"The Mother Goddess and Tantric Shaktism", Part III

[Guest guest]

Newcomers, and those looking for a broader context in which to

understand our discussions here, will probably find this third

installment in the series to be especially useful:

 

THE MOTHER GODDESS AND TANTRIC SHAKTISM (continued ...)

 

Perhaps no religious literature has raised so much controversy in

evaluation as the Tantras, and hence we should say a few words

regarding the practical side of the Tantric cult of the Goddess,

which lays special emphasis upon:

 

* mantras (prayers and formulae)

* bijas (syllables of esoteric significance)

* yantras (diagrams)

* mudras (special positions of the fingers), and

* nyasas (feeling the deities in different parts of the body).

 

The Buddhist Manjusrimulakalpa, composed about the 5th or 6th

century AD, also deals with mudras, mandalas (diagrams), mantras,

kriyas (rites) and caryas. The Guhyasamaja emphasizes on

Prajnabhiseka, or the initiation of the adept with Prajna or Shakti,

which came to denote male-female union in Vajrayana and other forms

of Tantric Buddhism.

 

Reinforcement to the Shakti cult also came from the contemporaneous

Buddhist revival, in which Tara played a very prominent part. In the

Shakta Tantras, many of the Buddhist female deities were identified

with Shakta goddesses. The most outstanding Shakta upheaval was

furnished by the Tantras, which necessitated an understanding and an

acceptance of the Female Principle in religious worship.

 

The aim of the Shakta worshiper is to realize the Universe within

herself or himself, and to become one with the Goddess. The

successive steps of the spiritual ladder are constituted by three

stages:

 

* pasu (animal) - In the first stage, the aspirant can worship any

sectarian god, but s/he must follow all the rules of social

morality, and by doing so, s/he will be raised to the second, or the

heroic, level.

 

* vira (heroic) - In this stage, the aspirant is able to get herself

or himself initiated in vamacara and siddhantacara. For the correct

understanding of the mystic rites, he requires proper training from

a guru (preceptor). Now s/he has the right to disregard the social

conventions about food and drink, since s/he has to look upon all

women as manifestations of Shakti and to be free of all sorts of

social prejudices.

 

* divya (divine) - The ritual of pancamakara -- wine, fish, meat,

diagram [or grains] and coitus -- performed in the proper ways under

the spiritual guidance of the guru, elevates the aspirant to the

divya or divine standard, and in this stage, s/he is free to get

herself or himself initiated in the kaulacara. The Kaula worshiper

of Shakti is above all moral judgments, free from all worldly

attachments.

 

The logic of Tantra is, in itself, very simple. What appears to be

complicated is the technical and esoteric aspects of the rituals. In

its social sphere, the Tantra is free from all sorts of caste and

patriarchal prejudices. All women are regarded as manifestations of

Prakriti or Shakti, and hence they are [to be regarded with] respect

and devotion. Whoever offends them incurs the wrath of the Great

Goddess.

 

Every male aspirant has to realize the latent Female Principle

within himself, and only by becoming female is he entitled to

worship the Supreme Being (vaamaa bhuutvaa yajet paraam). A woman,

and even a Sudra (lower-caste person), is entitled to function in

the role of the guru or preceptor.

 

It is therefore obvious that such a revolutionary system is bound to

be discouraged by the orthodox upholders of Brahmancial traditions.

 

Besides [all of the above], the Tantra has made positive

contributions to the field of material sciences, and its emphasis to

this branch of learning is obviously linked with its original

doctrines. This aspect of Tantra should, however, be treated in a

separate work, and here our scope is limited.

 

(Excerpted from Bhattacharyya, Narendra Nath, "The Indian Mother

Goddess," 2nd Edition. South Asia Books, New Delhi, 1977.)

 

(To be continued …)