# Sahajoli, the Combined Fluid; and Amaroli, the Fluid of Deathlessness
1) **What are two additional practices which Master Svatmarama says are included with that of the Diamond Fluid, or Vajroli? Give their names in Sanskrit and Tibetan as well as the English, along with roots and cognates; and then explain the deeper meanings of both names.**
The two additional practices here are known as sahajoli and amaroli. The sahaja in the first means born or arising together, or conjoined, and is a reference to the male and female partners undertaking this practice together. The saha {saha} here comes into English as co-, in its meaning as together. √Ja {ja} is a root often found as √jan {jan}, and means to be born. It comes into English as the gen- (still pronounced with a j sound) found in many words, such as generate, gene, gender. And the oli or uli, as we’ve seen before, has to do with oil, olive, and any similar fluid.
The amaroli combines this same fluid with the idea of amara {amara}, or deathlessness. The initial a- is a negative that is still found in English with words like apathetic (not passionate) or apolitical (not political) or atheist (not believing in God). The mara comes from a root √mir (mr%), meaning to die. We see this root in mortuary and mortal. The combination then means “a practice of the fluid which keeps us from dying.”
Here we get an insight into the deeper meaning of both names. Remember that the saha in sahajoli translates into Tibetan as hlenkye {LHAN SKYES,}, which has a very special meaning in the yogic tradition. In this context, what “arises conjoined” is the wisdom of bliss and voidness. That is, we use our yogic practices—particularly those with our spiritual partner, but also all the other ones from asana poses up to the various kriyas, kumbhakas, and other seals—to open our knots and chakras, bringing the wind pouring into our central channel. As we’ve seen with the various avasthas or stages of this process, we reach a stage where we are experiencing a deep state of bliss, and using this bliss like some kind of extraordinary microscope to examine the nature of the reality around us.
Our microscope at this point is “aimed” of course at emptiness, and this is the idea of sahaja at a deeper level: the bliss arises together with a deeper understanding of where the world and ourselves are coming from.
If we keep up this kind of analysis or understanding—especially when it reaches the direct, non conceptual form—then the body and mind transform, and we reach the state of a deathless Angel who can serve all beings; and thus the name of the second practice.
2) **What is the Sanskrit name of the special substance required for performing the practice of the Combined Fluid; what are the sources of this substance; and what is the traditional significance of its use?**
In the instructions for the practice of the Combined Fluid, the two partners smear on their limbs a paste called bhasma. The Sanskrit word bhasma generally means a dust or powder of any kind; traditionally though it has been produced by burning the bones of a cow into a powder, and then combining this with water. We still see bhasma sold in stalls on the Ganges River in Varanasi, for example, where people use it to make the paste for the sacred dot or triple line that is smeared on the heads of priests and devotees during the morning prayers.
In the secret traditions of India and Tibet, this bhasma has been made with powder from the ashes of a dead person who has been cremated. (Thus the Tibetan for bhasma, which is miro sekpay telwa: literally, “the ashes from the cremation of a human.”) Yogis then by tradition smear this on their body to remind them of why they are practicing yoga at all: if we continue in the way we have up to now, responding to the world with ignorance, then we will surely die, and move on to another place without the benefit of the karma that has provided us this rare opportunity to study and practice.
It is naïve to think that this place will be any better than the place we are in now, given that it is so difficult for us to accumulate good karma: to have anything but low thoughts where we care so little for the welfare of those around us. What makes this version of the partner practice so powerful then is that we can hardly avoid this reminder smeared across our body that we need to love and serve those around us, while we have the time.]
3) **What is the Sanskrit word used to describe practice with a partner at this point (include root and cognates), and how did the Tibetan yoga tradition translate it? What were some reasons behind the choice of the word in the Tibetan, and how does this affect our own practice?**
The Sanskrit word used to describe practice with a partner at this point is maithuna. This comes from a Sanskrit root √mih {mih}, which means to mix, intermix, or co-mingle. Related English words are mix, mingle, and mash.
The Tibetans chose to translate this word as nyom-juk {SNYOM ‘JUG}, which is also the general word used for meditation: samapatti in the Sanskrit. The idea in the Sanskrit is of “sitting in equipoise,” balanced between agitation and dullness. Here though the Tibetan is being used to describe a balance or union of the two partners.
A word which is normally used for another, more general context is being utilized for spiritual activities which might be misunderstood or misinterpreted by an untrained person, causing them to collect bad karma. A special language developed then among the yogis of Tibet and India which has been translated into English as the “twilight language.” In Sanskrit this is called sandhya bhasha, and in Tibetan gongke. Another example would be the well-known Tibetan mantra Om mani padme hung, which literally refers if fact to maithuna: “Om, the jewel in the lotus, hung.”
In our own practice this points up the need for not exposing other people to spiritual ideas for which their minds are not prepared, because they might then reject them out of hand, and cause themselves negative karma. This can apply even to explaining to another person at work why, for example, we don’t eat meat: if we think we can discuss an idea like this with another person and change their minds, we need to realize that this can only happen if we use for our mutual discussion ideas which they already accept which could lead them to the truth of the idea we’re trying to introduce. Until then, many aspects of our practice (as we heard from Master Svatmarama himself earlier on in the text) are more powerful and beneficial for all if we keep it close to our heart, and secret.]
4) **Master Svatmara notes how “one needs a strong conviction” to perform the practice of the Combined Fluid. Explain why, giving also the Sanskrit word for “conviction” here, and describing how it differs from our normal idea of “faith.”**
During the practice of the Combined Fluid we are being asked to undertake two activities for our spiritual goals that would never be considered spiritual by the vast majority of the people of the world. Simply put, the activities that the world does think are meaningful are pretty obviously not: to work day after day in the pursuit of money, security, wealth, and position—when we can see with our own two eyes that even those few people who manage to get all these must inevitably be torn away from them as they go through the painful process of aging and death.
Which leads us to think that if there is something of true meaning that can be done with this life, the way to do it could well be something radically different than what most of us are doing now. Which is to say—if there is something very meaningful we can do with our life, then the way we do it might be something that looks unusual or even crazy to the majority of the people in the world.
And this indeed is the case with our practice of the Combined Fluid: we are being asked to approach one of the most worldly of all actions (intimate physical contact with a partner of the opposite sex) as something sacred; and on top of that to do so covered with a paste made of the ashes of dead people— something again which would normally be considered inappropriate to the extreme. And what Master Svatmarama is saying here is that we will only be able to do so whole-heartedly if we have conviction in the practice.
The Sanskrit word for conviction here is shraddha {s*raddha}. This is related to the Sanskrit word for heart, which is hird {hr%d}, and comes into English in words like credit, cardiac, and heart itself. Shraddha is typically also translated as faith.
In the classical tradition of the east though it’s important to realize that the word faith has a meaning quite different from our normal idea of believing in something blindly. The Tibetan here is helpful: dangway depa {DANG BA’I DAD PA,}. Depa is a direct translation of shraddha; the dangway is the helpful part. It normally means clear, as in crystal-clear mountain water, but in the context of religious belief it refers to a clear state of mind which results from carefully considering the benefits or good qualities of the object of our faith.
In this case then, it’s important that we approach the two aspects of the practice of the Combined Fluid with a considered faith. Rather than simply smearing human ashes over our conjoined bodies because the text or some teacher has told us to, we wait on doing the practice until we’ve thought it over carefully and can perform it with a high state of mindfulness.
For example, we might first sit with the ash for a while and reflect carefully upon how it was once a live and breathing person like ourselves, with all the hopes and plans and worries that we ourselves have. And then presumably the person’s hopes were dashed by a serious illness or the like, and they died; the ash remains, but the person has been ripped onwards by karma to a fate we can only imagine. Perhaps if we had been able to talk with them before they died; perhaps if they had known about these yogic practices, there would be no ash left for us to smear upon ourselves. And so then we slowly do smear the ash, perhaps even dedicating our spiritual work from the day to this very person.
When we wear the ash this way, for this reason, it’s a sign of dangway depa: of a kind of faith where we are doing what we’re doing because we’ve thought it over carefully and it makes sense to us that it would work. The same goes for the partner practice itself; we understand its effects on the inner winds, we understand the great benefit of believing that a true Angel has come to aid us in our quest for enlightenment, and then only then do we undertake the practice. Doing so for any other reason will, in the long run, only fail. We need conviction—and if we don’t have it, we need to keep asking questions and thinking things over until we see that we must do the Combined Fluid.]
5) **Master Svatmarama lists four qualities that a person should possess “if they are to succeed at this kind of yoga.” List the four, describing briefly what each contributes to the overall picture of our success.**
(1) The first quality that the Master lists is that we should be “rich in good deeds.” Generally speaking, it’s obviously a good karma to enjoy an intimate physical relationship with a partner— especially if the very definition of “good karma” is “an action which plants a karmic seed to enjoy a pleasant result.” And so first of all we’d have to have performed a lot of good deeds just to find a partner.
The type of good deeds needed for a partner obviously relate to partners: paying attention to people who are lonely, trying to bring them companionship; being sure that we respect other people’s relationships. And then we need much more good karma to enjoy a relationship where we both see how we could turn the relationship into a method of serving and saving the world. The karma here would be encouraging and describing to others how they themselves could help others through the practices of yoga.
(2) The second quality that the Master lists is that practitioners of the Combined Fluid should “have great knowledge.” This kind of knowledge would include an entire range of spiritual ideas: a knowledge of how painful life is, so strong that it will drive and sustain us over the whole course of our spiritual career; a concern for the suffering that others are going through—the miracle of true empathy; and an insight into how reality is deriving from ourselves, which is all that really makes it possible for us to help others. On top of this, we must have received authentic empowerment and teachings into these higher practices of a spiritual partner: we know what to do, we know how to do it, we know why it’s going to work.
(3) The third quality is that we should have “seen reality.” At best, this refers to a direct perception of emptiness, which leads to the true conviction that we really will save the world with our yogic practices. Traditionally though the direct perception of emptiness is so rare that serious insights into this principle would also apply.
(4) The final quality is being “capable of deep passion.” On a physical level, it’s said that a person with a high degree of sexual vigor is best able to trigger inner fire through practice with a spiritual partner; some texts even give an ideal age for the woman (from puberty to about 30), although it should be noted that this general rule is considered void for any woman who has attained good insights into emptiness. On an emotional level, a high degree of passion would result from heightened senses, which themselves come from a basic, regular spiritual practice of daily meditation, yoga, study, and service.]
6) **What is a method of the practice of the Fluid of Deathlessness reported by Master Svatmarama to be used by practitioners of a different school? And how does he say that his own school performs this practice? What result is said to be obtained from this practice, and what are the other four forms of it listed in the ancient sources?**
The Master begins his explanation of this practice by reporting a version of it performed by followers of the “Skull” sect. They say that the Fluid of Deathlessness is ones own urine, and that by drinking it we can sustain the youth and vitality of the body. This practice is current even into modern times in India, where prime minister Morarji Desai (1896-1995) swore by the practice (it seems to have worked for him, as he lived for 100 years and became prime minister at the age of 81.
The text says that we should only use the middle part of the flow of the urine, discarding the beginning of the flow and its end. Incidentally, urine is not regarded in Asia with the same disdain that it is in the post-black-plague West. Cow urine is recommended in the traditional literature as a disinfectant for both homes and topical human use.
The Master’s own school though says that we take seminal and ovarian fluids from a daily practice of the Fluid of the Diamond and either drink it or inhale it through the nose. We also take excess fluid and mix it with the bhasma powder and spread this over the upper parts of our body. It is said that this latter practice gives us the “eye of a god.”
This “eye of a god” is one of the famous “five eyes” described especially well in the literature of the Independent Group of the Middle-Way School of ancient Indian Buddhism. There are many different presentations of these, but here is the one most favored by our own particular lineage, the lineage of Maitreya.
The first of these eyes are (1) the “eyes of flesh,” are an exceptional form of vision where we can distinguish objects from say a hundred miles away up to an entire universe away.
The (2) “eyes of a god” in this presentation refer to an ability we achieve, through deep meditative practice, to perceive both massive and very tiny objects in every corner of the universe, and in any one of the three times: past, present, and future. The idea here in the verse seems then that we could use the scent or taste of the fluids resulting from our partner practice as a reminder or tool that takes us into a meditation on the shared steps of the path represented by the ash in the Combined Fluid, and then the bliss and emptiness perception represented by the partner practice itself. A side effect of these deeper realizations would be the siddhi or extraordinary power of the ability to see objects quite distant in space or time.
The (3) the “eyes of wisdom” refer to the non-conceptual wisdom with which we perceive, directly, that nothing in the universe has any nature of its own.
The (4) “eyes of the dharma” are an ability to grasp all the contents of the ancient books of wisdom, without the slightest hesitation or difficulty at all.
And (5) the “eyes of a Buddha” see, directly, both the entire quantity and nature of every existing thing, in all times and places that there are.]
7) **What is especially significant about the verses of the text which describe the practice of the Diamond Fluid by a woman yoga practitioner? How is the practice described for a woman, and what results does the Master list?**
What’s significant about the verses in Light on the Yoga of the Sun and Moon which describe how a woman practices the Diamond Fluid is that they are here in the text at all. Even in current times, a question put to a yoga teacher in Varanasi, India, about what has changed in yoga will be answered in a deprecating way, “Women are being taught yoga.”
We can admire that some five centuries ago, Master Svatmarama was sensitive to the needs of woman yoga practitioners even in undertaking some of the highest and most secret practices of yoga—work with a partner—and took the time to describe things from the point of view of the woman partner. This is something you will never see even in the very authentic tradition of yoga in Tibet.
The practice of Diamond Fluid for a woman is described as being able to retain the ovarian fluid, and being adept in drawing in the man’s vital drops. This, says the Master, would truly qualify a woman as “a yogini.” The idea here is that the woman practitioner has control over her downward-moving wind, and is able to reverse it at will, bringing into her the power of the male partner’s downward-moving wind to assist in this reversing. Again, this then helps her seal the prana at the heart and go into a deep meditative state which will allow her to see higher reality.
As results, the Master says that such a woman will never see a decline in her physical, and more especially, sexual vitaility. He further states that the mystic sound or nada within her body would also transform into the essence of drops of consciousness itself—indicating that due to the compression of the winds she is able to concentrate closely within the channels, thus bringing the winds to a single point, experiencing the related inner sounds and going into the corresponding perceptions of ultimate reality.
8) **The Master states that if a woman succeeds in the practice of the Diamond Fluid, then she will “surely become a dancer in the sky.” Explain the two levels of this dance.**
On one level, as the Master also states in the verses here, the levels of concentration achieved with the proper practice of the Diamond Fluid allow a woman to attain the “common” attainments, which would include actually being able to physically fly in the sky.
On a deeper level though “flying through the sky” in the yogic literature has a meaning of the mind flying unimpeded through the sky of emptiness: meaning that we are able to go into a true non-conceptual state and see ultimate reality directly. Remember that “sky” or “space” in the traditional literature is explained as the absence of obstruction; that is, “sky” or “place” really is that realm where you can keep going indefinitely and not bump into anything.
The idea here is that, because the yogini has managed through the practice of the Diamond Fluid to bring her winds into the central channel, she no longer has a single thought that anything around her or within her is coming from its own side. Thus we can say that she is “flying” “unimpeded” through the sky of ultimate reality.]
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, visualizing your body and all of its elements as that of an already enlightened Angel.
Meditation times and dates (homework without this section completed will not be accepted):**