Sahasradalapadma

In many schools of yoga, and in the religious tradition known as tantra, one of
the sites in the subtle body (an alternate
physiological system believed to exist on
a different plane than gross matter but
with certain correspondences to the
material body). The subtle body consists
of a set of six psychic centers (chakras),
which are visualized as six multipetaled
lotus flowers running roughly along the
582
Saguna
course of the spine and connected by
three vertical channels. Each of these
chakras has important symbolic associations—with different human capacities, with different subtle elements (tanmatras), and with different seed syllables (bijaksharas) formed from the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, thus
encompassing all sacred sound. Above
and below these centers are the bodily
abodes of Shiva (awareness) and Shakti
(power), the two divine principles
through which the entire universe has
come into being. The underlying
assumption behind this concept of the
subtle body is thus the homology of
macrocosm and microcosm, an essential Hindu idea since the time of the
mystical texts known as the Upanishads.
The sahasradalapadma is the site at
the apex of the subtle body, visualized
as a “thousand-petaled lotus” located in
the crown of the head. This is identified
as the bodily abode of Shiva, where he is
ever-present. In tantra, final liberation
(moksha) comes through the divine
union of Shiva and Shakti in one’s own
body. This is done through awakening
the kundalini, the bodily correlate of
Shakti that lies dormant at the base
of the spine, and drawing the kundalini
up to the sahasradalapadma to effect
the divine union. The sahasradalapadma
is identified with the seed syllable
Om, the symbol of completeness and
perfection. For further information see
Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe),
Shakti and Shakta, 1978; Philip S.
Rawson, The Art of Tantra, 1973; and
Douglas Renfrew Brooks, The Secret of
the Three Cities, 1990.