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IMAGE WORSHIP
For Sabda there arises the eternal region, from touch air, from colour fire, from taste water and from smell earth. It will be seen that the gross comes out of the subtle in the process of unfolding, and when it is reversed the gross disappears in the subtle. In this way the aspirant begins with a gross material accessory which is the image, and rises step by step to that which is beyond words and speech. It is commonly though erroneously, said that the religious books of the “Hindus” teach idolatry of the grossest type and that the Hindus a polytheists in its worst form. Both these statements are incorrect and spring sometimes from ignorance but more often from interested motives. It is utterly untrue that the image is worshipped. The image that is used in worship is the form of the mantra that is chosen for the worshiper by his guru, and that after ascertaining his competency. It is a necessity. The formless and attributeless Brahman cannot be worshipped. The image the sadhaka uses represents his conception of Brahman (svakiya brahma murti). Brahman is not to be understood as what is signified by the English word `God’. The word deva (deitry) also does not mean God. My deva is the form of Brahman evolved out of my mantra, and it is helpful to me and others who practise with that mantra. It has already been said that the teaching of the sastras is that one’s own atman is the devata. The individual self is a spark of the infinite Light, and the aim of the worshipper is that this individual self should be freed of all that separates it from the Cosmic self and then be merged therein. The Tantra claims that a man who worships his ishta devata (chosen deity), which is another name for his image of Brahman, in the prescribed manner, lives a happy and contented life, enjoys the objects of his desire and at the same time uplifts himself in the path of spirituality. If he is faithful to the directions of the sastra, he cannot do any thing that may lead to a fall. His adherence to its injunctions will do him the same good, even when he is living the life of a householder, as penances and austerities. The sastra as that it is only a deva who can worship a deva. The man who is not a deva is not competent to worship the deva. This is but another way of saying that the worship of the deva of one’s adoption means the uplifting of the worshipper to the level of that deva and when he is raised to this level, he arrives at a stage when he becomes competent to apprehend the supreme deva, Brahman.
The Five Tatwas (Panchamakara)
It is a favourite pastime of some uninformed minds to indulge in invectives against the Tantra for the use in worship of the five tattvas (principles) commonly called the five **M’s (panchamakara). By these are meant (1) wine, (2) meat, (3) fish, (4) cereals and (5) sexual union. These five articles have different meanings for different classes of worshippers. It is to be noted that what one is required to offer is that tattva (principle, essence) and not the article itself. The tattva of wine is bliss and the quickening of the inner organs. The guru teaches his disciple how this bliss and the quickened inner senses have to be utilized for the uplift of the mind from the material plane. Sexual union also as understood on the material plane is to be used for the same purpose. The guru shows how these two acts, viz., drinking and cohabiting, which lead to a man’s fall ought to be used not as animals do for the mere gratification of the senses, but for a higher purpose. With reference to the fifth tattva the disciple is taught that this is something very sacred, and as it leads to the creation of a new life, the greatest care should be bestowed upon the act. It is absolutely erroneous to say that the Tantra encourages or even countenances sexual excess or irregularity. To break chastity, it says, is to lose or shorten life; it is by the preservation thereof that life is preserved. A man offers to his divinity only that which is pure and sanctified. The object of using these five tattvas in worship is that by the repeated practice of the ritualistic observances he acquires a nature whereby everything he does in his ordinary life becomes an act of worship. Sankaracharya in his magnificent hymn to the primordial Sakti concludes by saying, `O Lady Supreme, may all the functions of my mind be Thy remembrance: may all my words be Thy praise: may all my acts be an obeisance unto Thee”. It is to induce a state of mind like this that these articles are used in worship. A true aspirant ceases to look upon them as means of material gratification. It is not every aspirant who is competent to use the five tattvas for the purposes of Sadhana. The Sastra enjoins that it is only that man who has freed himself from the bond of duality that may drink wine, so that by the uttering of the mantra, the truth thereof may become patent to him and his mind steadied. It is debasing to drink wine for mere animal gratification.
The aspirant who partakes of the five tattvas to please the deity within him incurs no demerit. Such a man looks upon wine and meat as Sakti and Siva, and is fully alive to the fact that the wine of which he is about to partake will make manifest that bliss which is the Brahman within him. He proceeds to purify the wine; he does not take any wine that has not been purified in the manner his Saastra enjoins. Every cup of wine is drunk with appropriate rites and the recitation of an appropriate mantra. Before drinking the first cup he says, “I adore this, the first cup of nectar held in my hand. It is suffused with the nectar of the moon shining in the forehead of holy Bhairava. All the gods, goddesses and holy men adore it. It is the ocean of bliss. It uplifts the atman.” These words are not to be repeated parrot like, but with a consciousness of the truth of the words used, and the way this verse is worded in Sanskrit carries conviction to the mind of the believer. The teacher decides how many cups the aspirant may drink. The usual rule is that one may drink so long as one’s vision is not affected and one’s mind does not lose its steadiness. An aspirant who is allowed to have ten cups meditates, while drinking, on his guru in the Sahasrara, the thousand-petelled lotus in the head, and on the goddess in the heart, has his istha mantra at the tip of his tongue, and thinks of his oneness with Siva. The man who drinks the eleventh cup repeats the following mantra. “I am no the doer, nor do I make any ne else do, nor am I the thing done. I am not the enjoyer, nor do I make any one else enjoy, nor am I the object of enjoyment. I am He (so ham). I am chit I a atman”. These mantras have a threefold meaning. The gross one is the actual drinking of wine: the subtle one is the drinking of the nectar which flows from the union of the kundalini (the coiled up power) with Siva in the SAHASRARA; the third or transcendent one is the nectar of happiness arising from the realization of the union of the Supreme Siva and the Supreme Sakti.
The KULARNAVA Tantra says that the wine which gladden is the nectar which flows from the union of the KUNDALINI SAKTI with Siva at SAHASRARA in the head. And he who drinks this drinks nectar and others are mere wine biubbers. That man who kills by the sword of JNNANA the animals of merit and demerit and leads his mind to the Supreme Siva is said to be a true eater of flesh. That man is truly a fish-eater, who controls all his senses and places them in the atman, others are mere killers of animals. The Sakti of the pasu (the lowers class of aspirant) is not awakened but that of the kaulika is. The man who enjoys this Sakti is said to e a SAKTI enjoyer. He is permeated by the bliss which arises out of the union of the supreme SAKTI and AATMAN which is the true union; others are no better than fornicators.
It should be noted that the term for the fifth tatwa is derived from the word mithuna, which means a couple. Since nothing in the world of experience happens without the combination of two things – even consciousness is impossible without it – maithuna symbolizes the unity, which is behind all this duality, which is beyond ordinary human comprehension and which the jivanmuktas (liberated in life) alone can apprehend. By the offering of this tattva to the chosen deity is meant the offering of the sense of duality. So that the underlying oneness my be realized. This is the true significance of the fifth item.
The aspirant has to learn from his teacher the proper use and the true significance of the five accessories. Though it might be that in some cases the disciple is required to begin with material accessories, the teacher leas him on to higher and yet higher planes, till Brahman is brought within the scope of the disciple’s experience.
The four Kinds of Speech
Something ought to be said about the four kinds of speech, three of which are inaudible it is only the fourth that may give difference to. The first of the **speech is located in the muladhara, the lowest of he six centers in the spinal column commonly called charkas. This is but a mere stress towards articulation. As this stress takes definite shape, it becomes passyaanti, which means, “seeing”. The next stage is reached when it arrives at the anahata chakra opposite the heart; it then becomes madhyama, which means middling. These are the three names given in the Tantra to the three silent stages of vocal sound and the last stage is vaikhari. There are some, the foremost among whom is Padmapadacharya, the chief disciple of Sankaracharya, who held that there are three other stages of sound prior to para. Padmapada in commenting on verse 43 of the second chapter of the Prapanochasara says that the stages preceding para are sunya, samvit and sukshma. The first is the vibrational stage, the next is that when the sound is about to form, and the third is that when it is forming. An adequate knowledge of sound is of vital importance in the Tantra. Lack of this as also of other particulars evoke remarks of a very regrettable nature.
The Mantra
MM H.P. Shastri in his catalogue of Nepal MSP (Vol. I) says, `The mantras are generally given in mystic sentences, each word of which represents some letter in the mantra. This is the most mysterious and difficult; but one cannot help asking where the stupidity is.
The Shat Chakras
This leads us to the six centres, which are: 1) muladhara, which is the region of earth, 2) svadaishthara, which is just above the previous one and is the region of water, 3) manipura (fire) at the navel, 4) anahata (air), 5) vishsuddha (ether) at the base of the throat, 6) ajana (psychic) between the eyebrows. There are other centers beyond the ajnna. Opinion is divided as the number of these charkas; some say that there are sixteen and others that there are many. The piercing (bheda) of the six charkas is a process whereby the elements of which the body is composed are purified. [* It is described is detail in the Serpent Power of Arthur Aalon and Dr. Hareward Carrington has attempted to put in a popular form.
It is laid down that the attempt to pierce the chakras should be made under the immediate guidance of the teacher, for the least mistake may lead to disastrous results. By this process the six paths (adhvans) that lead to a realization of the Supreme are mastered. They are kala (attribute), tattva (category), bhuvana (region), varna (letters), pada (words) and mantra. The kalas are nivriti, pratishtha, vidya, santi and santyatita. The tattvas according to the Saivas are thirty-six and according to the Vaishnavas thirty-two. The Samkhyas recognize twenty-four tattvas. The tattvas of Prakriti are ten and those of Tripura are seven. The bhuvanas according to some are the ethereal, the serial, the igneous, the watery and the earth region. The Vayaviya Samhita, however, says that the lowest of these bhuvanas is muladhara and the highest unmani. It will be seen that whichever view be accepted the different bhuvanas are the different stages of the mind of the aspirant. The varnas, are the letters of the alphabet with the nasal bindu superposed, and the padas are the words formed by the combination of letters. The way of mantras means the whole mas of mantras with their secret. At the time of initiation these paths are purified, or in other words, made clear by the teacher. By this is meant that he shows how every letter of the alphabet, every word that is spoken, every mantra that was discovered by any sage, in fact every thing in existence points towards Brahman. By reason of our own limitations we are unable to see Him, although He is in and around us and is our very being.
SIVA AND SAKTI
The Tantra says that it is Sakti which is the main factor in all forms of activity. It is said that siva without Sakti is a lifeless corpse, because wisdom cannot move without power. He cannot even pulsate. Though Sakti is given this position, it is at the same time said that the relation between Siva who is the possessor of Sakti and Sakti herself is one of identity; the one cannot be without the other. One cannot think of fire without the heat, nor can one think of the mean without its beams. The commonly said to be the male principle and Sakti the female principle. As a matter of fact they are neither male nor female nor neuter. The man who worships the wisdom aspect of Reality, commonly called the male principle, is a Saiva’ and he who worships the power aspect, or the female principle, is called a Sakti. The worshipper of Siva worships him as the begin ruler of the universe. When we speak of his carrier (vahana), we say it is the vrisha. The word in common parlance means a bull; but its primary significance is dharma, the right path. Siva as the ruler of the universe rules according to dharma. To the common mind a formless, attributeless ruler is incomprehensible. For the satisfaction of such a mind Siva is given a form and the bull is presented as his carrier. The same man, under the guidance of a wise teacher, comes to know in man, under the guidance of a wise teacher, comes to know in time the true nature of Siva. When siva is worshipped, his consort is also worshipped, for the two are inseparable. For the same reason when Sakti is worshipped. Siva is also worshipped. Similarly, the worshipper of Vishnu worships his consort MahaLakshmi when he worships Vishnu. Vishnu is not different from Siva. The derivative meaning of the word `Vishnu’ is that which pervades all that is. To some minds the Vishnu aspect of Reality appeals as the proper way to realize the Supreme Brahman. Only the rituals in Saiva and Vaishnava worship differ.
The rituals also differ in different parts of the country and, in fact, to some extent in different families in the same part of the country. Visva-durga, Sinddu Durga and Agni-Durga are mentioned in the Rig Veda. Kali is another aspect of Sakti which has a very large following. There is a Tantra called the Mahakali – **samhita consist of about 1,25,000 verses. This book, which has not yet been printed, contains information concerning almost all forms of worship and is the most authoritative book for Saktas who are known as Kali-kala sadhakas. The Tantraraja is in the same way an authority for those who belong to the Sri-kula among the Saktas.
The men who has realized that truth has no necessity to know any scriptures, like the man who having tasted nectar to his heart’s content has no necessity for food. For the attaiment of this the aspirant should carefully distinguish between two paths, one that of mineness (mamatva) and the other the opposite of that. The first leads to bondage, the second to liberation. The senses should be controlled and the mind freed from all attachment and concentrated on the Truth if liberation is to be attained. This is effected by the certain knowledge that all our actions spring from the Supreme Being who is the cause of the universe and the abode of eternal bliss. Whatever be the image we may use for the purpose of sadhana be it made of metal or clay, or formed in the mind, the ultimate Reality is He alone.
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