The 6 Layers of the Self in Tantra

In the profound Trika text virūpākṣapañcāśikā, we learn:

vimatipadamaṅga sarvaṃ mama caitanyamātmanaḥ śarīramidam |
śūnyapadādīlāvadhi dṛśyatvāt piṇḍavat siddham || 2 ||

O dear one, all this from the void state to the play of the Divine including even that which is heretical (i.e impure), since it appears in Consciousness, is verily established as my own body for I myself am Consciousness!

sampanno'smi kṛśo'smi snihyatkaraṇo'smi modamāno'smi |
prāṇimi śūnyo'smīti ca ṣaṭsu padeṣvasmitā dṛṣṭā || 3 ||

“I am rich”, “I am feeble”, “I am affectionate”, “I am happy”, “I am living”, “I am the void”: the self is seen in these six states!

From this we can understand that the "Self" is quite elastic! It can identify with possessions, with the body, with the thoughts and emotions in the mind, with the vitality or flow of energy and also with the void! Even saying "no-self" is a kind of self-identification! Notice: the objects, the physical body, the mental body, the energy body and the void body...these are all ways the Self can identify itself. But what exactly is the Self? It is Pure Consciousness, with the ability to expand outward or contract inward. The Self is essentially elastic in nature. Ego is not an illusory thing to be renounced with a Shakti, a power to be reclaimed and properly channelled. 

This is a class in our Paramārthasāra series, commenting on Verse 32:

देहप्राणविमर्शनधीज्ञाननभःप्रपञ्चयोगेन।
आत्मानं वेष्टयते चित्रं जालेन जालकार इव॥३२॥

Dehaprāṇavimarśanadhījñānanabhaḥprapañcayogena|
Ātmānaṁ veṣṭayate citraṁ jālena jālakāra iva ||32||

How strange is it that the Self wraps Itself up by considering itself to be the body, prāna, intellectual concepts, and even the universe of ideas regarding the Void, just like a silkworm!

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