Rasa

8.2. In the Taittiriya Upanishad (2.7) the expression Raso vai sah is meant
to suggest the essence, the very core of ones being; and it is of the nature
of pure bliss (Raso hyevayam labdhva anandi bhavati). But,
elsewhere, Rasa is the fluid element (essence) that Vedic sages identified
as the juice of life and of non-death (a-mruta), which sustains both the
gods and the humans. Rasa is also understood as Dravya the substance
combining in itself the properties of all the five elements having sixty
three varieties. Rasa, as essential element, in its many forms is both
manifest and dormant.
8.3. In Ayurveda, Rasa stands for vital body fluids. Its treatment
(Rasayana), the Rasa or Rasa-bija the essence in a substance is used to
influence and enhance the health of bodily fluids or its constituents in the
body.
8.4. According to Tantra ideology, male and female vital fluids, semen and
uterine blood, are power-substances (Shakthi dhathu) because their
combination gives rise to life and vitality. These Rasas are even identified
with gods and goddesses whose boundless energy was often portrayed as
sexual in nature. Usually the god invoked in this context was some form of
Shiva and the female was some form of Devi.
8.5. Those ardent followers- the Tantrics , Siddhas and others who aimed
to attain the status of second Shiva sought to realize their goal through
the conduit of wild goddesses (who then were identified with their human
consorts) generally known as Yoginis. These bliss-starved minor
goddesses would converge into the consciousness of the Sadhaka the
ardent practitioner, to transform him into a sort of god on earth.
8.6. The doctrine of Rasa (Rasa vada) as adopted by the mystique Siddhas
is based on the theory that Rasa all kinds of fluid elements found in
universe , world , human beings , plants , rain , waters , and the oblations in
the Yajna is the fountainhead of life. There are countless manifestations
of Rasa including the vital sexual fluids in male and female, blood, bone
marrow, mucus and every other fluid substance in body and as water ,
snow , moisture etc in nature.
Alchemist Siddhas
9.1. With the advent of the great scholar and Tantrik Abhinavagupta
(ca.10th century Kashmir) and his school of Trika Kaula philosophy, the
messy parts of the Tantra practises were cleaned up, sanitized, refined ,
and given a sophisticated look ( at least outwardly).In these High Tantric
Schools many of the sordid looking elements and practices were
sublimated . The cult of the Yoginis, ritual reproductions, offering and
consuming sexual fluids etc were refined and re-defined. However, the old
practices did not go away altogether; but, they went underground and were
practiced as secret-learning (gupta vidya) by closed circle of initiates.
9.2. Then came the Siddhas of Natha Pantha, who brought into fore the
Hata yoga, a rather violent method of exertion. Matsyendranatha was the
pioneer of this School of Natha Siddhas. He preached the doctrine of Six
Chakras of transformation. But, the secret part of it was the belief in the
transformation of the sexual fluids into a sort of potent power, the amrita,
the nectar of immortality.
9.3. According to this sect, the combination of male and female sexual
fluids brings into existence an explosive power that is truly unique. No
other elements or fluids in the whole of the universe have the power to
create life. And, that is remarkable. For the Natha Siddhas, persuasion of
that line of creative power became the route to attain Siddhis (miraculous
powers) and Jivanmukthi (liberation while in the body).
10.1. They were followed by a third group, the Rasa Siddhas, the
alchemists who coined the phrase: yatha lohe, tatha dehe (as in the metal,
so in the body). They, in principle, adopted the doctrine of Natha Siddhas
regarding the power of sexual fluids. But, they lent it a rather unexpected
twist, that of metallurgy.
10.2. The Rasa Siddhas seemed to believe that metals are living-
substances; and, gold was the natural endpoint of their countless years of
gestation within the earths womb. Adopting the metaphor of the humans,
they said mica (abhraka) and sulphur (gandhaka literally meaning that
which has aroma) were analogous to the female reproductive fluids from
which the metals arose. Here the male fluids came to be identified with the
eighth metal, the Mercury, Rasendra, the King of Rasas, the shining liquid
amazingly volatile, as if having a life of its own.
[The Alchemist Siddhas equated Mercury with a male, warm substance
which controls the elements Earth and Water. And, symbolically it was
called the semen of Shiva. Mica which is cold was the element of air; and
regarded the female counterpart of Shiva, the Shakthi. Therefore through
the union of mercury and mica, male and female, (Shiva and Shakthi or
Yang and Yin), they sought to obtain a married metal which controls the
elements Earth (solids), Water (fluids) and Air (mental aspects in the body).
But, it increases the element Fire, the invigorating heat in the body. ]