Śākta Tantras (Introduction)

The Śākta Tantras are doctrines where the Supreme, who is immanent and transcendental at the same time, is conceived of as the Mother Goddess: She is the origin and the end of the entire creation, Pure Consciousness, Divine Grace, omnipresent, all-knowing, eternal, and both one and multiform; She is the power of illusion which binds all to the cycle of birth and death and, at the same time, She is the supreme knowledge which liberates one from the sense of "I" and "mine" to the awareness "I am the Goddess and none other; I am the Absolute who is beyond all suffering; I am the form of Truth, Consciousness and Bliss, whose nature is eternal Liberation".^[1]

According to the Paraśurāmakalpasūtra (1.2) Paramaśiva manifested the scriptures and the darśanas^[2] as part of His divine sport; questioned by Bhairavī, who is pure consciousness (saṃvidmayā) and not different from His own self (svātmābhinnā), He revealed the āmnāyas (streams or traditions) through His five faces, namely Sadyojāta, Vāmadeva, Aghora, Tatpuruṣa and Īśāna.^[3]

Thus the Tantras are considered to be revelations^[4] of the Supreme Lord: Paramaśiva, intent to bestow grace to the whole universe (viśvānugrahaparaḥ) and having engaged in the four levels of speech,^[5] divided himself into Luminosity (prakāśa) and Reflective Awareness (vimarśa); thus questioned by Himself as Vimarśa, He answers as Prakāśa, causing the doctrine to descend.^[6]

The seven marks or topics of an Āgama are given in the first chapter of the Vārāhī Tantra, they being the creation and dissolution of the universe, the worship of the Devas, sādhanā (spiritual practice), puraścaraṇa (a rite where a certain number of repetitions of a mantra is prescribed), ṣaṭkarmas (six acts, such as pacification, subjugation, immobilization, causing dissention, eradication and liquidation), and dhyānayoga (meditation).

The corpus of Tāntrik literature is thought to consist of innumerable texts, themselves categorized into many divisions and subdivisions, but we can see six general darśanas, classified according to the deity worshipped: thus the Śaiva Tantras are devoted mainly to Śiva, the Śākta Tantras to the Goddess, the Vaiṣṇava Tantras to Viṣṇu, the Saurya Tantras to the Sun, the Gāṇapatya Tantras to Gaṇeśa and the Bauddha Tantras to Buddha.^[7]

In the Śākta view, all these darśanas, together with the Vedas and the various other śāstras, are to be considered as a single unit, since they have all been promulgated by the Supreme Lord to uplift sentient beings in different ways.^[8] Thus, the Śaktisaṃgamatantra says that wisdom can be attained through any of the various darśaṇas, Vedas and other śāstras, without focusing on their differences from which disputes can arise; it is indeed for the sake of this unity that Kālikā, the One who takes one across the ocean of worldly existence (bhavatāriṇī), manifested in a beautiful form to destroy the demons^[9] –i.e. the various aspects of ignorance from where dualism arises.

Throughout all the various philosophical systems and doctrines, the Goddess is worshipped as the one and multiform Supreme Reality;^[10] nevertheless it is in the nondual Saiva, Śākta and in particular the Kaula doctrines that the nondual view and the Śākta way of worship have a special position.

The nondual Śaiva Tantras are known as Bhairava Tantras and they belong to the group of the Mantramārga Tantras,^[11] i.e. the Tantras of the "Path of the Mantras", which together with the Atimārga Tantras (the Tantras of the "Higher Path") constitute the base of the Śaiva Tāntrik Tradition.^[12]

In the Śrīkaṇṭhīyasaṃhitā, referred by Ācārya Abhinavagupta in his Tantrāloka, the scriptures (of the Mantramārga) are divided into the 10 dual Śaivāgamās, the 18 dual-cum- nondual Raudrāgamas and the 64 nondual Bhairāvāgamās. In the Jayaratha’s commentary to the Tantrāloka it is explained that the Śaivāgamās and the Raudrāgamas were revealed by Śiva, who uttered them by combining his five faces in various ways; then, by focusing inward he revealed the Bhairava Tantras; thus he uttered the Kaulāgamas through his secret and lower face, called "the Mouth of the Yoginī" (Yoginīvaktra).^[13]

The Bhairava Tantras follow the Kaula procedure (kaulaprakriyā)^[14] since they discuss the unity of Śiva and Śakti.^[15] Among all the Śaiva and Śākta Āgamas the Kulaśāstras are said to reveal the most secret path,^[16] or the path which leads to the ultimate experience of awareness.^[17]

The Kaula Tantra is a doctrine where the union of the individual soul with the Supreme is pursued through awakening the inner Śakti, who is Kula and who rests in the mūlādhāra cakra,^[18] and uniting her with Śiva, who is Akula, in the sahasrārapadma.^[19]

It is said in the Kulārṇavatantra (17.27):

“Akula is Śiva, Kula is Śakti: O my beloved, those who are intent in the meditation on Kula and Akula are Kaulikas.”

The word “kula”, which literally means a group of elements held together in a unity, also denotes here the whole of reality as well as its smaller sub-units, such as the universe, the world, the family and the individual.

Thus the supreme knowledge consists in the awareness of the unity of the entire manifestation (kula) with the transcendental reality (akula), on the basis that the presence of the Supreme is in each element of the manifested reality,^[20] each single element is said also to contain all the others.^[21] In this way, the individual, or specifically the human body, which is also called "kula",^[22] is said to be the abode of Śiva and Śakti and thus of the entire creation.

It is said in the Jñānasaṅkulinītantra (1.8):

"All knowledge resides in the body; all the deities abide in the body. In the body are all the holy places: this is known through the words of the Guru."

The Kaula ritual, in this way, is based on the worship of the Supreme in its immanent (kula) and transcendental (akula) aspects: internally, through yogic practices; mentally, by the repetition of mantra; and externally, by using secret substances.^[23] Thus in the Kaula path are present both the union with the Supreme (yoga) and participation in its manifestation (bhoga): what is generally considered to be a sin here is turned into a force for good, and the saṃsāra itself becomes a means for liberation^[24] —since saṃsāra itself is the blissful expansion of the Supreme Consciousness, and is therefore not different from it. In this tradition, everything is an aspect of Śiva and thus the enjoyer of the creation is Śiva himself, who for this purpose–i.e. to enjoy the creation–takes the role of a limited individual by contracting his infinite freedom.^[25]

In the Kaula path is thus made explicit the inseparability of the individual with the Supreme and the entire creation, or, in other words, of the offerer with the recipient of the offering and the offering itself.^[26]

It is indeed in this Kaula Tradition that the Śākta doctrine develops its highest nondual expression.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

[...] See “Śakti and Śāktas” of Sir John Woodroffe (Ganesh & Co., Madras: 2001, p.55).

[2]:

The six darśanas are Śaiva, Śākta, Vaiṣṇava, Saurya, Gāṇapatya and Bauddha darśanas (see below). Darśana also means 'philosophy'.

[3]:

Each face of Śiva also represents his five supreme Śaktis or powers, namely Cit, Ānanda, Īcchā, Jñāna and Kriyā (respectively his powers of consciousness, bliss, will, knowledge and action). See “Tantrasāra of Abhinavagupta”, of H.N. Chakravarti, Rudra Press, Oregon, 2012, p.55, footnote number 3.

[4]:

Śrī Kullūkabhaṭṭa says in his commentary to the Manusmṛti, called “Manvarthamuktāvalī”: [...] (Manusmṛti, Chaukhambhā Sanskrit Saṃsthāna, Vārāṇasī: 2000, p.35).

[5]:

Paul Muller-Ortega explains the four levels of speech in the following way: “First, the process of manifestation is harbored within Śiva in a completely undifferentiated form, as nondifferent from him. This corresponds to parā vāk. There then occur, as these principles begin to manifest, two intermediate levels corresponding to the levels of paśyantī and madhyamā. Finally, the full-fledged manifestation of the ordinary tangible world of name and form takes place.” (Paul Muller-Ortega, “The Triadic Heart of Śiva”, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi 1997, p.32).

[6]:

See the commentary by Amṛtānandayogi on the Yoginīhṛdaya (called “Dīpikā”) regarding the sentence “Devyuvāca” (Yoginīhṛdaya, edited by Gopīnātha Kavirāja, Sampūrṇānda Sanskrit Viśvavidyālaya, Vārāṇasī 1979, p.1).

[7]:

See Śaktisaṃgamatantra (Tārākhaṇḍa 4.3, 5.48, 53-54). Sometimes the Jaina Tāntrik Tradition is included in the classification instead of the Bauddha Tāntrik Tradition: see Kulārṇavatantra (2.29) and Saubhāgyabhāskarabhāṣya of Bhaskararāya (p. 194).

[8]:

See supra.—See also Śaktisaṃgamatantra (Tārākhaṇḍa 5.48).

[9]:

[...] (Śaktisaṃgamatantra, Tārākhaṇḍa 5.53-62).—This concept expands into the worship of all the darśanas and āmnāyas in the Śākta cult.

[10]:

It is said in the Devī Purāṇa (p. 37): [...]

[11]:

In the Kāmikāgama the śāstras are divided into five groups: the first three groups include śāstras of general knowledge, from the mundane (laukika, i.e. art, science, politic, medicine, etc.) to the Vedic and to other knowledges concerning the Soul (ādhyātmika, i.e. Yoga, Saṃkhyā, etc.), and the last two groups include the śāstras of the Śaiva Tāntrik Tradition, which are the Atimārga Tantras (the doctrines of Paśupatas and Kalāmukhās) and the Mantra Tantras (Tantras). All the śāstras, from the mundane to the Tāntrik ones, are said to be revealed by Śiva, through his five faces. Because each face possesses all five faces, the Mantratantras are also divided fivefold, into the Bhūtatantras, Vāmatantras, Bhairavatantras, Gāruḍatantras and Siddhantatantras (see “The Canon of the Śaivāgama and the Kubjikā Tantras of the Western Kaula Tradition” of Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi: 1989, pp.31-33).

[12]:

Alexis Sanderson, in his article “Śaivism and the Tantric Traditions” (pp. 664-674), explains that the Atimārga is the path of the Pāśupata and Lakula ascetics, who are devotes to Rudra and whose goal is liberation from any future rebirth; the Mantramārga is instead the path of both ascetics and householders, who worship Bhairava and his consort with the goal of liberation (mukti) along with enjoyment (bhoga).

[13]:

See Tantrāloka (2.18, 28.147) and the commentary of Jayaratha.

[14]:

See “Tāntrik Sāhitya” of Śrī Mahopadhyāya Gopinātha Kavirāja (Lakhnaw: 1972, p.41).—Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, in his “A Journey in the World of the Tantras”, (Indica Books, Varanasi 2004, p.264, n.125) explains: “The term prakriyā may, in some contexts, mean a ‘literary work’ but here I take it to mean ‘liturgy’. This usage coincides with that found in the expressions tantraprakriyā and kaulaprakriyā. We are told by Jayaratha, the commentator on the Tantrāloka, that the rituals and practices in the Tantrāloka belong to these two types, namely Tantric ritual and Kaula ritual. The former is centred on the God, Bhairava or Śiva, and the latter on the goddess or goddesses”.

[15]:

Akula being Śiva and Kula being Śakti. From the union of kula and akula comes Kaula.

[16]:

[...] Kaulārṇavatantra (3.4)

[17]:

“The knowledge taught in other texts (Āgamas) is said to grant liberation only to a certain extent, but not from all bondage. On the other hand, the texts revealed by the Lord Parameśvara bestow release from all sorts of bondage.” (H.N. Chakravarti, “Tantrasāra of Abhinavagupta”, Rudra Press, Portland, Oregon, 2012, p.54).

[18]:

The mūlādhāra cakra is the energetic centre at the base of the spine.

[19]:

The sahasrārapadma is the ‘lotus of one thousand petals’ on the crown of the head.

[20]:

In the Nityotsava (p. 7) it is said that the universe is the embodiment of the Supreme Śiva ([...]). Śrī Yogarājācārya in his commentary to the Paramārthasāra of Śrī Abhinavaguptapadācārya (1.5) quotes: [...] (“Even a portion of the Absolute is omnipresent; nothing exists outside him; he is beyond conceptualization”, from the translation of Deba Brata SenSharma, in his “Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta. The Essence of the Supreme Truth”, Muktabodha Indological Research Institute, New Delhi: 2007, p.14).

[21]:

Śrī Yogarājācārya in his commentary to the Paramārthasāra of Śrī Abhinavaguptapadācārya (1.5) quotes: [...] (“In each tattva are present all the thirty-six tattvas”).

[22]:

Śrī Amṛtānandayogī, in the commentary to the Yoginīhṛdaya (p. 179), says: [...] (“Kaulas are those perceiving the body, which is kula, as a means for liberation”).

[23]:

The secret substances are maṃsa (meat), matsya (fish), mudrā (grain), madyā (wine) and maithunā (intercourse), which are forbidden in other systems

[24]:

It is said in the Kulārṇavatantra (2.22-23): (…) [...]

[25]:

In the Paramārthasāra (1.5) Śrī Abhinavagupta says: [...]
It is also said in the Paraśurāmakalpasūtra (1.5): [...]

[26]:

It is pointed out in the Bhāvanopaniṣad: [...]—"The worship of the Śrīcakra consists of the contemplation on the non-separateness of the knower (jñāta) which is the offerer (hotā), of the knowledge (jñāna) which is the offering (arghya), and of the known (jñeya) which is the oblation (havi).”