60 § Janua Cœli
In his important study, 'Svayāmatrnnā: Janua Cœli', [1] Ananda Coomaraswamy expounds the symbolism of the superstructure of the Vedic altar and, more particularly, of the three perforated bricks (svayāmatrnnā) which constitute one of its essential parts. These bricks, which can also be stones (sharkara), in principle and according to their designation, ought to be perforated 'of themselves', that is to say, naturally, even though in practice this perforation may have been artificial at times. In any event, it is a question of three bricks or stones of annular shape which, superposed, correspond to the 'three worlds' (Earth, Atmosphere and Heaven), and which, with three other bricks representing the 'universal Lights' (Agni, Vāyu and Āditya), form the vertical Axis of the Universe. Furthermore, on ancient Indian coins (and similar representations are found on certain Babylonian seals) a representation of the 'three worlds' is to be found under the form of three rings linked together by a vertical line passing through their centres. [2] Of these superposed bricks, the lowest corresponds architecturally to the hearth (with which the altar itself is identified, both being the place of manifestation of Agni in the terrestrial world), and the highest corresponds to the 'eye' or the central opening of the dome; [3] they thus form, as Coomaraswamy observes, both a 'chimney' and
a 'way' (and the similarity of the two words in French, cheminée and chemin, is certainly not without significance even if, as is possible, they are not directly connected etymologically), [4] 'by which Agni proceeds and by which we must ourselves proceed towards Heaven'. Furthermore, inasmuch as they make possible the passage from one world to another, which is necessarily accomplished along the World Axis in the two opposite directions, they are the way by which the Devas ascend and descend through these worlds, using the three 'universal Lights' as so many rungs, in conformity with a symbolism of which the best known example is that of 'Jacob's Ladder'. [5] That which unites these worlds and is in a way common to them, though under different modalities, is the 'total Breath' (sarvaprāna) to which corresponds the central cavity of the superposed bricks; [6] it is also, according to another mode of expression which is basically equivalent, the süträtmä which, as we have already explained elsewhere, links all the states of the being with one another and with its total centre, generally symbolised by the sun, so that the süträtmä itself is then represented as a 'solar ray', and more precisely, as the 'seventh ray' which passes directly through the sun. [7]
It is actually to this passage 'through the Sun' that the symbolism of the upper brick more precisely refers, for as we have just said, it corresponds to the 'eye' of the dome or to the 'cosmic roof' (and it may be recalled in this connection that the sun is also designated as the 'Eye of the World'), that is, to the opening by which the exit from the Cosmos is accomplished (and, in fact, it cannot be accomplished except 'by the zenith'), whereas the Cosmos itself, with the diverse worlds it comprises, is represented by the entirety of the edifice in architectural symbolism. The correspondence in the human being with this upper opening is the brahma-randhra, that is, the orifice situated at the crown of the head, by which the subtle axial artery, the sushumnä, is in uninterrupted connection with the 'solar ray', also called sushumnä, which is nothing other than the süträtmä viewed in its particular relation with that being. Thus the highest brick can be further assimilated to the skull of the 'Cosmic Man', if an 'anthropomorphic' symbolism is adopted to represent the totality of the Cosmos. On the other hand, in zodiacal symbolism, this same opening corresponds to Capricorn, which is the 'gateway of the gods' and relates to the deva-yäna, in which is accomplished the passage 'beyond the Sun', while Cancer is the 'gateway of men' and relates to the pitri-yäna,
by which the being does not leave the Cosmos; [8] and it can be said also that, for the beings who pass through the one or the other, these two 'solstitial gates' correspond to the cases where the 'solar gateway' is respectively open or shut. As Coomaraswamy specifies, the two yānas, which are thus placed in relation with the two halves of the annual cycle, are connected with the north and the south insofar as the apparent movement of the sun is an ascent towards the north from Capricorn on the one hand and, on the other, a descent towards the south from Cancer.
It is therefore the sun, or what it represents in the principial order (for it goes without saying that it is the 'Spiritual Sun' that is really in question), [9] which, as the 'Eye of the World', is truly the 'gate of Heaven' or Janua Cceli, described also in such varied terms as a 'hole', [10] as a 'mouth', [11] and again as the hub of a chariot wheel; the axial meaning of this last symbol is obvious. [12] Nevertheless, there is room to make a distinction here, in order to avert what might, for some at least, cause confusion. On other occasions, in regard to the lunar symbolism of Janus (or, more exactly of Janus-Jana, identified with LunusLuna), we have in fact said that the moon is both Janua Cceli and Janua Inferni. In this case, instead of two halves of the annual cycle, ascending and descending, it is naturally necessary, in order to establish an analogous correspondence, [13] to consider the two halves, waxing and waning, of the lunation or monthly cycle. Now if the sun and the moon can both be regarded as Janua Cceli, this is because in the two cases heaven is not really taken in the same sense. Generally, in fact, this term can be used to designate everything referring to the supra-human states; but it is obvious that there is a great difference between those supra-human states which still belong to the Cosmos, [14] and that which, on the contrary, is beyond the Cosmos. As for the 'solar gateway', it is a question of Heaven in the supreme or 'extra-cosmic' sense; but as for the 'lunar gateway', it is a question only of Svarga, that is, of that one of the 'three worlds' which, even though the highest, is nevertheless included within the Cosmos as well as the two others. To return to the consideration of the uppermost of the three perforated bricks of the Vedic altar, it can be said that the 'solar gateway' is situated on its upper face (which is the true summit
of the whole edifice), and the 'lunar gateway' on its lower face, as this brick itself represents Svarga. The lunar sphere is in fact described as touching the upper part of the atmosphere or of the intermediary world (Antariksha), which is here represented by the middle brick. [15] Thus, it can be said, in the language of the Hindu tradition, that the 'lunar gate' gives access to the Indra-loka (as Indra is the regent of Svarga); and the 'solar gate' to the Brahma-loka. In the traditions of Western antiquity, the Indra-loka corresponds to Elysium and the Brahma-loka to the Empyrean, the first being 'intra-cosmic' and the second 'extra-cosmic'; and we must add that it is the 'solar gate' alone which is strictly the 'narrow gate' of which we have previously spoken, the gate by which the being leaves the Cosmos, thereby definitively freed from the conditions of all manifested existence, and truly passes 'from death to immortality'.