Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

THE PANCHATATTVA

therefore constantly fired in the attack. There may be some who will be disappointed if it be shown that the weapon is not as formidable as was thought. All this is not to say that there have not been abuses, or that some forms of rite will not be considered repugnant, and in fact open to objection founded on the interests of society at large. All this again is not to say that I counsel the acceptance of any theories or practice, not justified by the evolved morality of the day. According to the Sh&stra itself, some of these methods, even if carried out as directed, have their dangers. This is obvious in the actions of a lower class of men, whose conduct has made the Scripture notorious. The ordinary man will then ask :—“ Why then court danger when there is enough of it in ordinary life’. I may here recall an observation of the Emperor Akbar which, though not made with regard to the matter in hand, is yet well in point, He said “I have never known of man who was lost on a straight road.”

It is necessary for me to so guard myself because those who cannot judge with detachment are prone to think that others who deal fairly and dispassionately with any doctrine or practice are necessarily its adherents and the counsellors of it to others.

My own view is this.—Probably we should most of us be, in general, better if we took neither Alcohol or Meat, particularly the latter, which is the source of much disease. Though it is said that killing for sacrifice is no “ killing ” it can hardly be denied that total abstention from slaughter of animals constitutes a more complete conformity with Ahingsa or doctrine of non-injury to any being. Moreover at a certain stage meat-eating is repugnant. A feeling of this kind is growing in the West, where even the Meateater, impelled by disgust and a rising regard for decency, hides away the slaughter houses producing the meat which he openly displays at his table. In the same way sexual

errors are common to-day and nothing should be done or 375