'Liberation' in Lakshmi Tantra

 In Lakshmi Tantra, we find a very different approach to the problems of the jiva. The causes of bondage and means of emancipation, liberation, mukti or moksha are beautifully explained. It is also stated  why and for whom this mukti and moksha? The jiva suffers due to limitations, niyati, imposed by Space  Knowledge, and power to act. It is the inherent quality of the jiva due to Shakti being limited or constrained. However, these limitation s can be overcome by karma, sankhya, yoga and sharanagati as stated in the Gita.  It is stated that no jiva can eep quiet and invariably forced by habit to take to some avocation or the other and thereby accrue its fruits (karma hala0. However, this prarabhda, sanchita or even agami karma can be avoided by performing action without desire, nishkama karma, and nirapekshata. It is also stated that right knowledge will help the jiva in this. The right knowledge is the understanding of the true nature of things as different from things as they appear. Appearances are deceptive, illusory. The desire for experience ceases once the true nature of things is realized. Also, when the jiva realizesthe fact that the worldly sensuous existence is exhausting, never-ending and the desires of the senses are insatiable, it drops the desire and discards the temptations. It is also stated here that once the jiva comes to know the categories ,of the process and system of evolution, of the nature of God, the supreme and essential consciousness, Meditation, especially samadhi and samyama, will liberate the embedded soul once for all by breaking the chain of rebirth! 

  It is essential that the jiva should first seek liberation. It is possible only when the jiva is tired of taking repeated births to fulfill its unfinished jobs and unfulfilled desires and takes to self-introspection. This Atmavalokana, look inward and discover its true nature and say, enough is enough! This self awareness, knowledge of the Self (Atmajnyan) is the only way to liberation of the embedded soul!

  Finally, all the problems of the jiva can be easily solved by just surrendering to the 'Will of the Higher Self (paramatman).This surrender is 'sharanagati tattva' This is very simple like driving our own car and get into trouble on the way, seek help or solve the problem ourselves. If we take a Taxi, it is the responsibility of the Taxi owner to provide alternate vehicle immediately!. Hence, have absolute faith, complete trust and absolute faith in the Lord and be happy and joyful. See how Arjuna sits and Lord Shree Krishna drives the chariot! yoginaam brahma bhavati sarathi. tasmad yogirbhvaarjuna!

"Lakshmi Speaks to Shakra "

 We have seen how Bhagavan Sri Krishna talks to Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita. We also have the Varaha Deva and Agastya Muni dialogue. And, now, here we have the dialogue of Lakshmi and Shakra (Indra). Thanks to Professor Sanjukta Gupta, Ed. 'Lakshmi Tantra', we have the translation of some Samskruta Text with Notes of Pancharatra Agama Shastra with special reference to 'Mantra Shastra' (Vaishnava Shakta) in 'Lakshmi Tantra', pub.: MLBD 2000 (First published Netherlands1972). Here, Devi Lakshmi presents Herself as 'Samrajni, the Sovereign Authority, albeit, exercising the Powers of Lord Sri Hari Narayana. She answers all the questions of Shakra (Indra).with regard to Creation, sustenance, dissolution, and merger in its entirety! There is no secret left about the 'true nature of our existence' after reading this, 

  Here, we bring out only the Introductory aspects of the 'Jiva' and the means of its 'Salvation'. It is explicitly stated that that "Lakshmi Tantra concerns itself with the individual adept, who desires to be released from the miseries of worldly existence".  First, let us know who this Jiva is and why the worldly existence is one of miseries and the jiva seeks liberation, and then know what the means of its salvation are.

 'Jiva' is defined here as the 'animate being' and it is "the 'self-imposed limited state of the absolute consciousness which is God's essence" The limitations start with the five sheaths, kosha that envelope the jiva. In fact, the 'jiva' is also 'Shakti' that creates the cosmos and does all the activities of the latter such as creation, sustenance, like a mirror reflects the mountain! Cognition of objects of the jiva is its creative function. Attachment to material objects is its function of sustenance and satiation by these objects is its destructive function.. The desire for material objects is its function of delusion, and its detachment from  that desire is  is its function of divine grace 

  There are three types of jivas. The first one is those who are fettred to worldly existence. Second type is the  one that is liberated from that bondage. The third category is that which is always free!. Jiva's liberation always depends on Shakti's compassion which persuades her to bestow her divine grace on the initiate (shaktipata). Liberation or mukti of the jiva has a much deeper meaning than what we normally think of. This will be considered in greater details in the next blog.

(To be contd.)

 

The Thin 'Veil'

 This thin 'veil' is the problem. It is the 'veil of 'ignorance', avidya. This 'avidya' is not the absence of 'vidya', Knowledge, but is the one covered by attachment (moha), ego (ahamkara), greed, and a host of other guna. qualities, like anger, jealous, etc. This 'Avidya' is the curtain, veil, that prevents a clear vision of reality. It is the veil of our clouded mind! The curtain of 'illusion', maya. is such a transparent one that not even a trace of its presence can be imagined by the foolish mind. Ego envelopes it and projects itself, its ignorance, on the reality. Now, the problem is of how one can discard, tear off, this veil?

 The veil of ignorance, illusion, maya, falls off when 'Knowledge' (jnyan) dawns! This is beautifully explained in the Upanishad by the doctrine of 'Serpent and the Rope'. The Rope appears like a Serpent in darkness and creates fear in our mind. The fear for the serpent is one thing, as if, an inherent quality of the mind? However, the fear is gone the moment light falls on the rope and the reality is known. This reality is the quality associated with Light, Knowledge, Jnyan. However, strange enough, the ignorance, darkness, the rope mistaken for the serpent, is also a sort of jnyan, but covered by fear? Thus, the entire materialistic world of serpent and the rope is presented to us by Nature, prakruti! We, as the humans, although endowed with the gift of a powerful Mind along with Intelligence, enabling us to think, discern, or use discretion, are still delluded!

 Now, the embodied and tormented jiva, struggling to extricate itself from the illusory worldly existence seeks some guidance. Unfortunately, there is no such guide available here. We foolishly search for a true guide in this mortal world of greed, hunger, and thirst? How can a co-passenger in a leaky boat struck in a stormy sea help others? Only a helicopter should locate this leaky boat? The real guide is Agni deva. the God of Fire, the 'fire of 'Knowledge'. Only Light can take us out of darkness. Thus, we pray: asato ma sadgamaya,  tamaso ma jyotirgamaya, mrutyormaam amrutam gamaya! Here, Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshvara, and sakshat parabrahma only should come as our guide. We are so lucky that Bhagavan Shree Krishna comes to help us as 'yogacharya', teacher of 'brahma vidya', and liberate us. But, do we go to him? Do we seek His guidance? will our ego permit that? He, the Lord offers protection, liberation, and states this in clear unmistakable terms. He says, maam upetya kounteya... sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyami, mas shuca ! He even says that there will be no rebirth in this world of repeated births and deaths- punarjanma na vidyate! He, the Lord always looks at us, but we don't even care to look at Him. It seems that we do not have sufficient faith, belief, trust in Him. So, He says, "samashayatma vinashyati"!

  There is no alternate to the Gitopasane for the tormented jiva to get out of the mesmerizing maya. First, we should realize the fact that all that we seek as worldly name and fame, wealth, and enjoyment are nothing but foolishness, ignorance, lack of true nature of the world that is controlled by 'niyati; Time, Space, Causality (the cause and effect). Our foolish Mind sending the senses on errand due to the foolish ego is responsible for this! 

 Take to the Bhagavad-Gita and defeat these deluding forces? nahin jnyanena sadrusham ! Strictly follow is advise- manmana madhbhava madhyaji namskuru! Remember what He says, Aham eva Atmaa!

Vedic Verses

     This 'Atman' is not attained by instruction or by intelligence or by learning. By him whom he chooses is the atman attained. To him the atman reveals his own being. The one who has not turned away from wickedness, who has no peace, who is not concentrated, whose mind is restless-he cannot realize the atman, who is known by wisdom. –[Krishna Yajur Veda, Katha Upanishad 1.2.24-25. ve, p. 710]. 

  He who dwells in the light, yet is other than the light, whom the light does not know, whose body is the light, who controls the light from within -- He is the atman within you. [Shukla Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.7.14. VE, P. 708].

With his mind purified, with his consciousness purified, with patience, thinking I am He, and with patience when he has attained the consciousness of I am He, he is established by wisdom in the supreme atman who is to be known in the heart. [Shukla Yajur Veda, Paingala Upanishad 4.9. VE, P. 441].

In the Support the worlds consist; in him Creative Fervor and Order have their ground. You I have known, O Support, face to face, in Indra wholly concentrated.  [Atharva Veda X, 7, 29].

In Indra the worlds consist; in Indra Creative Fervor and Order have their ground. You I have known, O Indra, face to face, in the Support wholly established. [Atharva Veda X, 7, 30].

  There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in sound and in silence. By sound we go to silence. The sound of Brahman is Aum. With Aum we go to the End, the silence of Brahman. The End is immortality, union and peace. Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread, the man of contemplation by means of Aum reaches freedom. The sound of Brahman is Aum. At the end of Aum is silence. It is a silence of joy. It is the end of the journey, where fear and sorrow are no more: steady, motionless, never-falling, everlasting, immortal. It is called the omnipresent Vishnu. In order to reach the Highest, consider, in adoration, the sound and the silence of Brahman. For it has been said: God is sound and silence. His name is Aum. Attain, therefore, contemplation in silence on Him. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 6.22-23. upm, 102].

 Than whom there is naught else higher, than whom there is naught smaller, naught greater, the One stands like a tree established in heaven. By Him, the Person, is this whole universe filled. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetashvatara Upanishad 3.9. upr, 727].

 Even as wa.er becomes one with water, fire with fire, and air with air, so the mind becomes one with the Infinite Mind and thus attains final freedom.[Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 6.34.11. tu, 103].

 All the sacred books, all holy sacrifice and ritual and prayers, all the words of the Vedas, and the whole past and present and future, come from the Spirit. With maya, His power of wonder, He made all things, and by maya the human soul is bound. Know, therefore, that nature is maya, but that God is the ruler of maya, and that all beings in our universe are parts of His infinite splendor. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Svetasvatara Upanishad 4.9-10. upm, 92].

 The seer sees not death, nor sickness, nor any distress. The seer sees only the All, obtains the All entirely. For the sake of experiencing the true and the false, the great Self has a dual nature. Yea, the great Self has a dual nature. Yea, the great Self has a dual nature! [Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 7.11.6 & 8. uph, 458].

 The Moon was born from his mind; the Sun came into being from his eye; from his mouth came Indra and Agni, while from his breath the Wind was born. From his navel issued the Air; from his head unfurled the Sky, the Earth from his feet, from his ear the four directions. Thus have the worlds been organized. Seven were the sticks of the enclosure, thrice seven the fuel sticks were made, when the Gods, performing the sacrifice, bound the Man as the victim. [Rig Veda X, 90, 13-15].

 The soul is born and unfolds in a body, with dreams and desires and the food of life. And then it is reborn in new bodies, in accordance with its former works. The quality of the soul determines its future body; earthy or airy, heavy or light. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetashvatara Upanishad, 5.11-12. upm, p. 94].

 Mind is indeed the source of bondage and also the source of liberation. To be bound to things of this world-this is bondage. To be free from them-this is liberation. [Krishna Yajur Veda, Maitra Upanishad 6.34. upm, p. 104].

 “God is, in truth, the whole universe: what was, what is and what beyond shall ever be. He is the God of life immortal and of all life that lives by food. His hands and feet are everywhere. He has heads and mouths everywhere. He sees all, He hears all. He is in all, and He Is.” [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvet Upanishad 3.15-16. upm, 90].

  “He is the God of forms infinite in whose glory all things are--smaller than the smallest atom, and yet the Creator of all, ever living in the mystery of His creation. In the vision of this God of love there is everlasting peace. He is the Lord of all who, hidden in the heart of things, watches over the world of time. The Gods and seers of Brahman are one with Him, and when a man knows Him, he cuts the bonds of death.” [Krishna Yajur Veda, Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4.14-15. upm, 91-92].

 “He who is source and origin of the Gods, the Lord of all, Rudra, the Mighty Sage who produced in ancient days the Golden Germ--may He endow us with purity of mind!” [Krishna Yajur Veda, Svetasvatara Upanishad 3.4. ve, 156].

  “Truth obtains victory, not untruth. Truth is the way that leads to the regions of light. Sages travel therein free from desires and reach the supreme abode of Truth. He is immeasurable in His light and beyond all thought, and yet He shines smaller than the smallest. Far, far away is He, and yet He is very near, resting in the inmost chamber of the heart. He cannot be seen by the eye, and words cannot reveal Him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by austerity or sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, He can be seen, indivisible, in the silence of contemplation. This invisible atman can be seen by the mind wherein the five senses are resting. All mind is woven with the senses; but a pure mind shines the light of the Self. Whatever regions the pure in heart may see in his mind, whatever desires he may have in his heart, he attains those regions and wins his desires. Let one who wishes for success reverence the seers of the Spirit.” [Atharva Veda, Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6-10. upm, 80].

 Having reached the last order of life, one should sit in a solitary place in a relaxed posture, with pure heart, with head, neck and body straight, controlling all the sense organs, having bowed with devotion to the master. [Atharva Veda, Kaivalya Upanishad 5. ve, 442].