Texts / Śivasaṃhitā / Verse 4.3

Śivasaṃhitā 4.3

Caturthaḥ paṭalaḥ — Mudrā

Sanskrit text

तस्योर्ध्वं तु शिखासूक्ष्मा चिद्रूपा परमाकला ।

Transliteration

tasyordhvaṃ tu śikhāsūkṣmā cidrūpā paramākalā |

Translation

(Then imagine that) – There go up through the sushumna vessel, three bodies in their due order (i.e., the etheric, the astral and the mental bodies). There is emitted in every chakra the nectar, the characteristic of which is great bliss. Its colour is whitish rosey (pink), full of splendor, showering down in jets the immortal fluid. Let him drink this wine of immortality which is divine, and then again enter the Kula (i.e., perineal space.) Note. While these subtle bodies go up, they drink at every stage this nectar, called Kulamrita.

Commentary

Above the space of the brahmayoni and the image of kāma, the text introduces a subtle flame called śikhā: a spark of pure consciousness that crowns the meditation. This flame is neither physical nor merely symbolic; it is cidrūpā —identical in nature to consciousness itself— and paramākalā, the supreme energy beyond all measure.

Śikhā means literally “crest” or “flame,” and in ritual contexts designates the tuft of hair marking the initiated brahmin, a symbol of the divine spark. Cidrūpā combines cit (pure consciousness, one of Brahman’s three attributes in saccidānanda) with rūpa (form), indicating that its very “form” is consciousness. Paramākalā refers to energy (kalā) at its highest degree, beyond the divisions of time.

This verse describes the point of convergence between the practitioner and the divine: the subtle flame is the bridge between the ascending energy of kuṇḍalinī and the consciousness of Śiva. Meditation on this image prepares the inner union that constitutes the heart of the yonimudrā.

Key terms

bandha mudrā śakti
Verse 4.2
All verses
Verse 4.4