Simbolismo del Caduceo del libro "Tantra el culto a lo femenino" de André Van Lysebeth

Recorriendo el país dravídico, al sur de Madrás y hasta el extremo de la India, quedé sorprendido
al ver hasta qué punto los nāgakkāls, esos caduceos dravídicos esculpidos en piedra y colocados
bajo grandes árboles, son la copia exacta del caduceo mediterráneo.
En esta semejanza veía más que una coincidencia. Es verdad que la serpiente siempre ha
fascinado al hombre por su poder mortal y su vida misteriosa. Imagen arquetípica y símbolo fálico,
sobre todo cuando está erguido, el reptil forma parte de las imágenes simbólicas de muchos
pueblos. ¡Pensemos en la Biblia y en la serpiente tentadora!
Sin embargo, lo que asombra, tanto en el nāgakkāl como en el caduceo es que muestran dos
serpientes enlazadas y, sobre todo, erguidas sobre la cola, lo que es antinatural: una cobra erguida
conserva al menos un tercio de su cuerpo enroscado y apoyado en el suelo. Para resolver la
dificultad, el indio las esculpe en piedra, mientras en el Mediterráneo enrollan la serpiente en torno
al bastón de Hermes, dios que adoptaron los griegos pero que era extranjero: venía de Tracia o de
Lidia.
Los brahmanes nos dicen que las dos serpientes simbolizan los conductos de energía que corren a
lo largo de la columna vertebral, mientras que el nāgakkāl es un símbolo sexual tántrico, con el
mismo derecho que el lingam. En la India todos saben que se trata de cobras copulando, pues las
serpientes copulan erguidas y enlazadas. Ahora bien, la cobra es el reptil indio por excelencia y es el
más común y el más temido, sobre todo en celo: ni al señor ni a la señora cobra les gusta ser
molestados, y sin embargo su acoplamiento es el único coito animal descrito en la India. Cuando, a
propósito del caduceo mediterráneo, nos cuentan que, al ver dos serpientes luchando, Hermes las
separó con su vara.

El conjunto (el nāgakkāl más los dos árboles casados) está tan cargado de sexualidad que las
mujeres estériles le hacen ofrendas y se frotan contra la piedra para tener niños. En cuanto a la
higuera, ¿es macho porque secreta un látex que se parece al esperma? En todo caso es el único árbol
que jamás se mutila en la India. Sus semillas son, al parecer, afrodisíacas.
El nāgakkāl revela también su origen tántrico por el hecho de que, visto de espaldas, tiene la
forma de un lingam y también por los motivos que con frecuencia se esculpen en los anillos
formados por las cobras copulando. En el de arriba, se esculpen el lingam-yoni tradicional, en el
anillo central Nandin, el toro sagrado, el vehículo de Shiva cuyo culto se encuentra en toda el área
mediterránea , por último en el inferior la flor de loto, símbolo del yoni. La parte de abajo está siempre vacía. Se ha encontrado un caduceo de seis anillos en Sumer, de comienzos del tercer milenio, sobre un cubilete de Gudea. Cuando hay representada una sola cobra, se enrosca de abajo arriba en torno a una varilla. A
veces policéfala, sus cabezas son siempre de número impar: 3, 5, 7 ó 9, todos números sagrados. En
la India la cobra está siempre asociada a Shiva, pero pensemos también en el Pschent de los
faraones y en el Calathos de la diosa de Cnossos.
La asociación entre la serpiente, la piedra y el árbol es típica en el espacio alpino-mediterráneo,
que incluye la mayor parte de Europa. ¡La serpiente tienta a Eva a partir del árbol sagrado! He
evocado la época megalítica india y la europea. En las excavaciones arqueológicas en la India se
han encontrado, especialmente en Salem, escondidas bajo los dólmenes dravídicos, hachas de
piedra y otras herramientas prehistóricas, recuerdo de los ancestros. Y, sobre esto, citemos a Le
Rouzic, quien informa, en el Corpus de Monuments Mégalithiques du Morbihan que los bretones,
en determinadas épocas lunares, alrededor del menhir de Manion, hacen exactamente los mismos
gestos con la esperanza de la posteridad. Cerca de ese menhir, Le Rouzic descubrió una escultura
que representaba cinco serpientes erguidas sobare su colas, ...junto a cinco hachas neolíticas de
piedra! Extraño —y revelador— a más de 8.000 km de distancia...
Confirmando el simbolismo sexual del caduceo alpino-mediterráneo, según una leyenda griega,
Rea se había convertido en dragona y Zeus se convirtió en dragón para unirse a ella, y la vara de
Hermes es el símbolo de esta unión. En el Scolium, al margen del Parisinus 2, el cristiano
Atenágoras escribe, escandalizado: «El caduceo, en el cual las serpientes estaban representadas
frente a frente, con sus rostros encontrados, constituye el memorial de ese acoplamiento
vergonzoso».
Todos estos símbolos son extraños para los falsos indoeuropeos, es decir, para los arios. En el
Rig-Veda, el lingam, el árbol, la divinidad del árbol y el toro de Shiva son despreciados y
rechazados como parte del culto de los Dauys, los enemigos dravídicos del dios ario Indra.

From Hatha yoga pradipika with Hans Ulrich Rieker commentary -Quote 6

"There are 72,000 nadis in this cage [body]. Sushumna is the central nadi which contains the
shabhavi shakti. This has the property of bestowing bliss upon the yogi. All others are then useless.
−−Guide the prana into the sushumna and kindle the gastric fire and awaken the kundalini. Only

when prana fiows through the sushumna wilt there be samadhi. All other methods are futile. When
breath is suspended then [discursive] thinking also is suspended. He who has power over his mind
can also control prana.
[For] the two causes that activate the mind are prana [respiration] and the sources of karma
[vasanas, latent tendencies]. Death of one [of these] is the death of the other. When mind is
absorbed, breathing subsides: when prana is absorbed in the sushumna [not available to the body]
then mind also is absorbed."

The deepest sense of this yoga will be understood only by one who is convinced that from physical
process to psychological experience and religious phenomena there is one straight (if usually secret)
path, and that none of the three can exist and function by itself. He who is prepared to familiarize
himself with what naturally seems to be a strange terminology will find not only confirmation of the
most modern knowledge, but the possibility of new insights as well, for the problem of relationship
between the inner and outer worlds will always be a
topical one as long as the human race exists. The last word on it can never be expected, for each
culture, even each phase of individual life presents new perspectives. It is by the great visionary
works of antiquity that we are most deeply touched−− we who have become so clever.

"Mind and prana are related to each other like milk and water. If the one dries up the other one
also dries up. In whatever chakra the prana is concentrated mind becomes fixed, and where the mind
is fixed prana is conquered"

The fact that men's cultural levels differ so greatly is not simply a problem of society; nor does it
depend on ambition, or even on intelligence. It is really the chakras that cause stratification in
culture.
Genius is the product of the highest development potential of that chakra by which it lives. As long
as our mind is not nourished by that same chakra we only comprehend the lower levels. At the
highest level our understanding is no longer limited. There we need no intellectual hints; we perceive
the spirit everywhere, even in silence.
The chakra determines whatever level of development we are on, and this level determines the measure of our consciousness.

Varaha Upanishad quotes

A wise man who has understood the course of nadis and vayus

should, after keeping his neck and body erect with his mouth

closed, contemplate immovably upon Turyaka (Atma) at the

tip of his nose, in the centre of his heart and in the middle of

bindu,

and should see, with a tranquil mind through the

(mental) eyes, the nectar flowing from there. Having closed

the anus and drawn up the vayu and caused it to rise through

(the repetition of) pranava (Om).

He should try to go up by the union of Prana and Apana.

This most important yoga brightens up in the body the path of

siddhis. As a dam across the water serves as an obstacle to the

floods, so it should ever be known by the yogins that the chhaya

of the body is (to jiva). This bandha is said of all nadis.

Through the grace of this bandha, the Devata (goddess) becomes

visible. This bandha of four feet serves as a check to the three

paths. This brightens up the path through which the siddhas

obtained (their siddhis). If with Prana is made to rise up soon

Udana, this bandha checking all nadis goes up. This is called

Samputayoga or Mulabandha. Through the practising of this

yoga, the three bandhas are mastered. By practising day and

night intermittingly or at any convenient time, the vayu will

come under his control. With the control of vayu, agni (the

gastric fire) in the body will increase daily. With the increase

of agni, food, etc., will be easily digested. Should food be

properly digested, there is increase of rasa (essence of food).

With the daily increase of rasa, there is the increase of dhatus

(spiritual substances). With the increase of dhatus, there is the

increase of wisdom in the body. Thus all the sins collected

together during many crores of births are burnt up.

Sandilya Upanishad quotes

This body is ninety-six digits in length.

Prana extends twelve digits beyond the body. He who through,

the practice of yoga reduces his prana within his body to make

it equal to or not less than the fire in it becomes the greatest

of

the yogins. In men, the region of fire which is triangular in

form and brilliant as the molten gold is situated in the middle

of the body

Lying in the middle of the navel and

above it, is the seat of kundalini. The kundalini sakti is of the

form of eight prakrtis (matter) and coils itself eight ways or

(times). The movement of vayus (vital airs) checks duly the

food and drink all round by the side of skandha(the web of life)

It closes by

its head (the opening of) the brahmarandhra, and during the

time of (the practice of) yoga is awakened by the fire (in the

apana); then it shines with great brilliancy in the akas of the

heart in the shape of wisdom.

Situated at

the back of the anus, it is attached to the spinal column and

extends to the brahmarandhra of the head and is invisible

and subtle and is vaishnavi (or has the sakti force of Vishnu).

On the left of Sushumna is situated Ida and on the right is

Pingala. The moon moves in Ida and the sun in Pingala.

The moon is of the nature of tamas and the sun of rajas.

The poison share is of the sun and the nectar of the moon.

They both direct (or indicate) time and Sushumna, is the enjoyer

(or consumer) of time.

By the

contraction of the muscles of the neck and by the contraction

of the one below (viz.,) Apana, the Prana (breath) goes into the

Sushumna which is in the middle from the west nadi.

Drawing up the Apana and forcing down the Prana from the throat,

the yogin free from old age becomes a youth of sixteen.

Having by contraction opened the door of kundalini, one

should force open the door of moksha. Closing with her mouth

the door through which one ought to go, the kundalini sleeps

spiral in form and coiled up like a serpent. He who causes this

kundalini to move he is an emancipated person. If this kundalini

were to sleep in the upper part of the neck of any yogin, it goes

towards his emancipation. (If it were to sleep) in the lower part

(of the body), it is for the bondage of the ignorant. Leaving the

two nadis, Ida and the other (Pingala), it (prana) should move

in the Sushumna. That is the supreme seat of Vishnu.

Samadhi is the union of the Jivatma (individual self) and

the Paramatma (higher self) without ,the threefold state, (viz.,

the knower, the known, and the knowledge). It is of the nature

of extreme bliss and pure consciousness.

The nadis or psychic passages

Source
*A Systematic Course in the Ancient Tantric Techniques of Yoga and Kriya  Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The nadis are pathways along which prana or

bioplasmic energy travels. In acupuncture

these pathways are known as meridians (at

least in modern western terminology). Various

ancient yogis said that there are seventy two

thousand nadis in the psychic body. Others

said the number is in the region of three

hundred and twenty thousand. Whatever the

number, we can definitely say that they are

numerous.

Of these nadis three are particularly important.

They are known as the ida, pingala and

sushumna. The most important one is the

sushumna, which runs within the spine2. It

should not be confused with or identified with

the physical spine that we are normally aware

of. This nadi runs from the region of the

perineum (between the anus and sexual organs)

to the region of the brain. It connects the

mooladhara chakra (chakra meaning pranic

or psychic centre) in the perineum to ajna

(mid-brain) chakra at the top of the spine

passing through various other chakras enroute.

Again these chakras should not be

regarded as physical entities; they are part of

the bioplasmic or pranic body. As such they

are located within but are not of the physical

body.

Emanating from the left side of the mooladhara

chakra and passing through the

intervening chakras in turn in a curving, crisscrossing

path, finally ending up on the left

side of the ajna chakra, is the ida nadi. Emerging

from the right side of the mooladhara chakra

and passing in a similar but opposite sense to

that of the ida nadi, up to the right side of ajna,

is the pingala nadi.

The ida and pingala nadis are the pathways

of the two different aspects of prana. They

represent the two opposite poles of the same

energy. The ida is denoted as being negative

and is also known as the chandra (moon) nadi.

The pingala, on the other hand, is positive and

is often called the surya (sun) nadi. Associated

with these two nadis are various attributes or

qualities.

These two nadis are associated with the two

nostrils: pingala with the right and ida with the

left. The ancient yogis, with their detailed

awareness of the human body, found that the

flow of breath did not pass equally through

each nostril. In fact at any given time it was

more than likely that the flow of air through

one nostril would be greater than the other

nostril. This is an aspect of our body that even

physiologists have never seriously researched.

No one seems to have asked the question:

"Why have we got two nostrils?" There should

be a good reason and perhaps it is directly

related to ida and pingala. Incidentally, the

reader can test this for himself taking care to

remove all mucus from the nose. Merely block

each of the nostrils in turn and you should

find that the flow is greater through one than

the other. If you don't find this to be so, then

try at a later time for occasionally the flows are

equal.

The yogis of antiquity discovered that when

the left nostril had the predominant flow of air

then the pranic flow in ida nadi was also

predominant. And when the right nostril had

the greatest flow the pingala had the greatest

flow of prana. The flow of air through the

nostrils and consequently the pranic flow

continually alternates. Under normal conditions

the flow through the left nostril is

predominant for about an hour and then the

right flow becomes predominant for about an

hour. During changeover from one to the

other, flows are equal and the prana flows

through the sushumna nadi. This generally

lasts for a few minutes. These flows can also be

artificially altered in response to individual

needs. The study of these flows, their meaning

and implications in life is the subject of the

science of swara yoga.

Some verses from the Shiva Samhita II,1-5

1. In this body, the mount Meru – i.e., the vertebral column – is surrounded by seven islands; there are rivers,
seas, mountains, fields; and lords of the fields too.
2. There are in it seers and sages; all the stars and planets as well. There are sacred pilgrimages, shrines; and
presiding deities of the shrines.
3. The sun and moon, agents of creation and destruction, also move in it. Ether, air, water and earth are also
there.
4. All the beings that exist in the three worlds are also to be found in the body; surrounding the Meru they are
engaged in their respective functions.
5. (But ordinary men do not know it). He who knows all this is a Yogi; there is no doubt about it.