Shakti and Shâkta : essays and addresses on the Shâkta Tantrashâstra

SHAKTI AND SHAKTA

that which leads to Siddhi. Sadhana is the development of Shakti. Man is consciousness (Atma) vehicled by Shakti in the form of mind and body. But this Shakti is at base consciousness, just as Atma is; for Atma and Shakti are one. Man is thus a vast magazine of both latent and expressed power. The object of Sadhana is to develop man’s Shakti, whether for temporal or spiritual purposes. But where is this Sadhana to be found? Seeing that the Vaidika Achara has fallen into practical desuetude we can find it nowhere but in the Agamas and in the Puranas which are replete with Tantrik rituals. The Tantras of these Agamas therefore contain both a practical exposition of spiritual doctrine and the means by which the truth it teaches may be realised. Their authority does not depend, as Western writers, and some of their Eastern followers, suppose, on the date when they were revealed but on the question whether Siddhi is gained thereby. This too is the proof of Ayurveda. The test of medicine is that it cures. If Siddhi is not obtained, the fact that it is written “Shiva uvacha” or the like counts for nothing. The Agama therefore is a practical exposition and application of Vedanta varying according to its different schools.

The latest tendency in modern Western philosophy is to rest upon intuition, as it was formerly the tendency to glorify dialectic. Intuition has however to be led into higher and higher possibilities by means of Sadhana. This term means work or practice, which in its result is the gradual unfolding of the Spirit’s vast latent magazine of power (Shakti), enjoyment and vision which everyone possesses in himself. The philosophy of the Agama is, as a friend of mine Professor Pramathanatha Mukhyopadhyaya very well put it, a practical philosophy, adding, that what the intellectual world wants to-day is this sort of philosophy; a philosophy which not merely argues but experiments. The form which Sadhana takes is asecondary matter. One goal may be reached by many paths. What is the path in