Introduction
Sanskrit literature can be classified under six orthodox heads and four secular
heads. They are: (i) Sruti, (ii) Smriti, (iii) Itihasa, (iv) Purana, (v) Agama, and (vi) Darsana; and (i) Subhashita, (ii)
Kavya, (iii) Nataka and, (iv) Alankara.
The Agamas are theological treatises and practical manuals of divine worship.
The Agamas include Tantras, Mantras, and Yantras. These are treatises explaining the external worship of God, in idols, temples,
etc. All the Agamas treat of (i) Jnana or Knowledge, (ii) Yoga or concentration, (iii) Kriya or making, and (iv) Charya or
doing. They also give elaborate details about the ontology, cosmology, liberation, devotion, meditation, philosophy of Mantras,
mystic diagrams, charms and spells, temple-building, image-making, domestic observances, social rules, and public festivals.
The Agamas are divided into three sections: the Vaishnava, the Saiva, and the
Sakta. The three chief sects of Hinduism, viz., Vaishnavism, Saivism, and Saktism, base their doctrines and dogmas on their
respective Agamas. The Vaishnava Agamas or Pancharatra Agamas glorify God as Vishnu. The Saiva Agamas glorify God as Siva
and have given rise to an important school of philosophy known as Saiva Siddhanta. The Sakta Agamas or Tantras glorify God
as the Mother of the world under one of the many names of Devi. The Agamas do not derive their authority from the Vedas, but
they are not antagonistic to them. They are all Vedic in spirit and character. That is the reason why they are regarded as
authoritative.
The Tantra Agamas belong to the Sakta cult. They glorify Sakti as the World-Mother.
They dwell on the Sakti (energy) aspect of God and prescribe numerous courses of ritualistic worship of Divine Mother in various
forms. There are seventy-seven Agamas. These are very much like the Puranas in some respects. The texts are usually in the
form of dialogues between Siva and Parvati. In some of these, Siva answers the questions put by Parvati and in others Parvati
answers, Siva questioning. Mahanirvana, Kularnava, Kulasara, Prapanchasara, Tantraraja, Rudra Yamala, Brahma Yamala, Vishnu
Yamala, and Todala Tantra are the important works. The Agamas teach several occult practices, some of which confer powers,
while the others bestow knowledge and freedom. Among the existing books the Mahanirvana Tantra is the most famous.
Tantra Yoga had been one of the potent powers for the spiritual regeneration
of the Hindus. When practised by the ignorant, unenlightened, and unqualified persons, it has led to certain abuses; and there
is no denying that some degraded forms of Saktism have sought nothing but magic, immorality, and occult powers. An example
of the perverted expression of the truth, a travesty of the original practices, is the theory of the five Makaras (Pancha
Makaras);-Madya or wine, Mamsa or flesh, Matsya or fish, Mudra or symbolical acts, and Maithuna or coition. The esoteric meaning
of these five Makaras is: "Kill egoism, control flesh, drink the wine of God-intoxication, and have union with Lord Siva".
Tantra explains (Tanoti) in great detail the knowledge concerning Tattva (Truth
or Brahman) and Mantra (mystic syllables). It saves (Trayate). Hence it is called Tantra.
The Tantras are not books of sorcery, witchcraft, magic spells, and mysterious
formulae. They are wonderful scriptures. All persons without the distinctions of caste, creed, or colour may draw inspiration
from them and attain spiritual strength, wisdom, and eternal bliss. Mahanirvana and Kularnava Tantras are the important books
in Tantra Sastra. Yoga Kundalini Upanishad of Krishna Yajurveda, Jabala Darsana, Trisikha Brahmana, and Varaha Upanishad are
useful for getting knowledge of Kundalini Sakti and the methods to awaken it and take it to Sahasrara Chakra at the crown
of the head.
The Tantra is, in some of its aspects, a secret doctrine. It is a Gupta Vidya.
You cannot learn it from the study of books. You will have to get the knowledge and practice from the practical Tantrikas,
the Tantric Acharyas and Gurus who hold the key to it. The Tantric student must be endowed with purity, faith, devotion, dedication
to Guru, dispassion, humility, courage, cosmic love, truthfulness, non-covetousness, and contentment. Absence of these qualities
in the practitioner means a gross abuse of Saktism.
The Sakti Tantra is Advaita Vada. It proclaims that Paramatman (Supreme Soul)
and Jivatman (individual soul) are one. The Saktas accept the Vedas as the basic scriptures. They recognise the Sakta-Tantras
as texts expounding the means to attain the goal set forth in the Vedas.
Tantra Yoga lays special emphasis on the development of the powers latent in
the six Chakras, from Muladhara to Ajna. Kundalini Yoga actually belongs to Tantric Sadhana which gives a detailed description
about this serpent-power and the Chakras (plexus). Entire Tantric Sadhana aims at awakening Kundalini, and making her to unite
with Lord Sadasiva, in the Sahasrara Chakra. Methods adopted to achieve this end in Tantric Sadhana are Japa of the Name of
the Mother, prayer, and various rituals.
Yoga should be learnt from a Guru (spiritual preceptor). And this is true all
the more in the case of Tantra Yoga. It is the Guru who will recognise the class to which the aspirant belongs and prescribe
suitable Sadhana.
The Guru is none other than the Supreme Divine Mother Herself, descended into
the world in order to elevate the aspirant. As one lamp is lit at the flame of another, so the divine Sakti consisting of
Mantra is communicated from Guru to the disciple. The disciple fasts, observes Brahmacharya, and gets the Mantra from the
Guru.
Initiation tears the veil of mystery and enables the disciple to grasp the hidden
truth behind scriptures' texts. These are generally veiled in mystic language. You cannot understand them by self-study. Self-study
will only lead you to greater ignorance. The Guru only will give you, by Diksha (initiation), the right perspective in which
to study the scriptures and practise Yoga.
The qualifications of the disciple are purity, faith, devotion, dispassion, truthfulness,
and control of the senses. He should be intelligent and a believer in Vedas. He must abstain from injury to all beings. He
must be vigilant, diligent, patient, and persevering. He must be ever doing good to all. All Sadhana should be done under
the personal direction of a Guru or spiritual teacher. For Tantra Sadhna Bhuta Shuddhi Part-II
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