Verses 3.64 through 3.69
Once the uptending life energy and the downtending life energy, and the divine sound and the upheld sexual seed, have been united by means of the root lock, the aspirant is granted the accomplishment of yoga; in this there is no doubt. Through the uninterrupted continued practice of the root lock, there is the uniting of the uptending life energy and the downtending life energy, and the decrease of excrement and urine, and even the old become young. When the downgoing downtending vital air, becoming upgoing, makes its way into the circle of fire, then the downtending vital air becomes the long flame (long tongue) of the quivering fire of yoga. When the fire and the downtending vital air come upon the naturally hot uptending life energy, then through this the fire located in the body is greatly intensified; the sleeping
evolutionary force, suffering from being heated, is awakened, and finally, hissing like a she- serpent struck by a stick, becomes outstretched. After that, like a she-serpent entering a crack, the evolutionary force smoothly enters the Absolute channel; therefore, yogis should perform daily uninterrupted root lock.
In the yogic scriptures, the description of ten vital airs is found; among them, uptending, downtending, equalizing, up-breath, and diffusing, are the five main vital airs; the rest: serpent demon, tortoise, long pepper, God-given, and prize winner, are the five subsidiary vital airs. The location of 'uptending' is the unstruck energy center, in the heart; it performs the purifying action of respiration. The location of 'downtending' is the root energy center, in the anal region; it effects the discharge of excrement, urine, semen, and menstrual blood. The location of 'equalizing' is the navel-filling jewel energy center, in the navel; it does the work of digestion. The location of 'up- breath' is the pure speech energy center, in the throat; it does the work of swallowing. The location of 'diffusing' is in the self's standing-place energy center – [and] is in the whole body; it does the work of circulating the blood. The serpent demon vital air does the work of bursting open [coughing] and opening the meeting place of the trachea [and the bronchi]. The tortoise vital air does the work of closing and opening the eyes (blinking). The long pepper vital air does the work of stimulating hunger and thirst. The God-given vital air brings on sleep and drowsiness, and separates the body from the subtle body. [The prize winner vital air nourishes the body (from A
Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by Monier-Williams).]
The divine sound is of two kinds: struck and unstruck. Struck divine sound is produced by [willfully] rubbing two material objects together, and unstruck divine sound arises of its own accord [spontaneously, without being willed] in the body of the yogi. In unstruck divine sound,
first the soul inspires the mind, and then the mind inspires the uptending life energy. It [the uptending life energy] excites the downtending life energy which is situated in the creative plexus. Due to the friction (sexual excitement) of the two [the uptending life energy and down-tending life energy], the fire of yoga is produced. The fire-stimulated downtending life energy gradually begins to go up, consequently there is production of divine sound – very subtle in the navel, subtle in the heart, out loud in the throat, produced/supervenient/made/expressed in the mouth, and without content (meaning, substance) in the top of the head.
The unstruck divine sound referred to here [in verse 3.64] is the final one. Only the yogi of a high class has this experience. Generally, at the time of the initiation into the descent of the divine power, some of the initiated sing, some yell, others pronounce Rama, OM, and other repeated prayers – various unstruck divine sounds of this sort are manifested, but all these divine sounds are very ordinary; they are elementary; they are not very important. This final divine sound is sun- moon accomplishment. Its knowers give it the name 'pranava' (the sacred syllable Om). In it, the mouth is closed and sound comes out from the nostrils, the triple lock occurs step by step, and lastly there is the 'external' hold (the having-nothing-to-do-with-anything hold). This is the sacred syllable Om described in The Yoga Darshana. This is the life-energy-sustaining prayer of light, the life energy teaching, or the great teaching, arising in (from) the evolutionary force, that is
mentioned by King-Among-Yogis Goraksha Master. In The Mundaka Upanishad it says, 'The sacred syllable Om is said to be the bow; the soul, the arrow; and the Absolute, its target; attentively, it should be penetrated, and, like the arrow, the continual practicer should become immersed in (become 'of', become of one nature with) his target.' (Mundaka, 2.8.) In The
Shvetashvatara Upanishad it says, 'Although the Fire is in the lower piece of wood [of the two pieces
of wood used for kindling fire by rubbing], its image (physical representation) is not visible; not only this, but also the one whose subtle linga (phallic image of Kind Dissolver) is located in it, does not perish. This fire located in the wood is evoked by churning the upper piece of wood in the lower. Making his body the lower piece of wood and the sacred syllable Om the upper piece of wood, through the continued practice of churning in the form of meditation, he can see the hidden Highest God.' Elsewhere it says, 'Yogis with elevated sexual seed do continual meditation of the divine sound Om; to that pleasure and liberation bestowing divine sound Om, countless
obeisances.'
The meaning of 'the root' is 'the bulb' – the female-receptacle place (the joining place). The lock that binds it is called the root lock. He who binds the root achieves liberation. In other words, we may say that the unbound root is the cause of pleasure and the bound root is the cause of yoga. Through the uninterrupted continued practice of the root lock, there is the uniting of the uptending life energy and the downtending life energy. This uniting does not occur in the lower energy centers; in those energy centers, the two are always ready to defeat each other; they unite in the command energy center. When the downtending life energy is becoming upgoing, it enters the abdomen, swells it and begins to run about here and there, causing the impurities amassed in the intestines to come out. After the uptending life energy and the downtending life energy are stable in the command energy center, there is the accomplishment of nothing-but-hold; at this time the excrement and urine become less, the yogi gets the ability to drink the soma, and transcending old age, he regains youth.
In the verse [3.66] it says, ' . . . the downtending life energy, becoming upgoing, makes its way into the circle of fire'. The location of this circle of fire is the digestive fire concerned with the navel. Here, this uncertainty arises: 'Is this only the circle of the digestive fire? Does this also refer to other fires?'
We may consider the circle of the digestive fire to be the circle of fire; this is indeed
appropriate. If we take a larger view though, we must say that there are ten fires in the body: 1. moistening – inducing perspiration; 2. causing to shine – the bilious humor that permeates the skin; 3. passionate coloring (red) – one fire that dwells in the bilious humor; 4. oily – redolent of oil; 5. holding; 6. binding; 7. melting; 8. pervasive; 9. measuring; 10. the phlegmatic humor (the mucus- forming humor). Putting this clearly, it could be said that the fire of sexual desire is in the root-
base energy center, the digestive fire is in the navel-filling jewel energy center, and the fire of yoga, or the fire of knowledge, is in the command energy center.
The fire of sexual desire and the digestive fire can be included in the fire of yoga; thus all fires are included in one fire. When the root-lock energy seal is accomplished, and the abdomen is completely filled with the downtending vital air, then the long flame of the fire of yoga occurs, and when, going further, it joins the hot uptending life energy in the unstruck energy center, its passion blazes up immensely. Here, it is necessary to clarify this fire of yoga, because it is the distinctive sign of the divine body. The old body of the yogi, being burned up by this fire of yoga, is
[gradually] destroyed, and the new body arrived at through the yogic sacrifice is [gradually] created. Until the root lock is accomplished, the yogi does not encounter the fire of yoga. When the root lock is accomplished, he encounters the fire of yoga in his own body. He thinks, 'Is there a fever in the body – if not, why is there so much heat?' As some days pass in this way, and the fire of yoga gradually increases, he comes to understand through the yogic scriptures that this heat is the fire of yoga. His eyes fill with tears of joy, and he begins to pray to the God of All and the truth teacher. Again and again, he remembers their manifold grace.
When the evolutionary force becomes upfacing, it begins to eat the meat; through this, the body of the aspirant becomes emaciated. At this time, the final unstruck divine sound and
nothing-but-hold occur. Lastly, when the evolutionary force enters into the Absolute channel, the yogi becomes a defeater of sexual desire who has elevated sexual seed, and death becomes
helpless. This is the result of the root-lock energy seal, so Beloved King-Among-Yogis Goraksha Master says, 'All the obstacles of the yogi who has the root door – the joining place – under control, are destroyed, and he obtains agelessness and immortality, and he becomes like Beloved Five-Faced Kind Dissolver.'