Reflections on the "Tantra of blowing the mind"
by Vishvanath
The following is not intended for instructional purposes. Its aim is to stimulate experiment and meditation.
One of Dadaji’s earliest published essays was the enigmatic "Tantra of Blowing the Mind". I say enigmatic because, like many of Dadaji’s writings it did not say the things that I expected it to say. As a result, for many years I dismissed it from my mind.
In this essay Dadaji briefly discusses the following issues.
- Kaula Amrit or Nectar that is presided over by the Goddess Kundalini
- The role of think, decide and act in the yoga of enjoyment and liberation
- A more or less standard introduction to the chakras
- The relationship of chakras to granthis or knots
- He then launches an attack on Xristian and Vedic ignorance
- Finally he points out the intimate connection between Tantrika, Taoist magic and other esoteric streams and in particular shows how the process of development is illustrated by the I Ching hexagram "Creative"
It is the final detailed discussion of the creative hexagram that always put me off. The rest of the text is quite general but in places becomes quite tantalising.
But what does the "creative" hexagram have to say specifically about "blowing the mind"?
In addition to his whole-heartedly tantric lineage, we know that Dadaji was also an initiate of the Taoist magical tradition and the Ch’an methods that developed from it in China with the work of Bodhidarma or Ta Mo. We also know that Dadaji had great respect for these systems and saw strong connections and parallels with what he had learned through tantra.
Observations on the alchemagic of Mahendranatha
The text deals with the trigrams and the nature of the rising nines in the first hexagram of the I Ching.
"The science of the Kaulas is not for everyone". Its aim is to attain the "supreme festival of union when Shiva and Shakti unite in the Brain Chakra".
The arrangement of trigrams shown in the first edition of this treatise was the primal arrangement. This arrangement forms the basis of what in Taoist alchemy is called the "lesser heavenly circulation" and contains for the natha several familiar themes.
In the "lesser heavenly circulation" the trigram Li and K’an are spoken of as the sun and moon respectively. They drive the first alchemical process in which sexual energy is distilled and harnessed in the process of transformations. The six remaining trigrams represent phases in the process of distillation of the nectar. These phases are the rising nines which Dadaji discusses. The I Ching observes that where all the lines are nines one "observes the law of heaven" and the "earth is set to right". Union of the microcosm and macrocosm occurs.
The lesser heavenly circulation is none other than the sport Iccha, Jnana and Kriya Shakti (think, decide and act) over which Kula Kundalini presides.
But beyond the "lesser" is the "greater heavenly circulation" in which the nectar so far prepared is further refined. Dadaji gives SOME indications of what this process involves in the remaining observations. He says that while the Dragon Lord or Lady retains a body, life will contain perils and that the highest earthly values must be sacrificed to the divine. It is in the sphere of the greater heavenly circulation that we approach the aim of Kula Tantra, the "supreme festival of union when Shiva and Shakti unite in the Brain Chakra". The lesser heavenly circulation is a prerequisite for "blowing the mind".