43 § The Narrow Gate
IN his study of the symbolism of the dome, Coomaraswamy has called attention to a point that is particularly worthy of attention as regard the traditional representation of the solar rays in their relation to the World Axis. In the Vedic tradition, the sun is always at the centre of the Universe and not at its highest point, even though from any particular point it nevertheless should appear as being at the 'summit of the tree';[1] and that is easy to understand if the Universe is symbolised by the wheel, with the sun at its centre and every state of being on its circumference. [2] From any given point whatsoever on this circumference, the World Axis is simultaneously a radius of the circle and a ray of the sun; and it passes geometrically through the sun, to be extended beyond the centre and to complete the diameter. But that is not all: there is also a 'solar ray', the extension of which is not susceptible of any geometrical representation. Here it is a question of the formula according to which the sun is described as having seven rays; of these, six, opposed two by two, form the trivid vajra, that is, the three dimensional cross, [3] the rays which correspond to Zenith and Nadir coinciding with our World Axis (skambha), while those which correspond to North and South, to East and West, determine the extension of a 'world' (loka) represented by a horizontal plane. As for the 'seventh ray', which passes through the sun, though in a sense other than that just mentioned, to lead to the supra-solar worlds (considered as the domain of immortality), it really corresponds to the centre and, consequently, it cannot be represented except by the point of intersection of the branches of the three dimensional cross. [4] Thus its extension beyond the sun cannot be represented in any way, and this corresponds precisely to the 'incommunicable' and 'inexpressible' nature of what is in question. From our point of view, and from that of being situated on the 'circumference' of the Universe, this ray terminates in the sun itself and in a certain way is identified with it as centre, for no one can see through the solar disc by any physical or psychic means whatsoever, and this passage 'beyond the sun' (which is the 'last death' and the passage into true 'immortality') is impossible except in the purely spiritual order.
Now in order to link these last considerations with what we have said already, it must be born in mind that it is by this 'seventh ray' that the heart of every particular being is directly joined to the sun. It is therefore the seventh ray that is pre-eminently the 'solar ray', the sushumnā by which
this connection is constantly and invariably established, [5] and it is this also which is the süträtmä, linking all the states of the being to one another and its total centre. [6] For him who has returned to the centre of his own being, this seventh ray thus necessarily coincides with the World Axis, and it is for such a being that it is said that 'the Sun rises always at the Zenith and sets at the Nadir'. [7] Thus, even though the World Axis may not be this 'seventh ray' for just any being whatsoever, situated at such and such a particular point on the circumference, nevertheless it is always virtually so in the sense that the being has the possibility of identifying himself with the 'seventh ray' by returning to the centre, in whatever state of existence this return may be effected. It could be added that this 'seventh ray' is the only truly immutable 'Axis', the only one that from a universal point of view could be truly designated by this name, and that every particular axis, relative to a contingent situation, is really only an 'axis' in virtue of this possibility of identification with it; and it is ultimately this which gives all its meaning to any symbolically 'localised' representation of the World Axis, such as the one we mentioned in connection with the structure of edifices built according to traditional rules, and especially of those built with a dome-shaped roof; and it is precisely to this subject of the dome that we must now return.
Whether the axis may be represented materially under the form of a tree or of a central pillar, or whether it be represented by the ascending flame and 'column of smoke' of Agni in the case where the centre of the edifice is occupied by an altar or hearth, [8] it always terminates exactly at the summit of the dome; and sometimes, as we have pointed out, it even traverses the dome and is extended beyond it in the form of a mast or, in another example, as the shaft of a parasol, the symbolism of which is the same. It is clear that in this context the summit of the dome is to be identified with the nave of the celestial wheel of the 'cosmic chariot'; and since we have seen that the centre of this wheel is occupied by the sun, it follows that the passing of the axis through this point represents that passage 'beyond the Sun', and through it, which was mentioned above. The same is true when, in the absence of any material representation of the axis, the dome is pierced at its summit by a circular opening (through which, in the case just mentioned, the smoke escapes from the hearth directly beneath). This opening is a representation of the solar disc itself as 'Eye of the World', and it is through it that the exit from
the cosmos is accomplished, as we have explained in the studies devoted to the symbolism of the cave. [9] In any case, it is by this central opening and by it alone that the being can pass to the Brahmaloka, which is an essentially 'extra-cosmic' domain; [10] and this is also the 'strait gate' which, according to the symbolism of the Gospel, gives access likewise to the 'Kingdom of God'. [11]
The microcosmic correspondence of this 'solar gateway' is easy to find, especially if we refer to the dome's already mentioned likeness to the human skull. The summit of the dome is the 'crown' of the head, that is, the terminal point of the subtle 'coronal artery' or sushumnā, which lies in the direct prolongation of the 'solar ray', also called sushumnā, and which is in reality even no more than what might be called, at least virtually, its 'intra-human' axial portion. This point of termination is the orifice called brahma-randhra, by which the spirit of the being on the way to liberation escapes, once the bonds that united it (as Jīvātmā) to the psycho-physical composite have been broken; [12] and it goes without saying that this Way is exclusively reserved for the case of the 'knower' (vidvān), for whom the axis is effectively identified with the seventh ray, and who is then ready to go forth from the cosmos definitively, passing 'beyond the Sun'.