Ritual

Siva-Sakti, illustrating Siva and
Sakti as the embodiment of
universal energy, Kundalini, in the
centre of his body. Himachal
Pradesh, c. 18th century. Gouache
on paper.
194
dissolve into an inner radiance of intensely bright pure light in
which the yogi has the sense of being immersed into a blaze of
dazzling flame.
An altered state of consciousness differs from our ordinary
perception of reality. First, the illumined yogi has a holistic
perception of reality which he directly apprehends through the
inherent harmony in unity of all things, together with various
sensory reactions. Second, his ascent from one level of consciousness
to another alters a normal dimension of linear time-experience
as a constant flow of events sequentially organized as past, present
and future into an experience which transcends time and in which
all events simultaneously exist in the 'infinite present'.
The last stage of psychic ascent culminates in illumination or
unity-mergence. The psyche, having traversed a long and winding
road, now enters a new domain. The aspirant becomes totally
integrated within himself, having cast aside all illusions and
delusions. There is no ambiguity in his life. He is merged with the
object of his worship, slowly dissolving all the grosser elements of
his personality into a subtle constancy for final abandonment. This
stage is characterized by an experiential realization of what the
classical Hindu tradition (including tantra) calls Sat (Being), Chit
(Consciousness), Ananda (Bliss), the triad of substances of Siva-
Sakti in union. If we take a mundane view of these concepts, these
three may appear as separate substances. But in an 'altered' or
'metamorphosed' state of consciousness, such as that lived by one
who has realized, they form a tri-unity, each submerging into one
single unified experience. In our ordinary experience we dissociate
the object of pleasure from the person who experiences it. Thus a
painting is different from the painter, a poem is distinct from the
poet, music is separated from the musician; but in altered states
these distinctions are abolished - the painter becomes the painting,
the poet the poem, the musician the music, the sadhaka the very
essence of the bliss of union characterized by Sat-Chit-Ananda.
One who has attained these transformations has no more desires.
All external aids become symbols of phases and forces. They are no
more than 'links' in different parts of the whole, and all the means
that we require to reach the ultimate goal, however high, lie
within us: 'What need have I of an outer woman? I have an inner
woman within myself When roused, she (Kundalini, the 'inner
woman') shines like 'millions of lightning flashes' in the centre of
the sadhaka's body. He then thinks that he himself is shining like
everything that is reflected. He looks upon the entire objective
world that is reflected as surging within him. He then neither