26 - Discourses on Tantra Volume Two

Chapter 5

The Dialogues of Shiva and Párvatii – 1 (1)

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.

The questions of Párvatii were for the sake of lokashikśá [education of the people]. Those questions which are only for the sake of questioning or for the sake of measuring the knowledge of the other person have no value on the sádhaná márga [path of spiritual practice]. They are a sheer waste of time. When the questions asked are intended for the purpose of knowing and then doing, the questions are termed pariprashnas.

What to do; how to do; why to do – these are pariprashnas. Such pariprashnas make up the nigama shástra. Such pariprashnas constitute the philosophical, theoretical, side. And the practical side, constituted by the answers of Sadáshiva, is the ágama shástra. In other words, the pariprashnas of Párvatii go to make up the nigama shástra, and the practical answers of Sadáshiva make up the ágama shástra. Nigama and ágama together make up the Tantra shástra.

One of the questions posed by Párvatii was, “What is to be done to get self-realization?” She had posed this question for the sake of lokashikśá – so that sádhakas might be highly benefited. Actually, the intellect in those days had not developed to the point that there were people who could pose such subtle questions about sádhaná. But as the subtle truths of the path of sádhaná had to be handed over to people, Hara [Shiva] and Párvatii had decided to enter into a dialogue of the type compiled in the nigamas and ágamas. Párvatii posed questions, and Shiva answered them.(1) So the question of Párvatii was, “What is to be done for self-realization? People are seen to undergo fasting, to perform strenuous rituals, to travel to obscure holy places, to take all sorts of pains, to know the self. What is the right path?” So Shiva replied,

Na muktirtapanádhomádupavásashataerapi; Brahmaeváhamiti jiṋátvá mukto bhavati dehabhrt.

[Liberation is not attainable by penance, sacrificial rituals, or hundreds of fasts. Living beings attain liberation when they realize, “I am Brahma.”]

The idea that one can get mukti [liberation] through tapah, that is, by torturing the body, is not correct. God is internal; what has He to do with anything external? Standing in water for days, standing on one foot for months, raising one hand or both hands heavenwards and standing like that for a long time, burying oneself in the earth for days – all these things are simply meaningless. They no doubt call for great physical power and a great capacity of endurance – but many people undertake heavy physical labour; don’t even animals work very hard? Will all such people and animals get mukti? It is not correct.

One cannot get to God through physical tapah. Neither can one get to Him through homa and havana [sacrificial rituals]. Were this possible, it would be very easy for the rich to find God! And the poor could never get near to Him! These things are all meaningless, and represent a very backward stage of humanity.