Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

WORSHIP 103
meaning of the mantra. The Japas of different kinds
have also the relative values, attachable to thought and
its materialization in sound and word. Certain conditions
are prescribed as those under which japa should
be done, relating to physical cleanliness, the dressing of
the hair, and wearing of silk garments, the seat (āsana),
the avoidance of certain conditions of mind and actions,
and the nature of the recitation. The japa is useless
unless done a specified number of times of which 108 is
esteemed to be excellent. The counting is done either
with a mālā or rosary (mala-japa), or with the thumb of
the right hand upon the joints of the fingers of that
hand (kara-japa). The method of the counting in the
latter case may differ according to the mantra. 1
SA ṂSKĀRA
There are ten (or, in the case of Śūdras, nine) purificatory
ceremonies, or “sacraments,” called saṃskaras,
which are done to aid and purify the jīva in the important
events of his life. These are jīvasheka, also called garbhādhāna-ṛ
tu-saṃskara, performed after menstruation,
with the object of insuring and sanctifying conception.
The garbhādhāna ceremony takes place in the daytime
on the fifth day and qualifies for the real garbhādhāna
at night—that is, the placing of the seed in the womb. It
is preceded on the first day by the ṛ tu-saṃskāra, which
is mentioned in Chapter IX of Mahānirvāṇ a-Tantra.
After conception and during pregnancy, the puṃsavana
and sīmantonnayana rites are performed; the first upon
the wife perceiving the signs of conception, and the
second during the fourth, sixth, or eighth month of
pregnancy.
1 See as to Japa, Tantrasāra, 75, et seq.