# ANSWER KEY **1) ==Describe the physical method of performing the mudra known as Mahabandha, or the Great Lock.  Then speculate about what effect each of the elements of the practice has upon the inner body.  Finally comment on some unique wording of several verses here which—as we have seen before—is significant for our goal of attaining inner fire.==** **To perform the Great Lock, we set the heel of our left foot at the perineum and then take a half-lotus with the right foot atop the left thigh.  We then take a full inhalation (in our tradition, an exhalation retention), perform a chin-lock, and contract the perineal area.  Finally we direct our thoughts to the "center of our mind."** **We hold the retention for as long as our capacity allows, and then exhale slowly.  We then repeat the process with the leg on the opposite side.** **Setting one foot at the perineum has the effect of stimulating the muladhara chakra there, and thereby also the area of the triple connection of the three main channels: the breeding ground of inner fire.** **When we place our foot up on our leg, in either a full or half lotus, we are sending the prana that usually lies stagnant and dormant in our leg(s) up to our torso region.  We are also stretching out the area between our legs where the central channel splits to travel down to the legs, stimulating the muladhara chakra and increasing the flow of inner wind in both the central and side channel(s).** **The chin lock functions to force the life wind down, and the perineal contraction sends the downward-clearing wind upwards, creating a pressing of the two together which feeds the inner fire.  This brings the winds, and thus the thoughts, to the area of the triple connection at the back below the level of the navel—a "working at the crucial point" which increases the effect of the retention.** **The retention itself has again slowed our flow of distracting thoughts, and also thereby affected our tendency to see things as coming from their own side.  All in all, another powerful way of inciting the direct perception of emptiness.** **As we have seen before, unique wording is used in this area of the text to refer to the perineal area in a female context.  Again, this is meant to remind us of the advantages of working towards a balance in our male and female energies.** **2) Master Svatmarama, in discussing the Great Lock, makes a statement about the associated breath retention which is very important.  Explain.** **In this section, the Master says that we should "hold the retention for as long as we have the capacity," and that then we should "exhale the wind slowly."  This is perhaps the most important advice that can be given with regard to retentions.  We should absolutely never exceed or even come close to the very limit we have of holding the breath (or exhale).** **The point again is to _coax_ the breath into stopping, and not to _force_ it.  Forcing can only cause turmoil of the inner winds and actually delay our progress significantly.  One sign that we can watch to see if we are approaching our capacity is the forcefulness with which we release the retention.  If this release is not "slow"—that is, if it is explosive—then we know that we have come too close to exceeding our capacity.** **3) Master Svatmarama says that the practice of the Great Lock "leads the mind to the Meadows of Shiva."  Explain this reference in terms of the "three braids" he mentions at the same time.  Finally give the Sanskrit for this "three braids," and explain its classical significance.** **The idea here is that the Great Lock focuses our mind and inner winds at the juncture of the three main channels: the birthplace of inner fire.  It allows the winds to flow out of the two side channels and into the central channel.** **When the flow of the winds in the side channels is stopped in these two channels on the side then—as we have seen before—the flow of our mental afflictions, thoughts such as anger and desire, is stopped as well.  This reflects the very meaning of the word _Shiva,_ which is _Peace,_ or _The One Who Brings Us Peace._  The ultimate form of peace—the real meaning of the word _—_is this end of all our negative thoughts, a place of total freedom.  In this sense then we can really be led to the "Meadows of Shiva" by our work on inner fire at the triple juncture, here called the "three braids."** **The Sanskrit here for "three braids" is _triveni._  The _tri_ means _three,_ and is of course found in _three_ and _tricycle._  The _veni_ means _braids,_ and comes from a root √_va,_ which means _to weave._  Cognates are _web_ and _weave_ itself.** **The word _triveni_ traditionally refers to a place at Allahabad, India, where the three sacred rivers of the Yamuna, Ganges, and Sarasvati are said to flow together.  Our text later on says that the Yamuna River relates to the channel of the sun; the Ganges relates to the channel of the moon; and the Sarasvati, which is traditionally said to run underground, relates to the central channel.** **The goddess of the Yamuna River is by tradition said to be the daughter of the God of the Sun, Surya, and the twin sister of Yama, the Lord of Death.  Bathing in the place where the three rivers convene is said to be a sacred act; to bathe in the event of the side channels collapsing into the central channel creates an Angels body of light.** **A major earthquake which occurred in Gujarat, India, on January 26, 2001, is thought to have raised the missing Sarasvati River.  This could correctly be interpreted as a shifting of the central channel in every person who is interested in this event, because the same seeds create both the channels and the world around us.  This is reflected in names of yoga practices, such as Uddiyana and Jalandhara Bandhas, where the name of a sacred place in the outer world is connected to a location within the body.** **The juncture of these three major pipes in the body is traditionally placed just below the navel chakra.  It is through this point that the inner wind or prana moves out of the side channels and into the central channel.  Here too is where the side channels will eventually melt down into the central.** *4) Master Svatmarama states that the practice of the Great Lock can "free us from the snare of the Lord of Death"—but he adds a small qualifier that might be easy to miss unless we look closely.  What is it, and what does it suggest for our practice?  Give also the relevant Sanskrit here; its root, and cognates. **The Master is careful to say that "the Great Lock frees the _wise_ from the snare of the Lord of Death."  What he means to say is that we should not imagine that a physical posture alone is going to be enough to take us to this great goal.** **As we perform the various seals subsequent to the Great Seal, or Mahamudra, we are going to need to continue maintaining the mental practices that we learned in Mahamudra; that is, the Six Flavors of Emptiness.  This will make us "wise," and then the physical practice will be able to free us from death.  This is because by overcoming the mental afflictions we are enabled to stop the very subtle winds within the body (called "seed winds") which are the basis of our very mortality.** **The word for "wise" here in the Sanskrit is _vichakshana._  The _vi_ here means _very much._  The rest comes from the root √_chaksh,_ which means _to see._  This is ultimately related to the English words _check_ (to _watch over)_ and _ogle_ and _ocular,_ from the derivative noun root (eye).**  **What the sum total means in this case is _to see clearly,_ or to _be wise_ in the Six Flavors of Emptiness, Mahamudra.** *5) Master Svatmarama mentions the metaphor of a “woman of exquisite beauty, but who has no man.”  Explain what this means, and the major implication for our overall practice of yoga. **With this line, Master Svatmarama is comparing a beautiful woman who is unfortunately without a partner to the practices of the Great Seal and the Great Lock performed without adding the Great Spear as well.  We learn then that both of these mudras require the third to be totally complete.** **There is a major implication here that is never really mentioned in the entire length of our text, but is something which is quite obvious from the practical lineage as it has come down to us, particularly in the modern Indian schools of yoga.** **And that is that we shouldn't try to perform these practices in a vacuum.  Master Svatmarama by necessity is presenting the mudras for example one by one, and because of this we might be tempted to sit down and just try to do the Great Seal all by itself.** **The metaphor of the beautiful woman here though is meant to inform us that all the asanas, pranayama, kumbhakas, and mudras—along with their related mental foci—are meant to be done in an integral series of practice, on a daily basis.  We cannot simply go into a mudra without warming the body and the inner channels first with our asana practice.  We cannot go into a retention without at least a bit of pranayama practice before the asanas.  The practices of mental focus, and meditation, must accompany all of these.** **And none of our practice will be successful without some kind of daily recognition of the Masters of the lineage that have come before us—the very first subject of our book, and rightly so.  After our practice, we'll need to be eating and thinking and serving right throughout the day.  Our whole life is one big, integrated yoga series; or else we will be like a beautiful woman without her proper companion.** **6) Describe the physical method of the seal of the Great Spear, then speculate upon how it works on the inner body.  Name a related practice from the Tibetan Heart Yoga Series.** **We place our body in the Great Lock, and take a full inhalation.  We set our mind single-pointedly and perform a chin lock.  Then we place our two palms flat down on the ground and beat our buttocks slowly against the floor.  Finally we release the retention and exhale.** **The physical posture of the Great Lock first has a heel at the perineum, stimulating the area of the muladhara chakra: the lower end of the central channel, which transmits stimulation to the triveni or juncture of the three major channels, just below the navel.  The opposite foot is up on our thigh, opening the area of this same chakra and pressing in on the area of inner fire.  (It is even more desirable if we can take a full lotus for this practice.)** **The breath retention again has the effect of slowing down the inner winds, and therefore our distracting thoughts—which goes further and puts a dent in our tendency to see things as coming from their own side.  The chin lock further freezes these winds, and forces the upward-moving winds and downward-clearing winds into conflict with each other, stirring the inner fire.** **Striking the perineal area down on the floor loosens the knots of all the lower chakras, thus enabling wind to break through from the side channels into the central channel, especially at their juncture.** **We can focus our minds at this same juncture during this time—as we did with the Great Lock originally—and thus induce more of the conjoined wind into the middle channel.  Or we can consciously focus on the Six Flavors of Emptiness, which _will have the same effect_  of bringing the winds to the middle.  We are working from the inside and the outside simultaneously.** **This practice of striking the buttocks came into Tibet as an asana known as _bepchung sum:_ the Three Small Drops.  This is the same as the mudra here except repeated three times, again ideally in a full lotus position.** *7) Master Svatmarama states that, if by performing the practice of the Great Spear we are able to "lock together" the "fires of the nectar moon and sun," then even if we should die in this life it will be "transformed into nothing less than immortality."  Explain how this works, adding the crucial traditional caveat.  Also give the Sanskrit word for "nectar moon" here and speak about its different meanings; its root; and cognates. **During the death process, the winds of the two side channels collapse automatically into the central channel.  This brings on a natural experience of the clear light, although untrained people are unable to recognize it as such and simply pass on to the state between death and rebirth.** **Well-trained yogis though—those who have already been able to bring major amounts of wind out of the side channels and into the central one through their constant daily practice of the mudras—thus have a heightened awareness during the death process.** **They are already close to seeing emptiness anyway and when the natural clear light appears to them they are able to "ride it" on to a direct perception of emptiness.  In certain cases then they are able to move into what is called the "diamond body" rather than another mortal body: they achieve the deathless body of an Angel who can help all beings.** **It is though emphasized in all the sources that the death process is very chaotic and frightening, and that we must exert our entire life to try to make the transformation occur in the comfort of our own home and healthy life, long before the death process.  The detail here is mainly intended for yogis who die unexpectedly and suddenly, for example in an automobile accident.** **The "fires" mentioned here are of course the inner fires that are brought on as the winds of the two side channels ("moon and sun") flow towards the middle at the triple juncture, or triveni.** **The word for "nectar moon" is a very significant one in classical Indian spiritual literature.  It is _soma (soma),_ which the Tibetans leave either as _soma_ or sometimes translate as _chakje ukar_, which means _the light of white which brings on passion._** **Soma is based on a substance that was squeezed from a plant (it even comes from the root √_su,_ meaning _to squeeze_ or _to press)._  There are disagreements about exactly what plant this was.  The extract was then mixed with clarified butter (ghee), and allowed to ferment.  When the very early priests of India performed the sacrificial rites described in the Rig Veda, they would first partake of this special substance.  It would place their minds in the proper sacred space then for the ceremony.** **A large part of the Rig Veda, one of the most ancient spiritual books of the world—over 5,000 years old—is in fact devoted to a description and praise of soma.  The moon was perceived as the cup that the gods themselves used to hold this pure white liquid, and soma then became equated with the moon.** **In later years, soma became personified and equated with both Shiva and Yama.  The point here of course is that the winds are flowing from the milky side channel (the _ida_ channel, on the left), and feeding the sacred fire of the triple juncture.** *8) Master Svatmarama says that the practice of the Great Spear banishes the onset of old age.  Describe how a change in the inner winds might bring on this kind of change in the physical aging of the body. **In the end, old age is brought on by negative seeds.  This is why mantras and rituals aimed at the purification of our old bad seeds—rites such as the Hundred-Syllable Mantra of the Warrior of Diamond, Vajra Sattva—are said to keep the practitioner young.** **This is the power of confession of our bad deeds, and the strong resolution not to repeat them: the very definition of bad seeds is to cause harm to others, and when we destroy the seeds within us planted by having caused such harm in the past, and determine not to perform such actions again, then we have none of the karmic seeds which would cause us to see our body age.** **Assuming that we have thus been able to "clean up" our act, we will actually be attracted to the yogic practices which then cause the inner winds to come to a central state of balance, which is the medium through which our seeds assures that our body does not age.** **9) Master Svatmarama mentions that we should divide the day up into eight sessions for our practice of the mudras and other yogic exercises; some other texts suggest 18 sessions.  What is the implication, which he later expresses directly, for our own daily practice?  In your answer, include the Sanskrit word for a “regular daily practice,” including the word for one who performs this practice, and the related root, with a related word or two—plus the Tibetan, for clarification.  State finally what elements a typical daily practice might include.** **It is very common for traditional yogic texts to encourage us to perform our practice first of all on a very regular, daily basis, at the same time each day.  Decide that the chance that you could overcome death itself, and bring all those you love to this same place, is worth an honest daily try.  Set aside a part of the day for your meditation, asana, pranayama, and mudra practice, and keep it religiously, for others.** **What the Master is adding here is that we should "do our practice in short bursts."  That is, if we dedicate _too_ much time to our practice, particularly in the beginning, then there is the danger that we will have a few good days and then not practice at all for the days after that.  Or we will simply get tired or discouraged and give up our practice all together.** **Better, especially at the beginning, to set aside a modest amount of time that we can repeat frequently: every single day.  A good practical suggestion here is to decide on something that we do on a regular basis that we will give up in order to start a formal yogic practice.  We might decide for example to cut our watching television down by an hour a day, or restrict our use of the web and checking our emails to only one session per day.  We'll miss a few things, but we'll gain immortality.  Not a bad trade.** **The Sanskrit word here for a regular daily practice is _sadhana,_ which is derived from the root √_sidh,_ meaning _to attain._  Some familiar related words are _Siddhartha,_ and _mahasiddhi,_ or an accomplished master of yoga.** **The ancient Tibetans translated this term _sadhana_ as _druptap_, and this word gives us a good insight into the Sanskrit, since it means _a method of reaching_ a divine goal or being.  A person who performs a regular daily practice then is a _sadhaka._** **Again, a good daily sadhana practice would include the following elements: meditation; yoga asanas; a bit of pranayama, and mudra practice; repetition of a personal mantra; careful, healthy eating; and the devoted service of all those around us.** *10) Master Svatmarama says that, in order to succeed at the mudras, we should "continue amassing good deeds, and lancing through the army of the bad."  What are two principal practices for success in these two endeavors? **It is agreed by all traditional sources that in order to succeed in our daily yoga practice we must continue to collect good seeds and clean ourselves of our previous bad seeds.** **The most powerful method for collecting good seeds is to find a truly qualified teacher, learn from them, and in return devote ourselves to helping them and their mission in the world.  This is known as Guru Yoga, and despite the "bad rap" that devotion to ones Teacher has developed in the West, is the single most powerful method to accumulate the good seeds that we need to truly serve all living beings.** **In order to remove the obstacles of our old bad seeds—many of which we may not even remember any more—we do the practice of purification known as the Four Forces.  These four involve openly admitting to ourselves and others the things we have done to harm other beings, and most importantly resolving not to repeat such mistakes.  A daily spiritual diary goes a long way in helping us in this task of accumulating new good seeds and destroying old negative seeds.**