Śivasaṃhitā 3.64

The sequence of dhāraṇā through cakras — five ghatis (approximately two and a half hours) at each center — is the most specific and systematic practice the chapter offers for working with the pañcabhūtas. Five sessions of two and a half hours at each main cakra implies concentrated meditation practice lasting fifteen hours. The text is not describing an ordinary session but a mahāsādhana, a practice of extraordinary power.

The power of alchemical transmutation — converting metals to gold through contact with the yogin’s excreta — and invisibility are the siddhis most associated in popular imagination with South India’s siddhas. The rasaśāstra (Śaiva alchemy) tradition developed sophisticated methods for working with mercury (pārada) and other minerals, considering that the advanced yogin’s body radiated transformative qualities similar to fire.

Each cakra in this practice corresponds to an element: mūlādhāra (earth), svādhiṣṭhāna (water), maṇipūra (fire), anāhata (air), viśuddha (ether) and ājñā (pure consciousness beyond the elements). Practicing dhāraṇā at each cakra is literally knowing that element from within, until the element can no longer harm one who has fully inhabited it.