(introduction of M. P. Pandit)
In an interesting passage in the Kiranaganavyakhya, Aghora Sivacharya records: “I shall declare the supreme tradition of Gurus in the Saiva Sastra. For some reason, an adept in the Mantras came down from the Kailasa. A disciple of Nandikeshvara, devoted to his lotus feet, he instructed the Gods, in all their number, in the Knowledge of Siva. Knowing the special truths of all the Principles, learned in their manifestation, ever concentrated on the Mantras of both the Saiva and the Sakta wings, indifferent to and turned away from the eight siddhis, anima, etc., causing happy wonder to all by his art of entering other bodies and the like, this personage celebrated by the divine Rishis, came to the South and instructed the Yogins thereof in the Knowledge of Siva. Three were his disciples who had crossed the Ocean of the Knowledge of Siva. They were: Ugrajyoti, Sadyojyoti and that Nilakantha, [Author of a number of Vedantic treatises e.g., Srikantha Bhasya etc.] disciples, from Gauda, Saurashtra, Kashmira, Maharashtra etc.”]
It was this Maharashtra that the King of Kandy, Parakrama Bahu (11th century A. D) thought of when he sought to arrange for authenticated worship at the Sri Ramanatha Temple in Rameshwaram after he had completed the construction of the garbhagrha, sanctumsanctorum, of the holy place. He arranged to get 512 families of Brahmin from Maharashtra for offering Puja and spreading their tradition in this part of the country. These families were devoted to Siva Pasupati and were known as Pasupata Saivas. [There is a pointed reference to these Pasupata Saivas in the famous work on astrology by Jagaraja Sekhara, Jagaraja Sekhara Male.] Among these emigrants was born one Lokanatha Muni, a man of uncommon attainments. [He is referred to by name in the Tevaiyula Palapattare by Chokkanatha Pillai of the court of Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Setupati (who came some three or four hundred years after Parakrama Bahu and who, incidentally, is said to have
built the famous third corridor in the temple and started the ratha-utsava). The said work has been edited by Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Iyer and is available.]
Many Agamas came to be written down among these followers of the Saiva tradition. But they were distinct from the other sects of the Saiva Path in one important respect. They worshipped the Sakti as enjoined in the Makutottara Agama and Chandrajnana Agama, side by side with their worship of Siva as instructed in the Cintya and Karana Agamas. Some worshipped the Sri Cakra, some worshipped Siva and some adored both. This is how the worship of Sri Cakra came into vogue in Rameshwaram. This community of the Saiva-Sakta worshippers and upasakas held its own for a long period. Latterly, however, due to deterioration in their social and economic conditions, their cultural and religious supremacy was affected adversely. So much so, that when in 1872, the Jagadguru Sankaracharya of Sringeri, Narasimha Bharati, visited the temple city, these descendants of the once-towering elite gave a very poor account of themselves, a development which led ultimately to the intrusion of outside influences in the affairs of their organization. Reference has been made to Lokanatha Muni, one of the leaders of this community in the earlier times. Son of Amritananda Natha of the Sakta tradition, he was known as Satyananda Natha and was the progenitor of an illustrious line of scholars and upasakas who established the trikutalaya-natha-paddhati for worship in the Ramanatha temple. [ He himself was the main worshipper at the temple and wrote a number of important works; akhila bhumandala prakhyata lokanatha munivarah, runs a colophon.]
This family has been hereditarily in charge of the temple of Sri Rama at Gandhimadana, about a mile away from the temple at Rameshwaram. Sri Mahadeva Joshi, grandson of Lokanatha Muni, established a Sri Cakra in gold this temple, below the padukas which are worshipped daily. Traditional puja of Sri Cakra is performed. His descendant Mahadeva Joshi came early under the influence of and in contact with a remarkable saint of the Dattareya cult, Sri Narasimha Saraswati of Gangapur, and a number of happenings of a supernatural character are recorded in this connection. He passed away in 1942 at the age of seventy-five, leaving four sons of whom Sri Nilakantha Joshi is the most well-known for his versatile accomplishments in the field of Agamas, Astrology and more particularly the Vidya of Sri Cakra.
Sri Nilakantha Mahadeva Joshi was born at Rameshwaram in 1903. He was initiated in the temple worship and allied matters by his father according to the Saiva sampradaya. Nilakantha was a self-willed boy from his very infancy and never underwent formal school education. His amazing scholarship and learning is entirely a result of his own effort and study.
One day his Guru placed a copy of the Vamakesvara Tantra in his hands and asked him to read it over and over again. This is the one book which he accordingly read, studied and pored over repeatedly and he avers to this day that his knowledge of the subject, his mastery over the Sanskrit language, are all derived from this sacred work. But we anticipate.
Young Nilakantha was in search of a Guru from whom he could receive diksa into the Sakta sampradaya. He had studied a large number of Tantra texts but was not satisfied. It was only when he was 19 that a renowned Guru, Ambananda Natha, came that way with a hundred disciples. Ambananda Natha was the ninth in succession in the line of Bhaskara Raya Makhi and it was he who, in one of his subsequent visits, initiated Nilakantha in Sri Vidya, empowered him to be an Acharya [ acarya-abhiseka] and authorized him to conduct Agamic rituals, [agamokta nitya-naimittika-kamya karma adhikara.] instructed as he was in a dream to do so. While giving him the initiation, the Guru charged him not to pray for material prosperity, not even to ask for spiritual siddhi, but to seek only Love from the Divine Mother, Lalita Tripurambika.
The name given to him in this line of tradition is Yogishananda Natha. Popularly known as Bhau Joshi in his circle, Sri Nilakantha Joshi has always been a respected figure in this region and looked up to for guidance whenever there has arisen any point of controversy in matters of Agamic importance. He was invited to direct and he conducted the great Kumbha Abhisekam at the Rameshwaram temple in 1947. He was prevailed upon by the trustees of the temple to join as the Sarva Sadhakacarya and help to conduct qualifying courses for priests and certify to their competency. He held that position till a few years ago when he resigned from it in view of more pressing preoccupations. Though he first visited our Ashram in the month of March 1959, and he has been visiting us regularly as an honored guest since then, it was only last year, in May 1962, that I
was privileged to come into contact with him. Panditji – as he is affectionately known in the Ashram – was a revelation to me in many respects. He made the Tradition of the Tantra living to me. He awakened my interest in many aspects of life in this sphere and helped me, directly and otherwise, to enter into their spirit. I have had the good fortune of being present in some of the informal gatherings at his residence during his brief visits here and have noted down some of his remarks and answers to queries in these sessions. The following pages contain a small selection from these noting’s. The choice has been made so as to be within the understanding of the average mind interested in the higher values of life and the contents arranged, as far as possible, subject-wise. There is, indeed a good deal of high philosophy and profound upasana in what he speaks or writes. But that has been deliberately kept out of this collection.
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Yogishanandanatha [on]:
TANTRA SASTRA: Sastra is of two kinds. There is the Sastra based on experience, anubhuti sastra; of this kind are the ancient scriptures, Veda, Agama etc. Then there is the dialectical Sastra, sastra
sastra, expositions of Systems. Generally speaking the Vaidik Dharma lays stress on the purification and preparing of the body, sarira samskara, while the Tantrika looks to the purification of the inner being, atmasamskara.
The term tantra has been defined in various ways. One significant derivation is: what saves or protects the eternally pure, intelligent, principle of the Paramatman in oneself, nityasuddha- buddha-paramatma-tattvam svasmin trayate iti tantram.
THE LORD: He is stainless, eternal, omnipotent, the Lord. It is a part of Himself that He lets loose
in the form of sparks, sphulinga. He is thus the source of the multitude of beings. The sparks are His, eternal, not different yet separate. This spread, prasara, of the Self atom wise (anumaya) is Sphara, the mighty Throb. Life is governed by the course of creation, srsti-krtyam and dissolution, samharakrtyam. But that is not all. There is a third Factor which opens the way to liberation; otherwise there would be merely birth and death. This third is the dwelling of Him here and there in His supreme Compassion. It is His Grace that tends and leads upwards.
SAKTI: What, after all, is Sakti? The spread, agency, the kala of each thing is its Sakti. What is covered by this Sakti is the principle of Parabrahman, called Siva. Gaudapada speaks of Cit as a free Cause of the manifestation of the universe, citih svatanta visvasiddhi-hetuh. One is the Sakti of the Supreme Lord. Fourfold it divides itself in function: Bhavani for enjoyment, Visnu as the Purusa, Kali in anger and Durga in battle.
[Ekaiva Saktih paramesvarasya bhinna caturdha viniyoga kale;
bhoge bhavani puruse tu Visnuh kope ca kali samare ca durga.]
How many kinds of Sakti are there?
They are three. First there is the Janma-siddha-sakti, the Sakti with which one is born and which continues to the end of the life. This Divine Sakti manifesting with the very birth of the individual, is very rare. The second is the madhyamaki sakti: the Sakti that manifests and takes root when the
mind is developed and its faculties or the faculties of the heart get ripe. It springs to birth in what is called the bodha-avastha. The third is the ksanika sakti, the Sakti that is active in moments when one is engaged in favorable activities like puja, dhyana, japa, holy company etc., when things are propitious for the breath of the Higher Power. Usually this Sakti stays as long as one lives in that atmosphere and withdraws when one comes out of it. Every one has its touch but he is not attentive to it. If he pays attention and cultivates if, then the ksanika sakti develops into madhyamaki and may even manifest as the janmasiddha sakti in the next birth.
Everything in the world is constituted of three modes: padartha, the thing itself; guna, its quality; prabhava its characteristic force. Guna and prabhava attach themselves to the basic padartha; but they do not necessarily disappear with the passing away of the padartha. Each of these three has its own niyati; order, kala. The fragrance, force of fragrance, of the flower continues even after the flower is removed from a place. Even when sandalwood is burnt and oil prepared from it, its essential guna, property of cooling, and prabhava, force of fragrance, continue.
Everything, every movement, has a centre, a kendra, a regulation, niyati, a truth to fulfil, sasana. Without a centre in the first place, it cannot function. Hence to enable the Divine Sakti to work in us there must first be formed a living centre in us around which it can organize itself and function. These are the several centres lying latent in us and which await to be awakened and set active.
None is free.
Everyone is subject to some thing, some force or other. One after the other they come and entangle him and he runs hither and thither led by the forces. It is only as the Great Force which is active universally becomes patent in his life and he is claimed by it that these various forces lose their hold and man rises free from them.
This is the Great Force that is called Kundalini in the human body. Centred round the basal point called Bindu, it moves, round and round, up and below, in all directions and manifests in a thousand ways, in activities, in thoughts and in many other forms. The original base of the Kundalini is called svasthanavasthini bhumika; the next higher stage where she stations herself is the unnayana bhumika; next is paravartana bhumika; and then comes the visranti or samarasa bhumika.
The pupil of the eye, kaninika, is the outer most organ. There conceive Kali, Dhuma, Chhinna.
Next inwards is the Jyotirmandala, the region of light. There conceive Tara, Tripura Bhairavi, Bagala.
Innermost is the Drstimandala, region of sight. There conceive Bhuvana, Kamala Matangi. Presiding over all is Sri Lalita.
MUDRAS: Mudras are of several kinds. For instance what is known as the lelihana mudra which signifies the harmony between the Lord and the Sakti, sivasakti-samarasya; kala-sankarsini mudra, transcending Time and what is in Time; cinnabhascari mudra, of free movement in the sky of pure Consciousness; vyomeswari mudra, where freed of attachments, one goes up in the higher air in the subtle body, khecari mudra where one can walk in the air. There is also krodhini mudra, where there is a determined anger and control over all by will; karankini mudra, where the attachment to the five Bhutas or senses is snapped.
DHARMA: There are different Ages, kalas, in the history of Creation: Veda Kala, Agama Kala,
Smriti Kala, Purana Kala and Itihasa Kala. What was of the nature of secret content, gupta dharma, of the Veda was taken over by the Agamas and what was external, bahya dharma, was taken over by the Smriti. And this Dharma rests on the five pillars of affection, sneha; love, prema; faith, sraddha; devotion, bhakti and service, seva.
Dharma is designed to promote the growth of the sattvic element in man who is bound by Nature. In collective society it underlies the raja and other nitis for a similar end. Artha is to be so pursued as to regulate raga-dvesa, desire and hatred. Puranas are intended to impress the necessity of this control.
Kama is developed into a science by following which the inner enemies, antah satru, are controlled. The Smriti is of much help here. Dharma sutras are meant for the collective society in general. Smarta sutras are for people who are sufficiently evolved, visista jana. Srauta sutras are for those who have arrived at an identity, tadatmya with what is above, the divyamandala. They are for the highest.
JIVA: In one of the Tantras the Jivatma is conceived to be enclosed in a series of concentric
circles. Thus the first enclosing circle or sheath is of smell, ghranendriya; enclosing that is a
bigger circles, of sabda, sound; next is caksusa, of sight; the last and the final is of tvak, touch;
this last is the vasanamaya sheath which sticks the longest to the jivatma even when it ahs
dissolved the other three sheaths which drop away after the death of the body, one after another.
The Atma is spoken of as of five different categories:
Atma
Antaratma
Jnanatma
Paramatma
Bhutatma
The Atma and the Antaratma are related to each other by Prana. The Atma and the Bhutatma are related to each other by the Body. In the Tantras, the Brahmagranthi governs the domain of the Bhutatma; Vishnugranthi governs that of Atma and Antaratma; Rudragranthi of Jnanatma. The kancuka, covering, cloak, of the Prana is the body. The kancuka of Jiva is Prana. The kancuka of Atma is Jiva. Then, what is Jiva? Is it anything different from Atma? Atma in association with Prana is Jiva. Siva in constriction is Jiva, sankucitah sivo jivah. It is an old controversy regarding Bija vs. Samskaras. The fact is that Samskaras, however strong, can only cover and affect the operative aspect of the original being, bija, which remains unsullied. The Samskaras of different kinds, viz. of niyati, of kala, of kala etc. work together, each time with a different emphasis; but the essential character of the bija remains the same.
JNANA: In our tradition you are not asked to accept anything as authoritative unless you experience it. Pramana is what is experienced, yad anubhuyate tadeva pramanam. There are things which can be reasoned out. There are things which are beyond the reason of the mind. It is wise not to question by the mind what is truly beyond it. [ atarkyah caiva ye bhavah na tanstarkena tarkayet.]
Knowing comes by stages. First there is a seeking to know, an aspiration, sodana. Then follows a growing consciousness of oneself, one’s own strength and weakness, samvedana. Next is the awareness of others, an understanding awareness of their needs and condition, avedana. Last comes vid, jnana. Only that Jnana is real Jnana which leads you to merge in the Divine, to the lina-bhava.
GURU: The Lord is not indifferent to the lot of creatures in the creation. In fact, it is said, that his one preoccupation is to tend and help out each being released by him in manifestation. Each one He helps from birth to birth, from scale to scale of creation, till at last the human birth is attained. Even there, when enough experience has been gained and the man feels a suffocation and asks for release, He appears as the Guru, lays down the regulation, the acara, by following which the man has his bonds snapped and attains to the station of the supreme Lord. Follow the acara, the samacara, sanctified by the Guru; that will dissolve the bonds that tie.
Who is qualified to be a Guru?
The Tantras declare that the Diksa Guru is he who knows the Agama (authentic scripture), is skillful in action, devoted to the Supreme Guru Sambhu, full of peace, compassionate to all, sweet of speech, following the happy tradition, incomparable in all his parts, wise of the world. The paduka (of the Guru) are so called because they are capable of holding and sustaining us at every step, pade pade asmakam pada dharanaksama paduka.
Yes, it is a fact that the Karma of the disciples and of those who seek refuge in him, fall on the Guru. Fire burns as long as dry fuel is thrown in, in right quantities. But if one begins to throw in it all manner of things and that too in excessive quantities, the fire gets dull and gradually gets extinguished. At such times, one must withdraw and put oneself in complete tune with the sustaining Sakti.
Diksa, initiation, is of several kinds. Broadly, it may be said that for those who are ready already, siddhadhikarin, it is the vedhamayi, medhamayi Diksa that are used. For those who have to acquire the necessary competence, sadhyadhikarins, the Diksa is sabdi, caksusi and sparsi, by word, by glance, by touch, respectively. Vedhamayi is a movement directed within the consciousness of the Guru so as to communicate itself to the disciple. Medhamayi is a similar movement of thought.
DEVATA: A Way is necessary for the Highest Grace to reach the seeker. Similarly a Way necessary for the seeker to reach the Highest. The Deity provides the Way. There is mention in the Rig Veda of how when a Rica wanted to reach up to the Divine, it sought for a means to do that and Agni was the Way. There are three conditions for a true, fruitful worship of the Devi to be possible. One must shed the three desires, desire for wealth, vittesana; desire for woman, daraisana; desire for worldly success, lokesana. He who is free from these three attachments can alone tread the Path of Her adoration. That is the real saubhagya. Isana-traya-nirmuktah saubhagyarcanam acaret. Should you invoke one Deity but worship quite another, you will receive the curses of both. [Avhaya devatam ekam arcayed anya devatam ubhabhyam labhate sapam.]
Tat savithur varenyam bhargoh devasya …The Bharga here is the Supreme Light which lights up the very sun. It is greater than the sun. The sun has niyati, a regulation, but the Bharga has none. That Light really bears up all, (bhrng bharane).
MANTRA: Just as all the characteristic qualities and power of the Tree is concentrated and latent in the seed, similarly the power, the presence and characteristic qualities of expression of the Deity are there present in the Mantra. It embodies not only the Presence but also the Way to reach the Deity.
MANTRA SADHANA: The power of mantra is undefinable, mantranam acintya saktita. There are two kinds of this Sadhana; bhautika and naisthiki. The former is largely for the satisfaction of worldly
desires, gaining human ends in ordinary life. This is certainly not my way. The other is devoted solely to spiritual pursuits, for realizing the Divine. Worldly happiness may result in the course of this Sadhana but that is incidental. The main aim is to grow into the Truth of the Divine Consciousness.
In a sense the way of all Yoga is one. For instance, there is so much of correspondence between the Mantra Sadhana and the Patanjala Yoga. The first four limbs of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama in the latter bring about a purification of the body and its samskaras; this isbrought about in the Mantra Sadhana by puja, japa, stava etc. which bathe the body ceaselessly in higher vibrations and orientate its tendencies Godward. The imposition of niyama, control over the senses, indriyas, by pratyahara has its parallel here in the antahkarana samskara brought about in the course of fulfilling the demands of matra-japa. The last three termed samyama by Patanjali correspond to what we call the atma-samskara, discipline and purification of the inner being.
The one goal set before the Sadhaka for immediate attainment is a constant, ceaseless living in the Divine Consciousness, sada cid anubhavanam. Work must be done but without desire for phalam tyaktva karma-karanam. In fact this is one of the demands upon the sadhaka. All these are means for achieving the true object of human life and that is indeed the ascertainment and realization of one’s true self, sva vimarsah purusarthah.
JAPA: Japa is so called because it snaps the tie of birth which is the result of Karma of the series of previous births, janmantaraphala-pratibhandhakasya janma-vicchedah; and because it destroys all sin, papanasanam. Japa has been well defined as not what is repeated externally but the resounding nada,
sound, inside, when the movement of the indriyas, senses, is checked.
[Samyatendriya sancarah proccarita nadamantaram esa eva japah proktah nanu bahyajapo japah.]
That is true japa where all inertia, and indolence, fall away when you start it. The awareness gets sharpened, alert, mental movements fall quiet and only two remain: he who does the japa and He who is the object of japa, the vacaka and the vacya.
When you are tired of japa take to dhyana;
When tired of dhyana, take to japa;
When tired of both, take to the laud, stava.
They say it is best to recite the praises of God, stava, composed by the Rishis or equally realized persons. In a poetic image it is said, that whenever such verses are recited, God recollects having heard them somewhere before – when the great soul chanted them for Him – and rushes to where they are now being sung. A sacred verse yields its meaning without difficulty to one who has thirst for it, pipasa; but if the mind is full of its own importance, how can the meaning find room to enter?
UPASANA:There are three fundamental truths:
(1) The Supreme Lord has his Sakti which is inseparable from Him.
(2) Each individual has within himself a consciousness, a Sakti which is derived from the Supreme Sakti.
(3) The Supreme Sakti has spread itself in the universe of its creation in several ways, several forms, at several levels. The formulations at the higher levels which are engaged in conducting the manifestation are the Deities. They are also charged with leading man from his station on earth upwards and upwards till he reaches the Source. And the process to connect oneself, one’s consciousness with these Deities is what is called Upasana.
The seeker when he begins the upasana is something like a child coming out of his mother’s womb. He is just emerging from the womb of Prakriti. The awakening and functioning of faculties is gradual. Thus in meditation, it takes time to get collected, calm etc. It takes time for thoughts to dwindle. Oneness of concentration or blankness of mind are more or less final conditions of a stage which comes after effort, not at the very beginning. One should not therefore worry overmuch about this. What is required is steady application, keeping punctual timings and sincere effort. Upasana is really the saguna marga, path of adoration of the Divine with Form.
There are three grades, bhumikas, in Puja. The lowest consisting of nyasa, mudra etc. is for the ordinary type of men; praise, stava, repetition of mantra, japa, are for the middle; meditation, dhyana, absorption, laya, for the highest, the best. [Pujakotisamam stotram stotrakotisamam japah Japakotisamam dhyanam dhyanakotisamo layah.]
ANUSTHANA: Anusthana is external ritual, bahya vrtti. Anusandhana is the inner mode, antar vrtti. Power, Sakti, can be aroused not by mantra alone. It can be so done by bhava of tadatmiya, oneness with Him, by nistha, discipline, by vyavastha, set order etc. It is of course understood that the quality of the vibrations aroused are different from case to case. It is a mistake to think that in the Kaula Marga one identifies oneself with the Prakriti and flies with it. Actually there is One (the Divine Sakti) who is at play in the Prakriti. The sadhaka aims to put himself into contact with Her. For that purpose he draws the Prakriti nearer. Once the Inner Reality is experience the outer cloak falls off by itself. There is so much of misunderstanding about the term vama marga. What is really vama? Vama is what beautiful, vamam vayunam sundaram iti is. There is another derivation. Vama is She who ejects from Herself the All, visvam vamati iti vama; and Her Path is the vamah, tasyah margah vamah. Dissatisfaction with things as they are should develop into a feeling of pain; then only
it acts as an urge, a goad to move forward. This is the inner ache, antarvedana, that is compared to the sting of an ant. [pipilika-dansavat antarvedana.]
Take your stand in Prakriti, the Original Nature and not in Vikriti, its derivative formations (of Ignorance). They speak of gross mind, wicked mind and awakened mind, jada cetana, dusta, cetana, sacetana. That shows that it is possible for the samskaras to reach beyond the gross and the subtle and the casual bodies, seize the consciousness and soil it. And it is for the purpose of releasing the mind from such a condition and make it alive with the inviolable that there are prescribed puja, japa, dhyana etc. So, deliberate upon it, and with seriousness of movement, make of yourself a receptacle of the Free Consciousness-Force.
CIKITSA: Cikitsa is attention to and treatment of the body, the material. Vicikitsa relates to the movement, vrtti, the Guna of the thing. Stop your vrtti, mental movements and movements of life-energy. In that stoppage you will have stopped the movements of others falling on Make your state of being calm, steady, freed of thought-currents, good and bad, and engage yourself in your work. One does not find pearls by busying oneself with the waves of the vast ocean. So too, association with men ever heaving with undefinable thought-waves, leaves one without, far from attaining the state of Grace of the Mother who is wave-less. Think of Him. Wait for Him. Look joyously at His Lila. Neither Tantra nor Mantra is necessary if you can do it and lose yourself in this adoration. This is what is known as vyomayoga, the path where one does not depend upon any support as such, alambana. There are surely many kinds of Yoga. We have spoken of vyoma yoga. There is mantra yoga. Then there is bhuvana yoga, when the Vibhuti of the Divine is definite to you in anything, in anyone. The vigraha yoga is where you adore and concentrate upon a vigraha, any one or anything in which the Presence or Consciousness is especially manifest, visesena grhnati iti vigrahah. Look into your being which is an emanation of this Throb, one with Him. Look into the true nature of the world which is His Play of manifestation. Look and find out the Place of your origin.
The realization of the self, atmanubhuti, is to be achieved by oneself. Another can help in the process but he cannot do it for you. For after all, you are the cause, you have the atman in yourself and you have to see, experience and realize it yourself. Some of the Tantras expound in detail. Some others are brief. Resort to one Tantra taking refuge with the Guru of that Path.
THE MOTHER: The Mother is self-luminous, swayamprakasa. She does not need anyone’s help to illumine, shine or manifest. The most we can do is to see that on our account no dimming or darkening walls come up around this Light. The lustre of the Flame is not destroyed by the flicker of the swarm of fire-flies round and round. Our relation is with Her, the Mother indescribable, who stands this wise.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL: I distinctly remember two notable incidents in my life which had a clear supernatural character. One is about the nada which I used to hear. The other is this: I was given to BALA mantra japa. From childhood I used to have difficulty in seeing clearly during nights. I would stumble against people, dash against things and so on. One day as I was coming out of the house, I did not see the steps that led from the floor of the house. The road was four feet below. Without seeing it I simply walked on from the raised floor. But I did not fall. I was simply lifted up and placed softly on the ground. By whom? By whom indeed!
Once when I was very young there was a serious danger to the health of my sister or someone in the house. I went to my father and asked him to do his mantra and ward off the danger. He shook his head.
“Why don’t you do it?” I asked.
“I cannot.”
“Then ask the Mantra Devata to do it, she is with you, is she not?”
“Yes, she is; but won’t do it. She is there not to ward off dangers, but to laugh, eat and
live with me.”
“Then why is she with you at all?” I asked in my boyish impatience.
“To lift me up and take me to her place when my body dies.”
GENERALPARASARA: Vasistha is the model for Santi among our Rishis. It is recorded that when Sakti, his only son left after the massacre of the rest of his sons by Viswamitra, was killed by a demon, he remained calm and unmoved. So did his wife Arundhati in some measure. But Sakti had a wife. During that night Vasistha heard a Veda chant. He did not know from where he heard it. So he went out of the house to investigate and looked for the source of sound in all directions. But he could not trace it. Then he found the voice coming out of his own home. Following the sound he returned, re-entered the house and went in to find the sound coming out of the womb of Sakti’s wife: in the womb lay a child who later came to be celebrated as Parasara.
VARIETIES OF SAMBANDHA: There are several kinds of relation, sambandha, spoken of in the Tantras. There is the para-sambandha, mahat-sambandha and the antarala-sambandha; these three are what obtain among the Gods, between themselves or with their Supreme Lord. The fourth is the divyasambandha between the Gods and the Rishis who connect themselves with the Gods through their subtle bodies – the relation on the subtler planes. Then there is the divya- sambandha, between the divya and the adviya, godly and non-godly, the Gods and the Rishis on earth here. The adivya sambandha is the relation between these Rishis and mortal men.
ADHIKARA: There is always the question of adhikara, whatever the field of life. One with the
necessary competence and authority in spiritual matters will always be effective in that sphere. He will not engage himself, normally, in worldly affairs though he may lend his hand there. Similarly, in the collective life of society, only he can lead and mould the direction who is endowed with the capacity to identify himself with the collective soul.
GAIN OF WEALTH: Is it not possible to gain wealth by occult means? Is there no kriya in the Tantra for this purpose? There is. But there are certain conditions for such demands to be met. First, there must be the vedana, a real distress duet o want of wealth. Second, there should be an avedana, an intense feeling for the sufferings of others around. And third, one must have in oneself what is called samvedana; it is a felt awareness of one’s own limitations and drawbacks and a sincere urge to overcome them.
MANGALAM: Mangalam, auspicious happiness, has an interesting derivation. Mam is the ego, ahankara tattva; the dropping of it, galana, is mangala. [ahankaratattvasya mam iti giyate, tasya galame mangalam.]
ASHRAM: Among the traditional signs, laksana, of an Ashram is the presence of wild animals in
a state of quiet, prasanta. That is to say the wild propensities of the inmates are subjugated and
changed by the very atmosphere of the Ashram.
PRAYASCHITTA: Prayascitta, repentance, consists not in taking the prescribed prasada, the pancagavya [ A preparation of five ingredients, ghee, milk, etc.] but in the change of inner condition, bhava.
HATHA: Hatha, obstinacy, is said to be of several kinds: strihatha, obstinacy of the woman; yogihatha, persistence of the yogin; balahatha, insistence of the infant; rajahatha, the unyielding demand of the king.
SASTIABDAPURTI: The meaning of sastiabda-purti is the propitiation of the planets, grahas. At the end of sixty years all the grahas return to the original position which they had on the very first day of the birth of the person. A full cycle is completed and before the next round begins the grahas are worshipped and propitiated.
SIDDHI: There are siddhis and siddhis. There is for instance the siddhi by asana-jaya, conquest of asana; by being able to sit in a particular position one gets certain powers. Similarly by the knowledge and use of certain herbs.
PHYSICIAN AND LIFE-SPAN: Who has control over the life-span of another? Even the physician can only diagnose the nature of the malady and control or stop the pain. But he is no mater of the life-duration. [Vyadheh tattvaparijnanam vedanayarca nigrahah, etad vaidyasya vaidyatvam na vaidyah prabhurayusah.]
LANGUAGE: Language is described as of three kinds: siddhabhasa, perfect language, sanketa bhasa, symbolic language and vyavahara bhasa, language for common use.
THE WISE ONE: The wise one grieves not over the past, worries not over the future, he lives in the present. [Gatam no rocayet prajnah, bhavisyam naiva cintayet, vartamanena kalena vartante hi manasinah.]
In an interesting passage in the Kiranaganavyakhya, Aghora Sivacharya records: “I shall declare the supreme tradition of Gurus in the Saiva Sastra. For some reason, an adept in the Mantras came down from the Kailasa. A disciple of Nandikeshvara, devoted to his lotus feet, he instructed the Gods, in all their number, in the Knowledge of Siva. Knowing the special truths of all the Principles, learned in their manifestation, ever concentrated on the Mantras of both the Saiva and the Sakta wings, indifferent to and turned away from the eight siddhis, anima, etc., causing happy wonder to all by his art of entering other bodies and the like, this personage celebrated by the divine Rishis, came to the South and instructed the Yogins thereof in the Knowledge of Siva. Three were his disciples who had crossed the Ocean of the Knowledge of Siva. They were: Ugrajyoti, Sadyojyoti and that Nilakantha, [Author of a number of Vedantic treatises e.g., Srikantha Bhasya etc.] disciples, from Gauda, Saurashtra, Kashmira, Maharashtra etc.”]
It was this Maharashtra that the King of Kandy, Parakrama Bahu (11th century A. D) thought of when he sought to arrange for authenticated worship at the Sri Ramanatha Temple in Rameshwaram after he had completed the construction of the garbhagrha, sanctumsanctorum, of the holy place. He arranged to get 512 families of Brahmin from Maharashtra for offering Puja and spreading their tradition in this part of the country. These families were devoted to Siva Pasupati and were known as Pasupata Saivas. [There is a pointed reference to these Pasupata Saivas in the famous work on astrology by Jagaraja Sekhara, Jagaraja Sekhara Male.] Among these emigrants was born one Lokanatha Muni, a man of uncommon attainments. [He is referred to by name in the Tevaiyula Palapattare by Chokkanatha Pillai of the court of Muthu Vijaya Raghunatha Setupati (who came some three or four hundred years after Parakrama Bahu and who, incidentally, is said to have
built the famous third corridor in the temple and started the ratha-utsava). The said work has been edited by Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Iyer and is available.]
Many Agamas came to be written down among these followers of the Saiva tradition. But they were distinct from the other sects of the Saiva Path in one important respect. They worshipped the Sakti as enjoined in the Makutottara Agama and Chandrajnana Agama, side by side with their worship of Siva as instructed in the Cintya and Karana Agamas. Some worshipped the Sri Cakra, some worshipped Siva and some adored both. This is how the worship of Sri Cakra came into vogue in Rameshwaram. This community of the Saiva-Sakta worshippers and upasakas held its own for a long period. Latterly, however, due to deterioration in their social and economic conditions, their cultural and religious supremacy was affected adversely. So much so, that when in 1872, the Jagadguru Sankaracharya of Sringeri, Narasimha Bharati, visited the temple city, these descendants of the once-towering elite gave a very poor account of themselves, a development which led ultimately to the intrusion of outside influences in the affairs of their organization. Reference has been made to Lokanatha Muni, one of the leaders of this community in the earlier times. Son of Amritananda Natha of the Sakta tradition, he was known as Satyananda Natha and was the progenitor of an illustrious line of scholars and upasakas who established the trikutalaya-natha-paddhati for worship in the Ramanatha temple. [ He himself was the main worshipper at the temple and wrote a number of important works; akhila bhumandala prakhyata lokanatha munivarah, runs a colophon.]
This family has been hereditarily in charge of the temple of Sri Rama at Gandhimadana, about a mile away from the temple at Rameshwaram. Sri Mahadeva Joshi, grandson of Lokanatha Muni, established a Sri Cakra in gold this temple, below the padukas which are worshipped daily. Traditional puja of Sri Cakra is performed. His descendant Mahadeva Joshi came early under the influence of and in contact with a remarkable saint of the Dattareya cult, Sri Narasimha Saraswati of Gangapur, and a number of happenings of a supernatural character are recorded in this connection. He passed away in 1942 at the age of seventy-five, leaving four sons of whom Sri Nilakantha Joshi is the most well-known for his versatile accomplishments in the field of Agamas, Astrology and more particularly the Vidya of Sri Cakra.
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| Yogishanandanatha |
Sri Nilakantha Mahadeva Joshi was born at Rameshwaram in 1903. He was initiated in the temple worship and allied matters by his father according to the Saiva sampradaya. Nilakantha was a self-willed boy from his very infancy and never underwent formal school education. His amazing scholarship and learning is entirely a result of his own effort and study.
One day his Guru placed a copy of the Vamakesvara Tantra in his hands and asked him to read it over and over again. This is the one book which he accordingly read, studied and pored over repeatedly and he avers to this day that his knowledge of the subject, his mastery over the Sanskrit language, are all derived from this sacred work. But we anticipate.
Young Nilakantha was in search of a Guru from whom he could receive diksa into the Sakta sampradaya. He had studied a large number of Tantra texts but was not satisfied. It was only when he was 19 that a renowned Guru, Ambananda Natha, came that way with a hundred disciples. Ambananda Natha was the ninth in succession in the line of Bhaskara Raya Makhi and it was he who, in one of his subsequent visits, initiated Nilakantha in Sri Vidya, empowered him to be an Acharya [ acarya-abhiseka] and authorized him to conduct Agamic rituals, [agamokta nitya-naimittika-kamya karma adhikara.] instructed as he was in a dream to do so. While giving him the initiation, the Guru charged him not to pray for material prosperity, not even to ask for spiritual siddhi, but to seek only Love from the Divine Mother, Lalita Tripurambika.
The name given to him in this line of tradition is Yogishananda Natha. Popularly known as Bhau Joshi in his circle, Sri Nilakantha Joshi has always been a respected figure in this region and looked up to for guidance whenever there has arisen any point of controversy in matters of Agamic importance. He was invited to direct and he conducted the great Kumbha Abhisekam at the Rameshwaram temple in 1947. He was prevailed upon by the trustees of the temple to join as the Sarva Sadhakacarya and help to conduct qualifying courses for priests and certify to their competency. He held that position till a few years ago when he resigned from it in view of more pressing preoccupations. Though he first visited our Ashram in the month of March 1959, and he has been visiting us regularly as an honored guest since then, it was only last year, in May 1962, that I
was privileged to come into contact with him. Panditji – as he is affectionately known in the Ashram – was a revelation to me in many respects. He made the Tradition of the Tantra living to me. He awakened my interest in many aspects of life in this sphere and helped me, directly and otherwise, to enter into their spirit. I have had the good fortune of being present in some of the informal gatherings at his residence during his brief visits here and have noted down some of his remarks and answers to queries in these sessions. The following pages contain a small selection from these noting’s. The choice has been made so as to be within the understanding of the average mind interested in the higher values of life and the contents arranged, as far as possible, subject-wise. There is, indeed a good deal of high philosophy and profound upasana in what he speaks or writes. But that has been deliberately kept out of this collection.
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Yogishanandanatha [on]:
TANTRA SASTRA: Sastra is of two kinds. There is the Sastra based on experience, anubhuti sastra; of this kind are the ancient scriptures, Veda, Agama etc. Then there is the dialectical Sastra, sastra
sastra, expositions of Systems. Generally speaking the Vaidik Dharma lays stress on the purification and preparing of the body, sarira samskara, while the Tantrika looks to the purification of the inner being, atmasamskara.
The term tantra has been defined in various ways. One significant derivation is: what saves or protects the eternally pure, intelligent, principle of the Paramatman in oneself, nityasuddha- buddha-paramatma-tattvam svasmin trayate iti tantram.
THE LORD: He is stainless, eternal, omnipotent, the Lord. It is a part of Himself that He lets loose
in the form of sparks, sphulinga. He is thus the source of the multitude of beings. The sparks are His, eternal, not different yet separate. This spread, prasara, of the Self atom wise (anumaya) is Sphara, the mighty Throb. Life is governed by the course of creation, srsti-krtyam and dissolution, samharakrtyam. But that is not all. There is a third Factor which opens the way to liberation; otherwise there would be merely birth and death. This third is the dwelling of Him here and there in His supreme Compassion. It is His Grace that tends and leads upwards.
SAKTI: What, after all, is Sakti? The spread, agency, the kala of each thing is its Sakti. What is covered by this Sakti is the principle of Parabrahman, called Siva. Gaudapada speaks of Cit as a free Cause of the manifestation of the universe, citih svatanta visvasiddhi-hetuh. One is the Sakti of the Supreme Lord. Fourfold it divides itself in function: Bhavani for enjoyment, Visnu as the Purusa, Kali in anger and Durga in battle.
[Ekaiva Saktih paramesvarasya bhinna caturdha viniyoga kale;
bhoge bhavani puruse tu Visnuh kope ca kali samare ca durga.]
How many kinds of Sakti are there?
They are three. First there is the Janma-siddha-sakti, the Sakti with which one is born and which continues to the end of the life. This Divine Sakti manifesting with the very birth of the individual, is very rare. The second is the madhyamaki sakti: the Sakti that manifests and takes root when the
mind is developed and its faculties or the faculties of the heart get ripe. It springs to birth in what is called the bodha-avastha. The third is the ksanika sakti, the Sakti that is active in moments when one is engaged in favorable activities like puja, dhyana, japa, holy company etc., when things are propitious for the breath of the Higher Power. Usually this Sakti stays as long as one lives in that atmosphere and withdraws when one comes out of it. Every one has its touch but he is not attentive to it. If he pays attention and cultivates if, then the ksanika sakti develops into madhyamaki and may even manifest as the janmasiddha sakti in the next birth.
Everything in the world is constituted of three modes: padartha, the thing itself; guna, its quality; prabhava its characteristic force. Guna and prabhava attach themselves to the basic padartha; but they do not necessarily disappear with the passing away of the padartha. Each of these three has its own niyati; order, kala. The fragrance, force of fragrance, of the flower continues even after the flower is removed from a place. Even when sandalwood is burnt and oil prepared from it, its essential guna, property of cooling, and prabhava, force of fragrance, continue.
Everything, every movement, has a centre, a kendra, a regulation, niyati, a truth to fulfil, sasana. Without a centre in the first place, it cannot function. Hence to enable the Divine Sakti to work in us there must first be formed a living centre in us around which it can organize itself and function. These are the several centres lying latent in us and which await to be awakened and set active.
None is free.
Everyone is subject to some thing, some force or other. One after the other they come and entangle him and he runs hither and thither led by the forces. It is only as the Great Force which is active universally becomes patent in his life and he is claimed by it that these various forces lose their hold and man rises free from them.
This is the Great Force that is called Kundalini in the human body. Centred round the basal point called Bindu, it moves, round and round, up and below, in all directions and manifests in a thousand ways, in activities, in thoughts and in many other forms. The original base of the Kundalini is called svasthanavasthini bhumika; the next higher stage where she stations herself is the unnayana bhumika; next is paravartana bhumika; and then comes the visranti or samarasa bhumika.
The pupil of the eye, kaninika, is the outer most organ. There conceive Kali, Dhuma, Chhinna.
Next inwards is the Jyotirmandala, the region of light. There conceive Tara, Tripura Bhairavi, Bagala.
Innermost is the Drstimandala, region of sight. There conceive Bhuvana, Kamala Matangi. Presiding over all is Sri Lalita.
MUDRAS: Mudras are of several kinds. For instance what is known as the lelihana mudra which signifies the harmony between the Lord and the Sakti, sivasakti-samarasya; kala-sankarsini mudra, transcending Time and what is in Time; cinnabhascari mudra, of free movement in the sky of pure Consciousness; vyomeswari mudra, where freed of attachments, one goes up in the higher air in the subtle body, khecari mudra where one can walk in the air. There is also krodhini mudra, where there is a determined anger and control over all by will; karankini mudra, where the attachment to the five Bhutas or senses is snapped.
DHARMA: There are different Ages, kalas, in the history of Creation: Veda Kala, Agama Kala,
Smriti Kala, Purana Kala and Itihasa Kala. What was of the nature of secret content, gupta dharma, of the Veda was taken over by the Agamas and what was external, bahya dharma, was taken over by the Smriti. And this Dharma rests on the five pillars of affection, sneha; love, prema; faith, sraddha; devotion, bhakti and service, seva.
Dharma is designed to promote the growth of the sattvic element in man who is bound by Nature. In collective society it underlies the raja and other nitis for a similar end. Artha is to be so pursued as to regulate raga-dvesa, desire and hatred. Puranas are intended to impress the necessity of this control.
Kama is developed into a science by following which the inner enemies, antah satru, are controlled. The Smriti is of much help here. Dharma sutras are meant for the collective society in general. Smarta sutras are for people who are sufficiently evolved, visista jana. Srauta sutras are for those who have arrived at an identity, tadatmya with what is above, the divyamandala. They are for the highest.
JIVA: In one of the Tantras the Jivatma is conceived to be enclosed in a series of concentric
circles. Thus the first enclosing circle or sheath is of smell, ghranendriya; enclosing that is a
bigger circles, of sabda, sound; next is caksusa, of sight; the last and the final is of tvak, touch;
this last is the vasanamaya sheath which sticks the longest to the jivatma even when it ahs
dissolved the other three sheaths which drop away after the death of the body, one after another.
The Atma is spoken of as of five different categories:
Atma
Antaratma
Jnanatma
Paramatma
Bhutatma
The Atma and the Antaratma are related to each other by Prana. The Atma and the Bhutatma are related to each other by the Body. In the Tantras, the Brahmagranthi governs the domain of the Bhutatma; Vishnugranthi governs that of Atma and Antaratma; Rudragranthi of Jnanatma. The kancuka, covering, cloak, of the Prana is the body. The kancuka of Jiva is Prana. The kancuka of Atma is Jiva. Then, what is Jiva? Is it anything different from Atma? Atma in association with Prana is Jiva. Siva in constriction is Jiva, sankucitah sivo jivah. It is an old controversy regarding Bija vs. Samskaras. The fact is that Samskaras, however strong, can only cover and affect the operative aspect of the original being, bija, which remains unsullied. The Samskaras of different kinds, viz. of niyati, of kala, of kala etc. work together, each time with a different emphasis; but the essential character of the bija remains the same.
JNANA: In our tradition you are not asked to accept anything as authoritative unless you experience it. Pramana is what is experienced, yad anubhuyate tadeva pramanam. There are things which can be reasoned out. There are things which are beyond the reason of the mind. It is wise not to question by the mind what is truly beyond it. [ atarkyah caiva ye bhavah na tanstarkena tarkayet.]
Knowing comes by stages. First there is a seeking to know, an aspiration, sodana. Then follows a growing consciousness of oneself, one’s own strength and weakness, samvedana. Next is the awareness of others, an understanding awareness of their needs and condition, avedana. Last comes vid, jnana. Only that Jnana is real Jnana which leads you to merge in the Divine, to the lina-bhava.
GURU: The Lord is not indifferent to the lot of creatures in the creation. In fact, it is said, that his one preoccupation is to tend and help out each being released by him in manifestation. Each one He helps from birth to birth, from scale to scale of creation, till at last the human birth is attained. Even there, when enough experience has been gained and the man feels a suffocation and asks for release, He appears as the Guru, lays down the regulation, the acara, by following which the man has his bonds snapped and attains to the station of the supreme Lord. Follow the acara, the samacara, sanctified by the Guru; that will dissolve the bonds that tie.
Who is qualified to be a Guru?
The Tantras declare that the Diksa Guru is he who knows the Agama (authentic scripture), is skillful in action, devoted to the Supreme Guru Sambhu, full of peace, compassionate to all, sweet of speech, following the happy tradition, incomparable in all his parts, wise of the world. The paduka (of the Guru) are so called because they are capable of holding and sustaining us at every step, pade pade asmakam pada dharanaksama paduka.
Yes, it is a fact that the Karma of the disciples and of those who seek refuge in him, fall on the Guru. Fire burns as long as dry fuel is thrown in, in right quantities. But if one begins to throw in it all manner of things and that too in excessive quantities, the fire gets dull and gradually gets extinguished. At such times, one must withdraw and put oneself in complete tune with the sustaining Sakti.
Diksa, initiation, is of several kinds. Broadly, it may be said that for those who are ready already, siddhadhikarin, it is the vedhamayi, medhamayi Diksa that are used. For those who have to acquire the necessary competence, sadhyadhikarins, the Diksa is sabdi, caksusi and sparsi, by word, by glance, by touch, respectively. Vedhamayi is a movement directed within the consciousness of the Guru so as to communicate itself to the disciple. Medhamayi is a similar movement of thought.
DEVATA: A Way is necessary for the Highest Grace to reach the seeker. Similarly a Way necessary for the seeker to reach the Highest. The Deity provides the Way. There is mention in the Rig Veda of how when a Rica wanted to reach up to the Divine, it sought for a means to do that and Agni was the Way. There are three conditions for a true, fruitful worship of the Devi to be possible. One must shed the three desires, desire for wealth, vittesana; desire for woman, daraisana; desire for worldly success, lokesana. He who is free from these three attachments can alone tread the Path of Her adoration. That is the real saubhagya. Isana-traya-nirmuktah saubhagyarcanam acaret. Should you invoke one Deity but worship quite another, you will receive the curses of both. [Avhaya devatam ekam arcayed anya devatam ubhabhyam labhate sapam.]
Tat savithur varenyam bhargoh devasya …The Bharga here is the Supreme Light which lights up the very sun. It is greater than the sun. The sun has niyati, a regulation, but the Bharga has none. That Light really bears up all, (bhrng bharane).
MANTRA: Just as all the characteristic qualities and power of the Tree is concentrated and latent in the seed, similarly the power, the presence and characteristic qualities of expression of the Deity are there present in the Mantra. It embodies not only the Presence but also the Way to reach the Deity.
MANTRA SADHANA: The power of mantra is undefinable, mantranam acintya saktita. There are two kinds of this Sadhana; bhautika and naisthiki. The former is largely for the satisfaction of worldly
desires, gaining human ends in ordinary life. This is certainly not my way. The other is devoted solely to spiritual pursuits, for realizing the Divine. Worldly happiness may result in the course of this Sadhana but that is incidental. The main aim is to grow into the Truth of the Divine Consciousness.
In a sense the way of all Yoga is one. For instance, there is so much of correspondence between the Mantra Sadhana and the Patanjala Yoga. The first four limbs of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama in the latter bring about a purification of the body and its samskaras; this isbrought about in the Mantra Sadhana by puja, japa, stava etc. which bathe the body ceaselessly in higher vibrations and orientate its tendencies Godward. The imposition of niyama, control over the senses, indriyas, by pratyahara has its parallel here in the antahkarana samskara brought about in the course of fulfilling the demands of matra-japa. The last three termed samyama by Patanjali correspond to what we call the atma-samskara, discipline and purification of the inner being.
The one goal set before the Sadhaka for immediate attainment is a constant, ceaseless living in the Divine Consciousness, sada cid anubhavanam. Work must be done but without desire for phalam tyaktva karma-karanam. In fact this is one of the demands upon the sadhaka. All these are means for achieving the true object of human life and that is indeed the ascertainment and realization of one’s true self, sva vimarsah purusarthah.
JAPA: Japa is so called because it snaps the tie of birth which is the result of Karma of the series of previous births, janmantaraphala-pratibhandhakasya janma-vicchedah; and because it destroys all sin, papanasanam. Japa has been well defined as not what is repeated externally but the resounding nada,
sound, inside, when the movement of the indriyas, senses, is checked.
[Samyatendriya sancarah proccarita nadamantaram esa eva japah proktah nanu bahyajapo japah.]
That is true japa where all inertia, and indolence, fall away when you start it. The awareness gets sharpened, alert, mental movements fall quiet and only two remain: he who does the japa and He who is the object of japa, the vacaka and the vacya.
When you are tired of japa take to dhyana;
When tired of dhyana, take to japa;
When tired of both, take to the laud, stava.
They say it is best to recite the praises of God, stava, composed by the Rishis or equally realized persons. In a poetic image it is said, that whenever such verses are recited, God recollects having heard them somewhere before – when the great soul chanted them for Him – and rushes to where they are now being sung. A sacred verse yields its meaning without difficulty to one who has thirst for it, pipasa; but if the mind is full of its own importance, how can the meaning find room to enter?
UPASANA:There are three fundamental truths:
(1) The Supreme Lord has his Sakti which is inseparable from Him.
(2) Each individual has within himself a consciousness, a Sakti which is derived from the Supreme Sakti.
(3) The Supreme Sakti has spread itself in the universe of its creation in several ways, several forms, at several levels. The formulations at the higher levels which are engaged in conducting the manifestation are the Deities. They are also charged with leading man from his station on earth upwards and upwards till he reaches the Source. And the process to connect oneself, one’s consciousness with these Deities is what is called Upasana.
The seeker when he begins the upasana is something like a child coming out of his mother’s womb. He is just emerging from the womb of Prakriti. The awakening and functioning of faculties is gradual. Thus in meditation, it takes time to get collected, calm etc. It takes time for thoughts to dwindle. Oneness of concentration or blankness of mind are more or less final conditions of a stage which comes after effort, not at the very beginning. One should not therefore worry overmuch about this. What is required is steady application, keeping punctual timings and sincere effort. Upasana is really the saguna marga, path of adoration of the Divine with Form.
There are three grades, bhumikas, in Puja. The lowest consisting of nyasa, mudra etc. is for the ordinary type of men; praise, stava, repetition of mantra, japa, are for the middle; meditation, dhyana, absorption, laya, for the highest, the best. [Pujakotisamam stotram stotrakotisamam japah Japakotisamam dhyanam dhyanakotisamo layah.]
ANUSTHANA: Anusthana is external ritual, bahya vrtti. Anusandhana is the inner mode, antar vrtti. Power, Sakti, can be aroused not by mantra alone. It can be so done by bhava of tadatmiya, oneness with Him, by nistha, discipline, by vyavastha, set order etc. It is of course understood that the quality of the vibrations aroused are different from case to case. It is a mistake to think that in the Kaula Marga one identifies oneself with the Prakriti and flies with it. Actually there is One (the Divine Sakti) who is at play in the Prakriti. The sadhaka aims to put himself into contact with Her. For that purpose he draws the Prakriti nearer. Once the Inner Reality is experience the outer cloak falls off by itself. There is so much of misunderstanding about the term vama marga. What is really vama? Vama is what beautiful, vamam vayunam sundaram iti is. There is another derivation. Vama is She who ejects from Herself the All, visvam vamati iti vama; and Her Path is the vamah, tasyah margah vamah. Dissatisfaction with things as they are should develop into a feeling of pain; then only
it acts as an urge, a goad to move forward. This is the inner ache, antarvedana, that is compared to the sting of an ant. [pipilika-dansavat antarvedana.]
Take your stand in Prakriti, the Original Nature and not in Vikriti, its derivative formations (of Ignorance). They speak of gross mind, wicked mind and awakened mind, jada cetana, dusta, cetana, sacetana. That shows that it is possible for the samskaras to reach beyond the gross and the subtle and the casual bodies, seize the consciousness and soil it. And it is for the purpose of releasing the mind from such a condition and make it alive with the inviolable that there are prescribed puja, japa, dhyana etc. So, deliberate upon it, and with seriousness of movement, make of yourself a receptacle of the Free Consciousness-Force.
CIKITSA: Cikitsa is attention to and treatment of the body, the material. Vicikitsa relates to the movement, vrtti, the Guna of the thing. Stop your vrtti, mental movements and movements of life-energy. In that stoppage you will have stopped the movements of others falling on Make your state of being calm, steady, freed of thought-currents, good and bad, and engage yourself in your work. One does not find pearls by busying oneself with the waves of the vast ocean. So too, association with men ever heaving with undefinable thought-waves, leaves one without, far from attaining the state of Grace of the Mother who is wave-less. Think of Him. Wait for Him. Look joyously at His Lila. Neither Tantra nor Mantra is necessary if you can do it and lose yourself in this adoration. This is what is known as vyomayoga, the path where one does not depend upon any support as such, alambana. There are surely many kinds of Yoga. We have spoken of vyoma yoga. There is mantra yoga. Then there is bhuvana yoga, when the Vibhuti of the Divine is definite to you in anything, in anyone. The vigraha yoga is where you adore and concentrate upon a vigraha, any one or anything in which the Presence or Consciousness is especially manifest, visesena grhnati iti vigrahah. Look into your being which is an emanation of this Throb, one with Him. Look into the true nature of the world which is His Play of manifestation. Look and find out the Place of your origin.
The realization of the self, atmanubhuti, is to be achieved by oneself. Another can help in the process but he cannot do it for you. For after all, you are the cause, you have the atman in yourself and you have to see, experience and realize it yourself. Some of the Tantras expound in detail. Some others are brief. Resort to one Tantra taking refuge with the Guru of that Path.
THE MOTHER: The Mother is self-luminous, swayamprakasa. She does not need anyone’s help to illumine, shine or manifest. The most we can do is to see that on our account no dimming or darkening walls come up around this Light. The lustre of the Flame is not destroyed by the flicker of the swarm of fire-flies round and round. Our relation is with Her, the Mother indescribable, who stands this wise.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL: I distinctly remember two notable incidents in my life which had a clear supernatural character. One is about the nada which I used to hear. The other is this: I was given to BALA mantra japa. From childhood I used to have difficulty in seeing clearly during nights. I would stumble against people, dash against things and so on. One day as I was coming out of the house, I did not see the steps that led from the floor of the house. The road was four feet below. Without seeing it I simply walked on from the raised floor. But I did not fall. I was simply lifted up and placed softly on the ground. By whom? By whom indeed!
Once when I was very young there was a serious danger to the health of my sister or someone in the house. I went to my father and asked him to do his mantra and ward off the danger. He shook his head.
“Why don’t you do it?” I asked.
“I cannot.”
“Then ask the Mantra Devata to do it, she is with you, is she not?”
“Yes, she is; but won’t do it. She is there not to ward off dangers, but to laugh, eat and
live with me.”
“Then why is she with you at all?” I asked in my boyish impatience.
“To lift me up and take me to her place when my body dies.”
GENERALPARASARA: Vasistha is the model for Santi among our Rishis. It is recorded that when Sakti, his only son left after the massacre of the rest of his sons by Viswamitra, was killed by a demon, he remained calm and unmoved. So did his wife Arundhati in some measure. But Sakti had a wife. During that night Vasistha heard a Veda chant. He did not know from where he heard it. So he went out of the house to investigate and looked for the source of sound in all directions. But he could not trace it. Then he found the voice coming out of his own home. Following the sound he returned, re-entered the house and went in to find the sound coming out of the womb of Sakti’s wife: in the womb lay a child who later came to be celebrated as Parasara.
VARIETIES OF SAMBANDHA: There are several kinds of relation, sambandha, spoken of in the Tantras. There is the para-sambandha, mahat-sambandha and the antarala-sambandha; these three are what obtain among the Gods, between themselves or with their Supreme Lord. The fourth is the divyasambandha between the Gods and the Rishis who connect themselves with the Gods through their subtle bodies – the relation on the subtler planes. Then there is the divya- sambandha, between the divya and the adviya, godly and non-godly, the Gods and the Rishis on earth here. The adivya sambandha is the relation between these Rishis and mortal men.
ADHIKARA: There is always the question of adhikara, whatever the field of life. One with the
necessary competence and authority in spiritual matters will always be effective in that sphere. He will not engage himself, normally, in worldly affairs though he may lend his hand there. Similarly, in the collective life of society, only he can lead and mould the direction who is endowed with the capacity to identify himself with the collective soul.
GAIN OF WEALTH: Is it not possible to gain wealth by occult means? Is there no kriya in the Tantra for this purpose? There is. But there are certain conditions for such demands to be met. First, there must be the vedana, a real distress duet o want of wealth. Second, there should be an avedana, an intense feeling for the sufferings of others around. And third, one must have in oneself what is called samvedana; it is a felt awareness of one’s own limitations and drawbacks and a sincere urge to overcome them.
MANGALAM: Mangalam, auspicious happiness, has an interesting derivation. Mam is the ego, ahankara tattva; the dropping of it, galana, is mangala. [ahankaratattvasya mam iti giyate, tasya galame mangalam.]
ASHRAM: Among the traditional signs, laksana, of an Ashram is the presence of wild animals in
a state of quiet, prasanta. That is to say the wild propensities of the inmates are subjugated and
changed by the very atmosphere of the Ashram.
PRAYASCHITTA: Prayascitta, repentance, consists not in taking the prescribed prasada, the pancagavya [ A preparation of five ingredients, ghee, milk, etc.] but in the change of inner condition, bhava.
HATHA: Hatha, obstinacy, is said to be of several kinds: strihatha, obstinacy of the woman; yogihatha, persistence of the yogin; balahatha, insistence of the infant; rajahatha, the unyielding demand of the king.
SASTIABDAPURTI: The meaning of sastiabda-purti is the propitiation of the planets, grahas. At the end of sixty years all the grahas return to the original position which they had on the very first day of the birth of the person. A full cycle is completed and before the next round begins the grahas are worshipped and propitiated.
SIDDHI: There are siddhis and siddhis. There is for instance the siddhi by asana-jaya, conquest of asana; by being able to sit in a particular position one gets certain powers. Similarly by the knowledge and use of certain herbs.
PHYSICIAN AND LIFE-SPAN: Who has control over the life-span of another? Even the physician can only diagnose the nature of the malady and control or stop the pain. But he is no mater of the life-duration. [Vyadheh tattvaparijnanam vedanayarca nigrahah, etad vaidyasya vaidyatvam na vaidyah prabhurayusah.]
LANGUAGE: Language is described as of three kinds: siddhabhasa, perfect language, sanketa bhasa, symbolic language and vyavahara bhasa, language for common use.
THE WISE ONE: The wise one grieves not over the past, worries not over the future, he lives in the present. [Gatam no rocayet prajnah, bhavisyam naiva cintayet, vartamanena kalena vartante hi manasinah.]
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