Bhūta Śuddhi (Self Purification) in Various Sources

admin

Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa

Chapter 8 - On Bhūta Śuddhi

1-21. Nārāyaṇa said : O Great Muni! Now I shall tell you the rules of Bhūta Śuddhi, i.e., the purification of the elements of the body (by respiratory attraction and replacement, etc.).

Firstly, think of the Highest Deity Kuṇḍalinī (the Serpent Fire) as rising up in the hollow canal Suṣumnā in the Spinal Cord from the Mulādhāra (the sacral plexus) to the Brahmārandhra (the aperture supposed to be at the crown of the head).
Next, the devotee is to meditate on the Mantra “Haṃsa” and consider his Jīvātmā (the embodied soul) united with Para Brahmā.
Then think from leg to the knees in the form of a square Yantra (diagram as furnished with Vajra thunderbolt, represented by 63 lines at the four corners); consider this square as the earth, of a golden colour and represented by the letter “Laṃ,” representing the Seed Mantra of earth.
Next from the knee to the navel consider the semi-moon and at its two ends consider that the two Lotuses are situated. Consider this as the circle of water, of white colour, represented by the letter “Vaṃ” the Seed Mantra of water.
Then again from the navel to the heart consider it as of a triangular form and the Svastik mark at its three angles and think it as of fire and represented by the letter “Raṃ” its root Mantra, of red colour.
Next from the heart to the centre of the eyebrows, consider as marked with six dots, with the Seed Mantra “Yaṃ” of a smoke-coloured colour (dark-red) and of a circular appearance and consider it as air.
Then again from the centre of the eyebrows to the crown of the head consider as Ākāśa Maṇḍalam (a region of ether) beautiful and clear and with “Haṃ” as its bīja letter.
Thus thinking consider firstly the earthy principle originated from watery principle, dissolved in water. Then think water as dissolved in fire, its cause; fire dissolved in air, its cause; and air dissolved in Ākāśa ether, its cause; then consider Ākāśa dissolved in its cause Ahamkāra, egoism; then again Ahamkāra dissolved in the Great Principle (Mahāttatva); and Mahāttatva again in its cause Prakriti and consider Prakriti again diluted in its cause, the Supreme Self.
Then consider your own self as the Highest Knowledge and only that.
Think, then, of the Pāpa Puruṣa, the Sinful Man in your body. The size of this Man is that of a thumb and it is situated in the left abdomen. The head of him is represented by Brahmahatyā (murdering a Brāhmaṇ); his area as stealing gold; his heart as drinking wine; his loins as going to the wife of his Guru, his legs as mixing with people who go to their Guru’s wives, and his toes as representing other sins and venial offences. The Sinful Man holds axes and shield in his hands; he is always angry, with his head bent down and his appearance is very horrible.
Inhale air through the left nostril thinking of “Yam” the Root Mantra of air and make Kumbhaka, i.e., fill the whole body with that air, and hold it inside, purifying the sinful man;
then repeating “Ram,” the seed Mantra of fire, think the sinful man with his own body burnt down to ashes.
Then exhale outside through the right nostril those ashes of the Sinful Man.
Next consider the ashes due to the burning of the Sinful Man, as rolled and turned into a round ball with the nectar seed [Vam] of the Moon.
Think steadily this ball as transformed into a golden egg by the Seed Mantra “Lam” of the earth.
Repeat then, “Ham” the seed Mantra of Ākāśa and think yourself as an ideal being; pure and clear, and shape thus your body and the several limbs.
Create, then, fresh in an inverse order from the Brahmā the elements Ākāśa, air, fire, water, earth and locate them in their respective positions.
Then by the Mantra “So'ham” separate the Jīvātmā from the Paramātmā and locate the Jīvātmā in the heart.
Think also that the Kundalinī has come to the Sacral Plexus, after locating the Jīvātmā, turned into nectar by contact with the Highest Self, in the heart.
Next meditate on the vital force, the Prāṇa Śakti, thus located as follows: There is a red lotus on a wide boat in a vast ocean of a red colour; on this lotus is seated the Prāṇa Śakti. She has six hands holding, in due order, the trident, the arrows made of sugarcane, noose, goad, five arrows and a skull filled with blood. She is three-eyed. Her high breasts are decorated; the colour of Her body is like the Rising Sun. May She grant us happiness.
Thus meditating on the Prāṇa Śakti, Who is of the nature of the Highest Self, one ought to apply ashes on his body in order to attain success in all actions. Great merit arises from the application of ashes (besmearing ashes) on the body. I will now dwell on this subject in detail. Listen. This point of holding ashes on to the body is particularly proved in the Vedas and Smritis.

Source: https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/devi-bhagavata-purana/d/doc57386.html

admin

Kālikā Purāṇa

Bhūtaśuddhi contains two phases:

in the first the adept's jīva is to be withdrawn out of his body, and
the second comprises the dissolution of his body.

In this way the adept effectuates his own death mentally. The description of this process in the KP is somewhat unusual and is worth mentioning.

In the first phase: the life-principle (jīva) passes through various stages each connected with an element:

first, the jīva passes into fire (agni),
from there into wind (vāyu), then into water (jala)
from there it reaches the heart, which is the actual seat of the jīva;
there it is taken back into something that is called the immovable (niścala), by which probably the sound, and more especially the syllable Oṁ is meant;
from there the jīva passes into space (ākāśa).
Reduced to this most subtle element the jīva leaves the body through the aperture in the skull called the brahmarandhra, which has to be broken open (bheda) by means of a mantra: ‘Oṁ hūṁ phaṭ', and remains in space (ākāśa).

The unusual feature of this form of bhūtaśuddhi is that the yoga method used in its first stage is quite different from the one generally applied in the Tantras. In the latter the withdrawal of the jīva out of the body by way of the brahmarandhra is substituted by the well-known technique consisting of the ascent of Kuṇḍalinī and her passing through the six centres (cakras), until she attains the sahasrāra cakra situated in the uppermost part of the head, which is about the same place as the brahmarandhra. During this process the elements earth, water, fire, air and space, of which the body is held to be composed, dissolve into each other. Although this Tantric method does not principally differ from the one referred to in the KP, being also conceived as a sort of spiritual death, it is different in its procedure.

The second phase consists of the dissolution of the adept's body after his spiritual death. This process can be compared to that which will happen at the periodical destruction of the world. It is indicated by the term ‘burning and bathing' (dahana-plavana) or ‘desiccation, etc.' (śoṣaṇādi). The terms refer to the different stages in this process.

They are:

desiccation (śoṣaṇa);
burning (dahana);
removal of the ashes (bhasmaprotsāda) and
the shower of amṛta (amṛtavarṣaṇa; plavana or āplavana). In the last stage the ‘old body' is completely washed by the streams of the pure nectar.

These stages are mentally produced by the adept's pronunciation of four sounds (bījas) standing for the four elements which dominate these processes, namely the sounds yaṁ (the desiccating wind), raṁ (the burning fire), laṁ (the element earth) and vaṁ (the element water producing the shower). After the last stage the body has passed into the pure water which is at the beginning of every world-period, and has attained the same pureness, and the aim of this meditation is indeed purity.

The Tantric version of this is about the same: here the stages mentioned are accompanied by a regulation of the breath (prānāyāma) and the object to be destroyed is not the body, but rather the so-called pāpapuruṣa: sin as a man.

Recreation of the Cosmos:

The operation following now is a meditation during which the world, which came to its end in the foregoing act, is created anew; it will serve as the seat of the deity who is going to be worshipped. The operation starts with the pronunciation of the deity's bīja; its magical power sets the whole process of creation in motion; afterwards, all the parts of the cosmos are to be visualized by the adept one by one in accordance with the ideas of the Sāṁkhya; this culminates in the visualization of the deity's figure in the centre of the cosmos, and the adept's identification with her by means of the words: ‘This is me', at which the flower he holds in his hands is put on his head.

The KP makes clear that the ‘seat', being the cosmos itself, is situated in the adept's heart and has the form of a maṇḍala which one ‘enters' during meditation. This idea that the entire world is present in a person's heart is already known to the Upaniṣads, and is merely applied here in a fixed form, being a part of the ritual procedure.

Detailed Description:

19. Then, repeating (the bīja of) the Goddess one should put down there the germ which has the appearance of pure gold and divide it into two parts by the mantras: aiṁ hrīṃ śrīṃ;

20-21. according to the rules the world of men, heaven and the sky are to be installed in its upper parts, and in the remaining part the earth containing the lower regions; one should meditate upon everything being there and upon the earth with its seven continents; one should meditate on the golden continent situated there in the syrup sea;

22 -24. (one should meditate upon) a couch of jewels lying in the middle of this (continent), standing in a pavilion of jewels, continuously attended by streams of water from the heavenly Ganges, (and) being bright; one should meditate on a lotus of jewels being on this couch, which is clear and always auspicious, having a gold crown, the stalk of which is in the seven lower regions and reaches as far as Brahma's heaven, and whose pericarp has a golden colour;

24-35. with undivided attention one should contemplate Mahāmāyā, who stays on it…

Nyasas:

After the adept's own deification by his identification with the deity present in his heart, he ascertains his own divinity further by the ritual acts of karanyāsa and aṅganyāsa, which means that he covers his fingers and hands and afterwards several definite places on his body with mantras, by touching these spots with his fingertips and at the same time pronouncing the appropriate mantras.

The divine nature is now installed in his body, and the adept is entitled to carry out the worship proper forming the next phase of the procedure.

Source: Karel van Kooij - Worship of the goddess according to the Kalikapurana

admin

Mahānirvāṇa Tantra

Chapter 5

He should then proceed to perform the purification of the elements of his body. The excellent disciple should place his hands in his lap with the palms upwards, and fixing his mind on the Muladhara Chakra let him rouse Kundalini by uttering the Bija Huṃ. Having so roused Her, let him lead Her with Pṛthivī by means of the Hamsa Mantra to the Svadhiṣṭhana Chakra, and let him there dissolve each one of the elements of the body by means of another of such elements (93-94). Then let him dissolve Pṛthivī together with odour, as also the organ of smell, into water. Dissolve water and taste, as also the sense of taste itself, into Fire (95). Dissolve Fire and vision and form, and the sense of sight itself, into air (96).

Let air and touch, as also the sense of touch itself, be dissolved into ether. Dissolve ether and sound into the conscious Self and the Self into Mahat, Mahat itself into Prakriti, and Prakriti Herself into Brahman (97). Let the wise one, having thus dissolved (the twenty-four) tattvas.

Then think of an angry black man in the left side of the cavity of his abdomen of the size of his thumb, with red beard and eyes, holding a sword and shield, with his head ever held low, the very image of all sins (99).

Then the foremost of disciples should, thinking of the purple (smoky grey, mixture of red and black) Vāyu Bija Yaṃ as on his left nostril, inhale through that nostril 16 times. By this let him dry the sinful body.

Next, meditating on the red Bija of Agni Raṃ as being situate in the navel, the body with all its sinful inclinations should be burnt up by the fire born of the Bija, as also by 64 Kumbhakas.

Then, thinking of the white Varuna Bija Vaṃ in his forehead, let him bathe (the body which has been so burnt) with the nectar-like water dropping from the Varuna Bija by 32 exhalations.

Having thus bathed the whole body from feet to head, let him consider that a Deva body has come into being.

Then, thinking of the yellow Bija of the Earth Laṃ as situated in the Muladhara circle, let him strengthen his body by that Bija and by a steadfast and winkless gaze.

Then, by placing his hand on his heart and uttering the mantra:

āṃ hrīṃ kroṃ hamsa so’ham

let him infuse into his body the life of the Devi.

Source: Arthur Avalon - Mahānirvāṇa Tantra

admin

Kulārṇava Tantra

Ullāsa 15 (verses 35 - 44)

Method of Prāṇāyāma and its Fruits:
Performing mentally twelve times the Japa of Praṇava of three Mātrās one should exhale the breath through the right nostril (Piṅgalā)—this is called Recaka (Exhalation).

Repeating sixteen times the Tāra (Auṃ, Praṇava) one should inhale through the left nostril (Iḍā)—this is called Pūraka (Inhalation).

Then repeating the Praṇava twelve times the breath should be retained inside-this is Kumbhaka. Then he should dry up the body with Vāyu-bīja Yaṃ. This is drying up of the impurities of the body.

Again, in the same manner one should exhale, inhale and perform Kumbhaka; then burn the body with Agni-bīja Raṃ. This is called burning up of the impurities of the body.

Then again exhale the air, inhale it, and perform Kumbhaka. Thereafter, bathe the body from feet to head with the nectar produced out of the union of Kuṇḍalinī and Śiva. This is called bathing (plavana) of the body.

A Prāṇāyāma devoid of Japa and Dhyāna is called Agarbha (sterile) and its opposite is Sagarbha (with fruit). In comparison to Agarbha the Sagarbha Prāṇāyāma is a hundred times more fruitful.

Austerities, pilgrimages, sacrifices, charities, observances are not worth even the sixteenth fraction of such a Prāṇāyāma.

O Śive! All the sins, whether mental, verbal or physical, are very soon burnt up by only three Prāṇāyāmas.

Just as the impurity of the metal is burnt away when it is blown upon, so the sins of the senses are burnt out by the control of Prāṇa.

Whatever actions are performed by one who is purified by Prāṇāyāma, they all fructify undoubtedly, even if done effortlessly.

Source: Ram Kumar Rai: Kulārṇava Tantra

nilasara

On the Amrita janani site is a .pdf called Hamsa Body Meditation which I would like. In it Guruji uses th word hamsa, followed by each body part and then hamsa again, similar to the aksharamala technique, starting with pada or feet, and going to crown of head. I tried emailing the email for Amrita Janani website but email is defunct. Anyway that is a bhuta shuddhi but with less using symbols and more using the actual body.