The Essence of the Tantra· 11.7 / 25

The Essence of the Tantra11.7

11.7

स चायं शक्तिपातो नवधा तीव्रमध्यमन्दस्य उत्कर्षमाध्यस्थ्यनिकर्षैः पुनस् त्रैविध्यात् तत्र उत्कृष्टतीव्रात् तदैव देहपाते परमेशता मध्यतीव्रात् शास्त्राचार्यानपेक्षिणः स्वप्रत्ययस्य प्रातिभज्ञानोदयः यदुदये बाह्यसंस्कारं विनैव भोगापवर्गप्रदः प्रातिभो गुरुर् इत्य् उच्यते तस्य हि न समय्यादिकल्पना काचित् अत्रापि तारतम्यसद्भावः इच्छावैचित्र्यात् इति सत्य् अपि प्रातिभत्वे शास्त्राद्यपेक्षा संवादाय स्याद् अपि इति निर्भित्तिसभित्त्यादिबहुभेदत्वम् आचार्यस्य प्रातिभस्यागमेषु उक्तम् सर्वथा प्रतिभांशो बलीयान् तत्सन्निधौ अन्येषाम् अनधिकारात्

Transliteration (IAST)

sa cāyaṃ śaktipāto navadhā tīvramadhyamandasya utkarṣamādhyasthyanikarṣaiḥ punas traividhyāt tatra utkṛṣṭatīvrāt tadaiva dehapāte parameśatā madhyatīvrāt śāstrācāryānapekṣiṇaḥ svapratyayasya prātibhajñānodayaḥ yadudaye bāhyasaṃskāraṃ vinaiva bhogāpavargapradaḥ prātibho gurur ity ucyate tasya hi na samayyādikalpanā kācit atrāpi tāratamyasadbhāvaḥ icchāvaicitryāt iti saty api prātibhatve śāstrādyapekṣā saṃvādāya syād api iti nirbhittisabhittyādibahubhedatvam ācāryasya prātibhasyāgameṣu uktam sarvathā pratibhāṃśo balīyān tatsannidhau anyeṣām anadhikārāt

— ninefold ; — of the intense, the middling, and the mild (kinds) ; — by the higher, the middle, and the lower (grades) ; — because of (a further) threefoldness ; — from the supremely intense (descent) ; — at the falling of the body, the state of being the Supreme Lord ; — from the middle-intense (descent) ; — the dawning of intuitive (innate) knowledge ; — even without any external rite (sacrament) ; — bestowing both enjoyment and liberation ; — the intuitive (self-illumined) guru ; — the arrangement of (initiate-)rules and the like ; — because of the variety of (the Lord's) will ; — for corroboration ; — a manifold variety — unsupported, supported, and so on ; — the intuitive component is the stronger ; — because of (their) lack of authority

And this śaktipāta is ninefold, since the intense, the middling, and the mild are each again threefold by the higher, the middle, and the lower grades. Of these: from the supremely intense, there is, at the very falling of the body, the state of being the Supreme Lord. From the middle-intense, for one who relies on his own conviction without recourse to scripture or teacher, there is the dawning of intuitive knowledge; and he, upon whose dawning of it (such a one) bestows enjoyment and liberation even without any external rite, is called the intuitive guru. For him there is no arrangement of initiate-rules or the like whatsoever. Here too there is gradation, owing to the variety of (the Lord's) will; hence even when there is intuitiveness, a reliance on scripture and the rest may yet serve for corroboration. Thus in the scriptures a manifold variety of the intuitive teacher is stated — the unsupported, the supported, and so on. In every case the intuitive component is the stronger, since in its presence others have no authority.