Bhuta-shuddhi

Bhuta-shuddhi

भूतशुद्धि, bhūtaśuddhi

bhūta – "an element", śuddhi – "purification"

Practice of purifying the elements that make up the body. It originates in the tantras, but nowadays there are adapted and simplified versions. Bhuta-shuddhi is usually performed before tantric sadhana (japa, puja) as a powerful technique for purifying subtle body. It can also be done as an independent practice.

In short bhuta-shuddhi can be summarized as follows:

• Kundalini is visualized in the muladhara chakra, then it rises to anahata chakra and together with jivatman ascends to brahmarandhra, to Paramatma;
• sadhaka consistently meditates on the tattvas of the 5 elements-mahabhutas (with mantras of the elements and visualization), dissolving them in each other, and then dissolves them in ahamkara, prakriti-tattva, and as a result, only Paramatma remains, in which Prakasha, the light of consciousness, shines brightly;
• in the left side of the abdomen, papa-purusha (a sinful person) is visualized and a special pranayama with mantras is performed to dry up the body of the papa-purusha and burn it to the formation of pure ash;
• drops of amrita form on the forehead, then mixed with the ashes left over from papa-purusha, and this pure mixture forms a new subtle body of sadhaka;
• with the help of concentration, sadhaka sequentially recreates in his body all the tattvas in reverse order. Kundalini energy descends into a purified body, returns the jivatma to the heart and returns to muladhara.

In tantras, special dhyana-mantras are given for each of the elements, but it is allowed to replace them with bija-mantras of mahabhutas: lāṁ (prithvi), vāṁ (apas / jala), rāṁ (agni), yāṁ (vayu), hāṁ (akasha).