Immortality and Longevity through Yoga in the Tirumantiram

Abstract

Tirumūlar yoga reveals the practices through which one may achieve longevity and immortality. Prolonging life aids the yogi to accomplish yoga’s final transcendent state of consciousness, samadhi, in which the yogi’s consciousness is absorbed into the god Śiva. Although a person’s lifespan is determined by the time of their conception, birth, and actions, life expectancy can be prolonged by certain yogic techniques. This is attested to in Tirumūlar’s seminal text Tirumantiram, in which he claims to have reached samadhi and to have lived for thousands of years. Tirumūlar details four yoga systems – Aṣṭāṅgayoga, Khecarīyoga, Candrayoga, and Paryaṅgayoga – that are meant to preserve life energy. These systems include practices designed to retain vital energies such as breath and semen retention, awaken and elevate the life force, and lead to immortality. The yoga’s final immortal state of samadhi resembles a deathlike state, which is said to be the ultimate blissful state of living.