deliberation on the system of worship in keeping with the provisions of the Kula School.
2. This School of worship permits
taking of wine considering its enjoyability and as a stimulant of consciousness leading eventually close to Bhairava.
3. The external world should be seen
as illuminated by one's own consciousness and hence needs to be worshipped as such.
4. Here is a reference to the
Kuleshvari Devi who assumes the form of the Great Mother both higher and lower. Shiva is her hero. She needs to be worshipped in her conjugal relationship with Shiva and gods as sparks emanating from her.
5. The sounds of the alphabet serve as
lamps of illumination and therefore, they, too, need to be worshipped.
6. Regarding oneself as the sacred
seat of Lord Shiva and hence as indwelt by Shakti in the cakras, she should be assigned seats in it by way of according worship to her.
7. The aspirant needs to think of
himself continuously that he is nothing but a sheer conglomeration of Forces of Consciousness.
8. There is also a reference to the
worship of heroic ladies in a conjugal form and as having risen above worldly feelings. 9. Muttering of the mantra ham and sa with respective expansion and contraction of the relevant organs of the body needs to be done with sense of oneness with Shiva.
10. Japa is a kind of articulate
contemplation while oblation to fire is offering to the fire of consciousness at the end of the japa.
11. Consciousness is essentially
boundless which, however, has got bifurcated into this and that, stasis and dynamics owing to its self- obliviousness.
12. There is a reference to formation
of the six-sided triangle born of the result of putting two triangles one on the other and as quite favourite of yoginis. 13. The child born of such a mating of the male and the female in which they become replete with the supramental delight, is sure to remain redeemed even while alive. He is known as yoginibhuh, a child born of a yogini.
14. The act of procreation has been
characterised as the most primeval form of sacrifice.
15. The human body is the best
emblem of Shiva contain as it does the three tridents first in the form of that of the void as the abode of the three goddesses known as para, parapara and apara, second in the form of breasts and the navel and the third in the form of the genitals. Besides that, it is also the abode of gods in the form of cakras functioning under the rulership of the Self. 16. Having purified the disciple through the bath and mantra, the teacher needs to infuse his body and soul with consciousness as innate to Bhairava.
17. Having been infused thus bodily
as well as spiritually, the disciple comes to experience delight, tremor and drowsiness.
18. Having thus been redeemed of the
trap and associated with Shiva, the disciple needs to elapse the rest of his life having reconstructed his personality out of elements drawn from the sanctified state of being. If in anyone of the disciples such changes do not take place, he needs to be rejected from the discipleship.
19. Hence onward is going to be
deliberated on another form of initiation known as sapratyaya, accompanied by proof, and as taught to me by my honourable teacher ambhunatha.
20. Under this initiation the initiate
needs to infuse himself wholly with the force of consciousness and remain so in all the five states of consciousness, namely, that of wakefulness, dream, sound sleep, the fourth and the transcendent.
21. Having taken the bath along with
lighting of earthen lamps sixty-four in number, the teacher becomes famous as redeemer to liberation.
22. Kriya-yoga is the technique of the
atomic individual to Shiva-hood.
23. There is a mention of another form
of initiation known as vedha-diksha under which the teacher pierces directly through the inner being of the disciple having passed along the row of cakras.
24. Vedha- diksha is imparted via six
means, namely, mantra, nada, bindu, shakti, bhujanga and supernal force.
25. Entry into the central nerve,
susumna, is difficult to attain. Having understood the way to enter into it, however, the teacher may redeem even ordinary people.
26. The way to entering into it is the
seating of the teacher and the disciple face to face each other and make entry into the face and the form of the disciple by the teacher via his face and form until both happen to meet each other on the common ground of consciousness.
27. The disciple should take wine only
on such occasions as the beginning, midway and end of sacrifice and worship of the teacher and never in the company of those who are engrossed in greed, delusion, pride, anger and attachment.
First complete English Translation of
Abhinavagupta's Sri Tantraloka and Other Works by Professor Satya Prakash Singh and Swami Maheshvarananda; Vol. VII ( Authors) in Print. Expected by June 2014