Chapter Three: The Madhura Disposition in India's Inner (Esoteric) Religious Disciplines
—does not itself occur in this discipline, but wine, meat, and fish are often discussed, while the use of mudrā and sexual union had become commonplace.
The mystery of the Five Ms
It will not be irrelevant to present briefly the secret meaning of Five-M practice. As stated above, the five are wine, meat, fish, mudrā, and sexual union. Many mistaken notions have spread because their precise meaning is not known. All five principles concern inner yoga.
The nectar flowing from the thousand-petalled lotus at the brahma-randhra is “wine.”1 The practitioner who sacrifices merit and demerit with the sword of knowledge consumes “meat”; alternatively, one who restrains speech is the true meat-eater.2 The left channel is iḍā and the right is piṅgalā, also called respectively the Ganga and Yamuna. The inhalation and exhalation flowing through them are the “fish.” To regulate inhalation and exhalation and direct the vital wind through suṣumṇā is to consume the fish.3 Renouncing bad company and keeping the company of the good is mudrā.4 The confluence of suṣumṇā and the vital breath is sexual union.5
These words were symbols and their practice belonged to inner yoga. Later, because practitioners lacked qualification and human nature tends downward, people began to interpret them in external and gross forms.
Footnotes
-
Vyoma-paṅkaja-niṣyanda-sudhā-pāna-rato naraḥ / madhu-pāyī samaḥ prokta itare madya-pāyinaḥ //—“The person devoted to drinking the nectar streaming from the lotus of the sky is declared the true drinker of honey; all others merely drink liquor.” Kulārṇava Tantra. Compare: Kuṇḍalyā milanād indoḥ sravate yat parāmṛtam / pibed yogī maheśāni satyaṃ satyaṃ varānane //—“O Great Goddess, fair-faced one, the yogi should drink the supreme nectar that flows from the moon when Kundalini unites with it. Truly, truly.” Yoginī Tantra. ↩
-
Puṇyāpuṇya-paśuṃ hatvā jñāna-khaḍgena yogavit / pare layaṃ nayec cittaṃ māṃsāśī sa nigadyate //—“The knower of yoga who slays the beasts of merit and demerit with the sword of knowledge and dissolves the mind in the Supreme is called an eater of meat.” Kulārṇava Tantra. Compare: Mā-śabdād rasanā jñeyā tad-aṃśān rasanā-priyān / sadā yo bhakṣayed devi sa eva māṃsa-sādhakaḥ //—“The syllable mā is understood as the tongue, and its portions are the objects the tongue enjoys. O Goddess, one who continually consumes these is the true practitioner of meat.” Āgamasāra. ↩
-
Gaṅgā-yamunayor madhye matsyau dvau carataḥ sadā / tau matsyau bhakṣayed yas tu sa bhavet matsya-sādhakaḥ //—“Between Ganga and Yamuna two fish continually move. Whoever consumes those two fish becomes a practitioner of fish.” Āgamasāra. ↩
-
Satsaṅgena bhaven muktir asatsaṅgeṣu bandhanam / asatsaṅga-mudraṇaṃ yat tu tan mudrā parikīrtitā //—“Liberation comes through good company and bondage through bad. Sealing off bad company is celebrated as mudrā.” Vijaya Tantra. ↩
-
Iḍā-piṅgalayoḥ prāṇān suṣumṇāyāṃ pravartayet / suṣumṇā śaktir uddiṣṭā jīvātmā tu paraḥ śivaḥ / tayos tu saṅgamo devaḥ surataṃ nāma kīrtitam //—“One should cause the vital breaths of Ida and Pingala to move through Sushumna. Sushumna is said to be Shakti, while the living self is supreme Shiva. O Goddess, their union is what is called sexual delight.” Meru Tantra. ↩