Śivasaṃhitā 5.99

The crimson color of the svādhiṣṭhāna marks the dominance of rajas, the active and creative principle that drives both creation and desire. This is not a flaw but an energy that, properly sublimated, fuels the kuṇḍalinī’s ascent. Śiva self-identifies as the third liṅga in the state of turīya, completing the trinity of internal liṅgas that the yogi encounters in their ascent.

Śoṇa means deep red or crimson, paṅkaja is the lotus (paṅka = mud, ja = born), which is born from mud yet blooms immaculate. Turīya is the fourth state of consciousness, beyond deep sleep, dreaming sleep and waking: it is the pure substrate from which all emerge. The third liṅga in turīya alludes to the sahasrāra as the lotus of definitive realization.

This verse introduces Śiva’s first direct first-person revelation within the cakra context: «I am the third liṅga». The teaching that contemplating the inner Śiva-guru transforms the yogi into Śiva’s likeness is the core of tantric śaktipāta: identity is transmitted through sustained contemplation of the model, until contemplator and contemplated merge.