Mudrá directly touches the mind. For instance, if one calls to a person, as soon as the sound vibrations of “Come” touch the person’s ears, they directly reach the mind. But the person can be made to understand through mudrás [gestures of the fingers] also. Similar are the cases of expressing that one feels hot and sweaty, that one feels thirsty, etc., without speaking, through different physical gestures. Hence, mudrá has shánta bháva [it is peaceful, calm]. It is just the opposite of táńd́ava, and that is why it is known as lalita [graceful].
Once Párvatii posed a question to Shiva: “Who is competent for mokśa [non-qualified liberation]? Who can attain mokśa?” Shiva answered,
Upavása in the sense of fasting is also useless. Were it effective, the poor and the unfed would need to make little effort to reach God!
You know that Tantra is a spiritual cult. It is a cult because Tantra clearly explains how to do a sádhaná of a particular type and stage, and what the achievement will be from each such sádhaná. All possible details have been worked out. It is a systematic practical science. It is vaevahárika [practical] – not bookish. Tantra is dharma, and – since Ácárańát dharmah [“Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct”] – one has to do Tantra practically in one’s individual life. But the practical side of Tantra is very abstract and subtle. One has to be very careful indeed in practising it. So that sádhakas might know and understand the practical side clearly, Párvatii posed questions to Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva answered them.
Tantra is a source of such extraordinary powers. Within a short period, all the páshas and ripus [fetters and enemies] which bind the mind become broken. As long as the mind is in bondage, it tends to move towards crude material objects; that is, the mind remains inextricably associated with matter. But once the bondages become snapped through the practice of Tantra, the mind becomes detached from those crude objects. This implies the elevation of human beings, because [it is through detachment that] physical, psychic, and spiritual progress becomes possible. Humans are predominantly-mental beings, and sometimes [certain of them] develop extraordinary intellect; because of their greater concentration of mind, their societies consider...
The science of spirituality developed out of human beings’ innate desire to unravel the mystery of creation. Humans began to search for the secret causes underlying both the dreadful and the beautiful aspects of nature. They looked around them at the rivers and streams, the far-flung mountain ranges, the flashes of lightning; they heard the thunder; they listened to the roaring of ferocious animals – and they began to plumb the depths of these mysteries. These endeavours to get at the hidden truth of everything are what is known as Tantra. Since these endeavours were carried on at different times, in different places, and by different groups of individuals, we find some differences in methodology among the various schools of Tantra.
Chapter 23 Shiva in the Prańáma Mantra (Discourse 20 (continued))