Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori
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WORSHIP 77<br />
is Śākta, and qualified for the worship of the threefold<br />
śakti of Brahma, Viṣṇ u, Maheśvara. He is fully initiated<br />
in the Gāyatrī-mantra, and worships the Devī<br />
Gāyatrī, the Dakṣiṇ a-Kālikā, or Ādyā Śakti—the union<br />
of the three Śaktis. This is the stage of individualistic<br />
Brahmanattva, and its aim is the union of faith, devotion,<br />
and determination, with a knowledge of the threefold<br />
energies. After this a change of great importance<br />
occurs, marking, as it does, the entry upon the path of<br />
return (nivṛ tti). This it is which has led some <strong>to</strong> divide<br />
the ācāra in<strong>to</strong> two broad divisions of Dakṣiṇ ācāra (including<br />
the first four) and Vāmācāra, (including the last<br />
three), it being said that men are born in<strong>to</strong> Dakṣiṇ ā-<br />
cāra, but are received by initiation in<strong>to</strong> Vāmācāra. The<br />
latter term does not mean, as is vulgarly supposed, “lefthand<br />
worship” but worship in which woman (vāmā)<br />
enters, that is, latā-sādhana. In this ācāra there is also<br />
worship of the Vāmā-Devī. Vāmā is here “adverse,” in<br />
that the stage is adverse <strong>to</strong> pravṛ tti, which governed in<br />
varying degrees the preceding ācāra, and entry is here<br />
made upon the path of nivṛ tti, or return <strong>to</strong> the source<br />
whence the world sprung. Up <strong>to</strong> the fourth stage the<br />
Sādhaka followed pravṛ tti-mārga, the outgoing path<br />
which led from the source, the path of worldly enjoyment,<br />
albeit curbed by dharma. At first unconsciously,<br />
and later consciously, sādhana sought <strong>to</strong> induce nivṛ tti,<br />
which, however, can only fully appear after the exhaustion<br />
of the forces of the outward current. In Vāmācāra,<br />
however, the sadhaka commences <strong>to</strong> directly destroy<br />
pravṛ tti, and with the help of the Guru (whose help<br />
throughout is in this necessary) 1 <strong>to</strong> cultivate nivṛ tti.<br />
1 It is comparatively easy <strong>to</strong> lay down rules for the parvṛ tti-mārga, but<br />
nothing can be achieked in Vāmācāra without the Guru’s help.