Does Anybody Else Have Clear Body Experiences?

[Old Student]

At that time, I had to retro-actively seek information that described what was happening.

This is it, I am consigned to write down what happened, but frequently lack the proper vocabulary. And things keep moving, there are no repeats once I've understood something, they move on, which often leaves me hanging on for dear life because I barely understood it and they think filling in all the details is something I can do on my own time.

Samjna is the name of Lotus Family's Skandha, and we also find that Lotus is the primary "giver of mantra" and related to the Throat Center and a new distribution of prana, which is the inner meaning of Generation Stage. This is mostly the Third Yoga, Pranayama, which relies on Vajra Muttering or the centering and balancing of Om Ah Hum, which can perhaps give the Fourth Yoga, Dharani or Retention, not losing the winds, which is very close to the Cemetery description of having closed all the doors.

Originally, I can remember that only my head seemed to be complex, in that there were a lot of things going on there. My throat started as just a river and a jewel. Then there was Samantabhadri and her consort there in union. And for quite a while that was it. Then this thing started where my neck shakes separately and frequently turns clear and transparent. Since then there has been a lot going on there, especially recently with there being access to the plane above my palate by flows of saliva in my mouth and upper throat. Then there has been now the addition of an energy(bliss) center at the root of my tongue, and movements there, and muscles at the base of my throat, and the neck shaking has grown more complex, especially as there has seemingly been this project to bring the rainbows and lightning up from below, and the breeze down from above.

The shaking, which really does make my neck "outsides" (which seem to include a layer or two of musculature) shake independently of my torso except for the small ring where they meet the top of my bone structure (clavicle, etc.) and at the top right at the flesh which goes to my lower jaw and to my skull. It always feels like the outside of my neck which is shaking, it always feels like someone shaking the hide of an animal. If I am inside of my throat when it happens (my point of view and feeling of being there) my neck turns transparent and I can look out of it like being against the windows in a skyscraper, except that the walls aren't uniform thickness and are curved so maybe like being against the windows in a skyscraper built by Antonio Gaudi. The jewel when I see things from that point of view is mounted on the front window, if you will, but it requires a lot to be able to see into/through it.

Last night my neck shook (for some extended periods all by itself) for hours. Because of that, I had the perception of the leathery outside shaking but also of the spine itself in the inside, dancing. As I am writing this, if I put my attention at the root of my tongue, I can see the way it was, and it keeps coming up that the outside was in a conjoining dance with the inside, the leathery animal hide outside and the dancing spine inside as its consort.

All of this is somehow part of learning to use my neck/throat properly, which does include the jewel, which I could not access last night despite the efforts of several people (myself and some Dakinis).

But that one did not suggest what you are talking about. When one talks about the endless extensions of Universe Lotus then it is called Chiliocosm, which is like the first eight hundred pages of Avatamsaka Sutra. But you have something like a massive power surge to the throat which is capable of displaying Indra's Net or Maya Jala which then itself is capable of finding the extensions.

Everything keeps seeming to push me towards this text, the Avatamsaka Sutra, yesterday I found and downloaded a print of Thomas Cleary's translation and also a copy of the Chinese text from which he translated it (I don't know how he is on stuff that comes from Sanskrit or Tibetan originally, but he is a "poetic" translator when he does Chinese, so I wanted the source for reference).

Manjushri is Vagisvari and is not in Lotus Family, he is like the male half of Sarasvati, who participates in Nilakantha and turns Blue herself, which is considered a Saumya or mild form of fierce blue deities such as Ugra Tara.

Sarasvati --> Nilakantha --> Ugra Tara --> Mahacina Krama --> Ekajati and Nairatmya?

[shaberon]

Here is the representation of how Varuni fits in the formula.


Circle of Bliss 73 is a review of a Nepali manuscript of Sixty-four forms of Chakrasamvara, which includes the statement that Varuni is Khandaroha. Simultaneously, in Samvarodaya, she is Mamaki. Among others, Mamaki is also Guhyeshvari, the chief universal or 1,000 Arm Adi Prajna, who is a bit different from most deities because she holds white males and green females doing anjali:






Varuni contains Vairocani, and Varuni is, herself, Khandaroha and Mamaki. Vairocani is the root of Varahi and Cinnamasta. And so the additional Samvarodaya explanation would presumably over-write Vairocani over the following Varahi--temporarily perhaps, but at least at first. Khandaroha is both the Red Western Dakini, and she functions as an All-Purpose mantra (sarvakarmika) for Chakrasamvara, purifying the flask, and the environment.

The hypostatic view of Varuni compared to the Yoginis is:







Directly below Guhyeshvari is Eighteen Arm Varuni; Varuni is Sky Element and Unending Ocean; her role is to prepare the practitioner with "tools" for visualization and Yogic meditation, and for the efficacy and power of mantra. She is flanked by White Sanchasani (who is normally yellow) and Blue Yamini from the Armor Deities.

Below Varuni is Varahi flanked by Four Arm Khadga Yogini (Guhyajnana Dakini) and Naro Dakini (Vidyadhari).

Below them are three Vidyadharis Phampi or Pharping Vajrayogini and Maitri Akasha Dakini, and they do not explain this central figure, who may be recognized as Sukhasiddhi, showing us the downward triangle, and perhaps the Seventh Dharma or Transference.

Below these would be Eight Matrikas, or, it interlaces into the more standard scheme of cosmology and sacred sites.

The icon is somewhat clear for distinguishment that yoginis that are able to share name or mantra with Varahi do not have to have a pig feature.

It possibly hints that Armor comes from Varuni to Varahi.

I am not quite sure how one could be Khandaroha and Mamaki. Mamaki--Guhyeshvari already has an Eighteen Arm form called Khaganana or Bird Face. It is Saffron Orange, which perhaps is an alchemy applied to Khandaroha, something like Orange Amitayus. Mamaki is also said to be Pratisara. So the whole Mamaki is rather convoluted.

Varuni is not, she is a large form which is considered the basis of the other tantric developments.

She does, at least for these purposes, have her own mantra, and does not do much besides handle the "Alcohol Pot" and enchant the liquid.

It perhaps is interesting that one of the words for Water, Jala, is the same as for Net. It may be by association, water = fishing = a net, although there is another suggestion that when used this way in the Vedas, it is derived from Jata, a braid...which we found for Ekajati just as soon means Jata, or birth.

If Varuni continues through the tantras as Khandaroha, this name is doubled as one of the Four Dakinis, and as a Sthuleshvari in a lower center. She is the main banishing deity or All-purpose for Chakrasamvara, and even gets some attention on her own.

Commemorative Essays from the Royal Asiatic Society, 1917, for some reason, singles out Khandaroha In a Nepalese Dakarnava:

The fifth chapter of this book treats of the worship of
Khandaroha ; but what is most interesting is her mandala or
mystic circle This consist of five concentric circles, the
whole forming an expanded lotus, with compartments mark-
ed out for petals. Each petal has a letter in it. The letter
is the initial letter of the name of one of the companion de-
tities (avarana-devata) of Kandaroha whose Mulamantra is
at the pericarp or karnika. The eight petals just round the
pericarp form the heart of the Mantra, those following the
heart form the neck Those round the neck form the
naval and those round the naval the head. The number
of petals in concentric circles are altogether 8 + 16+64 +
32 = 120. So Khandaroha is accompanied by 120 deities.
Of these 60 belong to the outer world and 60 to the inner
world the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. The sixty
spirits representing the outer world are deities presiding
over different countries, districts and cities of India and
the surrounding countries, not in any definite order, as will
appear from the accompanying extracts containing these
names. There is an exact agreement between these names
and their initial letters in the petals

The interest of this mandala lies in the fact that the
52nd name is Mumbani and the 52nd initial letter is Mu in
the naval, showing that there was a shrine to Devi Mum-
bani in the island of Bombay This shrine can be no
other than the present shrine of Mumba-devi on the Mala-
bar Hills, So Dakarnava in its fifth chapter speaks of
the island city of Bombay and its eponymous shrine and
deity.

The 1917 collection translates the first three chapters separately since they are in a dialect utterly unknown to the world. The fifth chapter celebrates Khandaroha, whose mantra has thirty-seven letters. Sixty-four first initials form the navel or body mandala, eight initials form the heart, thirty-two form the throat, sixteen the head. This is also the first known appearance of "Mumbai" in Sanskrit literature.

The Dakarnava is most complex, using close to a thousand deities. As we see, this simple banishing deity is herself as intricate as Chakrasamvara, becoming something almost the same.

[shaberon]

Posted by Old Student (here)

Sarasvati --> Nilakantha --> Ugra Tara --> Mahacina Krama --> Ekajati and Nairatmya?

Yes, as subjects, I believe these Blues are related.

With Manjushri, he "meets" Blue Sarasvati in his Tiksna or "Sharp" form, which is that kind of sharp tongue that can end disputes quickly.

The others are much more wrathful and or "ugly", although they have the interesting bits about using Hrim syllable, there is Laughter, and some business with Lotus Family and the addition of red items. But I would say there is a flow from the common Hindu parts, which changes into the specifically Buddhist parts such as Nairatma. Same basis, different practice.

I am not surprised the dakinis are a bit sympathy-less, expecting you to take a single lesson and hold onto it perfectly, forever.

Avatamsaka is terribly difficult, at least to me. I was able to figure out that Heavenly King Upholder of the Nations is Dhrtarashtra, and so many of those are likely translations that lose the Sanskrit original. It is so vast that I can say little other than there is such a thing.

Most of that experience sounds quite difficult. I am not in the least familiar with the base-of-the-tongue as such a focal point. But I suppose the throat center or Vishuddhi or Sambhoga Chakra must have its main part, as well as the Khecari point which is above the throat. The main chakra would seem to have more to do with mantra, the upper part related to Bliss and the Akash.

I have not really ever done "chakra work". For whatever reason, I found when they were uncluttered, they were ready to reverse the life-winds which moved to the Void. It became perhaps too easy. I am susceptible to "you can experience bliss and voidness, so the path is done". Not the case according to Buddhism. If they are less important for "leaving" the body, it is critical to Emerge in Reverse Order, the only way we can make a full or Maha Sambhoga Kaya. So there is something I eventually need to slow down and perceive the details.

[Old Student]

Here is the representation of how Varuni fits in the formula.


Circle of Bliss 73 is a review of a Nepali manuscript of Sixty-four forms of Chakrasamvara, which includes the statement that Varuni is Khandaroha. Simultaneously, in Samvarodaya, she is Mamaki. Among others, Mamaki is also Guhyeshvari, the chief universal or 1,000 Arm Adi Prajna, who is a bit different from most deities because she holds white males and green females doing anjali:

Absolutely stunning pix, this one and the next.

Directly below Guhyeshvari is Eighteen Arm Varuni; Varuni is Sky Element and Unending Ocean; her role is to prepare the practitioner with "tools" for visualization and Yogic meditation, and for the efficacy and power of mantra. She is flanked by White Sanchasani (who is normally yellow) and Blue Yamini from the Armor Deities.

Below Varuni is Varahi flanked by Four Arm Khadga Yogini (Guhyajnana Dakini) and Naro Dakini (Vidyadhari).

Do you see the foot positions of the eighteen armed Varuni and then the Varahi below her? Back when I was struggling to describe the position of the foot of the white one in my gut, this is the difference I was talking about. Varuni is in tandava position, Varahi has her foot pointed more downward.

So I went back and looked up Varuni again, and ended up reading about the Samudra Mantham. I thought I had read this before when you wrote something else, I don't know why some things didn't sink in at the time but maybe it's because some events that made them stand out hadn't happened yet or something. They are churning an ocean of milk. I saw an "ocean of milk" in the plane above my palate, I don't know whether I quoted that note here or not. Which has relevance to the present, I will explain either in this reply or to the other note you wrote.

Remember how I said I had heard that the skull bowls had entrails that got transformed to nectar? Varuni is the one who transforms them to nectar. That's probably what her mantra is about. She has that ability because she came out of the nectar after it was churned.

It perhaps is interesting that one of the words for Water, Jala, is the same as for Net.

It is very interesting. Last night the new one identified, and was doing her usual pulling on threads or spaghetti or whatever. It sometimes looks like making pasta sometimes like pulling a skein of threads. When it looks like threads, the threads have colors, all subdued, like organic dyes, and they are attached to something above, which had looked like a net. Last night it definitely looked continuous, and she moved me to a new viewpoint (sitting on the root of my tongue). It was the plane from above my palate. So all this coming at once with the ocean of milk stuff seems quite meaningful. More about what happened last night on the other reply.

[Old Student]

But I would say there is a flow from the common Hindu parts, which changes into the specifically Buddhist parts such as Nairatma. Same basis, different practice.

Sarisvati herself, though, goes into Buddhism dually, once very early because she is the river in what was then "North India", in Afghanistan or Central Asia, and once through the usual channels from Hinduism. Both she and Shiva were quite prominent in early Vajrayana of the northern variety (up above the Tibetan plateau), as was Manjushri.

I am not surprised the dakinis are a bit sympathy-less, expecting you to take a single lesson and hold onto it perfectly, forever.

Of course. But it still smarts when one is reminded so perfunctorily.

Avatamsaka is terribly difficult, at least to me. I was able to figure out that Heavenly King Upholder of the Nations is Dhrtarashtra, and so many of those are likely translations that lose the Sanskrit original. It is so vast that I can say little other than there is such a thing.

But a Sanskrit original does not exist for all of it. The Chinese text is from Khotan originally, so the hardest part will be the transliterations of any mantras, which won't be current pronunciations. From reading Cleary before, I find that being able to see what he translated when he decides to substitute is helpful. Of course, it may be so long I get tired of trying to do that.

Most of that experience sounds quite difficult. I am not in the least familiar with the base-of-the-tongue as such a focal point. But I suppose the throat center or Vishuddhi or Sambhoga Chakra must have its main part, as well as the Khecari point which is above the throat. The main chakra would seem to have more to do with mantra, the upper part related to Bliss and the Akash.

I'm not really sure which part is the chakra in my shakings, but since a wheel came out of the jewel, that is my bet. The rest, like you said, has stuff bound up in things like the jivha bandha, the khechari point and other things.

There are also all of the things that go on there that are outlined by the Daoists in things like the Neijing Tu:



In the Neijing Tu, the throat and what corresponds to the jivha bandha and khechari point is the little bridge there next to the monk who has his hands up. That's the tongue, and a cycle needs to be completed where qi has traveled up the spine from near the dantian (where the four taiji symbols are) comes down and has to be swallowed quickly. The bridge also has implications as the magpie bridge and other things.

Suffice it to say that keeping the tip of the tongue on the roof of the mouth is an absolute, to construct the magpie bridge, and I have been doing so in all of my meditation and also all of my sleeping and all of my shaking for years.

The thing I noticed, for me, I'm not sure I could give advice to others, is that the pushing the tongue at the khechari spot to make the fluids travel upwards to activate the ajna chakra -- it works much better for me if I leave the tip of my tongue where it was, and push the root of my tongue up at the khechari spot. In my shaking, this is what causes the saliva to jet backwards and upwards in my mouth and gives me access to the plane above my palate, the one I said above was sometimes an infinite pool of milk.

So last night all the parts of my throat got used in a (failed) attempt to get me to do something: to see out of the plane and see out of the jewel simultaneously. The new one moved my point of view to sitting on top of the root of my tongue looking outward forward. She had been pulling to somehow (which I didn't understand) join that plane with the jewel and get me to see through both. Instrumental to that was the energy accumulated at the root of my tongue, pushed up there by the rest of me through summoning, together with a new type of bliss that has been forming that is at every cell and feels fiery, which is a new discovery to me because once a long while back I had been to the doctor for it because I thought it was a health issue, now I find out it's a shaking energy, a bliss.

Anyway, nothing to report on what I saw, because I couldn't do it. I kept "decaying" -- which is me mixing with the breeze which is from the plane, and couldn't figure out how to combine that with the jewel-view, which takes so much bliss to even see.

So yes, Varuni holds Vairocani, the Dakini coming out of the milk holds the completely covered with lightning vines one. I guess this might make perfect sense to me at some point.

[shaberon]

We have a type of illustrated guide to some of the major Varahi transmissions, which, extracted from Tibetan Deities, largely concurs with the depiction that the rite of Nagaraja includes Guhyasamaja Manjuvajra, which soon hurls into Vajrayogini, to the extent of using names from Dakini Jala. Vajra Yogini speaks the Secret Doctrine of Dakini Jala, even if major websites have difficulty making this simple attachment, from not reading the inscriptions.

Historically, Guhyasamaja is "Esoteric Community" and something like the first comprehensive tantra of Generation and Completion, which "technique", so to speak,Lokottara, is then applied pretty specifically to Vajrayogini, which historically means amongst female adepts, and into Cinnamasta as well as her consorting roles to Chakrasamvara, Hevajra, or Vajradhara.

But then there is an un-illustrated guide which is not the same as the Tibetan basket.


Although Rinjung Gyatsa and Sadhanamala both have about ten kinds of Vajravarahi, they are nowhere close to the same thing.

RG is clear about the famous ones, Indra--Naro--Maitri dakinis, and that they are immediately whipped into the triple blend that is Cinnamasta. It may be approximately backwards, giving the head loss first and the Samaya at the end. So this is pretty close to Pabonkha and/or most of the accessible sadhanas called Vajrayogini.

Sadhanamala is older, and, we cannot prove how much of it may have been composed ca. year 500, but it was completed around the 1100s, around the time Naro and some of the other transmissions had only begun.

In scanning it for boars, half of them are Marici and her attendants, there is no way to go very far with Marici without the pigs. Her Horse Chariot is approximately the breaking point. She inhales Varahi so to speak, can fill the cosmos with millions of them, can pave all evil into Vajra Bhumi or Golden Ground. In terms of who can do something noteworthy, it is definitely Marici.

Most of the Maricis are counted as having a left red pig face. The larger ones counted as having an upwards pig face have it in blue. 145 has two of them, a left red one, and a right that is saindhavacchāyaṃ. 146 has a left blue one.

For some reason, artists become illiterate when trying to deal with Picuva Marici, just like with Mantranusarini in the wild Pancha Raksa 206. Picu is important to the extent cotton or weaving is--which seems to be very--and Picu Mata means Kubjika Tantra, whereas in Buddhism, Picu is Prajna Vardhani, which is Sarasvati, Vajra Sarasvati, Prajnaparamita, and Marici.

Marici never has a Ghona, it is always a whole face, but not her main one. In fact, it is rare to ever find any full frontal pig face, which is only Arthasiddhi, Sridhara's Cinnamasta, or a Boar Face Tramen or Gatekeeper. For the most part, it is rare for Varahi to show more than a small Ghona, and what we see in Sadhanamala is that there is hardly any pig to her, and that there are hints at Cinnamasta without digging in to her Triple mantra. It usually does not even give her a color. And so even though it uses Varahi's name, the forms are mostly all Vajrayogini or human face.

We do not have a convenient set of Rinjung Lhantab color frames to match it. It perhaps is like the Rinjung Gyatsa, it gives a complex Chakrasamvara aspect at the beginning, and runs on to basic things, so it could just be backwards. To make a few quick ideas about what these Varahis are, we get:

Vairocani--Varahi 217 is a type of Maitri Dakini which has Ali Kali, Inverted Stupa, the top parts of mandala components, Four Dakinis, Jnana Cakra and Maya Cakra Jala as part of Four Activities, Armor, Tri-kaya, stands on Bhairava and Kalaratri in Pratyalidha, and is defined as Sahajananda.


218 distributes the twenty-four devis such as Khandaroha and Khaganana to the three chakras. This one is related to Hrih, Akshobya, Pracanda (Cinnamasta), Jvala Mudra, Asta Loka related to Samaya Samvara, Siddhe Sati mantra japa, Gandhamantrena, and Prajnaloka's sadhana. Lacks a colophon or personal mantra.


219 does half of Inverted Stupa to the Triangle, which has Eight Samaya syllables, pertaining to Vajradhara and Amrita Rupa. It refers to Three Tattvas and her Karota or skullcup; this one is likely red. Usually, they match the color of the final element of the spawn sequence.


220 is two sentences, a form without color, which is nabhidese.


221 begins with the unusual invocation: bhavagavyai āryyavajravārāhyai. Right after that, she is Bhagavati Guhyeshvari. Her Vidyadharas are pisaci, rakshasha, kinnara, and bhuta, who are jalajasthalajāni, in some type of Net, followed shortly by Indra Jala. She gains Stambhana--stoppage or Paralysis--and has a long dharani calling her Bhagavati Vajravarahi Arya Aparajita. The practice is called Jvalamukhi Sadhana Prayoga.


222 is a short Mahamaya addition to the previous.


223 is a short Cemetery Mahamaya which perhaps discusses the eight syllables.


224 is a red four arm version with a Ghona, having several mantras based in Hrih, and is a Vajrayogini.


225 is Oddiyana Vajra Pitha Varahi, a red two arm form that is Varnani, which does Inverted Stupa and has the Four Dakinis.


226 is the Cemetery Vairocana goddess who casts Armor, makes Samaya to Vajradakini, defines Vairocani as her heart and Varnani as her near-heart.


227 seems to be the same one, but just uses Vairocani mantra. Both of these are a Samksipta or "summary".


If you run it backwards, you get Vairocani, Varnani, Pig, Mahamaya, Aparajita--Guhyeshvari, and then tantric descriptions or Chakrasamvara and Sahajananda. That may be a little closer to the "order" she goes in. There is also more attention to her as Jvalamukhi, which would seemingly contradict Pig Face.

Aside from the fact these are all called Varahi, it would be the piece-by-piece building of the same type of thing we are using Varuni for, particularly the Inverted Stupa and the Armor. And then since one stream of arising is Varuni --> Vairocani --> Varahi, there is no contradiction. We are dealing with the same principles or methods used in sadhanas, moved off where possible to either an outer Yoga deity, or, to definitive ones--such as the Gauris are parts of consciousness when affected by Generation Stage--no one can really own that. No one else could possibly own your own bodily Elements or your mind. However the deities which are Yidams and/or Nirmanakayas are a little different. Jnanadakini--Simhamukha and Vajravarahi are like this. That is why we would be virtually forced to employ Guhyajnana Dakini--who is part of Avalokiteshvara, and more or less the definition of a self-arisen fifth dakini. Because Ziro Bhusana is defined as "over" these five classes, then, if you are able to bond with the five, she is lurking in the background somewhere.

I am not sure if we can find all forty-six sadhanas of Guhyasamaja Sadhanamala which is all Varahi. It is the source of her Twelve-Arm form which has a massive, complex mandala. With this group here, I get a much more specific sense of Vajrayogini and some of the things that constitute her Secret Doctrine. That, itself, contains little if anything new if you have studied the practices, it will refer to Six Limb Yoga, Abhisambodhi, and Five of the Eight Dissolutions of Death. Therefor, the only superior practices are those which go through the Three Voids and Great Void. This is everything Equal to the End of the Sky as Vajrasattva says.

[shaberon]

Posted by Old Student (here)

So yes, Varuni holds Vairocani, the Dakini coming out of the milk holds the completely covered with lightning vines one. I guess this might make perfect sense to me at some point.

I sometimes blow by the basics, but, in Buddhist tantra, the Puranic lessons most immediately relevant to practice are Ocean of Milk and the subjugation of Maheshvara by Vajrapani and Ghasmari, converting the Hindu entities.

The Wars in Heaven, Tvastr--Horse Head--Aswins, Pleiades, and Ganges are also important, but maybe more difficult and less of a pressing issue.

From the Milk issue about fourteen various entities, depending on the Purana consulted, but generally include the Kaustabha Gem, Lakshmi, and Varuni. This is a "smaller" Lakshmi, and, we would have reason to add, a daughter Varuni, rather than Varuna's wife.

Then Varuni--Khandaroha may be considered the Soma, the Nectar, and the transmutation of impure substances. She is purely non-Hindu since her main flask is really Alcohol, at least figuratively. If you have a physical one, it might be tea, but if you use a mental one, it could be considered wine, hallucinogenic moon juice, milk and honey, or holy water, anything that has an "altering" effect.

Bharati is the container, the cup or skull itself, becoming Sukha Bharati and then Maha Sukha Bharati, since her role is Sukha Vardhani, "increasing", which is like a red parallel of Prajna Vardhani. Of course, the Sakya Three Reds are not the only way to do Completion, not even in Sakya itself, but are a coherent pattern unique to them. It is almost like saying "a Completion Stage in Lotus Family". Bharati is a form of Vasudhara. The Three Reds pattern does not remark anything about Vasudhara, but Namasangiti does, in fact it pegs a highly syncretic occult form of her as the special intro for the sequence of Paramitas. As much as she begins the sequence of Dharanis corresponding to Paramitas, hardly any of them can compare to the Vasudhara dharanis there must be.

That is correct that Sanskrit editions are not found for both Tibetan and Chinese material that says it is a translation. In some cases, we get trouble when there are attempts to back-translate. In others, we get the only surviving copy of a thing. One of my favorites was from C. A. Muses around 1961; it is supposed to be a Tson Kha Pa manuscript; if so, he comes across as a crypto-Nyingma or Rime' or nowhere near exclusive to his own school. What is curious is why is it a pattern of Seven Initiations. This one is from Sichuan, where it is fairly accurate to say there is an ancient, direct pilgrimage link to Tibet, compared to most of the rest of China, which could be more described as fire-and-forget. Most Buddhist countries get a few scholars or pilgrims once in a while, and mostly develop their own systems. Compared to the Tulku hierarchy of Tibet, it can only really be said that Mongolia is a direct product, having its own Chutuktu or Tulku, and Buryatia being an offshoot of this. Comparatively, Ladakh has never considered the Dalai Lama as a direct authority, even though they mainly stay in communion with his school.

The Daoist diagram looks like a spine.

I take it Dantian = Tanden (?) which we called "center of gravity". It looks like a Pancha Jina on fire, which makes sense to me, even if I just think of a center as Four Gatekeepers around a filament whose nature is the A syllable.

There is a good chance that the slightly-swung-outwards foot of Varahi says something that a fully-retracted foot does not. It is along the lines that an identifying feature of some of these similar deities is whether the trampled Bhairava is face up or down. Under scrutiny, almost every single detail has some kind of meaning. The grid of yoginis seems to cover her main foot patterns; even Guhyajnana looks a bit like the reverse stance that Charchika does.

I do not know the nuances, other than Parnasabari stance is a lower prana blockage, Indra Dakini really has feet in all fourteen Lokas and Talas, and that Tandava is not supposed to ever be done by girls. Some of these devis have been breaking that rule for centuries. If only they knew what I know, I am sure they would refrain. Hah!

Ocean of Milk you are seeing perhaps is Akash of the Head?

Otherwise, I have been unsure, why, as born from milk, Varuni would carry the Akash element into the ritual liquid. Why should she? It has already been formed from Akash. I guess it is like adding more of the "unformed" kind, which would build energy to fly out of a Dharmodaya or Reality Source. That would be like taking one's blank, raw brain energy and carefully shaping it into something useful.

Vairocani is "found" amidst the Soma-drinking. Just because we are able to isolate a Green Taditkara who specifically has creeper-like lightning, it is only "so" in that Pancha Daka or Hevajra practice. Possibly others can handle it similarly, maybe a minor Ekajati. It is hard to tell them no, if they are going to dance Tandava, they can probably either cast lightning bolts, or hold ball lightning or plasma.

Very intriguing about actually perceiving inner electricity along with milk. It sounds like something I would not be able to balance or pierce in a matter of only a few days.

I am not sure about fire in every cell, unless one is doing the expansive Tummo and melting the snow. Mine was simply always able to withdraw. One day in the cafeteria I had Inner Heat but some of it slipped out, and then it did feel like part of me was about to combust. The next person could easily sense the high temperature streaming off the area, and said that part of my back was as red as a beet. That is one of the few instances I can recall where something didn't work right, and also was proven to be completely physical. I didn't melt much of anything, although I remember it taking a long time to stop.

[shaberon]

I found some grammar clarifications

There are "Kalpoktam" deities and pujas, from Nava Durga, to Sani--Saturn, to Kurukulla and Marici. I did not think it was a compound, since Kalpa famously means "Age or time period", but that is an extrapolation. The basis of it refers to order, and the science of medicine is kalpa upanishad or kalpopanishad. Similarly, kalpa may mean order as in ceremonial rules for rituals and sacrifices and hymns. And then "Ukta" means "has been said"; combining them is Kalpokta, something like the ceremony has been described.

Another "has been said" is Bhasita, as in the quizzical Vajrayogini Bhasitam of Vadiraj Manjushri (sword, tiksna, or sharp). This possibly is a bit like saying he meets or is going to meet Sarasvati or Blue Sarasvati.

At the beginning and throughout Sadhanamala is the phrase Samaya Samvara. It is not about the deity Chakrasamvara, it is a basic Buddhist tenet similar to Vrata or Vow. The Samvara actually is the Vow or set of vows, and the Samaya is the conduct that represents and upholds it. There is nothing really in the meanings of samvara that pertains to bliss.


Frequently in Buddhism the heart center is called Citta Cakra, having eight main spokes which are the main nerves to the organism.

The Dakarnava Tantra is slightly different--it renames the center like the famous gesture, Dharma Cakra, and uses a unique naming scheme for the main branches:

(1) Prayagi (2) Devikoti (3) Ujjayini (4) Mahalaksmi (5) Jvalamukhi (6) Siddhasimbhali (7) Mahili (8) Kaumaripauriki

Dakarnava has many chakras, it can perhaps be found to stem from the other tantras, but is considerably more difficult.

We found both Kurma Padi and Jvala Mukhi to be associated with, or perhaps better descriptions in some cases, of Vajravarahi. Jvalamukhi is the Tongue Pitha, and in general can be a volcano or eternal flame. She is a Shakta practice who unites Waxing and Waning Moon, in a piece that refers to lightning competing with the effulgence of a pale red gem. Her original site is in Himachal Pradesh, but there are others.


In Kubjika Tantra, the Khecari chakra is defined as the one at or above the head, and is made of or uses multiple mandalas, Surya being first, and Jvalamukhi is in that.

The Vajradaka Tantra is generally close to Kubjika, however:

Jvālāmukhī (ज्वालामुखी) or Mahālakṣmī is the name of a Goddess (Devī) presiding over Kollagiri: one of the twenty-four sacred districts mentioned in the 9th century Vajraḍākatantra (chapter 18). Her weapon is the khaḍga. Furthermore, Jvālāmukhī is accompanied by the Kṣetrapāla (field-protector) named Mahāvrata [Agnimukha] and their abode is the nimba-tree [or the top of the mountain].

Mysteriously:

Vajrajvālāmukhī (वज्रज्वालामुखी) refers to the Ḍākinī of the north-eastern corner situated in the Kāyacakra, according to the 10th century Ḍākārṇava chapter 15. Accordingly, the kāyacakra refers to one of the four divisions of the nirmāṇa-puṭa (‘emanation layer’), situated in the Herukamaṇḍala.


Kurma Nadi as related to the heart center is related to Patanjali's system. Here, we find that Six Limb Yoga is like a mirrored reversal of his scheme. What we are doing is, of course, based on the same thing, but refined and changed.

According to Kṛṣṇavallabhācārya’s Kiraṇa on Patañjali’s Yogasūtras 3.7-8, “The tortoise-nerve (kūrmanāḍī) is said to be the same as the Nāḍīcakra in the heart.”

Kūrmanāḍī (कूर्मनाडी).—Whem saṃyama (the simultaneous workings of dhāraṇa, dhyāna and samādhi) is directed on the Kūrmanāḍī (canal of the tortoise), it ensures the immobilisation (sthairya) of thought.

The ten nāḍīs where the yogī in meditation retains the five prāṇas form the nāḍicakra.

At the bottom of the nābhi (nābhīkanda) innumerable nāḍīs or nerves originate or sprout up. 72,000 such nāḍīs exist at the centre of the nābhi (navel). The whole body is filled with these nāḍīs spread out in parallel and horizontal positions, and they exist in the form of circles entwined with one another. Ten nāḍīs are prominent amongst them, i.e. Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā, Gāndhārī, Hastijihvā, Pṛthā, Yaśā, Alambuṣā, Kuhā and Śaṅkhinī. Any defect or harm caused to any one of these ten nāḍīs may lead even to death.

The rest of the description re-iterates Kurma as a life-wind that causes "bulging of the eyes".

[Old Student]

Marici never has a Ghona, it is always a whole face, but not her main one. In fact, it is rare to ever find any full frontal pig face, which is only Arthasiddhi, Sridhara's Cinnamasta, or a Boar Face Tramen or Gatekeeper. For the most part, it is rare for Varahi to show more than a small Ghona, and what we see in Sadhanamala is that there is hardly any pig to her, and that there are hints at Cinnamasta without digging in to her Triple mantra. It usually does not even give her a color. And so even though it uses Varahi's name, the forms are mostly all Vajrayogini or human face.

There's definitely something missing here, something I'm unable to comprehend. The not frontal head on Marici is a Boar? Varahi is a "Wild Sow", not a boar. So there has to be some difference. Also, my Shakti source (I mentioned before, I have someone who was brought up Shakti who sometimes comments on things about this stuff) insists, that always always always, the depictions, especially the extra heads and arms, are about powers or acquired attributes.

So there has to be more to "pig" whether "pig" or "wild sow" or "boar" than just desire/ignorance. Or it is a power that paradoxically one acquires by somehow harnessing desire/ignorance. Or in the case of the pigs drawing Marici's chariot, maybe returning a favor or expressing gratitude or something. It has to mean something.

Vairocani--Varahi 217 is a type of Maitri Dakini which has Ali Kali, Inverted Stupa, the top parts of mandala components, Four Dakinis,

Jnana Cakra and Maya Cakra Jala

as part of Four Activities, Armor, Tri-kaya, stands on Bhairava and Kalaratri in Pratyalidha, and is defined as Sahajananda.

What is Maya Cakra Jala?

...who are jalajasthalajāni, in some type of Net, followed shortly by Indra Jala.

This is maybe meant to be some kind of symbol or play on words? Ostensibly jalalasthalajani should mean, "those borne of water and living on dry land." But like you say, there must be some kind of Net here.

Aside from the fact these are all called Varahi, it would be the piece-by-piece building of the same type of thing we are using Varuni for, particularly the Inverted Stupa and the Armor. And then since one stream of arising is Varuni --> Vairocani --> Varahi, there is no contradiction.
[...]
That is why we would be virtually forced to employ Guhyajnana Dakini--who is part of Avalokiteshvara, and more or less the definition of a self-arisen fifth dakini. Because Ziro Bhusana is defined as "over" these five classes, then, if you are able to bond with the five, she is lurking in the background somewhere.
[...]
I get a much more specific sense of Vajrayogini and some of the things that constitute her Secret Doctrine.

Interesting. As a Hindu deity, Varahi is a fifth -- the fifth of the Matrikas.

[Old Student]

I have read through this one, and have comments, but I am supposed to go to Urgent Care, and so I'm writing this in case I can't get anything written today after I do (they may decide to cover my eyes, in which case I'll have to wait to respond).

Back again, if they do anything it will be Monday.

[Old Student]

I sometimes blow by the basics, but, in Buddhist tantra, the Puranic lessons most immediately relevant to practice are Ocean of Milk and the subjugation of Maheshvara by Vajrapani and Ghasmari, converting the Hindu entities.

My 'ocean of milk' doesn't have a mountain with a snake wrapped around it and a turtle under it churning it by a tug of war, but it is infinite, and usually thin.

Then Varuni--Khandaroha may be considered the Soma, the Nectar, and the transmutation of impure substances. She is purely non-Hindu since her main flask is really Alcohol, at least figuratively. If you have a physical one, it might be tea, but if you use a mental one, it could be considered wine, hallucinogenic moon juice, milk and honey, or holy water, anything that has an "altering" effect.

This all seems very old, the Soma thing pre-dates Vedic times, there were remains excavated in the north that were buried with ganja plants covering them, and the creation myth of Khotan is about an earth breast that suckles an abandoned child-king.

One of my favorites was from C. A. Muses around 1961; it is supposed to be a Tson Kha Pa manuscript; if so, he comes across as a crypto-Nyingma or Rime' or nowhere near exclusive to his own school. What is curious is why is it a pattern of Seven Initiations. This one is from Sichuan, where it is fairly accurate to say there is an ancient, direct pilgrimage link to Tibet, compared to most of the rest of China, which could be more described as fire-and-forget.

Tsongkha pa means the 'pa' from Tsongkha. Sometimes translated as "Onion Valley" because in local dialects and even in modern Chinese (Mandarin), tsong means 'onion'. It's a southeast direction valley off the main Silk route through the Eastern Taklamakan, past Qinghai Lake (Koko Nur), that was often independent and just as often run by gangs. It was a major way around the Tangut Empire for a while for people going to China, it was also a way into Tibet and sometimes part of Amdo. So if your copy is from Sichuan, it might actually be pretty ancient.

The Daoist diagram looks like a spine.

I take it Dantian = Tanden (?) which we called "center of gravity". It looks like a Pancha Jina on fire, which makes sense to me, even if I just think of a center as Four Gatekeepers around a filament whose nature is the A syllable.

Right on both counts. The diagram is a Daoist alchemical diagram of the human body, and that thing on the right is the spine. The ocean at the bottom is "essence" (sexual essence), it's being pumped up to be heated at the dantian (like the A syllable), and then it should circulate in what is called the "microcosmic orbit". It's a thing to be memorized like the Tibetans memorize thangkas. It's also celestial, the weaver girl and the jade boy (the one playing with the dipper at the heart) are separated by the celestial river (Milky Way), and need to have the magpie bridge (at the mouth) form to see each other.

There is a good chance that the slightly-swung-outwards foot of Varahi says something that a fully-retracted foot does not. It is along the lines that an identifying feature of some of these similar deities is whether the trampled Bhairava is face up or down. Under scrutiny, almost every single detail has some kind of meaning. The grid of yoginis seems to cover her main foot patterns; even Guhyajnana looks a bit like the reverse stance that Charchika does.

I noticed that, I saved the grid so I can see if I can find out what they all mean at some point. Not sure they can actually be accused of doing tandava, that's what I called it. Although in my notes it's tandava-lasya, which I think the latter is their dance?

Ocean of Milk you are seeing perhaps is Akash of the Head?

How would I identify this?

Very intriguing about actually perceiving inner electricity along with milk. It sounds like something I would not be able to balance or pierce in a matter of only a few days.

To be fair, the electricity has not mixed with the milk yet.

I was primed up again to see through both places last night. When the big moment came I literally saw nothing -- only the usual backs of my eyelids. I have obviously some ways to go. Mixing milk and lightning isn't really that odd, I think. They are both creative juices of a sort.

I am not sure about fire in every cell, unless one is doing the expansive Tummo and melting the snow. Mine was simply always able to withdraw. One day in the cafeteria I had Inner Heat but some of it slipped out, and then it did feel like part of me was about to combust. The next person could easily sense the high temperature streaming off the area, and said that part of my back was as red as a beet. That is one of the few instances I can recall where something didn't work right, and also was proven to be completely physical. I didn't melt much of anything, although I remember it taking a long time to stop.

Wow, that sounds really cool (if possibly uncomfortable at the time). This is that kind of heat, but at the very tiny level, and the shaking involved is very tiny as well, since it is at around 300 vibrations per minute. The bliss that it creates is also sort of cellular, it soaks into things like fluid moving in a sponge, instead of flowing like a channel.

[Old Student]

At the beginning and throughout Sadhanamala is the phrase Samaya Samvara. It is not about the deity Chakrasamvara, it is a basic Buddhist tenet similar to Vrata or Vow. The Samvara actually is the Vow or set of vows, and the Samaya is the conduct that represents and upholds it. There is nothing really in the meanings of samvara that pertains to bliss.

No, not directly, but samvara means closure or union, and that is where the "bliss" notion comes in, or in this case where a vow would come in.

At the bottom of the nābhi (nābhīkanda) innumerable nāḍīs or nerves originate or sprout up. 72,000 such nāḍīs exist at the centre of the nābhi (navel). The whole body is filled with these nāḍīs spread out in parallel and horizontal positions, and they exist in the form of circles entwined with one another. Ten nāḍīs are prominent amongst them, i.e. Iḍā, Piṅgalā, Suṣumnā, Gāndhārī, Hastijihvā, Pṛthā, Yaśā, Alambuṣā, Kuhā and Śaṅkhinī. Any defect or harm caused to any one of these ten nāḍīs may lead even to death.

I had been wondering if the "cellular level" bliss had anything to do with the 72,000 channels, but they don't feel like flows through channels, they feel like cells, or like hollows in a sponge.

[shaberon]

Yes, practically any change to a deity is an additional meaning, a further attribute, a deeper and more profound level. That is why I say there are "patterns" underlying the many sadhanas. For the most part, that is what I am studying. That is because they do not usually follow a linear format. Some of it may be backwards. Sometimes, the "important thing" is in the middle. Eventually, there is fusion, like in Kalachakra, Viswamata is a fusion of Prajnaparamita and Vajradhatvishvari. This is nearly identical to what we are saying about Marici, who inevitably--and plainly visually--acquires Vajravarahi, just not by name.

Marici frequently uses expressions such as:

vāmaṃ vārāhaṃ raktaṃ

(left boar red)

but she also uses the synonym Sukara for animals and faces, which has the additional meanings of hell, or a swine-like woman.

The color is frequently incorrectly painted "natural" on her pig feature, which is a full face, but not the front one. She has it in this unusual Chinese double Marici. Her upper form holds a sun with the character for "sun". The "actual" sun in the middle is marked with "three-legged crow in the guise of a golden rooster". The lower one is probably a Kalpoktam, the most commonly-found large form, with one boar (or sow) face:







Marici is also a Sanmukhi or Six Faces, a trait that is usually only shared with Mars--Karttikeya--Manjushri. This 1400s Sakya mural is one of the only things to follow the description properly and make her upper pig face blue:






Sometimes I guess they are just loose with the gender, it may sound male in reference to "face", whether sow or boar, the same animal is intended. If I was to even think about it, I would start with the simple Bhu Devi whose mount is a Boar (the Earth) and subsequently that Marici's minor form simply rides a boar rather than chariot. Then I would go through Vishnu's Varaha avatar and that Varahi is his shakti, not his mother--who is one of the Mahavidyas. These avatars are a fractal which represents the formation of the planet (Varaha lifting the crust from the water) and formation of a human being (pig stage of fetal development).

Desire or Kama is the riddle of Kama Dhatvishvari, and this mystery of Mars and heat that turns white things red is a question of mortal Kama contrasted to Divine Desire.

Varahi is usually "fifth" which is also for the Nagas.

Varaha's consort is Bhu, and Mars is tricky because:

His origins vary with different mythological texts; in some, he is the son of Bhumi, the Earth Goddess and Vishnu, born when he raised her from the depths of water in Varaha avatar. In other myths, he is born from Shiva's sweat or blood drop.

And we have also found him as being produced by six mayavic Agni seeds due to the Pleiades.

Bhu is Varahi in the Hindu sense, concurrently with Vasudhara, Prithvi, Dharti, and other names, her children being Narakasura, Sita, and Mars, in some way.

In the tantric sense, Matsya Varahi or Fat Varahi holding a Fish is probably the closest to the Buddhist Varahi. The Hindu one definitely has one full pig face. Her Fish likely re-appears as the one or two Varuni may be on. She also is allowed the consort ‎Shiva as Unmatta Bhairava, which would be the lowest part of the Nepalese Varahi "grid" if all the other stuff was attached.

Vajrapani explains her as "trapped in hell" and being released, which is why I think there is some chance that, unassisted, a person who starts tinkering with Varahi may be in for a bit of an unpleasant surprise.

Just about everything we discuss is a duality of opposites, such as Anger and its opposite Akshobya or Undisturbable. Or the Pisaca is a disease as well as its cure. And I think Varahi is like this, but total soul--total mind versus their ruin. Marici can operate for a while without such an experience, but, if one developed her, the incoming pig power is limitless.

It is a bit weird that the Shakta take on Jvalamukhi uses Varuni as the first of the sixteen throat flames, when Varuni by any nomenclature is liquid.

Mukhi is usually "face" in most descriptions of forms, but, in this instance, it is closer to its basic meaning, "mouth", since it is the flame of Sati's tongue.

The Jvalamukhi Varahis are the only jvalamukhis in the book. She is Bhava:

Bhava (“becoming”).—States of being that develop first in the mind and can then be experienced as internal worlds and/or as worlds on an external level. There are three levels of becoming: on the sensual level (Kama), the level of form (Rupa or fine material), and the level of formlessness (Arupa).

and Gavya:

Milk.

There is little, if any, other Gavya in the book, although Lightning Ekajati has:

gavyaghṛtena homaṃ

Jvalamukhi's sadhana is a Prayoga, which is an important form of Virya, which is constantly re-iterated in the Paramitas, the Jewels of Enlightenment, etc., and its meaning is found therein:

2) Vīrya (वीर्य, “energy”) or Trivīrya refers to the “three kinds of energy” as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 109):

saṃnāha-vīrya (energy as armour),
prayoga-vīrya (energy as practice),
pariniṣṭhā-vīrya (energy as accomplishment).

It is energy-as-practice which becomes Milk in the mind and subsequently in all the world systems.

Sometimes related to the Milky Way, no, I would not expect anyone to necessarily glimpse a replay of the Churning of the Ocean, just the stuff itself. If there is some diffuse, milky-way-like substance, this must be pretty close to the Akash or what it says Varuni brings into mundane liquid. In yoga when you quell the many mechanisms of the brain, then it becomes an infusion of this energy which is solar in origin or is Marici or an aspect of her, Akasha Dhatvishvari or the akash in the head.

This particular Varahi could hardly be more about the Tongue and some Milk, in a way that nothing else is, and for whatever reason, she is packing Indra Jala in her kit. She is the only Guhyesvari in the book.

Bhattacharya maintains that Arya Vajravarahi means her four armed form, so, this one and the Mahamayas are likely identical to the one described in the following sadhana 224. The material is implausibly brief, except for the length of the dharani, if you can memorize that, you are Manjushri.

It is not often you find a four arm Varahi or Vajrayogini, and it is only one time this is in conjunction with the characteristics we have been able to identify, including fire, the tongue, and milk. This may not be meaningful unless you are in the precarious position of knowing fully well there is some kind of mental and nervous link between the internal heat and electrical pressure and the milk or akash.

The "dance" is called tandava, even on some goddesses, although there are other expressions, such as "standing ardhaparyanka" compared to the sitting one of Tara. Sanskrit is interesting, because in some cases, ten synonyms mean the same thing, and then sometimes, a small deviation of the foot is meant to be noticed. Lasya is a term for dance, as is Nrtya, like in Padmanartesvara. If we think in Dakini Jala terms, Wrathful Amitabha is Padmanartesvara, Lotus Lord of the Dance--or even just Nartesvara.

I misread Maya Cakra Jala thinking it was a spin from Maya Jala, but that phrase is really about Samaya Cakra. Samaya Samvara is especially relevant to Entering the Mandala when one is supposed to do the vows of the Families.

[shaberon]

Elizabeth English says Vajravarahi as hog face arises from the retinue in Krishna Yamari tantra (Charchika, Varahi, Sarasvati, Gauri), since the commentator reveals:

ghonam iti sukaramukhim

(a ghona is a hog's face)

So GSS Vajraghona 18 is the same as Sadhanamala 224.

These are Arthasiddhi, who matches the correct items:













The fact that a word meaning "nose/snout/beak" has to be interpreted as "whole face" is taken up in her Vajrayogini book on the subject of whether a word is a qualifier/adjective or an epithet/name. Much like Bhrkuti can be found several times as a facial expression by anyone, even here, along with karalavadana and lalajjihve.

Sadhanamala 224 is in Alidha, which is an archer stance, the one with a reversed leg. It does not say she is on a corpse or Bhairava. Non-Buddhists have remarked that our Varahi is Maya. This one arises from Hrih and says Hrim, so, she is at least fairly close to the Maya syllable.

If Krishna Yamari is much of a guide--which we think it is, since here is where we also find the one retinue of Janguli--then perhaps we should question the literal interpretation of ghona as a snout or small face, particularly coming out of her ear. We cannot dispose of it immediately, but, Sadhanamala is conversant with Krishna Yamari by referring to it at least one time, and, this is the only Ghona in the book, or, actually, Vajraghona. It may mean "nose", since it is in a sequence with her mouth and tongue, but if so, would it not just say ghona?

If Arya Vajravarahi means a copy of her four arm form, this is probably it. That would suggest there is no reason for any two arm Varahi to have any pig anything, at least from these sources.

In the Vajrayogini's contents, there are Red and White Vajraghonas. Or, the whole text is available, and we could pick through it. This is similar to Sadhanamala, completed around the 1200s, including her six arm form from Krishna Yamari, and, her twelve-arm form from this 1300s Kagyu mandala:






That one should go with the major Umapatti sadhana and the intense retinue we can get the details for.

What can be gleaned, I am not sure, I got a lot out of finding how Jvalamukhi fits.

[Old Student]

The lower Marici in the first image is in nearly the position that the new one is in -- the legs are almost in baddha konasana, the central hands look very much like if you freeze framed the new one when she is pulling on threads/spaghetti.
Interesting about the three-legged rooster in a sun -- a symbol of Japan, maybe? Japan is famously 日本, "sun root" or "land of the rising sun". The symbol of the monarchy there is the rooster, who tricked the sun into coming out of a cave.

The little I was able to dig into Sukara suggests a specific meaning for the pig, as a state of hell (as you did mention) characterized by being reborn in the animal realm -- this word is used for that and not the others -- and suggests that, at least in Buddhism, this has something to do with being lifted out of the hell of animal existence by -- conversion to Buddhism/enlightenment/maybe light itself?

gavyaghṛtena homaṃ

something about the brick of milk in the ritual fire?

Jvalamukhi's sadhana is a Prayoga, which is an important form of Virya, which is constantly re-iterated in the Paramitas, the Jewels of Enlightenment, etc., and its meaning is found therein:

2) Vīrya (वीर्य, “energy”) or Trivīrya refers to the “three kinds of energy” as defined in the Dharma-saṃgraha (section 109):

saṃnāha-vīrya (energy as armour),
prayoga-vīrya (energy as practice),
pariniṣṭhā-vīrya (energy as accomplishment).

It is energy-as-practice which becomes Milk in the mind and subsequently in all the world systems.

I found this related to a longer explanation of these Trivirya. If I understand correctly, the first virya is to develop armor -- the ability to withstand adversity and criticism, the second, the energy-as-practice, is the ability to take what one has learned beyond what has been taught. And the third is to develop bodhicitta to benefit all beings. The second is milk?

Sometimes related to the Milky Way, no, I would not expect anyone to necessarily glimpse a replay of the Churning of the Ocean, just the stuff itself. If there is some diffuse, milky-way-like substance, this must be pretty close to the Akash or what it says Varuni brings into mundane liquid. In yoga when you quell the many mechanisms of the brain, then it becomes an infusion of this energy which is solar in origin or is Marici or an aspect of her, Akasha Dhatvishvari or the akash in the head.

This particular Varahi could hardly be more about the Tongue and some Milk, in a way that nothing else is, and for whatever reason, she is packing Indra Jala in her kit. She is the only Guhyesvari in the book.

This is comforting. The new one is pulling down on something making spaghetti like pieces or pulling on threads, which displace the plane (that would be the bottom of the layer of milk) in a way as to connect it to the jeweled net. That kind of means that the milk is resting on a huge net made of fine colored threads.

The whole thing is connected up inside, but I can't really perceive it yet. There are shakings full of that fire vibrating in the cells and neck and throat movements and buzzing at my tongue, but I "sleep" through them somehow, because they are beyond me to perceive and stay cognizant. Last night, I was awake and aware but through a film of "dream" that was sort of protecting me from something that is somehow beyond my ability to see in its full form. Through the dream film (which makes it less brilliant and sort of blurry and down to a normal number of dimensions), it looks like the thing I described to you before the wheel and the infinite interpenetration and the "me" standing like a thousand armed being, but repeated five times in five different colors. It would be more dimensions if the film wasn't there, I think the film is there because I think I can't somehow make my whatever, mind or something, do the dimensions and colors and especially the breeze-like flowing out into the thing yet -- not enough energy/balance.

It is not often you find a four arm Varahi or Vajrayogini, and it is only one time this is in conjunction with the characteristics we have been able to identify, including fire, the tongue, and milk. This may not be meaningful unless you are in the precarious position of knowing fully well there is some kind of mental and nervous link between the internal heat and electrical pressure and the milk or akash.

That's a very close match indeed. I'm not sure how to pay more attention than I am paying but it would behoove me to make sure I have all the detail about arms and things I can muster.

[Old Student]

It may mean "nose", since it is in a sequence with her mouth and tongue, but if so, would it not just say ghona?

Not sure I understand, "ghona" means nose or beak, doesn't it?

The characters at the bottom of the first picture, 金剛亥母 the first two are the standard word (jingang, literally gold hard), are the standard for "vajra" the last means "mother", the third means literally the 12th period of something (it is the last of the 12 Earthly Branches, used to tell time, along with the 12 Celestial Stems). It isn't a transliteration, so I wonder why Varahi has this name?

In the Vajrayogini's contents, there are Red and White Vajraghonas. Or, the whole text is available, and we could pick through it. This is similar to Sadhanamala, completed around the 1200s, including her six arm form from Krishna Yamari, and, her twelve-arm form from this 1300s Kagyu mandala:

The text looks interesting, what is the theory of combining winds and drops?

[shaberon]

Posted by Old Student (here)
If I understand correctly, the first virya is to develop armor -- the ability to withstand adversity and criticism, the second, the energy-as-practice, is the ability to take what one has learned beyond what has been taught. And the third is to develop bodhicitta to benefit all beings. The second is milk?

It is Milk in this one particular sadhana. Calling it Prayoga is like calling something Krama, any deity could do it, this is the Prayoga of a specific example which is not a normal practice--no japa and no vrata--it obtains siddhis directly from the devi. That almost certainly is the intent of Arthasiddhi which is most likely the same form, which is closer to the colored version in the ones shown previously. Varahis 220-224 appear to me to be "one circuit" since the first or Jvalamukhi carries the meaning of the last or Pig Face, which is not a contradiction, since the first title is really about a tongue. Comparatively, Jvalamukhi is not used as an invocation, name, or appear internally to the sadhana. It is more like characterizing the Prayoga as Jvalamukhi, whereas the deity herself is Bhavagavyai Arya Vajravarahyai in the invocative form.

I am not sure why Ekajati also has gavya.

Almost all sadhanas have one or multiple instances of "bhava" in some way, but, this is probably the only one where it is an invocation, and, more specifically, Bhavagavyai. You just blur by it because you think they have messed up "Bhagavatyai" but then if you give it some credence, we see what it means. It could be a misprint or I could be wrong, since the usual term for Milk is Ksira, but it has some air of intentionality.

Armor does have that unflinching aspect, a form of Upeksa, but it is also metaphysical and protects the chakras from the inherent sins of the Families or from external agents.

If you pursue the full Armor practice, you can be allowed to actually visualize the deities at their locations, but in the basic form, it is just their syllables. And so for those of us who can hardly visualize the tip of our own nose, we will not even be able to do this, but we probably can sort out the colors. I cannot even remember what Om Ah Hum really looks like, but I can remember the colors. And I can remember the sound of the syllables. Therefor I can make Armor work, and ever more so if I am able to learn the characters like Paramasva and Tara and so forth. For example, those are usually green when peaceful, but are purple or smoky-colored for Armor where they have "entire surface", or, "minor chakras and branch nerves" as wrathfuls.

It sounded like an Oracle to me. Jvalamukhi almost deceptively is not talking about "face", it is talking about Sati's Fiery Tongue in Himachal Pradesh. Maybe it is the same as Seven Agni Tongues. It is the gestation of some starry milkish stuff from the mind which begins to pervade all realms. At the same time, it is the use of full Pig Face Varahi.

Ghona literally is nose, but, it does not say, "she has a pig's snout", it just says vajraghona in the overall description of her face. If it said something like Ekamukham, trinetram, varahaghonam, then it would look like "pig's snout", but since it reads a little differently, and we have the comment from Krishna Yamari, then it probably does mean pig face as a whole.

Varahi's original "conversion" name was Vajramukhi, not Varahamukhi, making one wonder how you can have a vajra face, or, if perhaps that was the tongue like Jvalamukhi.

If Marici has all those piggies, it does suggest that her more expansive forms have really absorbed Arthasiddhi, has done Jvalamukhi Prayoga.

The new one is pulling down on something making spaghetti like pieces or pulling on threads, which displace the plane (that would be the bottom of the layer of milk) in a way as to connect it to the jeweled net. That kind of means that the milk is resting on a huge net made of fine colored threads.

That makes complete sense to me.

I believe the ideal is that the Hidden Chambers of the Heart must become awakened and luminous, so, when the connection goes through, the head or upper region is going to "listen" and respond to this, and some day if everything all matches up, then you are able to do the Transference which is able to move the heart bindu or citta out of the body through the crown, which as a deity practice would be similar with Jnana Dakini or Pitheshvari Tara. The alternatives are you are going to possess a living body, you are going to possess a dead body, or you are going to die. That is why I would learn the deity's way.

Either way is like a seventh dharma beyond the normal six of Completion Stage which is not exactly going to transfer the bindu because it is mainly going to invest the energy into the Usnisa and Sunya.

What goes on in the intervening time could perhaps be rather strange and unearthly.

I would guess that when she is able to weave five kinds of strands together, it will melt the Tathagatas, Vairocana, etc., and burn the Prajnas, Locana, etc., and the White Hum or Ham will then fall. This is sort of the result of leaving the brain and body an utter blank. It...could be a little weird.


Elizabeth English's Vajrayogini is mostly a review of the Twelve Arm Varahi. It is not helpful about Turtle Pose except to call it "Falling Turtle". While it is probably quite good for the details of that complex mandala, I am not sure she understands her subject:

The epithet "Vajravairocanl" probably arose because in the Cakrasamvara mandala Vajravarahi is assigned to the buddha family of Vairocana. I have found no clear directions as to the origins of the third epithet, vajravarnani.


I would say no, Dhyani Buddha Vairocana is not the same as Puranic Asura Vairocana, who is the brother or father of Vairocani, of the type who is markedly described in Durga Suktam. The Samvarodaya helps us by explaining she is within the body of Varuni. This is really specific because it is the "root of all the tantras", meaning as physiological changes.

Varnani is very obscure, but, we are able to find one article that is individually about her.

She asks a lot of the right questions, but did not manage to connect those. If not helpful about "turtle", she does say:

In conclusion, our survey of the Vajrayogini tradition in this chapter has revealed the general unity of the cult: Its mantras are relatively stable, and most forms of the goddess receive the generic labeling "Vajrayogini." However, it has also indicated the existence of separate currents within the tradition, based on its historical roots and the influence of separate teachers. The two main streams in the tradition center on the goddesses Vajravarahi and Vajrayogini, and it is perhaps unsurprising that some forms in the Guhyasamayasadhanamala have been seen to draw on both these traditions. Thus, the raised-foot-pose goddesses manifest as a form of white Vajrayogini and as a form of red Vajravarahi; the same is true of Vilasini, who in one manifestation is related to Vajravarahi and in another to the Vidyadhari Vajrayogini; and both traditions are found to merge in the practice of the turtle-stance Vajrayogini.


It is hard to say what "both" are and how they "merge". She probably means the sadhana was recorded at a later date. We are just saying Vairocani is a definitive arc in a disciple's energetic development.

Where the translators are better than me is in the narration and general language. The GSS Kurmapadi is not exactly the same as in Rinjung Gyatsa. It is noteworthy because it is not a self-generation, it is front-facing like a Yoga deity.

It is unusual because you use an image of any form of Vajrayogini. You do it naked on a hilltop at midnight and visualize her arising from a Hexagram. You gaze upwards and make Bali Offerings. Eventually you mantra her, mirror her pose and embrace her and want her to be your wife. As one persists in the practice, she will "empower" you. This is the word the translators chose; if correct, that would also have a specific meaning in ritualism.

Well, Embrace is only the third level of tantra. Unless something says Union, I can always argue it is an embrace. You can do that naked.

Intuitively, it is not that weird to ask her to be your wife if you are female, since it is about Occult Marriage, Manas to Buddhi.

There is a toned-down version of this form, or, her white form is in Union with Heruka, in other words it is Heruka Yoga, the sought-for energetic state to make the Seven Syllable mantra work properly. Around that point, Vairocani emits other Vajrayoginis or Varahis or Cinnamasta. So it is all in, through, or via her. Looking at Sadhanamala, she "frames" the whole Varahi section, alpha and omega. At first she is Maitri's Varahi replete with a full mandala and so forth, and then at the end she is brief and simple, and neither one give her color or say anything about turtles. The basic one is not turtle, but:

pratyālīḍhena satāṇḍavāṃ

Warrior pose with tandava. Maitri's seems to be flat-footed.

The closest to "color" is "fire at the end of time", such as pralaya anala sannibham. I am not sure if that is a specific color, like Puranic Vairocani just glows with agni jvalantim. Well, it actually looks like Maitri's Varahi is Dadima Kusuma Prakhyam: Pomegranate Flower (visibly, clearly).





It is occasionally orange, rarely pink, and may have a white edge.





When we look at the activities of winds and drops, the central authority may be Vajra Rosary. I am not yet sure what Vahrahi may have said.

[Old Student]

You just blur by it because you think they have messed up "Bhagavatyai" but then if you give it some credence, we see what it means. It could be a misprint or I could be wrong, since the usual term for Milk is Ksira, but it has some air of intentionality.

Gavya has a more specific meaning as being cow's milk as opposed to any other kind?

That makes complete sense to me.

I believe the ideal is that the Hidden Chambers of the Heart must become awakened and luminous, so, when the connection goes through, the head or upper region is going to "listen" and respond to this, and some day if everything all matches up, then you are able to do the Transference which is able to move the heart bindu or citta out of the body through the crown, which as a deity practice would be similar with Jnana Dakini or Pitheshvari Tara. The alternatives are you are going to possess a living body, you are going to possess a dead body, or you are going to die. That is why I would learn the deity's way.

Either way is like a seventh dharma beyond the normal six of Completion Stage which is not exactly going to transfer the bindu because it is mainly going to invest the energy into the Usnisa and Sunya.

What goes on in the intervening time could perhaps be rather strange and unearthly.

I would guess that when she is able to weave five kinds of strands together, it will melt the Tathagatas, Vairocana, etc., and burn the Prajnas, Locana, etc., and the White Hum or Ham will then fall. This is sort of the result of leaving the brain and body an utter blank. It...could be a little weird.

It's possible that the heart will be the last to happen, I have not much detail at my heart, and have more at other places. As for moving out through the head, that's already been shown as a goal, although like you said, it could take a number of forms, including dying.

Last night I did have the pieces connected, but with a "shield" in place -- grey in one eye and black in the other. The grey was for my okay eye, I'm apparently not ready, or it is not a good order, to see the joining yet. The black was specifically to protect the eye with the injury from harm, I could feel it bathing that eye in fluids copiously while things were happening.

So I "saw" the connected version with a "being" sense instead of a visual one, the same sense that feels of being a breeze. The ocean of milk is "layered", or fivefold, I've seen it sequenced in time or space, I've seen it as layers, and I've "being"'d it as five orthogonal oceans of milk. They are paired with five "interpenetration infinities" -- five complete infinite interpenetration worlds which are the jewel interior. I've told you before about seeing into the jewel, this is like there was a five-fold jewel that matched the five-fold ocean of milk. They are the five colors in color, even though I've only "being"'d them and not seen them because of the protection grey. They feel like one might if one meditated on the thangkas of the five wisdom buddhas in their five worlds, and then "arose" as the whole mandala somehow without a need for directions because there were enough dimensions for all of it to be one thing.

Just the awesomeness of that much infinity is why I can understand that I'm not ready to see it, in one "distraction" I did dance at the nexus of it as the tan dancer/rainbow dancer shivshakti thing.

I'm not sure how big it is, the birds were singing at the bird feeder outside the window and it seemed like it was inside of my body. That may seem like a strange thing if it was infinite to wonder how far out from my body it goes, but as a geometer I'm very comfortable with infinities in finite spaces.

I think, but don't know, that the next transition if I ever finish this one is to add my head. I can easily process what you said about the threads eventually having to go to my heart, they point that way when she pulls them. But I may have a long way to go, if ever, before I get there. The "being" feeling feels like seeping away through my skin into the room or into whatever is being "sensed" and although it isn't unpleasant -- it actually feels good, even while it feels like I'm decaying and ceasing to exist -- it is so incredibly weird feeling that it almost automatically starts up all sorts of chatter in my mind and that destroys it. So each increment of progress is a lot more stillness in my listening and it gets very quickly to my current limits of my abilities.

[shaberon]

Posted by Old Student (here)

Gavya has a more specific meaning as being cow's milk as opposed to any other kind?

Hard to be sure. I have tried to scan the piece as to any indication how or why milk is involved, and, so far, it is a riddle.

Some of the rest of your reply is why I cannot say much about Citta Chakra or Bull's Hoof or Heart Chakra. We are saying it is the right way to experience Dharma Kaya. Mainly it is the seat of Vajra Family. That is how Vajradhara is a hypostasis from Vajra Family, he is the full explanation, of "this". And so we have a lot to say about navigating around, and towards this thing, in terms of the subtle body, but at some point, it is inexpressible.

Syllables on the Eyes is one way of doing the last step before Entering the Mandala. The eye syllables are mundane terrestrial vision, or, Chhaya Samjna, and vajra ignorance, and then they are removed like a blindfold.

And so not a whole lot is said about Citta Cakra, somewhat reverently I think, but the Four Dakinis will help us there. It is Vajra Family, and so a great deal of the tantras are Akshobya centered, which usually means that Vairocana has been displaced to the East into the Earth Element. And so it would be likely in this view that Vairocani is in his family. The tantras mainly use a Vajra Family male with a Vairocana female, in union, which is counted as "one central deity". In the cases where this is Vajravarahi, then Vairocana Family would make sense because occupying Earth Element.


I was mistaken and jvalamukhi does come up in her dharani; some of it is fairly normal, and it characterizes her form:

prāṇān kiṅkiṇi kiṅkiṇi khekhiṇi khekhiṇi
dhuna dhuna vajrahaste śoṣaya śoṣaya khaṭvāṅgakapālaśāriṇi

[she holds a vajra, staff, and skull, and perhaps is similar to Kakini or Khakini; this however would tend to describe two arms, since she holds the staff inside her elbow]

mahāpiśitamāṃsāsani manuṣyāntraprāvṛte sārdranaraśiro-
mālāgrathitadhāriṇi sumbhanisumbhe hana hana prāṇān

[here, Sumbha Nisumbha is one word, which has a Puranic meaning, and is used in Chakrasamvara tantra]

sarvvapāpasattvānāṃ sarvvapaśūnāṃ māṃsacchedani krodhamūrtte
daṃṣṭrākarālini mahāmudre śrīherukadevasya agramahiṣi

[she is wrathful and has Mahamudra with Heruka]

sahasraśire sahasrabahvae śatasahasrānane jvalitatejase
jvālāmukhi piṅgalalocane vajraśarīre vajrāsane

[vajra sarira would mean subtle body]

So there is tremendous fieriness, then jvalamukhi right before Fierce Eyes, Subtle Body, and what would suggest Vajra Asana or meditative pose. It does not really answer the question if this is a tongue, a face, or a pig face.

That part ends, but it gets back around to:

siṃharūpe khaḥ gajarūpe gaḥ trailokyodare mahāsamudra-
mekhale grasa grasa phaṭ vīrādvaite

There is eventually a lion related to Kha, and an Elephant related to Gah, which sounds like Ganesh. Mekhala is standardly a "girdle", hers, somehow, is Mahasamudra or Great Ocean. That is the only thing like itself in the book. Pancha Raksa 206 has the clearest use of milk as dadhi ksira or curds and milk.

Whether the "gavya" clue is perhaps relevant to "this" oceanic girdle is not mentioned. But since it does call her Paramasiddha Mahavidya Ishvari then it means it is a mahavidya, or a goddess wisdom or prajna wrapped up in the sound of it.

It is not clear whether this really is the Arthasiddhi form of 224. It does say it is related to the Mahamaya Jvalamukhi Prayoga and Cemetery Mahamaya Varahis.


If the white milk is diaphonously layered, that makes sense, i. e. initially responding to Sound or to what may appear to be silent sound.

Yes, when the weird feeling builds resistant chatter, that is one of the things we are trying to navigate, and/or what is meant by blending mantra and wind in the central channel. That is what is mean by Vishodani or purifying the principles so that dualized reaction does not take place. That mostly means the Cemeteries.

It is difficult not to react to the barrage of weird phenomena that may arise, but, it reaches a height where it is like all of those switches are polarized, and something else happens.

[shaberon]

I was looking for a pattern of the forty-six Vajravarahis of the Guyhasamajasadhanamala (GSS).

It is not terribly difficult, there are only a few kinds.



In full assemblies, Vajravarahi is distinguished from Matrika Varahi. But Vajravarahi is Vajrayogini, or is "a" vajrayogini. Nothing about hog's face or a secondary ghona has been revealed; Ms. English found "in an early yogini text" that Pramoha is Boar Face, and that Marici 141 is a simple Akosakanta, however:

bhagavatīṃ pītavarṇāṃ dvibhujāṃ ekamukhāṃ vairocanopaśobhita-
śirobhāgāṃ ratnamukuṭinīṃ devīpyamānāṃ kanakavarṇāṃ
śūkararūpāṃ

She is related to Vairocana in some complex way, but is crowned by Ratna--and then after being golden-colored, her form or body is that of a sukara or hog.

We do, of course, have the record where Pramoha functions as a Gauri, and we get that Marici has a much more explicit display of pig features, and that the name Vajravarahi does not necessarily require one.

The biggest form appears to be the main subject of her book. The Twelve arm Vajravarahi uses her Thirty-seven point mandala, but adds four Prajnas, who are the central figures of the four sub-lotuses, which array the twenty-four Pitha yoginis. The central lotus contains the Four Dakinis in theriocephalic form:

Dakini (on the eastern petal) has a lion's face, Lama (north) the face of a hog, Khandaroha (west), that of an elephant, and RupinI (south), that of a horse.

This mandala seems to use Completion Stage in a fairly full form.


Vermillion--sindura powder, bandhuka, and China rose are attempts to express similar hues of bright red.

She mentions two Six arm forms extracted from Abhidanottara Tantra:

"Red Vajravarahl" of the Raktavajravarahlsadhana (GSS6) Reverses Chakrasamvara and has a unique retinue and is erotic.

Thirteenfold Vajradakini Vajravarahi (Trayodasatmikavajradakinivajra- varahisadhana GSS16) is the thirteen syllables of the Heart Mantra, i. e. she is Vairocani, surrounded by another unique retinue, The names of these dakinis reflect their mantric origins, thus the syllable om gives rise to Pranavavajradakini (pranava = om), the syllable vam, to Vadavavajradakini, the syllable jam to Jramitavajradakini, and so on.

Two White Vajravarahis are the only Akshobya types, White Vajraghona and Aryasukhavajravarahisadhana GSS38, which she says Sadhanamala 218 is a fuller explanation with only a few minor changes--GSS38 still has Vairocani's mantra.

Most of the rest of the sadhanas are two and four arm versions which are or are very close to the ones in Sadhanamala, and eventually Cinnamasta, for whom she prefers the name Trikaya Vajrayogini.

The main other aspect presented is Vilasini. When we look into this, it is specific things about Dharmadhatu Vajra, the centering of Ratna Family, and what appears should properly be called Padma Jalini or Lotus Net.

And so although the primary Vajravarahi is frequently in Vairocana Family, she does have Vajra and Ratna emanations, shown for example in one of the Vajravali four mandala sets. She may have all families, but, these three are more important. Lotus Family has Guhyajnana who is also related to Vilasini, which must be tied closely, since Guhyajnana also has the Four Dakinis. I am not sure how to hint at an Amoghasiddhi Vajravarahi, since the symbolism seems to indicate that once you start to "get" him, there is Vajrashrnkala who will Chain you to Hevajra Tantra; she becomes an additional consort to the central male along with Vajravarahi.



And so even though there are links and comparisons to NSP and Sadhanamala, it does not shake the view that a major basis of the way it works is that the immanent deity Vairocani refers to the development of Tapas. This would mean about the same thing in any Yoga school, and then this is like scrubbing any other way of doing it, and defining Vairocani as that pivot. If there is no pivotal fiery force, there is no Vairocani, which is why it is useless to attempt her as an invocation. When she is there, you handle her. That is when she is useful as a basic sadhana, and then has a few ways of expanding into a mandala, entering union, or, appearing as a possibly unique type of bride.

Sadhanamala 225 is Varnani, who, perhaps, most directly, is Inverted Stupa goddess, since that is how she begins. She is a simple two arm red form with the Four Dakinis; and this is about all she does.

I am highly convinced that it is not that useful to us to have a massive Cinnamasta or Chod rite available to us and attempt to copy it. Instead, I think if we look at who and why the two Cinnamasta attendants come to be, that is very useful. At the most basic, they still pertain to the general Yoga nerves Ida and Pingala when placed in Tapas, but then harnesses them in a rather specific way, by looking at the things that are exclusively called Vairocani (a few) or Varnani (one).