Sahaja
Encyclopedia
Sahaja is a term of some importance in Indian spirituality, particularly in circles influenced by the Tantric Movement. Ananda Coomaraswamy
describes its significance as "the last achievement of all thought", and "a recognition of the identity of spirit and matter, subject and object", continuing "There is then no sacred or profane, spiritual or sensual, but everything that lives is pure and void."
, a now defunct language, and Old Bengali
, where its first attested literary usage occurs in the 8th century CE. The word was used in a spiritual context by the north Indian Tantric Siddha
master Saraha
in the 8th century CE:
The concept of a spontaneous spirituality entered Hinduism
with Nath
yogis such as Gorakhnath and was often alluded to indirectly and symbolically in the Twilight Language
(sandhya bhasa) that is common to sahaja traditions, as found in Charyapada
, Matsyendranath
and Daripada. It influenced the bhakti movement
through the Sant
tradition, exemplified by the Baul
s of Bengal
, Dnyaneshwar
, Meera, Kabir
and Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh
brotherhood.
Yoga
in particular had a quickening influence on the various Sahajiya traditions. The culture of the body (kāya-sādhana) through processes of Haṭha-yoga was of paramount importance in the Nāth cult and found in all sahaja schools. Whether conceived of as 'supreme bliss' (Mahā-sukha), as by the Buddhist Sahajiyās, or as 'supreme love' (as with the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyās), strength of the body was deemed necessary to stand such a supreme realisation.
sampradaya
along with Svecchachara
, Sama
, and Samarasa
. Sahaja meditation and worship was prevalent in Tantric traditions common to Hinduism
and Buddhism
in Bengal as early as the 8th–9th centuries. The British Nath teacher Mahendranath wrote:
(Bangla: চন্ডীদাস) (born 1408 CE), Jayadeva
(circa 1200 CE) and Vidyapati
(c 1352 - c 1448) whose works foreshadowed the rasas
or "flavours" of love and devotion explored by Chaitanya (1486–1534). The two aspects absolute reality were explained as the eternal enjoyer and the enjoyed, Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā conceived of as ontological principles of which all men and women are physical manifestations, as may be realised through a process of attribution (Aropa), in which the sexual intercourse of a human couple is transmuted into the divine love between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, leading to the highest spiritual realisation, the state of union or Yugala. The element of love, the innovation of the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā school, is essentially based on the element of yoga in the form of physical and psychological discipline.
Vaisnava-Sahajiya is a synthesis and complex of traditions that, due to its sexual tantric practices, was perceived with disdain by other religious communities and much of the time was forced to operate in secrecy. Its literature employed an encrypted and enigmatic style. Because of the necessity of privacy and secrecy, little is definitively known about their prevalence or practices.
minstrel
s from Bengal
, both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a heterogeneous group whose membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindu
s and Sufi Muslim
s. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments.
or 'natural accomplishment' or the 'accomplishment of the unconditioned natural state' was also a textual work, the Sahaja-Siddhi revealed by Dombi Heruka (Skt. Ḍombi Heruka or Ḍombipa) one of the eighty-four Mahasiddha
s. The following quotation identifies the relationship of the 'mental flux' (mindstream
) to the sahaja-siddhi. Moreover, it must be remembered that though Sundararajan & Mukerji (2003: p. 502) use a masculine pronominal the term 'siddha' is not gender-specific and that there were females, many as senior sadhakas, amongst the siddha communities:
Swami Tripurari
describes a theistic form of sahajiya that stems from vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti:
: zìrán; Wade-Giles
: tzu-jen; Sanskrit: Sahaja
) is a key concept in Daoism that literally means "self so; so of its own; so of itself" and thus "naturally; natural; spontaneously; freely; in the course of events; of course; doubtlessly" (Slingerland 2003, p. 97; Lai, p. 96). This Chinese word is a two-character compound
of zi (自) "nose; self; oneself; from; since" and ran (然) "right; correct; so; yes", which is used as a -ran suffix
marking adjective
s or adverb
s (roughly corresponding to English -ly). It is worth mentioning that in Chinese culture, the nose (or zi) is a common metaphor for a person's point of view (Callahan, 1989).
Ananda Coomaraswamy
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West...
describes its significance as "the last achievement of all thought", and "a recognition of the identity of spirit and matter, subject and object", continuing "There is then no sacred or profane, spiritual or sensual, but everything that lives is pure and void."
Origins
The origins of the word are in ApabhramshaApabhramsha
Apabhraṃśa is a term used by Sanskrit grammarians since Patañjali to refer to dialects that deviate from the norm of Sanskrit grammar. The term in Sanskrit literally means "corrupt" or "non-grammatical language". It is used as a cover term for the dialects forming the transition between the late...
, a now defunct language, and Old Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...
, where its first attested literary usage occurs in the 8th century CE. The word was used in a spiritual context by the north Indian Tantric Siddha
Siddha
A Siddha सिद्ध in Sanskrit means "one who is accomplished" and refers to perfected masters who, according to Hindu belief, have transcended the ahamkara , have subdued their minds to be subservient to their Awareness, and have transformed their bodies into a different kind of body dominated by...
master Saraha
Saraha
Saraha , Sarahapa , or Sarahapāda , originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulbhadra, was the first sahajiya and one of the Mahasiddhas, and is considered to be one of the founders of Buddhist Vajrayana, and particularly of the Mahamudra tradition. His dohas are compiled in Dohakośa, the 'Treasury of...
in the 8th century CE:
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- So from spontaneity that's unique,
- Replete with the Buddha's perfections,
- Are all sentient beings born, and in it come to rest
- But it is neither concrete nor abstract.
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The concept of a spontaneous spirituality entered Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
with Nath
Nath
The Sanskrit word nāthá or नाथ, is the proper name of a Hindu initiatory tradition and the word itself literally means "lord, protector, refuge"...
yogis such as Gorakhnath and was often alluded to indirectly and symbolically in the Twilight Language
Twilight language
Twilight language may refer to:*A conspiracy theory proposed by James Shelby Downard and embraced by Michael A. Hoffman II*The Twilight Language, a polysemic language and communication system associated with Tantric traditions...
(sandhya bhasa) that is common to sahaja traditions, as found in Charyapada
Charyapada
The Charyapada is a collection of 8th-12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems from the tantric tradition in eastern India. Being caryagiti , the Charyapada were intended to be sung. These songs of realization were spontaneously composed verses that expressed a practitioner's...
, Matsyendranath
Matsyendranath
Matsyendranatha or Machindranath was one of the eighty-four Mahasiddhas. He was the guru of Gorakshanath, with whom he founded the school of Hatha yoga. He is considered as the author of the Kaulajñānanirṇaya , one of the earliest texts on Hatha Yoga in Sanskrit...
and Daripada. It influenced the bhakti movement
Bhakti movement
The Bhakti movement is a Hindu religious movement in which the main spiritual practice is loving devotion among the Shaivite and Vaishnava saints. The Bhakti movement originated in ancient Tamil Nadu and began to spread to the north during the late medieval ages when north India was under Islamic...
through the Sant
Sant
Sant is an Indian term derived from a Sanskrit verb that means both "to be good" and "to be real". From the fifteenth century the term has often referred to those who sing the name of God and worship Him, particularly the bhakti poets of Marathi...
tradition, exemplified by the Baul
Baul
Baul .Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.-Etymology:The origin of the word...
s of Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, Dnyaneshwar
Dnyaneshwar
Dnyāneshwar , also known as Jñanadeva , was born into a Deshastha Brahmin Kulkarni family.He was a 13th century Maharashtrian Hindu saint , poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath tradition whose works Bhavartha deepika teeka ,...
, Meera, Kabir
Kabir
Kabīr was a mystic poet and saint of India, whose writings have greatly influenced the Bhakti movement...
and Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
brotherhood.
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
in particular had a quickening influence on the various Sahajiya traditions. The culture of the body (kāya-sādhana) through processes of Haṭha-yoga was of paramount importance in the Nāth cult and found in all sahaja schools. Whether conceived of as 'supreme bliss' (Mahā-sukha), as by the Buddhist Sahajiyās, or as 'supreme love' (as with the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyās), strength of the body was deemed necessary to stand such a supreme realisation.
The Nath tradition
Sahaja is one of the four keywords of the NathNath
The Sanskrit word nāthá or नाथ, is the proper name of a Hindu initiatory tradition and the word itself literally means "lord, protector, refuge"...
sampradaya
Sampradaya
In Hinduism, a sampradaya can be translated as ‘tradition’ or a ‘religious system’, although the word commands much more respect and power in the Indian context than its translations in English does...
along with Svecchachara
Svecchachara
Svecchācāra is a Sanskrit word and important in the Nath Sampradaya. 'Svecchācāra' means: acting as one likes, arbitrariness, acting without restrain....
, Sama
Sama
Sama may refer to:* A verse from the Samaveda, one of the Vedas* Sama , a part of Harstad city in northern Norway* Sama, Asturias, a parish in the municipality of Langreo in northern Spain...
, and Samarasa
Samarasa
'Samarasa' is a concept that denotes literally "one-taste" "one-flavour" or "same-taste" means equipoise in feelings, non-discriminating, the mind at rest.-Dzogchen:...
. Sahaja meditation and worship was prevalent in Tantric traditions common to Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
in Bengal as early as the 8th–9th centuries. The British Nath teacher Mahendranath wrote:
Vaishnava-Sahajiya
The Vaishnava-Sahajiya cult became popular in 17th century Bengal. It sought religious experience through the five senses. The divine relationship between Krishna and Radha (guises of the divine masculine and divine feminine) had been celebrated by ChandidasChandidas
Chandidas refers to medieval poet of Bengal. Over 1250 poems related to the love of Radha and Krishna in Bengali with the bhanita of Chandidas are found with three different sobriquets along with his name, , Dvija and Dina as well as without any sobriquet also...
(Bangla: চন্ডীদাস) (born 1408 CE), Jayadeva
Jayadeva
Jayadeva was a Sanskrit poet circa 1200 AD. He is most known for his composition, the epic poem Gita Govinda, which depicts the divine love of Krishna-an avatar of Vishnu and his consort, Radha, and it is mentioned that Radha is greater than Hari, and is considered an important text in the...
(circa 1200 CE) and Vidyapati
Vidyapati
Vidyapati Thakur , also known by the sobriquet Maithil Kavi Kokil was a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer. He was born in the village of Bishphi in Madhubani district of Bihar state, India. He was son of Ganapati...
(c 1352 - c 1448) whose works foreshadowed the rasas
Rasa (theology)
Rasa is a Sanskrit theological concept specific to Krishna-centered bhakti traditions, such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The theological use of the word can be found early, about two thousand years before the Nimbarka or Caitanya schools of bhakti, in a phrase that Chaitanya traditions frequently...
or "flavours" of love and devotion explored by Chaitanya (1486–1534). The two aspects absolute reality were explained as the eternal enjoyer and the enjoyed, Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā conceived of as ontological principles of which all men and women are physical manifestations, as may be realised through a process of attribution (Aropa), in which the sexual intercourse of a human couple is transmuted into the divine love between Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, leading to the highest spiritual realisation, the state of union or Yugala. The element of love, the innovation of the Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā school, is essentially based on the element of yoga in the form of physical and psychological discipline.
Vaisnava-Sahajiya is a synthesis and complex of traditions that, due to its sexual tantric practices, was perceived with disdain by other religious communities and much of the time was forced to operate in secrecy. Its literature employed an encrypted and enigmatic style. Because of the necessity of privacy and secrecy, little is definitively known about their prevalence or practices.
Baul tradition of Bengal
Baul are a group of mysticMysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
minstrel
Minstrel
A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...
s from Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
, both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a heterogeneous group whose membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s and Sufi Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments.
Sahaja-siddhi
The 'sahaja-siddhi' or the 'siddhiSiddhi
is a Sanskrit noun that can be translated as "perfection", "accomplishment", "attainment", or "success". The term is first attested in the Mahabharata. In the Pancatantra, a siddhi may be any unusual skill or faculty or capability...
or 'natural accomplishment' or the 'accomplishment of the unconditioned natural state' was also a textual work, the Sahaja-Siddhi revealed by Dombi Heruka (Skt. Ḍombi Heruka or Ḍombipa) one of the eighty-four Mahasiddha
Mahasiddha
Mahasiddha is a term for one who cultivates those teachings that lead to becoming perfect. They are a type of eccentric yogini/yogi in both Sanatan Dharma and Vajrayana Dharma, given by Siddhartha. Mahasiddhi are those practitioners, or tantrikas who have gained sufficient understanding and are so...
s. The following quotation identifies the relationship of the 'mental flux' (mindstream
Mindstream
Mindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
) to the sahaja-siddhi. Moreover, it must be remembered that though Sundararajan & Mukerji (2003: p. 502) use a masculine pronominal the term 'siddha' is not gender-specific and that there were females, many as senior sadhakas, amongst the siddha communities:
"...The practitioner is now a siddha, a realized soul. He becomes invulnerable, beyond all dangers, when all forms melt away into the Formless, "when surati merges in nirati, japa is lost in ajapā" (Sākhī, "Parcā ko Aṅga," d.23). The meeting of surati and nirati is one of the signs of sahaja-siddhi; surati is an act of will even when the practitioner struggles to disengage himself from worldly attachments. But when his worldliness is totally destroyed with the dissolution of the ego, there is nirati, cessation of the mental flux, which implies cessation of all willed efforts. Nirati (ni-rati) is also cessation of attractions, since the object of attraction and the seeker are now one. In terms of layayoga, nirati is dissolution of the mind in" Sound," nāda."
Swami Tripurari
Swami Tripurari
Tripurari Swami, also known as Swami B.V. Tripurari and Swami Tripurari, is "an author, poet and guru. As a prominent master in the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage, he is one of the leading practitioners of Bhakti-yoga in the West."-Biography:...
describes a theistic form of sahajiya that stems from vaidhi-sadhana-bhakti:
From simple remembrance of Krsna (smarana]), the practitioner moves to consciously removing any other thoughts, practicing concentration (dharanam), and then meditating (dhyanam). It is at the stage of dhyanam that he can effectively envision the eternal daily lila of Krsna, become fixed in that meditation (dhruvanusmrti), and from there enter into it in samadhi, or trance of love. The advanced practitioner performs this sahaja meditation in the midst of his daily activities involving his outer sadhaka-deha, visualizing what Radha and Krsna are doing in their day from the perspective of his own aspired-for role in his siddha-deha.
Sahaja in Taoism
Ziran ' onMouseout='HidePop("36454")' href="/topics/Pinyin">PinyinPinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: zìrán; Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
: tzu-jen; Sanskrit: Sahaja
Sahaja
Sahaja is a term of some importance in Indian spirituality, particularly in circles influenced by the Tantric Movement...
) is a key concept in Daoism that literally means "self so; so of its own; so of itself" and thus "naturally; natural; spontaneously; freely; in the course of events; of course; doubtlessly" (Slingerland 2003, p. 97; Lai, p. 96). This Chinese word is a two-character compound
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
of zi (自) "nose; self; oneself; from; since" and ran (然) "right; correct; so; yes", which is used as a -ran suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
marking adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s or adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
s (roughly corresponding to English -ly). It is worth mentioning that in Chinese culture, the nose (or zi) is a common metaphor for a person's point of view (Callahan, 1989).