Śivasaṃhitā 5.50

Prāktana vigraha—“previous body”—refers to the karmic structures inherited from past lives that configure the current body. Renunciation (saṃnyāsa) of these bodies is not a physical act but an internal transformation: through the practices of śuddhi (purification) and sādhana performed in prior steps, the practitioner has progressively dissolved the karmic layers obscuring the luminous body. Only from this transparency can the knowledge of ṣaṭcakra be received and assimilated.

Vidhinā—“through this method/procedure”—connects to preceding verses: renunciation occurs through worship of the Lord, offering to the guru, purification through the brāhmaṇas. These steps are not optional—they are the vidhāna (protocol)—without which the transmission does not produce its deepest fruit. Vigrahādika—“body and everything else”—indicates the renunciation encompasses more than the physical body: it includes the identity constructed upon it.

The idea that the advanced practitioner inhabits a divya śarīra (divine body) or tejomaya śarīra (body made of light) is central to Śaiva tantrism. This is not the physical body transformed but the recognition of the subtle body as the practitioner’s true nature. The process of receiving knowledge of ṣaṭcakra is simultaneously the process of recognizing this luminous body as one’s own reality.