Chapter Two: The Nature and Scope of Madhura-rasa
—and through the union of prajñā and upāya, the yogi enters the practice of “inner union.” Upāya is Vajrasattva, who dwells in the sahasrāra; prajñā is Shakti, who resides in the mūlādhāra. Inner union means awakening Shakti in the region of the navel and joining her in union with Shiva in the sahasrāra.
The Radha-Krishna principle among the Vaishnava Sahajiyas
Vaishnava Sahajiya practice worships Krishna and Radha respectively as the eternal enjoyer and the eternally enjoyed. In this particular discipline, every man is to be regarded as Krishna and every woman as Radha. Through superimposition, when a man begins to experience himself as Krishna and a woman herself as Radha, their union is no longer, in principle, the union of a man and a woman, but the union of Krishna and Radha. Yogic practice predominates among Buddhist Sahajiyas; love-practice or rasa-practice predominates among Vaishnava Sahajiyas.
Worship of the solar and lunar principles in the Nath tradition
Paired worship found yet another expression in the Nath tradition. Here the sun and moon were adopted as symbols: the sun as the fire of time and the moon as nectar. The Nath Siddhas sought immortality in a divine body. Their methods of bodily purification and bodily perfection through the many operations, locks, and seals of Hatha Yoga, and through alchemy, are especially prominent. The Nath Siddhas' practices of bodily perfection and the perfection of mercury closely resemble those of the alchemical tradition. The difference is only that alchemists placed the emphasis upon perfecting mercury, while the Nath tradition placed it upon yogic operations. Like the Vaishnava Sahajiyas, the Naths also gave love the highest place in inward practice. The Buddhist Sahajiyas aimed at “great bliss,” and the Vaishnava Sahajiyas at “supreme love”; yet for attaining either goal it was considered indispensable that the body be strong and pure. Some form of Hatha Yoga therefore remained prominent in every variety of inward practice.
By discussing these disciplines in some detail, we shall see how, openly or covertly and even if only to some degree, they influenced the madhura worship of the Ramavat tradition.