Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

THE PANCHATATTVA

consists in intention, not ina physical act divorced therefrom. Were this otherwise, then it is said that the child which,when issuing from the mother’s body, touches her Yoni would be guilty of the heinous offence called Guru-talpaga. The doctrine of a single act with differing intentions is illustrated by the Tantrik maxim ‘‘A wife is kissed with one feeling, a daughter’s face with another” (Bhdvena chumbita kanta bhdvena duhitananam). In the words of the Sarvollasa a man who goes with a woman, in the belief that by commission of such act he will go to Hell, will of a surety go thither. On the other hand it may be said that if an act is really lawful but is done in the belief that it is unlawful and with the deliberate intention of doing what is unlawful, there is subjective sin. The intention of the Shastra is not to unlawfully satisfy carnal desire in the way of eating and drinking and so forth, but that man should unite with Shiva-Shakti in worldly enjoyment (Bhaum4nanda) as a step towards the supreme enjoyment (Paramananda) of Liberation. In so doing he must follow the Dharma prescribed by Shiva. It is true that there are different observances for the illuminate, for those whose power (Shakti) is awake (Prabuddha) and for the rest. But the Sadhana& of these last is as necessary as the first and a stepping stone toit. The Kaula doctrine and practice may from a western standpoint only be called Antinomian, in the sense that it holds, in common with the Upanishads, that the Brahmajnani is above both good (Dharma) and evil (Adharma), and in the sense that some of these practices are contrary to what the general body of Hindu worshippers consider to be the lawful. Thus Shakta Darshana is said by some to be Avaidika. It is however best to leave to the West its own labels and to state the case of the East in its own terms.

After all, when everything unfavourable has been said, the abuses of some Tantriks are not to be compared either in nature or extent with those of the West with its widespread

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