Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
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WORSHIP 115<br />
nityānuṣṭ hānatatparāh, kāmādi-balidānaśca sa vira iti<br />
giyate).<br />
The elements in their literal sense are not available<br />
in sādhana for all. The nature of the Paśu requires strict<br />
adherence <strong>to</strong> Vaidik rule in the matter of these physical<br />
functions even in worship. This rule prohibits the drinking<br />
of wine, a substance subject <strong>to</strong> the three curses of<br />
Brahma, Kaca, and Kṛ ṣṇ a, in the following terms; Madyam<br />
apeyam adeyam agrāhyam (“Wine 1 must not be<br />
drunk, given, or taken”). The drinking of wine in ordinary<br />
life for satisfaction of the sensual appetite is, in<br />
fact, a sin, involving prāyascitta, and entailing, according<br />
<strong>to</strong> the Viṣṇ u Purāṇ a, 2 punishment in the same Hell<br />
as that <strong>to</strong> which a killer of a Brahmāṇ a goes. As<br />
regards flesh and fish the higher castes (outside Bengal)<br />
who submit <strong>to</strong> the orthodox Smārtha discipline eat<br />
neither. Nor do high and strict Brāhmaṇ as even in that<br />
Province. But the bulk of the people there, both men<br />
and women, eat fish, and men consume the flesh of male<br />
goats which have been previously offered <strong>to</strong> the Deity.<br />
The Vaidika dharma is equally strict upon the subject of<br />
sexual intercourse. Maithuna other than with the<br />
householder’s own wife is condemned. And this is not<br />
only in its literal sense, but in that which is known as<br />
Aṣṭ āṇga (eightfold) maithuna—viz., smaraṇ am (thinking<br />
upon it), kirttanam (talking of it), keli (play with<br />
women), prekṣaṇ am (looking upon woman), guhyabhā-<br />
ṣaṇ am (talk in private with woman), saṃkalpa (wish or<br />
1 From the standpoint of Tāntrika-Vīrācāra, the drinking of wine here<br />
referred <strong>to</strong> is ordinary drinking, and not the ritual worship (of those qualified<br />
for it) with the purified substacce which is Tārā (the Saviour) Herself in<br />
liquid form (dravamayī).<br />
2 Viṣṇu-Purāṇa (Bk. II, chap. vi).