66 - Discourses on Tantra Volume One

Chapter 16 The Psychology behind the Origin of Tantric Gods and Goddesses (3)

It is not proper to create images, ostensibly for religious worship, such as that. As ideas are very pleasing to the human mind, if we draw or paint a picture on any surface, it will give us aesthetic pleasure, but what is the benefit in worshipping such things? If you worship one idea, maybe you will have some control over that idea, but you will not have influence over other ideas. After all, one particular image is not Parama Puruśa, it is just one of His partial expressions.

Take for instance the case of Kálii. She is described as meghavarńá, black. Why the black colour? Because it was conceived that there was no creation at that time. At the time when this world had not been created, there was no colour, and want of colour is black; so the idea of want of colour is represented by Kálii. It is not possible to think of any other colour, because there was no other colour.

Then again Kálii is conceived of as vigatavasaná, having no clothes. Why no clothes? Because, is it possible to cover an all-pervading entity with clothes? Can we conceive of clothing the Infinite Entity? What does logic say about this? Therefore vigatavasaná. If the Infinite Entity is covered with clothes, can it be called infinite? Therefore vigatavasaná, but also digvásá:(4) here metaphorically all the directions (dik) are Her clothes (vásá). She is further described as shavashivárúd́há. When Consciousness has not been metamorphosed into the different successive stages of manifestation, Shiva [Consciousness] is just like a dead body, because at that stage Shiva cannot do anything, there is no expression of consciousness. Only Paramá Prakrti is the creative entity. She carries on Her eternal dance of creation. She is also conceived as three-eyed (trinayaná), because she is witnessing all the phenomena of the past, present and future.

In fact there is no such thing as Kálii, it is just an idea. Two of the deity’s hands hold a human head and a sword (khad́ga). The other two are in varábhaya mudrá.(5) She is wearing a garland around her neck, a garland dotted with forty-nine severed heads, each face representing one particular acoustic root, and one hand, as mentioned, is also holding a head. (I have already told you that in that Vedic period people did not know how to write. Script had not yet been invented.(6) ) The fifty sounds from a to kśa [symbolized together as a málá, a garland] are called akśamálá – although the a of the akśamálá is in her hand. All the sounds are represented by faces – faces, not heads(7) [as may appear at first sight].

Yata shońa karńaput́e sab-i máyer mantra bat́e. Kálii
paiṋcáshat varńamayii varńe varńe viráj kare.

[Whatever you hear with your ears are the mantras emanating from the Causal Matrix. Kálii is a combination of fifty letters; she is associated with all the letters.]

At the time when the universe had not been created, the sounds were already present, and all those sounds were merged in the dark void of MaháKálii [Supreme Operative Principle]. So Kálii, or Paramá Prakrti is holding them, though they are not expressed.(8)

In the poem Kálii is described as Narashirakhad́ga-varábhayashobhaná . Here khad́ga [sword] is a symbol of the fight against evil and sin, and abhaya means “fearlessness”. When we confront the illusions of creation and destruction, the Supreme Entity tells us, “Don’t be nervous, don’t be afraid, there will again be creation.” And what is vara? “I will again create.” And in her hand there is a container of nectar. So this is an excellent idea, but an idea is just an idea, it should not be worshipped. If people do so, they will be metamorphosed into that idea only; they can never attain the Supreme Goal.

All such Tantric ideations are very beautiful images of the different aspects of the Supreme Entity, and human beings start moulding clay statues depicting those ideas. So this Kálii, this Tárá, and all the Dashamahávidyá, are one or another mental ideation, born out of the human mind. The total expression of all these ideations is what is called the human psychic expression. If a follower of Tantra or Purana remains preoccupied with a particular idea, the total development of the mind will remain an impossibility. That’s why all these ideas of [this school of] Tantra should be rejected. The great mystic Ramprasad said,

Hrdipadma ut́hbe phut́e, maner áṋdhár yábe t́ut́e
Dharátale paŕbo lut́e, “Tárá” bale habo sárá.
Tyajiba sav bhedábhed, ghuce jábe maner khed,
Shatashata satya ved, “Tárá” ámár nirákárá.

[The lotus will bloom, the darkness of my mind will disappear, I shall roll on the earth(9) with the holy name of Tárá on my lips. All sorts of distinction will be obliterated, all the afflictions of my mind will be totally removed; the scriptures are right when they declare that Tárá is formless.]

So if people concentrate their minds on a particular idea, their progress will remain a far cry away from total progress. So sádhakas must try to realize Parama Puruśa, and not any non-integral entity. There is no other way.

(4) The foregoing clause has been transcribed from the original tape for this edition and incorporated here. –Trans.

(5) Vara mudrá is depicted not as an empty hand, but as a hand giving nectar. –Trans.

(6) But the alphabet was known orally. –Trans.

(7) The foregoing twenty words have been transcribed from the original tape for this edition and incorporated here. –Trans.

(8) The foregoing sentence has been transcribed from the original tape for this edition and incorporated here. –Trans.

(9) As the kuńd́alinii of an aspirant rises, the previously-unexpressed spiritual qualities of the higher glands become expressed. Sometimes the nervous system is affected in such a way as to make certain “occult feelings” or “occult symptoms” appear in the physical body; they are experienced by the aspirant as pleasurable. There are eight basic types (e.g., stambha, or immobility, and kampa, or trembling), and thirteen associated feelings, one of which is viluńt́hana – rolling on the earth. –Trans.