Śivasaṃhitā 5.142

This verse refers to the practice of khecarīmudrā, one of the most important and closely guarded techniques in Haṭhayoga, in which the tongue is folded back and inserted into the nasopharyngeal cavity. The expression viparītagām, meaning ‘moving in the reverse direction’, is technically precise: the tongue inverts its natural orientation to seal a contact point with the flow of amṛta, the nectar of immortality said to drip from the cranial vault.

The term rasanā denotes the tongue but simultaneously evokes the faculty of taste (rasa). This double resonance is deliberate: through khecarīmudrā, the yogin literally ‘tastes’ the divine nectar flowing from the bindu at the crown. The text thus connects subtle physiology with the experience of absorption into the divine, referencing the great powers such as aṇimā and laghimā as fruits of this union.

The khecarīmudrā is described in detail in texts such as the Haṭhapradīpikā (III.32–54) and the Khecarīvidyā, where gradual techniques for lengthening the lingual frenulum are outlined. Its mastery is associated not only with extraordinary powers (siddhis) but with the final dissolution of the ego into universal consciousness — represented here as absorption into Śiva himself.