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551b) Techniques of meditation in Saiva tantra. The purpose of meditative techniques. Concentration on the heart-wheel. identification with Siva and the "inner sacrifice". Nconstancy? The meditative part of classic yoga receives the mind on the as it has been stated above a gnostic aspect in Saiva tantra. The emancipation of senses from their objects, the stage called pratyanara, is therefore an inner consolidation (kilanam) of being awake. The state of concentration (dharana) supposes a firm fixation of object appearing in an inner flow of subjectivity. This flow which manifests as a current of luminous shapes at the beginning, acquires consistancy by training and is perceived as a reality in itself. The meditation (dhyana, requires the visualization of a continuum and momogeneous flux of luminosity of different "electric" or "neonic colours which appear like waves or currents of an ocean. The state of "total absorption" (samadhi) is proved when one's subjectivity merges and identifies itself with this luminous flux. Samadhi consists in outrunning the quality between perceiving subject and perceptible object (Tantraloka, IV, 92-94). All these stages have no real utility if they are not followed by achieving supreme knowledge which is true judgement ( tarka). Then, according to Saiva thought, there is a stage beyond yogic samadni or absorption into universal being; this is the state of becoming aware of this confluence. Actually, we can not make a sharp equivalence between the samadhi of Patanjali's yoga and the samadni

552achieved through Saivite practices despite their common denomination, because through it the yogi not only understands total immersion into the absolute, but also ne acquires the supreme understanding. Saiva tantra aims mainly at eliminating the discursive and antinomic knowledge and at achijving the instantaneity of grasping the existence as a whole, i.e. to understand universal phenomenology. Therefore, only the meditative techniques that lead the adept beyond the duality of mind are worthy for the Saivite tantrika. "Only this, o Goddess of Gods, is compulsorily prescribed, that is the mind must be firmly applied to the true reality, the manner in which it (i.e. true judgement) is obtained having no importance" (Malinivijaya-tantra, XVIII, 78b-79a). It means the achivement of not only a new existential plane, but of becoming aware of universal formation. The purpose of meditation is the unification with Bhairava who is the supreme non-differentiation. Meditation must be led towards the heart where "all things reside (in one's own subconscious) and where the light of self-awareness can more easily be grasped. This reality which knows the truth is seen inside the neart (subconscious structures) as a flower, a flower where all inner or external things are gathered, like the corolla of kadali" (Tantraloka, V, 21). The Saivite tantrika thinks that sense-organs provide information which is stocked inside the wheel of the heart. Thanks to the rays or the functions of its wheel, the neart transforms the external reality into the lunar, solar and fiery essences which are the source of the great cosmic operations. Through further techniques of meditation it is possible to reach light as pure entity and henceforth the superconscious (Tantraloka, V, 27b-29a).

355The non-differentiated perception of the whole appears to a "knower" even when he stares at a particular object because of this unitary wheel where a singular perception automatically implies the whole, like a universal monarch that is continuously followed by his vassals (Tantraloka, V, 296-52a). Meditation upon the wheel of the neart where Bhairava is found with mis powers must be performed ceaselessly even after the whole reality has become a conscious latent impression (Tantraloka, V, 220-33a). The wheel of the heart has a great importance in acquiring final extinction since the five operations engendered by Siva reside nere, i.e. it is the way of emerging into manifestation and of going back into the uncreated. The whole must be dissolved into this wheel and the wheel of the heart into superconscious (Tantraloka, V, 4b). Meditation can also be applied on the other wheels; it is considered the first instrument of realization among those pertaining to the means of "particular form" (Tantraloka, V, 41). Meditation on Siva's five faces is one of the techniques frequently used in Saiva tantra. It implies the five corresponding mantras which are repeated during this exercise. The tantrika will face the corresponding direction and will think of its implication for the existent. The five faces of Siva are tantamount to the five elements, with the same meditative purpose (Tantraloka, XI, 20). The highest meditation is on Supreme Siva that is the thirty-seventh category; it is beyond the knowing mind and can only artificially be imagined by the subject as 21-25a). The whole which is to be known resides in the heart, but the a knowable reality (Tantraloka, XI, thirty-seventh category is pure intelligence where there is no subject

- 234and object of knowledge (Tantraloka, XI, 25b-28). Meditation on Siva consists in the practitioner's identification with the supreme Lord. "Seeing and worshipping day and night the (own) body as full of Siva's beatific juice and filled with the thirty-six categories, the celebrant identifies himself with Siva and, being satisfied and pleased with his body made up of all hawithin everytning things, he has himself the liiga (and) it is no longer necessary to aspire after the (external) linga, faces, sacred places or external rules" (Tantraloka, XV, 285-286). The ritual actions concern only those who have not achieved the state obtained through this meditation. The identification with Siva bears a particular form in Saiva tantra, because it is considered that only the person who is identical with the Lord can sacrifice to nim (Malinivijaya-tantra, VIII, 52a seq.). The identification made for this purpose is called the "inner sacrifice" (manoyaga, antahkrtin). Performing this "sacrifice, the Sadnaka will worship his own body, his vital breathings, the mind and the emptiness - i.e. the deep subconscious structures -, thinking that all of them are identical. This is made through the agency of the mandala of the trident which represents the body and the breathing; the corresponding mantras are projected on them (body and breath), being instruments of "drilling" the subconscious. All these projections were detailed in the chapters dealing with mandala and mantra. The basic power (adnarasakti, and the four elements, i.e. earth, water, fire and wind which, being the most subtle, potentially contains all the previous three, are projected under the navel. ind forms the so-called bulb (kanda, where tue etner

-355- 34 resides. The axit 18 imagined afterwards, starting from the navel and bolno Crv Le Longle; is called amanta and covers the different categories from the subtle elements to the "force". Above the axle the knot" is found, which represents maya or the boundary between mayie and pure worlds. Here the eight qualities of mind reside (SVT, II, 62-64). Between the knot and the trident itself the quadrangular base (catuskika) must be meditated upon, being engendered by Pure Wisdom. The quadrangular base is therefore in contact both with maya and with Pure Wisdom which neutralize each other (Haracarita-cintamani, XV, 301-502). Pure Wisdom is found between the tongue and Brahma's foramen. Meditating later on Isvara and sadasiva - who is also called the Great Passage (mahapreta) -, Siva is reached. The Supreme Lord is imagined sitting on a throne or seat (asana) which is the whole composed of the thirty-six categories (Somashambhu-paddhati, III, 47-56; SVT, II, 55b seq.,. The celebrant worships Jiva and thinks that he has become the same being with the bhairavic consciousness, thus totally free (Tantraloka, AV, 517 ).