According to the temperament of the sadhaka, so is the form of worship and
sadhana. In fact, the specific worship and sadhana of the other classes is
strictly prohibited by the Tantra to the pashu.
It is said in this Tantra and elsewhere that, in the Kali-yuga, divya and pashu
dispositions can scarcely be found. It may be thought difficult at first sight
to reconcile this (so far as the pasha is concerned) with other statements as to
the nature of these respective classes. The term pashu, in these and similar
passages, would appear to be used in a good sense as referring to a man who,
though tamasic, yet performs his functions with that obedience to nature which
is shown by the still more tamasic animal creation free from the disturbing
influences of rajas, which, if it may be the source of good, may also be, when
operating independently, the source of evil.
The Commentator explains the passage cited from the Tantra as meaning that the
conditions and character of the Kali-yuga are not such as to be productive of
pasha-bhava (apparently in the sense stated), or to allow of its achara (that
is, Vaidikachara). No one, he says, can fully perform the vedachara,
vaishnavachara, and shavachara rites, without which the Vaidik, Pauranik mantra,
and yajna are fruitless. No one now goes through the brahma-charya ashrama, or
adopts after the fiftieth year that called vana-prastha. Those whom the Veda
does not control cannot expect the fruit of Vaidik observances. On the contrary,
men have taken to drink, associate with the low, and are fallen; as are also
those men who associate with them. There can therefore be no pure pashu. Under
these circumstances the duties prescribed by the Vedas which are appropriate for
the pasha being incapable of performance, Shiva for the liberation of men of the
Kali Age has proclaimed the Agama. "Now, there is no other way." The explanation
thus given, therefore, appears to amount to this. The pure type of pashu for
whom vedachara was designed does not exist. For others who though pasha are not
purely so, the Tantra is the governing Shastra. This, however, does not mean
that all are now competent for virachara.
It is to be noted, however, that the Prana-toshini cites a passage purporting to
come from the Mahanirvana Tantra, which is apparently in direct opposition to
the foregoing:
Divya-vira-mayo bhavah kalau nasti kada-chana
Kevalang pasha-bhavena mantra-siddhirbhavennrinam.
"In the Kali Age there is no divya or vira-bhava. It is only by the pashu-bhava
that men may obtain mantra-siddhi."
This matter of the bhava prevalent in the Kali-yuga has been the subject of
considerable discussion and difference of opinion, and is only touched upon
here.
Guru and Shishya
The Guru is the religious teacher and spiritual guide to whose direction
orthodox Hindus of all divisions of worshippers submit themselves. There is in
reality but one Guru. The ordinary human Guru is but the manifestation on the
phenomenal plane of the Adi-natha Maha-kala, the Supreme Guru abiding in
Kailasa. He it is who enters into and speaks with the voice of the earthly Guru
at the time of giving mantra. Guru is the root (mala) of diksha (imitation).
Diksha is the root of mantra. Mantra is the root of Devata; and Devata is the
root of siddhi. The Munda-mala Tantra says that mantra is born of Guru and
Devata of mantra, so that the Guru occupies the position of a grandfather to the
Ishta-devata.
It is the Guru who initiates and helps, and the relationship between him and the
disciple (shishya) continues until the attainment of monistic siddhi. Manu says:
"Of him who gives natural birth and of him who gives knowledge of the Veda the
giver of sacred knowledge is the more venerable father. Since second or divine
birth insures life to the twice-born in this world and the next." The Shastra
is, indeed, full of the greatness of Guru. The Guru is not to be thought of as a
mere man. There is no difference between Guru, mantra, and Deva. Guru is father,
mother, and Brahman. Guru, it is said, can save from the wrath of Shiva, but
none can save from the wrath of the Guru. Attached to this greatness there is,
however, responsibility; for the sins of the disciple recoil upon him.
Three lines of Guru are worshipped: heavenly (divyangga) siddha (siddhangga),
and human (manavangga). The kala-guru are four in number, viz.: the Guru,
Parama-guru, Parapara-guru, Parameshti-guru; each of these being the guru of the
preceding one. According to the Tantra, woman with the necessary qualifications
may be a guru, and give initiation. Good qualities are required in the disciple,
and according to the Sara-sangraha a guru should examine and test the intending
disciple for a year. The qualifications of a good disciple are stated to be good
birth, purity of soul (shuddhatma), and capacity for enjoyment, combined with
desire for liberation (purushartha-parayanah). Those who are lewd (kamuka),
adulterous (para-daratura), constantly addicted to sin (sada papa-kriya),
ignorant, slothful, and devoid of religion, should be rejected.
The perfect sadhaka who is entitled to the knowledge of all Shastra is he who is
pure-minded, whose senses are controlled (jitendriyah), who is ever engaged in
doing good to all beings, free from false notions of dualism, attached to the
speaking of, taking shelter with, and living in the supreme unity of the
Brahman. So long as Shakti is not fully communicated (see next note) to the
shishya’s body from that of the guru, so long the conventional relation of guru
and shishya exists. A man is shishya only so long as he is sadhaka. When,
however, siddhi is attained, both Guru and Shishya are above this dualism. With
the attainment of pure monism, naturally this relation, as all others,
disappears.
Initiation
Diksha
Initiation is the giving of mantra by the guru. At the time of initiation the
guru must first establish the life of the guru in his own body; that is the
vital force (prana-shakti) of the Supreme Guru whose abode is in the
thousand-petalled lotus. As an image is the instrument (yantra) in which
divinity (devatva) inheres, so also is the body of guru. The day prior thereto
the guru should, according to Tantra, seat the intending candidate on a mat of
kusha grass. He then makes japa of a "sleep mantra" (supta-mantra) in his ear,
and ties his crown lock. The disciple, who should have fasted and observed
sexual continence, repeats the mantra thrice, prostrates himself at the feet of
the guru, and then retires to rest. Initiation, which follows, gives spiritual
knowledge and destroys sin. As one lamp is lit at the flame of another, so the
divine shanti, consisting of mantra, is communicated from the guru’s body to
that of the Shishya. Without daksha, japa of the mantra, puja, and other ritual
acts, are said to be useless. Certain mantra are also said to be forbidden to
shudra and women. A note, however, in the first Chalakshara Sutra, to the Lalita
would, however, show that even the shudra are not debarred the use even of the
Pranava, as is generally asserted. For, according to the Kalika Purana (when
dealing with svara or tone), whilst the udatta, an-udatta, and prachita are
appropriate to the first of these castes, the svara, called aukara, with
anusvara and nada, is appropriate to shudra, who may use the Pranava, either at
the beginning or end of mantra, but not, as the dvija may, at both places. The
mantra chosen for initiation should be suitable (anukala). Whether a mantra is
sva-kula or a-kula to the person about to be initiated is ascertained by the
kula-chakra, the zodiacal circle called rashichakra and other chakra which may
be found described in the Tantra-sara. Initiation by a woman is efficacious;
that by a mother is eight-fold so. Certain special forms of initiation, called
abhisheka, are described in the next note.
Abhisheka
Abhisheka is of eight kinds, and the forms of abhisheka which follow the first
at later stages, mark greater and greater degrees of initiation. The first
shaktabhisheka is given on entrance into the path of sadhana. It is so called
because the guru then reveals to the shishya the preliminery mysteries of
shakti-tattva. By it the shishya is cleansed of all sinful or evil shakti or
proclivities, and acquires a wonderful new shakti. The next purnabhisheka is
given in the stage beyond dakshinachara, when the disciple has qualified himself
by purascharana and other practices to receive it. Here the real work of sadhana
begins. Asana, yama, etc., strengthen the disciple’s determina,tion (pratijna)
to persevere along the higher stages of sadhana. The third is the difficult
stage commenced by krama-dikshabhisheka, in which it is said the great
Vashishtha became involved, and in which the Rishi Vishvamitra acquired
brahma-jnana, and so became a Brahmana. The sacred thread is now worn round the
neck like a garland. The shishya, then undergoing various ordeals (pariksha),
receives samrajyabhisheka and maha-samrajyabhisheka, and at length arrives at
the most dificult of all stages introduced by yoga-dikshabhisheka. In previous
stages the sadhaka has performed the panchanga-puraschharana, and, with the
assistance of his guru (with whom he must constantly reside, and whose
instructions he must receive direct), he does the panchanga-yoga – that is, the
last five limbs of the ashtanga. He is thereafter qualified for
purna-dikshabhisheka, and, following that, maha-purna-diksha-bhisheka, sometimes
called viraja-grahanabhisheka. On the attainment of perfection in this last
grade, the sadhaka performs his own funeral rite (shraddha), makes purnahuti
with his sacred thread and crown lock. The relation of guru and shishya now
ceases. From this point he ascends by himself until he realizes the great
saying, So’ham ("I am He"). At this stage, which the Tantra calls jivan-mukta
(liberated whilst yet living), he is called parama-hangsa.
Sadhana
Sadhana is that which produces siddhi (q.v.). It is the means, or practice, by
which the desired end may be attained, and consists in the exercise and training
of the body and psychic faculties, upon the gradual perfection of which siddhi
follows; the nature and degree of which, again, depends upon the progress made
towards the realization of the atma, whose veiling vesture the body is. The
means employed are various, such as worship (puja), exterior or mental; shastric
learning; austerities (tapas); the pancha-tattva, mantra, and so forth. Sadhana
takes on a special character, according to the end sought. Thus, sadhana for
brahma-jñana, which consists in the acquisition of internal control (shama) over
buddhi, manas, and ahangkara; external control (dama) over the ten indriya,
discrimination between the transitory and the external, and renunciation both of
the world and heaven (svarga), is obviously different from that prescribed for,
say, the purposes of the lower magic. The sadhaka and sadhika are respectively
the man or woman who perform sadhana. They are, according to their physical,
mental, and moral qualities, divided into four classes – mridu, madhya,
adhimatraka, and the highest adhimatrama, who is qualified (adhikari) for all
forms of yoga. In a similar way the Kaula division of worshippers are divided
into the prakriti, or common Kaula following virachara, addicted to ritual
practice, and sadhana, with pancha-tattva; the madhyama-kaulika, or middling
Kaula, accomplishing the same sadhana, but with a mind more turned towards
meditation, knowledge, and samadhi; and the highest type of Kaula
(kaulikottama), who, having surpassed all ritualism, meditates upon the
Universal Self.
Worship Generally
There are four different forms of worship corresponding with four states
(bhava). The realization that the jivatma and paramatma are one, that everything
is Brahman, and that nothing but the Brahman exists, is the highest state, or
brahma-bhava. Constant meditation by the yoga process upon the Devata in the
heart is the lower and middlemost (dhyana-bhava) japa (q.v.) and stava (hymns
and prayer) is still lower and the lowest of all is mere external worship (puja)
(q.v.). Puja-bhava is that which arises out of the dualistic notions of
worshipper and worshipped; the servant and the Lord. This dualism exists in
greater or less degree in all the states except the highest. But for him who,
having realized the advaita-tattva, knows that all is Brahman, there is neither
worshipper nor worshipped, neither yoga nor puja, nor dharana, dhyana, stava,
japa, vrata, or other ritual or process of sadhana.
In external worship there is worship either of an image (pratima), or of a
yantra (q.v.), which takes its place. The sadhaka should first worship inwardly
the mental image of the form assumed by the Devi, and then by the life-giving
(prana-pratishtha) ceremony infuse the image with Her life by the communication
to it of the light and energy (tejas) of the Brahman which is within him to the
image without, from which there bursts the lustre of Her whose substance is
consciousness itself (chaitanya-mayi). She exists as Shakti in stone or metal,
or elsewhere, but is there veiled and seemingly inert. Chaitanya (consciousness)
is aroused by the worshipper through the prana-pratishtha mantra.
Rites (karma) are of two kinds. Karma is either nitya nr naimittika. The first
is both daily and obligatory, and is done because so ordained. Such as the
sandhya (v. post), which in the case of Shudras is in the Tantrik form; and
daily puja (v. post) of the Ishta- and Kula-Devata (v. post); and for Brahmamas
the pancha-maha-yajna (v. post). The second or conditional karma is occasional
and voluntary, and is kamya when done to gain some particular end, such as yajna
for a particular object; tapas with the same end (for certain forms of tapas are
also nitya); and vrata (v. post).
The Shudra is precluded from the performance of Vaidik rites, or the reading of
the Vedas, or the recital of the Vaidik mantra. His worship is practically
limited to that of the Ishta-Devata and the Bana-linga-puja, with Tantrik and
Pauranik mantra and such vrata as consist in penance and charity. In other cases
the vrata is performed through a Brahmana. The Tantra makes no caste
distinctions as regards worship. All may read the Tantras, perform the Tantrik
worship, such as the sandhya (v. post), and recite the Tantrik mantra, such as
the Tantrik Gayatri. All castes, and even the lowest chandala, may be a member
of a chakra, or Tantrik circle of worship. In the chakra all its members partake
of food and drink together, and are deemed to be greater than Brahmanas; though
upon the break-up of the chakras the ordinary caste and social relations are
re-established. All are competent for the specially Tantrik worship, for, in the
words of the Gautamiya Tantra, the Tantra Shastra is for all castes and for all
women. The latter are also excluded under the present Vaidik system, though it
is said by Shankha Dharma-shastra-kara that the wife may, with the consent of
her husband, fast, take vows, perform homa and vrata, etc. According to the
Tantra, a woman may not only receive mantra, but may, as a Guru, initiate and
give it. She is worshipful as Guru, and as wife of Guru. The Devi is Herself
Guru of all Shastras and woman, as, indeed, all females who are Her embodiments
are, in a peculiar sense, Her earthly representatives.
Forms of Achara
There are seven, or, as some say, nine, divisions of worshippers. The extra
divisions are bracketed in the following quotation. The Kularnava Tantra
mentions seven, which are given in their order of superiority, the first being
the lowest: Vedachara, Vaishnavachara, Shaivachara, Dakshinachara, Vamachara,
Siddhantachara (Aghorachara, Yogachara), and Kaulachara, the highest of all. The
achara is the way, custom, and practice of a particular class of sadhaka. They
are not, as sometimes supposed, different sects, but stages through which the
worshipper in this or other births has to pass before he reaches the supreme
stage of the Kaula. Vedachara, which consists in the daily practice of the
Vaidik rites, is the gross body (sthula-deha), which comprises within it all
other acharas, which are, as it were, its subtle bodies (sukshma-deha) of
various degrees. The worship is largely of an external and ritual character, the
object of which is to strengthen dharma. This is the path of action
(kriya-marga). In the second stage the worshipper passes from blind faith to an
understanding of the supreme protecting energy of the Brahman, towards which he
has feelings of devotion. This is the path of devotion (bhakti-marga), and the
aim at this stage is the union of it and faith previously acquired. With an
increasing determination to protect dharma and destroy a-dharma, the sadhaka
passes into Shaivachara, the warrior (kshatriya) stage, wherein to love and
mercy are added strenuous striving and the cultivation of power. There is union
of faith, devotion (bhakti), and inward determination (antar-laksha). Entrance
is made upon the path of knowledge (jnana-marga). Following this is
Dakshinachara, which in Tantra does not mean "right-hand worship," but
"favourable" – that is, that achara which is favourable to the accomplishment of
the higher sadhana, and whereof the Devi is the Dakshina Kalika. This stage
commences when the worshipper can make dhyana and dharana of the threefold
shakti of the Brahman (kriya, ichchha, jñana), and understands the mutual
connection (samanvaya) of the three guna until he receives purnabhisheka (q.v.).
At this stage the sadhaka is Shakta, and qualified for the worship of the
threefold shakti of Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshvara. He is fully initiated in the
Gayatri-mantra, and worships the Devi Gayatri, the Dakshina Kalika, or Adya
Shakti – the union of the three Shakti. This is the stage of individualistic
Brahmana-tattva, and its aim is the union of faith, devotion, and determination,
with a knowledge of the threefold energies. After this a change of great
importance occurs, marking, as it does, the entry upon the path of return
(nivritti). This it is which has led some to divide the achara into the two
broad divisions of Dakshinachara (including the first four) and Vamachara
(including the last three), it being said that men are born into Dakshinachara,
but are received by initiation into Vamachara. The latter term does not mean, as
is vulgarly supposed, "left-hand worship," but the worship in which woman (vama)
enters that is lata-sadhana. In this achara there is also worship of the Vama
Devi. Vija is here "adverse," in that the stage is adverse to pravritti, which
governed in varying degrees the preceding achara, and entry is here made upon
the path of nivritti, or return to the source whence the world sprung. Up to the
fourth stage the sadhaka followed pravrittimarga, the outgoing path which led
from the source, the path of worldly enjoyment, albeit curved by dharma. At
first unconsciously, and later consciously, sadhana sought to induce nivrittt,
which, however, can only fully appear after the exhaustion of the forces of the
outward current. In Vamachara, however, the sadhaka commences to directly
destroy pravritti, and with the help of the Guru (whose help throughout is in
this necessary) to cultivate nivritti. The method at this stage is to use the
force of pravritti in such a way as to render them self-destructive. The
passions which bind may be so employed as to act as forces whereby the
particular life of which they are the strongest manifestation is raised to the
universal life. Passion, which has hitherto run downwards and outwards to waste,
is directed inwards and upwards, and transformed to power. But it is not only
the lower physical desires of eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse which
must be subjugated. The sadhaka must at this stage commence to cut off all the
eight bonds (pasha) which mark the pashu which the Kularnava Tantra enumerates
as pity (daya), ignorance (moha), shame (lajja), family (kula), custom (shila),
and caste (varna). When Shri Krishna stole the clothes of the bathing Gopi, and
made them approach him naked, he removed the artificial coverings which are
imposed on man in the sangsara. The Gopi were eight, as are the bonds (pasha),
and the errors by which the jiva is misled are the clothes which Shri Krishna stole.