Śivasaṃhitā 4.78

This verse formally inaugurates the Vajrolī section with the heading (vajrolīmudrākathanam) followed by a declaration of intent (kathayiṣyāmi, ‘I will explain’, future of kath-) and the defining effect of the technique: saṃsāradhvāntanāśinī, ‘destroyer of the darkness of saṃsāra’. The darkness-light metaphor is the most fundamental of Śaiva non-dualism: ignorance (avidyā) as darkness, knowledge (vidyā) as the light that dispels it.

Nidratyaktā — ‘having abandoned sleep’ — describes the state of kuṇḍalinī after the practice of Shakti-chālana: the serpent that slept in mūlādhāra has awakened and now ascends svayam (‘by herself, spontaneously’). This detail is crucial: the practitioner does not push kuṇḍalinī upward but creates the conditions for her to ascend by her own nature. The energy is intelligent and self-regulating.

Siddhibhilaṣī — ‘one who longs for siddhis’ — is the profile of the practitioner for whom Vajrolī is especially relevant. In tantric tradition, the desire for power (siddhi) is not considered an obstacle but a fuel: the longing for spiritual powers, when purified by the guru, becomes the driving force of sādhana. The difference between the seeker of worldly power and the tantric sādhaka is the direction of desire: inward, toward the source.