The traditions existing within the Śrīvidyā can broadly be categorized as the Samayācāra, the Dakṣiṇācāra, the Kaulācāra, and the Vāmācāra traditions.
It should be understood at the outset that Śrīvidyā is Śrīvidyā. Brooks sufficiently defines Śrīvidyā as an “influential school of goddess-centered Śākta Tantrism. Centering on [but not confined to] the goddess’s three [principal] manifestations – the beneficent deity Lalitā Tripurasundarī, her mantra, and the visually striking śrī cakra – Śrīvidyā creates a systematic esoteric discipline that combines elements of the yogas of knowledge, of devotion, and of ritual.”
What has to be emphasized here is that these four traditions within Śrīvidyā are essentially all the same – the difference is only in the tools that are used. In fact, I will use a metaphor that has annoyed people before, but one that I believe is accurate and useful in explaining these concepts: Think of the traditions as four toolboxes available to the initiated Śrīvidyā upāsaka.
Why toolboxes? Because a toolbox is something you open when you have a job to do. You reach in and take what you need for the job at hand. Just because a certain tool is in there, doesn’t mean you need to pull it out for every job. It’s quite likely, in fact, that you will never need to use most of these tools. But they are there in case you do.
SAMAYĀCĀRA: Worship Focused in the Mind
Samayācāra refers to the internal mode of worship, and to worship employing homas; the fire ritual. We perform the homas and internal visualizations whether or not external pūjā articles are present. If they are not present, we can simply visualize them and still perform the entire pūjā.
In recent times, some confusion has arisen about Samayācāra. It has been presented by some as a Brahminical or Vedic (or at least non-Tantric) form of Śrīvidyā; as the highest or purest or most evolved form of Śrīvidyā.
This is nonsense. Samaya is a part of almost any Śrīvidyā upāsanā, even if the “Brahminical bully boys” would like to claim it as their own pure island. Think about it: If one argues that Samayācāra consists of a distinct set of lineages within Śrīvidyā, then one can legitimately ask if there actually is a Samayācāra at all. If there is, what is its guru paramparā? If it starts with Lakṣmīdhara, then who are his successors? What is the lineage? Does one exist at all? Or did it end within a generation or so, with Lakṣmīdhara?
In fact, Samayācāra is simply one of Śrīvidyā’s toolboxes; nothing more, nothing less. For example, I have been blessed enough to take dīkṣā in Samayācāra, Dakṣiṇācāra and Kaulācāra paramparās. They are complementary, not conflicting. There is no inherent conflict between the traditions, and those who understand the paths properly know that none rejects the others.
DAKṢIṆĀCĀRA: Worship Situated on an External Representation of Devī
In the Dakṣiṇācāra tradition, you worship the Śrī Cakra. It is a bāhya pūjā, meaning that you are worshiping something outside of yourself; usually a vigraham, i.e., an idol or yantra. However, the suvāsinī pūjā is also done. The suvāsinī is a woman who represents the Devī; but in this tradition the pūjā is done only to her feet.
KAULĀCĀRA: Worship Focused in the Body
Samayācāra and Dakṣiṇācāra traditions are, in the main, not very controversial; nearly any religious system could approve. But the Kaulācāra marks a place where some people begin to get uncomfortable. Because here the focus turns to the human body itself as the microcosm that allows us to interface with the Macrocosm. Here is where we come face to face with the reality of Tantra – which is neither luridly “sexy” (as its Western “practitioners” would have it) nor decadently debased (as its Eastern critics claim). Tantra is not a religion; it is a methodology that can (but need not) be used in approaching many religious systems within Hinduism and Buddhism.
You see, the central theme of Tantra has nothing to do with sex or booze; instead it is the seamless web – the idea of the absolute interrelatedness – and ultimate Oneness — of all things that exist, seen or unseen. Stepping down a peg, the main practical corollary of all this is the Macrocosmic/Microcosmic parallel – that life on the micro-level (individual lives and acts) can be used to extrapolate an understanding of life on the Macro (cosmic and divine) level (and vice versa). Stepping down a final peg from theory to practice, we may add that this basic web of beliefs is realized through powerful ritual acts involving body, speech and mind.
The Kaulācāra “toolbox” does indeed include such sensational rituals as the pañcamakāra, the yoni pūjā and so on. But such rituals are, in fact, “exotics” – used once in a great while by some sādhaks in some circumstances, and by many others not at all. Perhaps the most common “body worship” acts in Kaulācāra are the nyāsas, which are totally unobjectionable – making the Christian sign of the cross is a type of nyāsa, for goodness’ sake.
In the Kaulācāra tradition, the idol is replaced by a living woman or a man or a couple. You can also think of Her as the Union of Śiva and Śakti. You can worship Her as a woman, as a man, or as both. There are no restrictions in this regard. When we give Her a bath, we not only chant the Durgā and Lakṣmī Sūktams; we also chant the Puruṣa Sūktam and the Rudram. The word “She” contains the word “He”. So you need not worry that you are only worshiping the Mother Goddess and ignoring the Father God. You are worshiping both.
In the Kaulācāra tradition, the notion of the self is completely negated. You see everyone as yourself. You invoke the Goddess into your spouse, into the suvāsinī or into anyone. You yourself become the Goddess in the Virajā homa, even as you are worshiping Her. That is why it is said that Kaulas accumulate no karma – it is not a boast, but a logical result when one sheds the “self” to which karma generally attaches itself.
There can be no sense of shame in this process. That is why Dattātreya is known as Digambara, the Naked One. Dattātreya Digambara is one of the great mantras of Dattātreya. Shirdi Sai Baba, Satya Sai Baba, Paramahaṃsa Yogananda, Gaṇapati Sacchidānanda – all of these teachers come from the Dattātreya tradition.
It is worth noting here that the Kaulācāra follow all three concepts, one progressing into the next, starting as Kaulas and then later internalizing everything; external worship ends, becoming more dakṣiṇa or samaya in nature – but the ācāra remains Kaula. Cp. Lalitā Sahasranāma: “samayācāra talparā.”
VĀMĀCĀRA
The last Ācāra is called the Vāmācāra tradition. In contrast to the other three Ācāras described here – which are based on the worship of the protective, nourishing, healing kind of aspects of the Divine – the Vāmācāra tradition worships the terrible aspects of the Divine, the laya pradhāna, where dissolution is the main aspect. It is dissolution of the upāsaka into the ultimate, resulting in absolute merger.
It is the Vāmācāra tradition that employs, among other things, rituals in the cremation grounds. There you will find vairāgya, complete detachment. One’s energy leaves the Viśuddhi Cakra, going up to the Command Centers and never coming down. It is very difficult to arrive at these centers without passing through the lower chakras. For example, until one has experienced Anāhata Cakra, the heart center, to arrive at the Ājñā Center is very dangerous: One will experience an inordinate number of fears that cannot be shaken off. One cannot be given the astra vidyās, the so-called “atom bomb” mantras and teachings — because atom bombs can’t be put into the hands of crazy people.
Suffice it to say that the Vāmācāra path is very dangerous without a proper guru. The aghoris are Vāmācāris. Some Vāmācāris do use their energies for healing. One we know in Benares uses his healing energy to cure the lepers etc. Normally we like to think of God in the beautiful sense; but the Vāmācāris prefer to think of God in the terrible sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment