The Role of Meditation and Visualisation in Pātañjala Yoga and ‘Tantric’ Yoga

Susan Ganje [email protected] Graduate Student Religions of Asia & Africa, SOAS, University of London Assignment for Origins & Development of Yoga in Ancient India with Dr. Ted Proferes 15th April 2013

The Role of Meditation and Visualisation in Pātañjala Yoga and ‘Tantric’ Yoga

Introduction

In his discussion on meditation in Chinese Buddhism, Peter N. Gregory makes the interesting

observation that the practice of meditation cannot easily be detached from its doctrinal context and

that ‘the various Buddhist meditation techniques are deeply embedded in a larger world view’ (1986: 6).

Meditation ‘puts into practice’ the teachings of the tradition and its understanding of the world

(Gregory, 1986: 6). The meditative practices, shaped by the tradition’s view of the ‘existential dilemma’,

may offer a method to achieve a particular goal. Given the intertwining of theory and practice, the kind

of experience arising from the meditative practices may also differ depending on the doctrinal setting

(Gregory, 1986: 7). Therefore, even what may appear to be the same meditative technique may play a

different role in a different tradition. These observations may be applied to the Hindu context where

practices of meditation, including visualisation, are also informed by the philosophical teachings of the

tradition. Meditation will also most likely be linked to the other practices and rituals of the tradition

(Gregory, 1986: 10). By exploring the forms of meditative practices against the broader framework of

worldview, teachings, goals and other practices of the tradition, this paper seeks to illustrate how the

role of meditation and visualisation in Pātañjala yoga and tantric yoga converge on some aspects and

differ on others.

Category definitions: Setting the boundaries

The English word meditate is derived from the Latin word meditari which signifies ‘deep, continued

reflection, a concentrated dwelling in thought’ (Underwood, 2005: 5816). The term contemplation,

which is also derived from Latin composing of cum (with) and templum (a consecrated place), is defined

Origins & Development of Yoga in Ancient India: S. Ganje

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by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘deep reflective thought; religious meditation; a form of Christian

prayer or meditation in which a person seeks to pass beyond mental images and concepts to a direct

experience of the divine’. For the purposes of this essay the category of meditation will be broad

enough to include what may be considered both techniques and states of meditation and contemplation.

Meditation will serve as a broad translation for a number of Sanskrit terms, which have more specific

technical connotations and which can vary depending on the context. The Sanskrit term samādhi

(meaning ‘placing together’) has been employed to denote both a technique and state of meditation

(Feuerstein, 2005: 8066). It has been translated as ‘enstasy’, a term proposed by Eliade (1969) to signify

the spiritual experience of ‘standing in oneself’ in contrast with ecstasy ‘standing outside oneself’

(Feuererstein, 2005: 8066). Samādhi has also been employed in Pātañjala yoga to designate

‘the technique of mystical identification with the intended object’ (Feuererstein, 2005: 8066). In

addition, the terms dhāraṇā and dhyāna are understood in Pātañjala yoga as references to specific yogic

techniques, the former involving ‘one-pointedness’ of concentration and the latter involving ‘one-

flowingness’ signifying flow of awareness on an object (Feuerstein, 2005: 8066, Larson, 2012: 80). In the

context of the Śaiva tantric traditions, dhyāna has been translated as ‘subtle visualisation’ (Flood, 2006:

162). Meditation will thus include a range of Sanskrit terms, reflecting the variety of techniques and

different understandings of meditative states.

Like the category of meditation, a broad definition of yoga will be used for the purposes of this

study in line with Eliade’s interpretation of the word. For Eliade, the term yoga, (from the root yuj

meaning ‘to bind together’, ‘hold fast’ or ‘yoke’) ‘serves, in general, to designate any ascetic technique

and any method of meditation; it is practiced to ‘decondition life’, and to attain self-mastery leading

ultimately to immortality (1969: 4, 292, 360). The philosophy and techniques of yoga inevitably differ

across traditions reflecting different understandings though these aspects appear to be essential, albeit

not definitive, characteristics of yoga.

Pātañjala yoga, also referred to as ‘Classical yoga’, is a system of yoga called a darśana (‘view,

doctrine’) described in Patañjali’s text, the Yoga Sūtra (Eliade, 2005: 9893). Very little is known about

Patañjali and scholars believe that he was a complier rather than a founder of a system of yoga

(Feuerstein, 2008: 214; Eliade, 1969: 7). The Yoga Sūtra is considered to be a ‘practical manual of very

ancient techniques’ rather than a new philosophical thesis and indeed the philosophical frame-work for

the yogic techniques is believed to be based on Sāṃkhya philosophy (Eliade, 1969: 7, 9).

Tantric yoga is more difficult to define with the category Tantrism considered by Herbert

Guenther to be ‘probably one of the haziest notions and misconceptions the Western mind has evolved’


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(Smith, 2005: 8987). Nevertheless various etymologies and interpretations of the term, which is seen

used with a variety of meanings in early Sanskrit texts, have been proposed (Smith, 205: 8987). Flood

notes that the primary interpretation of tantra is a ‘loom’ (a device used to weave cloth) or the ‘warp’

(length-way yarns) of a loom, suggesting a framework (2006: 9). It is a Sanskrit word with the root, tan,

meaning ‘to extend, stretch, expand’ (Smith, 2005: 8987). It has also been suggested that the term could

be related to tanu, ‘the body’, (Flood, 2006: 9), which gains importance in the tantric traditions. Another

interpretation of tantra is ‘method or instrument of expansion’ as the suffix tra may be understood as

means of action (Flood, 2006: 12).

Rather than a rigid coherent system of belief and practices, the designation of tantra as a

‘floating signifier’, thus appears appropriate (Smith, 2005: 8987). André Padoux has identified the

following traits: ‘use of ritual, manipulation of power, transgression of norms, use of the mundane to

reach the supramundane and the identification of the microcosm with the macrocosm’ (Brown, 2002: 2;

Padoux, 1987). This non-exhaustive list provides key markers which can serve as ‘floating signifiers’ of

tantra. Flood refers to ‘tantric traditions’ as those religions that ‘claimed to develop from textual sources

referring to themselves as ‘tantras’, regarded as revelation, the word of God, by their followers’ (2006:

8). The tantras are categorised as the Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava, Śākta and Sūryā Tantras (Flood, 2006: 7). For this

paper tantric yoga will focus on select non-dual Śaiva traditions.

Pātañjala Yoga: World view and central teachings

The composition of the Yoga Sūtra is placed, after the Bhagavad Gītā, in the early centuries CE, around

300 CE for Flood (2004, 72) or somewhat later, 350-400 CE for Larson (2012: 73). As noted by Flood, two

philosophical ideas which arise repeatedly in the Brāhmaṇic texts from the early centuries BCE concern

self-knowledge and interiority (2004: 67). Indeed the quest for liberation of the true nature of the self

along with the doctrines of karma and rebirth are seen emerging as primary concerns already in the

Vedic Upaniṣads (c. 800 to 400 BCE). Patañjali thus inherited the history of Brāhmaṇic thought which,

with possibly the influence of the Buddhist and Jain śramaṇas, had adopted a view that the world is

essentially a place of suffering (duḥkha) where unavoidable karmic imprint binds man into an endless of

cycle of rebirths (saṃsāra). This worldview is clearly articulated in the Yoga Sūtra where all suffering,

which is inevitably in a worldly existence, is attributed to karma (karman, ‘act’). The text reads:

The causes-of-affliction are the root of the ‘action deposit,’ and [that] may be experienced in


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the visible [i.e., present] birth or in an unseen [i.e., future birth] (Sūtra 2.12).1

To the discerner all is but suffering (Sūtra 2.15).2

Patañjali’s answer to the suffering of life involves withdrawal from the world and asceticism (Eliade,

2005: 9894). Scholars interpret the primary focus of the Yoga Sūtra is to systemise the techniques of

yoga as ‘a process of isolation from the world’ (Samuel, 2008: 221).

The metaphysical and cosmological understanding underpinning the Yoga Sūtra is rooted in

Sāṃkhya (Larson, 2012: 74). Sāṃkhya is a dualistic system of thought which uses a method of

enumeration to explain the nature of all existence and experience. The understanding is that the world

is real and not just an appearance as is found in Vedānta (Eliade, 1969: 9). There are two distinct

ontological categories of reality: the true self, which is pure consciousness (puruṣa) and materiality,

which is everything else (prakṛti) (Harzar, 2005: 8089). Consciousness is an unchanging witness, while

materiality can be active or dormant with the potentiality for action (Harzar, 2005: 8089). Materiality

has three constituents (guṇus) and in its dormant state the three guṇus are in a state of equilibrium. The

manifest world ceases to exist but the potentiality of it coming back into existence continues to exist.

Indeed it is upon the guṇus falling out of balance that the manifest universe begins to emerge. It is a

process of emanation beginning with primordial materiality producing the intellect (buddhi; mahat),

which produces the ego (ahaṃkāra) and the mind (manas) (Harzar, 2005: 8089). The ego, in turn,

produces the five sense capacities (buddhīndriya), the five action capacities (karmendriya), and the five

subtle elements (tanmātra) such as sound essence and contact essence. These subtle elements produce

five gross elements (bhūta) such as air, water and fire.

An essential difference between the Pātañjala Yoga and Sāṃkhya is that the former is theistic,

while the latter is atheistic (Eliade, 1969: 7). God (Iśvara) exists as a third feature of reality in Pātañjala

Yoga alongside puruṣa and prakṛti (Eliade, 1969:73). Iśvara is not the creator of the world but rather a

‘god of yogins’, an ideal for yogins who can assist with their goal of attaining samādhi (Eliade, 1969: 73).

The Role of Meditation in the Yoga Sūtras

1 Feuerstein. 2008. The Yoga Tradition. p 222. ‘Action deposit’ signifies for Feuerstein ‘karmic load’ leading to

‘delight’ or ‘distress’. 2 Ibid.


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The goal of Pātañajala Yoga reflects the worldview of the tradition and its cosmological understanding.

The ultimate goal is to attain samādhi (‘enstasy’), a higher state of awareness whereby the true self is

liberated from ‘the attachment that keeps the self being reborn in the realm of suffering’ (Flood, 2004:

72). The subtle body including the intellect, the mind, the ego and the senses are all derivatives of the

one principle of materiality and thus belong to the material world. One tends to incorrectly identify

oneself with the subtle body. This misunderstanding of the self brings about suffering and the endless

rounds of rebirth as the subtle body is subject to reincarnation (Harzar, 2005: 8990). The true self in

Pātañjala Yoga, like in Sāṃkhya, is puruṣa, unchanging pure consciousness and in samādhi the

practitioner experiences the true self upon the realisation of its distinction from the material world

(Larson, 2012: 78).

Meditation plays the lead role in the Yoga Sūtra as it represents the primary method to achieve

the goal of samādhi. The meditative practices of Pātañajala Yoga are essentially single-pointed

concentration techniques, which are aimed at the withdrawal of consciousness from ‘external concerns’

and the ‘focussing of the body-mind’ (Samuel, 2008: 221). Indeed in the beginning of the first chapter of

the Yoga Sūtra we find the renowned affirmation ‘Yoga is the restriction (nirodha) of the fluctuations of

consciousness (citta)’ (Sūtra 1.2)3. This can be interpreted as both the process and the end goal. In the

former case it can be read as yoga is the restraining the activities of the mind. In the latter case, to

follow Bhattacharaya’s interpretation, yoga is the cessation of the functioning of ‘ordinary awareness’

(Larson, 2012: 89, Bhattacharya, 1963). ‘Ordinary awareness’ relates to the experience of the intellect,

ego and mind and therefore it is upon stopping the function of ‘ordinary awareness’, that the yogin can

experience its true self as consciousness (Larson, 2012: 77, 89, Bhattacharya, 1963).

The meditative practices prescribed in the Yoga Sūtra followed a gradual process whereby a

series of techniques are performed in stages with the mental focus becoming increasingly internal. As

described by Larson (2012: 81-88), there are two broad categories of meditative practice: samprajnata-

sāmadhi (sāmadhi with seed) and a-samprajnata-sāmadhi (seedless sāmadhi). The first category

contains four forms of practice, all of which have an object or content of meditation (hence the

classification ‘with seed’) and therefore would entail the creation of some karmic imprint. The four

forms of practice all involve one-pointed concentration. The process begins with concentration on a

‘gross’ element, which entails the practitioner’s ‘empirical awareness’ (vitarka), which is the ‘everyday

realm of ordinary or gross experience’ (Larson, 2012: 82). Here we might imagine a yogin concentrating

his focus on a physical tree. The second stage is concentration on subtle objects or contents, which

3 Feuerstein. 2008. Traditions of Yoga. pp. 217.


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entails ‘rational awareness’ (vicāra), which concerns the ‘subtle realm of ideas and conceptualisations’

(Larson, 2012: 82). The yogin would focus his concentration internally on the mental image of the object

or on the repetition of the mantra OM. This appears to be the only stage where a form of visualisation is

used. The third stage is concentration on a more subtle state of sensing, which entails ‘aesthetic or

sensorial awareness’ (ānanda), referring to raw feeling without ‘intellectual elaboration’ (Larson, 2012:

82). This suggests the yogin would let go of both the physical and mental image of the object and focus

his concentration on the feeling arising. The final stage involves concentration on one’s self-awareness,

I-ness, (asmitā). Eventually the yogin will be prepared for practice ‘without seed’, which will entail no

karmic imprint.

Through these stages of meditative practice from the gross to the more subtle, the yogin, in

the words of Flood, can ‘retrace cosmogony’ through the different ‘levels of emanation described in the

Sāṃkhya tradition, until a critical break is reached and the self realises its non-attachment to matter’

(2004: 77). The meditative path prescribed by Patañjali is therefore at once a ‘journey into the self’ and

a ‘journey through the hierarchical cosmos’ (Flood, 2004: 77). The meditative practices comprise the last

three ‘limbs’ of yoga practice, as described in the Yoga Sūtra; they are dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi.

They follow the first five ‘limbs’ of yoga, which are understood as largely preparatory exercises, and

they work together which the other practices prescribed such as asceticism (tapas,) recitation and study

(svādhyāya), devotion to God (Īśvara) (Larson, 2012: 79), which focus on cultivating self-control,

withdrawal of the senses and non-attachment and thus are conducive to the goal of samādhi.

Tantra Yoga: Historical & Cultural Context

The origins of Tantrism are traced back to the middle of the first millennium CE in India (White, 2005:

8985). Tantrism developed across Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism becoming prevalent across these

traditions in some form or another by the medieval period (White, 2005: 8985). The non-Saiddhāntika

traditions (the non-dual traditions often called Kashmir Śaivism) developed from the ninth to eleventh

centuries CE (Flood, 2006: x). The blossoming of the tantric traditions thus occurred many centuries

after the composition of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra, and they exhibited great diversity in terms of region,

temporality and culture as evidenced by the variety of deity worship, underlying metaphysical and

cosmological beliefs and practices.

According to White, drawing on the work of Samuel, the medieval kings played a notable role in

the development of the Tantrism (White, 2000:18, Samuel). The kings may have been lured by the


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prospect of attaining more power through magical techniques and a great portion of the early tantric

texts concerned ‘magical techniques for controlling other beings against their will’ (White, 2000: 18).

Indeed scholars have identified two key goals typically associated with Tantrism: to gain both worldly

and supernatural enjoyments (bhukti) and powers (siddhis), and to obtain liberation, that is usually in

this life (jīvanmukti) (Padoux, 2002: 20).

The Body & Cosmology in Tantric Yoga

The Śaiva Siddhānta traditions have a different cosmological understanding from the tradition

underlying Pātañajala yoga, but they do, however, also incorporate the Sāṃkhya system of enumeration.

The Śaivas adds eleven new categories (tattva) to the twenty-five classifications of Sāṃkhya philosophy

(Flood, 2006: 122). The hierarchy of thirty-six categories serves as a way of explaining how the universe

unfolds and how in the process the soul becomes entrapped (Flood, 2006: 127). While puruṣa is

understood as the true self in Pātañajala yoga, for the Śaivas it does not signify a ‘realised soul’, as

explained by Swami Lakshman Jee, the celebrated Kashmiri Śaiva theologian, but rather a soul that is

‘limited and bound’ (1988: 7). Instead Śiva is understood as the transcendent Lord, who creates,

maintains, destroys, conceals and reveals all existence and all experience (Flood, 2006: 57). The Śiva

tattva is thus placed at the top of the hierarchy with the rest of the categories corresponding to the

degree to which Śiva conceals itself and thus the degree to which the universe is revealed (Flood, 2006:

127). Śiva is concealed in increasing degrees from the subtle to the gross, resulting in the soul or the

true self becoming increasingly entrapped (Flood, 2006: 126).

The cause of the entrapment of the soul is attributed to māyā, translated as ‘illusion-power’ by

Flood (2006: 126). The illusion-power is a force, understood as emanations of Śakti, the Goddess or

energy of Śiva, which creates ‘coverings’ (kancuka) resulting in a contracted consciousness of limited

time, place, knowledge, individuality, etc. (Flood, 2006: 126; Lakshman Lee, 1988: 3). This process thus

conceals Śiva and entraps lower souls (Flood, 2006: 126).

The non-Saiddhāntika traditions adopted the Śaiva Siddhānta cosmological and ritual frame-

work with the major difference being their non-dual understanding (Flood, 2006: 146). For the non-dual

Śaiva traditions, there is only one ultimate reality, Śiva, and the entire manifest universe is understood

as ‘manifestations of consciousness’ (Flood, 2006: 146). Śiva has two sides of the one consciousness, the

manifested, through Śakti, and the un-manifested (Feuerstein, 1998: 62). Therefore, like in Pātañaja


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Yoga, the world is real for the monistic Śaiva traditions. However, there is no ontological separation

between puruṣa and prakṛti; in the monistic Śaiva traditions both the individual self and the material

world are manifestations of the Śakti power of the absolute, Śiva. The experience of duality is explained

as a contraction of consciousness.

The understanding of cosmology greatly impacts the view of the body in the two traditions. We

have seen in Pātañajala Yoga that the body is understood as the locus of karmic imprint with action and

worldly involvement leading to suffering, while the empowerment or the divinisation of the body is a

central characteristic of tantric traditions (Flood, 2006: 11). The body becomes a source of

enlightenment in the non-dual Śaiva traditions due to the non-separation between spirit and matter and

the understanding that the human body is a manifestation of supreme consciousness of Śiva. The

individual is thus a microcosmic replicate of the supreme as it is an expression of supreme consciousness

in a contracted form (Flood, 1993).

The Role of Meditation and Visualisation in Tantric Yoga

The goal of the monistic Śaiva traditions is to awaken the realisation of the identity of the practitioner

with the absolute omnipresent Śiva, the ultimate consciousness (Flood, 2004: 102, Muller-Ortega, 2005:

184). Thus both the yogin of the Pātañajala tradition and the non-dualist Śaiva traditions seek spiritual

liberation. However, in the former liberation is understood as ‘enstasy’ (sāmadhi) with the realisation of

the separation of spirit from matter, while in the latter it is understood as ‘immersion into supreme

consciousness’ (saṃvitsamāveśa) (Flood, 2004: 102). In addition the goal in Pātañajala yoga is typically

understood by scholars as accompanied by a rejection of the world, while the concept of jīvanmukti is

most often associated with the tantric traditions (Samuel, 2008: 222; Padoux, 2002: 20).

While in Yoga Sūtra all of the meditative practices essentially involve one-pointed

concentration, the tantric traditions introduces a range of possibilities including elaborate visualisations

with geometric designs representing deities such as the yantra and maṇḍala, use of sound and mantra

and later the combination of asana with prāṇāyāma, mudrā and meditation with Haṭha yoga (Flood,

2006: 109; Underwood, 2005: 5819). The emotions, seen restricted in Pātañajala yoga, are given freer

rein in the tantric traditions and can even be employed in practices (Underwood, 2005: 5819), although

an inner ascetic approach is still employed. In the tantric tradition of kuṇḍalinī yoga visualisations were

developed around internal vital centres called cakras to awaken the latent cosmic Śakti energy within

the body and to reunite the practitioner with Śiva (Underwood, 2005: 5820).


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While meditation plays the lead role in Pātañjala yoga, the role of meditation and visualisation

in the tantric traditions vary depending on the specific tradition. In Muller-Ortega’s study (2005:184-

188) on the Tantrāloka and the Tantrasāra, two keys texts of Abhinavagupta, the great tenth century

great Kashmiri monistic theologian, he observes that ‘intellectual knowledge’ or ‘perfected reasoning’

takes a lead role in the path to liberation. ‘Intellectual knowledge’ is defined as a combination of

‘soaring transcendent mysticism and a deeply ‘illuminated’ intellectuality’ (2005: 184). Another leading

role is played by ‘liberative grace’, which is understood as the descent of Śakti and which can only arise

freely. Muller-Ortega’s study shows that Abinavagupta considered the first five limbs of Pātañjala yoga

as ineffective in ‘grasping ultimate consciousness’ as they represent an ‘external level of manifestation’,

while the last three limbs are also considered ineffective as consciousness must transform from deep

within the practitioner (2005: 187). Meditative practices can be based on the breath, mind and body as

the ‘universality of the Self’ is accepted but they should not be restrictive or forceful, as seen in

Pātañjala yoga, but rather an expansion of consciousness from the most subtle out to the more gross

lower levels of reality (2005: 188). Thus meditative practices play an important role in the path to

liberation although interiority of practice is emphasised with an expansion of consciousness from within.

Similar to Pātañjala yoga, practices are linked to the cosmological understanding of the

tradition with liberation of the true self entailing a voyage through the cosmos to the source of

liberation. This can be seen with Abhinavagupta in the way practices are tailored to achieve an

expansion of consciousness, which he saw as the source of liberation (Flood, 2006: 147). Flood’s study

on Abhinavagupta and his student, Kṣemarāja (2006: 147-153) illustrates this point with the

understanding of the mantra aham. The word aham becomes a powerful mantra and thus a tool for

meditation, as it is considered the ‘I’ of Śiva. Within the word aham one finds the whole cosmos as it

contains both the first and last letters ‘a’ and ‘ha’ and thus everything in between. With the continuous

flow of the mantra recitation aham becomes maha, representing the expansion and contraction of the

cosmos, respectively. We can thus assume that through the recitation of the mantra or the mental

identification with the mantra, the goal of the tradition can be achieved: expansion of consciousness

accumulating in identification with Śiva.

The meditative practices vary across the different tantric traditions as they are shaped not only

by the broader metaphysical position but also by particular teachings of the branch or school. The

central idea of the Spanda lineage is that everything and all experience, including the gross and subtle, is

the pulsation of consciousness (Feuerstein, 1998: 180). Reflecting these teachings, Wallis identified

three ‘spanda experiences’ in Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka; the first entails focusing on the object of


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experience as a vibration or pulsation of energy, followed by awareness on the existence of nothing but

the practitioner and finally awareness of only the universal ‘I’ (2012: 185). It appears here that a process

is followed, like we have seen in Pātañjala yoga, with a refinement of awareness towards the more

subtle and towards the realisation of what the tradition understands as the true self.

Conclusion

While meditative techniques with an ultimate goal of liberation can be found in the traditions of both

Pātañjala and ‘tantric’ yoga, the role of meditation and visualisation differs reflecting the specific

historical and cultural context and the doctrinal teachings of the tradition. Meditation is important to

both traditions with more varied forms in Tantrism and in both cases it is deeply integrated into the

tradition’s worldview and cosmological teachings with the practices specifically tailored to its

soteriological goal.


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pp. 8984-8987. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA.

Documents

The Role of Meditation and Visualisation in Pātañjala Yoga and ‘Tantric’ Yoga