VEDANGA JYOTISHA

 

Introduction to Mantra

 

  The scene of the revelation of this Tantra is laid in Himalaya, the "Abode of

Snow," a holy land weighted with the traditions of the Aryan race. Here in these

lofty uplands, encircled with everlasting snows, rose the great mountain of the

north, the Sapta Kula Parvata. Hence the race itself came, and there its early

legends have their setting. There are still shown at Bhimudiyar the caves where

the sons of Pandu and Draupadi rested, as did Rama and his faithful wife at the

point where the Kosi joins the Sita in the grove of Asoka trees. In these

mountains Munis and Rishis lived. Here also is the Kshetra of Shiva Mahadeva,

where His Spouse Parvvati, the daughter of the Mountain King, was born, and

where Mother Ganges also has her source. From time immemorial pilgrims have

toiled through these mountains to visit the three great shrines of Gangotri,

Kedarnath, and Badrinath. At Kangri, further north, the pilgrims make the

parikrama of Mount Kailasa (Kang Rinpoche), where Shiva is said to dwell. This

nobly towering peak rises to the north-west of the sacred Mansarowar Lake

(Mapham Yum-tso) from amidst the purple ranges of the lower Kangri Mountains.

The paradise of Shiva is a summerland of both lasting sunshine and cool shade,

musical with the song of birds and bright with undying flowers. The air, scented

with the sweet fragrance of Mandara chaplets, resounds with the music and song

of celestial singers and players. The Mount is Gana Parvata, thronged with

trains of Spirits (devayoni), of which the opening Chapter speaks.

And in the regions beyond rises Mount Meru, centre of the world-lotus. Its

heights, peopled with spirits, are hung with clusters of stars as with wreaths

of Malati flowers. In short, it is written: "He who thinks of Himachala, though

he should not behold him, is greater than he who performs all worship in Kashi

(Benares). In a hundred ages of the Devas I could not tell thee of the glories

of Himachala. As the dew is dried up by the morning sun, so are the sins of

mankind by the sight of Himachala."

It is not, however, necessary to go to the Himalayan Kailasa to find Shiva. He

dwells wheresoever his worshippers, versed in Kulatattva, abide, and His mystic

mount is to be sought in the thousand-petalled lotus (sahasrara-padma) in the

body of every human jiva, hence called Shivasthana, to which all, wheresoever

situate, may repair when they have learned how to achieve the way thither.

Shiva promulgates His teaching in the world below in the works known as Yamala,

Damara, Shiva Sutra, and in the Tantras which exist in the form of Dialogues

between the Devata and his Shakti, the Devi in Her form as Parvvati. According

to the Gayatri Tantra, the Deva Ganesha first preached the Tantra to the

Devayoni on Mount Kailasa, after he had himself received them from the mouth of

Shiva.

After a description of the mountain, the Dialogue opens with a question from

Parvvati in answer to which and those which succeed it, Shiva unfolds His

doctrine on the subjects with which this particular Tantra deals.

Shiva and Shakti

That eternal immutable existence which transcends the turiya and all other

states is the unconditioned Absolute, the supreme Brahman or Para-brahman,

without Prakriti (nishkala) or Her attributes (nir-guna), which, as being the

inner self and knowing subject, can never be the object of cognition, and is to

be apprehended only through yoga by the realization of the Self (atmajñana),

which It is. For as it is said, "Spirit can alone know Spirit." Being beyond

mind, speech, and without name, the Brahman was called "Tat," "That," and then

"Tat Sat," "That which is." For the sun, moon, and stars, and all visible

things, what are they but a glimpse of light caught from "That" (Tat)?

Brahman is both nishkala and sakala. Kala is Prakriti. The nishkala Brahman or

Para-brahman is the Tat, when thought of as without Prakriti (prakriteranya). It

is called sakala when with Prakriti. As the substance of Prakriti is the three

gunas It is then su-guna, as in the previous state It was nir-guna. Though in

the latter state It is thought of as without Shakti, yet (making accommodation

to human speech) in It potentially exists Shakti, Its power and the whole

universe produced by It. To say, however, that the Shakti exists in the Brahman

is but a form of speech, since It and Shakti are, in fact, one, and Shakti is

eternal (Anadi-rupa). She is Brahma-rupa and both vi-guna (nir-guna) and

sa-guna; the Chaitanya-rupini-Devi, who manifests all bhuta. She is the

Ananda-rupini-Devi, by whom the Brahman manifests Itself, and who, to use the

words of the Sarada, pervades the universe as does oil the sesamum seed.

In the beginning the Nishkala Brahman alone existed. In the beginning there was

the One. It willed and became many. Ahab bahu syam – "may I be many." In such

manifestation of Shakti the Brahman is known as the lower (apara) or manifested

Brahman, who, as the subject of worship, is meditated upon with attributes. And,

in fact, to the mind and sense of the embodied spirit (jiva) the Brahman has

body and form. It is embodied in the forms of all Devas and Devils, and in the

worshipper himself. Its form is that of the universe, and of all things and

beings therein.

As Shruti says: "He saw" (Sa aikshata, aham bahu syam prajayeya). "He thought to

Himself may I be many." "Sa aikshaya" was itself a manifestation of Shakti, the

Para-mapurva-nirvana shakti, or Brahman as Shakti. From the Brahman, with Shakti

(Para-shakti-maya) issued Nada (Shiva-Shakti as the "Word" or "Sound" ), and

from Nada, Vindu appeared. Kalicharana in his commentary on the

Shatchakra-nirupana says that Shiva and Nirvana Shakti bound by a mayik bond and

covering, should be thought of as existing in the form of Parang Vindu.

The Sarada says: Sachchidananda vibhavat sakalat parameshvarat asichchhaktistato

nado, nadad vindu-samudbhavah ("From Parameshvara vested with the wealth of

sachchidananda and with Prakriti (sakala) issued Shakti; from Shakti came Nada

and from Nada was born Vindu" ). The state of subtle body which is known as

Kama-kala is the mula of mantra. The term mula-mantratmika, when applied to the

Devi, refers to this subtle body of Hers known as the Kama-kala. The Tantra also

speaks of three Vindus, namely Shiva-maya, Shakti-maya, and Shiva-shakti-maya.

The Parang-vindu is represented as a circle, the centre of which is the

brahma-pada, or place of Brahman, wherein are Prakriti-Purusha, the

circumference of which is encircling maya. It is on the crescent of

nirvana-kala, the seventeenth, which is again in that of ama-kala, the sixteenth

digit (referred to in the text) of the moon-circle (Chandramandala), which

circle is situate above the Sun-Circle (Suryyamandala), the Guru and the

hangsah, which are in the pericarp of the thousand-petalled lotus

(sahasrarapadma). Next to the Vindu is the fiery Bodhini, or Nibodhika (v.

post). The Vindu, with the Nirvana-kala, Nibodhika, and Ama-kala, are situated

in the lightning-like inverted triangle known as "A, Ka, Tha," and which is so

called because at its apex is A; at its right base is Za; and at its left base

Tha. It is made up of forty-eight letters (matrika): the sixteen vowels running

from A to Ka; sixteen consonants of the ka-varga and other groups running from A

to Ka; and the remaining sixteen from Ka to Tha. Inside are the remaining

letters (matrika), ha, la(second), and ksha. As the substance of Devi is matrika

(matrika-mayi) the triangle represents the "Word" of all that exists. The

triangle is itself encircled by the Chandramandala. The Vindu is symbolically

described as being like a grain of gram (chanaka), which under its encircling

sheath contains a divided seed. This Parang-vindu is Prakriti-Purusha,

Shiva-Shakti. It is known as the Shabda-Brahman (the Sound Brahman), or

Aparabrahman. A polarization of the two Shiva and Shakti Tattvas then takes

place in Parashaktimaya. The Devi becomes Unmukhi. Her face turns towards Shiva.

There is an unfolding which bursts the encircling shell of Maya, and creation

then takes place by division of Shiva and Shakti or of "Hang" and "Sah." The

Sarada says: "The Devataparashaktimaya is again Itself divided, such divisions

being known as Vindu, Vaja, and Nada. Vindu is of the nature of Nada or Shiva,

and Vaja of Shakti, and Nada has been said to be the relation of these two by

those who are versed in all the Agamas." The Sarada says that before the

bursting of the shell enclosing the brahma-pada, which, together with its

defining circumference, constitute the Shabda-brahman, an indistinct sound arose

(avyaktatmaravobhavat). This avyaktanada is both the first and the last state of

Nada, according as it is viewed from the standpoint of evolution or involution.

For Nada, as Raghava-bhatta says, exists in three states. In Nada are the guna

(sattva, rajas, and tamas), which form the substance of Prakriti, which with

Shiva It is. When tamo-guna predominates Nada is merely an indistinct or

unmanifested (dhvanyat – mako’vykta-nadah) sound in the nature of dhvani. In

this state, in which it is a phase of Avyaktanada, it is called Nibodhika, or

Bodhini. It is Nada when rajoguna is in the ascendant, when there is a sound in

which there is something like a connected or combined disposition of the

letters. When the sattva-guna preponderates Nada assumes the form of Vindu. The

action of rajas on tamas is to veil. Its own independent action effects an

arrangement which is only perfected by the emergence of the essentially

manifesting sattvika guna set into play by it. Nada, Vindu, and Nibodhika, and

the Shakti, of which they are the specific manifestation, are said to be in the

form of Sun, Moon, and Fire respectively. Jñana (spiritual wisdom) is spoken of

as fire as it burns up all actions, and the tamoguna is associated with it. For

when the effect of cause and effect of action are really known, then action

ceases. Ichchha is the Moon. The Moon contains the sixteenth digit, the Ama-kala

with its nectar, which neither increases nor decays, and Ichchha, or will, is

the eternal precursor of creation. Kriya is like the Sun, for as the Sun by its

light makes all things visible, so unless there is action and striving there

cannot be realization or manifestation. As the Gita sways: "As one Sun makes

manifest all the loka."

The Shabda-Brahman manifests Itself in a triad of energies – knowledge

(jñanashakti), will (ichchha-shakti), and action (kriya-shakti), associated with

the three gunas of Prakriti, tamas, sattva, and rajas. From the Parang-Vindu,

who is both vindvat-maka and kalatma – i.e., Shakti – issued Raudri, Rudra, and

his Shakti, whose forms are fire (vahni), and whose activity is knowledge

(jñana); Vama, and Vishnu and his Shakti, whose form is the sun, and whose

activity is kriya (action): and Jyeshtha and Brahma and his Shakti, whose form

is the Moon and whose activity is desire. The Vamakeshvara Tantra says that

Tri-pura is threefold, as Brahma, Vishnu, and Isha; and as the energies desire,

wisdom, and action, the energy of will when Brahman would create; the energy of

wisdom when She reminds Him, saying "Let this be thus" ; and when, thus knowing,

He acts, She becomes the energy of action. The Devi is thus

Ichchha-shakti-jñana-shakti-kriya-shakti-svaru-pini.

Para-shiva exists as a septenary under the form, firstly, of Shambhu, who is the

associate of time (kala-bandhu). From Him issues Sada-shiva, Who pervades and

manifests all things, and then come Ishana and the triad, Rudra, Vishnu, and

Brahma, each with their respective Shakti (without whom they avail nothing)

separately and particularly associated with the gunas, tamas, sattva and rajas.

Of these Devas, the last triad, together with Ishana, and Sada-shiva, are the

five Shivas who are collectively known as the Maha-preta, whose vija is "Hsauh."

Of the Maha-preta, it is said that the last four form the support, and the fifth

the seat, of the bed on which the Devi is united with Parama-shiva, in the room

of chintamani stone, on the jewelled island clad with clumps of kadamba and

heavenly trees set in the ocean of Ambrosia.

Shiva is variously addressed in this work as Shambhu, Sada-shiva, Shankara,

Maheshvara, etc., names which indicate particular states, qualities, and

manifestations of the One in its descent towards the many; for there are many

Rudras. Thus Sada-shiva indicates the predominance of the sattva-guna. His names

are many, 1,008 being given in the sixty-ninth chapter of the Shiva Purana, and

in the seventeenth chapter of the Anushasana Parvan of the Mahabharata.

Shakti is both maya, that by which the Brahman creating the universe is able to

make Itself appear to be different from what It really is, and mula-prakriti, or

the unmanifested (avyakta) state of that which, when manifest, is the universe

of name and form. It is the primary so called "material cause," consisting of

the equipoise of the triad of guna or "qualities" which are sattva (that which

manifests) rajas (that which acts), tamas (that which veils and produces

inertia). The three gunas represent Nature as the revelation of spirit, Nature

as the passage of descent from spirit to matter, or of ascent from matter to

spirit, and Nature as the dense veil of spirit. The Devi is thus guna-nidhi

("treasure-house of guna" ). Mula-prakriti is the womb into which Brahman casts

the seed from which all things are born. The womb thrills to the movement of the

essentially active rajo-guna. The equilibrium of the triad is destroyed, and the

guna, now in varied combinations, evolve under the illumination of Shiva (chit),

the universe which is ruled by Maheshvara and Maheshvari. The dual principles of

Shiva and Shakti, which are in such dual form the product of the polarity

manifested in Parashakti-maya, pervade the whole universe, and are present in

man in the Svayambhu-Linga of the muladhara and the Devi Kundalini, who, in

serpent form, encircles it. The Shabda-Brahman assumes in the body of man the

form of the Devi Kundalini, and as such is in all prani (breathing creatures),

and in the shape of letters appears in prose and verse. Kundala means coiled.

Hence Kundalini, whose form is that of a coiled serpent, means that which is

coiled. She is the luminous vital energy (jiva-shakti) which manifests as prana,

She sleeps in the muladhara, and has three and a half coils corresponding in

number with the three and a half vindus of which the Kubjika Tantra speaks. When

after closing the ears the sound of Her hissing is not heard death approaches.

From the first avyakta creation issued the second mahat, with its three guna

distinctly manifested. Thence sprung the third creation ahangkara (selfhood),

which is of threefold form – vaikarika, or pure sattvika ahangkara; the taijasa,

or rajasika ahangkara; and the tamasika, or bhutadika ahangkara. The latter is

the origin of the subtle essences (tan-matra) of the Tattvas, ether, air, fire,

water, earth, associated with sound, touch, sight, taste and smell, and with the

colours – pure transparency, shyama, red, white, and yellow. There is some

difference in the schools as to that which each of the three forms produces, but

from such threefold form of Ahang-kara issue the indriya ("senses"), and the

Devas Dik, Vata, Arka, Prachetas, Vahni, Indra, Upendra, Mitra, and the Ashvins.

The vaikarika, taijasa, and bhutadika are the fourth, fifth, and sixth

creations, which are known as prakrita, or appertaining to Prakriti. The rest,

which are products of these, such as the vegetable world with its upward life

current, animals with horizontal life current, and bhuta, preta and the like,

whose life current tends downward, constitute the vaikrita creation, the two

being known as the kaumara creation.

The Goddess (Devi) is the great Shakti. She is Maya, for of Her the maya which

produces the sangsara is. As Lord of Maya She is Mahamaya. Devi is a-vidya

(nescience) because She binds and vidya (knowledge) because She liberates and

destroys the sangsara. She is Prakriti, and as existing before creation is the

Adya (primordial) Shakti. Devi is the vachaka-shakti, the manifestation of chit

in Prakriti, and the vachya-shakti, or Chit itself. The Atma should be

contemplated as Devi. Shakti or Devi is thus the Brahman revealed in Its mother

aspect (shri-mata) as Creatrix and Nourisher of the worlds. Kali says of Herself

in Yogini Tantra "Sachchidananda-rupaham brahmaivaham sphurat-prab-ham." So the

Devi is described with attributes both of the qualified Brahman; and (since that

Brahman is but the manifestation of the Absolute) She is also addressed with

epithets, which denote the unconditioned Brahman. She is the great Mother

(Ambika) sprung from the sacrificial hearth of the fire of the Grand

Consciousness (chit); decked with the Sun and Moon; Lalita, "She who plays";

whose play is world-play; whose eyes playing like fish in the beauteous waters

of her Divine face, open and shut with the appearance and disappearance of

countless worlds now illuminated by her light now wrapped in her terrible

darkness.

The Devi, as Para-brahman, is beyond all form and guna. The forms of the Mother

of the Universe are threefold. There is first the Supreme (para) form, of which,

as the Vishnu-yamala says, "none know." There is next her subtle (sukshma) form,

which consists of mantra. But as the mind cannot easily settle itself upon that

which is formless, She appears as the subject of contemplation in Her third, or

gross (sthula), or physical form, with hands and feet and the like as celebrated

in the Devi-stotra of the Puranas and Tantras. Devi, who as Prakriti is the

source of Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh-vara, has both male and female forms. But

it is in Her female forms that She is chiefly contemplated. For though existing

in all things, in a peculiar sense female beings are parts of Her. The Great

Mother, who exists in the form of all Tantras and all Yantras, is, as the Lalita

says, the "unsullied treasure-house of beauty" ; the Sapphire Devi, whose

slender waist, bending beneath the burden of the ripe fruit of her breasts,

swells into jewelled hips heavy with the promise of infinite maternities.

As the Mahadevi She exists in all forms as Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Gayatri, Durga,

Tripura-sundari, Anna-purna, and all the Devi who are avatara of the Brahman.

Devi, as Sati, Uma, Parvvati, and Gauri, is spouse of Shiva. It was as Sati

prior to Daksha’s sacrifice (daksha-yajna) that the Devi manifested Herself to

Shiva in the ten celebrated forms known as the dasha-mahavidya referred to in

the text – Kali, Bagala, Chhinnamasta, Bhuvaneshvari, Matangini, Shodashi,

Dhumavati, Tripura-sundari, Tara, and Bhairavi. When, at the Daksha-yajna She

yielded up her life in shame and sorrow at the treatment accorded by her father

to Her Husband, Shiva took away the body, and, ever bearing it with Him,

remained wholly distraught and spent with grief. To save the world from the

forces of evil which arose and grew with the withdrawal of His Divine control,

Vishnu with His discus (chakra) cut the dead body of Sati, which Shiva bore,

into fifty-one fragments, which fell to earth at the places thereafter known as

the fifty-one maha-pitha-sthana (referred to in the text), where Devi, with Her

Bhairava, is worshipped under various names.

Besides the forms of the Devi in the brahmanda there is Her subtle form called

Kundalini in the body (pindanda). These are but some only of Her endless forms.

She is seen as one and as many, as it were, but one moon reflected in countless

waters. She exists, too, in all animals and inorganic things, since the universe

with all its beauties is, as the Devi Purana says, but a part of Her. All this

diversity of form is but the infinite manifestations of the flowering beauty of

the One Supreme Life, a doctrine which is nowhere else taught with greater

wealth of illustration than in the Shakta Shastras, and Tantras. The great

Bharga in the bright Sun and all Devatas, and, indeed, all life and being, are

wonderful, and are worshipful, but only as Her manifestations. And he who

worships them otherwise is, in the words of the great Devi-bhagavata, "like unto

a man who, with the light of a clear lamp in his hands, yet falls into some

waterless and terrible well." The highest worship for which the sadhaka is

qualified (adhikari) only after external worship and that internal form known as

sadhara, is described as niradhara. Therein Pure Intelligence is the Supreme

Shakti who is worshipped as the Very Self, the Witness freed of the glamour of

the manifold Universe. By one’s own direct experience of Maheshvari as the Self

She is with reverence made the object of that worship which leads to liberation.

Guna

It cannot be said that current explanations give a clear understanding of this

subject. Yet such is necessary, both as affording one of the chief keys to

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