SSB — Part 43: Tantra as Total Method and the Union of Mind and No-Mind (Nāmas 206–207)

 

206. Sarvatantrarūpā

Devi has all the tantras in Her.

Mantra, Yantra and Tantra are the three basic elements.

Mantra is the basic concept of unit, the entity to be worshipped.

Yantra is the vehicle used for such worship.

The word Tantra means the technique used for such purpose.

The word Tantra is derived from the combination “tanyate vistāryate jñānam anena iti tantram”. By this is explained, expanded, the procedure.

There are different procedures for different yantras, displayed by them by different mantras. The sum total of all such techniques is “Sarva tantra”.

Any goal-oriented procedure or a technique is a tantra. The goals may be oriented to materialistic or spiritual ends.

Śrī Vidyā is the Mantra of Devi.

Śrī Cakra is the Yantra of Devi, and

Svantantra is the Tantra of Devi.

The technique called Svantantra meaning (1) independent and (2) one's own tantra has been enunciated by Śaṅkarācārya in Soundarya Lahari as the best form of synthesis of all the existing tantras. This technique is followed in all the Śaṅkara Pīṭhams of India. The procedure involves:

the Samayamārga of meditation,

the Dakṣiṇamārga of worship of the yantra, and

the Kaulamārga, the worship of the female form, as Suvāsinī and Kumārī pūjās.

It is said that where women are worshipped, there the Gods will stay. A woman is not to be looked at only as a symbol of one's flesh. She has a higher function of meditation, of eliminating the human miseries.

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207. Manonmanī
Mana means mind. Unmana means beyond the mind. Thus the combination Manonmanī is the union of opposites of mind and beyond it. This name is a classic example in Lalitā Sahasranāma. Very rarely do we find a contrary view being expressed in the same name. How can something be mind and no mind also. Answer: “It will be if it is a union of mind and no mind.”

Manonmanī is a Goddess standing with Her feet at the Ājñā center and head in the Sahasrāra. At the Ājñā center, the seer, the seen and the act of seeing are all separate. At the Brahmarandra, they are the same. This explains the position of Manonmanī. She is considered to be a Goddess having a very beautiful form.