Ritual

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Initiation Before the adept can participate in the whole gamut of tantric ritual, it is essential that a consecration, in a ceremony known as diksha, or spiritual initiation, take place. The word diksha comes from the Sanskrit root do- (dyati), meaning to cut or destroy; in the initiation all negative forces are destroyed in order to gain the supreme state of existence. Diksha involves one-to-one interpersonal contact between a guru and a disciple. The most popular form of this ritual is initiation with the guru giving the aspirant a personal mantra, known as mantra-diksha. The desired Kundalini-yoga. A painting illustrating various practices of Kundalini-yoga around the central Female Principle, Sakti. Kangra, c. 18th century. Gouache on paper. 131
Yantra with mantra. 132 guru selects an auspicious day and hour, and in certain instances the horoscope of the prospective aspirant is matched with that of the guru to determine precisely the time when the mantra should be imparted. The guru also ascertains the aspirant's 'ishta-devata', the chosen deity or the divine aspect which is in consonance with his personality, so that by concentrating on it the aspirant will be in rhythm with that deity while attaining unity. The guru normally sits facing the east and the disciple sits in the lotus posture close to him. In order to purify the process of initiation the guru first recites his basic mantra and invokes his own 'chosen deity' and then three times whispers the diksha-mantra into the disciple's right ear. The mantra must be kept secret and it should not be divulged; indeed, it is considered that even a written mantra loses its impact. Once the mantra has been given, the basic stage of mantra initiation ends. INSTRUMENTS OF TRANSFORMATION Mantra The oldest and perhaps most widely used concentrative technique is the mantric sound. Mantra is primarily a concentrated 'thought form' composed of nuclear syllables based on the esoteric properties believed to be inherent in sound vibrations. Tantra has developed a system of sound equations which may vary from simple to complex, exerting its power not so much through expressing meaning as we normally understand it but more deeply, through its emphasis on a 'phonic element'. For example: the vocables Hrim, Srim, Krim, Phat, which are found throughout the tantric texts, may seem meaningless, unintelligible and irrelevant to the non-initiate, but to the initiate they have positive symbolic connotations. Whether recited audibly or inaudibly they run through most of the rituals like an uninterrupted symphony. The recitation of the mantra without understanding its proper meaning or the mantra technique is an exercise, and it is said to be inert. According to Saradatilaka, mantras may be divided into male, female and neuter; masculine mantras end in 'hum' and 'phat', the female in 'svaha', and neuter mantras end with 'namah'. The power of a particular mantra lies in a set of inter-connected factors: its pattern of sound waves and the mode of its proper intoning. Generally, it is considered that the mantra is efficacious only when it is 'received' from the mouth of the guru by his disciple. A mantra thus 'awakened' activates vibration channels and produces certain superconscious feeling states which aid the disciple in his sadhana.
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$9.95 Printed in England The life-a
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Frontispiece: Manuscript leaf illus
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Archaeological Surv
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Introduction Tantra is a creative m
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number of tantric texts were assemb
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Saktas (worshippers of Sakti, or fe
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The basic tenets of tantra can be e
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the union of opposites, the male an
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notions concerning time and space,
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Cosmic energy symbolized as the ser
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Tantric asana, or sexo-yogic postur
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The washer-maid represents the prim
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the five ingredients beginning with
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32 but at the same time maintains p
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Om, the cosmic sound, is a combinat
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Brahmanda, cosmic spheroid, a symbo
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Hari-Hara. Painting illustrating Vi
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ART The art which has evolved out o
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spective, tantric imagery is not an
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Symbolism and Imagery Tantric forms
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visible and eventually apprehended.
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figurative representation. The Sukr
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uilt up in stages during the entire
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The Universe and the terrestrial sp
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Point, and signifies the starting-p
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The Sri Yantra is a configuration o
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The Sri Yantra is called 'Nava Chak
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The seventh chakra, consisting of e
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64 The mandala indicates a focaliza
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The Kundalini Sakti, symbol of coil
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The creative spiral, Kundalini. 68
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A cosmographical schema showing Jam
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Cosmogram: an astronomical computat
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Cosmographical scheme showing Jambu
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so they signify the action of karma
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The terrifying aspects of these ima
Page 86 and 87: Modern research into the compositio
Page 88 and 89: 'Krim', the bijamantra, almost an e
Page 90 and 91: consciousness, came spontaneously i
Page 92: tantric art and their own. Like the
Page 95 and 96: 94 ancient Hindus. Some inferences
Page 97 and 98: Bindu. The universe in its unmanife
Page 99 and 100: 98 units of energy called tanmatras
Page 101: V Astronomical equations, based on
Page 106 and 107: Samkhya's view that it is possible
Page 108 and 109: Atoms The atomic hypothesis of the
Page 110 and 111: matter or the remaining sediment of
Page 112 and 113: The Siddhayoga of Vrinda is an Ayur
Page 114 and 115: The science of mathematics was clos
Page 116 and 117: Solar orb. An astronomical chart us
Page 118 and 119: Extant astronomical charts were use
Page 120 and 121: (beginning with the new and full mo
Page 122 and 123: ecorded in 1954. Though science has
Page 124: Being residing in heaven. The real
Page 127 and 128: 126 Moscow Institute of Oriental St
Page 129 and 130: 128 of realization. Harmony is the
Page 131: Symbolic marks painted on wooden ma
Page 135 and 136: Chakras in the etheric body. Rajast
Page 137: IX A practising Tantrika from north
Page 143 and 144: 142 Both mudras and nyasas are exte
Page 145: Schematic representation of how a y
Page 148 and 149: absorbed within the system and a gr
Page 150 and 151: object of concentration. Meditation
Page 152 and 153: After such a survey of various tech
Page 154 and 155: (from the root nad meaning motion,
Page 156 and 157: a red triangle 'radiant like the ri
Page 161 and 162: XVI
Page 164 and 165: to balance the dialectical process
Page 166 and 167: that involves the sperm's odyssey t
Page 168 and 169: inner spiritual urges to flow natur
Page 170 and 171: chaksuratatam'. He then salutes his
Page 172 and 173: Only when she is seen through divin
Page 174 and 175: IV Ram vanhyatmakam dipam sasaktika
Page 176 and 177: Sakti worship It is not physiologic
Page 178 and 179: om anaisvaryaya namah om avairagyay
Page 180 and 181: om Im madanaye namah om Im utpadiny
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haga, which means both female organ
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That Power who exists in all beings
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either position, both the adepts en
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the Ida and Pingala subtle channels
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outgrow the merry-go-round of self-
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of beings and forms; (6) Chinnamast
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of the discipline may even abandon
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chants mantras, nor performs mudras
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BHUTA, any of the five elemental co
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PARA, last stage of consciousness.
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Bibliography Abhinavagupta, Tantras
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Panday, K. C, Abhinavagupta, Varana
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Index Abhinavagupta, 80 Absolute, 1
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Mercury, 19, 73 Mevlevi Dervishes,
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Ritual

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