forming of mental image of the Divinity. 1 There are also

ten saṃ

skāras of the mantra.² Dīpanī is seven japas of the bīja, preceded and followed by oṃ

. Where hrīṃ is employed instead of Oṃ

it is prāṇa-yoga. Yoni-mudrā is meditation on the Guru in the head and on the Iṣṭa-devatā in the heart, and then on the Yoni-rūpā Bhaga-vati from the head to the mūlādhāra, and from the mūlādhāra to the head, making japa of the yoni bīja (eṃ

) ten times.³ The mantra itself is Devatā. The worshipper awakens and vitalizes it by cit-śakti, putting away all thought of the letter, piercing the six Cakras, and contemplating the spotless One.⁴ The śakti of the mantra is the vācaka-śakti, or the means by which the vācya-śakti or object of the mantra is attained. The mantra lives by the energy of the former. The saguṇā-śakti is awakened by sādhana and worshipped, and she it is who opens the portals whereby the vācya-śakti is reached. Thus the Mother in Her saguṇā form is the presiding deity (adhiṣṭhātrī-Devatā) of the Gāyatrī-mantra. As the nirguṇa (formless) One, She is its vācya-śakti. Both are in reality one and the same; but the jīva, by the laws of his nature and its three guṇas, must first meditate on the gross (sthūla) form⁵ before he can realize the subtle (sūkṣma) form, which is his liberator.

with Hūm, and again in Sahasrāra. The mūla is the principal mantra, such as the pañcadaśi.

1 Lit., thinking of meaning of mantra or thinking of the mātṛkā in the mantra which constitute the Devatā from foot to head.

2 See Tantrasāra, p. 90.

3 See Purohita-darpaṇam.

4 Kubijikā-Tantra (chap. v).

5 These forms are not merely the creatures of the imagination of the worshipper, as some “modernist” Hindus suppose, but, according to orthodox notions, the forms in which the Deity, in fact, appears to the worshipper.

INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA ŚĀSTRA 88

The mantra of a Devata is the Devata. The rhyth-mical vibrations of its sounds not merely regulate the unsteady vibrations of the sheaths of the worshipper, thus transforming him, but from it arises the form of the Devatā which it is.¹ Mantra-siddhi is the ability to make a mantra efficacious and to gather its fruit² in which case the mantra is called mantrasiddha. Mantras are classified as siddha, sādhya, susiddha, and ari, according as they are friends, servers, supporters, or destroyers—a matter which is determined for each sādhaka by means of cakra calculations.

THE GĀYATRĪ-MANTRA

The Gāyatrī is the most sacred of all Vaidik man-tras. In it the Veda lies embodied as in its seed. It runs:

Oṃ

bhūr-bhuvah-svah: tat savitur vareṇyāṃ

bhargo devasya dhimahi dhiyo yo nah pracodayāt. O ṃ

. “Let us contemplate the wondrous spirit of the Divine Creator (Savitṛ) of the earthly, atmospheric, and celestial spheres. May He direct our minds, that is ‘towards’ the attainment of dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa, Oṃ

.”

The Gāyatrī-Vyākaraṇa of Yogi Yajnavālkya thus explains the following words: Tat, that.³ The word yat

1 Śṛṇu devī pravakṣyāmi bījānām deva-rūpatāṃ . Mantroccāra ṇamātreṇa, deva-rūpaṃ

prajayate.

—(Bṛhad-gandharva-Tantra, chap. v.)

2 Ya ṃ

(Whatever the sādhaka desires that he surely obtains)

—Prāṇa-toṣinī, 619.

3 Tat is apparently here treated as in the objective case agreeing, with varenyaṃ

, etc., but others holding that the vyāhṛti (Bhūr-bhuvah-svah) form part of and should be linked with, the rest of the Gāyatrī treat tat as part of a

WORSHIP 89 (which) is understood.¹ Savituh is the possessive case of Savitṛ derived from the root sū, “to bring forth.” Savitṛ

is, therefore, the Bringer-forth of all that exists. The Sun (Sūrya) is the cause of all that exists, and of the state in which they exist. Bringing forth and creating all things, it is called Savitṛ. The Bhaviṣya-Purāṇa says Sūrya is the visible Devatā. He is the Eye of the world and the Maker of the day. There is no other Devatā eternal like unto Him. This universe has emanated from and will be again absorbed into, Him. Time is of and in Him. The planets, the Vasus, Rudras, Vāyu, Agni, and the rest are but parts of Him. By Bhargah is meant the Āditya-devatā, dwelling in the region of the Sun (sūrya-maṇḍala) in all His might and glory. He is to the Sun what our spirit (ātmā) is to our body. Though He is in the region of the sun in the outer or material sphere He also dwells in our inner selves. He is the light of the light in the solar circle, and is the light of the lives of all beings. As He is in the outer ether, so also is He in the ethereal region of the heart. In the outer ether He is Sūrya, and in the inner ether He is the wonderful Light which is the Smokeless Fire. In short, that Being whom the sādhaka realizes in the region of his heart is the Āditya in the heavenly firmament. The two are one.

The word is derived in two ways: (1) from the root bhrij,

“ripen, mature, destroy, reveal, shine.” In this deri-vation Sūrya is He who matures and transforms all things. He Himself shines and reveals all things by His light. And it is He who at the final Dissolution (pralaya) will in His image of destructive Fire (kālāgni), destroy

genitive compound connected with the previous vyahṛti, in which case it is teṣām.

1 It may, however, be said that yat is there in Yo nah.

INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA ŚĀSTRA 90

all things. (2) From bha = dividing all things into different classes; ro = colour; for He produces the colour of all created objects; ga, constantly going and return-ing. The sun divides all things, produces the different colours of all things, and is constantly going and return-ing. As the Brāhmaṇa-sarvasva says: “The Bhargah is the Ātmā of all that exists, whether moving or motionless, in three lokas (Bhūr-bhuvah-svah). There is nothing which exists apart from it.”

Devasya is the genitive of Deva, agreeing with Savituh. Deva is the radiant and playful (lilāmaya) one.

Sūrya, is in constant play with creation (sṛṣṭi), existence (sthiti), and destruction (pralaya), and by His radiance pleases all. (Lilā, as applied to the Brahman, is the equivalent of māyā.) Vareṇyaṃ

= varaṇiya, or adorable.

He should be meditated upon and adored that we may be relieved of the misery of birth and death. Those who fear rebirth, who desire freedom from death and libera-tion and who strive to escape the three kinds of pain (tāpa-traya), which are ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika, and ādhibhautika, meditate upon and adore the Bharga, who dwelling in the region of the Sun, is Himself the three regions called Bhūr-loka, Bhuvar-loka, and Svar-loka. Dhimahi = dhyāyema, from the root dhyai. We meditate upon, or let us meditate upon.

Pracodayat = may He direct. The Gāyatrī does not so expressly state, but it is understood that such direction is along the catur-varga, or four-fold path, which is dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa (piety, wealth, desire and its fulfilment, and liberation, vide post). The Bhargah is ever directing our inner faculties (buddhi-vṛtti) along these paths.

WORSHIP 91