Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

THE SCRIPTURES OF THE AGES 41
have no longer the capacity, longevity, and moral
strength necessary for the application of the Vaidika
Karma-kāṇ ḍ a, the Tantra prescribes a special sādhana,
or means or practice of its own, for the attainment of
that which is the ultimate and common end of all
Śāstras. The Kulārṇ ava-Tantra says 1 that in the Satya
or Kṛ ta age the Śāstra is Śruti (in the sense of the
Upaniṣads); in Tretā-yuga, Smṛ ti (in the sense of the
Dharma-Śāstra and Śrutijīvikā, etc.); in the Dvāpara
Yuga, the Purāṇ a; and in the last or Kali-yuga, the
Tantra, which should now be followed by all orthodox
Hindu worshippers. The Mahānirvāṇ a 2 and other
Tantras and Tāntrik works 3 lay down the same rule.
The Tantra is also said to contain the very core of the
Veda to which, it is described to bear the relation of the
Parāmātmā to the Jīvātmā. In a similar way, Kulācāra
is the central informing life of the gross body called
vedācāra, each of the ācāra which follow it up to kaulācāra,
being more and more subtle sheaths.
1 Kṛ te śrutyukta ācāras Tretāyāṃ
ṇoktaṃ
Kālau āgama kevalaṃ
.
2 Chapter I, verse 23 et seq.
smṛ ti-saṃ
bhavāh, Dvāpare tu purā-
3 So the Tārā-Pradipa (chap. i) says that in the Kali-yuga the Tāntrika
and not the Vaidika-Dharma is to be followed (see as to the Śāstras, my
Introduction to “Principles of Tantra”).