Śivasaṃhitā 5.145

This verse provides a precise interior map: above the ājñācakra — the brow-centre lotus — lies the sahasrāra, and within it a yoni, a generative energy-seat, with the moon positioned below it. The instruction is not ornamental visualization but a technically structured contemplation requiring the practitioner to orient awareness through successive layers of subtle anatomy with disciplined accuracy.

The word yoni — ordinarily «womb» or «source» — carries in tantric contexts the specific meaning of śakti’s point of origination. Its location within the sahasrāra implies that cosmic creative power has its supreme expression at the crown, not only in the lower centres as often assumed. The qualifier vicakṣaṇa («discerning, expert») signals that this contemplation is reserved for those whose minds have been refined by sustained abhyāsa.

The moon (candra) within the sahasrāra is a recurrent image in haṭhayogic physiology, representing the cool, nourishing principle that secretes amṛta — the nectar of immortality. The yogi who learns to contemplate and ultimately «drink» this internal nectar is said to arrest vital decay. This motif appears consistently across the Haṭhapradīpikā, the Gheraṇḍasaṃhitā, and the major Śaiva tantras, attesting to its centrality in the tradition.