The Essence of the Tantra · Chapter 6

The Essence of the Tantra — Chapter 6

तन्त्रसार

Tantrasāra


Chapter 6 82 verses

Begin reading Verse 1
  1. 1 sa eva sthānaprakalpanaśabdena uktaḥ tatra tridhā sthānaṃ prāṇavāyuḥ … That very locus is what was meant by the term "the establishing of the locus.
  2. 2 saṃvid eva hi prameyebhyo vibhaktaṃ rūpaṃ gṛhṇāti ata … For Consciousness itself takes on a form distinct from the objects of knowledge, and for…
  3. 3 tatra kriyā śaktau kālādhvā prācyabhāge uttare tu mūrtivaicitryarūpo … Therein action, in its power-aspect, is the temporal path on the prior side;
  4. 4 deśādhvasthitis tu tattvapurakalātmanā iti bhaviṣyati svāvasare The location within the spatial path, on the other hand — as principle, world, and…
  5. 5 tatra yady api dehe sabāhyābhyantaram otaprotarūpaḥ prāṇaḥ tathāpi … Now, although the breath is interwoven like warp and woof throughout the body, both outer…
  6. 6 tatra prabhuśaktiḥ ātmaśaktiḥ yatna iti tritayaṃ prāṇeraṇe hetuḥ … Therein the triad — the power of the Lord, the power of the self, and effort — is the…
  7. 7 tatra hṛdayāt dvādaśāntāntaṃ svāṅgulaiḥ sarvasya ṣaṭtriṃśadaṅgulaḥ prāṇacāraḥ nirgame … Therein, from the heart up to the dvādaśānta, measured by one's own finger-breadths, the…
  8. 8 tatra ghaṭikā tithiḥ māso varṣaṃ ca varṣasamūhātmā iti … Therein the ghaṭikā, the lunar day, the month, and the year — which consists of an…
  9. 9 atha tithyudayaḥ Now, the arising of the lunar day.
  10. 10 sapādam aṅguladvayaṃ tuṭiḥ ucyate tāsu catasṛṣu praharaḥ tuṭyardhaṃ … Two finger-breadths plus a quarter are called a tuṭi;
  11. 11 atha māsodayaḥ Now, the arising of the month.
  12. 12 tatra dinaṃ kṛṣṇapakṣaḥ rātriḥ śuklaḥ tatra pūrvaṃ tuṭyardham … Therein the day is the dark fortnight and the night the bright fortnight.
  13. 13 tatra vedyamayatāprakāśo dinaṃ vedyasya vicārayitari layo rātriḥ te … Therein the luminous manifestation consisting of the knowable is the day;
  14. 14 tatra kṛṣṇapakṣe prāṇārke apānacandra āpyāyikām ekām ekāṃ kalām … Therein, in the dark fortnight, the moon of apāna offers up to the sun of prāṇa one…
  15. 15 tadanantaraṃ yat tuṭyardhaṃ sa pakṣasandhiḥ The half-tuṭi that comes immediately after that is the juncture of the fortnights.
  16. 16 tasya ca tuṭyardhasya prācyam ardham āmāvasyaṃ dvitīyaṃ prātipadam And of that half-tuṭi, the prior half belongs to the new-moon day, the second to the…
  17. 17 tatra prātipade tasmin bhāge sa āmāvasyo bhāgo yadā … Now in that first-lunar-day portion, when the new-moon portion intrudes by reason of a…
  18. 18 pramātṛpramāṇaprameyatritayāvibhāgakāritvāt sa puṇyaḥ kālaḥ pāralaukikaphalapradaḥ Because it brings about the non-division of the triad of knower, means of knowledge, and…
  19. 19 tataḥ praviśati prāṇe cidarka ekaikayā kalayā apānacandram āpūrayati … Then, when the breath enters, the sun of consciousness fills the moon of apāna digit by…
  20. 20 atha varṣodayaḥ Now, the arising of the year.
  21. 21 tatra kṛṣṇapakṣa eva uttarāyaṇaṃ ṣaṭsu ṣaṭsu aṅguleṣu saṅkrāntiḥ … Therein the dark fortnight itself is the northern course of the sun: at every six…
  22. 22 tatra pratyaṅgulaṃ pañca tithayaḥ tatrāpi dinarātrivibhāgaḥ evaṃ praveśe … Therein there are five lunar days per finger-breadth, and there too the division into day…
  23. 23 tathaiva upāsā atra phalaṃ samucitaṃ karoti Just so, worship here produces its appropriate fruit.
  24. 24 atra ca dakṣādyāḥ pitāmahāntā rudrāḥ śaktayaś ca dvādaśādhipataya … And here the Rudras beginning with Dakṣa and ending with Pitāmaha, together with their…
  25. 25 pratyaṅgulaṃ ṣaṣṭiḥ tithaya iti krameṇa saṅkrāntau varṣam ity … Sixty lunar days per finger-breadth — so at each zodiacal passage there is a year.
  26. 26 tāvatī eva ahorātre prāṇasaṅkhyā iti na ṣaṣṭyabdodayāt adhikaṃ … Just that much is the number of breaths in a day-and-night;
  27. 27 tatra mānuṣaṃ varṣaṃ devānāṃ tithiḥ anena krameṇa divyāni … Therein a human year is a single lunar day of the gods.
  28. 28 catvāri trīṇi dve ekam iti kṛtāt prabhṛti tāvadbhiḥ … Four, three, two, one — these (thousands of divine years), beginning from the Kṛta age;
  29. 29 caturyugānām ekasaptatyā manvantaram manvantaraiḥ caturdaśabhiḥ brāhmaṃ dinaṃ brahmadinānte … By seventy-one cycles of four ages there is a Manvantara;
  30. 30 prabuddhās tu kūṣmāṇḍahāṭakeśādyā maholoke krīḍanti But the awakened ones, those beginning with Kūṣmāṇḍa and Hāṭakeśa, sport in the Mahar…
  31. 31 tato niśāsamāptau brāhmī sṛṣṭiḥ Then, at the end of the night, comes the creation belonging to Brahmā.
  32. 32 anena mānena varṣaśataṃ brahmāyuḥ By this measure, a hundred years is the lifespan of Brahmā.
  33. 33 tat viṣṇoḥ dinaṃ tāvatī ca rātriḥ tasyāpi śatam … That is a single day of Viṣṇu, and his night is of equal length;
  34. 34 tat dinaṃ tadūrdhve rudralokaprabho rudrasya tāvatī rātriḥ prāgvat … That is a single day, above that, of the lord of the Rudra world;
  35. 35 tatra rudrasya tadavasitau śivatvagatiḥ rudrasya uktādhikārāvadhiḥ brahmāṇḍadhārakāṇāṃ tat … Therein, when that comes to its end for Rudra, there is the attainment of the state of…
  36. 36 śatarudrakṣaye brahmāṇḍavināśaḥ At the dissolution of the hundred Rudras comes the destruction of the cosmic egg.
  37. 37 evaṃ jalatattvāt avyaktāntam etad eva krameṇa rudrāṇām āyuḥ In this way, from the water-principle up to the Unmanifest, this very (reckoning), in…
  38. 38 pūrvasyāyur uttarasya dinam iti The lifespan of the prior one is a single day of the latter.
  39. 39 tataś ca brahmā rudrāś ca abādyadhikāriṇaḥ avyakte tiṣṭhanti … And thereafter Brahmā and the Rudras, the officiants beginning with the water-principle,…
  40. 40 śrīkaṇṭhanāthaś ca tadā saṃhartā And the Lord Śrīkaṇṭha is then the one who withdraws (the world).
  41. 41 eṣo 'vāntarapralayaḥ tatkṣaye sṛṣṭiḥ This is an intermediate dissolution;
  42. 42 tatra śāstrāntaram uktā api sṛjyante Therein, even those spoken of in another scripture are emanated anew.
  43. 43 yat tu śrīkaṇṭhanāthasya svam āyuḥ tat kañcukavāsināṃ rudrāṇāṃ … Now, what is the own lifespan of the Lord Śrīkaṇṭha is a single day of the Rudras…
  44. 44 punaḥ gahaneśaḥ sṛjati Again Gahaneśa emanates (the world).
  45. 45 evaṃ yaḥ avyaktakālaḥ taṃ daśabhiḥ parārdhaiḥ guṇayitvā māyādinaṃ … Thus, the duration of the Unmanifest — having multiplied it by ten parārdhas, one should…
  46. 46 sa eva pralayaḥ That very (night) is the dissolution.
  47. 47 māyākālaḥ parārdhaśatena guṇita aiśvaratattve dinam The duration of māyā, multiplied by a hundred parārdhas, is a single day in the Īśvara…
  48. 48 atra prāṇo jagat sṛjati tāvatī rātriḥ yatra prāṇapraśamaḥ … Here the breath emanates the world, and the night is of equal length, in which there is…
  49. 49 aiśvare kāle parārdhaśataguṇite yā saṅkhyā tat sādāśivaṃ dinaṃ … The number that results when the Īśvara duration is multiplied by a hundred parārdhas —…
  50. 50 sadāśivaḥ svakālaparikṣaye bindvardhacandranirodhikā ākramya nāde līyate nādaḥ śaktitattve … Sadāśiva, at the expiry of his own duration, having ascended through bindu, ardhacandra,…
  51. 51 śaktikālena parārdhakoṭiguṇitena anāśritadinam By the duration of Śakti multiplied by a koṭi of parārdhas, there is a day of the…
  52. 52 anāśritaḥ sāmanase pade yat tat sāmanasyaṃ sāmyaṃ tat … The Anāśrita (dissolves) in the Sāmanasa station;
  53. 53 asmāt sāmanasyāt akalyāt kālāt nimeṣonmeṣamātratayā proktāśeṣakālaprasarapravilayacakrabhramodayaḥ From this Sāmanasa, the uncomputable Time, merely by a closing and opening (of the eye),…
  54. 54 ekaṃ daśa śataṃ sahasram ayutaṃ lakṣaṃ niyutaṃ koṭiḥ … One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million,…
  55. 55 evam asaṅkhyāḥ sṛṣṭipralayāḥ ekasmin mahāsṛṣṭirūpe prāṇe so 'pi … Thus, innumerable creations and dissolutions occur in a single breath that has the form…
  56. 56 tata eva svapnasaṅkalpādau vaicitryam asya na virodhāvaham For that very reason, the diversity of this (time-experience) in dream, imagination, and…
  57. 57 evaṃ yathā prāṇe kālodayaḥ tathā apāne 'pi hṛdayāt … Thus, just as there is the arising of Time in the prāṇa, so too in the apāna — from the…
  58. 58 yathā ca hṛtkaṇṭhatālulalāṭarandhradvādaśānteṣu brahmaviṣṇurudreśasadāśivānāśritākhyaṃ kāraṇaṣaṭkam tathaiva apāne 'pi … And just as, at the heart, throat, palate, brow, cranial aperture, and dvādaśānta, there…
  59. 59 atha samāne kālodayaḥ Now, the arising of Time in the samāna.
  60. 60 samāno hārdīṣu daśāsu nāḍīṣu sañcaran samaste dehe sāmyena … The samāna, circulating in the ten channels that emanate from the heart, evenly conveys…
  61. 61 ūrdhvādhas tu sañcaran tisṛṣu nāḍīṣu gatāgataṃ karoti But circulating upward and downward in the three channels, it performs its going and…
  62. 62 tatra viṣuvaddine bāhye prabhātakāle sapādāṃ ghaṭikāṃ madhyamārge vahati Therein, on the external equinoctial day, at the time of dawn, it flows in the central…
  63. 63 tato navaśatāni prāṇavikṣepāṇām iti gaṇanayā bahiḥ sārdhaghaṭikādvayaṃ vāme … Then, by the reckoning of nine hundred emissions of the breath, externally over two and a…
  64. 64 tataḥ saṅkrāntipañcake vṛtte pādonāsu caturdaśasu ghaṭikāsu atikrāntāsu dakṣiṇaṃ … Then, when the set of five passages is complete and fourteen ghaṭikās less a quarter have…
  65. 65 tato 'pi dakṣiṇe vāme dakṣiṇe vāme dakṣiṇe iti … Then again, in the right, in the left, in the right, in the left, in the right — such is…
  66. 66 evaṃ viṣuvaddivase tadrātrau ca dvādaśa dvādaśa saṅkrāntayaḥ Thus on the equinoctial day and in its night there are twelve passages each.
  67. 67 tato dinavṛddhikṣayeṣu saṅkrāntivṛddhikṣayaḥ Then, in the lengthening and shortening of the days, there is a corresponding increase…
  68. 68 evam ekasmin samānamaruti varṣadvayaṃ śvāsapraśvāsayogābhāvāt Thus in a single samāna-wind there is a span of two years, because it is unconnected with…
  69. 69 atrāpi dvādaśābdodayādi pūrvavat Here too the arising of twelve years and so on is as before.
  70. 70 udāne tu dvādaśāntāvadhiś cāraḥ spandamātrātmanaḥ kālasya But in the udāna, the course of Time — whose nature is mere vibration — is bounded by the…
  71. 71 atrāpi pūrvavat vidhiḥ Here too the procedure is as before.
  72. 72 vyāne tu vyāpakatvāt akrame 'pi sūkṣmocchalattāyogena kālodayaḥ But in the vyāna, owing to its pervasiveness, although it is sequenceless, the arising of…
  73. 73 atha varṇodayaḥ Now, the arising of the phonemes.
  74. 74 tatra ardhaprahare ardhaprahare vargodayo viṣuvati samaḥ varṇasya varṇasya … Therein, in each half-watch there is the arising of a phoneme-class, equal at the…
  75. 75 yatnajas tu mantrodayaḥ araghaṭṭaghaṭīyantravāhanavat ekānusandhibalāt citraṃ mantrodayaṃ divāniśam … But the arising of the mantra is born of effort: like the working of the pots on a…
  76. 76 tatra sadodite prāṇacārasaṅkhyayaiva udayasaṅkhyā vyākhyātā taddviguṇite tadardham ityādi … Therein, in the ever-arisen cycle, the number of arisings is explained precisely by the…
  77. 77 kālabheda eva saṃvedanabhedakaḥ na vedyabhedaḥ śikharasthajñānavat jñānasya yāvān … It is difference of time alone that differentiates cognitions, not difference of the…
  78. 78 yad āha tasyādita udāttam ardhahrasvam iti As (the authority) has said: "its raised accent, from the beginning, is half-short.
  79. 79 tasmāt spandāntaraṃ yāvat na uditaṃ tāvat ekam eva … Therefore, as long as another vibration has not arisen, there is just a single cognition.
  80. 80 ata eva ekāśīti padasmaraṇasamaye vividhadharmānupraveśamukhena eka eva asau … For this very reason, at the time of recollecting the eighty-one words, by way of the…
  81. 81 evam akhilaṃ kālādhvānaṃ prāṇodaya eva paśyan sṛṣṭisaṃhārāṃś ca … Thus, seeing the entire path of Time within the arising of the breath itself, and…
  82. 82 saṃvidrūpasyātmanaḥ prāṇaśaktiṃ paśyan rūpaṃ tatragaṃ cātikālam | sākaṃ … Beholding the power of the breath belonging to the Self whose nature is consciousness,…