-organs—as it indeed is in the
esoteric experience—there results a symbolic identification of the male and
female united through the phallus with the sexually polarized triangular
lotuses strung on and united through the median channel. It is no doubt here,
in the reciprocal ‘sexualization’ of the median channel and the ‘spiritualization’
of the coital exchange, that the mythical identity of the axis mundi with the linga
has its true rationale. The germ which sprouts in the womb from the union of
the male and the female is hence simultaneously fertilized by the spiritual
seed descending the median channel from the union on high represented by the
seal of Solomon. [...] The compenetration (samâveça) which results in the ‘sexualization’ of the
supreme Consciousness and the ‘divinization’ of the body is perhaps best summed
up in Abhinava’s closing declaration that “the body itself is the supreme linga, the auspicious Shiva comprising all the
elements, the dwelling of the (primary) wheel of divine energies, and the abode
of the highest worship (pűjâ).”
Elizabeth Visuvalingam, Union
and Unity in Hindu Tantrism
In the fourth act of Mâlavikâgnimitra,
while Gautama is dozing seated upright at the door of the pavilion (samudra-gRha), the maid startles him: “I’ll frighten
this would-be brahmin, who is terrified of serpents, by dropping on him his own
staff, which is crooked like a serpent.” Though this is the only instance of
the kuTilaka’s comic misapprehension as a
snake, it fits in very well with the parallel assimilation of GaNeza’s curved
elephant-trunk to a serpent, and the universal identification of the snake with
the phallus, which is the most pronounced signification of the crooked stick.
However, the snake has another characteristic that makes it an excellent
representation of the dîkSita, namely its
slithering back into its nest within mother-earth through a narrow hole, whose
entrance is often sheltered by an ant-hill [vâlmîka]
yet another womb-symbol of the primordial mound. The snake’s ‘incestuous’
penetration is simultaneously a return to the pre-natal condition, the cipher
for a process that is particularly well encoded by the mother-snake swallowing
her son in the ‘Burning of the KhâNDava Forest’ episode of the Mahâbhârata. The sacred-thread worn across the
shoulder by the twice-born is itself assimilated to a snake in the stereotyped
label of ‘left-leaning’ gods such as Ziva, Bhairava and GaNeza as ‘having a
snake for a sacrificial thread’ (sarpa-yajńopavîta) – Lord Ziva is typically represented
encircled by a snake instead of the usual slim ‘umbilical’ cord. A further
meaning would be that of the coiled serpentine-power (kuNDalinî)
dormant at the bottom of the spine whose awakening and elevation towards the
head accompanies the embryogonic regression of the dîkSita.
Gautama had dozed of in a specific upright seated posture that recalls the
Pâzupata’s obligatory practice of feigning sleep by snoring (krâThana). Moreover, this incident occurs at the
entrance to the “Ocean-House” (samudra-gRha)—the
name of the pavilion, where the hero and heroine consummate their love,
suggests a replica of the womb. Kâlidâsa is as it were showing his royal patron
how to turn his sexual prowess and pleasure to good use. [analysis of Uttanka
episode goes here]
Sunthar V, “Snake” (section of chapter) On the ‘crookedness’ of the Vidűsaka - extract from book in progress...
Dear Mr. Snake-Lingam,
You are certainly right in (re-) affirming that
the linga represents the (cosmic) pillar (axis mundi) and that, like the snake (nâga), it cannot be understood outside the context of
esoteric practices for raising the serpentine power (kuNDalinî)
up the median channel. The (i.e., your) problem, however, is that these various
meanings cannot merge together in the iconography of the linga without the sexual dimension, which is so
explicit in the Tantras. Despite various claims being made on the Akandabaratam
forum about Zaiva-Siddhânta being a “Dravidian” (read Tamil) religious system,
the historical evidence shows that
The representation of two upright snakes flanking
a central column (reminiscent of the caduceus of Hermes) is a very archaic one
in Elamite civilization (4000 BC?). Not only is this suggestive of kuNDalinî type practices, it also fits in well with
other ‘African’ motifs and religious ideas so characteristic of
The first thing that needs to be given up if anyone wants to take even the first steps in understanding Hindu (or any other traditional) symbolism is the “either/or” mentality. The fact that the linga on its pedestal represents copulation (and hence penetration) does not prevent the iconography showing the latter emerging from the yoni. This is because the ‘base’ physical reality has been iconographically transformed to encode, conserve and transmit abstract ideas and, eventually, a complex experience that cannot be easily described otherwise. If you take the trouble to visit some museums or even read some illustrated books, you’ll come across realistic representations like the Gudimallam lingam on which Shiva is depicted as a Pâzupata ascetic. Your English-educated gods may not go around dancing and seducing other people’s wives but those in most archaic (including the Greek) traditions do (even the God-fearing folk in the Old Testament have not been immune...). What else is Natarâja but the projection of the (inner trance-state of the) dancing Pâzupata ascetic in the form of a deity to be worshipped?
You claim that “the authors of these Purânas use
satire, innuendoes, allegories and double entendre to hide and convey a
message,” yet you don’t allow them the liberty to exploit the polysemy of
words, like linga, to
include meanings you find distasteful (though such sandhyâ-bhâSâ [‘twilight-language’ i.e., having
double-meanings] is canonized in both the Veda and the Tantras, where the
sexual meaning of even Indra’s dhvaja [banner] is
quite explicit…). You don’t believe that gods can have phalluses but you
believe that they should be worshipped in anthropomorphic form in the
temples... if we want to be fully ‘rational’, perhaps we should stop casting
them in our own image altogether (i.e., convert to Islam?). Dump the Purânas,
and we no longer have any clue as to whether Shiva (or Vishnu and the others,
for that matter...) ever existed. After all, the identity of a specific temple
in (especially South)
As to who is really ‘crazy’, you may recall that
Lord Shiva in one of the myth-fragments makes obscene gestures at the Sages
(and their wives). This was precisely the obligatory behavior of the
ithyphallic (Brahmin!) Pâzupata ascetic, who sought to be taken as a madman.
Isn’t this what the saint Sundarar called the unrecognized Shiva in his ‘divine
play’ (Tiru-vilaiyâDal), who subsequently
insisted that the enlightened (and repentant) devotee, when singing the
praises of the supreme Clown and Trickster, continue to address him as such?
Adjacent to the main sanctuary at Pazupatinâth, the most sacred and royal
shrine of Nepal, is a shrine to the ‘Mad’ (Unmatta-) Bhairava depicted with an
imposing erect linga that young brides
touch with great reverence after having worshipped the central linga. Apparently, the orthodox Bhâtta priests from
What I find “preposterous....AND absolutely false” is that anyone—especially those purportedly more (Western) educated and hence enlightened than their credulous ancestors—could claim that the linga has no sexual dimension whatever...
Sunthar
[rest of this thread at Is
the Linga a Phallus? ask the Kabbalists, Freud and (sv)Abhinava!]
[These 2 posts have yet
to be forwarded/replied to the
Subject: Re: Is the snake a phallic symbol? Don’t ask Mr. Nâga-lingam!
From: Ram Varmha
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7708]
Good posting, Sunthar!
Regards,
Ram
From: Pathmarajah Nagalingam
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7720]
Dear Mr. Fair & Lovely, :) :)
Are you a cream? :) See how we can go on
with connotations and innuendoes? :)
For some reason you have an affinity towards sex, sexual union and you see everything in those terms. Even a snake, a snake crawling into a hole, Ganesha’s trunk, the rising of the kundalinî, the sacred thread even, all has sexual implications and connotations for you. Even in my name you see sex. What is with you and sex? :) Perhaps the sex orientated western society and education has disorientated you?
Let me assure you that my name has no relation to sex at all! Does Visvalingam mean ‘cosmic dick’? :) What about ‘sundar lingam’? :) I wager that a person standing still would appear as a phallus to you. :)
Your reproductions on kundalinî yoga simply affirms what I said about nâtam, bindu and the tower like pillar of light rising, and which you agree with. But why go further and see a sexual union in it? Why not just stop there?
It may have occurred to you that in the area of yoga and meditation, there is no sex at all; indeed the aspirant is encouraged to abstain from sex and be a brahmachâri. Therefore you see yoga and sex pulling in the direct opposites, and hence these cannot have similar connotations but on the contrary the extreme opposite. This argument alone settles the issue.
I don’t disagree about Pasupathinâth and the peculiarities
of its erect lingam there based on local
legends and
Please don’t juxtapose the Bacchus religion with Siddhânta and confuse the readers of Hindus being ithyphallic. Your references to Sundarar’s ‘pithan’ is way out of context; here Sundarar and Siva are having a relationship like friends. It’s okay for friends to call each other daft or moron or ‘hey stupid’. :)
You claim that “the authors of these Purânas use satire, innuendoes, allegories and double entendre to hide and convey a message,” yet you don’t allow them the liberty to exploit the polysemy of words, like linga, to include meanings you find distasteful (though such sandhyâ-bhâSâ is canonized in both the Veda and the Tantras, where the sexual meaning of even Indra’s dhvaja is quite explicit...).
I do allow for the double entendres but in trying to explain the meanings of linga, we should provide the intended meaning and show that the other meanings are just the double entendres and not meant to be taken seriously. In explaining we should weed out the non intended meanings. The non intended meanings serve as a ruse, a play of poetry and words, and pun and satire. Surely you see this?
In the Rig [Veda] it says, ‘Who created the world’?
It uses the word ‘ka’, (kya/who)? Just like Hu
is the president of
You don’t believe that gods can have phalluses but you believe that they should be worshipped in anthropomorphic form in the temples...
Sure. I don’t see a conflict. We are just icon worshippers and these anthropomorphic images are just icons for us and not designed to be exact copies of the gods.
Your English-educated gods may not go around dancing and seducing other people’s wives but those in most archaic (including the Greek) traditions do (even the God-fearing folk in the Old Testament have not been immune...).
Sure, in other cultures. But it has
nothing to do with Shaivism.
The fact that the linga on its pedestal represents copulation (and hence penetration) does not prevent the iconography showing the latter emerging from the yoni.
It is not a fact that the linga represents copulation. Please do not use the word ‘fact’ unless you support it by some quotes from the 28 âgamas or Tirumantiram that says ‘copulation’. For Shaiva Siddhânta these are the only authoritative texts, along with the Vedas of course.
If you take the trouble to visit some museums or even read some illustrated books, you’ll come across realistic representations like the Gudimallam lingam on which Shiva is depicted as a Pâzupata ascetic.
Sure. These are all tantric and Pâsupatha icons—nothing to do with Shaiva Siddhânta.
The sacred-thread worn across the shoulder by the twice-born is itself assimilated to a snake in the stereotyped label of ‘left-leaning’ gods such as Ziva, Bhairava and GaNeza as `having a snake for a sacrificial thread’ (sarpa-yajńopavîta)—Lord Ziva is typically represented encircled by a snake instead of the usual slim `umbilical’ cord.
‘Left leaning’? This is too much. Having a dick (snake) for a sacred thread! Stop dreaming all these kinky sexual fantasies. :)
You are certainly right in (re-) affirming that the linga represents the (cosmic) pillar (axis mundi) and that, like the snake (nâga), it cannot be understood outside the context of esoteric practices for raising the serpentine power (kuNDalinî) up the median channel. The (i.e., your) problem, however, is that these various meanings cannot merge together in the iconography of the linga without the sexual dimension, which is so explicit in the Tantras.
You are right Sunthar. This is my problem because I see the intended meaning as the true meaning and the other meaning as a double entendre inserted by the author to hide the true meaning. Just like in the Purânic stories. The meanings cannot merge in the iconography because it does not fit! It may be explicit in the Tantras but not in the Âgamas.
Despite various claims being made on the Akandabaratam forum
about Zaiva-Siddhânta being a “Dravidian” (read Tamil) religious system, the
historical evidence shows that
You probably have some qualms with Dr. Loga on the
historicity of Siddhânta and I’ll let him handle this.
The representation of two upright snakes flanking a central
column (reminiscent of the caduceus of Hermes) is a very archaic one in Elamite
civilization (4000 BC?). Not only is this suggestive of kuNDalinî type practices, it also fits in well with
other ‘African’ motifs and religious ideas so characteristic of
It may be so that the snake may represent the phallus in other cultures but not in Shaiva Siddhânta. In Siddhânta the snake coiled around Siva’s neck represents the physical world and its pleasures and pain and that these are just ‘toys’ and decorations on Him. Nothing more. The two snakes do represent the two lateral breaths, indicating yoga, and union of nâdam and bindu. That’s all. Why sex?
I see that you have not at all rebutted anything I said in my earlier postings of eleven paragraphs. Indeed you agree, but just insist in further incorporating the sexual innuendoes into Shaivite iconography.
I visited your site and read some of your work and
that of (presumably) your wife. Please note that these are your scholarly
musings and speculations and it does not mean it is true. Just your opinions. I
am also not saying tantric views are wrong, or that
Sunthar, you are a Shâkta as it shows in your writings and arguments. These are the classical Shâkta arguments and views. As long as you say that yours are Shâkta views on iconography, I will accept and be happy. Otherwise, what we have is a Shâkta confusing the Shaivites in this forum.
I respect your work as a scholar and your contributions. Please do not be offended by my response but enjoy the satire. :)
Regards.
Pathma
[Antonio’s response Sunthar’s post on an independent topic however raises the question of the Vedic Aja Ekapâda, who is related to the Serpent of the Deep]
From:
Sent:
To:
Dear Sunthar and friends:
[...] I am
inclined to believe that by the simple act of writing down the oral texts, the
writers (whoever they were) interfered with the text. Thus instead of Agni and
the unborn musical measure of one foot “aja eka pada”
we find expressions like “a one footed goat,” for in a Semitic language aja means goat. Look also at the proliferation of “the
path of the fathers” and “semen” in the Mahabhârata...
[...]
[Antonio’s
full post at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Abhinavagupta/message/1176]
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam [Abhinava
msg #1178]
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Akandabaratam; [...]
Dear Antonio,
Sunthar
PPS. Aja also means ‘goat’ in Sanskrit and
the notion of a ‘one-footed goat’ seems quite legitimate in terms of its
sacrifice at/to the pole (foot).
[Sunthar’s unabridged post at
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam [Abhinava msg #7888]
Date: Sun
The royal character of the Bisket cosmogony becomes explicit in the Indra Jâtrâ of neighboring Katmandu where the linga is identified instead, as in the Vedic cosmogony, with the (dhvaja-emblem of the) king of the gods Indra, who rains on the Valley before the full-moon of Bhâdra (September). As prescribed by the Brhat-Samhitâ (chap. 43), the pole is dragged on the 8th day of the bright half of Bhâdrapada into the capital and the festival begins with its erection on the 12th day. According to the Brhat Samhitâ, the pole should preferably be from an Arjuna tree, and another staff should also be raised as Indra’s mother. Another Grhya-Sűtra prescribes the ‘Indra sacrifice’ (Indra-yajńa) with oblations to Indrânî, Aja Ekapâda, Ahirbudhnya, etc., to be performed on the full-moon day itself of Bhâdrapada (see Ekapâda-Bhairava, n.106 below). The Newars refer to the Bisket and Indra Jatra poles as yalasin, and the ancient name for Patan viz. Yala = Yűpagrama, along with the representation of the yűpa in accurate detail in contemporary sculpture, no doubt attests to the early implantation of Vedic sacrificial ideology from Licchavi times.
In the earliest Orissan temples, the various forms of Shiva are invariably depicted with upraised (űrdhva-) linga, and at one stage of his historical evolution Jagannâtha was apparently identified with Bhairava, the form he still assumes to symbolically copulate with the ‘dancer-courtesan’ (devadâsî = Bhairavî) during the evening ritual. It has been suggested that the ithyphallic ‘single-footed’ Ekapâda Bhairava, whose images are so frequent in predominantly tribal Orissa, was easily able to assimilate, through his very iconography, tribal wooden-post divinities accepting blood sacrifices. But this Tantric divinity associated with the Yoginîs is himself derived from the Vedic Aja (‘Goat’ = ‘Unborn’) Ekapâda, a multiform of Agni (‘Fire’) who appears as the central pillar of the world and is juxtaposed to Ahir-Budhnya, ‘the Serpent of the Deep’ (…). The inherent tension of the Vedic ‘sacrificial post’ (yűpa), standing ambivalently astride the sacrificial boundary, could equally permit the pacific assimilation of bloody tribal posts and the exteriorization of its own sacrificial violence effaced in classical Brahmanism. It is probably because of Jagannâtha’s identity with the tribal Vedic sacrificial post that the wood (dâru) for Jagannâtha’s new body during the Navakalevara is cut down from a tree chosen through such transgressive criteria as the following: on a snake-hole with creeping snakes, beside an anthill, near a cremation-ground, Shiva temple, river, pond, surrounded by three mountains, on a crossing of three ways (= confluence of rivers).
Dear Antonio,
I don’t doubt that the term pada refers to the ‘foot’ of the Rig-Vedic hymn as it still does in the metrics of later classical Sanskrit poetry. However, like its English equivalent, it probably also had the more concrete meaning of the appendage we stand on from the very beginning. The Rig-Veda already plays upon this poetic/ritual/metaphysical polysemy in enigmatic expressions like the ‘footless’ (apadvî) walking, etc., that Ananda Coomaraswamy has highlighted in his treatment of some of the chthonian elements in its mythology. The ‘unborn foot’ is also the cosmic pillar (the Atharvavedic skambha), the immeasurable form of the linga that Shiva assumes to confound Brahmâ and ViSNu. The transition to the ‘Serpent of the Deep’ (Ahir Budhnya) comes naturally in the light of the merging of the phallic linga with the rising kuNDalinî.
The short of it, as Kuiper so well understood, is that the best way of penetrating the secrets of the Veda is to start with Tantric esotericism...
Best wishes,
Sunthar
P.S. Looks like LâT-Bhairava has succeeded in (sacrificially?) killing several snakes (nâga-lingams?) with one hell-of-a-club ;-)
[rest of this thread at Is the snake a phallic symbol? Don’t ask Mr. Nâga-lingam!]
From: Paul Kekai Manansala
[Abhinava msg #1186 – order of thread reversed]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7889]
Sunthar wrote:
The Newars refer to the Bisket and Indra Jatra poles as yalasin, and the ancient name for Patan viz. Yala = Yűpagrama, along with the representation of the yűpa in accurate detail in contemporary sculpture, no doubt attests to the early implantation of Vedic sacrificial ideology from Licchavi times.
Hmm, are there any other survivals of the
Yűpa ritual elsewhere (non-New Age)?
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam
Date: Sun
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7898]
The first paper in this section, that by Thomas McEvilley
entitled “The Spinal Serpent,” may at first appear to be neither art historical
nor archeological, but I am using McEvilley’s own use of the term archaeology
that he introduced in his article “The Archeology of Yoga” in 1981. His article in this volume can
be seen as an extension of his earlier article where he argues for yogic
practices in the
Robert L. Brown, “Introduction,” The Roots of Tantra (
Hello Paul,
If by “yűpa ritual”
you mean Vedic sacrifice, I have never seen one performed nor am I aware of it
being practiced anywhere in
Parallels may be seen in the Dionysian cult, where the ‘linga’ likewise received blood-sacrifices, and we also have the May poles of Old Europe. We have argued in our paper, from Kuiper’s work on Ancient Indian Cosmogony, that these New Year festivals ‘dramatize’ an inner ‘shamanizing’ experience that would have been universal, because rooted in the human ‘physiology’, without having to resort always to diffusion theories.
I’m curious to know what Greek specialists of Plato would have to say on the ‘Tantric’ notations of Timaeus...?
Regards,
Sunthar
[Rest of this thread at
From: Dr. K. Loganathan [Abhinava msg #1188]
Date: Sun
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7900]
Dear Sunthar
Thank you and I agree with you that similarities may not always be because of cultural diffusion though we cannot also rule it out that easily. It will be useful to recall Jung’s notion of Collective Unconscious from which emerge the archetypes and so forth. The Snake related to the Coiled Power may be such a symbolism—already there in the depths of all and which emerges in various forms.
You may be interested in the following verse of Pampaatti Sittar who has written quite a large treatise on this. I tend to place him around 12th cent AD. I have studied some verses of his and here I am reposting only one. I hope to upload the remaining verses soon.
Please ignore the verse in Tamil script.
Loga
The Snake
Dear Friends,
One of the most ubiquitous symbolic elements in
dreams and mythologies is the Snake. In the Access Tests such as Baum Test in
Agamic Psychology, this is also met with including the entirely non-natural
five-hooded variety. Its occurrence cuts across cultural, religious and ethnic
differences. It is also an important object of worship in many cultures
especially the Indian and Chinese and their temples abound with various kinds of
representations of snake. In alchemy too we come across this symbolism. In the
high level archetypal representations in Hinduism such as that of icons of Siva
and Vishnu we also see the snake in a variety of forms. In ancient Sumeria we
learn the Large Snake—usumgal—was associated
with Mother Goddess worship and there were temples especially for it. We should
also note that while in
Among Tamil Siddhas who developed Depth Psychologies of some kind in the period from about the 11th cent to about 17th century, there was one Pampatti Sittar, the Snake-charmer who has written a marvelous book of 129 verses touching on this theme. As an attempt to renew the Hermeneutic Semiotics of these Tamil Siddhas I am providing here the translations with notes of the last few verses from 112 to 129 which appear to summarize the whole book.
Loga
112.
[Tamil script
deleted - SV]
aakaara mutalilee paampataaka
aananta vayalilee padam virittee
uukaara mutalilee ottodungki
oodi vakaarattin naakkai niiddic
siikaarang kidantoor mantirattaic
sittap piradanaar pootac ceyya
maakarap piRappaiyum veer aRuttu
maaya pantang kadanttomenRu aadaay paambee!
Dance Dear Snake, Dance!
That having arisen as the primordial snake with the mantra aakaaram,
spreading the hood in the field that breeds bliss;
And having withdrawn into the uukaaram mantra
with complete agreement with itself
And having extended the tongue
in the form of the mantra vakaaram
And that point being blessed by BEING Himself,
the Snake Charmer who charms the desires of the souls,
with a mantra where lies the Supreme Illumination, the siikaaram
We have cut asunder the very roots of repeated births and deaths
through transcending all the worldly snares.
Notes:
The Snake is actually the Coiled Power, the Kundalini, that which is the source of all motivational dynamics. It initially arises as the Libido, that which seeks worldly pleasures especially the sexual kind which is described here as the ânanta vayal, the Field of Pleasure, an allusion to the sexual coitus that from ancient days was noted as similar to plowing the field. At this point the mantra that transmutes this blind libido into Id (to use a Freudian term) is the aakaram-type of mantra. But as one lives through this kind of life there emerges the uukaaram, that which impels the soul towards the Light of Metaphysical Illumination and hence away from just simply seeking pleasures after pleasures of the worldly type. There comes to be also agreement with it only because the desire for Metaphysical Illumination is STRONGER than that for worldly pleasures including the sexual.
At this point occurs the extending of the tongue, seeking after not worldly pleasures but deeper metaphysical experiences, plunging into metaphysical realms of the Mysterious and the Mystical, a psychodynamics installed by the mantra vakaaram. And it is only at this point BEING seeing the soul is really earnest for true wisdom and is sufficiently ripe to be blessed with the mantra Siikaaraam, that which nourishes Sivajńânam, the Absolute Illumination, allows it emerge from the depths.
The Kundalini now transmuted into this enjoys the Sivajńânam and slowly the total destruction of Metaphysical IGNORANCE, that cast by the mantra of the makaaram-type and because of which it also conquers Historicality, being thrown into the cycle of repeated births and deaths, a tireless existential repetition.
(To continue)-1
From: Paul Kekai Manansala
[Abhinava msg
#1191 – order of thread reversed]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7903]
Dr. K. Loganathan wrote:
We should also note that while in
Or maybe it can be said that in the former cultures the snake has both positive and negative aspects (mostly positive) while it is viewed almost entirely negatively in Semitic faiths.
Tiamat and the seraphim respectively are examples.
In Christian iconography, though, the serpentine aspects of the seraphim were almost completely excised.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
[Sunthar’s response to Paul’s comment above actually creates a new focus]
Subject: The serpent power - a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
From: Sunthar
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7908]
But at the same time, there are signs of this idea system in ancient Semitic texts. In various passages of the Old Testament (in Job, Psalms, Ezekial, and Isaiah) and of Rabbinic literature, spirit is equated with bone marrow, with brain liquid, and with sperm, implying a system of conduits to carry it among those areas. Elsewhere in the Near Eastern area, there are also suggestions of the doctrine. It has been proposed, for example, that the priests of Attis and Cybele, who castrated themselves, may have been attempting to interrupt the channel from spine to genitals and thus prevent the sperm from leaving the body and the body, consequently, from aging. Similarly, Epiphanius (Panarion 1, 2, 9, 26), writing of the Gnostic tradition, says: “They believe the power in both the menstrual fluid and the semen to be the soul, which, gathering up, they eat.”
Thomas McEvilly, “The Spinal Serpent,” The
Roots of Tantra (
Hello Paul,
The first thing that I really learned about Jewish
esotericism was in Dec. 1985 from Rabbi Rami Shapiro when, while introducing my
presentation on “
So, while it seems to me that the opposition you make is not entirely off the mark, many nuances are called for....especially the observation that the serpent is already fundamentally ambivalent (in the ‘Zâkta’ founding myth of Bhaktapur, the royal hero has to kill two snakes to marry the deadly princess and their dead carcasses are still displayed on the New Year pole....) even before we consider such cultural overlays.
Regards,
Sunthar
[rest of this thread at
[I forwarded Paul’s
response to my post above at Akandabaratam to Abhinava along with my reply of 28
Oct 03]
Subject: Re: The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
From: Paul Kekai
Manansala [Abhinava msg
#1199]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7910]
Sunthar wrote:
So, while it seems to me that the opposition you make is not entirely of the mark, many nuances are called for....especially the observation that the serpent is already fundamentally ambivalent (in the ‘Zâkta’ founding myth of Bhaktapur, the royal hero has to kill two snakes to marry the deadly princess and their dead carcasses are still displayed on the New Year pole....) even before we consider such cultural overlays.
Yes, I note that the serpent has both positive and negative aspects in Indian tradition.
The place of the serpent in Abrahamic religions though has evolved mostly into that of association with evil. Older positive aspects of the serpent are very muted but a few to still exist. For example, the serpent entwined on rod used as a symbol in modern medicine.
In
Not just survivals of serpent worship, but the close association of them with orthodox deities like Siva and Visnu.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
[I forwarded Loga’s
response to Paul’s post above (at Akandabaratam) to Abhinava along with my
reply of 28 Oct 03]
Subject: Re: The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
From: Dr. K. Loganathan
[Abhinava msg #1199]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7912]
Dear Paul
Yes you are right—even Tirumular recognizes this dual aspect of the snake. And it seems to be related to the COLOR of the snakes. For example the Paccaip Paambu, the green snake is NOT favorably looked upon by the Siddhas while the Golden Snake, the one of Siva is so. Perhaps this is related to the fact that the Paccaip Paambu promotes carnal sexuality, including incest, and the Golden Snake promotes Divine Sexuality, sexuality within LOVE.
I hope to elaborate some of these points in my series on Tirumular’s Metaphysical Gynecology.
Meanwhile can you or some scholars in this list describe how the positive aspects of the snake were lost in Christianity? Does it go back to Akkadian adaptations of the Sumerian myths? I notice that even in early Buddhism this is so (if I am not mistaken)
Loga
Subject: Re: The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
From: Ram Varmha
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7912]
I have been to one of these snake-handling
ceremonies in a church in the hills of
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/park/1627/snakesmythreligion.html
Regards,
Ram
[Joe had posted his response to
Subject: Re: The serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?
From:
Sent:
To: Ontological Ethics [msg #???]
Isn’t it also held that there is a sense in which the loss of bodily fluids meant a loss in strength, in power? Is this tied to the aging problem below? Are they two aspects of the same notion?
Nietzsche too will make use of the notion
of God as serpent in Ecce Homo. He says,
“Theologically speaking—listen closely, for I rarely speak as a theologian—it was God himself who at the end of his day’s work lay down as a serpent under the tree of knowledge: thus he recuperated from being God ... He had made everything too beautiful ... The devil is merely idleness of God on that seventh day.”
A wonderful fable! First I think we should note that this makes God a (fellow)-practitioner of esotericism. Thus the gods too—even God Himself! Oy vey!!! – philosophize! Next we should note that He only directly reveals the hidden esoteric aspect of His creation (knowledge) to Eve. This of course means Eve is superior to Adam. What? She plays the role of exception to Adam’s bovine (herd like) stupidity. One now finds oneself wondering, not without some shame, that if Eve hadn’t told Adam, by that I mean shared the apple, the esoteric secret He shared only with her then perhaps we would all still be in paradise? But our precious (and, I might gallantly add, exquisite) exceptions never learn! – Oh God! never, never, never tell an inferior anything!
But love makes fools of us all—apparently even God Himself! (Note that in the fable Nietzsche tells in Ecce Homo there is absolutely not two gods. There is one God showing two aspects of himself.) As an aside I would point out that if it is true that God made Adam from dust and Himself and then made Eve of Adams rib and Himself then woman is yet again ontologically higher than man. How? Man = Dust + God while Woman = Man (Dust + God) + God. Whatever values you plug in for the Dust + God (.01 + .99 or, at the other more likely extreme, 99% dust + only 01% divine) in Man—Woman, because of the additional part of divinity always comes out more divine! It’s a diabolic slander Sunthar! Perhaps you and I can start a class action suit? If you can’t defeat them—call lawyers.
What you write below also makes me wonder if there
are also prohibitions for women about the loss of sexual body fluids? For
instance, did the priestesses at
Joe
PS Also I would point out that for Plato the difference between men and women can be thought to be that women possess Sophrosyne, moderation, while men do not. Men, in contrast, are spirited, courageous, immoderate. Plato has his Stranger (in the Statesman) mix the moderate and the spirited to make the city. Benardete refers to both these, moderation and courage, as vices. This must not be understood as a surreptitious attempt to equalize what is fundamentally not equal. Benardete will also opine that it is the moderate that has to adjust to the spirited—by this we can perhaps understand that those that can’t control themselves also can’t adjust themselves.
PPS In case you are interested I have written more
extensively on the above note by Nietzsche in Ecce Homo at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nietzsche_and_Philosophy/message/192
[Rest of this thread at
The
serpent power—a ‘Semitic’ abomination that has found refuge in Hinduism?]
Subject: The Serpent power in
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7922]
[93>] In the Timaeus, Plato describes what he calls lower soul—the appetitive part of a personality, obsessed with bodily pleasures —and higher soul—the spiritual part whose ambitions transcend the bodily realm. Somewhat surprisingly, he does not count sexual desire as among the appetites of the lower soul, but as a degenerate form of higher soul activity. The higher soul desires only to be reunited with the World Soul; this, Plato says, is the true and pure form of eros. When, however, the embodied soul becomes subject to external influences through the channels of the senses, a degenerate form of desire for the One, and for immortality in the One, arises. This is, on the one hand, desire of the individual to merge with the species, which, through the bewilderment of existing in time, the soul now mistakenly sees as the One, and on the other hand, desire to attain immortality through offspring. Other factors enter also, such as seeing, in a sex object, the shadow of the Idea of Beauty, and mistakenly seeking the Idea in the shadow that stimulated memory of it. Thus the true eros—desire for supreme knowledge, freedom, and eternality—is temporarily replaced by a false eros—sexual desire.
Plato proceeds to describe the physiology of sex (Timaeus 73b ff., 91a ff.). Soul power, he says, resides in a moist substance whose true home is in the brain, the seat of the higher soul. The brain is connected with the penis, and along the way, with the heart, by a channel that passes through the center of the spine and connects with the urethra. Under the stimulus of false eros the soul fluid in the brain is drawn down the spinal passage and ejaculated from the penis in the form of sperm, which is able to produce new living creatures precisely because it is soul-stuff. It may be inferred, though Plato does not speak directly to this point, that the practice of philosophy (which requires celibacy except for begetting children) involves keeping the soul-stuff located in the brain, that is, preventing it from flowing downward through the spinal channel. This inference is implicit in the Platonic doctrine, which holds that the philosopher gets beyond false eros to the true celestial eros. Since the false eros draws the seminal fluid down the spinal channel, the transcendence of false eros must end this downward flowing.
What will be obvious at once (though it has never been remarked on in any text that I have seen) is that this description applies to the Hindu doctrine of the kundalinî as well as to Plato’s doctrine in the Timaeus. [...] [<93]
[95>] The Greek belief in the Timaeus can be traced to a period before Plato; the trail leads to the Sicilian and South Italian schools of medicine, which were connected with the Pythagorean and Orphic presences in the same area. These schools taught that semen comes from the brain and is of one substance with the spinal marrow, by way of which it travels to the genital organ through the spinal channel, called “the holy tube.” This was explicitly taught by Alcmaeon of Croton (DK 14A13). Croton, of course, was the center of the Pythagorean brotherhood, and though Alcmeon seems not to have been a member, he shared many views with the Pythagoreans. In fact, the doctrine of the sperm descending through the spinal channel seems to have a special connection with the Pythagorean tradition; it is found in Alcmaeon, in Plato’s most Pythagorean work, the Timaeus, and in Hippo of Samos (DK 38A3 and 10) in the fifth century B.C.E., probably also a Pythagorean.
The association of the spinal marrow with the word aion, “life” or “life-span,” in
a fragment of the (at least partly) Orphic poet Pindar, affirms the Orphic, as
well as the Pythagorean, associations of the teaching. Pindar was influenced by
West Greek mystery cults, and Aion, according to later writers, was an Orphic
name for Dionysus, the divine element expressed as sexual power. Heraclitus,
himself very influenced by Orphism, seems also to have taught the retention of
semen and a qualified sexual abstinence. Diogenes of Apollonia (DK 64B6),
living probably on the
There would seem to be some connection between the Indian and the Greek doctrines of the identity of spinal fluid, brain fluid, and sperm, the spinal channel connecting the brain and the penis, the surrounding channels that cross one another, the cakras where they cross, the value judgment that prefers the highest cakra as the location of the sperm-marrow-soul, the association of the marrow with a serpent, and so on.
One account would focus on the diffusion of elements of
Pre-Socratic lore into
The doctrine of the engkephalos
is not only present in the Homeric texts but seems well established there,
where it is taken for granted, or treated as a given; it may, then, go back
even to the Homeric tradition, which is known to contain elements at least as
early as the fifteenth century B.C.E. In fact, there is some evidence that the
serpent-marrow-seed-soul identity was already in place in the Minoan-Mycenean
period. Scholars desire some source that is earlier than [<96-97>] Democedes’ stay in
A second hypothesis is that the doctrine may have survived into the Greek and Indian traditions from proto-Indo-European times. It is indeed widespread among Indo-European traditions. “The head,” R. B. Onians says, “was believed by the early Romans to contain, to be the source of, the seed,” and Pliny (Naturalis Historia X1.37.178) describes the spinal marrow as “descending from the brain.” There are hints of the doctrine in Germanic and Slavic lore, and remnants of it in Shakespeare’s line, “Spending his manly marrow in her arms” (All’s Well That Ends Well, 11.3.298) and in Edmund Spenser’s assertion that sexuality “rotts the marrow and consumes the brain” (The Faerie Queene, 1.4.26).
Thomas McEvilly, “The Spinal Serpent,” The Roots of Tantra
(
The first and lowest use of Art is the purely aesthetic, the second is the intellectual or educative, the third and highest the spiritual. By speaking of the aesthetic use as the lowest, we do not wish to imply that it is not of immense value to humanity, but simply to assign to it its comparative value in relation to the higher uses. The aesthetic is of immense importance and until it has done its work, mankind is not really fitted to make full use of Art on the higher planes of human development. Aristotle assigns a high value to tragedy because of its purifying force. He describes its effect as katharsis, a sacramental word of the Greek mysteries, which, in the secret discipline of the ancient Greek Tantrics, answered precisely to our cittasuddhi, the purification of the citta or mass of established ideas, feelings and actional habits in a man either by samyama, rejection, or by bhoga, satisfaction, or by both. Aristotle was speaking of the purification of feeling, passions and emotions in the heart through imaginative treatment in poetry but the truth the idea contains is of much wider application and constitutes the justification of the aesthetic side of art. It purifies by beauty.
Sri Aurobindo, The National Value of Art
Dear Joe,
It seems to me that this discussion on the ‘spinal
serpent’ in Greek ‘Tantrism’ lends a very interesting twist to Laurence Lampert’s
attempts to validate Nietzsche’s affirmation (via Leo Strauss...) that
post-Socratic Western philosophy has lost the vital esoteric dimension that
would restore life to the external trappings of Greek thought (and I would add
theater as well....). You may recall that I mentioned he was currently working
on the oral transmissions that would go back to Homer and Hesiod (and perhaps
even earlier?). And as you know, I launched the Indo-Greek forum because I am increasingly
convinced that these commonalities, particularly the role of the serpent in the
BMAC and
The Krama teachers often transmitted their
knowledge carnally first to female initiates (like the priestesses at
Sunthar
P.S. The quote from Sri Aurobindo was to suggest that the serpent holds the secret elixir that unveils the beauty at the heart of ugliness...
[rest of this thread at
Subject: Re: The Serpent power in
From: Dr. K. Loganathan [Abhinava msg #1197]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7928]
Dear Sunthar
Thank you for this. In reading it all, especially Timaeus, I felt as though I was reading some passages from Siddha Psychology where such issues are dealt with quite exhaustively. The similarities (as well as some differences) will emerge as I write more essays on The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular where he deals with such issues but as I said as belonging to the field of Hermeneutic Science and in which he also relates the Local to the Cosmic.
Subject: The Psychology of the Serpent
From: Dr K. Loganathan [Abhinava msg #1198]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7936]
Dear Friends
The serpent that figures quite prominently in dreams and mythologies has been studied by the Tamils from very ancient times and in various ways. The snake figures also as a prominent symbol in Saivism (Siva wears it) and VaishNavism (Tirumaal [ViSNu] sleeps over it)
Paampaatti Sittar stands quite unique in singing many verses about the meaning of this ICON and I have translated the final few verses with notes and you can read them at the following address.
http://ulagank.tripod.com/pampatti.htm
I have created a new chapter” Studies in Siddha Psychology” within Agamic Psychology Campus and I hope to upload soon also my translations of Agasthiyar’s 50 verses on Njana Caitainyam
Loga
[This is my reply to
Loga’s response to Paul of 27 Oct 03 at Akandabaratam; I forwarded their
exchange along with my reply to the Abhinava group]
Subject: Green and golden snakes—Tiruműlar’s problematic color symbolism...
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam
[Abhinava msg #1199]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7939]
Aware of both its fifteen syllable form and triadic structure, the text focuses on a pattern of color symbolism that may be related to cittar ideology. While there can be no doubt that it is Srîvidyâ’s most important and distinctive mantra mentioned here, the symbolic description curiously fails to reappear in other Tamil texts on mantras or in Sanskrit Srîvidyâ texts. Contemporary adepts with whom I have had contact are either completely unaware of the verse or are unable to decipher the Tirumantiram’s symbolism.
In the first line of the verse—in clear reference to the five syllables of the kâdi mantra’s vagbhava kűTa—the five letters appear gold (poN) in color, the six letters of the kâmarâja kűTa are red and the four of the sakti kűTa are “pure white.” Elsewhere in the Tirumantiram, Zvelebil tells us that Tiruműlar uses words for colors (and substances) to refer to alchemical and theological concepts with well understood symbolic meanings in Tamil; these meanings are in consonance with pan-Indian Tantric traditions. It is possible then that Tiruműlar wants to connect the meanings of these technical alchemical terms to the Srîvidyâ mantra. Thus, the vâgbhava kűTa which signifies in Sanskrit Srîvidyâ texts “the essence of speech,” is, according to Tiruműlar, poN or gold; in symbolic cittar terminology, this color refers to the combination of menstrual flow and semen, that is, the powerful confluence of Sakti and Siva. If Tiruműlar, in fact, does mean to say that the vâgbhava kűTa is symbolic of Siva and Sakti’s joining, later Srîvidyâ sources would concur. Since the vâgbhava kűTa begins with the syllable ka, which according to later sources signifies Siva (since it is derived according to the principles of esoteric etymology from the Sanskrit verbal root kan, meaning to illumine, one of Siva’s principal qualities) and ends with hrîm, the traditional seed-syllable (bijâkSara) of the goddess Bhuvanesvarî, it is possible that Tiruműlar understands the first line of the Srîvidyâ mantra as a reference to the joining of Siva and Sakti. Such an interpretation is in general agreement with the traditions of mantra interpretation offered by the important later-day Srîvidyâ writer Bhâskararâya. We should note, however, that Tiruműlar makes no reference to the Srîvidyâ esoteric etymology.
In Srîvidyâ texts, the syllables of the kâmarâja kűTa are traditionally understood to signify the essence or nature of 8iva in the form of Lord (or King) of desire or Kâmarâja. Following the line of reasoning suggested above, one would suspect that Tiruműlar means to signify Siva by his reference to these syllables as red in color. Perhaps Tiruműlar means that because desire is signified by red, so Siva’s kâmarâja kűTa is likewise red. Red, however, in both Tantric traditions and in cittar vocabulary usually refers to Sakti because it is the color of activity, blood, and the essence of the goddess; it is usually contrasted with the colors white or silver, which signify passivity, semen, the moon, and the essence of Siva. In the Tirumantiram’s verse the six letters of the kâmarâja kűTa are Sakti’s color, red, while the four letters of the sakti kűTa, which represent the essence of the goddess, are Siva’s color, white. There may be inverted symbolic meaning here - a situation that is not without precedent in Srîvidyâ circles. In other words for the sake of identifying Siva with Sakti and vice versa, the author has resorted to this inversion of symbolic meanings. However, it seems equally plausible that he has something in mind that we do not understand fully and that his references to color with respect to the sections of the mantra may not be related to the other symbolic schemes employed in the Tirumantiram. We may never know exactly what Tiruműlar means by assigning colors to the three kűTas of the Srîvidyâ mantra.
Douglas R. Brooks, “Auspicious Fragments and
Uncertain Wisdom: The roots of Srîvidyâ Sâkta Tantrism in
The Roots of
Tantra (
Dear Loga,
The color symbolism (gold, red, white, green, etc.) appears to be another ‘idiosyncratic’ feature of the Tirumantiram that makes it difficult to situate Tiruműlar squarely within a specific established tradition, be it Srîvidyâ, cittar, or Saiva-Siddhânta, despite his importance to all of them.
Sunthar
Dear Paul, Yes you are right—even Tirumular recognizes this dual aspect of the snake. And it seems to be related to the COLOR of the snakes. For example the Paccaip Paambu, the green snake is NOT favorably looked upon by the Siddhas while the Golden Snake, the one of Siva is so. Perhaps this is related to the fact that the Paccaip Paambu is promotes carnal sexuality, including incest and the Golden Snake promotes Divine Sexuality, sexuality within LOVE. […] Loga
Subject: Re: Green and golden snakes—Tiruműlar’s problematic color symbolism...
From: Dr. K. Loganathan [Abhinava msg #1200]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7940]
Dear Sunthar
Please refer to the line:
Thus, the vâgbhava kűTa which signifies in Sanskrit Srîvidyâ texts “the essence of speech,” is, according to Tiruműlar, poN or gold; in symbolic cittar terminology, this color refers to the combination of menstrual flow and semen, that is, the powerful confluence of Sakti and Siva.
I don’t think this is true. Please recall that Siva Himself is golden (ponnaar meeniyanee) and the Tillai ManRu where He dances the Dance of Bliss is also golden (ponambalam). The pon whether the body color of Siva or the Ambalam cannot certainly be something referring to the “combination of menstrual flow and semen”
The gold is what the copper becomes when purified of the impurities (cembu pon aakum) and hence is something that is obtained when something is transmuted chemically and which is also a process of purification. Gold is PURE while copper is IMPURE and it is within these categories that we have to seek the meaning of these color symbolisms.
Let me state briefly my understanding (Can’t
remember the exact source!)
The sexual libido that underlies the generation of seminal fluid and ovum (the karu vittu) leads to sexual desires that bring about species regeneration. The kuNdalaini underlying this kind of sexual libido is the GREEN snake where the green color stands for fertility in the ordinary sense. It is physical sexuality that brings about the union of male and female.
In the Metaphysical Genecology, Tirumular also notes that such a move results not only in the dissipation of energy extracted from the food taken in and digested but also leads to the gradual decay of the body and hence absence of the REPLENISHMENT of the body tissues that get worn out. Senility results with hastening the coming of death.
Now when this same libido is transmuted into Kaala Vintu ( Tirumular’s term) , there are productivities related to the CULTURAL spheres - the arts and sciences that bring about a CLEAR UNDERSTANDING about BEING, the Neyam. I believe the sexual libido that channels the productive tendencies in this direction is the Golden Snake and this is the kind of thinking that Siva, the Neyam as Tirumular says, encourages. It is interesting that Tirumular notes that the libido thus transmuted is RETAINED by the body and not dissipated at all. This Lumen Naturale, though mental but acts upon the body so that it becomes the Pon Meeni (golden body) and when the processes continue, at some point in time, it becomes the Vaccirat Teekam, the Diamond Body, a body with powerful immunities for all diseases and with biological mechanisms for tissue replacement actively working so that senility does not show up that easily.
Siddhas are those who have attained this kind of body and because of which they lead a youthful life and live for about 120 years or so (some with many wives like Agasthiyar, Pokar, Korakkar and so forth)
The color symbolism also occurs in connection with the faces of Cataaciva that I have already dealt with. Please see verse 1735 at the following address:
http://arutkural.tripod.com/tmcampus/tiru-lingkam-4.htm
Loga
[Sunthar’s fresh thread below was a response to Loga’s post Abhinava msg #1188]
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam [Abhinava msg #1190]
Date:
The remaining possibility is that some fourth ancient culture
diffused the doctrine into
Heinrich Zimmer argued that the iconography of the serpent
power complex was diffused from
The heraldic flanking composition is perhaps the most
characteristic of all Sumerian visual trademarks. Where it occurs in
These icons—the eagle and serpents, the mountain flanked by
goats, the hero mastering lions, the lion-bull combat, the goddess and the tree—are
among the central icons of Sumerian religion. Their presence in the
It must be granted, however, that this conclusion seems less
certain today than it did a generation or so ago when there was a widespread
scholarly consensus about Sumerian influence on the
Thomas McEvilly, “The Spinal Serpent,” The
Roots of Tantra (
It seems to me that there is much confusion in
such discussions between the core experiences on which the ‘mystical
physiology’ is based, its formulation into a symbolic framework, e.g. the
Tantric system of cakras so typically (pan-) Indian (or the sefirotic
tree of the Kabbalists…), and the wider cultural encodings (through iconography,
myth, ritual, etc.). The material and ideological choices that determine the
latter also invariably shape the canonical manner in which these ‘technologies’
(of the Self? non-Self? the Ein-Sof?...you get the picture!) are formulated.
What are we talking about here: the diffusion of ‘experiences’? their specific
schematization within a system? of a culturally embedded tradition?
This is why it is quite misleading to compare, for
example, (the underlying notions of) “union and unity” in Tantrism and Kabbala
without first subjecting both constructions to a ‘reduction’ by stripping away
(not their historical accretions but) their ‘ideological’ determinations...
Sunthar
Dear Sunthar, Thank you and I agree with you that similarities may not always be because of cultural diffusion though we cannot also rule it out that easily. It will be useful to recall Jung’s notion of Collective Unconscious from which emerge the archetypes and so forth. The Snake related to the Coiled Power may be such a symbolism—already there in the depths of all and which emerges in various forms. […] You may be interested in the following verse of Pampaatti Sittar […]
[Rest of this thread at Sunthar V., Ekapâda
Bhairava and the phallic pillar-worship of Dionysus - diffusion alone does not
account for similarities]
From: Sumita Ambasta [Abhinava msg #1201 – order of thread reversed]
Sent:
To: Indo-Greek@yahoogroups.com
A silly question from a novice: what dates are we
talking about here when the Mesopotamian and the
[rest of this thread at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Abhinavagupta/message/1190]
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7949]
More recently, this consensus has been broken up into a series
of new debates, as the increasing influence of scholars who are Indian
nationals has contributed to a tendency to minimize external inputs into the
Indian tradition. Do recalibrated Carbon 14 dates put the
This revisionist impetus attacks the clichéd and long-held assumption of the “nuclear” Near East, especially in its Sumero-centric form. But little has actually changed in the evidence. And the revisionists have not yet accounted for the iconographic parallels.
Perhaps the key icon involved is the entwined serpents that
are central to the Tantric iconography of the spinal column with its subsidiary
veins. This is first encountered in Sumerian iconography, for example, in the
famous Gudea Vase (Figure 16), where it seems to be the symbol of Gudea’s
personal deity, Ningizzida. It is not encountered in the
Thomas McEvilly, “The Spinal Serpent,” The Roots of Tantra (
Hello Sumita,
The close trade and cultural ties between
Please check the Abhinava forum-index
(that has not been updated since May but covers the bulk of the discussion) at
http://www.svabhinava.org/abhinava/ForumIndex/default.htm
What McEvilley has done in this article is to complement the existing evidence mostly focusing on material culture with arguments deriving from otherwise intangible experiential techniques and modes of perceiving the world. I agree with him on the decisive Sumerian influence on Indian civilization dating from around 2500 BC, if not before, that may have provided, at least until around 2100 BC, the formative impulses around which a variety of indigenous cultural formations may have coagulated so as to develop in an increasingly autonomous manner. This would have probably included a significant Sumerian presence, especially among the elite, who would have been simply absorbed into the local populations.
The problem is rather with his starting with a
diffusionist model of culture, and then embarking on a treasure-hunt to sort
out the crisscrossing cultural transmissions and influences. The symbolic
complex around the serpent (phallus, seed, spinal column, etc.) seems to be
universal and one would expect it to be so if the underlying ‘kuNDalinî’-type experience were innate to the human
organism and even capable of manifesting itself spontaneously (without any
specific techniques) on the model of the shaman’s ‘election’ (so well described
by Mircea Eliade). The extent to which these techniques were systematized,
adopted and perpetuated by the elites, encoded into their material artifacts
and cultural universe, and even made the nucleus of their religious beliefs,
depends on the wider circumstances and collective ‘choices’ of the specific
civilization. The Indus-Sarasvatî civilization apparently had the food surplus,
through extensive agriculture and international trade, to support dedicated
specialists, the forerunners of our yogins and tântrikas, who could devote their lives to
experimenting with and consolidating this esoteric lore. These ‘renouncers’
were supported by the urban merchants and surrounding tribal populations also
because they probably played a vital role in holding together a multi-ethnic
society within an ideological framework buttressed by powerful symbolic
elaborations. Unlike
So it is perfectly plausible that the initial
impetus for and a certain schematization of the serpent-doctrine may have ‘originally’
(what does this really mean?) come from Sumeria, but it seems to have found
fertile ground in
Sunthar
[Rest of this thread at
The Serpent power in Greece and Nietzsche’s ‘Tantric’ understanding of pre-Socratic philosophy]
From: Paul Kekai Manansala [Abhinava msg #1208 – order of thread reversed]
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #7953]
Sunthar, the entwined serpent motif occurs far afield in
ancient Amerindian cultures.
Many a cultural anthropologist believes the double-headed serpent motif and also other double-headed creature motifs are related. The same concept of interacting yin-yang (siva-sakti) is present.
The double-headed motifs also are very ancient and widespread.
The trikâya [triple-bodied - SV] concept mentioned by Plato also exists in a number of Austronesian cultures. I have found that there is a widespread idea of connecting or communicating with one’s higher self through a type of “cord” that extends spiritually usually from the anterior fontanel toward the heavens where the upper “body” is located.
Of course, one would see this as a type of mystical extending of one’s own spinal cord.
Now with one’s earthly body there is also the concept of the dual self or soul. The two souls are almost always opposites and as such resemble Freud’s alter ego to some extent.
One’s dual self usually travels around while one is asleep. Returning to the body (usually) before one awakes.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #8004]
In an essay called “An Archeology of Yoga,” I investigated six
mysterious
I have said that the physiology of the spinal channel seems,
in Indian cultural history at least, syntactically related to the heels-joined
squatting posture. Of course, syntax varies and whether the connection would
hold for earlier cultures is a guess. Still, it is plausible that the
physiology of the spinal channel may also be extremely ancient and have been
diffused widely at an early level of human culture—perhaps even by that
hypothetical wave of migration that brought the ancestors of the
proto-Australoid peoples out of Africa. The ethnographer Lorna Marshall, in her
article “Kung Bushmen Religious Beliefs,” writes of an occult physiological
power called ntum that is aroused by trance
dancing, which brings the ntum to a boil. “The
men, “
Thomas McEvilley, “The Spinal Serpent,” The
Roots of Tantra (
Another important cultural trait belongs to a religious
practice that Mircea Eliade has brought into relief in the course of his
general study of shamanism. “In the shamanic séance of the Saora,” he notes, “the
[<p.61-62>] shaman is possessed by the
spirit of the protector or the god invoked who speaks at length through his
voice. It is this spirit who, after having taken possession of the shaman or
shamaness, reveals the cause of the disease. ‘Shamanism’ through possession is
likewise known in other provinces of
[p.64>] Finally a last
Dravidian religious trait goes back to the same web of relationships: the Tamil
cult is often addressed to dead heroes, through the mediation of hero-stones
(natukkals) placed on their tombs. These heros have the reputation of having
been hunters or tribal chiefs. Likewise, the most popular god in the Dravidian
land is a young heroic and warrior god - worshipped also as an infant-god -
called Cevvęl or Muruga depending on the place; he enjoys processions
accompanied by music, orgiastic dances, and has the reputation of having been a
hunter. It is the latter trait and some others that have allowed his
identification with the Indo-Âryan god Ziva, whereas his youthfulness has
facilitated his identification with the son of the latter, Skanda. Now, if
there is one theme spread all over
Bernard Sergent, La Génčse de l’Inde (Payot, 1997), “Dravidians and Melano-Indians” (pp.45-84) transl. by Sunthar V.
Dear Paul,
You are absolutely right about the universality of the entwined serpent and its generalization into a wide variety of double-headed animal motifs across the globe. As regards the invisible ‘cord’ (a variant of the axis mundi) that connects the fontanel to the vault of heaven, this appears especially in the form of a (Jacob’s) ‘ladder’ that the shaman climbs up, typically into the region of the (six) Pleiades. This mythology (with only some of the associated ritual practices...) is described in rich detail by Lévi-Strauss in Naked Man (L’Homme nu) now readily available in English translation. The great anthropologist of the last century, to whom I owe my initiation into Amerindian mythology, begins his monumental study (across several volumes) by simply abstracting out the ‘meaning’ of the myths so as to focus entirely on their ‘structure’ (thus giving rise to a booming American business in ‘kitsch structuralism’ that gets mixed up with ‘kitsch psychoanalysis’, in prodigies like Wendy, into ‘kitsch-whatever-you-want-to-call-it’...). Despite his preoccupation with this universal ‘binary structure’ of human thought, by the time he gets to the (concluding pages of the) Naked Man, honesty obliges Lévi-Strauss to recognize that these motifs are rooted in the world of the shaman and inspired by his experiences. The problem is that he does not draw the logical conclusions (“cela n’était pas mon propos” he told us....).
The shamanism proper that you are talking about is
peculiar to the American Indians, Polynesians, Siberians and, in
For my part, I would be wary of making a
hard-and-fast opposition between ‘northern’ (Munda) shamanism and ‘southern’
(Dravidian) possession. The flowing together of these two streams and modes of
spiritual experience is yet another manifestation of the great laboratory that
Coming back to double-headed serpents, what we need to focus on is the binary structure (not of ‘thought’ but) of experience itself...
Best wishes,
Sunthar
P.S. Maybe the answers are waiting ‘out there’ (on the Internet?)...to lay our hands on the Holy Grail we just need to ask the right question!
[Rest of this thread at Indic
Thought and Structuralism:
Peirce versus Saussure]
From: Paul Kekai Manansala
Date:
To: Akandabaratam [msg #8030]
Sunthar wrote:
Coming back to double-headed serpents, what we need to focus on is the binary structure (not of ‘thought’ but) of experience itself... best wishes, Sunthar
P.S. Maybe the answers are waiting ‘out there’ (on the Internet?)...to lay our hands on the Holy Grail we just need to ask the right question!
The Internet is a new field of experience—interactive media. Maybe sometime in the future there will be a Matrix-like experience on the Internet and who knows maybe the Golden Fleece is in them silicon chips.
Regards,
Paul Kekai Manansala
Subject: The Snake and the Moon
From: Dr K. Loganathan [Abhinava msg #1358]
Date:
The Snake and the Moon
The workings of the metaphysical realms have been
understood in terms of the Sun and Moon, and the Snake that is also linked with
the Moon. This trend of thinking, central to Tantrism, seems to have been also
widely prevalent from ancient times in
In Sumerian literature there are many references to the worship of the Moon, the Sun and the Snake that was called Usumgal from which we have Tamil udumpu.kaL, a large reptile. It is interesting that In-Anna, who also assumes the form of a large Snake is the eldest daughter of Nanna Su’en, the Moon God and which god became the Soma in later times.
Thus this myth leads us to think that the Snake, In-anna, is a product of the Moon, something that is given birth to by the Metaphysical Moon.
Now against this it is interesting that Punitavati sees a conflict between the Snake Siva wears on His neck and the Moon He wears on His tuft. She also thinks that the Moon remains always the Crescent Moon only because it is always attacked by the snake on His chest!
So what can be the iconic meanings of the symbols of the Snake and Moon?
The following two verses of Tirumular throw immense light on this metaphysical question.
What he proposes is that sexuality that is fundamental to species regeneration and hence to immortality must NOT be suppressed or repressed but rather elicited [and] TRANSMUTED into the higher kind of Gnostic Energy, the energy that take shape as deep metaphysical illuminations. Such illuminations are also forms of ENERGY and is possible only when the desire for immortality and hence species generation and hence also the normal sexuality is transmuted into that of desire for Moksa, the enjoyment of Absolute Illumination and at which point the snake is no more but only the Full Moon, the Nanna Su’en and not Usumgal.
This kind of life, he also notes, is a life of even greater joy where the amutu [amRta], the ambrosia that oozes from the Inner Moon itself is drunk repeatedly and immeasurable joy and happiness is enjoyed along with a body of diamond strength, the Vaccirat Teekam [Tamil = Sanskrit vajra deha – SV].
So it appears the reptilian shape of sexual libido is also a force that throws the soul into perpetual Historical Existence, assuming various forms of living creatures one after another. It is a FLOW, a crawl of kind resembling the reptiles in the metaphysical world. But against this stands the Full MOON, round and complete and hence Closed within itself, no more flowing, crawling and hence flowing from one kind of species to another and hence caught up in what the Hindus call samsâra [‘cycle of rebirth’ – SV]. The encounter with the Moon puts an end to the historicity and with that transmutes the desire for Immortality, perpetual historical existence with a biological body even in the form of offspring, into Moksa, the release from such a samsâra. It is interesting that Moksa is called Viidu PeeRu [Tamil], the Final Homecoming and which carries the implication that this movement towards the Moon was already there as part of the historical processes and that there is an EVOLUTIONARY dynamics written into the cosmic processes and that we EVOLVE from creature nature into something higher only in the end to escape from the Snake and install the Moon.
Getting out from reptilian form of sexual libido by transmuting into the Moon form it, the Amutu, is already EVOLUTIONARY in nature.
Now Tirumular also notes that there is a relationship between breathing as such and the presence of the sexual libido. Thus the creatures can LIVE only as long as there is sexual libido agitating their motivational dynamics. This carries the implication that only as long as the Snake is there, there will be breathing and living. This also carries the implication that once Snake is replaced with Moon, the breathing will cease and with that enjoying a biological form of existence. The soul in beginning to enjoy the Moon is also transported into a form of Being-in-the-World that does NOT result in assuming a biological body. [Verse following is in Tamil - SV]
25.
1948
oziyaata Vintu udan niRka niRkum
aziyaap piraaNan atipalanj satti
oziyaata putti tabanj cepam moonam
aziyaata citti uNdaam Vintu vaRRilee
Meaning:
The indestructible Para-bindu [‘supreme seed’ – SV] stays also in the body as the seed of species regeneration. Now, only as long as this seed persists in the body will there be the breathing that sustains life. And because of the active presence of this vital air, there will be digestive processes that produce the various kinds of energy required by the body. Now, when through metaphysical meditations, various kinds of self-control exercises, mantra recital and the practice of Deep Silence, this libidinal energy is transmuted into the Gnostic powers, the species regeneration sexual desires will be desiccated and various kinds of mystic powers become available.
26.
1949.
vaRRa analaik koLuvi maRiththeeRRi
thuRRa cuziyanal corukic cudaruRRu
muRRu matiyatttu amutai muRaimuRai
ceRRu uNbavaree civayooki yaaree!
Meaning:
With the practice of meditations, mantra recital and so forth, when the libido is transmuted into the HEAT that dries up the desire for species reproduction, one should re-channel the psychic energy in the direction of Civa-njânam, the Inner Radiance. Attaining the movement in Cuzi Munai Nâdi [Tamil = Sanskrit suSumnâ – SV] and remaining engrossed in it, one should move in the metaphysical realms enjoying various kinds of deep illuminations. Then at the end of it all, one would encounter Para-Bindu as the Inner Moon and the genuine Civa-yogis would remain drinking the nectar that oozes from it continuously.
Comments:
In these two verses Tirumular outlines the well guarded secrets of the Siddhas, the techniques for transmuting the immensely powerful sexual libido into the Gnostic libido that would allow them not only the enjoyment of Civanjânam but also Supreme Bliss. This is the famous Saiva view of transmuting the SiRRinbam [Tamil ‘little pleasure’ – SV], sexual happiness into Peerinbam, the Supreme Bliss.
But this requires the drying up of the normal sexual desires into which is written along with bodily happiness also the mechanism of species regeneration. To enjoy the immensely satiating Supreme Bliss, that of Full Moon and not the snake, one must practice japam, tavam and so forth that would re-channel the libido in the direction of metaphysical illuminations. The sexual energy is transmuted into the Light of metaphysical illuminations and it is only with such transmutations that the snake within is overcome and Inner Moon, the Nanna Su’en of the Sumerians, is encountered. The people who attain this are the genuine Civayogis and which means that this is primary goal of all yogas.
[K. Loganathan]
Subject: Ganesha—the Snake and Moon
From: Dr K. Loganathan [Abhinava msg #1371]
Date:
Dear Dr. Rajaram,
Thank you for your interesting essay on GaNapati where you are articulating new depths in the understanding of the Icon of GaNesha. You are certainly continuing the tradition of Icon Thinking so central to Dravidian Âgamism where every Icon is a TEXT that is both man and God, a double text in this way. There is the human component and at the same time the Divine and unless we see both we cannot fully understand the MEANING encrypted.
In the following, you say that GaNapati denotes or has a meaning calling out people towards the Mother, the Amma, and which is very interesting,
The desire of GaNapathy to get married to ‘mother’ is a
mis-interpretation by people. In fact he is constantly traveling ‘within’ the
mother. Being a cosmic catalyst, GaNapathy has been assigned a role to see that
all the reactions that take place, happen in the predicted way without any
changes or any hindrance.
People take GaNapathy to be a human form, consider him as a person who will always help in everything that happens, not in the least realizing that he is the one who is ‘part and parcel’ of everything that happens. And it is because of him that all that happens in the cosmos takes place without any interruption.
So in narrating GaNapathy Mahathwam [‘the greatness of GaNesha’ – SV] we have to say only this much that Amma and GaNapathy are no different from each other. Outwardly what is seen as a drawing force between GaNapathy and Amma has been construed by human beings as a marriage. The maintenance of all creations and processes in the cosmos including production of living, non-living, exists, non-exists, require constant catalysis. A unique catalysis has been organized, which is being programmed, which is being performed, which is being predicted, which is being corrected, which is being rectified by GaNapathy—the segregation of a part of energy of Amma.
Ganapathy Mahathwam
denotes Amma, Amma, Amma.
We conclude by reiterating that an element of Amma segregated and organized as the Ganapathy. A cosmic mask has been devised as a protective headgear for protection for the eyes, wide fan shaped ear muffs, a nose incorporated into the trunk, and a skull protector in the form of a helmet. When all these devices were incorporated to fabricate a headgear, the facial appearance of GaNapathy developed the elephantine appearance. The cosmic mask protects GaNapathy while he takes part in the various reactions producing a catalyst effect. No changes would ever happen to the catalyst GaNapathy while he participates in various reactions that are very heavy energy bombardments. When two planets are clashing and bursting in the cosmos with energy release and energy combination, services of the same catalyst is required. When two planets collide and burst into smithereens at high velocity of bombardments and disintegrate they also need to pray to the catalyst, ‘I am going to break up into elements, Ganesha do take care of the reactions’. We invoke the catalyst Ganapathy and worship him for conducting everything in a desired predicted manner without any hindrance in the process, be it a wedding in the house, interview, examination, or before starting any function. And very sincerely, GaNapathy conducts every activity without involving himself.
We worship Ganapathy the cosmic ‘catalyst and facilitator’ offer our prayers and seek his blessings:
This gave me an idea to link it up with the notion that GaNesha is a Snake-Moon complex, where the Trunk is the Snake while the Belly is the Moon. Here I see the Para-Bindu and its phenomenal presentation as Snake along with Waters (\Ganga) and so forth, all those forms which refresh the exhausted souls and renew life itself.
The pure and Full Moon is the Mother and GaNesha’s Belly is a concealed and unclear form of the Moon and hence the Mother. In many PurâNas, it is said that the Belly is a huge Cauldron that encloses within itself the whole of the Cosmos and which story fits with that of abstract Para Bindu and its metaphorical understanding as Mother, the Great Womb of all.
This can also be linked with the immortality-moksa axis of all human beings.
The trunk is certainly NOT a flaccid phallus but rather a disguised SNAKE, that which generates the Sexual Libido and binds the anmas [Tamil = Sanskrit âtmans ‘selves’ - SV] into perpetual phenomenal existence, existential repetition, the Samsâra. This creates the pressure for immortality and hence seeking to propagate self through replication. The trunk as a disguised Snake thus sustains such a way of life but simultaneously pulling unknown to the souls towards the Mother, towards Moksa, towards being fully in the realms of Para-Bindu, the Pure Moon, the whole of the Cosmos.
This is NOT Moksa but it is the final precondition towards it. The Mother cannot confer Moksa and it is the exclusive privilege of the Father. Thus GaNesha in allowing worldly life also pulls the souls ABOVE it, away from phenomenal crawl of the Snake/Trunk towards the Belly/Full Moon, the Mother, the Amma.
Just some further thoughts on the meaning of GaNesha.
Loga
[Post publicizing this digest - current version of Introduction is at the top of this page]
From: Sunthar Visuvalingam [Abhinava msg #2098]
Date: Thu
The Vidűshaka was certainly not joking when he affirmed that
he had handed over the jewels to Cârudatta, for the brahmin thief, whose father
had mastered the four Vedas and never accepted any gifts, and who steals the
deposit only to restore it to Vasantasenâ the very next morning, ultimately
represents the transgressive dîksita-aspect of
the brahmin hero himself. He slithers about on the ground like a rejuvenated
snake casting off the slough from its worn-out body (III.9), and the night of
the unconscious hides the nefarious activities of the solitary Tantric adept,
intent on bringing the supreme disgrace to his family (para-gRha-dűSaNa-nizcitaikavîra = “lone hero intent
on violating other households”), in her womb-like obscurity, just as a mother
blinded by love envelops her child in her embrace (III.10). […] The choice of a breach shaped like a “vase of
plenty” (pűrNa-kumbha),
at a spot corroded by the saline action of water daily sprayed at the sight of
the sun and marked by a dirt-heap piled up by mice, likewise assimilates the
burglary to a uterine regression (kumbhâ,
as in kumbha-dâsî, being a synonym for “prostitute”),
accomplished even without a female partner (III.12), and the aesthetically
unnecessary poisonous bite of the 'phallic' cobra at this juncture only
serves to suggest the accompanying initiatic death. His professional use of his
brahmanical thread as a measuring tape, a false key and so on, assimilates him
to the Vidűshaka who typically profanes his sacred thread, as in the Mâlavikâgnimitra where he likewise ties up his
finger with it after trance-like writhing and quivering due to (supposed)
serpent-bite (III.16).
“The
Perverse Humor of the Infantile Vidűshaka” (Act III of the “Little Clay Cart”
MRcchakaTikâ)
If the myths insist that GaNeza was born of his mother Pârvatî’s
impurity, where is it to be found in his iconography....other than as deposited
in the scavenging rat? But why not then a black dog, Bhairava’s preferred
(eco-friendly) vehicle (well-known as an adept in recycling its own waste...)?
The untouchable dog would have been too obvious a symbol of transgression, and
certainly not amusing especially to (perpetual) kids (like
myself). Moreover, the thieving rat, like the (twice-born) snake
(that rejuvenates itself by sloughing off its own dead skin), has the
ingrained habit of scurrying away with a stuffed mouth into its hole (bila—check out what happened to the stolen ear-rings
in, once again, the Uttanka episode in the Mahâbhârata). This is what so well
qualifies the mouse to represent the otherwise pure ‘brahmanical’ Lord of
Wisdom in his hidden dimension as the impure dîkSita
returning to the maternal womb. The ambivalence of the vehicle consists in
its being simultaneously that which is subdued (like the pâpa-puruSa upon whom Lord Ziva mercilessly treads as
he dances...) and the theriomorphic incarnation of the deity himself. [...] It
is in the brahmin thief Zarvilaka, particularly his burglary into
Cârudatta’s home where the ‘sleep-walking’ clown insists that he take
Vasantasenâ’s vouchsafed gold (recall the VidűSaka’s comparison of himself
elsewhere with a sex-starved harlot?), that the embryonic dimension is
especially elaborated. Under the protection of the ‘Patron Saint of Thieves’
(Kârttikeya!), he makes a breach shaped like a pűrNa-kumbha
(GaNeza’s belly or the Pachali Bhairab jar?) at a spot already corroded by
daily morning ‘ablutions’ and marked by the ‘dirt-heap’ of a rat, before he is
able to access the ‘gold’ in the custody of the great brahmin.
Sunthar V., Why
does the pot-bellied Lord of Wisdom romp around on a teeny-wienie mouse? (14
Jan 04)
Sunthar V., Introduction to “Hermeneutics
of Ganesha: Psychoanalysis, Hindu Wisdom and Transgressive Sacrality”
This ongoing (debate on the) hermeneutics of the archaic
serpent cult—particularly in India but also in relation to Greece and primitive
religions—was sparked off by Pathmaraja Nagalingam’s post, of 11 October 2003
to the Akandabaratam forum, that was offered as an afterthought in the context
of an already raging controversy over (the supposed ‘phallic symbolism’ of) the
Shiva-Linga. The dialogue is actually composed of multiple intertwined threads
that I (Sunthar) have attempted to distinguish for the sake of intelligibility
by thick blue separator-lines. Most of the exchanges—particularly among Sathia,
Pathma, Loganathan, Ram Varmha, Paul Kekai Manansala—took place at
Akandabaratam, though my own responses, forwarding the threads, also sustained
parallel discussions at the Abhinava forum that included
Phallic worship, the triune brain and the
serpent power: can Tantrism help neuroscience reclaim primitive religion?
Below is the draft of my introduction to
(Part I of) the newly compiled digest at svAbhinava of our dialogue on serpent
worship. [Do let me know if your views have been inadvertently omitted or
distorted: this is an evolving archive!]:
http://www.svabhinava.org/TransgressiveSacrality/Dialogues/Serpent/default.htm
The original and primary thread around the Shiva-Linga
and ‘phallic worship’—of which this is an offshoot—has been compiled into a
separate digest despite its relevance to the snake cult. I’d request
you to study both digests carefully before contributing any further thoughts
that build constructively on our ongoing explorations of the relation
between the serpent, the phallus and the tantric understanding of
the human body.
Enjoy!
Sunthar
P.S. You may also want to check out Prof. Antonio de Nicolás
writings on neurocardiology, modern education and Hindu-Christian mysticism
[Part I / Part II]