Śivasaṃhitā 5.160

This verse elegantly bridges somatic technique and cosmic contemplation. The physiological process — prāṇa fully retained, the nāḍīs saturated, the bandhas strategically released — creates the conditions for Kuṇḍalinī’s mouth to open and move upward through the cranial aperture. Immediately, the text pivots to a vast contemplative horizon beyond the manifest universe.

The term randhra (aperture, hole) most likely refers to the brahmarandhra, the subtle opening at the crown through which consciousness exits at death and through which the awakened Kuṇḍalinī ascends in liberation. Bandhatyāga — the deliberate release of energetic locks — is counterintuitive: after intense retention, releasing the bandhas creates a surge that propels the energy upward.

The instruction to meditate on the Great Void (mahāśūnya) beyond the Cosmic Egg (Brahmāṇḍa) places this practice within a distinctly Śaiva cosmological framework. The practitioner is invited to identify with the witness beyond creation itself — not merely transcending ego, but transcending the entire manifest cosmos. This is among the most expansive contemplative instructions in the text.