Shaktisangamatantra 2.23

Twenty-fourth chapter.

O Lord of gods, I wish to hear the ascertainment of the sequence of Bagalā.

Glorious Śiva said:

Only through the sequence of prosperity (saubhāgyācīkrama) does Bagalā grant swift vision. // 1

Wearing yellow garments, adorned with yellow ornaments, / wearing a yellow garland and garments, the practitioner of mantras resides in a yellow house, // 2

is intent on yellow worship, his mind pleased with yellow food, / enjoying yellow substances, and endowed with a yellow seat, // 3

offering fire offerings with yellow substances, holding yellow flowers, accompanied by a yellow Śakti. / He should place rocanā on the ground, saffron, and sage leaf. // 4

A tripuṇḍra with turmeric, and in its center catechu, O Śivā, / fumigated with yellow sandalwood incense, O Supreme Goddess. // 5

Having prepared everything, he should be devoted to the path of the sequence. / Creation, maintenance, and dissolution—in the Kali [age], worship is threefold. // 6

Worship of creation alone proceeds according to the Garbhakaula scripture. / But worship in the Gauḍa country follows the path of maintenance, O maiden. // 7

The Guptakaula scripture is the rule in the worship of the Gauḍa country; / the Kāmarūpa scripture is the rule in the worship of the sequence of dissolution. // 8

Relying on the Gauḍa scripture, the sage Sāṅkhyāyana / spoke in the scripture; hear now, O son, about the worship of maintenance. // 9

One should solicit a Brahmin maiden, beautiful in all her limbs, charming, / adorned in all parts of her body, newly married, and having reached puberty. // 10

On the eighth day of the dark fortnight, on the fourteenth, or on the full moon, the youth, / or on a Tuesday, at night, or on a Friday, // 11

should perform anointing with fragrant oil. / Having brought a cotton-mattress bed and spread it facing north, then, // 12

having strewn upon it white chrysanthemums, jasmine, and campaka flowers, / as well as camphor, and sandalwood mixed with musk, // 13

the wise one should smear all her limbs with the Lakṣmīsūkta. / That maiden, smeared with sandalwood upon the bed, // 14

facing south with the mantra 'dhruvā dyauḥ', / the youth should make her lie facing upwards with the Śrīsūkta. // 15

Having spread her […] he should perform worship. / Having imposed the two sixfold nyāsas (ṣoḍhādvaya), he should impose the fivefold Bagalā nyāsa. // 16

He should thus impose upon the maiden, remembering the various respective limbs. / He should cleanse her foot and the place of recitation with the root vidyā. // 17

With the mantra 'gandhadvārā', he should apply musk ointment; / and with the root mantra, he should properly offer a garland of flowers. // 18

He should offer purification of the ritual ingredients and perform recitation right there. / He should recite this king of mantras one hundred and eight thousand times. // 19

During the preliminary rite (puraścaraṇa), on every path and day, / or on the full moon, he should perform the worship of prosperity. // 20

It grants success in ritual applications to men; it brings the highest perfection of mantras. / Without this sequence, O Goddess, no ritual application succeeds anywhere. // 21

Therefore, with every effort, for the sake of accomplishment on earth, O Goddess— / without the sequence named prosperity, O Goddess, accomplishment does not come even in ten million [lifetimes]. // 22

Having abandoned the eight conceits, having abandoned the three faults, / having abandoned attachment to the five senses, one should practice the sequence of prosperity. // 23

Making pleasure and pain equal, gain and loss, victory and defeat, / having established equality in cold and heat, one should practice the sequence of prosperity. // 24

He who performs worship on earth without knowing the two sixfold nyāsas / becomes a fallen man and goes to the Raurava hell. // 25

Without the knowledge of the distinction between external and internal, O Goddess, / the yellow sequence must not be performed, or one incurs the curse of the deity. // 26

Having abandoned mental conceptualization and doubt, his mind fixed on discerning knowledge, / he should then perform the yellow sequence; otherwise, he will certainly fall. // 27

Having conquered his senses and made himself content, he should perform the yellow sequence, O Śivā. / He who performs it for the sake of [mere sensual] pleasure incurs the curse of the deity. // 28

Without knowing the rule of divine possession within oneself, O Supreme Goddess, / he who performs the worship, O Goddess, is no Brahmin; he becomes fallen. // 29

He who agitates the mind of the maiden during worship, O Śivā, / instantly becomes bewildered in mind, even if he were another Bṛhaspati (Vācaspati). // 30

He should not cause pain […] in the body; / he who causes pain becomes a fallen man. // 31

One may worship one's own wife, a brother's wife, or even the guru's wife / who is endowed with youth and offered according to Sāṅkhyāyana; // 32

or a washerwoman residing in the initiation quarters, a potter's maiden, / or a Pulinda maiden, or a tender-crested woman with reverence; // 33

and one should worship a sage's wife endowed with the previously mentioned characteristics. / Worship according to the prescriptive path is the doctrine of Durvāsas. // 34

Endowed with all auspicious marks, one should worship a menstruating woman, O Śivā; / this was stated by the sage Mataṅga, and it brings immediate accomplishment on earth. // 35

This is the sequence of accomplishment, O Queen of gods; there is no accomplishment without a guru. / Therefore, with every effort, one should abide by the guru's command. // 36

becomes accomplished, O ruler of the gods; there should be no doubt in this regard. / Thus it has been stated in brief. What else do you wish to hear?

Thus ends the twenty-fourth chapter, named the Sequence of Bagalā, in the dialogue between the venerable Akṣobhya and Mahogratārā, in the second section of the upper part of the king of great tantras, the glorious Śaktisaṅgamatantra. || 24