Many have still the notion that they have nothing to learn in any domain from this hemisphere. ; XII. 6.
The Vayu Samhita says: "Shaivagama is twofold, that which is based on Shruti and that which is not. 1). Rishi Kakshivan sings the praises of Sura (R.V. Vasikaranam is hypnotism, fascination. Let those condemn this Shastra who will. Rather he must sit as a Cela at the latter's feet. It is a religion without the apprehension of a moral evolution, without definite commandments, without a religious sanction in the sphere of morals, without a moral code and without a God: such so-called God, as there is, being "a mixture of Beaches, Don Juan and Dick Turin." But the cause of history is not to be influenced by personal predilections. They deprecate and punish the wanton use of intoxicating liquor (Ap.
2. Avyartham brahmahatyanca brahmahatyam savindati. They may be bad, or they may be good, but they have a meaning. 4.
All this has been admitted by Indians who have discernment. 2. S. I. VI.
A principle may be perfectly right and sound and yet a supposed application may not be an application in fact; or if there be an application, the latter may violate some other moral or physical law, or be dangerous and inexpedient as leading to abuse. 1.; II. There are Tantras of other sects of the Agama, Tantras of Shaivas, Vaishnavas and so forth. Kali Tantra says: "Having meditated in this way, a Sadhaka should worship Devi as his own Atma, thinking I am Brahman." 2) and also (10) Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma, Rudra, Pushan, the Ashvins, Surya and some other Deities. Sexual intercourse is Agnihotra (S.B. This applies to all, whether Hindu, Mohammed or Christian. 12; Chh. In this book I briefly deal with one section of it only. Such an animal sacrifice is not peculiarly "Tantrik" but an instance of the survival of a rite widely spread in the ancient world; older than the day when Jehovah bade Abraham sacrifice his son (Gen. XXII) and that on which Sunasshepa (Aitareya Brahmana VII, 3) like Isaac was released. Magic is not peculiar to the Tantras. (I have published one -- the Shricakra Sambhara Tantra as Vol. St. 1. 13-26; Ga. Dh. That knowledge is spread which saves.
25; I. l. 18, etc. 1, etc. In fact, from the earliest ages, magic has gone hand-in-hand with religion, and if for short periods the former has been thought to be dead it always rises again. Again in the evening after ritual duties he affirms himself to be the Akhilatma and Saccidananda, and having so thought he sleeps. 61, III. Kubjika Tantra says (Devi is called Kubjika because She is Kundali): "A Sadhaka should meditate on his own Self as one and the same with Her (Taya sahitam atmanam ekibhutam vicintayet)" and so on.
5.) Kurma Purana (Uttarabhaga, Ch. So far as I am aware all Agamas, whatever be their origin, claim now to be based on Shruti, though of course as different interpretations are put on Shruti, those who accept one interpretation are apt to speak of differing Schools as heretical.
127. Rudra and Mahadeva are admittedly Vaidik gods. 1-8; IV. Magic is, however, likely to be abused and has in fact been abused by some of the Tantriks. l. 3. Sura purifies the sacrificer whilst itself is purified (S.B.
4; A.B.
15), which include the horse, goats, sheep, oxen (Tait. 6.
In fact all Shastras are said to constitute one great many-millioned collection (Shatakoti Samhita) each being particular manifestations to man of the one, essential Veda. The answer then is -- let it be as you will regarding the origin of the Shakta Agama; but at present Shakta worship is an integral part of the Hinduism and as such admits the authority of Veda, accepting, as later explained, every other belief held by the general body of the Hindu people. The facts collected here will, it is hoped, enable impartial readers to come to a definite conclusion as to the relationship of the Vaidik to the Tantrik ritual.
I am not here, however, dealing with the first or historical question, but with the second so far as the Shakta Agama is concerned. The secret Sadhana of some of the latter (which I may here say is not usually understood) has acquired such notoriety that to most the term "The Tantra" connotes this particular worship and its abuses and nothing else. Having done greatly sinful acts they destroy living beings.
Whatever be the differences among these Yajñas in regard to the number of stomas or stotras and the Samans to be sung and the Kapalas, Grahas, or the number and nature of sacrifices or as to other particulars, there are some ideas which prevail in all of them. The original source of knowledge is the Vedas. Now all these schools have Tantras of their own.
III. If there be anything I shall be obliged, as a student of the Shastra, to any one who will call my attention to it. The Reflection (Pratibimba) is Maya whence the World-Lords (Lokapalas) and the Worlds are born. Sadhana is that which leads to Siddhi. 21; XI. VI.
Further the Tantras are concerned with Science, Law, Medicine and a variety of subjects other than spiritual doctrine or worship. 2-6; K.G.S. There is thus a vast mass of Tantras in the Agamas belonging to differing schools of doctrine and practice, all of which must be studied before we can speak with certainty as to what the mighty Agama as a whole is. What more shall I say?
This principle may, if applied to the general life of to-day, lead to an adverse judgment on some Tantrik practices. Each will adopt that, which most suits him. Shrauta is Shrautisaramaya and of two kinds, Svatantra and Itara. V; K.S.S. The worship of the Shaktis spread. 2. l. 2, etc.)
The only wonder is that people who have to live on nine pence a week, who marry when they are ten years old, are prevented by caste life from rising out of what is often, if not always, a degraded state, have any religion at all." This is the worship of Ratri; it requires no fasting and must be performed at night. Mahapataka-yuktam tat kuyogo'yam udahritah. And in this sense the Tantra Shastra or Agama claims to be a Revelation. No grounds were given for this statement. 87; Br.
2; IX.
1.
The Sammohana Tantra (Ch. 2.1). I. and human beings (Tait. 13; G.G.S. 11; M.N.T. There are some things in some of the Tantras and a spirit which they manifest of which their student may not personally approve.
12).
This is but one division of worshippers who again are but one section of the numerous followers of the Agamas, Shaiva, Shakta and Vaishnava. As so limited, it will continue so long as it serves a useful purpose and meets the needs of the age, and the degree of its spiritual advancement, or that of any particular body of men who practice it; otherwise it will disappear, whilst the foundations of Vedanta on which it rests may remain. Similarly (I may here interpose) in the Buddhist Tantra -- the Sadhaka on rising in the state of Devadeha (hLayi-sku) imagines that the double drums are sounding in the heavens proclaiming the Mantras of the 24 Viras (dPahvo), and regards all things around him as constituting the Mandala of himself as Buddha Vajrasattva. XXIV, Jñanarnava Tantra XXI. They offer Sura to the Ashvins (R. V.B. 7; A.A. II. There are 108 of them, like Ishopanishad, Mundaka Upanishad, Samveda Upanishad, and Chhandogya Upanishad. 15; II Khanda, Ch. 3. Kh. 113, Nahivedadhika vidya na kaula-samadarshanam). The Kamika Agama of the Shaiva Siddhanta (Tantrantara Patala) says: Tanoti vipulan arthan tattvamantra-samanvitan. Man is Consciousness (Atma) vehicled by Shakti in the form of mind and body.
Whatever be the historical origins of the former, the two appear to be in several respects allied at present, as any one who knows Shakta literature may find out for himself.
They offer libations of Sura to the Fathers (A.B. He is Saccidananda" (I.
Some of them care nothing for their Shastra. G.S. (Mahapatakayuktam tat kuyogo'yam udahritah. 1). VI post), Buddhagama, Jaina, Pashupata, Kapalika, Pancaratra, Bhairava and others. 6.). The Mantrayana and Vajrayana found acceptance with, what an English writer (The Buddhism of Tibet by L. Waddell) describes in the usual style as its "silly mummery of unmeaning jargon and gibberish," the latter being said to be "the most depraved form of Buddhist doctrine."
He is attributeless and above the highest. In the first place there must be a healthy physical and moral life. XIX, 1, etc. Br. I will show later that the principle involved is one which is claimed to be in conformity with Vaidik truth, and to be in fact recognized in varying forms by all classes of Hindus. This of course is incorrect. People easily accept it as their own. How is it that a Shastra which has had its followers throughout India from the Himalayas (the abode of Shiva and of Parvati Devi) to Cape Comorin (a corruption of Kumart Devi) which ruled for centuries, so that we may speak of a Tantrik epoch; which even to-day governs the household and temple ritual of every Hindu; how is it that such a Shastra has fallen into complete neglect and disrepute amongst the larger body of the English-educated community'? In fact Kulluka Bhatta, the celebrated commentator on Manu, says that Shruti is of two kinds, Vaidik and Tantrik. The Ishtis or Haviryajñas are also principally seven in number, namely, (1) Agnyadheyam, (2) Agnihotram, (3) Darsha-paurnamasa, (4) Caturmasyam, (5) Agrayaneshti, (6) Nirudhapashubandha, and (7) Sautramani. Secondly I wish to point out that this ritual with wine and meat is not as some suppose a new thing, something introduced by the Shakta Tantriks. I. Hindu religion, philosophy and art were only, it was supposed, for the so-called "uneducated" women and peasants and for native Pandits who, though learned in their futile way, had not received the illuminating advantages of a Western training. 10; Va. Dh. l. 1.
Therefore not only is the authority of the Veda acknowledged along with the Agamas, Nigamas and Tantras but there is not a single doctrine or practice, amongst those hitherto mentioned, which is either not generally held, or which has not the adherence of large numbers of Indian worshippers. 3.
3. 6, 7, 9 and 10). 2. 8. 4), and they add that a breach of these rules destroys the efficacy of the rite. Kanda XIII; As. 10 et seq.
2. So again the Bhagavata or Pancaratra Agama has been said to be non-Vaidik. 127. The Tantras direct the worship also of Ganesha, Kartika and Vishnu, for whose worship the Sama-Vidhana-Brahmana prescribes the singing of certain Samans, known as the Vinayaka Samhita (S. V. 4.
12). 88).
In the Kularnava Samhita (a different and far inferior work to the Tantra of that name) Shiva recites some horrible rites with the flesh of rat and bat; with the soiled linen of a Candala woman, with the shroud of a corpse, and so forth; and then he says, "My heart trembles (hridayam kampate mama), my limbs tremble (gatrani mama kampante), my mouth is dry, Oh Parvati!
34) refers as Sattvata Tantra in the lines, Tenoktang sattvatang tantram yaj jnattva muktibhag bhavet. He says "they (the Tantras) have really thrown before me a flood of new light. Q.
By physical means I mean direct physical means, for occultism may, and does avail itself of physical means to stimulate and intensify the force and direction of thought. This is not to say that they are wrong.
The principle is a practical and widely adopted one.
It is Shuddhadvaita because in it there is no Visheshana). I) is Consciousness (Caitanyarupini) and Bliss (Anandarupini).
It is the Authority. 9; VIII. S.S. IV). I. Sadhana is the development of Shakti. Again, Veda in a primary sense is the world as Idea in the Cosmic Mind of the creating Brahman and includes all forms of knowledge.