Ladies must of course receive initiation just like anyone else. Just being born in a female body does not exempt them from the need for a Guru. Smt. Rajamma Suryanaryanan for example, she was a great Upasika of Sri Vidya under the Guhananda Mandali and was a master in knowledge of all forms of Agamas and shastras. Though being a woman, she still had to receive initiation by Sri Chidanandanatha according to the Krama of Sri Kula and was taught accordingly. There are others too in history like the Mahasiddhas Kanakhala and Mekhala, sisters who first had to receive initiation from Kanhanatha. Lakshminkara, and many others as well.

Is David Frawley also an author? That name sounds very familiar. I’m in US midwestern US most of the time. Regarding the mantra, which I pursued somewhat recklessly, it coincided with abrupt changes and shift in my life’s trajectory. Work, health, education, living situation, travel, home life. All Had jolts and moments of tension, but within a few weeks to a few Months, everything straightened out for the better and I was in a much better place by time I had done 1 lakh of japa. It could all be correlation and no causation. My personal feeling is that I got lucky that nothing went really wrong. When I finally found a guru to initiate, he analyzed my details and recommended instead Shri vidya path and I began with Bala etc. These mantras, aligned properly with my karakas although I as not aware of that system or jataka tantra at the time. But the harmonious sadhana using one’s karakas (which is elaborated upon in some good detail in the past 4-8 weeks of comments here). Tangentially regarding self-initiation that I attempted, opinions vary a great deal on its efficacy but surely it is better to find a human guru. There are more than a few guides from lamas of Dzogchen and Mahamudra, as well as tantric Hindu exegisis, which emphasize that in this yuga where time is short, their are alternate ways to work with the power of mantras due to necessity and other reasons, one of the more famous guides of the pracites of Vajrakilaya (often regarded as the tantric Buddhist , counterpart of Kartikeya), all the mantras are given with very detailed instructions of meaning and visualization and human psychology, and this is strongly emphasized by the lamas being this text as sufficient for initiation and access to the current of the mantra in this time. However, that is a very controversial statement, even when given hundreds of pages of enlightened commentary and mesdiative steps. For this Rahu mantra, there’s just one short guide that I am aware of, iirc upasana parijata, and it is not readily available in English or even Hindi (maybe Hindi, I’ve only seen a Telegu version). My point is, while I think self initiation can be possible, and there also a strong motivation for millennia of gurus to emphasize their necessity, it is also typically much more viable and effective to seek an authentic human guru. If you choose to attempt the self initiation procedure found on this website, coming from experience trying it several times with the Rahu mantra until I felt something, besides the given instructions, I would recommend doing as much japa before dakshinamurthy as you can stand during the 13th tithi, if you can find a properly installed vigraha or enlivened yantra it’s much better too. Mainly the intention has to be clear, so whatever it takes to harness the will with clarity and a present, quieted mind (for me it’s ice baths then wim hof breathing before beginning a ritual or japa, and sometimes fasting and sprint drills / HIIT to exhaustion and something like a mild runner’s high), take all steps you can to achieve that. This I think is especially true if you’re trying to connect to some current or update your energetic body / subtle body by starting from scratch without a human intercessor Who already holds the current through extensive practice and typically a lineage. More than anything regarding effectiveness of this mantra for you, I think the only way besides finding a genuine guru, is to examine your birth chart, specifically with jaimini system to find the karakas of your cakras. I would suggest trying this option, as there a several variations in chart calculations that usually lead to a same or similar place, except for a few things such as karakas, which involve properly finding the degrees of each plant in its respective house. Being born in a northern latitude, I would even more strongly recommend this chart calculator: https://vaultoftheheavens.com/VOTH_ChartCreator/Welcome.aspx

Dear Dylan, I would like to pose a question on the works of Thiruvarutprakasa Vallalar Chidambaram Ramalingam Peruman. It was said that the Great Lord Arut-Perum Jothi is always ready to bestow the three immortal bodies to a person given that they have matured their body and soul. Please elaborate on why is this? How do we go from unprepared bodies and souls to matured bodies and souls which are capable of receiving the Lord's Grace ? Given that our lifetimes are relatively short, what happens when we achieve partial grace (such as receiving 1 or 2 immortal bodies instead of the complete 3)? Again given that our lives are short, what happens when we are in practices of Suddha-Sanmarga and we die before receiving any body ? Please guide me Dylan and everyone.

sid. No one (human) has perfected these Mantras to this day. And those spiritual beings who have perfected these Mantras have little power over this Material Universe. If a Guru has ever said who has the Siddhi of these Mantras, it is a lie. These Mantras lose strength in the Material Universe because gross matter is something more advanced and stronger than these Mantras. Kali Yuga has also ended a long time ago. There are no more Yuga systems here because this Universe is currently uncontrollable. If these Mantras worked here, the Gurus would have already put order on this planet and dominated everything. No human to this day has been able to see what happens when this Mantra is perfected by a soul in a physical body - because it is possible, at least for now. In my comment on another post, I said that this Material Universe is like a "car without a driver" because no one can control this Material Universe, only influence it in a timid way - even the Gods. I challenge any Guru to try to command this simple Planet through Mantras to see if he can. Even the Supramental beings cannot rule over this for now (in the future they will). Why do you think Vallalar had to dissolve his body to enter all the bodies and try to bring more people to the light? It is because only a large number of supramentally realized human beings can rule over this Material Universe. I challenge any Guru to rule over just this small one through Tantras or other scriptures. People have not understood that no one can control this Material Universe at present, even the Gods; they only generate some small influence as "invisible hands". I have explained in another post about this. Humanity as a whole needs to unite in the right direction.

Namaste Raman. The Self is one and the same in all. In that respect, no one possesses any inherent competence over anyone else for spiritual practice and knowledge. Maheśvarānanda says in his Mahārthamañjarī: "Regarding the one who is known even to the ignorant and to water-carriers, to whom alone homage is given, the Lord of the energies, who would not consider His existence to be obvious?" This is a more philosophical statement, namely, that the Self is one and the same to all and always present to all. It is the fundamental ground of all that exists and is itself all things. A similar sentiment is found in the Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā: "What intelligent being could ever deny or establish the cognizer and agent, the Self, Maheśvara, established from the beginning?" The point is that consciousness as such is self-established. Being aware necessitates awareness of awareness; you know that you know. There is always a self-referentiality to awareness, which means that it requires nothing else to make itself known, like a lamp which produces is own light and is thus visible of its own accord. Even awareness of objectivity requires a locus of subjective self-referentiality: "I know this". Experience necessarily requires an experiencer. To attempt to establish or debunk one's own self-awareness is contradictory because the very fact of attempting to know anything establishes said awareness by implication. This is explained in Tantrāloka in a somewhat amusing way: "It happens in this way to everyone whose capricious nature is to deny everything, namely that he experiences that: 'this negation of knowledge, oneself and the object manifests to me.'" Literally everything that exists in any perceivable or conceivable way is predicated on this a-priori knowledge. From this, Maheśvarānanda makes a point which relates to your question: "Some think that the ineffable Self is defined through distinctness; for those who thus turn away from the Self, let there remain in them the error of separating those who are 'privileged' from those who are not." In other words, considering some people to be more worthy than others is only admissible in the logic of dualism (i.e. the Self's "distinctness"). However, for the reason previously established, the unitary Self of all is accessible to all. Indeed, it is everyone's true nature to begin with from which they are never truly divorced. It is taught in the Yoginīhṛdayam: "Since luminosity is the state of things that are luminous and also that of those that are dark, there is therefore a necessary and essential connection between the universe and the highest reality." What is meant by "luminosity" here is knowledge, which has already been explained. It is the source and nature of what is luminous and what is dark, that is, being and non-being; existence and non-existence. What is suggested here is that there is no such thing as total ignorance, a total lack of knowledge. Bondage in the form of ignorance (e.g. "I am finite", "I am separate and what I perceive is division", "I am the doer of meritorious and demeritorious actions") is itself a sort of knowledge, just one that is imperfect and contracted. Were it not so, it would simply be nothing at all. Non-existence is, for this reason, existent. Take a dream, for instance. We say that dreams are unreal in reference to waking life. However, the dream as an object of awareness in and of itself is quite real. Otherwise, we would not even be able to speak of such a thing of which we have no experience whatsoever. This is what the Yoginīhṛdayam means when it says darkness has the state of luminosity. Or, to put it another way, the Śivadṛṣṭi says: "Those perceptions that could be conceived of as erroneous cognitions are found to be capable of manifestation in consciousness. That constitutes reality; and that reality in turn is the Śiva-nature that exists even in these 'erroneous' perceptions... Objection: How can a distinction exist that is based on erroneousness, etc.? Reply: That type of distinction serves mundane activity, and it is not the case, by contrast, that reality is not found in mundane activity." I bring all of this up to point out that the supreme reality is always and everywhere self-established, and for that very reason is in essence always accessible to all. However, not everyone ends up doing so, obviously. Even among those who try, it does not always come about, and it comes about easier for some than others. This is the result of Śiva's grace in varying degrees. In the nondual view, "grace" is not something that a distant deity bestows upon a lowly mortal for some particular reason (i.e. good karma, piety, virtue, etc.) Rather, it is Śiva's act of self-revelation. Even though the Self shines eternally, it is not discerned as such due to His act of veiling His own nature to manifest the aforementioned incomplete, contracted experience of reality. Conversely, reversing this process, He performs grace. Given that He alone is the object of His own activity, there cannot be any special requirement on the part of the "individual" for receiving grace. It is the Lord's Will alone; external factors can have no bearing on the spontaneous, blissful activity of the Lord. After all, He is the ash-smeared ascetic who does not abide by worldly norms. And it is precisely this grace which prompts one to develop a sincere interest in spirituality and to seek out a teacher. Dīkṣā is, understood properly, the dissolution of pauruṣa ajñāna, which is, to put it very simply, the state of contracted awareness at the fundamental, non-conceptual level. It is because of this that mantras and other practices become efficacious for the purpose of dissolving the other type of ignorance that prevents direct intuitive knowledge of that which becomes available through initiation. Otherwise, it would be like learning all there is to know about oranges, yet without actually tasting it you would be none the wiser even after all that effort. And that pauruṣa ajñāna is shared by everyone, regardless of any external factors whatsoever. I will say that there is much, much more detail and nuance about all of this, but I hope that the most basic details I have been able to fit in a small comment will help somewhat.

Perhaps a question you may still have is: "Why am I here?" You won't remember this, but you were already perfect before diving into this creation, an atom of light from the Supramental. You won't remember, but it was you who chose to dive into this problematic Creation of Brahma. Why did you do this in the past? Out of Love and Compassion for this fallen Brahma. You couldn't contain yourself because you were pure compassion and love. You dove into this flawed creation to heal it and save this Brahma who had gone mad. Even instrumental beings like Vishnu, Shiva and other Gods dove into this creation to help. This Brahma has no soul and was mad. His first "clones or attendants" had no soul and detestable beings of the worst kind emerged. You and other atoms of the supreme being had to start "incarnating" into these beings that Brahma created, otherwise the situation would get completely out of control with beings of incalculable evil nature. These soulless beings from the beginning of this creation had to be completely destroyed. Brahma’s creation of our Universe did not have souls like yours in the beginning. Everything that is soulless and out of control in this Universe needs to be destroyed quickly. But things were worse than we imagined before we plunged into this creation. The result? We all went mad from the poison of this creation; even the Gods went mad. They all forgot. Almost everyone forgot the original reason we came to this Universe; even the Gods forgot and started playing with each other. There are other Universes that are not physical (not supramental); but this Physical Universe is Supramental, but incomplete; that is why you are involved in it, as a perfect atom of this God who is pure Light, Grace and Compassion infinite. You have come to heal this Universe; that was the original plan. Perhaps your last question is: why doesn’t this Supramental God do something? He has been doing it for a long time; your soul is an atom and a child of this God and you have come to intervene for that purpose; He also already knows that this Universe will be what Brahma planned from the beginning (Supramental), sooner or later - only the route changes, this destiny does not; all the pain involved is as little as possible so that everything goes as planned in the end. Something that he must do soon is grant the fruit of a long time of Sadhana even to those who do not practice it, on a large scale, when the time is right. This God is different; he does not want anything from you; he just wants you to remember why you came here; the rest he gives everything for free; by pure grace, even if you do not deserve it, he opens all your Chakras and elevates your soul to the heights he wants; he just wants you to remember the reason that made you dive into this creation. The other God called Shiva is called "Adiyogi" because he is a God who dived into this Universe and tried to "help" with the best of his abilities, but he ended up poisoned too and this was reflected in the knowledge he transmitted, where he preaches "running away" from this Universe instead of healing it. These Gods do not do this out of malice; they truly think of helping, but they cannot do so satisfactorily; they do not have great power and influence over the physical and gross matter because this is Supramental and above them, even if it is incomplete. But the fact is that you have never been truly hurt because you, as a perfect atom of the Supreme God, remain untouched since the beginning. It is our instruments that cause us pain; a pain that will unfortunately be part of the process. But it was you who chose to immerse yourself in this Universe; perhaps you do not understand the size of the love and compassion that you truly have as an atom of the Supreme God. You cannot measure the size of your true love and why you were moved to come here to this Universe; when you remember the size of your love, this God will give you everything for free, anything. He does not want anything; he does not need anything and he does not think that you should pay for your sins. You need the right attitude to let him forgive all your sins. Because you are equal to him in power and greatness, he can only intervene if you have the right mentality and feeling. The situation is not so easy to intervene in free will because of the greatness of these atoms or souls that have greatness and power like their Father. The quickest intervention depends on the correct mentality of these souls. After everything I have said, you will feel compassion even for the bad ones because you will see that it is not their fault. The worst pain for a soul, which is the atom of the supreme, is having to attack and destroy brothers in order to continue its journey thinking not only about its own well-being, but about the healing of this Universe. This hurts because this evil person came to heal this Universe too, but he forgot. So we have the situation where brothers who came to heal this Universe attack each other. All the people on this planet are atoms of the supreme; there are atoms of the supreme even in animals.

Respected Krishna Garu, 1)Some people say this form is fictional. They argue that after the Sharabha episode, the Narasimha avatara concludes and that there are no mentions of Ashta Mukha Gandabherunda Narasimha in the main Puranas. Also, since there are no temples dedicated to this form in India, they question its authenticity. Could you kindly clarify whether this form has scriptural basis or significance in any Agamic or Tantric texts? 2)Are there any authentic gurus or lineages that teach the deeper path of Narasimha upāsanā—especially connected to rare and powerful forms like Gandabherunda Narasimha? I have heard this path is very secretive, especially within certain Vaishnava or Tantric paramparas. If you happen to know any such living tradition or Guru, I humbly request your guidance to help me approach them properly. 3)Lastly, could you please share powerful mantras for worshipping Lord Varaha and Bhagawan Parashurama?

Respected Krishna Garu, 1)Some people say this form is fictional. They argue that after the Sharabha episode, the Narasimha avatara concludes and that there are no mentions of Ashta Mukha Gandabherunda Narasimha in the main Puranas. Also, since there are no temples dedicated to this form in India, they question its authenticity. Could you kindly clarify whether this form has scriptural basis or significance in any Agamic or Tantric texts? 2)Are there any authentic gurus or lineages that teach the deeper path of Narasimha upāsanā—especially connected to rare and powerful forms like Gandabherunda Narasimha? I have heard this path is very secretive, especially within certain Vaishnava or Tantric paramparas. If you happen to know any such living tradition or Guru, I humbly request your guidance to help me approach them properly. 3)Lastly, could you please share powerful mantras for worshipping Lord Varaha and Bhagawan Parashurama?

For a long time I have wondered what God looks like in His Supreme and purest form. I looked up and found Him very far away; if you look up, you will see Him extremely far away. I looked down and was surprised at how close He is; if you look down, you will see Him very close. What do I mean? I mean that God in His Supreme and Pure form is something Physical and Material... but He is something more Material and Physical than what you are seeing and touching. If you take a piece of stone in your hand and compare it with God in His pure form, you will see that He is more physical and material than this stone in its form. Out of the 51 Mātṛkas, God in His purest form is the letter "y", but without any vowel; this letter is God becoming Himself; how so? If you look down, you will see Him very close in the form of this letter alone; if you look up, you will see Him very far away in the form of this letter; If you go towards this letter while looking down, you will be transported to the top instantly, without making an upward movement; you will notice that it is a top that grows, it is not static, it is a God that does not stop growing - this is transcendence. But what surprised me is that the top is very, very material and physical; it is more physical than what you see here today. It is as if this Physical Universe was something very close to what exists at the top; it is as if this Physical Universe was very close to being completed, but it was not. This reinforces the idea that this Material Universe was not completed and that the Creator (Brahmā) fell before finishing what he had planned in his mind at the beginning (that is why there is so much pain, confusion and uncertainty in this Universe). I am sure of this because of the name of the Lord Brahmā of our Universe: YHVH. Do you know what these letters mean and what his Mantra is? His Mantra is: " yhōvāḥ । " Surprisingly the first letter of his Mantra is the letter "y", but unaccompanied by a vowel. This letter "y" alone is infinitely higher than the rest of the Mantra. The "hōvāḥ" part of the Mantra is like a grain of sand in the ocean which is "y". Lord Brahmā of our Universe was only able to mirror and create a Physical Universe with the letters "hōvāḥ", but he could not handle this force which is "y" and he went mad and fell. Only this letter was missing for him to finish the creation. This fallen Brahmā did not say from the beginning that his name was "yhōvāḥ" (YHVH), he revealed this only later after his appearance to a human being; he refers to himself by a name that reveals what he and this universe should have been from the beginning, had the creation been fully completed. People think that Kṛṣṇa always existed, but He only came into existence after all the trouble caused by Lord Brahmā in our universe. To understand this situation better, I will have to speak of Sathya Sai Baba (who passed away in 2011). This Sathya Sai Baba was not a charlatan and was actually an Avatar of Kṛṣṇa. People do not understand the essence of Kṛṣṇa very well; he is both Brahmā and Viṣṇu, but with the predominance of the nature of Śiva; this proves that even Vaiṣṇavas do not actually know Kṛṣṇa. Continuing the story, Sathya Sai Baba set the date of his death to be 10 years after 2011 (Avatars can choose the date of death), but Yhōvāḥ (YHVH) wanted to humiliate Kṛṣṇa and weakened his body to make him die prematurely. You will ask me, "How can this Brahmā do this to Kṛṣṇa Himself?" I have already said that the Physical Universe as you know it today is something recent and had never been created before, and that for a Brahmā to create something like this Universe he was certainly trying to mirror the Supramental in the form of a created Universe, but he could not do it and fell down. What I mean is that this Brahmā of our universe tried to deal with forces which are above Kṛṣṇa, and he did so in parts, because gross physicality came into existence, but not in the fullness of the letter "y" which is the Supramental which alone makes everything else seem insignificant. This Brahmā gained great strength before he fell down, but he was still very strong even after he had become very weak due to his evil and diseased nature. You will certainly see that Kṛṣṇa and other Gods do not have much direct strength in the material, physical field because that is something of the Supramental, but it is incomplete. But this Brahmā has killed almost a hundred thousand people at one time with just one attendant or angel. This fallen Brahmā (Yhōvāḥ) has more mastery over matter than Kṛṣṇa, Lalitā, Pratyaṅgirā, GuhyāKālī, all Divine Gurus, all these Gods. The problem of the cycle of birth and death would be easily solved if this fallen Brahmā (Yhōvāḥ) would cooperate and give proper orders, but he only gets in the way. These Gods (Kṛṣṇa, Lalitā, Pratyaṅgirā, etc.) are "invisible hands" influencing physicality to the best of their ability to help, but they are totally dependent on Yhōvāḥ to do anything of extreme material impact; gross physicality is something of the Supramental, something far above these Gods. But the good news is that what Brahmā planned to create before he fell will come to fruition sooner or later in an infallible way; how so? Scientists today say that our Universe is in the process of expansion, that is, it is growing. What is the spiritual explanation for this? Our Universe is moving towards what Brahmā planned from the beginning, but was unable to complete. This happens slowly because of the fall. Brahmā's word cannot be taken back, so even though this Universe is fortunately destined to become what he wanted before he fell. If the Gods could do something faster, they would have done it already. If I were to illustrate how our Universe is today, it would be like a "car without a driver", but since Brahmā left imprinted in the Supramental what he planned before he fell, no one will be able to stop this Universe from becoming what was planned. In this way, I explained why the various Gods of Hinduism cannot help a human being in the way they expect. They cannot, due to the peculiarities of this Universe that I have already explained. So we can conclude that the Supramental or the letter "y" is something physical and gross, but more physical and gross than what you see today and this is more powerful and the origin of what they call spiritual. Thus I explained why the true God is only reachable through a physical body: it is because he is closer to the physical than to the spiritual. The Supramental is physical, but more physical and real than the current state of things. Finally, you may ask me why the letter "y" is not in Vallalar's Mantra on Arut Perum Jothi. It turns out that Brahmā (Yhōvāḥ) is something more objective, while Vallalar goes straight to the "feeling" behind this letter. If you approach the letter "y" objectively, you will go crazy just like Brahmā went crazy. Only through the "feeling" explained by Vallalar is it possible to deal with this letter "y" which is Cit Sabha (Supramental Realm). The letter "h" is Unmani Akasha; the letter "o" Sphutatara Kriya Shakti; the letter "v" is Maya-Pralayakala; the letter "a" is Anuttara-Cit-Amṛta; the letter "ā" is Ānanda who is sovereign over the Panchakrityas Creation, Preservation, Destruction, Involution and Evolution; the letter "ḥ" is Visarga and signifies the expansion and contraction of the Universe. The secret of why death exists lies in this Visgarga "ḥ": the contraction and expansion of the Universe is occurring outside the letter "y", therefore subject to death; if the Universe starts to expand and contract from this letter, it does not die. This is the Mantra "yhōvāḥ", which should not be recited because it refers to Brahmā who no longer remembers his nature, but his Mantra is the objective project of what our Universe will be in the long term. Since only humans can extract the "feeling" of the letter "y", it will be humans who will heal the Gods and the fallen Brahmā in the future. Today they are sick, but they will be healed by this letter "y". But who can replicate the feeling of this letter? The news I know is that only human beings can. But as I said, Brahmā's original plan before he fell will happen anyway because there is no one who can stop it. The physical is of the Supramental, if the Gods could do something they would have done it already. This Universe is a car without a driver, but it will arrive at the right destination anyway; what can change is the route. The Gods can only change the route, but not the destination of this Universe. So I tried to explain as clearly as possible what really happened and is happening.

Namaste Wide Awake. Both Svacchanda Bhairava and Amṛteśa are understood to be the supreme reality in their respective Tantras. The deities are "mental modifications", as Bhāskararāya puts it in his commentary on the Lalitā Sahasranāma. In other words, they embody certain realities and aspects of awakened awareness. So, though they are each complete in their own right, they reveal that reality in their own ways. Kṣemarāja wrote brilliant commentaries on both the Svacchanda and Netra Tantras. At the beginning of his commentary on the former, he says: "Meditating upon the oneness with supreme consciousness, I laud Svacchanda Bhairava, the body of supreme light, underlying substratum of the universe, supreme being and the creator primordial." He understands the name Svacchanda to mean Śiva whose activity is the spontaneous, blissful play of consciousness. He has two primary forms which correspond to two mantras. The first is Bahurūpa, His visualized form connected with His thirty-two syllable mantra. The other is His niṣkala "form" connected with His four-lettered bīja. The four letters, in Kṣemarāja's analysis, relate to the four phases of the Krama, that is, the four phases of cognition: udyoga, ābhāsa, carvaṇa, and alaṁgrāsa. Amṛteśa and the state of awareness He and His mantra embody (since the mantra and deity being one and the same) is described lucidly in the eighth chapter of the Netra Tantra: "'I am not, nor is there any other' - he that state beyond manifestation. This state is called the supreme state of Śiva, the highest Self. 'I am not, nor is there any other' - in that state no object of meditation is to be found. Immersed in a state of bliss, the mind attains the flavour of unity. One should not direct one's meditation towards something above, nor below, nor in the middle, netiher before nor behind, nor on either side. One should not contemplate any place within or outside the body. One should not fix one's attention towards the sky, nor should one direct one's gaze downwards. One should neither meditate with closed eyes, nor by fixing one's eyes open without blinking. One should neither meditate on a support nor without a support, nor with the help of any support. One should focus neither on the senses, nor on the elements, nor on sensual perceptions. Abandoning everything, established in samādhi, one should only abide as one with That. This is called the supreme state of the highest Self. Verily, attaining the state beyond manifestation one turns away from saṁsāra. In this way one should meditate on the Self through a powerful devotional contemplation of the Self. Such a yogī becomes the supreme, peaceful Śiva, of utmost purity. That is the One Reality everywhere: Mṛtyujit, Śiva. That is the supreme Amṛteśa, the third (i.e. beyond subtle and gross), highest state." Notice how the deity, the instructions for practice, and the result of practice are all equated and sort of meshed into one description of a direct experience of the supreme reality. You see the same thing throughout the scriptures regarding descriptions of deities and their practices. I think this is the key to understanding them. Also, like Svacchanda, Amṛteśa as Netranātha - the Lord of the Eye - is understood by Kṣemarāja to represent the Krama. The Eye is understood as having four parts, the aforementioned four phases of cognition. These are four cakras that metaphorically form an eye: 1) an outermost, unseen red wheel of twelve spokes; 2) the white of the eye, a wheel of sixteen spokes; 3) the iris, a gray wheel of eight spokes; 4) the pupil, a black wheel of four spokes. All that being said, the scriptures speak of things which are subtler and much more fundamental than any physical reality. While I think it is certainly interesting and insightful to discuss certain topics through the lens of the context of spiritual teachings, the specific aim of the scriptures is very clearly defined. In recent times a lot of people seem to have the habit of superimposing the findings of scientific inquiry onto spirituality and vice versa in a pretty haphazard way. Again, while I think such interdisciplinary conversation can be very insightful, it should be done with integrity and honesty.