Chapter Three: The Madhura Disposition in India's Inner (Esoteric) Religious Disciplines

The generally accepted meaning of sahaja

Why did the word sahaja enter common use? As ostentatious external rites gained influence in religious practice; as severe observances came to be regarded as steps toward perfection; and as pilgrimage, vows, fire-offerings, sacrifices, the plucking or shaving of hair, Tantra, and mantra increased, a reaction arose in the minds of true devotees in every religion. The word sahaja signifies this entire reaction.

Opposition to external display and harsh observance is its negative side. Its positive side is the conviction that one should seek God within oneself, not in pilgrimage places, ritual operations, and pompous forms of conduct. The human body is itself the dwelling of every pilgrimage place. The entire cosmos is contained within it, and the Supreme to be attained abides there. The human body is therefore the finest instrument of every discipline. Once a person understands this truth, neither yoga, renunciation, breath control, nor painful practice is needed. Remaining in the innate disposition, one attains the Supreme Principle that is the final goal of human life.

The body itself is the cosmos

The most important doctrine of the sahaja view is that the human body is everything. “Whatever is in the body is in the cosmos”; “Whatever exists in the cosmos exists wholly in the body.” Everyone accepted this principle. Its acceptance nevertheless produced dozens of explanations of the sahaja doctrine and several transformations of it.

The Buddhist Siddha Saraha says that Sarasvati, Yamuna, Ganga, and the ocean are all within this body. Prayag and Varanasi are here; moon and sun are here. Every sacred field, perfected seat, and subsidiary seat is here. “I wander in this great place of pilgrimage,” he says. “I have seen no auspicious pilgrimage equal to the body.”¹

Kabir sang in the same voice:

Within this vessel are gardens and groves; within it is the Creator.
Within this vessel are the seven oceans; within it, nine hundred thousand stars.

Sant literature is filled with such declarations.

Medieval practitioners regarded five constituents of the body as exceptionally powerful: mind, vital breath, speech, semen, and Kundalini. Broadly speaking, these became the foundations of (1) disciplines grounded in Raja Yoga, (2) disciplines grounded in Hatha Yoga, (3) mantra recitation, (4) the discipline of raising the seed upward, and (5)—