This is another guided visualization. It will help you shake loose from the idea that you are limited by your body. This will, in turn, make you less sensitive to pain and pleasure, to insult and praise, and to cold and heat. It will also enable you to exist, in the form of light, for as long as the cosmos exists. In this way, you can continue to help others and receive worship as the Goddess herself.
So let us begin. Sit comfortably. Take three deep breaths, and then recite the following, visualizing the scene in your mind as vividly as you can:
I am undergoing an initiation. Every initiation is a passage through a gate. Here, it is the gate of death, which provides passage into a new life. Every mortal body must someday decay. Mine is dead, here and now. All the people I have known, my friends and relatives, have come to see my body for the last time. They have circumambulated my body three times and prayed for my soul. Each has poured some water on my body.
My body is tied to a wooden frame. It is carried by a procession to the cremation ground, where a funeral pyre waits to receive it. The person in front carries an earthen pot of water, and a procession of my near and dear follows behind, chanting “Narayana, Narayana.”49
The frame holding my body is set atop the pyre; all ties are removed, and all clothing. We come naked into the world, and naked we depart from it. Camphor is placed in all the orifices of the body, fragrant sandalwood is placed on the chest, followed by small pieces of kindling and then larger pieces of wood. The camphor is ignited. Its purifying scent fills the air, followed by the smell of burning sandalwood. Then the smaller kindling begins to crackle. The flames spread and grow as the larger wood catches fire. Soon the pyre is roaring, sending sparks, ash and billowing dark smoke into the air.
The person bearing the kumbha, or earthen pot of water, circles the pyre three times, and then throws it to the ground. The pot—symbolic of a body containing life—is smashed; the water it held soaks into the earth. The life which came from the earth is thereby returned to it.
Likewise, as my body burns, all that once belonged to it—my feelings of possession, family, relationships, class, fear, hate, shame, aversion—all return to wherever they came from.
I am a witness to all this. So, strangely, I must not have died. Or perhaps it is not so strange—for how can there be death for life? Only the body is subject to death and decay. Life is eternal. And we can change bodies as easily as we change clothes.
The fire, meanwhile, has consumed my entire mortal body. All that remains is a handful of ashes—human ash, as is worn by Shiva for ornament. And what can this ash need? Does it have any fear? Any desire? Any anger, lust, greed, pride or jealousy? Does it even know any good or bad? Any truth or untruth? No. Nothing whatsoever.
[Remain in a state of absolute silence for two or three minutes.]
The cremation ground has grown silent and empty. Everyone has returned to their homes, to their lives. The ashes lay scattered, inert among the smoking embers. Then, from somewhere, black clouds begin to gather in the sky. The atmosphere suddenly cools, and a breeze of impending rain begins to blow. As lightning flashes from the sky to the earth, the Devi appears and rain starts falling. The ground itself thrills to every drop, emitting the sweet smell of wet earth.
A divine downpour of cool nectar-like rain falls on my ashes. And because it is nectar, the ashes take on a new form. What kind of form? It is something like the red orb of the sun, rising fresh on the eastern horizon early in the morning, climbing slowly upward, becoming bright orange, then bright white against the blue sky—but, strangely, having no heat at all.
This orb shines high above me, then begins to descend, becoming a ball of brilliant white light, no more than five inches in diameter, hovering maybe nine inches over my head—but what body is this?
The shining ball of light remains there for some time, and then slowly descends into my head. I experience a cool, bright shower of white light inside my head. It trickles down through my neck and settles prettily in my heart. My heart overflows with joy: here it is, emitting millions of flashes of lightning in every color of the rainbow—violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. I now inhabit a body of light; I am filled from head to toe with light.
Then the shining orb divides in half, becoming Devi and Shiva. Shiva lays flat on the lotus in my heart; Devi sits on top of him, in union with him. The thrill of their union fills my new body. Out of the joy of their intercourse sprang this entire world of living beings. We live for that joy, and, when our bodies become old or can no longer sustain life, we abandon them to get new bodies.
Now my body emits flashes of light in every color, from every part: from my toes, fingers, nipples, eyes. Whoever comes into contact with these flashes is filled with peace of mind, vitality, strength, wealth, fulfillment of all desires, friendship with all, erotic pleasure; they are healed of every disease of the body and mind.
Now place your hand on your heart and say:
ām sōham, ām sōham, ām sōham.
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