Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

SHAKTI AND SHAKTA

is mental worship. In it bathing, purification, Japa, and ceremonial worship is by the mind only. (No outward acts are necessary ; the bathing and so forth is in the mind and not in actual water, as is the case in lower and less advanced worship). There are no rules as to auspicious and inauspicious times, or as to what should be done by day and by night. Nothing is pure or impure (there is no ritual defect of impurity) nor prohibition against the taking of food. Devi should be worshipped even though the worshipper has had his food, and even though the place be unclean. Woman who is Her image should be worshipped (Pfijanam striyah) and never should any injury be done to her (Stridvesho naiva kartavyah).

Are we here dealing with an incident in which Shakyamuni or some other Buddha of Buddhism was concerned ?

According to Hindu belief the Ramayana was composed in the Treté age, and Vashishtha was the family priest of Dasharatha and Rama (Adikaénda VII. 4. 5., VIII. 6 Ayodhya-kanda V. 1). The Mahabharata was composed in Dvapara. Krishna appeared in t’ e Sandhya between this and the Kaliyuga. Both Kurukshetra and Buddha were in the Kali age. According to this chronology, Vashishtha who was the Guru of Dasharatha was earlier than Shakyamuni. There were however Buddhas before the latter. The text does not mention Shakyamuni or Gautama Buddha. According to Buddhistic tradition there were many other Buddhas before him such as Dipankara “The Luminous one” Krakuchhanda and others, the term Buddha being a term applicable to the enlightened, whoever he be. It will no doubt be said by the Western Orientalist that both these YAmalas were composed after the time of Shakyamuni. But if this be so, their author or authors, as Hindus, would be aware that according to Hindu Chronology Vashishtha antedated Shakyamuni. Apart from the fact of there being other Buddhas, according to Hinduism “‘ types” as distinguished from “forms” of various things, ideas, and faiths,

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