Śivasaṃhitā 5.60

The kāmabīja—the “seed of desire/love,” generally represented by the syllable lam or klīm—is the bījamantra (seminal syllable) of mūlādhāra cakra. Its comparison with the bandhūka flower (Pentapetes phoenicea) is not arbitrary: this flower is an intense red tending toward crimson, the same color associated with mūlādhāra. The burnished gold (svarṇabhāsvaraṃ) also mentioned indicates the seed’s dual attribute: ardent and precious simultaneously.

Kāma—“desire,” “love,” in its broadest sense the force of attraction uniting everything that exists—is precisely what lies dormant in mūlādhāra: the cosmic impulse toward union, the force that at its densest level drives reproduction and at its subtlest level drives the search for union with the Supreme Self. Yoga channels this kāma force from its horizontal orientation (toward the world) to its vertical orientation (toward pure consciousness).

The eternity of the bīja (śāśvata) emphasizes that what yoga works with is not a human construction but a primordial cosmic reality. The kāmabīja exists independently of the individual: the practitioner does not create it through meditation but comes into contact with it. This understanding of meditation as contact with the eternal—rather than creation of transient mental states—characterizes the difference between the tantric approach and purely technical approaches to yoga.