Todalatantra 3: Toḍalatantra, Tṛtīyaḥ paṭalaḥ

The goddess said: / O god of gods, O Mahādeva, deliverer across the ocean of transmigration, / speak of the great mudrā [called] Baddhayoni, O ocean of compassion.

Śiva said: / Listen, O goddess, I shall speak of the Baddhayoni in brief. / Sitting upon a seat facing east or facing north, the practitioner of mantras,

O great ruler, should place the tip of his own heel into the opening of the anus, / and then [place the fingers] upon the ears, and likewise upon the eyes, upon the nose, and then upon the mouth.

O great ruler, the wise person should apply [the fingers] beginning with the thumbs in order; / then, with great effort, [drawing] breath through the nose and mouth,

one should fill [the breath], O supreme ruler, and not exhale at all. / Making sound perceptible, one should contemplate the garland of letters.

The wise person should recite the root mantra one hundred and eight times. / With the mantra ‘So ’ham’, O ruler of the gods, he should draw [Kuṇḍalinī] along that pathway.

Satisfying the deities of the six cakras there with a stream of nectar, / I will tell you, O sinless one, the fruit when this is performed, O great ruler.

Pārvatī said: / Speak, O Īśāna, all-knowing one, best among knowers of all principles, / of the [practice] of Kālikā, exceedingly difficult to obtain, according to the path of mantras, O ruler of gods.

Śiva said: / Listen, O goddess Sadānandā, to the supreme mantra of Kālikā, / by the mere mention of which a mortal becomes liberated while living.

Beginning with Śiva, endowed with bindu and nāda, joined with the left eye and fire— / this is the Siddhavidyā, O auspicious one, the queen of vidyās, exceedingly difficult to obtain.

These three bījas are initial; space adorned with bindu, / joined with the left ear—hear of the pair and the next [letters].

Īśāna joined with fire, endowed with the left eye and the moon, / the second [letter], O supreme ruler, and then the word in the vocative case.

Again the triad of bījas, the kūrca, the pair of māyā, and the two ṭhas: / [such is] the twenty-two-syllabled mantra, the queen of vidyās, exceedingly difficult to obtain.

The Mahāvidyā beginning with the vāgbhava has Śrīkālī as its remembered deity; / the Mahāvidyā beginning with the praṇava has Siddhikālikā as its deity.

A pair of one's own bīja, the kūrca, and one [more] bīja, O supreme goddess: / the supreme three-syllabled vidyā is remembered as Cāmuṇḍā Kālikā.

There is no vidyā granting siddhi equal to this, O beautiful one; / as is the six-syllabled vidyā, so also is the three-syllabled vidyā.

Three of one's own bījas, O auspicious one, then ‘Śmaśānakālikā’; / again three of the bījas, O auspicious one; one should then pronounce the wife of fire [svāhā].

The fourteen-syllabled vidyā is worshipped in the three worlds. / Dakṣiṇākālikā, Siddhakālikā, Guhyakālikā,

Śrīkālikā, Bhadrakālī, supreme Cāmuṇḍākālikā, / Śmaśānakālikā, O goddess, and Mahākālī: thus [she is] eightfold.

One's own bīja, O supreme ruler, then the word in the vocative case, / and again the Kālikā-bīja, then one should deposit the wife of fire.

Thus the eightfold mantra is concealed in all tantras. / Heard is the mantra of Mahākālikā, the utmost secret.

Now I desire to hear the king of mantras of Tārā, / by the mere mention of whom one does not sink into the ocean of existence.

Speak that mantra, O Īśāna, if you have affection toward me. / Having uttered the moon-bīja, the first [letter] joined with fire,

endowed with the left eye and the moon: this king of mantras, O beloved, / is the single-syllabled Mahāvidyā, worshipped in the three worlds.

Īśāna joined with bindu, adorned with the left ear: / the single-syllabled Mahāvidyā is the second king of mantras.

The head mounted upon bindu, endowed with the left eye and the moon, / the first bīja, and the second; one should utter the astra-mantra.

When the vidyā begins with the praṇava, she is proclaimed as Ugratārā; / the vidyā is also proclaimed as Ekajaṭā, granting great liberation.

Deprived of the tārā and astra, the three-syllabled one is Mahānīlasarasvatī. / When the vidyā begins with the vāgbhava, it bestows mastery over speech.

The Mahāvidyā beginning with the śrī-bīja always bestows prosperity; / the supreme vidyā beginning with māyā always bestows siddhi.

And that [vidyā] beginning with the kūrca-bīja illumines the multitude of sounds; / the Mahāvidyā beginning with the space[-bīja] bestows the liberation of nirvāṇa.

The Mahāvidyā beginning with prāsāda bestows union with Śiva; / and that [vidyā] beginning with the prāṇa-bīja bestows the attainment of desires.

The Mahāvidyā beginning with Kālikā always gives liberation and gives siddhi. / The worship of Kālikā and Tārā is described here:

Arising in the morning, the knower of mantras should worship the guru in the sahasrāra; / then, having pierced the six cakras, he should recite [the mantra] one hundred and eight times.

Then, having bowed down according to rule, he should begin the rite of bathing: / uttering ‘adyaitad’ and so on, he should state the solar month.

For the pleasure of the deity, he should then bathe with pure water; / and uttering the syllable Om, he should utter, ‘O Gaṅgā’,

and then ‘Yamunā’, and uttering ‘O Godāvarī, Sarasvatī, / Narmadā’, together with ‘Sindhu’ and ‘Kāverī’:

one should then say the words: ‘Be present in this water!’ / One should draw [the sacred waters] with the [mudrā] named aṅkuśa from the orb joined with the sun.

O goddess, one should display the four mudrās with great effort; / covering [the water] with the mīnamudrā, one should recite the mantra eleven times.

Casting the water facing the sun twelve times, / uttering the root mantra, one should wash both feet.

Submerging three times in the water flowing from the feet, one should recite the mantra; / and having recited the root mantra three times with the mudrā called kumbha,

rising from the water, O ruler of the gods, [applying] the tilaka according to the Kula path, / one should then sip water with the principles: Ātman, Vidyā, and Śiva.

Mantras joined with the wife of fire [svāhā] and beginning with the praṇava are to be known. / With ‘gaṅge ca’ and so on, O goddess, one should perform the invocation of the sacred bathing place.

With the root [mantra], the wise person should throw [water] on the ground three times with darbha-grass; / with that water, he should perform self-consecration seven times.

Then performing the placement upon the limbs on the left hand, O ruler of the gods: / space, the wind-bīja, Varuṇa, the earth-bīja,

and the fire-bīja with bindu: he should perform japa three times. / With this mantra, O goddess, that water is consecrated.

Uttering the root mantra seven times with the tattvamudrā, / by the mere consecration one is freed from all sins.

The remaining water, O great ruler, one should bring into the right hand; / drawing the water through iḍā, he should wash what is within the body.

Then, O goddess, he should expel that water through piṅgalā; / he should contemplate that water as black in color, having the form of sin.

He should throw it down before him upon a hard stone with the sound ‘Phaṭ’. / Having washed the hand and sipped water, preceded by breath control,

One should offer libation to the family deity and present the arghya to the Sun, / and then the arghya to the deity, followed by the Gāyatrī of supreme syllables.

Uttering the praṇava, one should then say "kālikāyai", / write "vidmahe", and then utter "śmaśāna-"...

..."-vāsinī" joined with the dative ending; then, O Devi, one should say "dhīmahi"; / O Great Ruler, one should then recite "tanno ghore", followed by "pracodayāt".

The wise practitioner should recite this Gāyatrī and throw water three times. / Then he should recite the great mantra, the Gāyatrī of supreme syllables.

Then, having performed the nyāsa on the limbs and sipped water, O Supreme Goddess, / having meditated upon the chosen goddess in the circular diagram, O Great Ruler:

"Oṃ tārāyai vidmahe", then one should say "mahogrāyai", / after that "dhīmahi", and then, O Devi, "pracodayāt".

Then, having performed prāṇāyāma, one should recite [it] one hundred and eight times. / The rule of worship is now spoken here in summary form, O Ruler of the gods:

Making the svastivācana and the intention (saṃkalpa), carefully installing the pot, / sipping water with the mantra should be done, and then one should set out the general arghya.

Sprinkling the doorway with that water, one should perform the worship of the doorway; / having removed the threefold obstacles, one should then expel the spirits.

Worshipping the seat, the wise one should bow to the guru; / then purification of the hands, clapping three times, and the binding of the directions.

An enclosure with fire is to be made, and then one should perform purification of the elements; / one should perform the six limbs of the mātṛkā and the internal mātṛkā.

Reciting the meditation on the mātṛkā, one should place the mātṛkā externally; / then, having performed the seat-nyāsa, one should perform prāṇāyāma.

One should perform the nyāsa of the seers and the rest, of the hands and limbs, and the phoneme-nyāsa; / then, O Devi, the sixfold nyāsa, and immediately after that the pervasive [nyāsa].

Thus, with a concentrated mind, one should perform the nyāsa of the principles; / then, O Devi, the wise one should place the bīja-nyāsa and the pervasive [nyāsa].

One should perform meditation sevenfold with the root mantra, and mental worship; / the special arghya, worship of the seat, and meditation again with the eyes [opened].

Displaying the mudrās and so on is to be performed, invocation with the six limbs, / the cow-gesture and others, then installation of the breath, and worship with the root mantra.

The request for permission, the limbs; one should worship Kālī and the others; / one should worship Brāhmī and the others, Asitāṅga and the others, and Mahākāla.

One should worship the sword and other [weapons], the lineage of gurus, and again the Devi; / then the offering of bali, the fire offering, prāṇāyāma, and then japa.

The wise one should dedicate the japa and then perform prāṇāyāma; / at this moment, O Devi, one should gather the consecrated ingredients and the rest.

Offering the arghya, O Great Ruler, one should offer oneself; / recalling the hymn of praise and the protective armor, the wise one should bow with the eight limbs [touching the ground].

Contemplating "I am Śiva", one should dismiss [the goddess] with the withdrawal [gesture]; / having drawn a diagram in the northeast for Cāṇḍālī, preceded by [the offering of] the leftovers,

holding the arghya on the head and sandalwood paste on the forehead, / taking a little of the food offering, one may roam at one's own will.

Or the practitioner, concentrated, may perform an abridged worship: / at first the nyāsa of the seers and the rest, after that purification of the hands,

the finger and pervasive nyāsas, the nyāsa on the heart and other limbs, / clapping three times, the binding of the directions, and after that prāṇāyāma,

meditation, mental sacrifice, the setting out of the arghya, / worship of the seat, meditation again, and then one should perform the invocation.

Then, having performed the nyāsa of life, one should worship the supreme deity; / worship of the limbs, Kālī and the others, Brāhmī and the others, and the eight Bhairavas.

Having worshipped Mahākāla, one should then venerate the lineage of gurus; / having worshipped the sword and other [weapons], one should worship the Devi again.

Then, having performed prāṇāyāma, the foremost of sādhakas should worship; / one should then perform the dedication of the fruit of japa into the hand of the Devi.

Then, having performed prāṇāyāma, the wise one should bow with the eight limbs; / recalling the hymn of praise and the protective armor, one should present the special arghya.

Having made the self-surrender, one should dismiss [her] with the withdrawal [gesture]; / having drawn a diagram in the northeast for Cāṇḍālī, preceded by [the offering of] the leftovers, / taking a little of the food offering, one may roam at one's own will.