Bhuta Suddhi is an important Tantric rite. It means purification
of the five elements of which the body is composed. The Sadhaka (aspirant) dissolves the sinful body and makes a new divine
body. He infuses into the body the life of the Devi.
Nyasa is a very important and powerful Tantric rite.
It is placing of the tips of the fingers of the right hand on various parts of the body, accompanied by Mantra.
In Kavacha the one Brahman is invoked by different names
in order to protect different parts of the body. For example, Parabrahman is thought of as in the Sahasrara Padma in the head.
The Supreme Lord is meditated upon in the heart. Protector of the world, Vishnu is invoked to protect the throat, so that
the aspirant may utter the Mantras of his Ishta Devata.
Mudra is ritual of manual gestures. Mudra gives pleasure
to the Devatas. There are 108 Mudras. In welcoming (Avahana) the Devata an appropriate gesture is made. In making offering
(Arghya) Matsya Mudra is made. The right hand is placed on the back of the left and the two thumbs are extended finlike on
each side of the hands. Similarly, there are Mudras for the various acts done during the worship.
Yantra takes the place of the image. It is an object
of worship. Yantra is a diagram, drawn on paper. It is engraved on a metal sheet also. A Yantra is appropriated to a specific
Devata only. Various Yantras are peculiar to each Devata. They are various designs according to the object of worship. Yantra
is the body of the Devata. All the Yantras have a common edging called Bhupura. They have a quadrangular figure with four
doors, which encloses and separates the Yantra from the external world.
The Sadhaka first meditates upon the Devata or Deity
and then arouses the Devata in himself. He then communicates the Divine presence thus aroused to the Yantra. When the Devata
has been invoked into the Yantra by the appropriate Mantra, the vital airs (Prana) of the Devata are infused therein by the
Pranapratishtha ceremony. The Devata is thereby installed in the Yantra. The materials used or acts done in Puja are called
Upachara. They are sixteen in number, viz., (1) Asana (seating of the Devata); (2) Svagata (welcoming of the Devata); (3)
Padya (water for washing the feet); (4) Arghya (water for ablution); (5) Achamana (water for sipping); (6) Madhuparka (honey,
ghee, milk, and curd); (7) Snana (bath); (8) Vastra (cloth); (9) Abharana (jewels); (10) Gandha (perfume); (11) Pashpa (flowers);
(12) Dhupa (incense); (13) Dipa (light); (14) Naivedya (food) and Tambulam (betel); (15) Nirajana (Arati); and (16) Vandana
(prostration and prayer).
Sadhakas are of three kinds, viz., Pasu (animalistic),
Vira (valorous), and Divya (divine).
The Pancha Tattva is essential for the worship of Sakti.
The Pancha Tattvas are wine (Madya), meat (Mamsa), fish (Matsya), parched cereal (Mudra) and sexual union (Maithuna). As they
all commence with the letter M, they are vulgarly called Pancha-ma-kara or five M's. The Pancha Tattvas stand for drinking,
eating and propagation. The Pancha Tattvas, the five elements of worship destroy great sins, Maha-pataka-nasanam.
The Pancha Tattvas have not always their literal meaning.
The meaning differs according as they refer to the Tamasic (Pasu), Rajasic (Vira) or Sattvic (Divya) Sadhanas respectively.
Wine may be wine; or it may be coconut water or it may
mean God-intoxication or the intoxicating knowledge of Brahman or the Absolute. Wine is a symbol to denote the Supreme, eternal
Bliss of Yoga knowledge, or knowledge of Atman (Atma-jnana).
The union of Siva and Sakti in the upper brain centre
known as Sahasrara or thousand-petalled lotus is Maithuna.
Mamsa (meat) is the act by which the aspirant consecrates
all his actions to the Lord.
Matsya (fish) is that Sattvic knowledge by which the
Sadhaka sympathises with the pleasure and pain of all beings.
Mudra is the act of abandoning all associations with
evil which leads to bondage.
Wine is fire; flesh is air; fish is water; cereal is
earth; sexual union is ether.
Milk, ghee, honey are all substitutes for wine. Salt,
ginger, sesamum, white beans, garlic are substitutes for meat. White brinjal, red radish, masur (a kind of grain) and
red sesamum are substitutes for fish. Paddy, rice, wheat and grain are Mudra. Offering of flowers with the hands formed with
a particular Mudra is Maithuna.
The Sadhaka thinks that he has got a Deva body. This
is Bhuta- Suddhi. Various Nyasas are performed. Mental worship is performed of the Devi who is thought of as being in red
raiment seated on a red lotus. Her dark body is like rain-cloud. Her forehead is shining with the light of the crescent moon.
Japa of Mantra is then done. Thereupon there is external worship.
Sexual intercourse by a man with a woman who is not lawful
to him is a sin. The Vaidika Dharma is very strict on this point. It forbids not merely actual Maithuna but Ashtanga or eightfold
Maithuna namely Smaranam (thinking upon it), Kirtanam (talking of it), Keli (play with women), Prekshanam (making eyes at
women), Guhya-bhashanam (talking in private with women), Sankalpa (wish or resolve for sexual union), Adhyavasaya (determination
towards it), Kriyanishpatti (actual accomplishment of the sexual act).
A Tantric can have copulation with his wife. He calls
his wife his Sakti. Wife is a house-goddess Griha-lakshmi or Griha-devata united to her husband by the sacramental Samskara
of marriage. She should not be regarded as an object of enjoyment. She is his partner in life (Ardhangini). The union of a
man and his wife is a veritable sacred scriptural rite.
Tantra Yoga is the saving wisdom. It is the marvellous
boat which takes man safely to the other shore of fearlessness, immortality, freedom, and perfection, when practised with
understanding under personal guidance of well-established Tantric Guru.
The purport of the Tantras is to worship women in a spirit
of Divinity.
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