Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

SHAKTI AND SHAKTA

presentment of Vaidik truth which is suitable for the Kali age. Indeed the Shakta followersof the Agama claim that its Tantras contain the very core of the Veda to which it is described to bear the same relation as the Supreme Spirit (Paramatma) to the embodied spirit (Jivatma). In a similar way, in theseven Tantrik Acharas (see Ch. IV post), Kaulachara is the controlling, informing life of the gross body called VedAchara, each of the Acharas, which follow the latter up to Kaulach4ara, being more and more subtle sheaths. The Tantra Shastra is thus that presentment of Vedantic truth which is modelled, as regards mode of life and ritual, to meet the characteristics and infirmities of the Kaliyuga. As men have no longer the capacity, longevity and moral strength required to carry out the Vaidika Karma-K anda (ritual section), the Tantra Shastra prescribes a Sadhana of its own for the attainment of the common end of all Shastra, that is a happy life on earth, Heaven thereafter, and at length Liberation. Religion isin fact the true pursuit of happiness.

As explained in the next and following Chapters, this Agama, which governs according to its followers the Kaliyuga, is itself divided into several schools or communities of worshippers. One of these divisions is the Shakta. It is with Shakta doctrine and worship, one of the forms of Brahmanism, which is again a form of the general Bharata Dharma, that this book deals.

The Shakta is so called because he is a worshipper of Shakti (Power) that is God in Mother-form as_ the Supreme Power which creates, sustains and withdraws the universe. His rule of life is Shaktadharma, his doctrine of Shakti is Shaktivada or Shakta Darshana. God is worshipped as the Great Mother because, in this aspect, God is active, and produces, nourishes, and maintains all. But this is for worship. God is no more female than male or neuter, God is beyond sex. God is thought of as Mother in the mind, and is so felt by the

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