Dvādaśānta
Dvādaśānta · dvādaśa-anta, “the end of the twelve”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of dvādaśa (twelve) and anta (end): “the end of the twelve”, the point twelve finger-breadths beyond the head.
Meaning: the point above the head, beyond the body, where the consciousness rests in the rites of dīkshā and pratishṭhā. The Agni Purāṇa itself glosses it as “the region above the forehead” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 88).
In the scriptures: in three rites taught by Parameśvara, the guru draws the living consciousness or the presence of Śiva from the dvādaśānta.
- In the nirvāṇa-dīkshā. When the guru prepares the sruk and sruva for the final offering, he performs viyojana, ākarshaṇa and saṅgrahaṇa, and as before takes the jīva-caitanya (the consciousness of the disciple) from the dvādaśānta and places it in the middle of the pericarp of the lotus of his own heart (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 88).
- In the adhivāsana of the Śiva-liṅga. The mantra is uttered from the root of the navel and spreads on all sides like the sound of a bell; it is not different from the mind that, giving up Brahmā and the other causes, has reached the dvādaśānta. Meditating on the all-pervading Śiva, without parts, possessed of thirty-six kalās, shining with a thousand rays and full of all śaktis, the guru brings that deva from the dvādaśānta and establishes him on the Śiva-liṅga. The nyāsa done on the liṅga is the means to all the purushārthas (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 96).
- In the pratishṭhā of the prāsāda (temple). With his own mantra the guru holds the prāṇa within by kumbhaka; with Īśvara’s permission he awakens the jīva-caitanya, which is not different from the Self of all; and by recaka he takes it, like a blazing spark of fire, from the dvādaśānta and places it in the kalaśa (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 101).
Related terms: Jīva-caitanya · Dīkshā · Pratishṭhā · Nyāsa · Prāṇāyāma · Aṅgula
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 88, 96, 101