Śivasaṃhitā 2.22

Within the ādhāra lotus, the text locates a triangular yoni described as suśobhanā — ‘of great beauty’ — and deliberately concealed in all the Tantras. This concealment is not incidental: the yoni represents the primordial feminine creative principle, the energetic matrix from which all manifestation emerges, and its sacred nature demands initiatory transmission rather than indiscriminate disclosure.

Karṇikā designates the pericarp or central receptacle of a lotus flower, its innermost and most protected part. The choice of this floral architectural term is significant: the yoni is not exposed but sheltered at the very heart of the lotus. Suśobhanā (very beautiful, radiant) shares its root with śubha (auspicious, luminous), suggesting that this beauty carries a sacred rather than merely aesthetic dimension.

The insistence on the secrecy (guhya) surrounding this structure across all Tantras situates the Śivasaṃhitā within a tradition of controlled esoteric transmission. Yet the text simultaneously reveals it, implying that the reader has already been deemed fit to receive it. This tension between concealment and revelation is constitutive of Tantric literature and defines its pedagogical relationship with the student.