Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

FOUR AIMS OF BEING
THERE is but one thing which all seek—happiness—
though it be of differing kinds and sought in different
ways. All forms, whether sensual, intellectual, or spiritual,
are from the Brahman, who is Itself the Source and
Essence of all Bliss, and Bliss itself (rasovai sah). Though
issuing from the same source, pleasure differs in its forms
in being higher and lower, transitory or durable, or permanent.
Those on the path of desire (pravṛ tti mārga)
seek it through the enjoyments of this world (bhukti) or
in the more durable, though still impermanent delights
of heaven (svarga). He who is on the path of return
(nivṛ tti-mārga) seeks happiness, not in the created worlds,
but in everlasting union with their primal source (mukti);
and thus it is said that man can never be truly happy
until he seeks shelter with Brahman, which is Itself the
great Bliss (rasam hi vayam labdhvā ānandī bhavati).
The eternal rhythm of the Divine Breath is outwards
from spirit to matter and inwards from matter to
spirit. Devī as Māyā evolves the world. As Mahāmāyā
She recalls it to Herself. The path of outgoing is the
way of pravṛ tti; that of return nivṛ tti. Each of these
movements is divine. Enjoyment (bhukti) and liberation
(mukti) are each Her gifts. 1 And in the third chapter of
the work cited it is said that of Viṣṇ u and Śiva mukti
only can be had, but of Devī both bhukti and mukti and
this is so in so far as the Devī is, in a peculiar sense the
source whence those material things come from which
1 As also Svargā (see Śāktānanda-tarangiṇi, chap. i).