'Navaavarana Pooja'

[Guest guest]

Hari Om,

 

I would like to know about 'Navaavarana Pooja', its meaning, significance

of the words Srichakra, Srividya, nava avaranas etc.

 

Why there is a negative attitude towards tantra?

 

Please tell me if you are aware of any web-site which explain these. Please

also recommend any good book on this.

 

The links / books can be in English/Sanskrit or Telugu.

 

Thanks

Regards

-- Durga Prasad

 

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[Guest guest]

namaskAraH,

 

On 09/06/07, Durga Prasad Janaswamy <janaswamy wrote:

>

> I would like to know about 'Navaavarana Pooja', its meaning, significance

> of the words Srichakra, Srividya, nava avaranas etc.

 

You might want to ask this question on the list, which is

specifically dedicated to shiva-shakti worship.

 

>

> Why there is a negative attitude towards tantra?

>

 

Most people today have a wrong idea of tantra. The characteristic

feature of tantra is the use of mantra-s. The oldest documented Hindu

tradition is the vedic mantra-shaastra. These mantra-s were used in

various shrauta & gR^ihya rites, or what we generally refer to as

" vedic karma-s " . Subsequently, mantra-s also began to be used in other

contexts, and mantra shaastra-s were developed for the worship of

specific deities including shiva, shakti, viShNu, kumAra, sUrya and

gaNapati. This is what we call tantra, and the texts which contain

this mantra-shaastra are also called tantra-s. Some of the tantra-s

dedicated to shiva & viShNu are said to have been revealed by these

devatA-s themselves, and these are called the shaiva & vaiShNava

Agama-s respectively.

 

Therefore, in a general sense, all mantra-based practices apart from

vaidika karma-s fall under the category of tantra. It is important to

note that tantra includes the use of vedic mantra-s also, as long as

the context is not a vaidika karma. Even the regular pUjA-s many of us

do at home are essentially tAntric.

 

The negative attitude towards tantra stems from the association of

tantra with vAmAcAra or " left-handed " practices, but this is true only

for a small minority of tAntric traditions. They are certainly not a

defining feature of tantra, though the general public, especially

since the British Raj, has made such an association.

 

dhanyavAdaH

Ramesh