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.First among these are wine andwomen, fish, meat, Mudra and accessories.By these things men have lost their manhood.Shiva thendesires to employ these very poisons in order to eradicate the poison in the human system.Poison is theantidote for poison.This is the right treatment for those who long for drink or lust for women.Thephysician must, however, be an experienced one.If there be a mistake as to the application, the patient islikely to die.Shiva has said that the way of Kulacara is as difficult as it is to walk on the edge of a swordor to hold a wild tiger.There is a secret argument in favor of the Pañcattva, and those Tattvas sounderstood should be followed by all.None, however, but the initiate can grasp this argument, andtherefore Shiva has directed that it should not be revealed before anybody and everybody.An initiatewhen he sees a woman will worship her as his own mother and Goddess (Ishtadevata) and bow beforeher.The Vishnu Purana says that by feeding your desires you cannot satisfy them.It is like pouring gheeon fire.Though this is true, an experienced spiritual teacher (Guru) will know how, by the application ofthis poisonous medicine, to kill the poison of the world (Samsara).Shiva has, however, prohibited theindiscriminate publication of this.The object of Tantrik worship is Brahmasayujya.or union withBrahman.If that is not attained, nothing is attained.And with men's propensities as they are, this canonly be attained through the special treatment prescribed by the Tantras.If this is not followed, then thesensual propensities are not eradicated and the work is, for the desired end of Tantra, as useless asharmful magic (Abhicara) which, worked by such a man, leads only to the injury of himself and others."The passage cited refers to the necessity for the spiritual direction of the Guru.To the want of such isaccredited the abuse of the system.When the patient (Shishya) and the disease are working together,there is poor hope for the former; but when the patient, the disease and the physician are on one, and thatthe wrong side, then nothing can save him from a descent in that downward path which it is the object ofSadhana to prevent.All Hindu schools seek the suppressions of mere animal worldly desire.What is peculiar to the Kaulas isthe particular method employed for the transformation of desire.The Kularnava Tantra says that manmust be taught to rise by means of those very things which are the cause of his fall."As one falls on theground, one must lift oneself by aid of the ground." So also the Buddhist Subhashita Samgraha says thata thorn is used to pick out a thorn.Properly applied the method is a sound one.Man falls through thenatural functions of drinking, eating, and sexual intercourse.If these are done with the feeling (Bhava)and under the conditions prescribed, then they become (it is taught) the instruments of his uplift to apoint at which such ritual is no longer necessary and is surpassed.In the first edition of the work, I spoke of Antinomian Doctrine and Practice, and of some Shaktatheories and rituals which have been supposed to be instances of it.This word, however, requiresexplanation, or it may (I have since thought) lead to error in the present connection.There is alwaysdanger in applying Western terms to facts of Eastern life.Antinomianism is the name for hereticaltheories and practices which have arisen in Christian Europe.In short, the term, as generally understood,has a meaning in reference to Christianity, namely, contrary or opposed to Law, which here is the Judaiclaw as adopted and modified by that religion.The Antinomian, for varying reasons, considered himselfnot bound by the ordinary laws of conduct.It is not always possible to state with certainty whether anyparticular sect or person alleged to be Antinomian was in fact such, for one of the commonest chargesmade against sects by their opponents is that of immorality.We are rightly warned against placinghttp://www.sacred-texts.com/tantra/sas/sas27.htm (22 of 29)07/03/2005 16:04:50Chapter Twenty-seven: The Pañcatattva (The Secret Ritual)implicit reliance on the accounts of adversaries.Thus charges of nocturnal orgies were made against theearly Christians, and by the latter against those whom they regarded as heretical dissidents, such asManichæans, Mountanists, Priscillianists and others, and against most of the mediaeval sects such as theCathari, Waldenses and Fracticelli.Nor can we be always certain as to the nature of the theories held bypersons said to be Antinomian, for in a large number of cases we have only the accounts of orthodoxopponents.Similarly, hitherto every account of the Shakta Tantra was given by persons both ignorantof, and hostile to it.In some cases it would seem (I speak of the West) that Matter was held in contemptas the evil product of the Demiurge.In others Antinomian doctrine and practice was based on"Pantheism".The latter in the West has always had as one of its tendencies a leaning towards, oradoption of Antinomianism.Mystics in their identification with God supposed that upon their consciousunion with Him they were exempt from the rules governing ordinary men.The law was spiritualized intothe one precept of the Love of God which ripened into a conscious union with Him, one with man'sessence.This was deemed to be a sinless state.Thus Amalric of Bena (d.1204) is reputed to have saidthat to those constituted in love no sin is imputed (Dixerat etiamquod in charitate constitutis nullumpeccatum imputabatur).His followers are alleged to have maintained that harlotry and other carnal vicesare not sinful for the spiritual man, because the spirit in him, which is God, is not affected by the fleshand cannot sin, and because the man who is nothing cannot sin so long as the Spirit which is God is inhim.In other words, sin is a term relative to man who may be virtuous or sinful.But in that state beyondduty, which is identification with the Divine Essence, which at root man is, there is no question of sin.The body at no time sins.It is the state of mind which constitutes sin, and that state is only possible for amind with a human and not divine consciousness.Johann Hartmann is reputed to have said that he hadbecome completely one with God; that a man free in spirit is impeccable and can do whatever he will, orin Indian parlance he is Svecchacari.(See Dollinger's Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalter's ii.384) [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]