Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

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INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA ŚĀSTRA
or elsewhere, but is there veiled and seemingly inert.
Caitanya (consciousness) is aroused by the worshipper
through the prāṇ a-pratiṣṭ ha mantra.
Rites (karma) are of two kinds. Karma is either
nitya or naimittika. The first is both daily and obligatory,
and is done because so ordained. Such are the
sandhyā (v. post), which in the case of Śūdras is in the
Tantrik form, and daily pūjā (v. post) of the Iṣṭ a- and
Kula-Devatā (v. post); and for Brāhmaṇ as the pañcamahā-yajña
(v. post). The second or conditional karma
is occasional and voluntary, and is kāmya when done to
gain some particular end, such as yajña for a particular
object; tapas with the same end (for certain forms of
tapas are also nitya) and vrata (v. post.)
The Śūdra is precluded from the performance of
Vaidik rites, or the reading of Vedas, or the recital of the
Vaidik mantra. His worship is practically limited to
that of the Iṣṭ a-Devatā and the Bāna-linga-pūjā, with
Tāntrik and Paurānik mantra and such vratas as consist
in penance and charity. In other cases the vrata is
performed through a Brāhmaṇ a. The Tantra makes no
caste distinctions as regards worship. All may read the
Tantras, perform the Tantrik worship, such as the
sandhyā (v. post), and recite the Tāntrik mantra, such
as the Tāntrik Gāyatrī. All castes, and even the lowest
candāla, may be a member of a cakra, or Tāntrik circle
of worship. In the cakra all its members partake of food
and drink together and are deemed to be greater than
Brāhmaṇ as; though upon the break-up of the cakra the
ordinary caste and social relations are re-established.
All are competent for the special Tāntrik worship, for in
the words of the Gautamiya-Tantra, the Tantra-Śāstra