image credit: Astamangala
In the seventeenth verse of his Cidvilāsastava (‘Hymn to the Play of Consciousness’), Amṛtānanda teaches about the deeper aspects of the catuṣpīṭhanyāsa (a special ritual within Śrīvidyā) as it realtes to four centers within the yogic body that transform into four sacred pīṭhas power sites as follows:
अन्तरङ्गकरणान्युपाधयः स्वप्रकाशनभसो ऽत्र सङ्क्रमात् ।
पीठभावमुपयान्ति तानि तन्न्यासकर्म परधाम्नि हृल्लयः ॥ १७ ॥
antaraṅgakaraṇāny upādhayaḥ svaprakāśanabhaso ‘tra saṅkramāt |
pīṭhabhāvam upayānti tāni tannyāsakarma paradhāmni hṛllayaḥ || 17 ||
“The [four] centers of the yogic body are the limiting factors of the sky of self-luminous awareness. They transform into the [four] power sites (pīṭha) located [in the body] in that order. The rite of installing those [four inner power sites] is dissolving the Heart into supreme radiance.” (translation by Ben Williams)
