# Jalandhara, the Water Catcher and Viparita Karani, the Backwards Way
1) **What two steps does the Master describe for the mudra or seal called the “Water Catcher”? Explain the parts of the name of this seal in Sanskrit, including related English words. What two effects is the seal said to have, and why?**
The two steps described for the Water Catcher are to contract the area of our throat, and then set our chin down firmly upon the chest.
This seal in Sanskrit is called jalandhara {ja#landhara}; and this is a case where the Tibetans have simply borrowed the word, as dzalandhara. The word jala {ja#la} means net, either as a network or a trap. There is a similar spelling jala {jala} which means water, and sometimes we see jalandhara spelled this way. We don’t have any very clear English cognates for jala. Dhara comes from a root √dhir {dhr%}, which means to hold; we see the related English words dharma, farm (a holding), and tree and true (things which are held firm).
In any case, the idea is that when we take this chin lock it is said to prevent or catch the unwanted loss or flow of nectar down through the body, and thus the name.
The effects that this seal is said to have is that it destroys aging and death; and prevents problems with the flow in the throat. The placement of this seal here, right after the Root Lock at the perineum, indicates how it works to prevent aging and death —the idea being that while the Root Lock stops and reverses the flow of the downward clearing wind, the Water Catcher does the same with life-wind located primarily at the heart, blocking its upward movement and forcing it back to the heart chakra.
Here then again the two winds meet into a capsule, which allows us to go into a perception of the clear light—emptiness—and thus transform our body and mind into that of an enlightened Angel.
2) **The Water Catcher has its main effect upon the chakra at the throat. Describe this chakra, including its name in both Sanskrit and Tibetan (with roots and cognates); its function; color; deity; and number of petals.**
The chakra at the throat is called, in Sanskrit, the vishuddha {vis*uddha} chakra, or “chakra of purity.” In Tibetan its name is the longchu kyi korlo {LONGS SPYOD KYI ‘KHOR LO,}, or the “chakra of experience.” The Sanskrit name is meant to reflect the function of the winds and channels in the throat area in the initial steps of the refinement or purification of gross food into the essential extract of food which then travels through the body to nourish it.
The Sanskrit prefix –vi {vi} means very much; it is related to dvi, meaning two (or double as much), which we see as bi in English, as in bicycle and bi-annual; and even the word two. Shuddha {s*uddha} comes from the root √shudh {s*udh}, which means to purify. There is an Indo-European root √swad which means pleasant or sweet and is probably related: English cognates are sweet, persuade, and hedonism.
The Tibetan name, “chakra of experience,” is meant to reflect that the throat and mouth are where we experience the taste of food. The winds here aid in the distinction of tastes into six different types: sweet, sour, salty, spicy, astringent (as with olives), and bitter.
As we’ll see later on in this reading, this chakra at the throat has 16 petals or channels radiating out from it like spokes of a wheel. The 16 winds in these channels are in some sources said to be linked to 16 changes in the pattern of our breathing throughout each 24-hour day, from left to right nostril and then back. The chakra is said to have a red color, and the spokes curve up slightly so that it looks like an open umbrella placed upside down. The overall shape of the chakra is similar to that of a Sanskrit eh letter, or triangular.
This chakra is often seen as marked with a red ah letter, since it is related to the diamond of enlightened speech—something which emanates from the throat and mouth. The ah letter itself is said to be the very essence of the perfection of wisdom. The chakra is considered to be related to the crimson deity Amitabha, or Limitless Light.]
3) **Our text says that the Water Catcher “freezes up the two channels very firmly,” leading to “an experience of the middle center” and “locking the seat of sixteen.” Explain, being sure to give a brief description of these two.**
The idea here is that inner wind or prana is prevented from travelling through the two side channels: the “milky” channel (ida, in Sanskrit) and the “rusty” channel (pingala in Sanskrit). Ida {id%a#} can refer either to a dull white milky substance, or to the flat white color of sheep’s wool; it may be related to the English words white and wheat (a white powder). This is one of the three main channels of the body, travelling down our left side and looping around the central channel and back, to create the knots which cause the chakras.
Pingala {pin*gala#} refers to a rusty red color, the color of the channel to the right hand of the central channel. The English word pink is related. This channel also loops around the central channel, choking it and triggering the formation of the chakras.
What’s important for us to realize right now is the role that these two side channels play in causing our suffering. As we’ve seen from previous courses, our thoughts and the inner winds or prana ride in tandem. When we have thoughts of possessiveness, then wind flows freely through the left-hand channel; and when we have thoughts of anger they flow through the right-hand channel.
There is a fixed amount of inner wind in the body; when wind passes into one of the side channels because we are angry or possessive, then much less wind is passing through the central channel—which is where prana is flowing when we are happy, or in a state of understanding.
When the side channels get “fatter” because more wind is passing through them, this makes their knots around the central channel tighter, which makes it harder for us to understand things, which sends more wind into the side channels, creating a mini-sansara or downward cycle.
There is also a phenomenon where, the more wind travelling through the left-hand channel, the more likely we are to misunderstand where subject states of mind are coming from: the more likely we are to misunderstand anger and misunderstanding itself. The more wind travelling through the right-hand channel, the more likely we are to misunderstand the objects of our states of mind: the person or traffic jam that is making us angry, for example.
The point of the verse here then about Water Catcher is that by doing a proper chin-lock we “freeze” the free passage of prana through the two side channels. If the passage of these winds is slowed or stopped, then we are capable of having less negative thoughts: our thoughts and winds come to the “middle,” to the central channel, which causes us to have more thoughts of wisdom and charity. This effect is felt most, in this case, at the “seat of sixteen”: the chakra at the throat, with its sixteen channel petals.]
4) **What “triple whammy” does the Master suggest in order to “open up the flow of the pathway in one’s back.” What would be the effect of such a flow?**
Master Svatmarama says that if we “contract the foundation strongly” and “make the seal of flight” whilst we maintain our Water Catcher, then this will even more strongly “lock the channels of milk and rust,” which then “opens up the flow of the pathway in the back.” What he’s talking about now is performing all three practices at the same time: chin lock (jalandhara), lock at the perineum (mulabandha), and then a contraction of the abdominal region in uddiyana bandha.
The perineal lock has the effect, as we’ve seen, of preventing the downward flow of the downward-clearing wind, which must then turn back upwards towards the heart. The chin lock has the same effect on the life-wind, forcing it downwards to the heart. The contraction of the abdominal region intensifies both effects.
Winds then are being forced into a capsule at the heart which, as we’ve seen, forces the accompanying thoughts into a dissolution ending in one-pointed focus upon the clear light: emptiness itself. Again, the direct perception of this emptiness creates the primary cause for us to reach the body and mind of an enlightened Angel within the present life.
5) **The Master says that the fact that “what little nectar” we possess flows from the moon and then is “consumed by the sun” is what actually causes the body to age and die. Explain in some detail the “sun” and the “moon” here, clarifying a certain confusion at the same time.**
The “nectar of the moon” mentioned here is a reference to the white element, which is primarily found in the center of the chakra of great bliss—inside the central channel—at the tip of the head. It is said though as well to be located on different occasions within the other chakras of the body as well.
In Tibetan, this white element is sometimes called the “white element of enlightenment.” One important lama from the early 1800’s, known as Lama Quicksilver, has said that “this is most likely a case of the name of the goal being applied to its cause”: that is, this white element, and its corresponding red element, are important factors in our journey towards enlightenment itself.
Although this white element is not semen itself, it does lie “below” the semen, helping to produce it, as well as the bones of the body. It is considered to be related to the element of water. Neither the white element nor the red one is “pure” white or red; each contains some amount of the other, although the predominant part determines whether it is considered white or red.
The red element stays primarily either at the secret place or chakra of the navel, although again it can “visit” other chakras of the body. It is considered related to the fire element, and to play a role in the development of the woman’s menstrual blood, as well as the general blood of the body, and the flesh and skin. Sometimes it is seen as the inner fire which results from practice with our spiritual partner.
The chakras that these elements normally reside in are not their original or final home. At conception, both elements are located in the heart, where they play a role in the initial development of all the channels, and act as the nexus where the consciousness enters from the bardo or inbetween state: this then is the red and white element of mother and father. Upon our death, the two meet again at the heart, and are the exact position of the ejection of consciousness from the body.
There is a beautiful reference to the white and red elements in connecting all five elements to practice with our spiritual partner. The solid contact or touch between the partners is considered a reflection of the earth element. The red element relates of course to the power of the woman, and the white to that of the man. The movement of the elements between the partners is a reflection of the wind element. Due to this movement, a feeling of bliss arises which is utilized to try to perceive ultimate reality: this bliss then is considered to reflect the element of the sky.
When the white and red elements sink into the indestructible drop at the heart, either because we are dying or through our conscious attempts at deep yoga practices, then we go through the four stages of inner yoga, undergoing four types of ecstasy which perceive four types of emptiness. It’s been said that “the chakra at the tip of the head is the main place for the increase of the white element; the chakra at the navel the main place for the increase of the red; and the heart the main place for the equal increase of both.”
Generally speaking, it is the nature of the white element to descend, and the red to ascend. Just before the body changes into that of an Angel though we are said to reach a state of suspension, where 21,600 drops of each of the two elements are consciously suspended within the body: the white is not allowed to descend to the red, and “burn” or be wasted in the sun. It is said that this suspension leads directly to the transformation of the physical constituents of the body into light.
Throughout the yogic literature we see explanations of these elements on a more gross level, as though a lymph-like fluid were descending from the palate through the esophagus to the stomach and being “burned” by the digestive fire, in the stomach. There doesn’t seem to be any authentic basis for this idea in the ancient literature; it seems to be a misinterpretation of the descent of the white element.
6) **Describe the method for performing the seal known as the “Backwards Way,” as well as the components of the metaphor used for it. Include in your description the Sanskrit and Tibetan names for this seal, its roots and cognates; as well as some explanation of how this and related practices would help us achieve our goals.**
The Sanskrit name for the “Backwards Way” is viparita karani {vipari#ta karan%i#}. The corresponding Tibetan is dokje {LDOG BYED,}, where dok means to reverse and je means to do.
The Sanskrit viparita means reversed; it is composed of vi-, meaning very (as in bicycle, meaning double); pari-, meaning around (as in perimeter); and ita, meaning gone and found in the English itinerary and exit. The karani means that which does, and comes from the well-known root √kir {kr%}, meaning to do or make; cognates are karma, create, and cereal.
The text says that we perform the practice by “letting the lamp go on top, and bringing the rabbit underneath; navel over, and top of the mouth below.” The “lamp” here is a reference to the red element and the inner fire, located at the navel; the “rabbit” is an allusion to a Sanskrit poeticism for the moon, shashin, which literally means “the one with the rabbit.” This comes from the idea that, like the moon being made of cheese, it had a shape of a rabbit’s head etched upon it as seen from the earth. Thus the reference is to the moon, and to the white element located at the tip of the head.
What we seek to do then is to bring the sun over the moon, by performing an inversion. The viparita karani is a gentle inversion where we start on our back, tilt our legs up towards the ceiling, and go halfway into a shoulderstand, with our hips supported upon our hands, palms up.
This is a gentle way of reversing the energy of the downward-clearing wind and sending it again towards the heart; while the pressure on the area of the upper back and neck blocks the life-wind and forces it down to the heart. This pose, and any other inversion, such as a shoulder stand or headstand, would have a tremendous effect in bringing these winds together and initiating the process of an inner capsule and dissolution, aiding us in reaching the direct perception of emptiness.]
7) **How fast does Master Svatmarama advise us to learn the Backwards Way; and how does he advise us to learn it?**
The Master advises us to practice this inversion for only a minute on the first day, and then to increase it in tiny increments of a minute or less. This is wonderful advice for any practice; with any inversion especially we could easily damage back or neck by going too fast. The effects of working on the body from the outside to the inside are seen only in very gradual stages, over months and years of steady and gentle work.
And as always, our Master warns us that this pose is something “we can learn only if our spiritual teacher shows it to us, and not from even a million books.” This tells us with certainty that there is more to a pose than its outer form: the viparita karani is one of the easiest of all poses, something that anyone could perform just by watching it done once.
For the pose to work on us in the way it was intended, then, something deeper must be going on—something that only a living teacher can impart to us. And this is obviously the deeper object of the pose in manipulating our inner winds to facilitate the direct perception of emptiness.
8) **Over and over now in the course so far, we’ve been hearing about how the actual goal of the poses and seals of these sections is to help us see emptiness directly. It’s good then if we can check in once in a while to make sure we understand at least intellectually what we’re trying to see. Recalling that the point of this section of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is to bring two winds into the middle of the central channel, talk about the emptiness of this working or not for us.**
The purpose of all these practices is to help us see emptiness directly; and emptiness applies even to whether or not the practices will actually help us at all. The emptiness of a practice like mula bandha is that it has no power in and of itself: it itself cannot work for us.
This is proven by the fact that some people will try this seal, and get no more result than some mild constipation because the downward-clearing wind has been disturbed. Other people will try the same seal and see an extraordinary result, as their yoga practice improves significantly; they begin to experience deeper and deeper levels of meditation (the winds joining at the heart); and they begin to get spontaneous insights into the very nature of things—they begin to see how all the things around them are being generated by their own mind, and begin to see ways in which they can “tweak” this reality to bring greater happiness to themselves and others.
These latter people are actually creating the efficacy of the mula bandha through their good intentions and actions towards others. They may perhaps be serving the sick or disheartened, or else teaching yoga to others to make them healthier and happier people. These actions plant karmic seeds in their minds which project out on to the physical practices like mula bandha, changing them from neutral acts, simple exercise, into extraordinary yogic activities that will take the practitioner to ultimate enlightenment.
To sum, the emptiness of the practices we’re learning at this point in the Yoga of the Sun and Moon is that none of them works from their own side. They can only have deep effects upon us if we have “loaded” them with good karma, by helping and serving other people around us. If we do load them and then perform them, they can “kick” us into the direct perception of emptiness, which then means that within a very short time we become fully enlightened Angels who can stand on thousands of different planets at the same moment and help every single being living there.]
Coffeeshop assignment: Please meet with one other member of the class (preferably someone you didn’t know before the course started) to talk a bit about this class, before the next one.
Meditation assignment: 15 minutes per day, working to draw a line from the spot on the roof of the mouth to the charka at the tip of the head.
Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):**