The Kundalini Yoga Sadhana of Sree Vijayakrishna Goswami

When Vijayakrishna was at 13, Mirzapore Street, Calcutta, he was one day meditating in his own room at dead of night. As soon as he felt a little sleepy, he seemed to hear knocks at the door. When the doors were opened it was found that the entire party of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu entered the room which was illumined with the light of their bodies. Advaita Acaryya who was Vijayakrishnas ancestor gave out his name and relation and introduced his two companions Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu Sri Caitanya. At his bidding Vijayakrishna paid his respects to them and offered them seats. The Acaryya intimated to Vijayakrishna that Mahaprabhu would initiate him and asked him to take a bath. He did as he was instructed and received Divine Name from Mahaprabhu Himself on which his normal consciousness disappeared. It must be remembered that this incident was not a mere vision in a dream, as in the morning Vijayakrishna was able to find out the true reality. The fact was that the three seats offered to the three holy persons were still lying on the floor and his wet garment was found left near the well where he took his bath.

These visits of great saintly persons impressed upon him the necessity of taking recourse to a Guru or Master without whose active intercession no real progress on the spiritual path was possible. The rationalistic tendencies of the Brahma Samaja in general and of his own mind in particular led him to believe that in approaching God who is omniscient, compassionate and all-pervading the mediation of a human Guru is both irrational and unnecessary. This belief began to break down little by little until he was convinced that his own efforts in the direction of true spiritual advancement were worse than useless. He felt the universal presence of the Supreme Being, but it was not possible for him to have a definite personal contact with that Presence and visualise it in his life as an actuality.

Vijayakrishna realised that he could have no abiding Peace or the Felicity of Divine Union unless and until his present personality was transformed. A radical change involved in conversion was absolutely necessary for true spiritual advancement. He felt this undoubtedly but he did not know how the necessary change was to be effected. In this predicament of his life he came in direct touch with a great Yogi possessed of immense spiritual powers. This great Yogi, a Nath Siddha, known as Sri Yogiraj Gambhirnath, belonged to the Manasarovara in

trans-Himalayan regions and was a great adept in Yogic wisdom and power. Vijayakrishna was living at that time in the Asrama of Raghuvara Babaji on the Akasaganga Hill at Gaya. It is stated that he was sitting in a lonely place on the hillock rapt in thought. A sense of failure in life due to his inability to find a Sadguru even after a long and diligent search in various parts of the country including Vindhyachala, Tibet, the Himalayas etc., overtook him and he fell unconsciously into a swoon on the spot. On the revival of consciousness he found himself to his great surprise lying on the lap of a great saint who was affectionately patting him on his back. The Yogi explained to him in reply to his query that his coming to that place and his visible physical body were the effect of his will acting on the support of the Conscious Principle after the dissolution of the elements of the body into their sources, and of the same will-power operating on the elements with a view to re-materialisation. Vijayakrishna was at Gaya at that time in the course of his missionary tour. He has described how he came in contact with this Yogi who had arrived there with the sole object of initiating him into Yoga and the mysteries of Divine life. The aforesaid initiation or Yoga Diksa through the process of which Vijayakrishna was made to pass was not a formal ceremony known to the world under that name but represented an intra-organic spiritual process of transformation intended to convert a natural personality into a supernatural one. It is well known as the Yogi asserts that every man possesses within himself a secret fund of spiritual energy lying dormant in him and waiting for re-awakening under favourable circumstances. The dormant state of this energy expresses itself in the life of the man in its worldly tendencies and activities. All spiritual disciplines are practically useless, so far as the real conversion of human personality is concerned until this energy is roused into action and is made to play its part in the process of spiritualization. It is impossible for a man to become truly spiritual with this energy sleeping within him. Outer ceremonies of initiation usually followed in religious societies have not much spiritual significance unless they are attended with the awakening of this latent spiritual power in man. The Yogi who had come there to initiate Vijayakrishna, roused by his superior power, the latters Kundalini Sakti and then initiated him. The immediate result of the awakening of Kundalini was the induction of a supernormal current in his body and mind which proved too strong for his normal consciousness to bear. Consequently under the extraordinary stress of the influx of the Yogis power, Vijayakrishna lay unconscious in a trance for a period of eleven days. This period of time was required for the Gurusakti to adjust itself in the immature body of the disciple. When Vijayakrishna regained his consciousness he was a changed man altogether, having experienced the effect of true spiritual conversion. The impurities of life, the countless impediments to spiritual achievements were burnt off as it were, under the action of this divine fire. The power which began to work in his system did not continue as a foreign power but was assimilated into his own spiritual power called forth from its latency under this process. This self-conscious power, spiritual and formative in

nature, was from that time on always in action, working from within and bringing about silently but surely an integral spiritual evolution. This is the function of Gurusakti and Vijayakrishna had his personal experience of its workings. It is said that the great saint exhibited before Vijayakrishna a number of extraordinary Yogic feats in order to convince him that what he had done with him was only a normal Yogic function and that he should have, as a disciple ought to have, implicit faith in the Guru and his power.

Vijayakrishna used to say that it was for him a day of regeneration and that from that time on infinite spiritual possibilities were opened out before him. The Guru after initiation instructed him on the methods of spiritual practices intended not only to keep alive the fire kindled by him but also to develop it into true union with the Divine. Among the practices the most important one was that of muttering the holy Name which had been sanctified by the Guru and made instilled with life. This is technically named Namasadhana or Japa and is attended with a process of breath control which is natural. The practice of Japa associated with breathing, and on which the Guru insisted and Vijayakrishna himself used to lay great stress in the case of his disciples, had wonderful effects on the mental system of Vijayakrishna. It is well-known that the process when continued for a long time and attempted in a proper way produces a great change not only on the mind but also on the physical system of the Sadhaka. Intensity of this practice is said to give rise to a wonderful hyper-subtle current of sound which flows through every channel of the body and acts on the circulation of blood. The so-called Nadanusandhana, described at length in works on Hatha-Yoga etc., is an allied practice apparently similar in character but differing essentially in effect. Nada as such helps in concentration and leads to Samadhi. But the practice of Divine Name goes deeper into the matter in as much as it serves as a great aid to the origin and development of Bhakti. The generation of Bhakti in a mind otherwise dry is the greatest effect of Namasadhana. Divine Name when imparted by a qualified Master possesses great potency and is not to be considered as an empty sound having no spiritual value at all. It is regarded on the contrary as a spiritual energy concentrated in a Word which serves as the medium of its expression. In the case of Vijayakrishna it was his own Guru who asked him to practice Namasadhana in every breath. He began and continued the practice not only at Gaya but also subsequently during his stay at Vindhyachala and Jvalamukhi. In the beginning of the practice great difficulty was experienced by him and had it not been for the repeated insistence of the Master he would have given up the attempt altogether. With the progress of the Sadhana it was felt that the artificial stage was succeeded by a state of naturalness in which the desired sound was experienced to be issuing forth from below the navel and flowing upwards through intermediate centres located in the regions of throat, forehead and the

crown of the head. He actually felt that it was a self-conscious spiritual current coursing through the countless nervous tracts in the body. The induction of the current was felt to be spontaneous and attended with a sensation of intense joy. The continued practice of this Sadhana which became spontaneous after a short while had a quietening effect on the normal course of respiration, very unlike the artificial Kumbhaka at which the Hatha practices aim.

This controlling process (a Kriya of breathing Name up and down the spine) resulted as a matter of course in shutting out all the external stimuli. Outer consciousness or consciousness of the outer world disappeared and the mind was absorbed in a state of induced recollection in the joy of Divine Name felt through every centre of inner consciousness. The exclusion of the outer world and the obliteration of memory went a great way in the manifestation of visions and voices.

It may be noted in passing that the main Sadhana which he had received from his Guru was that of Name, while the breath control which followed as a necessary effect of this practice, though very useful to it, was only ancillary. It is said that he was also asked to practice gazing (trataka) along with the above. The result of these practices began to manifest itself in due course in the form of a sublimated consciousness which could be fitly described neither as awake nor as asleep. It was a state of intense clarification of consciousness rendered free from all conceptual elements which on account of its deep tranquillity and luminousness was to be distinguished from all known states of normal consciousness of man. It is said that in this practice the entire physical system including every atom of the blood is regenerated and vitalised. He used to say in his later life that in this condition the seeker has to remain very careful and is required to keep his body always covered with a sheet or smeared with ashes. The attainment of perfection in this practice is represented by the spontaneous activity of every sense and member of a body from which the sound of the Name issues out at every moment. Attachment, greed and temptation, to name some among many such, are specially hostile to this practice.

During the days of Namasadhana, Vijayakrishna passed through a stage of darkness and despair in which his heart seemed to have dried up altogether and a sense of fruitlessness and disappointment began to oppress his mind. The body and mind used to be heated under the Sadhana and a consciousness of his own unworthiness and incompetence pervaded his soul. The result was that he was

compelled to give up his Sadhana for a while. It is said that in the midst of this dark period of his life he used to have the blessing of occasional visits from his Master who assured him of success in the end and urged upon him the necessity of unbroken continuity of the Sadhana in spite of its apparent aridness and uninspiring character.

He stayed for six months in the course of his Sadhana at Gaya (Akasaganga Hills), in the Barabara Hills and subsequently at Vindhyachala. It has already been observed in the previous section that he assumed the garb of a Sannyasin at Benares at the instance of his Guru shortly after his initiation at Gaya.

While he was practicing Namasadhana at Vindhyachala, he began to feel a burning sensation of heat in his body. With the intensity of Sadhana this heat was also intensified and became unbearable to him. In order to keep his body comparatively cool he used to besmear it with mud. It is said that once the heat was so great that this superficial method did not avail and he was thinking of ending his life by jumping into a Kunda or pool full of water. No sooner had he jumped in it than a Sannyasin who was evidently in the neighbourhood and was watching the incident came to him and rescued him. The latter said to him that the waters of the pool had the mysterious power of petrifaction and conversion of the darkness into grey. Vijayakrishna himself said that the Sannyasin thereafter applied the juice of a particular leaf to his hair as a result of which it turned back into black. Immediately afterwards the Yogi, his Guru, appeared before him and said that the heat however intense and unbearable it might appear to Vijayakrishna at that time was expected to become even more intense in the future. He, therefore, advised him to proceed to Jvalamukhi at once. Vijayakrishna acted upon his advice and left for Jvalamukhi in the Kangra Valley (Himalayas, Punjab). It was subsequently found that the heat increased to an unbearable extent at Jvalamukhi as the Master had predicted and then subsided.

The burning sensation described above as resulting from the action of the Divine Name on the human body is usually known among the mystics of this path as the Fire of Name. In the by-gone ages when the body of man was more hardy and robust, more drastic arrangement of bodily purification was in vogue. One of these methods was the so-called Tusanala which has become famous from the well-known episode of Kumarila Bhatta in the life of Sankaracaryya. In the present age, however, the substitute for Tusanala as a purifying agent for the body is the so-called Fire of Name. The effect of this fire is the establishment of

physical purity. It is said that when the Name continues to flow at every breath, the burning sensation begins to manifest itself. The continued practice of Name serves to intensify this sensation so much that it appears as if every atom and molecule of the body are burnt up under this heat. Being unable to bear it, the Sadhaka moves about from place to place like a mad man in search of relief. At this time the best course is to continue the Name with double vigour and never to give it up. Discontinuance of the practice, in order to escape from the effects of the fire, is held to be risky and even unfavourable to health. When the strength of the heat is spent out, wonderful freshness and a soothing quiet follow as a permanent result.

A sense of burning heat is not the only accompaniment of the Sadhana. When success in the initial stage of the Sadhana is accomplished, i.e., when the flow of Name becomes spontaneous like normal respiration in every nerve and artery of the body, the Sadhaka is affected and there is a free circulation of Name along all the intra-organic channels. In consequence of continued Namasadhana there is also an increased tendency of physical shrinking of the members and organs of the bodily system. Hands, legs, ears, eyes, nose etc. are forcibly drawn within just like the limbs of the body of a tortoise. The Sadhaka at this stage has specially to be on his guard and he must never think of giving up the practice which would be disastrous. In consequence of this shrinking tendency all the limbs including hands and legs and the body may be converted into the form of a jelly fish or in some cases the effect may be different in character. In such cases which represent the action of Name not only in the bodily limbs but in the bones, marrow etc. as well, all the joints of the hands, legs and knees become loose and hands and legs become elongated. In extreme cases these and even the head may become separate from the body for a while and then the separated parts join together and form the original body in its entirety. Vijayakrishna says that he had a personal experience of this fact. This experience of Vijayakrishna would remind one of similar experiences in the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and also in that of his junior contemporary Prabhu Jagadbhandu. Evidently these physical changes were known to Vijayakrishna through experiences in his own life and it is also possible that he had observed them in the body of his Master. There is no doubt that the practice of Name produces a definite and lasting effect not only on the circulation of blood, but also on every particle of matter comprising the body. Steadiness in this practice helped to generate a circular mark on the back of all Vijayakrishnas fingers of each of the hands. This mark looked like a curved symbol bearing a close resemblance to the graphic representation of Omkara.