Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
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104<br />
INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA ŚĀSTRA<br />
In the ante-natal life there are three main stages,<br />
whether viewed from the objective (physical) standpoint,<br />
or frorn the subjective (super-physical) standpoint. 1 The<br />
first period includes on the physical side all the structural<br />
and physiological changes which occur in the fertilized<br />
ovum from the moment of fertilization until the<br />
period when the embryonic body, by the formation of<br />
trunk, limbs, and organs, is fit for the entrance of the<br />
individualized life, or jīvātmā. When the pronuclear<br />
activity and differentiation are completed, the jīvātmā,<br />
whose connection with the pronuclei initiated the pronuclear<br />
or formative activity, enters the miniature<br />
human form, and the second stage of growth and development<br />
begins. The second stage is the fixing of the<br />
connection between the jīva and the body, or the<br />
rendering of the latter viable. This period includes all<br />
the ana<strong>to</strong>mical and physiological modifications by which<br />
the embryonic body becomes a viable fœtus. With the<br />
attainment of viability, the stay of the jīva has been<br />
assured; physical life is possible for the child, and the<br />
third stage in ante-natal life is entered. Thus, on the<br />
form side, if the language of comparative embryology is<br />
used, the first saṃskāra denotes the impulse <strong>to</strong> development,<br />
from the “fertilization of the ovum” <strong>to</strong> the “critical<br />
period.” The second saṃskāra denotes the impulse <strong>to</strong><br />
development from the “critical period” <strong>to</strong> that of the<br />
“viability stage of the fœtus”; and the third saṃskāra<br />
denotes the development from “viability” <strong>to</strong> “full term.”<br />
On the birth of the child there is the jata-karma,<br />
performed for the continued life of the new-born child.<br />
1 For what follows on the medical side, see the Appendix, vol. i. p. 194, on<br />
the Saṃ<br />
skāras. by Dr. Louise Appel, in the “Pranava-vāda” of Bhagavān Dās.