The Essence of the Tantra · Chapter 4

The Essence of the Tantra — Chapter 4

तन्त्रसार

Tantrasāra


Chapter 4 46 verses

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  1. 1 tatra yadā vikalpaṃ krameṇa saṃskurute samanantaroktasvarūpapraveśāya tadā bhāvanākramasya … Here, when one refines the conceptual construct in due sequence in order to enter into…
  2. 2 tathā hi vikalpabalāt eva jantavo baddham ātmānam abhimanyante … For it is precisely through the force of conceptual construction that beings imagine the…
  3. 3 sa ca evaṃrūpaḥ samastebhyaḥ paricchinnasvabhāvebhyaḥ śivāntebhyaḥ tattvebhyo yat … And that [highest reality], being of such a kind, is what has risen beyond all the…
  4. 4 sa ca ayaṃ māyāndhānāṃ na utpadyate sattarkādīnām abhāvāt And this [recognition] does not arise in those blinded by māyā, owing to the absence of…
  5. 5 vaiṣṇavādyā hi tāvanmātra eva āgame rāgatattvena niyamitā iti … For the Vaiṣṇavas and the rest are bound by the principle of attachment within a…
  6. 6 yathoktaṃ pārameśvare vaiṣṇavādyāḥ samastās te vidyārāgeṇa rañjitāḥ As has been said in the Pārameśvara: "The Vaiṣṇavas and all the rest are colored by…
  7. 7 na vindanti paraṃ tattvaṃ sarvajñajñānavarjitāḥ iti being devoid of the knowledge of the Omniscient One, they do not attain the supreme…
  8. 8 tasmāt śāmbhavadṛḍḥaśaktipātāviddhā eva sadāgamādikrameṇa vikalpaṃ saṃskṛtya paraṃ svarūpaṃ … Therefore it is precisely those pierced by the intense Śāmbhava descent of grace who,…
  9. 9 nanu itthaṃ paraṃ tattvaṃ vikalpyarūpaṃ syāt maivam vikalpasya … But surely, in this way the supreme reality would become an object of conceptualization?
  10. 10 tatra atidṛḍhaśaktipātāviddhasya svayam eva sāṃsiddhikatayā sattarka udeti yo … Among these, in one pierced by an exceedingly intense descent of grace, sound reasoning…
  11. 11 anyasya āgamakrameṇa ityādi savistaraṃ śaktipātaprakāśane vakṣyāmaḥ As for another — "by the sequence of scripture," and so forth — we shall explain this at…
  12. 12 kiṃ tu guror āgamanirūpaṇe vyāpāraḥ āgamasya ca niḥśaṅkasajātīyatatprabandhaprasavanibandhanasamucitavikalpodaye … Rather, the guru's role lies in elucidating scripture, and scripture's role lies in…
  13. 13 na ca atra sattarkāt śuddhavidyāprakāśarūpāt ṛte anyat yogāṅgaṃ … And here, apart from sound reasoning — which has the form of the radiance of pure wisdom…
  14. 14 pratyāhāro 'pi karaṇabhūmim eva sātiśayāṃ kuryāt dhyānadhāraṇāsamādhayo 'pi … Even withdrawal of the senses (pratyāhāra) would only render the domain of the…
  15. 15 abhyāsaś ca pare tattve śivātmani svasvabhāve na sambhavaty … And repeated practice is simply not possible with respect to the supreme reality, whose…
  16. 16 saṃvidrūḍhasya prāṇabuddhidehaniṣṭhīkaraṇarūpo hi abhyāsaḥ bhārodvahanaśāstrārthabodhanṛttābhyāsavat saṃvidrūpe tu na … For one established in consciousness, practice consists in fixing something in the…
  17. 17 kiṃ tarkeṇāpi iti cet uktam atra dvaitādhivāsanirāsaprakāra eva … If one objects, "Then what use is even reasoning?
  18. 18 laukike 'pi vā abhyāse cidātmatvena sarvarūpasya tasya tasya … Or rather, even in ordinary practice — since everything, having consciousness as its…
  19. 19 paratattve tu na kiñcit apāsyam iti uktam But with respect to the supreme reality, it has been said that there is nothing to be set…
  20. 20 dvaitādhivāso 'pi nāma na kaścana pṛthak vastubhūtaḥ api … Even the residual sense of duality is not some separately existing real thing;
  21. 21 ayaṃ paramārthaḥ svarūpaṃ prakāśamānam akhyātirūpatvaṃ svayaṃ svātantryāt gṛhītaṃ … This is the ultimate reality: one's essential nature, shining forth, having of itself…
  22. 22 tarkaṃ tu anugṛhṇīyur api sattarka eva sākṣāt tatra … [Other yogic limbs] may, however, assist reasoning;
  23. 23 sarve bhāvāḥ parameśvaratejomayā iti rūḍhavikalpaprāptyai parameśasaṃvidanalatejasi samastabhāvagrāsarasikatābhimate tattejomātrāvaśeṣatvasahasamastabhāvavilāpanaṃ … "All entities are composed of the radiance of the Supreme Lord" — for attaining this…
  24. 24 tathā ubhayātmakaparāmarśodayārthaṃ bāhyābhyantarādiprameyarūpabhinnabhāvānapekṣayaiva evaṃvidhaṃ tat paraṃ tattvaṃ svasvabhāvabhūtam … Likewise, in order that the reflective awareness of both [transcendence and immanence]…
  25. 25 sarvatra sarvadā nirupāyaparameśvarābhimānalābhāya parameśvarasamatābhimānena dehasyāpi ghaṭāder api avalokanaṃ … For attaining everywhere and always the means-less conviction of being the Supreme Lord,…
  26. 26 yathoktaṃ śrīnandiśikhāyām sarvasāmyaṃ paraṃ vratam iti As has been said in the Śrī-Nandiśikhā: "Sameness with all is the supreme vow.
  27. 27 itthaṃ vicitraiḥ śuddhavidyāṃśarūpaiḥ vikalpaiḥ yat anapekṣitavikalpaṃ svābhāvikaṃ paramārthatattvaṃ … Thus, when by manifold conceptual constructs that are portions of pure wisdom the…
  28. 28 tatra parameśvaraḥ pūrṇasaṃvitsvabhāvaḥ pūrṇataiva asya śaktiḥ kulaṃ sāmarthyam … Therein the Supreme Lord, whose essential nature is plenary consciousness — and that very…
  29. 29 sā ca samagraśaktitādarśanena pūrṇatāsaṃvit prakāśate And that [power] — as the awareness of fullness — shines forth through the seeing of the…
  30. 30 śaktayaś ca asya asaṅkhyeyāḥ And His powers are innumerable.
  31. 31 kiṃ bahunā yat viśvaṃ tā asya śaktayaḥ tāḥ … What need of saying more?
  32. 32 tisṛṣu tāvat viśvaṃ samāpyate yayā idaṃ śivādidharaṇyantam avikalpyasaṃvinmātrarūpatayā … Now, the universe is comprehended within three [powers].
  33. 33 yayā ca darpaṇahastyādivat bhedābhedābhyāṃ sā asya śrīparāparaśaktiḥ And the one by which [He manifests it] through both difference and non-difference — as an…
  34. 34 yayā parasparaviviktātmanā bhedenaiva sā asya śrīmadaparaśaktiḥ And the one by which [He manifests it] through difference alone, in a mode wherein things…
  35. 35 etat trividhaṃ yayā dhāraṇam ātmany eva kroḍīkāreṇa anusandhānātmanā … And the one by which He devours this threefold holding back into the Self alone — by an…
  36. 36 tā etāḥ catasraḥ śaktayaḥ svātantryāt pratyekaṃ tridhaiva vartante These four powers, through their freedom, each operate in just three ways:
  37. 37 sṛṣṭau sthitau saṃhāre ca iti dvādaśa bhavanti in emission, maintenance, and withdrawal — and thus they become twelve.
  38. 38 tathā hi saṃvit pūrvam antar eva bhāvaṃ kalayati … To explain: consciousness first impels (kalayati) an entity inwardly;
  39. 39 kalanaṃ ca gatiḥ kṣepo jñānaṃ gaṇanaṃ bhogīkaraṇaṃ śabdanaṃ … And "kalana" means: motion, casting forth, knowing, enumerating, making into an object of…
  40. 40 yad āhuḥ śrībhūtirājaguravaḥ kṣepāj jñānāc ca kālī kalanavaśatayātha … As the venerable guru Bhūtirāja said: "From casting forth and from knowing, by virtue of…
  41. 41 eṣa ca arthaḥ tatra tatra madviracite vivaraṇe prakaraṇastotrādau … And this topic should be examined at length here and there in my commentary, treatises,…
  42. 42 na atirahasyam ekatra khyāpyaṃ na ca sarvathā gopyam … For our gurus say: "The most secret teaching is neither to be proclaimed all in one…
  43. 43 tad evam yad uktaṃ yāgahomādi tat evaṃvidhe maheśvara … So then, what was said — the worship-offering, oblation, and the rest — is all to be…
  44. 44 sarve hi heyam eva upādeyabhūmirūpaṃ viṣṇutaḥ prabhṛti śivāntaṃ … For all [the lower schools] regard what is [really] to be discarded — [the levels] from…
  45. 45 tasmāt vaidikāt prabhṛti pārameśvarasiddhāntatantrakulocchuṣmādiśāstrokto 'pi yo niyamo vidhiḥ … Therefore it is established that here, whatever rule, injunction, or prohibition is…
  46. 46 tathaiva ca uktaṃ śrīpūrvādau vitatya tantrālokāt anveṣyam And it has been stated in just this way in the Śrī-Pūrva and elsewhere;