Excerpted from Joy and Evolution by Robert L. Peck, Leslie M. Cassinari, Christine S. Gavlick © 2004

The ancient writings of the East offer many important teachings to the modern world, but there is a major problem in discovering and understanding the secrets of the East. This problem can be laid at the feet of such people as Descartes and King Louis XIV of France who placed the highest worth of humankind upon cognition, genteel behavior and elegance. Today greatness is primarily associated with models of elegance in the athletic, entertainment or political realms. 

The secrets of the East are subsequently hidden because they cannot be found by looking outward into an idyllic society and its institutions or into the heavens above. They are not to be found in the beauty and majesty of life but rather are found only through the conflicts and chaos of life and then only by looking deeply within the self. 

The secrets of the East have long been covered over and altered to fit the above Western ideals of genteel perfection. As an introductory example, consider the popular Hatha Yoga programs that are generally presented as being gentle stretching and quiet contemplation. The truth is, however, that the word hathayoga in Sanskrit means ‘violent and forced union’ and not quiet inhalation and exhalation as commonly taught. This constitutes perhaps the first revelation of a secret of the East. This secret can be stated that any complete union or change in life requires violent and forced (vital) effort or energy and that the barriers to change must be broken and overcome. (If there were no barriers to be overcome, the change would have already taken place.)

The shift in the meaning of hatha and the nearly complete obscuration (a favorite term of Indian scholars) of the ancient secrets of India, we assert, took place during the colonization of India by the British. During this time the Indians were forced to become subjects of the Crown, in body and soul. The British made English the national language, wrote and published Sanskrit to English dictionaries, and translated the ancient sacred writings into English, which absolutely destroyed even the references to the existence of secrets. The British can be accused of a blatant arrogance during this period as their academicians decided what the ancient writings really meant or should have said and what the history of India really should have been. (Only recently are the theories of the Aryan invasion and the superiority of the white-skinned northern Indians starting to be discounted.)

The British did not directly interfere with the religious observances of India but did alter the underlying philosophy and science through language. This can be explained in part because the underlying philosophy and science were neither acceptable nor understood. This alteration took place with methods that had already proven very effective in the West.

One powerful method of changing a philosophy or belief is to shift the use of the old descriptive allegories and metaphors that helped describe the teachings so that the allegories and metaphors themselves become the object of study. Perhaps this point can best be explained through the elaboration of the old Chinese epigram, ‘The finger pointing at the moon.’ It is not difficult for most people to envision a person pointing to the moon and then making his or her finger some sacred evidence of truth. The pointing individual then becomes worshipped as the source of wisdom, and the moon diminishes in importance and concern. In concentrating on the allegories and metaphors, the underlying teachings or truths could be ignored or suppressed.  Since by nature allegories and metaphors are not well defined, they can then be easily altered to point to another teaching.

However, there is another even greater method of attacking teachings or truths and that is to attack the original ‘finger’or source of the allegories and metaphors. The most common method is to belittle the qualifications of those who teach. We are amazed at how many Indians today will  cite some Western academician as an authority when his presented view conflicts with their own experimental or practical evidence.

There is one more method that we find quite offensive and that is when the writers or founders of the original concepts or truths are described as being high on a special psychedelic drug. This has been done to those who brought forth India’s oldest truths, the authors of the Rig Veda. What is surprising is how many modern writers of Indian philosophy and religion continue to support this accusation. As an example, there has been considerable study as to what this particular psychedelic drug of the Rig Veda might have been, with implications that such a drug can actually be found. Yet there is absolutely no evidence that any drug could have the capability of producing such wisdom as evidenced by the original Vedic seers and revelators.

Before we attempt to shed the added interpretations imposed by the English translators on ancient Sanskrit documents, perhaps the question as to what constitutes an important and worthwhile secret needs to be briefly reviewed. The West is primarily looking for happiness, which is readily reduced to the finding of increased possessions and powers over one’s immediate world. Most Westerners would surely not reject having the ability to turn lead into gold, levitate at will, heal themselves and others instantly, and have immediate access to any bit of wisdom (which many people believe are the secrets of India). The majority would also certainly not be concerned with cost as long as it was quick, easy and didn’t require any changes in lifestyle. However, as soon as time, effort or change in lifestyle is mentioned, any secret is no longer of interest. Let the reader be warned that the secrets of the East do take time to master, require a definite effort and change in lifestyle, do not lead to increased possessions or power over others, have no monetary value, and exist for only one purpose: to lead you to joy and evolution into new worlds. 

In our opinion the basic source of all of the Eastern secrets of joy is to be found in the Rig Veda. (Rig means ‘hymns (of)’ and Veda means ‘knowledge,’ in the sense of fully knowing and understanding that which is.) The Rig Veda is the oldest teaching of India which came forth from the advanced Indus Valley society of which little is known, not even the language. One important consideration is, however, that they left behind no temples or any evidence of a strong military power. The Rig Veda is quite different from modern Christian writings and is easier to compare with Greek myths and writings. It describes many gods in a personal manner and refers to a drink called amrita[1] (‘not dying’) which can be compared with the Greek ambrosia (‘not mortal’). One of the questions that scholars have about the origin and actual nature of ambrosia may be answered in the Rig Veda since the term amrita is but another term for soma, which is well described both as to its effects and it attainment.

However, the effects and attainment of soma are both generally unknown in the modern West and because of the suppression of both, we will have to introduce the subject with a step-by-step approach. We encourage the reader to be patient.

Let us start with the secret of OM. (This is the first demand for patience.) One supporting bit of data for OM is that it is already known in the West as tinnitus, but this is not a proof positive because the West cannot prove the existence of tinnitus as will be discussed. With this confusing but hopefully encouraging introduction, let us continue.

OM in the modern world is now generally believed to be the physically or mentally vocalized ‘aum’ that is believed to elevate the mind to an external and universal, higher spiritual power. However, the original usage was much simpler, referring to a perceived sound of an inner physical transformational power that you have already heard, at least as a child or during some illness or intense personal demand.

We introduced beginning students into finding this inner sound to be used as the focal point in advanced meditations. Students first learned to listen to the sound of their breathing and then to let the body and breathing become more and more relaxed. A little bit later they were taught to listen for a rising sound in the background of the sound of breathing like hearing the distant roar of the ocean, a whistle or the continuous sound of a flute, which all were able to do. They were then told to balance the sound if they heard it only in one ear and then finally to hear it coming up from their inner depths. 

This inner sound of OM was called the nadam, or the pranava, and was considered by many ancient teachers to be the ultimate object to concentrate on for starting into meditation and the freeing of the inner self from the conditioned thoughts. This is ironic, since Western medicine is well aware of it and calls it tinnitus, stating that it is injurious and spends a great deal of money in seeking treatments for it. Researchers have tried to listen to the inner sound with miniature microphones placed inside the ears and tried to measure the frequency or pitch of the sound, all to no avail. Physically it simply does not exist.

It was also noted that most young children hear the sound and like it. (Parents who would ask their children about it would invariably report back that their children were surprised that the parents didn’t hear it.)

Many people hear the sound during severe illness or during intense struggles or demands upon their bodies or minds. One oddity is that even though it can seem as loud as a freight train, a dropped pin can still be heard above the roar. Some religions in India had described the sound as the sound of mixed vowels plus the anusvara or a nasal after-tone, which we think is a very good description. (Yoga describes eight different types of sound ranging from a big bass drum to various instruments and the roar of the wind.)

The next secret of the East is also nearly impossible for the West to understand. This secret is that the source of joy is in the lower abdominal and sexual region of the body. One interesting but very important aspect of this portion of the body is that it was considered as the feminine portion of the body.[2] All of the active organs that produce a higher energy are considered to be feminine as well as the ruling powers.  The modern West, in contrast, considers that this part of the body is animalistic and dirty and should be hidden, suppressed and tightly controlled at all times.

The reluctance to consider the validity of this secret of the lower body can be confirmed by looking at the practice of sitting cross-legged. To most Westerners, this is a primitive, uncultured and perhaps uncivilized method of sitting. Those groups who insist upon sitting cross-legged, such as the Western martial arts groups, are not evidencing much social elegance, and further they cannot explain why they sit thusly other than by tradition. It is the West that desires to get its rulers and great people far above the ground into thrones or onto elevated platforms, while the East places their great people on the floor sitting among beautiful cushions or upon thick rugs. 

In our classes we attempted to duplicate the physical conditions for meditation that seemed to be so important in old writings. Many writers advocated meditation in a small isolated spot or mud hut with the floor covered with dried cow dung or kusha grass and then covered with a tiger or antelope skin. From some of the descriptions of the practice we concluded that the meditator would squish his buttocks around to accumulate cow dung or grass under the hide so that it would press up into the perineum. We could not, of course, conceive of students bringing cow manure into their homes and finding an appropriate hide, so we hoped that a thinly rolled pillow or towel might serve as well. This meditating stance fortunately did yield several positive results. The first was an increase in the loudness and control of the nadam, and the second was the development of a wonderful feeling in the perineum that must be considered as very feminine as will be described in Chapter Eleven. This experiment gave the results that sitting cross-legged on the proper support can yield significant improvements in meditation.    

One of the secrets that fell out of this combined perineal  pressure and nadam meditation was that the response time of the body could be materially increased after meditation. The response time normally slows considerably as you age, and is experienced with the longer time that it takes to hit the brake in the car or the impossibility of catching a falling glass that you used to catch easily . This loss of response is also associated with the general loss of vitality and awareness of the outer world. 

Looking for the reversal of the reduction in reaction time came from considering an ancient story about a group of men in India who practiced some of the Yoga exercises including meditating upon the nadam. The story described how one day as these Yoga students walked down a road in India they were attacked by a much larger group of thieves. Although unarmed, the students were able to move and respond so much faster than the thieves that, much to their surprise, they easily subdued them. Supposedly this experience resulted in the formulation and development of the physical  practices of Yoga as well as the martial arts.

We had already noted some very rapid responses from students in some of the class activities and therefore ran a controlled test of the response time of students. We selected those students who had managed to keep their mind upon the nadam during meditation and compared them with children and a control group of adults of the same age range. The results [3] were quite spectacular with the special nadam students one third faster than 12-13 year old children and almost twice as fast as the adult control group.[4] Something obviously was changing inside the bodies of the meditators.

This rapid response was initiated by many individuals with a preparation that felt like controlling or limiting the breath within the lower abdomen. It might be like tightly controlling the breath while listening for some scary noise at night. It is the feeling of getting ready to exerting yourself, or the feeling of girding your loins.

The next problem was to locate and verify the source of this change. The ancient writings about inner power state that they either originate within or are controlled by the heart, hridaya in Sanskrit. This led to the question as to where and what is this heart? English translations generally gave the impression that it is in the chest and is the same as the beating pumping heart. It wasn’t, however, until we began actively translating Sanskrit documents that we could make progress in sorting out many opposing and apparently nonsensical statements about the heart. We were still hampered since we had to use Sanskrit to English dictionaries, which were, of course, compiled from English translations by Westerners who firmly believed that the heart or hridaya was in the chest as taught by the Christians.

What amounted to a breakthrough came when we received an unexpected book from India entitled Paratrishika Vivarana written by Abhinavagupta in the 5th century. We studied and read this book in a unique manner since we perceived the main text as telling how to translate an embedded ancient short document of unknown origin entitled the Paratrimshika. When we finally translated the Paratrimshika with this help, it read like a technical document in that it defined each term as it progressed. As for instance, it defined the heart as existing between the thighs, and that this heart was the dwelling place of the god of gods. This heart was also described as the intermediary between the soul and the inner Divine god (Ishvara: ish: ruler and vara: contained). At last we had found a description of the location of the heart so important to the ancients. This exciting find and other definitions in this ancient document opened doors to understanding both Eastern and Western writings.[5]

However, before tackling the Rig Veda, let us introduce a very interesting clue to another secret that will in turn provide a clue to a more complete understanding of the Rig Veda.  

This clue was left behind as one of the few artifacts of the lost and unknown Indus Valley culture. This artifact is most unusual, to Western eyes, in that it is a cast or carved figure of a swollen female pudendum called a yoni lying horizontal with a smooth mound of flesh called a lingam protruding vertically out of it.  It is called the Shiva linga icon, and many modern Indians considers it to portray the creative power of the God Shiva, considered to be the god of procreation and destruction. However, it is doubtful that the early Indians considered the icon to be the phallus of Shiva. The lingam is coming out of a yoni rather than entering, it is not shaped like a phallus, and the enemies of the early people of the Rig Veda were accused of being evil phallus worshippers[6] so the Indus Valley people were unlikely to worship any phallus. The Shiva Linga might also be considered as the three dimensional portrayal of the old Egyptian symbol of creative power, the ankh cross, with the shaft below the opening instead of within it.

Fortunately, being from a different culture, we were able to study the sacred icon without preconditioned thoughts and attempted to uncover the secret or power that the icon was pointing to. Our search started with the literal meaning of linga, which means the sign or indication of something. The icon must therefore have something to do with the indication of the presence of Shiva. Since Shiva is the god of procreation and creation, the icon must refer to a protrusion as the sign of a creative force. We therefore started with the assumption that the icon was pointing to something very real and not mythological. This yielded almost immediate results as we looked up references for a protrusion of flesh coming out of the female pudendum and then rapidly had to extend it to include men because of the large number of references associating it with men as well.  

One of the earlier words to describe this protuberance was gula, which is defined in the Western Sanskrit dictionaries as a swelling like a ball similar to a clitoris or penis. The more common later term by the British for the swelling was kanda. (Kanda actually refers to the swelling of the yoni as will be described later.) The term kanda means a swelling or tubular growth and secondly the erroneous application to the linga as a vaginal fleshy excrescence with the dictionary addition of “but apparently prolapsus uteri.” (We felt quite confident that the Indians would not model a fallen uterus and equate it with any form of creativity.) (For those who find a protuberance and are concerned that it might be a perineal prolapsed organ, there is a simple test. If the protrusion disappears upon normal standing or with time, it is probably not a medical problem, since holes in the perineum cannot suddenly heal themselves.)  

To return to the Shiva linga, if Shiva were the god of procreation then the icon can be expected to include individual creativity as well as procreation. This hypothesis also turned out to be supportable. The lingam must therefore not be a phallus but rather protruding flesh from the perineum that indicated inner creative as well as procreative power.

As we looked deeper into Hatha Yoga we found why the word hatha, meaning violence, was used. The violence and effort of hatha were designed to stimulate the Shiva linga. Early Yoga students were told that the function of Yoga practices are primarily to stimulate the kanda or swelling of the perineum that in turn awakens the sleeping kundalini wrapped around the Shiva linga, thereby liberating creative powers to the body. The kanda is well described as a tubular organ running from the anus forward to the clitoris or penis. The practices called mudras and bandhas pound, press, squeeze and churn the lower abdomen, coupled with breath control and the inner lifting of organs and fluids.

(This is of course much different from what is found in the modern Western Yoga class that is countering social tensions and developing a beautiful body. Chapter Eleven will describe some of the practices in detail and the Appendix presents a comparison of the basic rules of Yoga from the original understanding to the modern.)

Now perhaps we are able to consider the Rig Veda. Most Western and many Indian writers now follow the lead given by R. H. Griffith in 1890 when he stated that the fluid, soma, attributed to stimulating supernormal inner power, was not internally generated as stated, but rather came from some mysterious plant with psychedelic and stimulating properties. He persisted in this belief even though the Rig Veda stated that a person is mistaken if he believes that soma comes from a plant[7]. Other academicians attempted to trace soma to some particular plant but with total failure. Griffith could not believe in the reality of the reported gods nor could he envision them as allegories or metaphors of the inner powers, so he made them instead part of a religious scene experienced under the strong drug of soma.

Since the Rig Veda could be viewed then as a religious rather than a factual document, Griffith was justified in relying upon traditional interpretations and considering that flowery prose was of far more importance than literal content. This shift is quite obvious with just a casual comparison of his translation with the actual meanings of the Sanskrit words. As for instance, he freely adds, modifies meanings, or removes words in order to make the text fit an acceptable view. In Indian philosophy this process is well known and is called yathasambhavam, which is an acceptable practice (but also lousy academics).

Griffith’s translation can be briefly summarized as being collected stories of the mythical gathering of some psychedelic plant and the processing of it by a complex religiously controlled ritual consisting of using tools for pounding, pressing, churning and filtering of the soma of the plant. The stories then tell of how special powers are obtained from different deities when they are offered the prepared libation.

However, the true content (pratishabdam) of the Rig Veda is so fundamental, not only to India but to the rest of the world, that we feel it a necessity to give the reader a taste of its literal content. We therefore offer a translation of a portion of the original Rig Veda that first describes the preparation of soma and also the translation by Griffith (in smaller type) for comparison. (The original Sanskrit text and the literal meanings of the words are given in the Appendix.)

To assist in the reading the following definitions will be useful:

§     The name of the old inner god or Ishvara was called Indra but is now called Shiva by modern Hindus. Indra or Shiva is defined to be within the self and the source of the unconscious interactions with the outer world. Procreation is perhaps the best example. An individual does not create a new life, but is certainly the instrument for it. The inner god of procreative power is also the source of the creative actions, visions or insights that are not generated by the conscious brain. (If the Ishvara is controlled by the individual, then it is easy to understand the concept that an individual is God if the inner gods are being directed by the self.[8]) 

§      The granary floor, khala, was used as a symbol for the floor of the abdomen, since the granary floor was used for threshing of grain as well as its storage. The description of the threshing of grain is similar to the preparation of soma with its churning, pressing and pounding. The granary was also the site for special ceremonies and rituals to insure the continual production of food or energy.

§      Developed abdominal muscles were used to churn, pound and press the inner glands or organs to produce some combination of biochemicals called soma.

§      The East as well as the West has lost the concept of the loins as being the source of strength such as implied in the Biblical expression of ‘gird up your loins.’ Related to this is the ignorance of most men and many women of the existence of anything between the thighs other than the pudendum.  Perhaps the easiest method of finding the area being discussed is to tighten the muscles used to stop the flow of urine or perhaps to steel yourself to face something unpleasant such as falling down a shaft. Sanskrit has a number of terms for this area, with yoni being common even though it is now also used to refer almost exclusively to a female pudendum.[9]

§      The perineum contains a gland called the gula that swells when stimulated and is instrumental in the generation of soma. This kanda can be explained as being developed and swollen perineal muscles [10] that are largely undeveloped in the modern world as will be explained later. 

§         Griffith replaces the inner pressing and pounding inner muscles with an imagined stone mortar and pestle and the inner muscle motions with the grinding in a mortar.

From the Rig Veda, Book One, Chapter Twenty-eight. (The first reference to the preparation of soma.)

1) Wherein, the firm broad root (abdominal floor) can become the perfect hot threshing floor with its power of Indra, coming up from below from the covered bulb (kanda). 

There where the broad based stone is raised on high to press the juices out. O Indra, drink with eager      thirst the droppings which the mortar sheds,

2) Wherein just so, these two, make and press out (soma) from the loins.

Where, like broad hips, to hold the juice, the platters of the press are laid.

3) Wherein, with a motion like a woman’s (inner sexual thrust), away and toward, everything is gained.

There where the woman marks and learns the pestle’s constant rise and fall,

4) Wherein, churning is controlled in the same manner by pressing to and fro.

where as with reins to guide a horse, they bind the churning staff with cords.

5) Indeed the asking for wisdom is connected to the resident giver of wisdom located within the burning inner granary within the body.  In this place is manifested a pervading ecstasy like a victorious drum.

If of a truth in every house, O Mortar, thou art set for work. Here give forth thy clearest sound, loud       as the drum of conquerors.

6) And they always excite and control the stem or source with the breath of the body. Now to find the protected powers of Indra, go to the inner storehouse and produce soma.

O sovran of the forest, as the wind blows soft in front of thee, Mortar for Indra press thou forth the         soma  juice that he may drink.

The teachings of the Rig Veda became a model used by many groups in India to explain life and its processes. As for example, a group of writings in India known as the Tantras[11] or Agamas[12] includes the now well-known model of an inner soul and spirit within the body even though confusion now exists as to what the difference between the two is. The Tantras also provided a model for the energy of the body that became nearly worldwide.  

There were two groups in Bengal and Kashmir who became known for having special inner powers as well as intense joy in their interactions together by using methods that were supposedly based upon the Tantras. These Tantriks were believed to use secret, powerful mantras or spells and chants that could overpower other people and were believed to have a secret ceremony that gave rise to these powers. Participants in the ceremony were reputed to engage in the very sinful acts (to Hindus) of eating fish, having open sex, drinking alcohol, eating meat and taking aphrodisiacs.[13]  

This accusation followed no doubt from the five words that the Tantriks used to describe the result of their practices. These five words became known as the 5 ‘M’s, since all began with an ‘M’. The actual Sanskrit words are matsya, maithuna, madya, mansa and mudra, which with quite a bit of stretching of definitions can mean the above sinful acts. However, the more common literal meanings are much different as stating that they have: increased vitality, close union or oneness, ecstasy or joy, sensuality and voluptuousness, and the ability to take on a new or different role.[14]  

The Tantriks developed a model of the body[15] mentioned above that described the power and control within each individual. Rather than attempt to give a discourse on the Eastern physiological view of the body, let us point out what, to us, are some of their secrets not mentioned above. The following secrets should prove useful to anyone seeking to increase the performance of the body and mind.  

§         There is a division of the breath into two modes on either side of the middle or rest position of the lungs (vishuvat). The West is taught to breathe from the relaxed state (vishuvat) of the breath up to fill the lungs, whereas the other mode exists from the vishuvat down to empty the lungs. The lower breathing mode is associated with increased physical and mental power.

§         The body and mind can be energized by a controlled motion, tensioning or churning (mantha) of the lower abdominal muscles (as noted many times in worrying or facing a threat). Keeping the lower abdominal, anal and sexual muscles tense, as learned in the West, suppresses this normal, inner energizing motion.

§         The inner source of power and knowledge exists as separate from the conscious self and is easier to perceive as a personal god contained within the sexual area of the body.

§         There are four levels of existence. The most basic is the awareness (pre-spirit) of the separation and distinction from eternity. The second level is the definition (spirit) of the physical and mental nature of the self. The third level concerns the choice (soul) of the role to be played and the powers to be acquired and the outer world. The fourth stage is the normal physical/mental integration of the soul with the body and outer world. If the self and world are to be changed, the change must start at the spirit level and not at the cognitive level as taught in the modern culture.

There is one more level of existence that is considered as beyond the preceding four. We are calling this stage joy, which India originally called samadhi. The literal meaning of samadhi needs to be given because of the large religious additions or changes to the meaning of the word.  Samadhi consists of two words, sam which means ‘together in unison,’ while adhi means ‘to create or effectuate.’ Joy or samadhi therefore means the integration of a chosen future with others (and the Ishvara) or the united (maithuna) creation and playing of a game with others. 

The difference between the East and West might be a bit clearer now if only the basic philosophical  point of who is in charge of your life is considered. The Rig Veda seems to clearly point to a power within, whereas the West credits a power beyond the self. The Eastern view is that individuals must activate and direct themselves, whereas the enforced Western view is that society and its institutions must be the source of guidance.

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