The Shelter of Caves, Part 12

BY: SUN STAFF - 1.5 2017

A study of famous caves in ancient Bharat.

Sastric References to Bodily Caves

Patanjali, the famed 2nd Century Tamil siddhar and author of Yoga Sutras, a collection of aphorisms on hatha yoga practice, is another great sage who took refuge in a cave. Patanjali's Cave in Saptur village of Tamil Nadu is a popular destination site, where visitors swim through a small lagoon to reach the cave entrance. But the focus of this segment is not Patanjali's rock cave, but rather his and other sastric references to the 'cave' of the body.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra 27, Tasya Vachaka Pranava, brings forward a theme that is found in several Vedic texts, including Sama and Yajur Veda. Patanjali makes this statement about listening to sound vibration:

"When the ears are closed and the yogi is constantly engaged in bhramari mudra, a moment comes when he can hear the internal sweet sound that never stops. We have always heard it! We are only not conscious of it, being overwhelmed by external noises of the world. This first sound is like the call of crickets in the evening. Actually its the vibration of prana. It's like a thread that has to be grasped and followed. It will lead to other deeper sounds and ultimately the "cave" inside the heart chakra."

Entrance to Patanjali's Cave

The 'Cave of the Heart' is described in a number of interesting ways by sastra, but the symbology of caves is not only used to describe the temporary bodily shelter of the heart. As we read in Sama Veda 3.7, the cave is also used to describe the brain. Sama Veda explains that the jiva is sustained by universal Devas, whose functions are referred to in physiological terms, although divinities (personalities) are behind all these physical elements.

According to Sama Veda, the physiological activities of the Devas are also referred to as mantras. One of these is the Mind, the embodied Devas who impart all gifts to the Brain, such as knowledge and understanding (comprehension). The brain in turn imparts all these to the Mind.

While subtle activities are attributed to Mind, they all emanate from Soma, who acquaints Mind with them through the Brain, employing the senses, desire nature, etc. Mitra is the Deva corresponding to the Brain, which is comprised of the brain cells. And these cells are of various types, referred to as grains, drops, and caves.

So much like the sheltering cave is a manifest symbol incorporated into temple architecture, it is also a symbol employed by the Vedas to describe the various aspects of the temporary material shell that houses the spirit soul.

The Chandogya Upanishad, one of the oldest Upanishads, provides one such reference. In the Eighth Chapter is told the story of Lord Indra's persistence in seeking knowledge of Brahman. In doing so, one of the methods he employed was a technique of meditation in which he concentrated on the universal Brahman residing in the 'cave of the heart'. The term given for this practice is dahara-vidya, or realization of atman within the body.

Kaivalya-upandisad, one of the thirty minor Upanishads, describes Aswalayana's request that Lord Brahma initiate him into brahmavidya. Lord Brahma replied, saying:

"Know it through sraddha (faith), bhakti (devotion), dhyama (meditation), and yoga. Persons attain salvation not through karma, progeny or wealth but through sannyasa (renunciation) alone. Ascetics of pure mind through realisation of the meaning well-ascertained by vedanta-vijnana and through sannyasa-yoga enter into That which is above swarga (heaven) and is in the cave (of the heart). They all attain paramatma in the brahma-world and are finally emancipated."

Lord Brahma also informed Aswalayana:

"He who thinks of paramatma as being in the cave (of the heart), as having no form, as being secondless, as being the witness of all and as being neither sat nor asat, attains the pure form of paramatma."

The Adhyatma-upandisad, another of the thirty minor Upanishads states:

"The One aja (unborn) is ever located in the cave (of the heart) within the body. Prthivi the earth is His body; though He pervades the earth, it does not know Him."

Descriptions of the body in terms of caves are also found in Buddhist literature, such as the Atthakavagga (Suta Nipata). In the second suta of this Pali poem, Guhatthaka Sutta: The Cave of the Body, the entire body is referred to as a guha, or cave. In this case, however, the cave is interestingly described as being the opposite of a sheltering natural cave:

Staying attached to the cave, 
covered heavily over, 
a person sunk in confusion 
is far from seclusion — 
for sensual pleasures 
sensual desires in the world 
are not lightly let go.

Here the bodily conception is essentially described as being the opposite of taking shelter in a secluded space conducive to spiritual life.