The Gestures, or Mudras

In the Yoga Kundali Upanishad, the training for Khechari is described as follows:

"Having drawn the tongue to the root of the palate the Knower of the Self should, for seven days, cleanse himself from all impurities according to the instructions of his guru.

"Then with a sharp, well-oiled and clean instrument resembling the leaf of the milk-hedge plant he should make a hair's breadth cut in the frenum of the tongue. Leaving all other work, he should treat the cut with yellow myrobalan and powdered salt well mixed together. After seven days he should again cut it a hair's breadth. He should thus practice this with great care for six months. After six months the frenum at the base of the tongue will have vanished. The yogi should then tie the tip of the tongue with a piece of cloth and draw it out, upwards, gradually, knowing the proper season, time and manner. O Sage! Thus pulled daily, within six months it will reach the middle of the brows and, to the sides, the ear holes. It will reach downwards to the root of the chin. In the course of three years it will without effort reach the limit of the hair on the forehead, the side of the hair tuft and the hollow of the neck . . .

"Then pressing with the finger the Principial bolt (the Uvula) the yogi should thrust his tongue inward, and, within three years it will enter the Principial door.

"After entering the Principial door he should begin the practice of churning . . . Constant churning is not good and should be done only once a month." (Yoga Kundali Up. 2, 28-47.)

The cutting of the frenum of the tongue can be replaced by the practices of "Dohana" (pulling the tongue out and massaging it with a gesture like that of milking) and "chalana" (pushing the tip of the tongue backward with the fingers).

"He is not troubled by disease nor soiled by action, he is not bound by Time, he who knows Khechari.

"This gesture in which the mind moves in the void (Khe) and the tongue moves in the void (the empty cavity of the cranium) is called 'Moving-in-the-Void' and is honored by the Realized." (Dhyana Bindu Up. 81-83.)

"Whether he be pure or impure and whatever his condition may be, he who does perfectly the gesture of moving in the void is most certainly for ever purified."

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