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Both body and cosmos have a 鈥榥atural鈥� downward flow which is reversed in yoga practice. Flood identifies asceticism as 鈥榯he reversal of the flow of the body, which is also an attempt to reverse the flow of time鈥� (Flood 2002:4). This is apparent in the 丑补峁环补 corpus. Indeed, if there is one master narrative of the process of yoga it might be movement upward through the body鈥攚hether this media be 辫谤腻峁嘺, 办耻峁囜笉补濒颈苍墨, or the sexual essences of semen (bindu) and menstrual or generative fluid (rajas).^[1] The 础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 states that when all the elements move upwards in the body then the sun and moon bestow liberation (础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 4.12). This upwards movement is predicated in some of these accounts on an a priori principle of depletion鈥攖hough 办耻峁囜笉补濒颈苍墨 does not descend before rising. How do the sources describe this depletion?

We have seen how the 碍丑别谤肠补谤墨惫颈诲测腻 and 艢颈惫补蝉补峁僪颈迟腻 internalised the descent of the 驳补峁単腻 in the body. Further, the process of death is governed by the principle of depletion: death is from the fall of bindu, life from its preservation (尘补谤补峁嘺峁� 产颈苍诲耻辫腻迟别苍补 箩墨惫补苍补峁� 产颈苍诲耻诲丑腻谤补峁嚹乼). This line reverberates throughout the early corpus in the 础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 7.2526, 顿补迟迟腻迟谤别测补测辞驳补艣腻蝉迟谤补 157, 艢颈惫补蝉补峁僪颈迟腻 4.88, 贬补峁环补辫谤补诲墨辫颈办腻 3.87cd and beyond into the seventeenth-century 贬补峁环补谤补迟苍腻惫补濒墨 2.98ab and Yuktabhavadeva 253ab and eighteenthcentury Vajroliyoga 22. Seminal depletion is a paradigm of the body that offers an organising rationale for the raising and maintenance of semen within the body. Sometimes this depletion is of sexual fluid through ejaculation (whether procreative or not) and sometimes the depletion relates to the consumption of nectar by the fire in the abdomen. We can see both at play in the 贬补峁环补辫谤补诲墨辫颈办腻鈥檚 rationale for the practice of 办丑别肠补谤墨: the fall of bindu results in death (贬补峁环补辫谤补诲墨辫颈办腻 3.37) and the body ages because the sun at the navel swallows the divine nectar that flows from the moon (贬补峁环补辫谤补诲墨辫颈办腻 Kaivalyadhama 3.76). Destruction of bindu is death and life is from the preservation of bindu (贬补峁环补辫谤补诲墨辫颈办腻 3.87)鈥攖herefore yogis should guard semen (艣耻办谤补) with every effort (贬补峁环补辫谤补诲墨辫颈办腻 3.89).

Similar to the concept of 箩腻岣峺补 incorporating a sense of gravity discussed in relation to the 驰辞驳补产墨箩补 above, the principle of downward movement is associated with the downward flow of water. Thus the downward flow of the fluids of the body is predicated on the downward flow of fluids in the world. The 础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 describes the normal flow of the channels as downwards, a flow that drains the body of liquid elements. It notes that the channels, usually flowing downwards, are reversed by the great lock (尘补丑腻产补苍诲丑补) (础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 12.8). The general rule is given that a downward flow makes liquid elements leave the body like rivers leaving their basins (础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 12.9). 惭补丑腻产补苍诲丑补 therefore acts like a dam in the external world blocking a river (础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 12.10). It seems that the downward path of the central channel (尘补诲丑测补尘腻) brings about creation and death and the two paths that flow at its side are agents of sin and virtue (础尘峁泃补蝉颈诲诲丑颈 12.13) and are two of the three paths to be blocked. The metaphor of rivers emptying is not unique to the 丑补峁环补 corpus: in the 碍耻濒腻谤峁嘺惫补迟补苍迟谤补 all rivers empty themselves, directly or indirectly, into the ocean, just as all teachings meet in the kula system (碍耻濒腻谤峁嘺惫补迟补苍迟谤补 2.12).^[2]

In this first chapter I hope to have demonstrated that there is a near identity between the body and the cosmos, often described as an interiorisation of aspects of the macrocosm in the microcosm, and an elemental and material鈥攐r 箩补岣峚鈥攃orrelation between the body and the cosmos. Rather than the body becoming the cosmos through ritual inscription or initiation it appears to be an a priori identity. Finally, I have demonstrated that there is a mundane or sa峁僺膩ric notion of downward flow and depletion in the body. Thus, most yoga techniques function to effect a movement upwards through the body.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

South Asianist and queer studies scholar Anjali Arondekar noted in relation to this project, specifically chapter five on 办耻峁囜笉补濒颈苍墨, that movement upwards and downwards is about caste, personal communication, 1 March 2024, Sexuality in the Archive workshop, University of California Riverside. Wakankar analyses caste as social verticality (2010:77) and Kabir鈥檚 spiritual internalisation that precedes transcendence as upward movement (2010:26). In 丑补峁环补 yoga movement upwards is associated with spiritual progress. I discuss caste in relation to 办耻峁囜笉补濒颈苍墨 in chapter five.

[2]:

Rather than doctrinal metaphor, in Tibetan medicine the description of fluids flowing downwards characterises the 鈥�or nad disorder (Simioli 2016:393n5).