Concept of Sahaja

`Sahaja`, the Innate, means something that is born or arisen together or simultaneously (sahajatyam yad utpannam sahajam tat prakirtitam). Yogaratnamala states, "That undefiled nature which is produced from the simultaneous co-arising of the internal Wisdom and Means is the Innate which is known as the supreme." In Vajrayana the Innate is equated with the very nature of things (sahajam svarupam ucyate). The intrinsic nature is known as sahajam (svabhavam sahajam proktam). The intrinsic nature (svabhavam) is thusness (tathata) and the Absolute Void.

Sahaja is the concealed essence of all things (sarvakaraikasamvaram). It is calm (nistarangah svarupatma), and it abides in all bodies (sarva dehe vyavasthitah). The Innate is characterised as Joy (ananda) and is the culmination of the three phenomenal joys (sahajanandam sesatah). Hevajra is of the nature of Innate Joy (sahajanandasvarupatah). The siddhi attained through Hevajra sadhana is also of the nature of sahaja (siddhih sahajanandarupini). Sahaja can only be self-experienced (svasamvedya). When consciousness is purified, the intrinsic nature (sahaja) itself is experienced as release.

The text states that the experience of sahaja is like cloud at first, then as illusion, later as sleep, and finally as no distinction between sleep and waking. This indicates the four stabilised meditative state in which sahaja is experienced in different degrees. The first stabilised meditative state, which is like a cloud (meghavat or megha), is one in which the Innate is not clearly experienced but appears as a moon concealed by a cloud. In the second state it appears as illusion (mayavat), because the illusory nature of the world is truly realised. In the third state, it is like sleep (svapnavat), because there is no notion of distinguishing oneself from others. The final state is like having no distinction between the sleep and waking states (svapijagradabhedavat) because the sleep and waking states are indivisibly united. In sahaja there is no duality of Wisdom and Means. As self experienced, it is beyond verbal articulation, like the dream of one who is dumb (mukasya svapnamyatha).

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